6/5/2014 - Malmö

I am in Sweden! I am alive! Matilda has only wire internet (ooh, how classic) so I haven't been able to speak much to the parents, but I normal texted, emailed, and facebooked them, so they should know I am okay. I am doing Swedish laundry now (ahhhh so scared) and just chilling a little while Matilda is at work. When the laundry is done, I think I'll go to the library. 

It's the height of Swedish graduation season so there are all these students running around in white sailor-type hats Matilda says they get as a gift of graduation! They also apparently party on truck beds but it started to rain yesterday so I didn't witness first hand.

Matilda's been so nice/such a good host. I got the bus from the airport to Konserthust and she met me right at the stop! It's so weird seeing her - I feel we do know each other quite well by camp standards, but this is so far from camp. It's like how at camp you get used to seeing people in the same clothes over and over again and when they wear something new it looks so alien. Matilda's wearing a whole different city. 

But she's been really lovely. We dropped my stuff off at her apartment and went to get her bike (so Swedish!) from the shop and then came back and made dinner. She didn't let me help though, or help wash dishes - gotta help somehow, want to be a good guest! Then we went on a walk to the library and through Kungsparken and we saw the Lillatorg - it felt like my own private walking tour! Then we came back and we're going to sleep early but instead got distracted finding a postcard for Melia (our fave crazy cat camper) from her, me, and Sarah Fashion. Then bed. It's one hour time difference here in Continental Europe - I lost an hour but I'll get it back when I go back through the UK. 

Okay, gonna go check this laundry. Pray for me - it was powder laundry soap and I'm afraid I used way too much. 

Success! I think! None of my clothes look horribly mangled and there isn't a broken machine! (There is a puddle on the floor but who knows if it's from me, and besides, puddles happen.) It's an interesting system - you wash the clothes in a machine like at home but then you put only some things in the dryer - little things or sturdy things - and then the rest go in a DRYING ROOM that gets super hot and blows air at them. That's the stage I'm on now. Then it doesn't work super well so you bring the sorta dry clothes upstairs and dry them on a rack. 

Matilda's apartment is so cute. it's like an ad for Ikea - in a perfect way! - it's got great tall ceilings and her books are arranged by color and she has this cool circular ceramic (I think?) fireplace? It doesn't work but it's so nice and interesting looking to have in the room. I was gushing over her apartment last night. 

She's been so nice and helpful - I hope she comes to New York sometime and I can repay the favor. Sarah Fashion comes tomorrow, and I think tomorrow we go to Copenhagen as well - but oh no I am scared because Matilda was talking about a train strike??? I will have to investigate when I go to the library today. First order of business - well second after laundry - is WIFI! Oh dear, I am dependent on Internet. 

Hm, I might be running low on the ink in my pen. Should I stay with purple or do green or blue? My life is full of difficult choices. 

Just got back to Matilda's from exploring! I may just get my boots and raincoat and then go out again, though - it started raining and I nigh on sprinted from Central Station to Stenbockgattan. Map here is awesome - streets are very grid-like, too, not like Ireland! Although they do change names halfway down, oy vey. But way better labeled - signs are on every corner, not just the ones that feel like it. I went to the library and wandered through Kungsparken again and took pictures - the weather was gorgeous for a few hours, hence my hubris in not bringing raincoat and wearing Docs. Went and saw Malmöhus and poked my head inside, then zipped to Central Station because it looked like rain and used their internet on my device. However, forgot to eat there and now am starved hence need for boots/coat/money for hungry stomach. 

Ooh, got distracted reading and just went to get food and now Matilda's back at the apartment - just missed each other! I guess nice to have separate space for a while - fish and guests stink after three days, and I'm there Wednesday night/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Monday morning maybe, eep! Oh darn, forgot to reserve/figure out Berlin. Oh well, tomorrow!

I've had two sodas in two days - no good! I had one on Sunday too, oy vey! I need to buy a waterbottle, a nice one. Maybe in Sweden? A z00-bineer? I like the idea of, if I really need something, I buy myself a nice one and take it home. Like my Irish soap dish! Though that's not very exciting. But I do like it a lot. 

I've been very impulsive on these trips so far but almost opposite my intuition - I was going to just get Burger Kind at Central Station but talked myself out of it. I keep talking myself out of good ideas. Gotta stop that! Go with my gut, it's good!

55 SKR for pizza and drink. (Damn you, Fanta!)

​Ooh, this car dance thing is DANGEROUS. Legit.