Fairwell

It's sad, they say you don't know what you have till it's gone. Well Sweden and Denmark have passed us now, and I can easily say that they were the best two weeks of my life. Its not the fact that we got to go out and party every night, but it was simply the fact of learning a new culture. I've learned an exponential amount of information that I can't even put into words. I thought that our cultures would be close to similar boy was I wrong. I was so glad that I did this trip and that I got to experience Sweden and Denmark.
Yesterday was a solid finish to the trip with out a doubt. Max and I coordinate our meals for lunch and dinner and it couldn't have turned out better. The first place was like an old western bar. Walked in and they had saddles as seats. We all either ordered the fish and steak or the giant hamburger. I got the hamburger and it was great. Then we went to Carlsburg brewery to my disappointment it wasn't a brewery, but the site and presentation were great. Then we wandered around the city till dinner.
Dinner was excellent we went to Flora's, a great steak house, by far a great end to our trip meals.
Considering we were in Copenhagen  we had to go to the ice bar. Boy was it crazy it was the reopening night so it wasnt so crowded, but the sheer atmosphere was sick. We danced around in our capes for awhile and enjoyed a few cocktails drinking out of  ice cups.  Last we went Rosie Mcgee's and it just got crazy.
Needless to say it was a great successful trip, and I couldn't have learned more.

The Last 24 hours

The last 24 hours have been extremely interesting. We started of the day by doing our last company visit at Wireless car. Which I thought was a very cool company, my only problem was that they do not defer from their competitors. After enjoying the wonderful expresso machine we were finally free for the day.
Max and I decided to take a thirty minute trolly ride and then another 20 minute boat ride out to the main Island. It was gorgeous, the only problem was that it felt like it was 10 degrees outside. We were the only ones to get off the boat at that stop and we began to walk around the island, we walked for 20 minutes with out seeing a single person, all houses were boarded up and everything was shut down. This appeared to be everyones summer houses. We walked around some more and finally found some people. Then off in the corner of my eye I saw what appeared to be a mountain. For the purposes of fun and scenic views I declared it K2 and that Max and I had to climb it. We began our ascent, only problem is we couldn't find the entrance. We ended up in this amazing harbor which was encased by mountains. After traveling for an hour I finally found an off passage. It was passage that went over the river and through the woods to grandma's house.. But literally it was an Iced path which was super sketchy. After a good hour of climbing I finally got to the top. Most beautiful thing I have seen in my entire trip, other than the women of course.

 Then we went out to a three course Italian meal as a group and it was alright, kinda had italian a lot. Then we wanted to go out to the college bar. We got to the college bar and the bouncer told us that we needed to be students. So I was the last one in line and I figured being the youngest I would be kicked out. So I grab a hot girl that was about to go into the bar and I asked her quickly if she could get me in. We locked arms and she talked to the bouncer and I was the first person in, after that the entire group followed suit.
Today I woke up, packed and ran out the door. Of course I feel like I forgot something, but probably won't know. Anyways the flight was cool and short to watch then we finally touched down in Coppenhagen. We had to walk a mile one way to our hotel. This was a long hike especially seeing I had to carry my luggage on my head. After some time of walking we finally arrived. To our disbelief it was the wrong CAB INN, thats the definition of irony.  So we walked all the way back to the train station. Then when we got to the real place we had to walk to our other hotel which was a half mile away.
I am beat, as for now I can say that I like Sweden much better than Denmark, but hey I will give it a chance.

Heaven 23

Alright, today was a new experience and I am always down for something new, for the most part. We sat in two college lectures here at Gothenburg University. They talked about foreign policy and some what of Europe's economy; for the most part it was very interesting. Apparently my classmates thought otherwise or everyone just went way to hard last night. (Way to hard- Partied to much) Anyways we had our typical fica break every time the professor lost his train of thought. He finally decided to declare lunch and we headed down to the Dubliner. The local irish pub. We all ordered boiled fish, now I've heard of baked and deep fried but boiled? Maybe it was something Irish, anyways the fish was fantastic. The second class was a continuation of the first one, but this time the hot blonde girl decide she wanted to sit next to me, she came close and tried to pull out the desk but it was jammed so she moved down a chair. Darn! Now what I was thinking in my head but was a bit slow to act, maybe I should pull it out for her. Well it never happened, I sat there day dreaming.

After class we were on our own. I spent my free time with Max trying to hunt down family gifts and such. I was successful but it took some time. Anyways dinner consisted of some peanut butter and jelly, this was my attempt to save some money for my nightly affairs.

