Gotland

This past weekend I took a trip to Gotland - an island in the Baltic Sea, off the eastern coast of Sweden. After a very turbulent 30-minute flight (the island is very windy), we arrived on the beautiful viking island. Ruins of viking forts and churches can be seen at nearly every turn. Although Gotland is the poorest province in Sweden, it is a beautiful place that showed me a good time for the weekend, so I have nothing but great impressions!

first sight upon walking out of the airport

the first of many ruins seen from our bus window

Lunch included a performance by this insane fire dude.

typical Gotland shot, near our hotel

some of the Gotlandic silver that is found in hordes, even to this day

I'm in a ruin!

one of a bajillion old churches on the island

view from up high; spot the viking ruins?

a large rock atop a cliff overlooking the Baltic

me on the rocky shores of the Baltic

some fun, climb-able, huge rocks deformed by wind and water

Fotboll Season Opener

On the first Monday of April, Elias and Noel accompanied me to the first game of the Swedish professional soccer season. It was my first time watching a professional soccer match, and I loved it! Even in Sweden, a country not particularly known for its fantastic soccer league, I could see why soccer fans are the craziest, most enthusiastic sports fans in all the world.

Although firefighters and police officers were EVERYWHERE, it is not illegal to use firesticks or torches at the game. Smoke machines are used by fans, bananas are thrown onto the field (to mock the enemy team's name: Djurgården, or, "Animal Farm"). Drunkards climb onto the nets in between the field and the stands without any opposition. The place is on fire.

Thus, the 0-0 tie was not the thrilling score that most people were hoping for. But for me, this kind of thing is all about learning cultural lessons. I learned a few of the team chants, threw some confetti at the appropriate time, and ordered a hot dog all by myself: "Kan jag få en varmt korv, tack?"

mounted police prepared to break up a brawl or two hundred

the bros, in AIK gear

pre-game pandemonium

Noel's Floorball Game

My 13-year-old contact brother, Noel, is a fantastic floorball goalie. I was lucky enough to catch the last game of his season. Floorball is a really cool sport that is much like street hockey, but it is played at the professional level here in Sweden. Noel is destined to be in the top league someday!

Christopher shows off his own goalie skills

AIK Playoff Game

My contact family (the Köhlers) was kind enough to bring me to an AIK playoff game in the Globe. Although our team lost and was eliminated, the game was exciting to the end. The final score was 2-1, and there were many exciting moments.

Hockey games here are so different from NHL games. Although all Swedish hockey players aspire to be in the NHL someday, I think that the overall game experience is far greater in Sweden - for the fans, at least. Every seat is filled and no one leaves to use the bathroom or buy food during the period. Late-comers are not even allowed to take their seats if the period has already started. Every fan is dressed in support of his or her team, and everyone knows the rules of hockey and their team's anthems (of which there are MANY). This is not an event that one would take a date or business partner to. There is hardly any conversation among the fans - only cheering, singing, and shouting directed at the players. The bond between fans and their teams is just incredible. When the final buzzer sounded, the fans just cheered even louder, thanking their team for a great season. The team responded, as each player acknowledged the fans for several minutes. Everyone was disappointed, but no one was about to mope - they had too much to be grateful for! The fans didn't want to leave with their heads hung - they wanted to raise the spirits of their hockey heroes, because they actually cared about THEM, and not their own individual interests. I think there's much for American athletes and fans to learn from this type of display...

inside Globen

my contact family, minus Elias: Noel, Christopher, and Marjo

Elias's Hockey Game

My contact brother, Elias, played in a hockey game a few weeks ago. It was awesome to see him play, and I honestly did not see much difference in skating ability between these 16-year-olds and the professionals. Of course, Elias is headed in that direction, so it makes sense!

There's Elias, #9.

contact bror och far: Noel and Christopher

Kiruna

This post is going to require a lot of photos in order to convey even a small taste of what this trip was like. Five friends and I took a 16-hour train ride up north to Kiruna, a Swedish town above the Arctic Circle. It's actually the second-largest town, area-wise, in the world! Enjoy the photos:

my pals and me in our snow suits for the dogsled ride

NORTHERN LIGHTS!

our friendly pullers

an ice chair in the center of town

feeding some reindeer

at the Ice Hotel

Skoal!

fyka (coffee break) during a tour of the world's largest underground iron-ore mine

Ice Plunge

Okay, this was pretty crazy. At the end of February, me and my friends Micah and Annie took a half-hour commute to a place called Hellasgården. There are great trails for XC skiing and running there. Many people also go there to sauna, which is immensely popular in Sweden. Everyone does it, everyone loves it. But a fun bonus to this activity is to exit the sauna and promptly jump into an ice-cold lake. It's how people sauna in the winter when they're up for a thrill. We did this, not just once, but twice, and had a fantastic experience. The water was exactly 0 degrees celsius in the lake. Who wants to come with me next time?!

AIK Hockey!

As a birthday present, my fantastic younger contact brothers treated me to an AIK hockey game. AIK is their favorite team, thus it has become mine. And what a fun team to watch! Several games are played in the Globe, which you can see in the photos, although the game we saw was in an arena next to Globen. Fun fact: Globen is the biggest man-made spherical object in the world!

Dressed like an AIK "hooligan"

Me and Noel, my hockey buddy and contact brother

AIK won!

Lötsjön Park

I apologize for the looooooooong break from posting. I had prepared a new post for just a few days after my last one. When it failed to upload, though, I spent an entire evening trying to get to the bottom of it, which I never did. That put me off the whole thing for a while, but now I'm back and ready to make it work at all costs. So brace yourself for some rapid-fire posts, mostly photos, to cover the last two months!

Here's a quick look at the park near my apartment in Sundbyberg, Sweden. It's my favorite place to run, walk, and observe Swedes firsthand. Last week I ran a 5.7km race in this park. There was no snow for the race, of course! This is just a great place to see Swedes running, walking dogs, and pushing strollers. Within the park complex lies two lakes, a miniature golf course, a preschool, a soccer field, a playground, and many bird-watching points.


Also, I am pleased to report that I aced my first pop quiz in Swedish, which implies that I have a fairly decent grasp of the most basic Swedish verbs and phrases. The language itself is not all that difficult, but the pronunciation is nearly impossible to grasp at first. There is a rhythm and a rhyme to this language that I am gradually learning. But trust me, no matter how many Swedish words an American learns, he really has no chance speaking Swedish in a conversation unless he's figured out the accent. It's fun to try out the language with Swedes, because they generally admire foreigners who at least try to speak their language. Last night, I played some ping-pong at a club and felt very comfortable releasing "Ja!" and "Mycket bra!" after crucial points went my way (translation: Yes! Very good!)