To Lappland!

Off to a couple classes, then I leave for Lappland this afternoon! we're taking the train up, so 17 hours of sweden, sweden and more sweden. I think it is supposed to be part of the experience (since we're likely flying back).

Compy is coming with so maybe I'll post more while I'm up there!

Ok, Something that Annoys Me...

So, every Tuesday at 10pm, a bunch of people open their windows and scream out them. It's intended to be some sort of cathartic unleashing of pent up anger, rage and stress. I don't buy into it. The vast majority of people here are undergrads or exchange students, with some grad students mixed in...you want stress and anger? go work 9-5 for a while and see how you feel after that. "oh, but I have papers and exams" BOO FUCKING WOO! so does everyone else, and you know what else you have? tons of free time that you procrastinated, wednesday night drinking, and no real responsibility besides learning (for the most part, of course some college kids work too). Of course everyone's problems seem biggest to themselves, but me, I revel in being in school. college is awesome. maybe next tuesday I'll cheer "I love college!" once they all quit being so emo.

workity work...then...um, playity play?

Ok, that doesn't sound quite right. but it is what's going on.

Saturday night was fun though, got to see a couple exchange students from UNC this fall who came to Stockholm from Finland and Germany. Good stuff, sunday was restful until I started cranking out research around 7pm until 1am. Monday was classish and meetings. I've been a working machine all day today though, finished off the Chinese Challenge paper besides revisions earlier today, doing reading/research for cross cultural management, and eventually getting back to work on industrial organization.

now, the fun part: Playing. This weekend I'm going to Lappland. Friday-Monday in the frozen north...some of you will complain that it is actually just as cold in the Midwest right now, with more snow, but you don't have reindeer do you?! DO YOU?! hehe. So, silly as they are, they're going to let me on a snowmobile...which should be a blast. we'll go to the ice palace, the Kiruna copper mine (biggest in the world)...etc...I can't wait. it should be awesome.

Next fun part: I just booked a ticket to Copenhagen. or...um, Köpenhaen. something like that (in Swedish, not Danish, then it gets crazy, with slashy Os.) Tanzawa, Brian and I are getting the band back together in Cop. for a weekend. I predict it will be amazing and can't wait!

After that...I need to go visit my uncle in Slöinge.

PS I have a plane ticket to paris on the 18th of march.

City Hall, Frantically Working, Exam #1

So, City Hall is impressive...well, it is imposing even from the outside, it is truly impressive and thoroughly gigantic on the inside. Fairly fancy, the upstairs ballroom thingy might even be best described as opulent...fun times. Even more fun afterwards going to watch the Barcelona vs. Celtic match, and then just plain "I don't really remember too much"-times at the Yellow House bar on the Stockholm University campus.

Thursday I woke up late, had to conduct and interview with another couple people at the office of VeriSign/inCode here in Stockholm. Weird right? yeah. weird. even weirder is that it is for my cross cultural management course, my group in that class is 6 people...myself the American, a Polish girl, and 4 Swedes (though 1 has only been here for about 5 years, he's Albanian). So the project requires that we do this interview...someone suggests "what about working as a consultant in multicultural teams" a bunch of people nod, I say "I just got hired by a consulting company...they even have an office in Stockholm...and I already met with the guy once". funny how the american has the connection in town. :P it went well, was fun, and actually very educational.

This morning was my first exam here in Stockholm, for The Chinese Challenge...which is a really interesting course. We had multiple choice for the first time in forever, I think I ended up getting 4/5 (maybe 5/5 depending on an interpretation matter, we'll see)...then 4 essays, of which I nailed two, did ok on another, and probably bombed the third one. Nothing I could do because I guess I missed the answer in all of the readings I did...which was all of them. People got bit in the ass apparently by the two essays I nailed because they were in relatively obscure readings and not even discussed in class at all. the professor was a little jerky about that it seems. anyhow...tonight is the Japan Lounge party, with Guitar Hero. I can't wait, I miss GH and rock band.

Ugh...and Yum!

Caught up on a lot of reading today...so, even though I didn't have any official classes, I was at school for meetings/reading/last swedish lesson from 9-7. However, afterwards, I went to dinner with Tanzawa at the Pelikan in downtown Stockholm. Somewhat nicer swedish restaurant, serving only 8 or so traditional dishes. We split the herring/cheese/bread plate so John could get a taste of herring in a few different forms. Then we both went with the meatballs, though I would try the pork knuckle if I went back...however, the köttbullar tasted a lot like what my dad makes in terms of spices, I think they must have been using some really delicious cuts of meat to grind up, because man were they tender and almost melty good.

Tomorrow, dinner reception at the City Hall where they also present the Nobel Prizes!