Our game plan changed periodically through out the night, but for the most part it was to live it up.We first headed to Kan's our favorite bartender and the cheapest place around, we all had a few drinks and shared a good time. Then we split into two groups, half of us going to Heaven 23 or Sky bar; pick your fancy. Anyways we ended up at top of the tallest tower over looking all of Gothenburg, Im talking magnificent views and some how I managed to get in amongst these successful wealthy business men. I felt like a boss, so what other way but to continue the feeling. So I bought a nice martini, with an ingredient that is illegal in the U.S. The drink was great, but you know what was better. The looks of these business men and women at us, looking like what are these spoiled rich kids doing up in our bar. Classic!

After that we rode the clear glass elevator all the way down from the sky bar. It was awesome.

Ohh yea, the coat lady put my coat on for me, thats how you know I was classy. :)

Swedish Rant

So apparently my blog is getting quite a few hits from the folks back home and around the world.
I thought I would use this time to rant about a few of the not so great things here in Sweden. Don't get me wrong I love Sweden an want to move here, but there are a few things that they can fix.
1. First and foremost as of now it is never sunny, how can they live it is very depressing with no sunlight ever. I mean you can't enjoy your beautiful country when its always dark. And it is always raining or snowing, how am I supposed to enjoy Sweden's beautiful girls if you can't see them or they are indoors.
Next everything is backwards. All the doors are push to open and for some reason they decided that they like to make their doors extremely heavy. Next all this eco friendly stuff is great, but if I can't sit in my room with light or have to put my card on the wall it just ads to the dark and is depressing. And why is that the toilet has two flushing capabilities. I want to flush the toilet not choose how I flush it. And when I want to go to the grocery store they have only bio degradable bags, otherwise you need to pay for them. I almost got arrested because I tried to use a normal bag for my beer for once. Thats another thing, this country is depressing because it always dark, you would think they would sell alcohol that is not in the Systembolaget. I understand that the government wants to control it but come on all we got is drinking. And really I'm not going to go to the bar and spend 40 dollars on a drink, Oh wait I have. Everything is so overly expensive including alcohol, we just want to have a good time with out paying a damn coat fee or over paying for a simple drink. Speaking of drinks, if I don't want to drink I go for water. Well someone decided that they would be brilliant and put bubbles in my water. They were dumb, every time I go to get water it has the stupid bubbles in it and it taste like garbage. It is so bad I don't know how Swede's tolerate it.
Also, they all drive the same cars, they are all hatchback volvo's. Don't you think someone would want a sports car or to be different. And next to that how do they get around, besides public transportation, gas is so expensive its unreal.
These last few things aren't really bad, well kinda. They walk there dogs everywhere, well these dogs go to the bathroom everywhere and for the most part they clean it up, but I've almost stepped in enough dog droppings that it has become a problem. Next they have this thing called a Fica break, I think America should adopt it but, I feel like they never work. If they get bored of a meeting they just call for a break. Next, I have not seen one obese person here in Sweden. This is not a bad thing, how ever in my world not everyone can be fit and skinny and look like supermodels, this is sad because some time I have to go back to the reality I call America.
Don't worry I will have a blog about the things I love. Till then.

Back to Business

Today we went to visit our buddy Bert over at ABB. We actually saw the robots in action which was very cool. He talked about project management and gave a fairly good perspective of what you have to do in order to be a project manager. Which to my convenience entails both accounting and marketing which are my majors. Anyways we had a good fish fry at their caf. I always feel like ABB is holding a super robot with all the security measures they have in there.

Anyways, we snuck on to the buses this time. No issues their today. Then we went to Skapa and had the best presentation and second best with information to me. I got to talk to him personally for a little after everyone left on how he got his first clients and how he started the company. Basically he started locally and did free seminars. This was interesting to me because when he talked about writing his websites and such; again I knew that all and I've tried to run a company per-say. I just hit a wall and could not achieve anymore. So his advice and words to me were unique, but very true. I definitely out of all companies would like to work for him. Did you see their office? It was so laid back and fun looking.







Next we went to our favorite place Pasta haus and I got the same thing I had last time always good. 

Packers Suck!!

Today, well today was a bit of a bummer... I woke up to late for breakfast because we had to much fun last night, but it was much worth it. Next Max finally dragged me out of the hostile and we decided to head to Haga for his lunch and my breakfast. I couldn't read the menu so I ordered with my eyes. Turns out my eyes have a much ritzier taste.

