Sweden

So, I'm pretty bored, and it occurs to me that I don't want to write this entire entry in just one sitting. It's been ... interesting.

The adventure begins Friday morning. After I got up and stuffed random clothes into a suitcase (taking care to pack for slightly chilly weather), we got to the airport about 2 hours too early. As always. So much for being experienced travellers.

Our brilliant flight plan took us from Dulles to Newark and then onto Stockholm. Apparently it's cheaper to take two flights, go figure. The Dulles to Newark flight was ... an experience. The plane was the smallest thing I've ever seen. Seriously, it was so small I thought we were going to screw using the airways and take 95 North. Our seats were 9a, 9b, and 9c. Which actually meant that we were in the last row. Yes, the plane had 9 rows. There was a restroom, but the plane was so susceptible to random bumps that it was actually impossible to get up and use it. As a result, by the time we got to Newark I really, really had to use the restroom.

After relieving myself I walked out of the bathroom to find that our flight from Newark to Stockholm was delayed. Surprise! Add an extra 2 hours to sitting around in the airport not doing anything. Beats standing around awkwardly, I guess.

Finally! We were all set to go. Everyone had boarded (A surprising number of people want to go to Stockholm) and we were probably a few minutes away from takeoff. However, apparently when it rains these idiot planes are incapable of leaving the ground. They assured us that the storm was "just passing overhead" and it would be "around 45 minutes."

Two and a half hours later, we took off.

This plane, being bigger and suited for longer flights, actually had entertainment. In all modesty, I've flown a lot, but I have never encountered entertainment that impressive. There were movies. There were CDs. There were games. The movies didn't suck. The CDs did, but hey, that's what iPods are for. As for the games, they weren't really playable. The touch screen wasn't particularly sensitive. I think I bothered the person in the seat of front of me by playing chess (pushing the screen too hard) so I quickly stopped that >_>

The movie selection was impressive. The ones that caught my eye were that Mall Cop movie (hi, dwang :P), Harry Potters 1-5 (hey, gotta prepare for HP 6, looks so legit), Mulan (this was just obligatory) and Arsenic and Old Lace! :D

Unfortunately, the flight was only 8 hours, so I had to prioritize. Or triage, as Dr. Ellenbogen told me a few years ago in my interview. In retrospect, that word doesn't seem to fit the context he was trying to use it in. Unless of course my studies were in a state of emergency. I guess he was right. But I digress...

For the sake of familiarity, I watched Mulan first. It was refreshing to watch it alone. Meaning I was actually able to hear actual voice actors, unlike when I watch it with friends. These people have apparently memorized the movie, and enjoy reciting it. It's very impressive, but I'm afraid they don't do the voices (or the singing >_>) as well as the actual actors. No offense, guys :P

My second choice of movie was Arsenic and Old Lace. For those who don't know, this was the play that Arvind, Chris, Kyle, and I acted out for our final HUM 2 project. One of the more enjoyable projects I've ever been assigned at TJ. This isn't the place for an elaborate description, though. I promise I will attempt to describe the trials and tribulations that went into producing that play in a Reflections post.

These two movies left a mere 4 hours left in the plane ride! How sad. I succeeded in getting through Harry Potter 1 (not so great >_>) but no more D: My mission for the plane ride back is to watch 2-5 :D

We arrived in Stockholm at around 11 on Saturday (thank you, flight delays). After escaping the airport we walked out into the fresh air and to a long line of taxis.

This was, as it turns out, our first taste of Sweden. Taxis are apparently not run by a meter. It's a free-market style. You tell the drivers where you want to go and they will invent a price for you. My dad's eyes lit up when he heard this. He marched up and down the line, talking to each cab driver and trying to convince them to lower the price. In the end it was a spectacular failure, and someone else walked in and took one of the lowest priced cabs. At that point we figured that we should just get in a car >_>

Our taxi driver was ... interesting. He's actually from Baghdad, and he moved to Sweden a few years ago. He speaks almost impeccable English, I was quite impressed. He is also one of the most unsafe drivers I have ever ridden with. In fact, he comes in second only to the random driver who drove us from Huang Shan to Hang Zhou a few years ago. He did not feel like making use of the turn signal. In fact, he did not even feel like looking at the road. He also felt the need to go twice as fast as the other cars, and talk on his iPhone in the meantime. He reminded me of Tim.

