Monday, January 25, 2010
Saturday Pics
The wolves stared me down and then charged....but once I stared at them back and showed no fear.....all was good
The Latest Happenings In Nordic Town
Friday rolls around, and we are ready for another weekend in Stockholm. I use the term weekend very loosely, as we only have class on Tuesday and Thursday, so we are pretty much engrossed in one long 3 month weekend. We make plans with Gustav to meet him at a common SSE hangout called N See Bar. This place is quite a bit nicer than Dovas, and the beers are about the same price. Although I don't see the point of going to a bar where you don't have to fear that the bartender might leap over the bar and chokeslam you....but whatever.
Joe and I have a drink with Gustav and a couple of his old school buddies before Gustav has to run to go on a dinner date. We will just plan to meet up with him later, as he thinks this will just be a quick dinner and then adios. In the meantime, we have plans to head over to meet up with the gang at Saltis before they all head out to a part of town called Sodermalm. This is an island a bit further south than our school. It is known for having a great night life, and is supposed to have a couple more down to earth, pub style places. However, we are going to split off and meet Oskar at what he has called a "pub" as well.
First off, it takes Oskar a while to direct us where exactly we are going. He claimed when he got to Chapel Hill that he was from Stockholm....not so sure now. Then again, when you are that pretty, you don't need to be smart. We finally get to the location he is talking about, and two things strike us. 1) The definition of "pub" in this country might not exactly translate. At least not in Oskar's eyes. This is very much a crowded dance club. 2) We are about 9.5 years older than most everybody in here.....time to leave
We walk down the street to Monk's where we eventually meet up with Oskar's. We have passed Monk's many times and there are two things awesome about it. You can get a beer in a quiet setting and just hangout, and the obvious.....the name rocks for those of you that are Seinfeld fans. Oskar's is with some of his friends from high school who begrundgingly taglong with us to the next pub, Dick's. They are not happy that we pulled them from the adolescent dance club scene. After a couple drinks with Oskar we head back home. Time slipped away from us a bit hanging out with Oskar, and it is now about 2:30 in the morning....nothing ever closes here. Oskar solidifies himself as one of the funniest people I have ever hungout with and easily makes up for lack of being able to help us navigate anywhere in the city.
We get up on Saturday and headout to meet Anna who has so graciously offered to show us around the city. This is a chance for me to actually take some nice photos of the city in the daylight and just get some of the tourist out of me. We set out from T-Centrallen and walk the scenic way along the big port, past the main financial district, and head towards our goal, Skansen. Skansen is a neat park that is setup with some old Swedish schoolhouses, farmhouses, and other buildings that were transported, as is, to setup here. It is very interesting, and the snow on the ground makes it beautiful. Also, it isn't too chilly this afternoon, so I am liking my choice to only wear a long sleeve tshirt and my new north face. Definitely the highlight of the Skansen trip are the animals. This park has wolverines, wolves, lynx, bears, reindeers, gigantic horses, otters, and seals. Some of the animals hide from us, but the wolves alone were worth the trip. Seeing these animals in the snowy surroundings trumps seeing them in the ATL zoo fighting heat exhaustion. It is definitely a fun trip. We decide to leave, as the sun has gone down and I now can't feel my chest. Turns out that my decision to wear this outfit.....yeah, retarded. I have been here long enough to not act shocked when the sun goes down at 4 pm, but sure enough on this day, not so much.
On the way back home, we stop at a burger joint called Max Burger. This is like MacDonalds on absolute Steroids. It is extremely tasty. At the fountain drink station, they make it very clear that refills cost 10 kr. We ask Anna about this as it is very crowded and obviously the effort it takes to enforce this rule is clearly not worth the couple times a day that they will collect 10 SEK. Anna just let's us know that it isn't a problem as nowhere in the country can you get free refills so nobody in Sweden has ever gotten one. This is odd as Joe and I have gone to get refills at places, and while we have gotten strange looks, we have not gotten scolded. This explains the looks......oh yeah, and there is apparently only ONE place in all of Stockholm where you will get free refills....TGIFridays. AMERICA!
