Sweden is currently taking over the world. No, you do not need to go run and hide, but rather, you need to pick up your wallet and head off to the beautiful land of IKEA, the beautiful Swedish home goods store/heaven on earth. Everyone seems to always think IKEA is overrated or silly the first time they go. However, that first experience is always the most amazing because it changes you from a cynical skeptic to a believer in Swedish furniture warehouses.
1. IKEA is so hyped up, you are never going to be one of those people who runs into a maze huge warehouse of Swedish furniture.
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2. Your friend who is absolutely obsessed finally convinces you to try it out. They totally owe you for this one.
3. It takes you guys about a million years to park the car and another billion to find the actual entrance.
4. When you walk by the entrance poster of people waving to you with the Swedish word for "hi" you really are not quite feeling it still.
5. However, something about it just smells like home!
6. You see the great big escalator that leads to the main part of the store, and you can feel the excitement building.
7. Wait, there is a STORE and a RESTAURANT...which one do you go to first?
8. You decide on the restaurant because food always comes first.
9. You never had expected to be such a fan of Swedish food.
10. After a hardy Swedish meal of meatballs and some berry thing, you are prepared to head off into something called the "Showroom."
11. You discover the Showroom is an expansive maze full of modernly designed rooms with reasonably priced furniture with weird Swedish names.
12. You just want it ALL. There is so much that you just know you absolutely need for your home/dorm/apartment.
13. Your friend explains that you actually cannot grab most of the stuff and have to wait for a place called the "Marketplace" to actually pick out the stuff you see in the "Showroom."
14. This is cruel torture.
15. You really love the Showroom, and it is so cool to see all the pre-designed room, but you really just want to get to the Marketplace so you can start filling your big yellow IKEA shopping bag with stuff.
16. It is cool though to improve your Swedish by reading all the names of the items (which you cannot get because they are all in the damn Marketplace).
17. You finally see the sign pointing the way to heaven (the Marketplace), and you take off running.
18. Pretty much anything that is pretty, shiny, or has a cool Swedish name will eventually end up in your cart.
19. You really were not planning on getting anything.
20. However, you realized you really were lacking on Swedish home items you never even knew you needed.
21. Your room was actually looking rather bland. You REALLY did need some cool IKEA prints for your wall.
22. You also could really be more organized. A few of those self-build boxes will really help with that.
23. It is all so cheap, it was completely justifiable.
24. The checkout guy was so nice and friendly. He didn't speak Swedish, but he was awesome nonetheless.
25. To top off this amazing experience, you buy a giant cinnamon roll at the little snack bar after you check out. You will be back.
