Hamma hamma hamma HAMMARBY!

Since going to Grinda I've had the opportunity to do so many fun and exciting things. We went out that Friday and Saturday night and met lots of friendly Swedes who are eager to show us around the city. My contact dad explained to me that Swedes are very reserved people unless there's alcohol involved, and boy, was he right. We also had a chance to experience this at a soccer game on Monday night. The teams were AIK vs. Hammarby, both Stockholm teams. We were warned that it was similar to a Red Sox/Yankees rivalry, but we had no idea what we were in for. Some of the boys went by bus to travel to the stadium with the team. Apparently it was quite the experience which included lots of cheering, singing, and (you guessed it) binge drinking. Some of the girls and I opted to skip that, which in retrospect was probably a good choice.

Our tickets were in the standing section of the Hammarby side (we live in Sundyberg, AIK territory, but we didn't realize this when we were buying tickets). Before the game even started both AIK and Hammarby fans were waving huge flags, shooting colored smoke, and setting off fireworks. It was crazy. Later in the game the ref made a bad call and total chaos erupted. The Hammarby fans were throwing these little fireworks/bomb things at the soccer players so everyone had to clear the field. The Polis were beating rowdy fans with these pointy sticks and about two thirds of the stadium booked it out of there.... we chose to stay :) (I can just see my parents rolling their eyes now) which perhaps was not a wise choice. While exiting a bunch of us almost got trampled by a mob of angry AIK fans who rushed the Hammarby exits, some girls in the group had to jump on a lamppost to avoid being trampled by polis on horseback, and Colin sprained his ankle. Needless to say it was exciting, and in hindsight, AWESOME. Did I mention the game ended in a tie? These fans don't joke around. We booked it home in polis-escorted subway cars. We asked a nearby Swede if this behavior is common and he said 'yes'. I'd love to go again, but next time I'll leave early.

This is a picture of the polis lining the field before the crowd got rowdy. Haha I wish I weren't looking like an idiot pretending to look like one of them.

Last Saturday Julia, Dani, and I visited Skansen, which basically was a Swedish Sturbridge Village. To get there we took a ferry to a nearby island that also hosted an amusement park, Grono Lund, that I am DYING to go to. Hopefully we'll make it there this weekend.

Skansen was really interesting and very picturesque (again, I promise to post pictures soon!).

Wednesday nights are pub nights at Stockholms Universitet. We went last week but came too late to get into the dance club. Hopefully we'll have more luck tonight. We are hoping to meet up with some Swedish students there. One thing that is ineresting is that most students starting at the University are 20 or 21. Most Swedes take a year or two off after high school, so some kids we go to school with are even in there mid/late twenties and are engaged, which is really strange to me coming from Bowdoin.

I promise I'm taking classes here too! I just started this week, so I haven't had all my classes yet. I'm taking Svenska, Women in Swedish Society and Culture, Europe and the World Economy, and History of Modern Scandinavian Art and Architecture. All my classes are in english and only have kids in my program in them. I'll talk more about those once I've had all my classes. Don't worry, Mom and Dad, I haven't forgotten I'm studying abroad ;)

Other things I've done: visted SoFo, Östermalm, had "Fika", seen the National Museum, eaten Swedish meatballs, visited an epic IKEA, and got a tattoo of a Scorpion holding a Swedish flag the covers my entire back (JOKES!).

Sending everyone my best! Hope the fall is off to a good start at Bowdoin!