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.