After that Max and I headed to Art Museum, we planned on going out to the islands, but we decided that it would be too dark by the time we could admire the beauty. Turns out that the Swedish Art Museum was very interesting, despite not knowing a thing about any of the pieces.

We got back and decided to do the Iron Chef in the hostile kitchen here. To be honest I thought that it was going to be a disaster. To my disbelief it turned out to be a great success.


After that we went to the North American Bar for the Bears vs Packers game....

Well this is just where I'm going to end my blog for the day........

Tonight was one of the best nights of my life hands down. It started off by us waking up a bit to late after we re fell asleep for breakfast. We got all four of us ready and out the door by 1230, our original plans were to meet up with the college and do the scavenger hunt, but apparently some people like to take 3 hour showers. So we changed directions and headed towards the Cultural Museum. Once we got in I was a little skeptical because there were hundreds of little kids running around. We just stuck to our plan and headed up the stairs which was easily the coolest modern articulate building around. Anyways the it had some awesome exhibits such as a few of the pictures following. Now it may not seem so cool but if you read the captions on the piece it made it much cooler.




After the Cultural museum we jumped on the train as a group and headed to the hockey game. Now I love hockey it is a fun sport to watch. So naturally I was very excited. As soon as we walked in to the place we found our seats at the very top of the stadium. Which in America would be awful, but in Sweden it seemed to be a prime place. They started to get rowdy, the stadium turned dark and fire was exploding to the music  as the Indians took the ice. Needless to say that European countries are a lot more passionate for there sports than us americans are. I ended up buying a sick jersey, which is my souvenir but all in all the game was amazing, the crowd was wild and they won. 
Now, Im thinking how much better can today get anyways.




Well it just started we went to a fancy restaurant and enjoyed some of the best food so far. I was the only one to order this Pardelli or what ever noodle it is and some beef. Excellent.. enough said.
Alright now I was really wondering if the night could get any better.
Considering the fact that I am 19 and all off the older members wanted to go to the most happening club in Gothenburg, the chances of me getting in were slim. 
So Max came up with this brilliant idea. Considering the fact that when we walk around we look like straight foreigners which we were, he decided that I being the most Swedish looking one should dress like I'm swedish. I was sold. I put on my tightest jeans wore my dress shoes, long black socks, rolled them at the bottom, and gelled my hair to high heaven. Several girls couldn't believe me that I was not Swedish. Bam I was in..

So we all walk down to the club as a group. Apparently you have to be 22-25 tonight, we seems like my night might just end dry. I decided to head in behind a few girls in our group that way if they get in I can get in with them. Then I see this Swedish model walking towards the end of the line and her three best friends. I played it smooth and called her over. She absolutely loved me. She told me everything I need to learn under the sun about there culture, plus she was a beautiful model. So I kept on talking to her and she was convinced that even after I showed her my ID that I was swedish. Anyways a few members  in our group roll up to the bouncer and they get denied. Then I roll up with the Swedish model around my arm and 3 of my friends. She talks to the guard smiles and then....BOOOOOMMMM were in. I talked with her and danced with her for a while, then she told me that she will catch me later. This club was sick. Take my first clubbing experience and multiply that by at least 100. 
Moral of the story it helps to be European in Sweden, but it helps more if you walk in with the hottest model in the club on your arm!!!!
Pictures will be up.

Rather Interesting?

Today was absolutely insane, we started of by meeting Hans Olfov the President of Volvo. After watching the presentations of some local Gothenburg master's programs on Volvo. We walked to Burger King. It has  been a rather long time since I have had fast food and for someone who almost has it daily I was going through my withdrawals. After BK we meet up with the Student Union of Gothenburg University, where they took us out to this very nice cafe and also paid for us to, which had to be quite expensive. After the cafe they decided to take us on a local shopping expedition. The only problem was they took us to high end retail where the average shirt cost around $50.  On our way to the last shop we saw a van literally explode into flames. This is something new and rather scary if you have never seen it before. Max and I decided we had enough of our shopping so we headed back to the hostile for something to eat. We as the people at the front desk and they told us about the Swedish tradition of Friday after Work. This is where you pay the admission fee of a bar for one drink and you get to eat their buffet of unlimited food. Best Idea ever! 
After that is history and shall never be know. You know what they say, what happens in Gothenburg stays in Gothenburg.... Or maybe that is Vegas, I often get them confused.

