Örebro!!!

Today I spent the day hanging out with my teammate, Lisa, in her home town of Örebro. This city has always seemed so adorable, or at least from what I could tell as I quickly whizzed past on the train. Lisa and I had been talking almost all season about when I might visit Örebro and I figured since my days here in Sweden are quickly coming to a close that I should to it SOON! She needed a break from schoolwork and I needed a break from packing: match made in heaven!

When I got off the train in Örebro I as concerned that I would have trouble finding Lisa since I don't have any money left on my phone and we hadn't worked out a meeting place. As soon as I turned to head down the stairs and over to the main station I was greeted with a "Flarg Flarg!" Haha it's a joke between Lisa and I... youtube F*R*I*E*N*D*S christmas in Tulsa and you'll see it. Anywho, after we met up, we headed toward the center of town. This city is so adorable! It has the charm and architecture of a little town, but nearly everything you could find in a major city. As we walked through one of the many town squares, Lisa showed me the statue of the King who was crowned right there in Örebro. Just beyond the King, I spotted a building that looked AWESOME! "Oh, that's our castle" you know... no big deal or anything! Just a CASTLE in the middle of town! And this wasn't some little house made out of stone they were calling a castle. This was a proper CASTLE! It was so neat! So we walked around the castle and even went into one part. The castle is used for a ton of practical purposes. There are offices and even classrooms that are used by the local high school in it. Lisa described these rooms as "normal classrooms with a castley twist to them" haha! What is a castley twist? Not sure, but I loved the description. There is of course, still the touristy part.

After walking through town a bit more, we went into the local church.... yes, another church! The Church of St. Nicholas was GORGEOUS! It's a medieval cathedral that was built during the 13th and 14th centuries. It had incredibly high archways that lead you to the altar at the front of the church. In the back of the church was a spectacular organ! It had to have had more than 100 pipes! Absolutely stunning!

Next we just walked around town and went in and out of a few shops... After we had done a little bit of shopping, Lisa and I decided it was time to have a lunch break. We went to her favorite cafe only to find that it was SUPER busy. Rather than wait for a table to open up, we opted to come back a bit later. From the cafe, we walked along the canal that runs through the city. It was so pretty! Little cobble stone paths to walk on and cute little benches to sit on, but of course we didn't sit down... we had too much to see! We walked along the canal until we got to the city park. The flowers in the city park garden were so bright and vivid! The flowers blooming were bright red, orange, and yellow, and the combination of all of these colors would make any gardener jealous.

After a quick stroll through the park, we walked into Örebro's open air museum called Wadköping. This part of town is comprised of some of the oldest houses in the city. It reminded me a great deal of Yorktown or Colonial Williamsburg. Only in Wadköping's case, these structures were original. I'm not sure all of them were, but at least the ones we walked in were. While most of the buildings are now occupied by small craft or hobby shops, some are actually lived in. The building we went in displayed how daily life might have been back in those days. It was pretty cool to see. Lisa being an awesome tourguide translated what I couldn't read for me haha!

By this time we were starving so we headed back to the cafe for a bite to eat. It was such a great lunch. Normally, I'm one to eat and move on, but just sitting there enjoying the food and conversation was so nice. I have no idea how long we sat there, but we just talked. It was so relaxing. After lunch, we walked to a few other stores, took a couple more pictures, and then walked to the train station.

Saying goodbye to friends you've grown so close to in the past 5 months is SOOO difficult. Thank gosh they make sad situations funny by making an awkward noise or saying something ridiculous... hahaha! Thanks for such a great day, Lisa! I'll miss ya buddy, but can't wait to see you in the STATES! :)

today in Skövde :)

Today was such a great day! Now that softball is over, I have to find things to fill my days. In order to do that, I'm having to discover this town all over again. I'm finding things I didn't know existed and appreciating Skövde as a tourist once again.