Apart from these nerve-wracking failings, he was a really nice guy. He actually gave us our first introduction to Sweden. Now, my parents were aware of this (both of them have been to Finland), but I was not. Apparently, during the summer, it never goes dark here. The official sunset is around 10 pm and the official sunrise is around 3:30 am, but in between the sky is just clear (As an Arab, he pointed out that in the winter the hours of sunlight are extremely few in number, which makes Ramadan a piece of cake. I had to laugh at that >_>)

There was one incident where we didn't quite understand each other though. My dad asked if there was a Volvo factory in Sweden (apparently we need another Volvo) and the guy heard the word "Volvo" and assumed we were referring to the Volvo Ocean race that goes around the world. By strange coincidence, they had just passed through Stockholm a few days ago. Communication fail. Further confusion ensued when he declared it "Finnish!" At that point we were confused. Volvo apparently was now based in Finland? It didn't make much sense. After a while we figured out that he was talking about the race, and by "Finnish" he meant "FinishED" Yeah, that made more sense >_>

We arrived at our first hotel, Rica Hotel Stockholm. We were staying there one night before moving to Rica Hotel Gamla Stan. Why we did this, I have no idea.

Gamla Stan apparently means Old Town over here, and it's the main tourist attraction. Don't give that translation to my dad though. He insists he knows better than the Swedes. His translation of is based on Hindi (why they would name a place with Hindi in Sweden, only he knows). Apparently a Gamla is a large bowl with a flat bottom, and Stan means place. Therefore rather than Old Town, Gamla Stan actually means Large-Bowl-With-Flat-Bottom Place. I will inform the King immediately of this atrocity.

You may have noticed the lack of time I spent sleeping during my plane ride. Yeah, I blame all those excellent movies. That caught up with me as soon as we reached the hotel, and I managed to sleep from 1-9pm. How to fight Jetlag 101.

I woke up (or rather, my parents woke me up) and we went in search of food. There were a surprising number of restaurants still open, given that it was 10 pm. Maybe it's just the old town, but every other store here is a restaurant. And they're all full. I dunno, maybe Swedes like to eat out a lot, they don't seem that fat on the whole. Nothing compared to Americans, anyway >_>

Now seems like an appropriate time to address Chris's comment in my previous post. After careful inspection and evaluation, I'd have to say that I agree >_>

Anyway, we found a reasonable place to eat (food is outrageously expensive here) and plopped ourselves down, tired after our grand voyage to the restaurant. It was like, a 10 minute walk. We ate food and stared at the sky, wondering when it was going to get dark. Well, it never did. We were out until around 1 am and the sky stayed a darkish blue color the entire time. I still can't get over that.

Luke asked me if Sweden (and perhaps Europe in general) was more "chill" than say, east coast America. I can't say that I'm an expert in drawing generalizations about cultures, but I do find it interesting to talk about. So I'll throw a few opinions out there for now.

Ironically enough, what I find most noticeable on the streets here is the freedom of expression, if you will. Dress widely varies. You'll see people walking around in suits, and from what I can gather they're because of work. Next to them you'll see a guy with a ton of tattoos walking around wearing only a leather vest. To be honest I try not to look too hard at these types of people. Also, and I say this with the utmost caution because I'm not sure of cultural differences, there seem to be more same-sex couples around. Even more than Rehoboth cough*Chris*cough.

Apparently, films such as Batman Begins have also instilled in people that Europe is "chill." Well, I really do have to say that I'd agree with that notion. I walk at a snail's pace, but no one wants to seem to pace me. They're all content to walk just as slowly as I do. There's a distinct lack of car horns (although this could be due to a law or something) and in general it's quite a peaceful city. It's also supposedly a very safe city, with the major danger being pickpockets. I saw some hilarious signs, I'll try to get pictures of them and post them up.