Southern Peninsula

We first started off the day going to Gothenburg University. We sat in on the SAI conference again and the speeches were surprisingly good, despite the fact that everyone but me fell asleep. Still my favorite thing here is Fica, every day they have a coffee break multiple times, this is cool because it made me appreciate this awful coffee and the fact that everyone is  so laid back.

Then we split to lunch. Gothenburg is beautiful when there is sunlight out. It is almost as all the ugly disappears for a few hours and the gorgeous comes out. ( This includes the girls) Anyways we walked down Haga which is known as the Cafe district and we stopped into this Cafe and I ordered what would be and American Cinnamon roll, but it had its Swedish differences, nonetheless it was awesome.

 Now, it was time for Ascom, like usual we were running around to find the right bus to make it there on time. We arrived at Ascom, outside the city's walls. We were introduced to a lady and she gave us a speech about her company. Surprisingly, the stuff she was talking about on the internet about websites I knew more than her because I designed an wrote my own website, which was kinda cool. After talking to her she realized I was the only true Swede and she told me what Soderholm meant.( my last name) She said it meant South Peninsula, which was a cool piece of information I learned. Then she told me that the best tool you can have is that you should be able to speak many languages. ( And if I wanted a job I should talk to her.)

After Ascom, we headed over to dinner. I was a little skeptical because I am not a fan of the whole fish scene. We arrived and it was in a cool location down by the harbor. The upstairs was set up for us and it was actually visited by the Queen Victoria and the Prime Minister of Sweden.

 Hahahaha, little did I know that I would be grilling the main course of our meals. I was grilling up some Witch, which is a type of fish for those, like me are not seafood enthusiast. Anyways, we all grilled up parts of our dinner and it was surprisingly alright, at least parts of it were. We all complimented the Chef's aka ourselves and enjoyed are dinners. 

 Outside of our dinner place they had this sign that I was fascinated with. Like honestly, is someone here in Sweden going to try and see if their cars float let alone fly.( And they call us stupid Americans) But this sign was up on a pier and Im sure there are better reasons for such a hilarious sign.

Were Looney

Today started off like every other day, everyone is scrambling to put on their best attire and get downstairs in time to leave. We all head to the trolly, but then quickly decided to take the bus. As usual we were confused on where we were going but actually made it on time to ABB.

My first impression of ABB was; wow they are really advanced, which held to be true.

Bert started off by giving us his powerpoint which was excellently put together and left us with a brilliant ending to his slides ( And a good sales pitch). I was impressed with the overall place and the whole robotics and system he created for his project. After we were done we ran to the bus and little did we know all of our bus passes were invalid which made things a bit awkward; but it worked out in the end.

We then went to the University to sit on some speeches. The first one was very interesting on their views on the economy and how China will surpass us. After that it got to a few topics that I do not find quite interesting. What is a pirates favorite movie? One thats rated RRRRR. I thought the topic on Pirates on the sea was cool, but she dragged it on and tried to sell her company. Also, I looked up that conference we were in and for each one of those business men and women to sit in their it cost them around $500. I thought that was cool considering we got invited for free.



We finished off our day by all of us heading to the Mall, the funny thing was us guys could not tell if we were walking into a girls or guys store. After several mistakes we got it right.

 So we were waiting for the girls to meet back up with us when I locked eyes with a girl from across the mall. We starred at each other for a solid 10 seconds before looking away. This girl was a dime, I mean so was I dressed up in my suit and all. I started walking away and next thing I knew she was right next to me talking to me. I told here I was leaving and she got all upset.
Anyways Max, Connor and I headed off to Gamel Pub for fish and chips and some beers...

Where's the Bus?