We trot back home, and after about 15 minutes in my room, I get all the feeling back in my body. There is apparently a huge party at Lappis tonight, but Joe and I are pretty beat from a long day of walking around, braving the cold, fighting wolves, and taking pictures. I have attached the links below this paragraph to both Joe and myself's picasa albums from the day. I will also post my favorites onto the blog.
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnstondrew/WalkingAroundTheCIty#
http://picasaweb.google.com/jmckinnie/Jan222010#
Sunday was a pretty low-key, get ready for school day. I spend the first part of my afternoon trying to sort the trash in my room. There are about 95 different categories you have to sort your trash into to throw it out. It takes me about 2 hours to learn the system and another hour to then sort it. I need to get good at it, as it is my week to be kitchen caretaker next week so I will be sorting trash more than your average UGA grad. I then spend some time studying Swedish, as I have to do my best to impress Frida Mol tomorrow. We make plans to meet up with the Canadian crew at Hard Rock Cafe to watch the AFC championship game at 9, but before that I manage to find a link to stream the GT-FSU basketball game. Being in Sweden and watching Tech BBall games on your computer is different in two ways. a) you curse in swedish and b) you dont have a remote to throw. It is similar in many ways a) Paul Hewitt still looks confused as to what a set play is b) He still calls timeouts at the crappiest times c) They still shoot 50% from the line......I dont know how you can win a close game if you can't shoot free throws and your coach isn't sure what timeouts are for. The best was down 1 with 10 seconds left Brian Oliver nails a wide open three....YES!! Wait, there was a whistle...offensive foul? travel?....nope, Hewitt called a timeout to make sure that instead of taking a wide open three, he draws up one of his "dribble and pass the ball around the three point line before taking a horrible, covered jump shot" Game over. Oh well, off to watch American Football
The Colts handled the Jets pretty easily, not too exciting. They shutdown at midnight, so we can't watch the NFC champ game, which turns out to be a much better game. I did manage to wake up to watch the OT period online. Pretty exciting game it seems. Group meeting and Swedish lessons tomorrow....oh yeah, and we have to pay tons of rent.
Drew In Sweden
Joe and I have a drink with Gustav and a couple of his old school buddies before Gustav has to run to go on a dinner date. We will just plan to meet up with him later, as he thinks this will just be a quick dinner and then adios. In the meantime, we have plans to head over to meet up with the gang at Saltis before they all head out to a part of town called Sodermalm. This is an island a bit further south than our school. It is known for having a great night life, and is supposed to have a couple more down to earth, pub style places. However, we are going to split off and meet Oskar at what he has called a "pub" as well.
First off, it takes Oskar a while to direct us where exactly we are going. He claimed when he got to Chapel Hill that he was from Stockholm....not so sure now. Then again, when you are that pretty, you don't need to be smart. We finally get to the location he is talking about, and two things strike us. 1) The definition of "pub" in this country might not exactly translate. At least not in Oskar's eyes. This is very much a crowded dance club. 2) We are about 9.5 years older than most everybody in here.....time to leave
We walk down the street to Monk's where we eventually meet up with Oskar's. We have passed Monk's many times and there are two things awesome about it. You can get a beer in a quiet setting and just hangout, and the obvious.....the name rocks for those of you that are Seinfeld fans. Oskar's is with some of his friends from high school who begrundgingly taglong with us to the next pub, Dick's. They are not happy that we pulled them from the adolescent dance club scene. After a couple drinks with Oskar we head back home. Time slipped away from us a bit hanging out with Oskar, and it is now about 2:30 in the morning....nothing ever closes here. Oskar solidifies himself as one of the funniest people I have ever hungout with and easily makes up for lack of being able to help us navigate anywhere in the city.