Even though ball is over, I still get a taste of it here and there. This morning, I woke up and headed to the field to help Eddie, Jimmy, Juha, and Richard (some of the guys from our baseball team) with teaching some local students how to play softball. When I got there, I realized that these students were all a bit older and in the sports program at one of the local schools. I was running a bit late so by the time I got there, the students had already been broken into two groups. One group went to hit on the baseball field and one group stayed at the softball field to work on fielding. I stayed at the field to help with fielding and was actually kind of surprised at how quickly these students picked up on fielding and where to throw. After about 20 minutes, we switched to hitting. Here, Juha did front toss, Eddie caught, and I coached the students on how to improve their swings before they went up to bat. I was, again, pleasantly surprised at how well the students did and how quickly they picked up on my tips. After this, we brought both teams back together for a brief scrimmage. I think the guy were more into it than the students, haha! It was pretty funny to see them miss ground balls as the pitcher so their team could keep running haha!!! It was just a great way to start the day: Beautiful weather and softball :)

After a brief nap, I wandered into town to have a look around before meeting up with Kristian to get some last things sorted out. Next I walked across town to a thrift store Maria had told me about. My family and friends know how in love with thrift stores I am. Heck, one of my roommates senior year and I went to nearly all of the thrift stores in Fredericksburg and decorated our house. If I do say so myself, we did an AWESOME job! Also, I love collected strange and eclectic glasses and there is no better place to find them affordably than at a thrift shop. As I was picking through the shelves and racks, I ran into Eddie again who was at the grocery store that was attached. I love that feeling of being able to run into people I know in town. It makes me feel like a true Skövde resident. While I had hoped to find a teapot for my mother, which I did not find, what I DID find was a great souvenir for myself. I found two traditional snaps glasses with a Dalahäst painted on them. Given my love of strange glasses, I had to get them! :) Now just to figure out how to get tem home haha! Something that struck me as exremely different in this thrift store came on the back wall of the shop.. While most US thrift stores have a sports section complete with baseball mitts, cleats, maybe some old footballs and basketballs, the sports section in this thrift store was nothing but hockey and ice skates and hockey sticks. THAT'S IT! It just really drives home the differences in athletic preferences here in Sweden versus those back home.

After leaving the thrift store I had hoped to go for a run, but since my right leg and ankle were still swollen from London, I opted to just walked around town. As I was on my way home, a car honked at me and to my surprise I look over to see one of my teammates waving at me. Like I said, I just love being able to recognize people and being recognized by people in a town so far away from home. Thank you guys for making me feel so at home these past 5 months! :)

Minding the gap

Hectic. adj. characterized by intense agitation, excitement, confused and rapid movement, etc. Yes, that is a pretty accurate way to describe the past three days. Um WOW! So I got back last night from a 3 day two night trip to LONDON BABY!!! Maria, one of my teammates, and I left early Monday morning on a train to Västerås to catch out flight to London. Even before we left, we knew that we really only had Monday evening and Tuesday to see the city so it would be a busy day and a half of site seeing. Well, as it turned out, we only really had Tuesday. The flight itself was good. It was just under 2 hours, and Maria and I made a new friend haha! I also learned that smoking is ok on planes as long as it's a certain type of cigarette... ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?! I was so baffled by that. Anywho... We were set to land at 4pm Monday afternoon, which would have given us sometime to do some exploring. While we landed actually 5 minutes, I don't know that we had factored in the possibility of it taking 2 hours for me to get through customs. At Stansted Airport, and in other EU nations, the customs line is split in to two different lines. There is the European Union citizen line (Maria's line) annnnnnd everybody else (my line). When we got off of the plane, there were actually more people in the EU line than the other line, so I was thinking "ok no problem, we'll get out at the same time. Great!" Not the case... Maria made it through in a matter of 5 minutes... two hours later I walk through the gates I had been staring at for what felt like days. Next we had to figure out where the Stansted Express was. After a 45 minute train ride to Liverpool St Station, we had to figure out just where exactly our hostel was and the best way to get there. After navigating the tube (yes, they call it the tube) like pros, we made it to our hostel... Of course by this time, it's dark out. hm. Instead of letting that discourage, we opted to do a bit of shopping so we could focus on seeing the major sites of the city Tuesday.