Today was like none other so far. I woke up after actually sleeping an entire night to a 30 minute bus ride into the country. We arrived at Auto Adapt and meet with the Vice President then took a tour of their facilities. We then went up stairs for a Fica break and they had the absolute best coffee and coffee machines ever. After we all had our Joe, we went into the board room where the CEO gave a very educational power point on his takes to success in his company. After we finished the power point we went into the lounge and at arguably one of the best meals so far. While I was eating the Vice President decided to come and sit next to me. He sets his plate down on the table, and tomato sauce splashes onto my white shirt. After a quick touch up, I asked him what inspired him to start up this company. He probably gave me some of the best personal advice he could give. To some it up short, it was write your goals down and chase them. Seems simple right, well he told me his personal story and struggles and said that as long as your moving towards your goal eventually you shall achieve.
After Auto Adapt we took another bus ride all the way to Volvo. Volvo was good, but we were all very tired and she could tell. As soon as she side you can go play on the toys ( the trucks that is) all of our eyes lit up and we started hoping in them. After the conclusion to her power point we started to have some serious fun. We had no clue how to get back to the public bus station, and the lady had no idea where one was. So we followed a path from Volvo all the way to the bus path. From there Max hailed a bus driver over but he didn't speak english. The bus driver saw the rest of the group coming and decide that it would be funny if he pulled away. So we left on a different bus than half the group and ended up in Volvo City. From there Max talked this lady that pointed us on the correct route home.
In the mean time Max sat in the back of the bus by me and this Swedish lady over heard Max and I talking. She said something to Max, then all of a sudden sparks were flying. He started to flirt with her and they would laugh together. For a second I though he found his wife. After nearly the entire 30 minute bus ride, she finally gave Max her number and told him that they should go to the archipelago together.
Then we went out to dinner to the Bare Ass Bar, or as it's know Rumpan Bar for some cocktails and food.

Business Trip?

So apparently we had to wake up early this morning, kinda a stickler for some, but do to Jet lag I never went to bed. What better of a way to start of the trip with the campus tour. The only problem was we struggled to find the campus. We all hustled on to the trolly, rode it for a few stops than sprinted off of it in fear that we were going the wrong way. Needless to say we walked the only remaining street I have not walked in all of Gothenburg. After splashing around in the endless amounts of puddles and pebbles we finally arrived. Now see I figured out that Gothenburg University is where I will find my wife. They only accept the top student( so she has brain's) and they are good looking. After touring the campus and seeing several prospects for my wife we decided to view some power points. Now the power points were good don't get me wrong, but after doing extensive research on these topics and bad accents it made for a bit of a long day. Then professor Shields came up and knocked it out of the park. Then we adjourned till Tuesday and I crashed.. 

Is it every sunny here?

I have finally figured it out. You just have to go to the clubs early that way they let you in, then later in the night they will fill up. See the first night we got denied going into Bersa which was the most popular club, but last night we got in and it was awesome.

Before Bersa we went out to a resturant as a group, it was pretty good.

Today Max and I decided we wanted to go check out the shopping district. We took a train to Nordstad it was a rather large shopping mall with tons of people in it. We walked around for a bit then decided to eat at Tinna's Cafe a buffet style with more American food than Swedish. That turned out to be alright not the best, but it was something different.

This place is unreal!!  First off I have never experineced night life in my life, so me and my three bestfriends headed downtown to the Avenyn to asorb the culture. Let's just say it started off by some of the best decisions ever made by us. We had no idea what we were doing, so we blindly jumped on to the next trolly, we asked some kids on the trolly how you get to avenyn; ( apparentaly our accents our awful, but more on this later) he kindly replied follow me. We got off at his stop and this place was banging, I mean people everywhere. He was headed to O'Learys the local sports bar, turns out the guy checking in coats was one of the nicest english speaking people we met all night. He showed us the local hot spots and where to party at our time of the night at our age....TBC

Hedou United States

The day finally came, we were all nervous and excited as we called our parents and grandparents. 16 Americans venturing out into Europe. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect, but it has been everything and more. The plane ride was just awful. Take off was smooth but, I popped a few sleeping pills and they kept me wired. I did not sleep a single minute on the plane. This is our take off and landing.

Landing in Sweden was a quick culture shock. Everyone spoke english for the most part, but only if you engaged in a conversation with them using english. Also, Sweden will be my downfall, every girl is blonde hair blue eyes which is a big plus. We went to a local Italian Restaurant and almost randomly picked food because it was in Swedish, but the waitresses were cute and spoke perfect english.... Maybe better english than I do.

Im heading out to the bars with the group, and I have to ask a girl why she is proud to be Swedish, stay tuned.

Night Before

Im not going to lie, I don't know what to expect. Right now it is the night before our flight and I can't tell if I am nervous or excited. Im at my house chilling with Alex and Jon. We are scrambling to put together our last minute items. Talking about the businesses we will visit and all the extreme food we will be eating. Most importantly we are wondering if the girls are all as hot as they make them out to be.

So were all packed and we decided to search some Swedish Culture, more specifically their music. We came across this!

This is apparently how they dance in the techno clubs. So I decide to indulge in the Swedish Culture and learn how to dance like that.