February 22, 2011

I just got back from a night trip to Mariehamn, Finland. I boarded the Viking Cinderella cruise ship last night at 6 o'clock. I decided to go on the cruise because many of the people that I have met here have told me that it is a must before I go home. The prime time to go on these cruises is during the summer or during the weekends throughout the year. So surely this Monday night in February was going to be an unbelievable experience. 

Mariehamn is a town in a Finnish archipelago about halfway between Helsinki and Stockholm. I originally planned on going to Helsinki, but that is a 2 night journey, so I settled with the shortest trip. My ticket was 540 SEK. As I was boarding the large cruise, I noticed that I was an anomaly amongst the large group of passengers. Nearly every person onboard was elderly. There was also a large handful of small families running around. After I was greeted by two clowns upon boarding the ship, I put my head down and found my cabin. 

Despite the odds, I ended up having a fun night. It was my first time on a cruise (thanks Dad) so it was cool to explore everything it had to offer. In the stern, there was a large open auditorium  and dance floor. The ship was filled with slot machines and little casino areas. The coolest feature was the big shopping market. Unlike Sweden, everything on the cruise is tax-free so the Swedes take the opportunity to stock up on booze and beauty products. The views this morning were great and it was amazing to see this enormous cruise tear through the icy water. The boat weaved through the large Swedish archipelago for most of the journey. I never got to see open water.  It was a cool experience and I'm glad I did it, but I don't think I will go on another cruise in the near future. 

Sean's parents left on Sunday after being here for a week. It was nice for Sean to have them on his birthday (Feb. 13). We ate well when they were here, as they took us out to dinner a couple times and they made great meals for us in the apartment. On Saturday, my team had a game against Nykoping to decide 2nd place in our league. Because we were a little undermanned, Sean and one of his teammates played in the game. It was the first time Sean and I played in the same game. I think it was really fun for Kathy and Paul to watch us together on the ice. We ended up winning the game 5-1. It was a great win for our team, which has struggled internally for the past few weeks. We have one more game left in the season. Sean's season came to an end on Sunday after a tight loss to Visby. 

Sean's cousin arrived today and will leave with Sean on Friday. My mom comes on Saturday morning, and we will leave on Sunday. 

February 7, 2011

After a nap at 10 p.m., Sean and I made our way to O'Leary's (Boston sports themed bar) in Ostermalm.  The entire city was quiet on this Sunday night, except for O'Leary's which was buzzing with excitement. We, from what it seemed, were the only Americans in the place. Yet, the place was still packed with Swedes who joined us in watching the Super Bowl. The game was extremely exciting and nerve-racking. It made it that much more fun to watch the game in a bar rather than in our apartment. The place appeared to be split with half Packers fans and half Steelers fans, but I don't think the Swedes really knew what they were cheering for. The Packers won the game in dramatic fashion. It was one of the best Super Bowls in recent memory. After, Sean tried to put the game in perspective for me by saying that the Patriots are better than both of these teams.

My team lost 7-6 in a shootout on Saturday to Nynashamns. The game was back and forth, with both teams taking advantage of the bad goaltending. I put our team ahead 6-5 with a power play goal with about 5 minutes left. Our advantage was quickly wasted when the other team scored a shorthanded goal with 30 seconds left. Neither team scored in overtime. We did not score on any of our shootout attempts, and Nynashamns won the game on their last attempt. Our head coach is still out because of his sickness. We desperately need him back to bring back the organization and discipline to our team.

On Friday night, I went to the Citizen Cope concert down the street at the Scandic Hotel. I went alone because Sean had an away game. The lead singer was alone on stage playing the acoustic guitar. It was a strange scene because the stage was tiny and was off to the left side of the bar/lounge. Half of the crowd was listening and the other half was just hanging out and paying no attention to the live music. I have not been to a Citizen Cope concert in America, but from what I've heard, he's much more popular than he appeared at the Scandic Hotel in Stockholm. After the concert, the lead singer was hanging out at the bar and was surrounded by his little entourage. I went up and introduced myself and we talked for a few minutes. He invited me and his other friends down to his dressing room to hang out. I felt like I was in a dream. The scene in his dressing room was not quite what I imagined for a rock and roll band, but it was still pretty cool. There were a few Swedish girls, a group of Spanish friends who came to Stockholm for the concert, Citizen Cope's crew, and me. We hung out for about an hour, and then the singer had to leave for Copenhagen for his next show. I got a signed copy of his CD as he was leaving. When I got home, I called everyone I knew to brag about my night.

Sean's parents come this Saturday for a short visit.

I have three games left in my season.