Monday is a sad day, as it marks our last Swedish class with Frida. I head into town early to get myself a haircut. I walk into a place that has a sign for student haircuts for 190 SEK ($28). After I am done, I go to check out and hand him what I think is 240 SEK. I am not sure whether or not to tip, but I just figure I will anyways. He looks at me like I am crazy, and I say, yeah that is for you. He looks at me even more confused, and it takes me a second to realize that I have only given him 140 SEK. This would explain the reason that he wasn't happy with his tip. I give him another 100 and he seems very pleased. Joe says later that people don't tip for haircuts....oh well.
Our last Swedish class is a lesson on all of the Swedish holidays. They certainly have a lot of them, and most involve tons of food, dancing, and singing. Most of the holidays seem to involve a specialty food that sounds....well kinda gross. And Frida doesn't seem to disagree with this fact, as she makes interesting faces while describing most of the dishes. The worst of which seems to be some sort of rotten herring they bury underground. However, the holidays all sound like a lot of fun, especially MidSummer. This is the biggest holiday in Sweden. Everybody leaves the city and heads for the country for 24 hours of daylight to drink, sing, and dance. She teaches us a midsummer song that they sing while they dance around a maypole. It is called Sma Grodorna, and the words are as follows:
Små Grodorna, Små Grodorna
Ar lustiga att se
Små Grodorna, Små Grodorna
Ar lustiga att se
Ej Oron, Ej Oron
Ej svansar hava de
Ej Oron, Ej Oron
Ej svansar hava de
Koacka ka koacka ka, koacka kacka ka
Koacka ka koacka ka, koacka kacka ka
Translated that is loosely:
Small Frog, Small Frog
Funny You Are To See
Small Frog, Small Frog
Funny You Are To See
You have no ears, you have no ears
you have no tail
You have no ears, you have no ears
you have no tail
Ribbit Ribbit Ribbit, Ribbit Ribbit
Ribbit Ribbit Ribbit, Ribbit Ribbit
and here of course is a clip from youtube to illustrate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on9PLzlY0Ww
Frida sings it for us and does the little dance, which is pretty awesome. She then gets the group of us to do the same. It is pretty funny, and she gets a huge kick out of it. Certainly the highlight of the Swedish class. We collect our certificates for having attended enough classes to be Swedish pros, and we head out. It is definitely sad to know that Frida is walking out of our lives forever....
Also, the other thing that comes with the even colder than normal weather is that the bus schedule has turned erratic and impossible to count on. This makes getting to class on time, very difficult. We will be walking more places until it warms up I suppose....
In unrelated to Sweden news, I will be flying to Dallas for final rounds with AT&T on March 8th. Awesome way to spend a birthday....but definitely excited about the opportunity. Poor timing, as I miss almost a full week in Europe, including my planned Barcelona trip. However, certainly glad to have the opportunity.
Drew
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Weekend In The City
The weekend started on Thursday with a night out at Sturecompanient with a group of exchange students. Nothing special, although the evening did start with my first fall down. I have been here 7 weeks and managed not slip badly enough to actually fall down, so it was bound to happen. We were getting off the bus at our metro stop, Universitetet, the slipperiest place in Stockholm. I planted on my right foot way too hard, and launched up into the air. I got absolutely parallel to the ground before eating it on my bum. Luckily, all that was hurt was my pride as the group got a good laugh out of it.
On Friday, Joe and I woke up to walk around Gamla Stan and take some pictures of some sights. We make the decision to dress kind of light, as it doesn't seem to cold outside. We stop for lunch, and by the time we are done, it is about 20 below 0. We walk around for a couple hours before the weather gets to be absolutely unbearable. However, we are able to get some good pictures of the snowy Old City.
