"When I go to Sveeeeeeeeden, I am going to rent a Volllllllllvo........"

Aside from having a Guinness in Dublin, and a handful of other "things to do before I die" I can proudly say that I have crossed off another on my list while I was in Sweden: I finally got the chance to go to Sweden, rented a Volvo, called my friends on a (borrowed) Ericcson, to let them know I was going to Ikea to eat some Swedish meatballs! I know, most of you probably have no idea what this really means to me, but there is a thin line between insanity and genius!

On the ferry ride from Helsinki to Stockholm, I met three Swedes, Johan, Anna, and Helge. In our cabin, we overheard the captain saying that rough seas were ahead for our 10 hour ride. Somehow the subject of ships sinking came up, and I recalled visiting the monument in Estonia dedicated to the 800 plus people who died on the MS Estonia from Tallinn to Stockholm. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Estonia for your reference) It turns out that Anna's uncle was the captain of the Mariella, one of the first ships to arrive at scene of the disaster. Her uncle, understandably, was so traumatized that he retired, and spearheaded a successful effort to improve and change the way lifeboats are designed, and more importantly, deployed, during an emergency. I really appreciated learning this, as it added another layer of depth and enhanced my experience to a site I had already visited in the past. These are the times when I truly feel like I am travelling AND learning. We spent the majority of the night drinking and playing poker. Needless to say, I lost all my chips (again) but won a few new friends from Sweden!

One night, I checked out a traditional Swedish restaurant called Ostagotakallaren (http://www.ostgotakallaren.gastrogate.com/) which came at the recommendation of a few locals I asked around. I met a couple of Dutch guys, Hans and Remko, who were sitting next to me and we ended up hanging out that night. I learned many things from Hans and Remko about the Dutch. First, the Dutch NEVER go Dutch. Bringing your own booze to a party (BYOB) is called an American party (I'm a bit skeptical of this... ) Dutch courage is also known as liquid courage, and "Watching the cat go out of the tree" is a phrase commonly used to describe the Dutch way, which is to describe how it is generally much safer to watch everything occur instead of being an active participant.

It was just my luck that I arrived into Stockholm just in time for this huge outdoor party/festival to celebrate the 8th day of the 8th month, in 2008, starting at 8pm. Paqui and Victoria, two Spanish girls I met in my hostel, were a bit confused as to the significance of this day, and as it turns out, "08" is the area code for Stockholm. I thought to myself, that's a good enough reason to get wasted amidst thousdands of other Swedes! We went out to check out the madness and I learned two things about what the Swedes do when they get wasted: 1) They piss all over the place, including the women. I think I saw about 4 beavers that night and it wasn't because I was a peepin Tom--- there WERE that many pissing on the sidewalks in not-so-discreet areas! You'd think they would turn around the other way, but that would make too much sense 2) They throw their empty glass bottles on the streets, (instead of in, I don't know, a trash can???) so that girls with open-toed shoes can get their feet cut up. On my way back to the hostel, I noticed an extremely drunk girl, who stumbled a few steps, and right when she was throwing up, she let out this huuuuuuuuuuuuge fart. At first I thought to myself, damn, she's fucked up! The second thought that crossed my mind was, "Have I ever done that????"

As most of us know, Sweden is a rather expensive country. I have been eating more McDonalds' in the past month than I ever have in my entire life in the US! Despite all this beer and Mickey D's, I had to go buy a new belt because my current one wasn't holding up my pants very well. I know, my family must be freakin out right now to hear me say that but don't worry, I will fatten up by the time I get back to the US. It was then a very pleasant surprise to have met Claudia, who works at this cafe I frequented since it had free internet access. I found out she was from Chile and we started speaking in Spanish (again! Why not, we're in Sweden!!!) and lo and behold, she did not charge me for lunch or coffee! Needless to say, I went back everyday.