Little Babies! Duck L'Orange!

So Sweden happened. And my God, was it absolutely awesome. Now before I start rattling off about my adventures, I would like to write a disclaimer. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but the four of my friends and I (Kyle, Lisa, Hannah, and Anna) that went were staying at our friend David's apartment in Uppsala, which is a student city 40 some odd minutes north of Stockholm (and illustrated on the map to the left). This meant however, that what you are about to read is not exactly a typical American tourist in Sweden's account of an adventure. We didn't really go to museums or art galleries or anything like that. My Swedish adventures was so much crazier and so much better (to sort of a steal a quote from Doctor Who). 

Vi älskar Sverige :)

We arrived on Thursday night, after a train from Tübingen to Stuttgart, then another from Stuttgart to Frankfurt Flughafen, and finally a flight from Frankfurt to Stockholm Arlanda, which is a large airport midway between Stockholm and Uppsala. The entire thing went surprisingly smoothly, and whilst waiting for three hours in Frankfurt for our flight, we watched Come Fly With Me. If you don't know this show, look it up and commence with the marathon-ing, because it's absolutely hysterical. We got to Stockholm around 6PM or so and grabbed our luggage off the conveyor belt, also without a hitch. However, from David and Emelie's point of view (they were waiting for us outside of customs), it seemed like things were going very badly. Whilst waiting for us, a group of six police officers were sent into customs, and they were worried that we were causing an international incident. However, shockingly enough, it was not us causing the commotion, and we went on what David dubbed the "hillbilly bus" (every yellow bus in Uppsala heads out to hick country, apparently) to Uppsala and then David's apartment, where all 6-7 of us (David's flatmate was there sometimes) would be crashing until Monday. Now, this apartment is really meant for two people and only has one bathroom. So it was packed pretty tight. However, it was absolutely wonderful chaos, and I cannot thank David enough for letting us all stay there and create mayhem. Once we got there, Emelie and (to an extent) David made us a traditional Swedish dinner, which consisted of some sort of sausage (which tasted a little like bologna), sliced tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, cream, and cheese and mashed potatoes, which we just called glue, due to its consistency and the fact that you may have been able to use them to repair buildings. Then David gave each of us a map of Uppsala, which he had made a few useful choice modifications to, a key chain in the shape of a Dala horse, and a pseudo-Swedish flag. The flag is now hanging in my room, and it looks awesome. We retired pretty early that night, because David and Emelie both had class in the afternoon. 

Friday morning consisted of the slow process of waking up, eating toast, drinking (wicked delicious) coffee, and the two-hour-long process of putting everyone through the shower (one bathroom for six people problems). David left for his class around noon and came back around two. He left his keys with us (you know just in case you want to go exploring or something)...and we didn't leave his apartment. Instead we hung out, watched Biathalon (ski shooting), and played a strange video game called Fat Princess. It was absolutely lovely. 

Once David got back, we went to the all-you-can-eat student Chinese and sushi buffet in the center of Uppsala. On our way there, David pointed out various important parts of the city and random historical facts that he could rattle off. The two main things that we saw on the way were the Uppsala Cathedral, an absolutely beautiful 800-ish year-old building where Gustav Vasa, a king of Sweden, who was one of those who helped to unify the country (but the entire process of doing that was slow), is buried. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go inside...costing money and stuff. The second building we saw was the pink Uppsala castle. I don't really know what more to say about it other than it's very, very pink, and has two towers on either side. These two towers led David to say "and here's our castle...it has boobs." Then there was the all-you-can-eat chinese/sushi buffet for the rough equivalent of 9€. Best dinner ever. Afterwards, we went to the grocery store to stock up on provisions for the next few days. Then we went back to David's apartment to begin a ridiculous evening of German-bought contraband drinking, Rock Band playing, not-at-all-accurate US map drawing, Youtube video watching, and lamp breaking. It was great. 

 The next day was a bit of a slow start. Especially considering the whole two-hour-shower process. However, we eventually made it into Stockholm around 3:30PM or so (after a train ride of not sitting next to anyone that we didn't know). Fun fact: Swedes refuse to sit next to someone that they don't know on public transit. They would rather stand. It's pretty funny, seeing one person sitting in a group of 6 seats and everyone else pointedly not sitting there. Anyways, the only thing that was a bummer was that, as it was Sweden in the winter, 3:30 meant that it was pretty much night time by the time we got there. Which wasn't all bad, but it meant that most of my photos are blurry. My apologies. However, we got there, and David took us down the main shopping street, by the castle, and to the Old City, where there was, of course, a Christmas Market. I don't really know what else to say about it. Stockholm is beautiful and freezing cold. But I really don't think I would mind living there. As far as random facts to share, I guess there is a church in Stockholm's old city, where the Swedes have honoured various folks for doing extraordinary things by putting their names on a wall of fame sort of deal. Sometimes, they also just give these to visiting members of government from various countries, and David claimed that "I think there's some Italian dictator guy up on there." When I asked if he meant Benito Mussolini, he said he thought that was the one. So Benito Mussolini may or may not still be being honoured by the country of Sweden. But if I'm wrong, don't blame me. Blame David. We ended our brief stay with a trip to another all-you-can-eat Chinese/sushi buffet, which was also awesome, and then headed back to Uppsala for more debauchery with a few of David's friends. This was also really wonderful. 

Because Swedish shenanigans are the best kind of shenanigans.