Saturday, Oskar's apartment building is throwing a party on account of one of the tenants moving out. We head that way at about 9:00 and stop for a drink at an Irish pub near Oskar's place. We grab a couple seats at the bar next to a guy in a kilt and a scary looking guy. About 20 minutes in, their is a scuffle in the soccer game that is on, and the scary looking guy gives me a little elbow and says "I thought this was a game for poofters played by fairies, why are they acting tough?" Too which I smile and nervously laugh. We find out that he is from Australia, so he is used to rugby and aussie rules football. He proceeds to make about 20 inappropriate comments over the next 30 minutes, but Joe and I continue the nervous laughter at the fear that we might take a shiv to the neck otherwise.
We then head off to Oskar's place. We get there in time to cheer the Swedes to a gold and a bronze in the 30 km combined cross country skiing. We then head to the basement for the party. Oskar's building has a cave-like basement that is both convenient for parties and a bit scary. There is a DJ and a bar down there, and we spend our evening dancing and drinking the night away. Being in a cave does have the effect of causing you to lose track of time. At about 4, I decide to hop on the metro and head home. Oddly enough, I run into a couple classmates on the metro so I have some company trucking through the snow from our metro stop to home. Btw, this is probably the coldest night since we have been here. The walk home is brutal....snowing, wind howling, and freezing. But certainly a great evening. Oskar and company throw one serious party.
On Friday, Joe and I woke up to walk around Gamla Stan and take some pictures of some sights. We make the decision to dress kind of light, as it doesn't seem to cold outside. We stop for lunch, and by the time we are done, it is about 20 below 0. We walk around for a couple hours before the weather gets to be absolutely unbearable. However, we are able to get some good pictures of the snowy Old City.
Saturday, Oskar's apartment building is throwing a party on account of one of the tenants moving out. We head that way at about 9:00 and stop for a drink at an Irish pub near Oskar's place. We grab a couple seats at the bar next to a guy in a kilt and a scary looking guy. About 20 minutes in, their is a scuffle in the soccer game that is on, and the scary looking guy gives me a little elbow and says "I thought this was a game for poofters played by fairies, why are they acting tough?" Too which I smile and nervously laugh. We find out that he is from Australia, so he is used to rugby and aussie rules football. He proceeds to make about 20 inappropriate comments over the next 30 minutes, but Joe and I continue the nervous laughter at the fear that we might take a shiv to the neck otherwise.
We then head off to Oskar's place. We get there in time to cheer the Swedes to a gold and a bronze in the 30 km combined cross country skiing. We then head to the basement for the party. Oskar's building has a cave-like basement that is both convenient for parties and a bit scary. There is a DJ and a bar down there, and we spend our evening dancing and drinking the night away. Being in a cave does have the effect of causing you to lose track of time. At about 4, I decide to hop on the metro and head home. Oddly enough, I run into a couple classmates on the metro so I have some company trucking through the snow from our metro stop to home. Btw, this is probably the coldest night since we have been here. The walk home is brutal....snowing, wind howling, and freezing. But certainly a great evening. Oskar and company throw one serious party.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
If You French Fry When You Should Pizza.....
You're gonna have a bad time - Tad McKowski. "Stan Darsh"
Joe and I set out on our first skiing expedition on Wednesday. Now I use the term skiing expedition lightly as it is a couple hills built on a landfill in the middle of the city.....but whatever, skiing is fun regardless. I wake up to see that it is snowing outside, which is pretty awesome....powder, here I come. This means that I can cut even harder than normal, as I have no doubt that I will hope right back into the saddle even though I haven't been skiing since I have been able to legally drink alcohol....sadly, that is a very long time
I wake up and put on every piece of clothing I brought to Stockholm. I have so many clothes on that I think I lose about 8 pounds on the metro on the way to the ski hill. We get up the counter to get our ski rentals and the lady asks Joe what size boot he needs. He responds "48" she double takes....umm, let me see if I have that. We don't normally get giants here. She thens asks him how tall he is, to which he responds 190 cm. She then asks me the same two questions. In any situation, my 170 cm is not exactly impressive, but after the 190, I believe she thinks I am a midget. "Let me head to the kid's section and see what I can find."