We hopped on the tube and rode it to Picadilly Circus. This is kind of London's equivalent to Times Square although muuuuuch smaller in size. It has the bright signs and a ton of tourist shops. Here, we were search of some books and cds for Maria. You may wonder why in the world my friend would want to shop for books while in London. Books in Sweden are actually incredibly expensive in comparison to what they are in the States and in London, ESPECIALLY books written in English (which is what she was looking for). Cds are also very expensive in Sweden. So while Maria searched for her books, I set up camp on the 4th floor of Waterstone's: the Language and Culture section. You can take the girl out of linguistics, but you can't take linguistics out of the girl. It was actually really nice to just sit there and read some Jennifer Coates and Judith Butler. In one book I picked up, I actually found an article by one of my grad school professors, Dr. Janet Bing. Thousands of miles away from home, it felt like I was sitting back in the ODU library preparing for class. It was a great feeling!

After we had finished looking in the bookstore and Cd store, we made our way back to the tube and headed toward Big Ben. It was so bizarre climbing the stairs out of the tube and suddenly seeing one of the world's most iconic clock towers. Ok, I'll admit I actually didn't see it at first. I was the tired idiot who was taking pictures of one of the buildings behind it... but that was only because i was literally right in front of it... wait, that doesn't make it sound any better haha! Then Maria directed my gaze from straight in front of me to up and there it was! BIG BEN! :) It was such a spectacular sight to see all lit up at night. The gorgeous gothic architecture was lit up by a light that made it look gold. The touch of green at the top of the tower was also spectacular. Sigh... Next we walked across the bridge, oh you know on of the bridges that crosses the Thames! and got a great look at the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament all lit up :) We had to hustle since the tube stops running at midnight and it was already 11:15. Before we wentback into the tube, we stopped to see Westminster Abbey all lit up. It was gorgeous, although in stark contrast with the buildings immediately surrounding since it looked silver while the other buildings looked gold. I just LOVE the architecture!

Our first full day in the city started very early! We were up at 645 to get ready for breakfast at 730. We didn't even bother to sit and eat it at the hostel. We took our toast and jam sandwiches with us and hopped on the tube. We went right back where we had left off the night before. I now had the opportunity to see the same landmarks just after sunrise. My uncle, who has offered some awesom critiques of my photos, told me that I should try to shoot more at sunrise and sunset since it's a softer light. I think he's on to something. These buildings looked so amazing in the morning light! After what can only be called an insane number of photos of the London Eye, Maria and I made our way to Westminster Abbey. Even though she had been to London twice before, she had never been inside the Abbey. This church was amazing. Walking into it brought a tear to my eye. Since we were there so early, there weren't too many people which was great. We were able to experience the church on a more intimate level without as many people to dodge and walk through. After we had walked into one of the chapels, Maria and I decided to head back to the front desk to pick up one of the complementary audio guides... yes, we were those people! Even though we looked like little old ladies with our maps of the churches and our guided tour phone looking things, it was GREAT! I learned so much about not only the church and it's history, but also about those who are buried there and who have visited there.

As we walked around the church, we saw the graves and tombs of some of the most noted kings, queens, priests, scientists, and writers in English history. We saw the tombs of Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, Henry the VI, James I, Richard I, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Rudyard Kipling... and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head! One thing that I thought was really neat about Poet's Corner (the place where most of the writers and composers are buried) was the fact that in some cases the autor's own words appear on their headstones. Also, the tombs the monarchs are buried in were so beautiful. It was so interesting to hear the care and effort put into creating these final resting places. We also were able to see the residence of the monks who currently live there as it is still an active church.

After we left the Abbey, we made our way to Buckingham Palace... Sadly, Mommom, I didn't see Harry so I couldn't tell him 1.) that you say hello and 2.) that ou want him to marry me. Oh well, maybe next time. Haha! For everyone else reading, that is honestly what my mommom told me to tell him! Is it any wonder why I love her so much?! I was rather disappointed by Buckingham. Here I was thinking I'd be able to keep up my series of awkward photographs with guards of royal palaces only to discover that the guards are kept fenced in! LAME! Oh well... I got a decent picture of a guard, looks like I'll just have to photoshop myself in, haha. After only a visit long enough to snap a couple of photos, we were off to our next destination: HARRODS!!!

Ok, being as neither Maria nor myself have money to burn, we avoided buying anything here. In fact, as we walked through the antiques section of the store, Maria whispered to me: "Don't touch annnyything." HAHA! Good looking out teammate! When we got to the glass section of the store she whispered a bit louder, "Don't even look at anything. It might break." BAHAHAHA! Awesome! Thanks Maria :) In all honestly, this store may be the most confusing place on earth. No really it's worse than a house of mirrors. Maria and I could never find what we were looking for and when we finally did we realized that we had been just a doorway away from what we were looking for 10 minutes prior haha! Anyways, after our grand Harrod's adventure, we made our way to St. Paul's Cathedral, but in traditional Maria and Casey fashion: we got lost in the courtyard and walked arrrrooounnd the church to find the entrance haha!