We get up on Saturday and headout to meet Anna who has so graciously offered to show us around the city. This is a chance for me to actually take some nice photos of the city in the daylight and just get some of the tourist out of me. We set out from T-Centrallen and walk the scenic way along the big port, past the main financial district, and head towards our goal, Skansen. Skansen is a neat park that is setup with some old Swedish schoolhouses, farmhouses, and other buildings that were transported, as is, to setup here. It is very interesting, and the snow on the ground makes it beautiful. Also, it isn't too chilly this afternoon, so I am liking my choice to only wear a long sleeve tshirt and my new north face. Definitely the highlight of the Skansen trip are the animals. This park has wolverines, wolves, lynx, bears, reindeers, gigantic horses, otters, and seals. Some of the animals hide from us, but the wolves alone were worth the trip. Seeing these animals in the snowy surroundings trumps seeing them in the ATL zoo fighting heat exhaustion. It is definitely a fun trip. We decide to leave, as the sun has gone down and I now can't feel my chest. Turns out that my decision to wear this outfit.....yeah, retarded. I have been here long enough to not act shocked when the sun goes down at 4 pm, but sure enough on this day, not so much.
On the way back home, we stop at a burger joint called Max Burger. This is like MacDonalds on absolute Steroids. It is extremely tasty. At the fountain drink station, they make it very clear that refills cost 10 kr. We ask Anna about this as it is very crowded and obviously the effort it takes to enforce this rule is clearly not worth the couple times a day that they will collect 10 SEK. Anna just let's us know that it isn't a problem as nowhere in the country can you get free refills so nobody in Sweden has ever gotten one. This is odd as Joe and I have gone to get refills at places, and while we have gotten strange looks, we have not gotten scolded. This explains the looks......oh yeah, and there is apparently only ONE place in all of Stockholm where you will get free refills....TGIFridays. AMERICA!
We trot back home, and after about 15 minutes in my room, I get all the feeling back in my body. There is apparently a huge party at Lappis tonight, but Joe and I are pretty beat from a long day of walking around, braving the cold, fighting wolves, and taking pictures. I have attached the links below this paragraph to both Joe and myself's picasa albums from the day. I will also post my favorites onto the blog.
http://picasaweb.google.com/
http://picasaweb.google.com/
Sunday was a pretty low-key, get ready for school day. I spend the first part of my afternoon trying to sort the trash in my room. There are about 95 different categories you have to sort your trash into to throw it out. It takes me about 2 hours to learn the system and another hour to then sort it. I need to get good at it, as it is my week to be kitchen caretaker next week so I will be sorting trash more than your average UGA grad. I then spend some time studying Swedish, as I have to do my best to impress Frida Mol tomorrow. We make plans to meet up with the Canadian crew at Hard Rock Cafe to watch the AFC championship game at 9, but before that I manage to find a link to stream the GT-FSU basketball game. Being in Sweden and watching Tech BBall games on your computer is different in two ways. a) you curse in swedish and b) you dont have a remote to throw. It is similar in many ways a) Paul Hewitt still looks confused as to what a set play is b) He still calls timeouts at the crappiest times c) They still shoot 50% from the line......I dont know how you can win a close game if you can't shoot free throws and your coach isn't sure what timeouts are for. The best was down 1 with 10 seconds left Brian Oliver nails a wide open three....YES!! Wait, there was a whistle...offensive foul? travel?....nope, Hewitt called a timeout to make sure that instead of taking a wide open three, he draws up one of his "dribble and pass the ball around the three point line before taking a horrible, covered jump shot" Game over. Oh well, off to watch American Football
The Colts handled the Jets pretty easily, not too exciting. They shutdown at midnight, so we can't watch the NFC champ game, which turns out to be a much better game. I did manage to wake up to watch the OT period online. Pretty exciting game it seems. Group meeting and Swedish lessons tomorrow....oh yeah, and we have to pay tons of rent.