We get to the bottom of the hill and realized that instead of a chair lift, they have a T-bar lift. Neither Joe nor myself have ever used one of these. However, we see a bunch of 7 year olds successfully navigating it, how hard can it be. We get to the front of the line, and Joe hops up to the plate. Of course there is a cute girl working the lift, making it that much more nerveracking. He is on a snowboard, so he has it pointing out front with one foot in boot and the other out. The girl asks if he needs help, but of course we are big boys and can do it ourselves. Joe misses the first two that come at him as the young kids behind us let out collective groans. I am not a mind reader, but I believe they are thinking "who are these old clowns that can't figure out how to get up the mountain?" Finally, Joe catches the third one that comes by. Sweet, now it is my turn. As I am about to grab the first bar that swings by, I hear three noises. A clunk to the ground, an english obscenity, and the laughter of kids behind me. I look up and Joe has fallen off his T-bar and is now rolling down the mountain. It was truly one of the great sites I have seen in Stockholm. I go ahead and grab my T-bar and head up the mountain as I pretend to not know him.
I manage to hop pretty quickly into my skiing routine. Making cuts, hitting jumps.....pretty awesome. I do quickly remember that skiing is quite a workout on the legs. After our first run down, we collect to hop back in line for the T-bars. Never have I been more nervous for something so simple. The girl sees us coming this time and walks up to help us the way that she does when the toddlers come up. Joe, has another train wreck, but not quite as spectacular this time. It takes him about 4 attempts to finally grab a T-bar, but no rolling down the mountain. After a couple runs, we get the hang of it all. We are comfortable enough that when the girl offers to help Joe, he says "I got the hang of it now." Sure enough.....fall number two, rolling down the mountain again. Amazing...
After 3 hours of skiing, we hit up Max on the home. I certainly wore way to many clothes as it really wasn't very cold. Next time I will remember to not wear quite so much. We have our 2nd to last Swedish class, so we gotta hurry back. We have pharmaceutical phrases to learn, and I gotta soak up my last couple hours with Frida the amazing Swedish teacher.
Joe and I set out on our first skiing expedition on Wednesday. Now I use the term skiing expedition lightly as it is a couple hills built on a landfill in the middle of the city.....but whatever, skiing is fun regardless. I wake up to see that it is snowing outside, which is pretty awesome....powder, here I come. This means that I can cut even harder than normal, as I have no doubt that I will hope right back into the saddle even though I haven't been skiing since I have been able to legally drink alcohol....sadly, that is a very long time
I wake up and put on every piece of clothing I brought to Stockholm. I have so many clothes on that I think I lose about 8 pounds on the metro on the way to the ski hill. We get up the counter to get our ski rentals and the lady asks Joe what size boot he needs. He responds "48" she double takes....umm, let me see if I have that. We don't normally get giants here. She thens asks him how tall he is, to which he responds 190 cm. She then asks me the same two questions. In any situation, my 170 cm is not exactly impressive, but after the 190, I believe she thinks I am a midget. "Let me head to the kid's section and see what I can find."
We get to the bottom of the hill and realized that instead of a chair lift, they have a T-bar lift. Neither Joe nor myself have ever used one of these. However, we see a bunch of 7 year olds successfully navigating it, how hard can it be. We get to the front of the line, and Joe hops up to the plate. Of course there is a cute girl working the lift, making it that much more nerveracking. He is on a snowboard, so he has it pointing out front with one foot in boot and the other out. The girl asks if he needs help, but of course we are big boys and can do it ourselves. Joe misses the first two that come at him as the young kids behind us let out collective groans. I am not a mind reader, but I believe they are thinking "who are these old clowns that can't figure out how to get up the mountain?" Finally, Joe catches the third one that comes by. Sweet, now it is my turn. As I am about to grab the first bar that swings by, I hear three noises. A clunk to the ground, an english obscenity, and the laughter of kids behind me. I look up and Joe has fallen off his T-bar and is now rolling down the mountain. It was truly one of the great sites I have seen in Stockholm. I go ahead and grab my T-bar and head up the mountain as I pretend to not know him.