I suppose here is also appropriate to make an interesting note about the weather. It is, to put it bluntly, frickin' hot. Yesterday it was in the mid-80s. This was unknown to my parents, however, who told me to pack for slightly cool weather. I have one pair of shorts. This is so unfortunate. I checked wikipedia and it warns that Stockholm experiences even warmer weather than places slightly south of it because of the Gulf Stream. I hate you, geosystems.

Moving on to Sunday, I succeeded in going to bed around 3 am and waking up at 6 am. Yeah, not so satisfying, as nights of sleep go. Fortunately I was able to stuff my face at the free buffet, which was actually quite satisfying. I swear the people at the next table were watching how much I ate, it was kind of embarrassing >_> We called up a cab to get our stuff over to the Rica Hotel Gamla Stan. There was only one this time, so no bargaining involved. This was indeed fortunate, because I severely doubt that our driver was sober.

Sunday afternoon began our futile attempts to visit the Royal Palace. We spent about 2 hours looking for the correct entrance. We finally discovered it, but at that point they were closed. Tired, hungry, and dismayed (well, I wasn't particularly interested >_>) we found good place to eat and walked around some more.

We happened across this strange set up. On one side of the street was a local ice cream shop, virtually deserted. On the other side was a full-to-the-brim Ben and Jerry's. We felt bad at that point and wanted to be authentic Swedes, so we proudly walked into the local shop. As it turns out, it's owned by an Indian. I was sort of surprised. Why on earth would you move from India to ... Sweden? I was wondering if there would be major differences between the shop and the Ben and Jerry's, but I needn't have worried. The flavors were quite different. Unfortunately they were all listed in Swedish, but I did manage to discern "Tiramisu." There were actually a whole bunch of things I wanted to try, including a strange grey flavor, mostly because it reminded me of HP 1 and the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans :D

The Tiramisu was actually ridiculously good, IMO. I've eaten it twice more since. We are now good friends with the shopkeeper, who does not realize that my dad does not speak Hindi. I want to go back there, and my dad doesn't want to follow me in anymore >_> Oh well. I really should try some Swedish chocolate, it looks so good. Can't be wasting all my deserts at that one place.

After we returned to the hotel and my parents went to sleep, I woke up at 2 am. Again. This time, though, the internet didn't feel like working, so I had to read all of Brisingr. Man, that book makes me laugh, and the debate over possible outcomes in the final book makes me laugh even harder. For such a poorly written book, it certainly has provided me with hours upon hours of entertainment.

After spending the night awake reading, I went to sleep around 9 am, much to the displeasure of my parents. They finally succeeded in dragging me out of the hotel around 1, where we marched around Gamla Stan aimlessly. Finally, we decided to visit the Vasa Museum. Now, I was completely unfamiliar with this story beforehand, but my cultural awareness is not that great, so forgive me if this is a famous story that everyone knows about.

The Vasa Museum is dedicated to a giant ship by the name of Vasa (imagine that). What makes this ship famous? Well, it was constructed as one of the largest warships of its time. It proudly set sail to the Baltic Sea with the intention of winning the war with Poland in 1628. The Swedish King, who had commissioned the ship, was proud of his accomplishment. Thousands of onlookers gathered by the shore for its maiden voyage. The ship sailed proudly along the coast. After approximately 1.3 kilometers, a gust of wind knocked the ship sideways and it sank.

I couldn't believe (and found it quite hilarious) that they would dedicate a musuem to such a colossal failure. It's not even a memorial - very few people died that day. I figured they really don't have much else to show off. Apparently though, the impressed part is how they recovered the ship from "the bottom of the sea" (it was still by the shore -_-) and brought it back up. They have recovered about 97% of the mass of the ship, which is actually pretty impressive. I suppose then, that the musuem is dedicated to the engineering feat of recovering the ship and not the creation of the ship itself. Nonetheless I will never again trust Swedish engineering. I bet our two cars are just accidents waiting to happen. Maybe they will sink after a mile of driving.

That's more or less where I stand right now. I do have a camera, and I am taking pictures of random stuff that I find amusing, so I'll put those up at some point.

Anyway, I'll continue to edit this same post as things move along, so until then

Cheers,

Ved