Sunday was a very chill day, after a pretty crazy weekend. After it got dark, we went to the grocery store again to buy provisions for burger-making. There, I found SBR (Sweet Baby Rays barbecue sauce), and there was much rejoicing. Anyways, for dinner, Kyle and I made burgers and attempted to cook fries in the oven (they turned out rather mediocre). Then, we watched three consecutive horror movies (Session 9, The Orphanage, and Insidious 2), and I probably won't be able to sleep for like 3 weeks. And due to those movies, we are all now terrified of everyone named Simon. Which is an issue that I will probably have to work out sometime before next year. But anyways, during said movies, David had us try lemon curd ice cream, which was delicious...Sweden has all the best food...and then he made us Glögg, which is the Swedish (much better) equivalent of Glühwein. 

Then today, Monday, we flew back home, but not before watching some absolutely terrible Married with Children at David's this morning. The travel home went pretty seamlessly, except for our flight being delayed 45 minutes, for which the head stewards repeatedly and profusely apologized--it was pretty funny. 

Oh and since I was in Sweden. It only seems appropriate that I post a song from another Swedish band that I heard while I was there. It's a sister singing-song writing duo that sounds very American, but is actually from Enskede, south of Stockholm. So yeah, here's the song called Emmylou. 

Stockholm's cold, but I've been told I was born to endure this kind of weather.

And so, that's my story. It was an absolutely lovely weekend, but I am so sad to have left the Swedes for a second time now. But hey, I am sure there will be a next time. Moving forward: I leave for France in 50 some-odd hours. Craziness. So I'll have to tell you all about that later. So until then, bis später, dudes.

Burritos, Sushi, and Barbecue

Hey-o, gang. So I guess my weekend can be summed up in the food that I ate. All rather unexpected food to find in Germany. 

Achso, Freitag. Friday, a bunch of kids from Deutsch Kompakt went up to the 2nd level of Eugenstraße, all of two flights of stairs away from my apartment for some Finnish food, homemade pizzas, and salad. It was all very lovely and delicious. Afterwards, a group of us set out with some bottles of wine and made our way around Tübingen going from Froschgasse to various different bars and clubs. A few things, before starting our night at the bars, we stopped and got burritos and margaritas. It was awesome considering that we are roughly 2,000 some odd miles from Mexico. Afterwards, we went to a bar called Last Resort, which has really red walls and plays 70s and 80s rock music. I ended up talking with a German guy named Daniel, who was an exchange student at Tufts last year. Which was really nice, as he also feels a little 'Heimweh' for Tufts sometimes. Afterwards, we went to a club called Butterbrezeln, which played a combination of German music, old 90s rap, and reggae remixes. None of it made any sense.

Samstag: I woke up late, given the whole staying out rather late thing, and ended up just hanging out until roughly 4, when I went to check out a gym with Lasse and Gonzalo. It was incredibly nice, but also cost 40€ a month, and I am most certainly not a real person and therefore cannot afford it. Instead we took a bus up to Fichtenweg, way on the other side of Tübingen and on top of a bloody mountain. However, on top of this mountain is a beautiful place to run. We did a short run to Schloss Bebenhausen, which is such a cool place. You are running through the forest and then all of a sudden you happen upon an open field and then further down the valley is a small, small Dorf in the middle of the Schwäbische Alps, which is only comprised of old-style houses, a large church, and a monastery. So cool. Afterwards, we ran back to Fichtenweg and I caught a bus back to the Südstadt so I could shower before sushi eating. Now the only sushi places in Tübingen aren't really in Tübingen, so all 15-20 of us wandered for roughly 30 minutes west of the city to find Bistro Jap-Go, a restaurant self-described as a American Asian Pacific Fusion place. Really weird. Also rather fancy. My friend described it as the place to bring your mistress, because it's nice, but no one there is going to recognize you because it's in the middle of fucking nowhere. So we ended getting only a little sushi due to the price and then went back to Tübingen to buy cheap (but delicious) wine from the Rewe and get more burritos (nomz). Afterwards, we hung out in Münzgasse again and ended up calling it a night around 3:30. 

Sonntag: I woke up late again but this time on account of the blinds being really awesome and keeping any form of light out. I did some laundry and homework, and around 3:30 made my way over to the Bibliothek to do some more studying for my Prüfung this morning. There, I met up with Theron and after minimal studying, we decided to meet our German friends, Anita, Regina, and Lulu in the park for a barbecue. I felt bad because I had no food to bring and there aren't any grocery stores open on Sundays, but Theron brought some vegetables, and they gave some steak, salad, and Nudelsalat. It was quite lovely. We spoke mostly in German, which is definitely helpful and I am starting to get a little bit better at speaking with them. However, some of what they say is a little hard to understand because of the Schwäbische accent. (Zum Beispiel, normally in 'high' German to say what are you doing you say: was machst du? In Schwäbisch, you'd say 'was machsch  du?') But they are super nice and will repeat things and keep telling me how good my German is, which is always lovely to hear.

So yeah, I think that's about it from this end. The only other thing I can think of is the case of disappearing cookware from my kitchen, first the cutting board and now the pot. Which leave me with two skillets...and is rather irritating, because I think this means that I will have to actually buy my own cookware and then hoard it. Rawr.

OH, and this weekend I am going to OKTOBERFEST. Wooooo! I'll give more details later, but the most important detail is it's gonna be nutssssssss.