I manage to hop pretty quickly into my skiing routine. Making cuts, hitting jumps.....pretty awesome. I do quickly remember that skiing is quite a workout on the legs. After our first run down, we collect to hop back in line for the T-bars. Never have I been more nervous for something so simple. The girl sees us coming this time and walks up to help us the way that she does when the toddlers come up. Joe, has another train wreck, but not quite as spectacular this time. It takes him about 4 attempts to finally grab a T-bar, but no rolling down the mountain. After a couple runs, we get the hang of it all. We are comfortable enough that when the girl offers to help Joe, he says "I got the hang of it now." Sure enough.....fall number two, rolling down the mountain again. Amazing...
After 3 hours of skiing, we hit up Max on the home. I certainly wore way to many clothes as it really wasn't very cold. Next time I will remember to not wear quite so much. We have our 2nd to last Swedish class, so we gotta hurry back. We have pharmaceutical phrases to learn, and I gotta soak up my last couple hours with Frida the amazing Swedish teacher.
Monday, February 15, 2010
A Long Weekend In Stockholm
The annual career fair, Handelsdagarna, took place this past week at school, so as a result, we didn't have our normal classes on Thursday. This gave us a nice, 6 day weekend. On top of that, Handelsdagarna is very much a work hard, play hard type career fair. Everybody does their smoozing during the day, and then school throws huge parties in the evening.
Wednesday, after the Vasa Museum trip, we met up with Corne at the restaurant within Lappis. We had a couple beers there before heading over to the University of Stockholm for a party there. We weren't looking for a late night, and that was probably a good thing, as this party had the main effect of making Joe and I feel ancient. Also, Corne ran into one of his German lady friends with a couple of her German friends. They couldn't run quickly enough to circle around the Dutch German-magnet. It is truly an impressive phenomenon
Thursday night the plan was to head over to school for one of the Handelsdagarna afterparties. Beforehand, Joe and I decide to head to Dovas for a couple drinks and some facetime with face tattoo man. The crowd here tonight is actually very nice, and a little bit more our speed. There is one girl in the corner that would be extremely pretty if you could talk her into removing the bull/nosering thing she has going on. In all seriousness, this place is not so bad after 10; just an odd group during the day. One kid is very drunk causing the owner, one of the scariest men I have ever seen, to just stare at him and his friends. Very glad to not be a part of that group....we enjoy a couple starkols and head over to the party. The party at school is indeed as crazy as Gustav had described. Odd versions of MJ songs blaring and drink being drank....
On Friday, Oskar has invited us to eat a very Swedish dinner at his family's place. This will give us a chance to meet Oskar's dad and brothers and enjoy some fine cuisine. We grab a bottle of good old fashioned Napa Valley wine and head on over. We aren't sure exactly what to expect on a food and drink level, but we have heard that moosemeat is on the menu. The first thing that I notice is that we have one napkin, two forks, and three.....drinking glasses. First things first, a round of a traditional Swedish liquor, aquavit, is poured for us to sip on prior to eating. Skoal.....and that was not sipped, that was shot. I see how we are doing this. Aquavit is actually quite smooth on the way down for being 80 proof, but the aftertaste is very....interesting. Heinekens are then poured into the beer glass and we work on the starters. The first round is some flatbread with herring and some sort of sauce on top. I feel like Jim as I stare nervously at the dish. It wasn't exactly my thing, but certainly delicious in its own way.
After round 1, more Swedish liquor is poured and shot, and then the moosemeat is brought out. The moosemeat is very delicious. Not quite as "gamey" as I had expected, but very tasty. Along with the moosemeat, is a dish that is very similar to potatos au gratin, but includes onions and some different flavored spices. It is amazing. I help myself to many helpings of both that and the moosemeat while of course not ignoring the Heineken glass. Also, whenever one person gets the inkling for some Swedish liquor, they are not supposed to drink alone, so a skoal is called out and we all drink.
During the main course, some zingers are thrown out amongst the family. Oskar's brothers are significantly less outspoken, so Oskar teases them about this and claims after one of the skoals where Petter is forced to leave the table "I have failed my family. I have not properly taught my younger brothers how to drink." Oskar's dad also delivers a nice one when he tells Oskar that he needs to figure out how to find a lady. All in all, nice to see that picking on family members extends outside the Johnston household.
