Friday, June 06, 2008

Stockholm, Sweden 367 Days Later

I have been in Sweden for one full calendar year and one day.

And last week a good friend was here visiting. So ACC and I spent a lot of time in town. He struggled with bike paths for those of you wondering. He was nearly hit at least three times. I took a couple days off from work (seeing as how they still don’t pay me on time, one for seven in fact, I didn’t feel all that guilty) and was a tourist with him all around Stockholm.

I did things I have never done in the city before. Like climb the tower of Stadshuset. Which offered an amazing view of the city in every direction. And only cost 20 SEK.

We went into numerous churches. Considering the secular nature of Sweden, and Stockholm, there are a lot of beautiful churches. So we went in. And I reveled in the silence. And took in the art work. And threw in a few coins to light a candle. And marveled at the aging beauty of a building. And didn’t find God. But that’s ok.

We went kayaking around the city. Which I highly recommend. Kayaking was also relatively inexpensive and offered an hour of entertainment just sliding gently through the water and taking in the sights from a completely different angle. And for the record, it is “Kayahk” not “Kayak” with the hard "a" in case you want to pronounce it. The friendly young man working at the counter was quick to correct me.

We even took the ultimate touristy thing and took a boat tour around the city. Under the Bridges of Stockholm. Cute name huh? It was pretty impressive. Got to see a lot, and the headphones were pretty informative. Covering everything from the founding of the city and the man generally credited with it, Birger Jarl, to the Social Democrats nearly uninterrupted hold of governmental power.

All in all it was a great week. And the weather was glorious. And it was nice having a friend around.

So one year and one day later here I am in the apartment again. Trying to figure out my next move. It seems the last couple of years since school ended have seen me constantly contemplating my next move. But for the mean time here I am in Stockholm. One year and two days from now… I have no idea. But I hope it’s an adventure that teaches me just as much as this one has.

2 comments:

  1. Kanske du har varit i Sverige för lange nu? Titta här och se för din själv!

    http://www.pauldickman.com/misc/sweden.php

    maybe you might have seen this one but it is pretty right on, no?

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  2. man undrar ibland...

    and it was pretty right on. quite entertaining actually. but I've found that most swedes I run into are always late. for going out, for business meetings, for dinner, for classes. it's amazing. I blame the desire to avoid any sort of confrontation which allows people to show up as late as they want with little to no consequence.

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