January 16, 2011

I arrived in Stockholm on January 7th for the second half of my season. The weather is a bit warmer, but there is more snow and ice on the ground. They barely salt the sidewalks and roads, so most of the city is covered in ice. Sean had arrived January 5th. His team is in a new division so they play games more frequently and their games are farther away. My team is in 3rd place, but is too far behind the 1st place team to have a chance to win the league. Our goal is to finish in 2nd place. We have played in 3 games since I have been back. We won the first, lost the second in the shoot out, and won the third game. I have 3 points over that stretch (1 goal, 2 assists).

Its been nice to finally be settled in one place. Over Christmas break, I was in New Jersey for just over a week and in the Bahamas for 5 days. In 17 days, I spent around 40 hours traveling on big planes, small planes, and boats. The blizzard at home made my trip south stressful, as my original flight was canceled, but somehow I got on a 6 am flight to Fort Lauderdale. The vacation was really nice, a harsh contrast from the weather I was used to in Sweden. Now that I am back, adjusting from 70 degree beach days to consistent 15 degree dark snow days has been tough. Yet, I'm glad to be back here in Stockholm.

Last night I got home from my game at around 9:30. I took a shower, ate dinner, cleaned up the apartment, but I still had 4 hours until the Packers game began. As a loyal and dedicated fan, I had to stay up and watch them play. They ended up beating up on the Falcons and I was in my bed at 6 am. I was probably the only person in Sweden that watched the entire game. Sean is sitting on a bus coming from a game in Furudal (4 hours north) right now as his beloved Patriots start their game against the Jets. I am instructed to give him text updates until he comes home.

Sean and I are planning a trip to Gothenburg next week for a concert. Its a 3 hour train ride, which Sean isn't that keen about, but its going to be the only chance we'll be able to see the rest of Sweden. Then in February, we are going to take an overnight cruise to Helsinki.