First few days in Finland

I grabbed a series of trains back from the West coast of Norway to Stockholm. I spent two nights in Sweden, and met two Australian friends Brett and Rohan from Melbourne. We had plenty to talk about and wound up getting some drinks together and chatting up some Danish girls who were staying at the same place as us. Then a Finnish girl showed up speaking five languages, and was one of the funniest girls I've ever met, though I'm sure I'll never see her again.

The following day was the Swedish Royal Wedding. The Swedish Princess Victoria was marrying a normal guy named Daniel. Does great things for my dreams. Here is a picture of the royal boat being carried through the canals of Stockholm from the carriage to the Royal Apartments. There is a Swedish Princess on that boat, and I saw her from a distance with my own eyes. Cool, I guess?



Then we took the Viking Line cruise over the Baltic Sea from Stockholm to Helsinki. The Aussies have all the good pictures of the trip, and I took only about two before blacking out after slamming all the inclusive beer I could at the time limited buffet then drinking a plethora of cocktails at the bar. I wound up dancing on the floor with the guys and suddenly some Finnish girls showed up. Then they left. Taking a page from the book of my friend Dylan Purcell, who I am meeting in Spain, I saw they went to the smoking room and proceded to ask them a question I knew the answer to. Like magic, it worked. They lent me a lighter, though I already had one, and next thing I knew not only was I dancing with a pretty blonde Finnish girl named Kirsi, but she was telling me 'kiipis' and force feeding me some kind of sweet alcoholic drink in a can that I would later learn is called Finnish Long Drink.

From there the night is blurry, but I woke up with Kirsi in a room full of her Finnish friends and the loudspeaker told us we were in Helsinki. With sweat on my face and a pounding headache, I said my goodbyes, exchanged numbers and Fbook info, and dragged myself back down to my unused cabin room. I frantically packed my things and made my way off the boat...probably literally the last person to do so. And who should I see as the first person waiting but Emmi. Well, actually she recognized me first and stood up, otherwise it is possible that I might have walked right by her, since my Von Zippers were covering bloodshot eyes that were only half open. So there I was, sweat on my brow, shirt still slightly unbuttoned, and with a headache that could split wood, face to face with Emmi again. Strangely enough, it was like a day hadnt gone by and we hugged, I kissed her on the cheek, and we got to finding my hostel for the first few days and planning what we were going to do for the week I was there. Perhaps one of the most surreal moments of my life, but no time to think about it, life had to go on and I had to meet her parents and family. They were wonderful people, and her mom was especially nice and welcoming.

I had a few meetings the first few days and found them with no problem, and fortunately noticed that Finland is significantly cheaper than Norway and Sweden, so my weekly expenditures for once were below my budget.

On Tuesday we also met Meri and Leena and went out and had some drinks then went to get some tacos. I started a thing randomly when in Melbourne called Taco Tuesdays because Ben and I ate tacos on a Tuesday and got drunk and I realized they were one of the few things I enjoyed about Australian cuisine. The Finnish girls at the RMIT Village, Meri and Leena, were instantly interested, though I can't say I remember why or how... I met Leena first at the white church, and she is the same as always; ungodly and casually gorgeous and forever a fan of wearing bright colors. Pretty much the most Finnish girl you could ever meet, and a complete sweetheart who doesn't drink to where she gets out of control and who constantly radiates an extremely confident and reserved demeanor. I admitted to her that I was really intimidated by her when I first met her, but over time she became my friend and is now one of my favorite people I've met.

Meri was doing well too, though I didn't steal any pictures of her during the night. I kind of started drinking and forgot to do that. Still a sassy little redhead giving people hell and studying the law by the sounds of it.


I'll have to finish the story in a second post. I'm in Amsterdam now and need to go get something to eat. I'm staying with my lovely Dutch friend Fleur who is much taller than most men and loves to surf. Plus she is hilarious and one of the greatest people you could ever meet.

