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.