Drew In Sweden
Friday, January 22, 2010
New Pics 5
Operation "Keep Swedish People Hot" think this is a 2 pack. they are mistaken....you can eat both
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
First Day Of School
Today is our first day of school! I am very excited to get to see my fellow classmates. Our first class is at 10:15, and it is Leadership. The first thing we do as we walk into the room is to write down the person that most embodies a leader on a post-it and put it on the board. I write down Bruce Springsteen without even thinking about it. Next subject.
After going through some introductions and speaking of the different requirements of the class, we break for coffee. Coffee breaks during every class could get expensive, but I do appreciate the time to stretch my long legs. Directly after the break, some kids come in to talk to us about the career fair coming up shortly. I decide that I will work in Sweden. After that, we go through some of the leaders that were chosen on the post-it board. Somebody makes the comment that most, if not all, of the people that have been chosen are male. Our female teacher wants to address this (clearly a bit worked up). Somebody raises their hand in the back. He says "I think that women just don't" he pauses, thinks about what he is about to say. At KFBS, this is when the person realizes "wait, i am about to say something stupid and then get beat on for the following ten minutes." He then restarts to reword his thoughts...nope "This is because I think women lack the skills it takes be a leader." Fast forward 10 minutes, numerous females spitting fire, and this man crying, and we are back on track. Oddly enough, considering we are in a MBA class, few people picked business leaders. It was almost all political figures. Just an interesting thought.
Our second class is the Psychology of Financial Markets. Our teacher is an absolute goofball. He is clearly very smart, but man he is goofy. I laugh quite a bit through the 100 minutes of our class. When he asks where I attend school, tell him that I went to Ga. Tech and now go to UNC. He says...."ahh, Ga. Tech, that is where" (please dont say Marbury, please dont say Marbury) "Bobby Jones went? Do you play golf" I answer that I do, and he claims that this "gets you bonus points, or at least means I will treat you very fair." Sweet. He looks like a cross between Swedish Rick Moranis and Swedish Michael Bolton (Office Space Michael Bolton). I love him, and he has set the roadmap for what should be a very interesting/informative class.
We grab a quick drink at the Lappis Market, and the TV is on MTV. Luckily, what is showing is "My Super Sweet 16." I just love when shows are on that are exactly how I want the USA to be portrayed. My favorite quote from the episode is when the girl that is 16 years and 0 days old says "I finally got my BMW." God Bless. Those of us from Lappis then head to Saltis for a bit of hanging out. It is now about midnight, and I have two options.....a) Bed b) Try to stream the GT vs. Clemson game that will only make me upset with Paul H. Tough call
* I didn't really write The Boss as my leader
** Saw the prettiest black lab not named Sierra on the Tubin (metro). Apparently they are allowed on some cars, and not on others
***Class trip to Ikea and then out to Cafe Opera tomorrow. Hopefully, good time ensue
After going through some introductions and speaking of the different requirements of the class, we break for coffee. Coffee breaks during every class could get expensive, but I do appreciate the time to stretch my long legs. Directly after the break, some kids come in to talk to us about the career fair coming up shortly. I decide that I will work in Sweden. After that, we go through some of the leaders that were chosen on the post-it board. Somebody makes the comment that most, if not all, of the people that have been chosen are male. Our female teacher wants to address this (clearly a bit worked up). Somebody raises their hand in the back. He says "I think that women just don't" he pauses, thinks about what he is about to say. At KFBS, this is when the person realizes "wait, i am about to say something stupid and then get beat on for the following ten minutes." He then restarts to reword his thoughts...nope "This is because I think women lack the skills it takes be a leader." Fast forward 10 minutes, numerous females spitting fire, and this man crying, and we are back on track. Oddly enough, considering we are in a MBA class, few people picked business leaders. It was almost all political figures. Just an interesting thought.