Whoa

That was officially my drunkest night in Stockholm. I went to dinner with my Uncle Ralph's cousin Märit, her daughter Katarina, and Katarina's boyfriend Andres. Dinner was excellent, the wine I brought turned out to be pretty good, and Andres had a bottle of some homebrewed (by relatives in Greece) super-Ouzo (130 proof!). Both Katarina and Andres kept refilling my respective glasses, and by the time we got out to try and meet up with the people on my hallway...I was a tad loaded. Nobody really wanted to leave the Karaoke event they were at, but Andres knows a guy with a club and the bartenders, so we went there, talked, hung out, and such. very fun, good people, fun people! (oh, and yes, so very drunk...even fell over at one point while standing up from a really low couch).

Normalcy?

I think I've reached a stage of relative normalcy here. Classes, reading, going out Wednesday night, etc... things have settled into a pretty tame rhythm. This evening I will be having dinner with my uncle ralph's cousin Märit and her daughter, apparently they're superclose here in Stockholm. Family (sort of) nearby is pretty cool. I need to bother my mom via email to bother my dad for Jan-Ake's phone number (I don't know how to put a circle over the A) so I can call my uncle in Halmstad.

London, aka Where did all the blonde girls go? aka OMG look at that car! no, look at that car!

Thursday: Thursday was packing, faxing and travel day. The travel adventure started around 5pm or so when I met up with Tanzawa and we decided we should try and find some spicy food (Thai or Indian usually). Our chosen path wasn't restaurant laden so we found a quick thai dinner place and we ended up catching the 6:20 Flygbuss to Skavsta airport and arriving at 7:40 for a 9:50 flight. A little early...but as the evening progressed I felt successively crappier, so I was happy to find a place to just be at rest. Once we boarded the plane (after I finally got a swedish stamp in my passport!) I went into "omg I have a huge fever and the most sore throat ever coma" mode.

After arriving in London's Stanstead airport we had to hop on the train...except the bus people there are wily and put their stand under the train signs. fuckers. anyhow, it was cheaper than the train and ended up putting us at the corner of Hyde park, only a 1k walk to the hotel. which I didn't get lost on...there we collapsed.

Friday: John and I made it to the tail end of the breakfast at the hotel, and decided to walk around town for a while, we couldn't really do anything 'cause Brian was arriving around 2pm that afternoon and probably wouldn't have been too happy with us if we were in the middle of touring Westminster Abbey or something when he showed up to a locked hotel room. So Tanzawa and I walked through Hyde Park, along the Serpentine and eventually across to St. James Park to Buckingham Palace. I have to say I expected it to be bigger. But hey, still impressive! We then headed a little more northward into Soho and the West End. I found a shop with rugby jerseys and got an All Blacks jersey, trendy I know...but they really do have the best jerseys...and pre-game "I'm going to kick your ass" dance. After this we headed back to the hotel, I went out and found an Indian place that did carry out then met Tanzawa on the corner, waiting for Brian to show up. He did, we rejoiced, ate, and then headed out to walk the town some more. We popped into the tube, resurfaced near St. Paul's Cathedral, walked to the Bank of London, then to the Tower of London and then decided to go to Notting Hill, find a place to eat, and then get back to the hotel for pre-party, showers and head out to meet Brian's girlfriend's friend Liz out on the town. Nice people, beers, and hanging out. This is when I saw the car of my dreams, the Nissan Skyline GT-R34. It was in the back of a pack of some other Japanese cars...I theorized it was in the back so it didn't leave everyone behind while racking up 30 speeding tickets. We then found another pub once everyone else had to leave for fear of being hungover at work the next day then I went home as Brian and Tanzawa snuck into a club with a 40 pound cover. yipes.

Saturday: English Breakfast (of sorts) from a place close to our hotel, not 100% authentic but certainly good and mild enough on our stomachs :) From there we headed back through Hyde Park and by Buckingham Palace for Brian, then on to Westminster Abbey...I wasn't going to be happy if we missed it. So! Inside we went, saw the kings and queens, said "what's up?" to chaucer...then I wandered until I found Darwin and Newton. I stood on Darwin and waved to my main man Isaac. Then I was ok to leave. No photography in Westminster...boo! After this we walked by Parliament and Big Ben, across the Thames and along the south side until we reached the Tate Modern. Impressive collection, also no photography, but I didn't know that until after I managed to snap a photo of a Picasso. whoops. It was getting on in the evening so we decided to hop back on the tube to get back for dinner (Indian at a place around the corner, very good stuff), pre-party (Stellaaaaaaaaa), showers, and mixology (cheaper to pack a rum and coke to sip on the tube than to attempt to make it up at the bars). Saturday night out was fun, met up with Liz again, in South Kensington near the hospital works at...she has an evil sense of humor and walked us past a house owned by one "Hugh Grant". Disreputable fellow I hear. After meeting up at a pub near the Tube we rocked out at Chateau 6 until closing time...tried to get in somewhere else, to no avail (three more dudes?! no thanks!).