After the main course, wine is poured into our third drinking glass, and desert is brought out. With desert is the introduction of coffee and then of course a fourth drinking glass for any scotch you might desire. Having never been one to turn down a nice scotch, I oblige. We eat a cheesecake type dessert that is also delicious, and I am full in both my eating and drinking stomachs. The conversation then somehow turns to tax policy somehow and Joe is using words too big for me to understand, which I imagine means those to which English is a 2nd language are also a bit confused. Although it is hard to keep Joe's average word size down after a couple shots of Aquavit and some Heineken. After enjoying a couple cups of some strong Swedish coffee, we are ready to head to school. As I stand to leave, I remember that we had four separate vehicles in which to drink alcohol out of during dinner. I also think that during that meal, I doubled the amount of Heineken I have had in my lifetime as it has not traditionally been a Drew beer of choice. Regardless, we head to school. We know there will be a queue, but Oskar "knows a guy in the choir." I chuckle for two reasons 1) guy in the choir and 2) this wields power? To which Oskar shuts down both with 1) Well he hangs out with all girls, mostly Swedish and they sing and drink wine together and 2) apparently so.
We get to school, and there is indeed a huge queue. Luckily Oskar's friend comes to meet us. Oskar then comes over and says "we will have to wait a while, so lets grab a drink across the street" Apparently, his connection allowed him the ability to chat with said choir boy, but not actually enter the party. We head over to NSee bar for a quick drink, and we will try our luck later. By the time we enter the party, Joe and I are a bit spent, so we actually leave very shortly thereafter. Oskar has disappeared into the mix to find Mrs. Kroenmark. We head on back after a very fun, Swedish meaty night.
Wednesday, after the Vasa Museum trip, we met up with Corne at the restaurant within Lappis. We had a couple beers there before heading over to the University of Stockholm for a party there. We weren't looking for a late night, and that was probably a good thing, as this party had the main effect of making Joe and I feel ancient. Also, Corne ran into one of his German lady friends with a couple of her German friends. They couldn't run quickly enough to circle around the Dutch German-magnet. It is truly an impressive phenomenon
Thursday night the plan was to head over to school for one of the Handelsdagarna afterparties. Beforehand, Joe and I decide to head to Dovas for a couple drinks and some facetime with face tattoo man. The crowd here tonight is actually very nice, and a little bit more our speed. There is one girl in the corner that would be extremely pretty if you could talk her into removing the bull/nosering thing she has going on. In all seriousness, this place is not so bad after 10; just an odd group during the day. One kid is very drunk causing the owner, one of the scariest men I have ever seen, to just stare at him and his friends. Very glad to not be a part of that group....we enjoy a couple starkols and head over to the party. The party at school is indeed as crazy as Gustav had described. Odd versions of MJ songs blaring and drink being drank....
On Friday, Oskar has invited us to eat a very Swedish dinner at his family's place. This will give us a chance to meet Oskar's dad and brothers and enjoy some fine cuisine. We grab a bottle of good old fashioned Napa Valley wine and head on over. We aren't sure exactly what to expect on a food and drink level, but we have heard that moosemeat is on the menu. The first thing that I notice is that we have one napkin, two forks, and three.....drinking glasses. First things first, a round of a traditional Swedish liquor, aquavit, is poured for us to sip on prior to eating. Skoal.....and that was not sipped, that was shot. I see how we are doing this. Aquavit is actually quite smooth on the way down for being 80 proof, but the aftertaste is very....interesting. Heinekens are then poured into the beer glass and we work on the starters. The first round is some flatbread with herring and some sort of sauce on top. I feel like Jim as I stare nervously at the dish. It wasn't exactly my thing, but certainly delicious in its own way.