Our second class is the Psychology of Financial Markets. Our teacher is an absolute goofball. He is clearly very smart, but man he is goofy. I laugh quite a bit through the 100 minutes of our class. When he asks where I attend school, tell him that I went to Ga. Tech and now go to UNC. He says...."ahh, Ga. Tech, that is where" (please dont say Marbury, please dont say Marbury) "Bobby Jones went? Do you play golf" I answer that I do, and he claims that this "gets you bonus points, or at least means I will treat you very fair." Sweet. He looks like a cross between Swedish Rick Moranis and Swedish Michael Bolton (Office Space Michael Bolton). I love him, and he has set the roadmap for what should be a very interesting/informative class.
We grab a quick drink at the Lappis Market, and the TV is on MTV. Luckily, what is showing is "My Super Sweet 16." I just love when shows are on that are exactly how I want the USA to be portrayed. My favorite quote from the episode is when the girl that is 16 years and 0 days old says "I finally got my BMW." God Bless. Those of us from Lappis then head to Saltis for a bit of hanging out. It is now about midnight, and I have two options.....a) Bed b) Try to stream the GT vs. Clemson game that will only make me upset with Paul H. Tough call
* I didn't really write The Boss as my leader
** Saw the prettiest black lab not named Sierra on the Tubin (metro). Apparently they are allowed on some cars, and not on others
***Class trip to Ikea and then out to Cafe Opera tomorrow. Hopefully, good time ensue
Update on Swedish ShipDriver's Escapades
Email from Gustav regarding his friend who walked home without his jacket:
I actually talked to him today, this is what happened afterwards.. after waking up at the other ship drivers place still without his jacket, the two of them decides to go for brunch at place called Kvarnen at södermalm. Unfortunately the place doesn't open until 12 so the two ship drivers decide to kill some time with a beer at the famous "unemployed bar" "gröna jägaren". After 8 beers each, kvarnen opens and the two head over for some much needed brunch and bloody marys. After finishing their brunch and probably a couple of more rounds of bloodys they leave for the bar where they believe ship driver 1 forgot his jacket and keys. Unbelievably, the jacket is still there which off course has to be celebrated.. At this time they also start calling me to explain how great it is that they've found ship driver 1's jacket or something. It's very hard to understand what they are talking about at this point. After this they apparently spontaneously decided to go on a 24h boozecruise to finland and came back to stockholm yesterday night. That's what I call making the best out of the weekend!
I love it
I actually talked to him today, this is what happened afterwards.. after waking up at the other ship drivers place still without his jacket, the two of them decides to go for brunch at place called Kvarnen at södermalm. Unfortunately the place doesn't open until 12 so the two ship drivers decide to kill some time with a beer at the famous "unemployed bar" "gröna jägaren". After 8 beers each, kvarnen opens and the two head over for some much needed brunch and bloody marys. After finishing their brunch and probably a couple of more rounds of bloodys they leave for the bar where they believe ship driver 1 forgot his jacket and keys. Unbelievably, the jacket is still there which off course has to be celebrated.. At this time they also start calling me to explain how great it is that they've found ship driver 1's jacket or something. It's very hard to understand what they are talking about at this point. After this they apparently spontaneously decided to go on a 24h boozecruise to finland and came back to stockholm yesterday night. That's what I call making the best out of the weekend!
I love it
Ongoings From The North
Our Sunday was spent preparing for class and overall relaxing. We did venture out to the "Lappis Market" to see just what kind of rations we have within our living area. Some good things were discovered during this trip
a) We can buy 2 frozen, very hearty pizzas for 45 SEK ($7)
b) We can buy the mixings for an awesome sub sandwich for about 35 SEK ($6)
c) There is a restaurant that serves very good pizza for a reasonable price
d) I watched a women buy a bucket of beers (5 beers) and the man seemed to ring her up for 100 SEK ($15). I am very excited about this. I inquire, and I have not seen incorrectly
e) "Starkol," which is the beer we thought we were drinking at Dovas Pub, is actually the word for "Beer." This probably explains why when we asked for a Starkol at Dovas, Mr. Face Tattoo looked like he wanted to kill us for being American Jackasses.