Sunday: Even more tired/hungover than Saturday. We almost stayed in the room until checkout, Brian had to take off early to make it to his flight, so John and I decided to walk the other direction through Hyde Park to Kensington Palace, then south to the Natural History Museum (I demanded a photo of the Diplodocus) and then we spent a while in the Victoria and Albert Museum, including lunch. We walked past Harrod's...it has a Maserati dealership in it. that's just ridiculous. Past a place called High and Mighty (the better british name for Big and Tall). We were getting a little tired from walking and decided to hoof it back to where we were going to catch our bus back to the airport...caught up on some reading with the Economist and chilled for a bit. Then it was time to end the adventure...except John left his passport on the airplane and didn't notice until they were already boarding again, but he thinks it has been found in London now. yay!

PS The cars in London are insane. I saw no fewer than 20 Aston Martins, 10 Ferraris, 10 Lambo's, that Skyline, a ton of bentley's, a bunch of Rolls....it was nuts. crazy go nuts.

Payback

So, my all-nighter ended up taking retribution on me yesterday and today. I have fallen ill and am trying to recuperate before I fly to London tomorrow evening. Today was quite painful, a couple classes, learning how to use the printing system here, faxing in my signed job offer...all that good stuff. :P that's right. I'm employed! huzzah!

Yesterday I didn't do anything exciting...I was cooking in the common kitchen while Beck (aussie, from my hall) and her friends Judith (Dutch) and Eva (belgian) were making dinner, also Andres (canadian of spanish descent I believe, lives on my hall). The girls were eying my pasta, but I let them try it and now they love me. Tonight was almost the same, I was cooking chicken quesadillas, and I made a 2nd one for Beck and Judith to split. I've offered to share many times, and really don't mind. Cooking for people is fun.

Tomorrow, a flight to London. Maybe I should look into where to go...

Superbowl XLII

So as planned, I went to O'Leary's for the Superbowl. I left home around 9:30pm and ended up getting to a different O'Leary's than planned (some American entrepreneur has 20 or so restaurants across Sweden and a couple in Denmark). Kickoff wasn't until 12:30, and the game, the fantastic game, didn't end until after 4am. Sean and I had no idea how to get home from where we were (I had planned a night bus route from the other bar) so we waited for the first metro of the morning at 5:10. Unfortunately, I had class yesterday at 8:30 in the morning and decided that I would just stay awake for the entire night rather than risk passing out and missing class completely. I was exhausted all day, did my reading for class today and then couldn't fall asleep. I was very bitter about that...(finally crashed out after 1am). Anyhow, good work Giants and hahahahaha, take that Patriots.

Baby got back

Last night was the Exchange Student Dinner, fantastic food (wonderful shrimp salad, baked herb/citrus chicken on risotto, tiramisu), good drink (schnapps at every seat when we walked in, that got a few laughs) and people making asses of themselves :) Each well represented country was asked to get up and perform something from their home country. Judging by the title, you know what the 7 USA students chose to do :) Only one verse, but I feel it was plenty...better than the two french guys making out after a lesson in how to give a proper french kiss :P (hehe).

We had reduced entry fees at a club, where I finished the process of drunkification started by my neighbors not really liking the schnapps...and the constant flow of wine. ended up staying there til nearly 3, catching the last metro home and stayed up til 6am drinking a bottle of wine with paul and kasia. great times in a now snowy stockholm!

Swedish History

Thursday I went to the Swedish History Museum. Why so many museums? Why this one?! Vikings baby, Vikings. Pretty large exhibit...the highlights you ask? Swords, piles of plunder, and bones. pretty morbid really. Very fun though! A lot of pictures, now added (just clicky on the one pic that rotates, it'll take you to the full album). Oh, the lowlight? a tie between the textile room and the Iceman exhibit. why? icemen are cool right? no, not really...not when there isn't anything actually from the iceman and it is just an educational room with nothing real to the exhibit. such a tease.

Allhuset Appreciation Society

Wednesdays are the official start of the weekend around here for some reason, and I've found that I'm ok with that. Especially because the student pub at Stockholm University has an awesomely cheap event for everyone who lives up here. 30SEK to get in, half liter beers for 30SEK. (compared to 100-150 at most clubs to get in, and 50-70 for a beer).

Anyhow, more appropriately Wednesday started off with cooking with people from my hall and some of their friends, very fun. I made Spaghetti Carbonara. deeeeelicious as usual. Though, I made the other people jealous as they chowed down on their meatballs, veggie mix and potatoes. However, I did offer to share before they even started cooking, so...not my fault. though they're now demanding I cook for them sometime soon...

Back to the bar. so, things were fun until I saw a bunch of people rush off all concerned like around my friend Emrick, apparently someone shoved their way past him on the dance floor and he gave a shove back with something like "hey, watch where you're going" and then he had a bottle broken on his head...and seriously, the escalation was that fast. no exaggerations. weird. he's pretty cut up, but ok.