After round 1, more Swedish liquor is poured and shot, and then the moosemeat is brought out. The moosemeat is very delicious. Not quite as "gamey" as I had expected, but very tasty. Along with the moosemeat, is a dish that is very similar to potatos au gratin, but includes onions and some different flavored spices. It is amazing. I help myself to many helpings of both that and the moosemeat while of course not ignoring the Heineken glass. Also, whenever one person gets the inkling for some Swedish liquor, they are not supposed to drink alone, so a skoal is called out and we all drink.
During the main course, some zingers are thrown out amongst the family. Oskar's brothers are significantly less outspoken, so Oskar teases them about this and claims after one of the skoals where Petter is forced to leave the table "I have failed my family. I have not properly taught my younger brothers how to drink." Oskar's dad also delivers a nice one when he tells Oskar that he needs to figure out how to find a lady. All in all, nice to see that picking on family members extends outside the Johnston household.
After the main course, wine is poured into our third drinking glass, and desert is brought out. With desert is the introduction of coffee and then of course a fourth drinking glass for any scotch you might desire. Having never been one to turn down a nice scotch, I oblige. We eat a cheesecake type dessert that is also delicious, and I am full in both my eating and drinking stomachs. The conversation then somehow turns to tax policy somehow and Joe is using words too big for me to understand, which I imagine means those to which English is a 2nd language are also a bit confused. Although it is hard to keep Joe's average word size down after a couple shots of Aquavit and some Heineken. After enjoying a couple cups of some strong Swedish coffee, we are ready to head to school. As I stand to leave, I remember that we had four separate vehicles in which to drink alcohol out of during dinner. I also think that during that meal, I doubled the amount of Heineken I have had in my lifetime as it has not traditionally been a Drew beer of choice. Regardless, we head to school. We know there will be a queue, but Oskar "knows a guy in the choir." I chuckle for two reasons 1) guy in the choir and 2) this wields power? To which Oskar shuts down both with 1) Well he hangs out with all girls, mostly Swedish and they sing and drink wine together and 2) apparently so.
We get to school, and there is indeed a huge queue. Luckily Oskar's friend comes to meet us. Oskar then comes over and says "we will have to wait a while, so lets grab a drink across the street" Apparently, his connection allowed him the ability to chat with said choir boy, but not actually enter the party. We head over to NSee bar for a quick drink, and we will try our luck later. By the time we enter the party, Joe and I are a bit spent, so we actually leave very shortly thereafter. Oskar has disappeared into the mix to find Mrs. Kroenmark. We head on back after a very fun, Swedish meaty night.
More Vasa Pics
- Walking through the ship, I realize I am the perfect height to be a Swedish sailor in the 1600s....Joe is not.
- At the bottom is the king when the ship was commissioned: King....Gustav. There is also a picture of how Gustav looks today
- Diving Bell for those in the navy that REALLY trust physics
- Eat your vitamin C kids
Vasa Museum
some shots of the ship. couldnt get all of it in one picture. also, the harbor and the museum from outside on this beautiful day. and...the cheap chinese buffet we rolled the proverbial dice on. not really "all you can eat" when you only get 10 ounces of Coke. Painfully ironic that a country that loves the use of salt as much as Sweden is oddly limiting with their drink portions.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Quick Link To Pics
Joe and I walked around a bit today and went to the Vasa Museum. Going to meetup with Corne for drinks, but just wanted to post the link real quick. Commentary on the trip to come later after said drinks.
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnstondrew/VasaMuseum#
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnstondrew/VasaMuseum#
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Another Fun-Filled Weekend
I have posted some pictures from this past weekend, but I figured I should give a bit of context to them. Our weekend started by yet again meeting Gustav at Sturehof after he got off of work. This is a very popular after work spot for 20 somethings in Stockholm. We grab a place along the sidebar that happens to also look out at the entrance. It is very hard to pay attention to Gustav as he tries to tell us about his week as the young professionals pour in. Everytime Gustav introduces us to one of his work friends, we say "oh yeah, we are going to a Bandi game tonight" and they all give us the same "really??" face/reaction. Sweet, we are fired up.