f) The Starkol that they have on tap, Zheuherts, is 29 SEK. Very Good
This is a productive Sunday. However, it is 16:00 when we are eating at this place, and it is absolutley pitch black. Other than that, good Sunday
We don't have any actual class on Monday, but we do have a Swedish lesson in the afternoon. Now don't get me wrong, I am very interested in learning Swedish, and I think I will soon be a professional Swedish speaker, but there is certainly part of me that is going just to hear our Swedish teacher speak. Joe and I are determined that we are competent enough to learn to read and butcherly speak the language, but I am not sure that I will ever be understand it when spoken conversationally. The sounds are just so very different than anything we have ever tried to speak. After our Swedish lesson, we head back for frozen kebab pizza and a Nurrlands Guld before bed.
a) We can buy 2 frozen, very hearty pizzas for 45 SEK ($7)
b) We can buy the mixings for an awesome sub sandwich for about 35 SEK ($6)
c) There is a restaurant that serves very good pizza for a reasonable price
d) I watched a women buy a bucket of beers (5 beers) and the man seemed to ring her up for 100 SEK ($15). I am very excited about this. I inquire, and I have not seen incorrectly
e) "Starkol," which is the beer we thought we were drinking at Dovas Pub, is actually the word for "Beer." This probably explains why when we asked for a Starkol at Dovas, Mr. Face Tattoo looked like he wanted to kill us for being American Jackasses.
f) The Starkol that they have on tap, Zheuherts, is 29 SEK. Very Good
This is a productive Sunday. However, it is 16:00 when we are eating at this place, and it is absolutley pitch black. Other than that, good Sunday
We don't have any actual class on Monday, but we do have a Swedish lesson in the afternoon. Now don't get me wrong, I am very interested in learning Swedish, and I think I will soon be a professional Swedish speaker, but there is certainly part of me that is going just to hear our Swedish teacher speak. Joe and I are determined that we are competent enough to learn to read and butcherly speak the language, but I am not sure that I will ever be understand it when spoken conversationally. The sounds are just so very different than anything we have ever tried to speak. After our Swedish lesson, we head back for frozen kebab pizza and a Nurrlands Guld before bed.
Monday, January 18, 2010
First Weekend In Sweden
Friday:
Friday starts with a session involving registering on the school's network and getting a library card for the world famous SSE School Library. A productive morning, but certainly nothing that is mindblowingly exciting. This is all we have to do for the day before we meet up with our groups for the quintet of preparties before going out to, as Gustav puts it, "one of the poshiest clubs in Stockholm," Collage. Considering that the night scene in Stockholm is pretty posh overall, I feel that this is definitely saying something.
My night starts at my group leader, Sebastian's apartment. Our group has convened for dinner, and we have chosen to make homemade pizzas. The toppings that are laid out for us are marinara sauce, ham, cheese, and bananas. Ok, not traditional, but certainly worth a shot. Once we have made our banana pizzas, I start to mingle and spread the American brand name. One of the SSE students that is there is named Karl, and he is very enamored with the USA. Specifically, he loves Texas and anybody resembling a cowboy. When I tell him that I am from Georgia, he immediately goes crazy that I am from the same state as Cohutta. For those of you that aren't as nerdy as myself, Cohutta is a character from the Real World: Sydney. He was from the Blue Ridge Mountains area of GA, and he has one of the most absurd southern accents that has ever been spoken. Karl proceed many times throughout the night to scream in the most amazing swedish/southern/cowboy/redneck accent "I'm from Bloooo Ridge Giooorrgia" It is pretty awesome. He also tells me that I will fit in quite nicely on the Booze Cruise as it is for "Swedish Rednecks." Overall though, he is very disappointed with my lack of a thick accent.
