Scandic Grand Central Gävle

... and Family show tomorrow, a Vattanfall show on Monday and then we leave for Finland at 5:15 a.m. on Tuesday morning. We're sleeping overnight at the show facility on Monday night so that our host families don't have to get up early to bring us to the buses on Tuesday morning. So... one big UPPIE slumber party!

Basically, my life will be one big slumber party for the next 12 days! Yes!

By the way, have you checked out ...

I concluded my 2 month adventure with a 2 day visit to Anna's aunt Birgitta in Leksand, which is in the traditional Dalicarlian region of Sweden. I should note we had a small delay on the train ride up to Leksand since the train hit a moose, which apparently isn't that uncommon here. Birgitta has been the best host up here taking me around and cooking us the best meals (in fact I have to get ...

... was considering hosting me my first time round in Sweden. I met Tamara and her friends Isabelle and Angela. They were all really nice, and they all spoke English very well. First we did some pre-drinking in the park, while meeting a ton of people whose names I cannot remember. From here we went to a local pub, all saints, and did a little drinking before I caught the bus home. It was a really fun night, I ...

... sauna was very exiliarating, and apparently good for your immune system. I really enjoyed it, much more than I enjoy just sitting in the sauna. I would love to try it in the winter, when you have to drill holes in the ice to have some water to jump into. It would be a real shock to the system, going to such temperature extremes. It was very relaxing, something I really needed after getting back from a trip and going on another the next day.

Tomorrow to Gotland!

... up the stairs to the rooms, I saw that there was a massve picture of me sitting there on the display. Ugh, I don't that that I photograph well, and I am pretty sure that that is the truth, but Sofie assured me that the photo was nice, but it was still hard to go look at the photo up there, for everyone to see. Needless to say, I didn't buy either the photos they had of me up there, everyone looked so shocked in their photos.

After we docked, we had to wait for our bus, which was ...

... up spending two hours sitting up above the shopping floor talking and watching people.

After wandering into the disco and seeing lots of people singing Finnish karaoke, leaving and coming back in later when dancing had started. At the start we just continued people watching, giving many of the people nicknames, such as "lonely guy" and "dancing guy". I did feel quite sorry for lonely guy, he was sitting there by himself in the corner for the first little ...

... the mall, but I just could not contain my excitement. Such good sale prices, and amazing clothing. I must have spent so much money that first day in the mall, I think that I may have lost my mind for the few hours that I was in the mall, I took a large chunk out of my spending money budget that day.

I also found that any jet lag that I thought I would have didn't exist, a bonus when trying to get the most out of every day in a trip that much to short.

... on a parking spot and we decided to pitch up the tent right behind the car. Henrik felt safer to be away from the road, so that in case of an accident, they wouldn't crash into us. I was beginning to think I might survive the camping, but I am not sure if I can survive the drivers here in Sweden. As we were about to put our stuff behind the car, Henrik walked into the forest and a few minutes later came back out with a smile on his face, as though he ...

... to bad American hip-hop, but then suddenly this magic door opened up, upstairs and Schlager music (cheery ABBA-esque sort of music) blasted out! It was like a magnetic force that pulled these Swedes upwards and the dead party came to life with people dancing like there was no tomorrow, until the place had to close at 2am (yes, they have lame closing hours here too.) Too bad I can't post audio clips on this site :-(

... didn't have the tradition of getting drunk and clinging to a midsommer pole. Nevertheless we still had plenty to drink (though I discovered the next day that when Swedes (unlike Poles) take a shot of snapps (the word for anything resembling vodka) they are allowed to drink only 1/2) hence I ended up having twice as much liquer as the rest which proved quite entertaining later, though my ...