Hei Hei Norge

I have to say Norway is an amazing place. And the second I set foot into Oslo I could tell I wasn't the only one that though so. The country seems to have had a recent influx of Africans and Middle Eastern immigrants, and I say that not only from what I saw but also from what my friend Mathias Lundgren told me. Norway really does have a long term plan, and has an enormous reserve built up to fund its generous social welfare system and high minimum wage. It also seems to be building up every major city as you can visibly see enormous expansion projects popping up all over the place. Here is a picture of him showing me around. It was taken in Slottsparken, according to my Geotagging camera. I love technology.
I gotta say the kid grew up. I remember him as the crazy exchange student who caused about as much trouble as Robb and I did. Turns out now he's taller than me and is considering becoming a flight pilot. And hey he's been to Australia too. He's also been a lot of places...Good to see the guy at any rate, and he had a nice battle wound on his neck from a 'Ranghild' I think. That's one name I really can't pronounce.

The cheeky asshole did wear an England scarf when we watched the football in a pub, and his prediction was 3-0 England. The U.S. was probably quite happy for the tie. Good show boys. And here's to being the only one cheering in the Norwegian pub when Green let the goal in. I love it! Haha everyone was really welcoming though and I think they were happy to have someone from one of the countries there-or maybe because I had a Norwegian friend I wasn't jumped. Still not sure about that one.



I've now taken down three bottles of Danish Akvavit. That shit is like liquid gold, or perhaps candy is a better descriptor. I dunno.


The Oslo opera house might even be more breathtaking than the Sydney Opera house, though I promise nothing. The best part is you can walk around on it and everything is cool. I quite enjoyed it.

After a few days in Oslo, and befriending a British lad and an Icelandic guy with a phenomenal beard, I grabbed the train to Bergen. Bergen is beautiful and if you go to Norway and don't go to Bergen and the Fjord area you really should be punished in some fitting way, though I'll leave that to your imagination....



This is called Bryggen. It is apparently a big cultural landmark, world famous in scale, and is right on the main strip by the harbor and the ship departures for the fjords. It's a really pretty area, in an already very elegant city...but that's just the stepping ground into what I came for...the Sognefjord.







The trip I booked included a ferry ride to a smaller ferry ride to a bus to a ferry through the fjord and back to Bergen. It took all day and was an amazing experience. If you go there, book Norway in a Nutshell and do one of the tours. If you are ballsy, you can add a train ride back to Oslo onto what I did, though I was happy to stay another night in Bergen and grab the first train back in the AM. Some guy from Atlanta suggested I pose while he took a picture of me and here it is. Beautiful sight....and not a bad fjord either! Haha I kid I kid!



After foreign fields, mountains, seas, and fjords, the magic has made it's way back into this young man's heart, and my skies are on fire once again. Inspiration flourishes. Thank you, Norway. I promise to return and hope that you stay the beautiful unique place that you are. Really, please don't change-you're perfect the way you are.

That last post was really trashy. The pictures didn't even line up like I'd hoped. I guess I need to work on formatting before I make hasty posts. Here is a beautiful building, to make myself feel slightly better.
I believe it is the city hall, and it sits on the corner of Kungsholmen as you take the bridge to the Gamla Stan. Opposite of this building on the other side of the bridge is Stockholms Centralstation
I feel better already

Hallå där Stockholm, vakna upp!

To grab your attention, here is a picture of a sassy Swedish girl in the club

She actually had good reason for her surly demeanor. She was looking at a 4 ft tall middle eastern looking guy dancing around in an FBI hat who moments later made a pass at her. Here's the damageSo after that we made our way to the dance floor, but let me catch you up a bit first with how the night progressed.

Saturday nights in Stockholm kick ass. I started the night playing cards and drinking games with some of the internationals I met at Lodge 32, on Kungsholmen. We finished six large beers each of 3.5% tall boys. I thing it was called Carlsberg, a Danish beer. It cost me something like 75 SEK for a six pack at the 7-11 next door.