After wandering through our preparties, we finally get to Collage. It is pretty much exactly as I had expected. Line outside, very pretty girls that are either mute or dont like to talk to me, and very expensive drinks. We have a good time as a group dancing and soaking in the Stockholm party scene. I only buy one drink while I am there, as my whiskey and ginger ale costs me 150 SEK (about $22). If you ever go to a Stockholm club, stick to beer.....it is about 1/3rd the cost.
The club starts to wind down at 3am, so Joe, Corne, Dana, and myself hop in a cab to head home. Corne and Dana are fellow exchange students who are also living at Lappis with us. They both attend Rotterdam University in the Netherlands. My night ends at about 4 am as we finally get home and wind down. I have survived my first "clubbing" night in Stockholm. I enjoyed myself quite a bit, and I think I managed to not stick out too badly. People, guys especially, don't get especially dressed up, which is nice for me. Everybody more or less just wears jeans and a nice button down shirt. That was a pleasant surprise as I don't have a whole lot more than that.
Saturday morning doesn't exactly come very early. Joe and I both manage to sleep until quite late in the morning. As a result, we don't experience alot of daylight on Saturday. If you want daylight in Sweden, you must wake up pretty early in the morning. We don't really have anything on the schedule today until we meet up at Oskar's place at 7. We do remember, just in time, that if we are going to bring anything to Oskar's place, we must get to the System Bolaget (govt stores) by 3pm when they close. Once we get there, we realize that 2:45 on Saturday is a VERY popular time to be in these stores. After we buy our supplies for the evening, we grab a kebab on the way home and head back to Lappis.
We get to Oskar's place at 7. He lives in the "Old Town" which is a really nice part of town. He lives in an apartment that is about 100 meters from where the princess will be getting married this summer. The lady that used own the apartment building died about 50 years ago, and in her will she declared that the apartments will always be used for student housing. It is a really nice place, and he lives with 5 other students. We go up on the roof, because there is an amazing view of the city. Pictures to be posted. Anna also met us at Oskar's to head out with us later on to meet Gustav. She is very excited to meet Oskar as he is very famous in Chapel Hill, and she has heard quite a bit about him.
We then head out to meet up with Gustav at a more casual bar than the aforementioned Collage. This is more of a Highlands/Franklin Street type bar. The beers are actually pretty reasonably priced here, which is a nice relief. Gustav introduces us to his friend who is a ship driver. He apparently spends his time driving cargo ships around, making a lot of money, and spending none of it. He decides on this night, his money is best spent on many shots for himself. He apparently gets enough alcohol in him that he makes it all the way home without realizing that he has forgotten his jacket. Now I can see losing/forgetting a lot of things in this city, but a jacket is not one of them. I couldn't walk 3 seconds outside without realizing I am missing even one of the two jackets I always have on. This is especially unfortunate since his keys were in his jacket pocket.
It was certainly great to see Gustav and Oskar. Luckily, we are in bed at a slightly more reasonable hour this evening. An awesome first couple weekend nights out in the capital of Scandinavia. A nice relaxing couple days ahead before we start classes on Tuesday.
Drew
Friday starts with a session involving registering on the school's network and getting a library card for the world famous SSE School Library. A productive morning, but certainly nothing that is mindblowingly exciting. This is all we have to do for the day before we meet up with our groups for the quintet of preparties before going out to, as Gustav puts it, "one of the poshiest clubs in Stockholm," Collage. Considering that the night scene in Stockholm is pretty posh overall, I feel that this is definitely saying something.