Another amazing church, this was the church the late Diana of Whales and Prince Charles were married. Looking around this church, I cannot imagine being married in this cathedral. It was so grand with all of its mozaics and domes. Again, Maria and I opted to be little old ladies and listen to the guided audio tour. This time we had headphones attached to an IPOD! it was crazy! We sat in the wonderful church and listened to all of the incredible historic moments that occurred here and even got to see some videos taken from inside the church during these moments. I appreciated that because it gave you an idea of how the church appears during formal events. For instance, I could imagine myself in attendance of Diana and Charles's wedding or Sir Winston Churchill's state funeral. We decided to skip ahead and forgo the crypt for the time being and head up to the whispering gallery and then eventually the roof... The whispering gallery overlooked the main dome of the church just above the high altar. It was an amazing view. When we got to the whispering gallery the attendant told us that if we wanted to go up to the next levels that we should do so soon since the church was closing to tourists in half an hour. Maria and I figured we had climbed 200 stairs already, what was another 358? So up we went! The stairs wound and wound and wound up progressively getting more and more narrow. We did get to see a crucial construction within the church. The main dome above the high altar is situated under a second arch. In order to support this second dome, a cone was constructed on top of the first dome. On the way to the top, we got to see this cone. Ok it's nerdy cool, but still cool haha! When we got to the top, it was the most amazing view of London. From this spot we could see EVERYTHING! The London Eye, Big Ben, the Globe, the London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London... everything a tourist could dream of seeing! After snapping away furiously that high up, it was time to head back down. The trip down the stairs was TERRIFYING! I didn't remember the stairs being that narrow. Even my baby feet had trouble hitting the stairs just right. Once we reached the ground, we made a beeline for the Millenium Bridge and then the Globe.

Since neither one of us were really interested in going into the theater, we snapped a few photos here and moved on. It was right about this time that my feet started screaming. Boy was I an idiot for not wearing tennis shoes. At this point in the day, I had been on my feet for 9 hours and felt every minute and every step. We made our way along the Thames (still so cool to say!) passing the London Bridge heading toward the Tower Bridge. By now, the sun was starting to set so the light on the Tower Bridge was IDEAL! Seriously, Uncle Harry is totally on to something haha! The pictures here turned out SO beautifully!!! After the Tower Bridge we stopped by the Tower of London and had a quick look around. We headed back to the hostel for a brief second so I could change my shoes, thank gosh! After that we headed back to picadilly circus to find something to eat. We ate at a Mexican restaurant, I guess my American eating habits are starting to come back full force! haha!

The next day started earlier than the one before. We headed to the tube, navigated our way to the airport where we did some light shopping. Maria found the book that she had had trouble finding for the past two days, and I found a gift for a family member and a book for me to read :)

When we got back to Sweden, we had a couple of hours to kill in Västerås before our train arrived. What did we do? We ate and shopped, haha!!! Gosh I'm going to miss small trips like this. You know, just going to another European country for a couple of days haha! What a great get-a-way!!! :)

My last practices

So when I was in college, the last practices were always either the most fun or the most intense. I say that because if coach was trying to take it easy on us, we had a much more laid back attitude and just had fun doing what we knew how to do. BUT if coach was especially pumped up for Conferences or displeased with a performance we had, our practices were always CRAZY intense. At any rate, I always looked forward to the last practices of the season because everyone was on the same page aiming for the same goal and just enjoying the last chances we had to come together as a team.