We head to meet up with Oskar at the Bandi game. It just so happens that it is Oskar's team, Hammarby that is hosting tonight. From all that we have heard from Oskar, Hammarby is not the best club to be a fan of. Their soccer team won the championship in 2001 and promptly fired their trainer. Since then, they have been relegated two divisions. Their hockey team has declared bankrupcty, and apparently their Bandi team is very good, but they always choke in big games. So their Bandi team is like UGA's football team it sounds like....
The Bandi game is all that we imagined. For those of you that have been to a futbol game, you know that there are hooligans dispersed throughout the crowd. This crowd is like that, without the non-hooligans. It is like all the hooligans need their hooliganish fix, so if there isn't a futbol game going on, then Bandi it is. We immediately get swept up in the Hammarby allegiance. Hammarby scores to go up 1-0 in the first half, and Oskar teaches us their only cheer. The only word in the cheer is Hammarby, said many times over to a cute little tune. It is very impressive. Hammarby leads 3-2 at halftime, and we head into the drink tent for a refreshment. In the 2nd half, Hammarby is leading 4-3 as we cross the 90th minute and into stoppage time. This is when I notice the shirtless guys standing in the -10 degree weather. In the 95th minute, the opposing team scores to tie the game at four, and a minute later, the game ends in a draw. I am now very aware of the heartbreak that Oskar speaks of as an HIF fan.
Saturday evening is the night of our exchange dinner at school. We get all dressed up and head out for dinner at 7. As I walk outside for the first time in anything other than my boots, I realize that it is almost certain that I fall down and rip my pants or break a hip. Not only am I not in boots, but I am in dress shoes that seem to be newly waxxed on the bottom. This is going to be interesting. The event starts with us all in the lobby drinking some weird raspberry vodka/mineral water combination. At dinner, we are served mashed potatoes, lingenberry, and oddly shaped swedish meatballs. This cuisine is not the most shocking thing that has happened to us since we have been here. The next very not shocking thing, the post party plan is to head to Cafe Opera....yeah, we have been there.
We head off to Cafe Opera, and the coat line is absolutely absurd. This is certainly a downside to living in a country that has the deadly combination of super cold weather and an obsession with looking hot all the time. An hour later, we are good to go. We are coming into Cafe Opera on the heels of a company event of some sort. As a result, it is an oil and vinegar effect as the young idiots pour in and the old guys try to rush out. Although many cougars stay back and lurch in the crowd.....it is dangerous out there, and I just pray that the young guys in our program keep their eyes open. It is also Corne's birthday, and everybody takes this as an excuse to buy him a tequila shot. I am very impressed that when we leave, he is still standing given that he has had quite a few of these. I do my best to fight off all the Germans trying to battle for his love and get him back to Lappis. Btw, I cracked the Cafe Opera music code. They have a 90-120 minute tape that they just loop. I think this was the first night that we were there for more than 120 minutes, so I just realized it, but there is no doubt that it loops. I am not sure that Ronnie or the Situation would put up with this. No way Karma would pull this shi.....
On a random side note, as we are waiting to grab a cab, we hear a girl say something along the lines of "wait up yall." This triggers Joe and my "southern american radar." We ask the girl where she is from, and it turns out, she goes to ECU and her parents live in Durham. Small world. Her and a friend are visiting Stockholm from Orebro (about 2 hours away and in the middle of nowhere). Anyways, when we tell her we are from Chapel Hill, she proceeds to make sounds that would have driven Sierra crazy....and Sierra might have heard them in Atlanta at this level.
We head home to rest up for a big American Sunday. Oskar and AC have invited us to join them at TGI Fridays....the only place in the country with free refills. Very excited about some American cuisine and football in which you can use your hands and it is not encouraged to flop whenever somebody touches you.
Drew
We head to meet up with Oskar at the Bandi game. It just so happens that it is Oskar's team, Hammarby that is hosting tonight. From all that we have heard from Oskar, Hammarby is not the best club to be a fan of. Their soccer team won the championship in 2001 and promptly fired their trainer. Since then, they have been relegated two divisions. Their hockey team has declared bankrupcty, and apparently their Bandi team is very good, but they always choke in big games. So their Bandi team is like UGA's football team it sounds like....
