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