My night starts at my group leader, Sebastian's apartment. Our group has convened for dinner, and we have chosen to make homemade pizzas. The toppings that are laid out for us are marinara sauce, ham, cheese, and bananas. Ok, not traditional, but certainly worth a shot. Once we have made our banana pizzas, I start to mingle and spread the American brand name. One of the SSE students that is there is named Karl, and he is very enamored with the USA. Specifically, he loves Texas and anybody resembling a cowboy. When I tell him that I am from Georgia, he immediately goes crazy that I am from the same state as Cohutta. For those of you that aren't as nerdy as myself, Cohutta is a character from the Real World: Sydney. He was from the Blue Ridge Mountains area of GA, and he has one of the most absurd southern accents that has ever been spoken. Karl proceed many times throughout the night to scream in the most amazing swedish/southern/cowboy/redneck accent "I'm from Bloooo Ridge Giooorrgia" It is pretty awesome. He also tells me that I will fit in quite nicely on the Booze Cruise as it is for "Swedish Rednecks." Overall though, he is very disappointed with my lack of a thick accent.
After wandering through our preparties, we finally get to Collage. It is pretty much exactly as I had expected. Line outside, very pretty girls that are either mute or dont like to talk to me, and very expensive drinks. We have a good time as a group dancing and soaking in the Stockholm party scene. I only buy one drink while I am there, as my whiskey and ginger ale costs me 150 SEK (about $22). If you ever go to a Stockholm club, stick to beer.....it is about 1/3rd the cost.
The club starts to wind down at 3am, so Joe, Corne, Dana, and myself hop in a cab to head home. Corne and Dana are fellow exchange students who are also living at Lappis with us. They both attend Rotterdam University in the Netherlands. My night ends at about 4 am as we finally get home and wind down. I have survived my first "clubbing" night in Stockholm. I enjoyed myself quite a bit, and I think I managed to not stick out too badly. People, guys especially, don't get especially dressed up, which is nice for me. Everybody more or less just wears jeans and a nice button down shirt. That was a pleasant surprise as I don't have a whole lot more than that.
Saturday morning doesn't exactly come very early. Joe and I both manage to sleep until quite late in the morning. As a result, we don't experience alot of daylight on Saturday. If you want daylight in Sweden, you must wake up pretty early in the morning. We don't really have anything on the schedule today until we meet up at Oskar's place at 7. We do remember, just in time, that if we are going to bring anything to Oskar's place, we must get to the System Bolaget (govt stores) by 3pm when they close. Once we get there, we realize that 2:45 on Saturday is a VERY popular time to be in these stores. After we buy our supplies for the evening, we grab a kebab on the way home and head back to Lappis.
We get to Oskar's place at 7. He lives in the "Old Town" which is a really nice part of town. He lives in an apartment that is about 100 meters from where the princess will be getting married this summer. The lady that used own the apartment building died about 50 years ago, and in her will she declared that the apartments will always be used for student housing. It is a really nice place, and he lives with 5 other students. We go up on the roof, because there is an amazing view of the city. Pictures to be posted. Anna also met us at Oskar's to head out with us later on to meet Gustav. She is very excited to meet Oskar as he is very famous in Chapel Hill, and she has heard quite a bit about him.
We then head out to meet up with Gustav at a more casual bar than the aforementioned Collage. This is more of a Highlands/Franklin Street type bar. The beers are actually pretty reasonably priced here, which is a nice relief. Gustav introduces us to his friend who is a ship driver. He apparently spends his time driving cargo ships around, making a lot of money, and spending none of it. He decides on this night, his money is best spent on many shots for himself. He apparently gets enough alcohol in him that he makes it all the way home without realizing that he has forgotten his jacket. Now I can see losing/forgetting a lot of things in this city, but a jacket is not one of them. I couldn't walk 3 seconds outside without realizing I am missing even one of the two jackets I always have on. This is especially unfortunate since his keys were in his jacket pocket.
It was certainly great to see Gustav and Oskar. Luckily, we are in bed at a slightly more reasonable hour this evening. An awesome first couple weekend nights out in the capital of Scandinavia. A nice relaxing couple days ahead before we start classes on Tuesday.
Drew
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Pics 3
One picture of a Stockholm Center Shopping area mixed with 4 pictures of the pups that I wish I could have brought with me to the financial capital of the Vikings. Have seen WAY more dogs here than I expected. Also, they bring them onto trains and into stores....no worries
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