The Bandi game is all that we imagined. For those of you that have been to a futbol game, you know that there are hooligans dispersed throughout the crowd. This crowd is like that, without the non-hooligans. It is like all the hooligans need their hooliganish fix, so if there isn't a futbol game going on, then Bandi it is. We immediately get swept up in the Hammarby allegiance. Hammarby scores to go up 1-0 in the first half, and Oskar teaches us their only cheer. The only word in the cheer is Hammarby, said many times over to a cute little tune. It is very impressive. Hammarby leads 3-2 at halftime, and we head into the drink tent for a refreshment. In the 2nd half, Hammarby is leading 4-3 as we cross the 90th minute and into stoppage time. This is when I notice the shirtless guys standing in the -10 degree weather. In the 95th minute, the opposing team scores to tie the game at four, and a minute later, the game ends in a draw. I am now very aware of the heartbreak that Oskar speaks of as an HIF fan.
Saturday evening is the night of our exchange dinner at school. We get all dressed up and head out for dinner at 7. As I walk outside for the first time in anything other than my boots, I realize that it is almost certain that I fall down and rip my pants or break a hip. Not only am I not in boots, but I am in dress shoes that seem to be newly waxxed on the bottom. This is going to be interesting. The event starts with us all in the lobby drinking some weird raspberry vodka/mineral water combination. At dinner, we are served mashed potatoes, lingenberry, and oddly shaped swedish meatballs. This cuisine is not the most shocking thing that has happened to us since we have been here. The next very not shocking thing, the post party plan is to head to Cafe Opera....yeah, we have been there.
We head off to Cafe Opera, and the coat line is absolutely absurd. This is certainly a downside to living in a country that has the deadly combination of super cold weather and an obsession with looking hot all the time. An hour later, we are good to go. We are coming into Cafe Opera on the heels of a company event of some sort. As a result, it is an oil and vinegar effect as the young idiots pour in and the old guys try to rush out. Although many cougars stay back and lurch in the crowd.....it is dangerous out there, and I just pray that the young guys in our program keep their eyes open. It is also Corne's birthday, and everybody takes this as an excuse to buy him a tequila shot. I am very impressed that when we leave, he is still standing given that he has had quite a few of these. I do my best to fight off all the Germans trying to battle for his love and get him back to Lappis. Btw, I cracked the Cafe Opera music code. They have a 90-120 minute tape that they just loop. I think this was the first night that we were there for more than 120 minutes, so I just realized it, but there is no doubt that it loops. I am not sure that Ronnie or the Situation would put up with this. No way Karma would pull this shi.....
On a random side note, as we are waiting to grab a cab, we hear a girl say something along the lines of "wait up yall." This triggers Joe and my "southern american radar." We ask the girl where she is from, and it turns out, she goes to ECU and her parents live in Durham. Small world. Her and a friend are visiting Stockholm from Orebro (about 2 hours away and in the middle of nowhere). Anyways, when we tell her we are from Chapel Hill, she proceeds to make sounds that would have driven Sierra crazy....and Sierra might have heard them in Atlanta at this level.
We head home to rest up for a big American Sunday. Oskar and AC have invited us to join them at TGI Fridays....the only place in the country with free refills. Very excited about some American cuisine and football in which you can use your hands and it is not encouraged to flop whenever somebody touches you.
Drew
Monday, February 8, 2010
More Pics
Documentation of a Chapel Hill boy lost in Stockholm as we stumbled upon a fellow Carolina soul. Also a couple pics from Friday night. Crazy fans at Bandi, the guys in the Bandi concessions tent and crazy Hammarby fans. 
Pics From SB Weekend
American Day on SB Sunday included a stop at Friday's where Oskar was our host. Saturday night, the boys dressed up (corne, joe, and christian: from Rotterdam U in Netherlands and St. Gallan in Switz) Same night out at Cafe Opera and then the guys enjoying the big game
Friday, February 5, 2010
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