After the pre party, we crossed the bridge to Norrmalm, the island north of the Gamla Stan, which sits just north of Södermalm. We went to a place called Chaplins Bar. If you want to check it out, www.chaplinsbar.se. Here is a picture of the dance floor. Special thanks to the guy who let us in when he told us we were dressed nice and asked where we were from. When I said California, he said, 'nice place' and let us skip the line. Turns out the other two were from other parts of Sweden, but they kept quiet, and it worked out. 160 crowns later and we were in the club.




Of course, I made some new friends. We got a girl to take a picture of us outside the bathroom. Kinda cool, I guess...










Then came the highlight of the night...welll, one of them-at least. So this couple of girls, and I either mean couple literally or maybe Swedish girls just like to party (who knows), approached
us and started dancing with us. I danced with the blonde one for quite some time and we were having fun, getting into heavy petting and I think she might have given me a kiss but I honestly can't remember, and this is about how it progressed from there














Which brought us to this.




















But don't think the night ended there. Next door to the club was the American Embassy, where we made a stop and witnessed Stockholmians enjoying a taste of American culture. After that, we made the decision to go back home at 4 AM, which by the way looks more like 10AM in most other places, because the light never really ends in Sweden during the summer. We realized that this was a good chance to jump into the canals naked, which is something you should do in Europe at 4 in the morning, or else you simply aren't partying right. Don't worry, the guides said the lake water was clean enough to swim in. Oh and look at me in front of Central Station. How wonderful.

Jag tror nog att det går: nasta stoppa Stockholm

We've made it and my head is spinning. I feel like I'm living out a lucid dream. It is my last night in California for the summer and I'm about to board a plane heading East over the States and the Atlantic. Looking out to the West won't help me now; I was here just about this time last year, heading over the Pacific to see the nice Australians down under. Would-be summer romances have been cut off, or perhaps just delayed, and any chance of stability in my life has been thrown into the wind. Strange how so many things can change and yet stay the same in the early years of your life. So for a second summer in a row, I leave my ghost to roam the California coast.

I told all the European friends I made in Australia that I would likely be coming to Europe this summer, though I must admit even I wasn't certain whether or not my words were more full of empty promises or palpable realities at the time. I particularly remember the first night I met Filip, during the Melbourne Welcome. It was at the formal dinner and he incidentally sat next to me as we both showed up late. We talked about Sweden, and I mistook the currency as the Swedish Franc. Now I know very well that it is the Swedish Krona (Crown), and that 1USD is about 7.8 SEK.

Somehow I made it happen, and I got my school to fund it. I guess sometimes you just get lucky and the universe unfolds for you. That's life's magic I've been talking about, and I hope it continues to favor me and that my starry skies never burn out.

I've planned about as much as I reasonably can, and I have to admit that it's been very exciting and I've spent the last few days pacing around, booking things here and there, and looking up every place I'm visiting on Google Earth to make sure nothing extraordinary gets left behind. I used that strategy for New Zealand, and it worked great. Sometimes the best plan is none, and I'm sure things will change and I've learned to just go along with it.

I don't know how well I'll keep up with this once I'm gone. I tried to tell myself I would keep my blog going after Melbourne, and I haven't even looked at it myself since I left. I guess we'll just see.


So, off I go to my first stop, with a handful of mobile numbers, contact info, and the plans I've made for the time I'm in Sweden. Speaking of Sweden, min svenska är dålig.


The Norwegians also seem excited to see me, and I must admit I'm also excited to see them after some 8 years of not seeing them. Always good to see how old friends are doing.



"May the wind always be at your back and the sun upon your face. And may the wings of destiny carry you aloft to dance with the stars."
George Jung, writer of the Hollywood Film 'Blow'


With that, I'm off; lever min dröm