Stockholm Nights

Before I came to Stockholm, my research on the city included research on the nightlife here.  Many websites said that Stockholm has one of the best nightlife’s in the world.  There’s the Spy Bar where Swedish celebrities flock, Mosebacke overlooking the city is the perfect place for a cold beer on a summer night, and for God’s sake, we are living in the middle of the vodka belt! I practically thought that vodka would run from the faucets! I was excited to see what kind of clubs the city had to offer!

However, now that I’m here I’m wondering how anyone can ever afford to get drunk.  It is astronomically expensive to get yourself a Friday night cocktail here! For example, last weekend a friend (Jessika, Germany) and I went to this bar called Pet Sounds in Södermalm. One cocktail, though extremely delicious and funnily named a ‘Moscow Disco’, cost me 102 crowns. That is roughly about 15 U.S. dollars.  For one drink!!!

I’m going to tell you a fairy tale.  In a land far, far away…a land of snow and cheese and football called Stevens Point, Wisconsin, there is a magical place. It is a place where all of the students studying and writing hard go to dance the night away. The magical place is called Graffitti’s and a good time is always…well usually…had by all.  Every Thursday, all of the young ladies of the kingdom of Stevens Point can go to Graffitti’s and pay one dollar to drink out of a magical refilling cup for the whole night.  It could be the best deal in drinking history.

I kept thinking about that ‘Moscow Disco’ and how it was delicious, but if I had used that 15 dollars on Thursday nights in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, I could have partied hard for 15 consecutive weeks.  Here, I can’t even get two drinks for 15 dollars! Not that I’m not having fun here…

In front of the obelisk in Sergels Torg

I Love Fanny and Lovisa!

At the beginning of this trip, I asked myself, “What’s more fun, a cabin of nine girls who speak too much English, or two girls who barely speak any English?” So far, I’ve come to find both are equally fun. 

Fanny and Lovisa are so great, and cute, and pretty, and nice.  They love me and I love them.  Sometimes, we don’t understand each other but we make it.  I’ve found that even though I rarely understand what the girls are saying, they are just as funny as some campers I’ve had at camp that cracked jokes in English.  For example, Fanny just got a saxophone and she LOVES it.  She honks on it all the time.  Today, Borje got home from a business trip to Japan and Fanny and Lovisa ran outside to greet him.  Fanny brought her saxophone with her.  She didn’t say hello, she honked at him as loud as she could.  Susanna and I watched and laughed at her from the dining room. 

The other wonderful thing about these two girls is that they are helpful and loving.  Lovisa’s school had a bake sale so I offered to make cupcakes with her.  I found a recipe, put it in the metric system, and we baked together.  She kept saying, “I love this! I love this!” and “I like you!” It was so much fun.  And what made me so happy was that she was really helpful about cleaning up.  She washed dishes and volunteered to take out the garbage.  I was so proud of her. 

I also have a lot of fun taking Fanny to and from school every day.  She is the kind of little girl that notices everything.  She’ll stop to pull a leaf off a tree, to try to catch grasshoppers, or to look for fish.  I’m happy that she’s curious about nature, all I’m saying is it takes me 15 minutes exactly to walk to her school. With her it takes a full half an hour.  But she is so cute, I always want to let her kick pine cones for as long as she wants. 

This week, Fanny stayed home from school “sick”, so I got to hang out with her or a few hours.  I made her some Swedish pancakes and we played a Hello Kitty version of Uno and Fanny was cheating! I had to look up the word for cheat in Swedish, ‘Du  fuskar!’ To which she replied while smiling slyly, “Du fuskar!” Then she beat me at Pippi Longstockings memory four times.  This is the only trouble I’ve had with her, which I really don’t consider trouble. 

Look at these little Swedish cuties! They are dressed
 like this for their school's 100 year anniversary.

After meeting a few other au pair girls by now from all over the world, I’ve really realized that I am lucky to be living in the perfect family.  Lovisa and Fanny are fun to be with and pretty easy to take care of.  A lot of girls are stuck with whiners and spoiled brats.  I’m really loving this easy and fun job!

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

My first week in Sweden was a little weird.  I was excited to get to Stockholm so I didn’t have to sit on my parent’s couch anymore.  One week of that was more than enough for me.  But, since I only work about four hours a day, I found myself sitting on my bed almost as much as I had been sitting on that couch in Rosholt.  It felt unnatural to not know anyone my own age in the country. 

Every other time I’ve had to make friends, I’ve been in a very easy situation to make them.  College: 200 friends accessible in dorm.  Summer Camp: 20 friends working with you.  Study Abroad: 29 friends travelling with you.  This is the first time I’ve had to work a little bit to meet some people. 

Thank God for the internet.  I met a ton of au pair girls because of Facebook, and scheduled times to meet with them through the website.  When I imagine how hard it would have been 20 years ago to make friends as an au pair without the web, I imagine that I wouldn’t have been so ready to leave all of my friends and family at home for a year.

Not only has the internet helped me make friends in Sweden, it’s the only thing that’s kept me in touch with friends in Wisconsin, and everywhere else they’ve migrated to after college.  I can talk to my boyfriend every day, skype with friends all over the world for free, and receive uplifting emails from my mom.  Our generation of travelers, willing to leave everyone they know behind, is lucky because we don’t really have to leave everyone completely behind. 

I’m happy and I’m finally getting some friends here.  They are so many lovely girls here from all over the world and I love getting to know all of them.  I can’t wait to make some great life friends here. Here’s to you Jessica of Canada, Jessika of Germany, Lindsey of Florida, Lisa of Finland, and Sarah of Germany; let’s have an incredible year.