Here in Sweden it's the same, but at the same time totally different. We are all coming together realizing that we only have a limited number of times that we will take the field together be it at practice or during a game. While I love that feeling of comraderie, it's a little bittersweet. I know that personally I only have one more practice with this amazing team and 2 possibly three games left to play. The most awing fact of it all is that of those 3 games, I will only pitch 1 due to the regulations placed on international players. While I obviously play my hardest where ever I'm asked to play, the circle is my home. Knowing that I only get to take the field as a pitcher one more time is so emotional. Is it the end of my career as a pitcher? HECK NO! I've still got all my wonderful students back home I get to pass pitching on to. Is it the end of my career as an active pitcher? I'm afraid so. Knowing that, I'm even more pumped to take the mound! Here are the two circumstances under which I'll take the field: should we lose the first game, I get the opportunity to pitch the game that will hopefully keep us in the championship and force a 5th game. If we win the first game, I will be lucky enough to take the mound and hopefully lead the Saints to a Swedish Championship. In either case, I am incredibly stoked to step on the field as a pitcher one more time!

Enough with the emotional mumbo jumbo, back to the topic at hand: practice! Today's practice was awesome, and not just because it was a great practice. We got to practice under a rainbow!!! :) Ok, call me a nerd, but when was the last time you practiced your favorite sport under a rainbow? It really as a great practice! Henke and Jimmy, two of our baseball players, and Mattias, the Swedish National Team coach, came by and helped us out today. Mattias took the outfielders and worked with them while Henke and Jimmy drilled the infielders. I just have to say that I am happy I don't have to play against those guys! Good grief do they hit the ball hard! But hey, they made sure we could field... now just to remember how to do that when we're playing... that's the trick!!!

SM finals round 1

Today, we played in the first round of the SM Guld series (the national championship series) against Söder at Söder. Since we won the regular season play and advanced from the semifinals, we earned the home seed for the SM-Guld series. This morning was a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I hardly slept last night because I was getting so nervous. When I woke up this morning I was not well rested and anxious. I was a bit more on edge than usual. Thankfully my teammates were once again supportive and assured me that it would be great!

When we got to Söder, the emotions started really to hit me. This could be the last game I ever pitch. That's just such a weird feeling: to know that this could be the last time you take the field as a pitcher. At least this time I would be the one deciding it was the end and not some silly injury! haha :)

I pitched the first game of the day. In the SM finals, the American pitcher can only pitch the 1st and 4th games of the series. In the first game, I pitched alright. As the game went on, my pitches started working a bit better, and I was more affective at keeping the batters off balance. Söder started their second string pitcher so that their first string (a native Swede) would be fresh for the second game. We ended up winning the first game 11-4, I believe. It was a close game for the first few innings but then we started hitting the ball like we know how and the runs just kept coming.

The second game was a very different story. We were a little sloppy and unfortunately we paid the price. While it was an incredibly close game changing the lead nearly every inning, we lost the second game. It was a 1 run game the final score being 7-6... but I'm exactly sure of the score.

Losing the second game made everything a bit more real. We would have to pull it together and work hard to win this thing. I have no doubt that we are more than capable of doing so, we just need to show up and play like we know how. This week at practice is going to be crucial. But no worries, I know we can win this championship... we just have to play like a team.

Jag älskar hockey! Hocky! Hockey ! Hockey!

For my non-Swedish speaking buddies, "Jag älskar hockey" translates into "I love hockey" in English. It also happens to be a Swedish song that I listened to more times than I care to count on the way to Holland haha! It's so catchy that hearing it once will have it in your head for daaayyyyys. I probably should have put that notice before I gave you the link, haha oh well. Happy Listening!!!

Ok so why am I writing about catchy Swedish tunes and hockey? It's because I got to see my first Swedish hockey game last night! My friends back in Ghent know just how obsessed I became with the Norfolk Admirals Hockey last season and how in love with hockey I became. But for everyone else, I'll tell you that I absolutely love hockey. It's just so different from any sport that I've ever played that I find it so fascinating. As I watched last night, I felt myself becoming enthralled in Swedish hockey. I sat there and watched it thinking, "Wow, it's the same, but so different at the same time." For starters, the rink is actually bigger than the ones we have in the States. Also, I know it's been a while since I've seen a hockey game, but it seemed faster and more aggressive here.

It was such a cool experience to sit there with one of my Swedish teammates and her dad and watch the game. I think one of my favorite things is that all of the calls they made were in English (such as icing, hooking, etc) So even though I couldn't understand the commentary, I could understand some of the calls :). Sadly, I did not take my camera with me... I think I'll be going to at least one more game... I will definitely have to pack it then :)

Relaxing day at the driving range- LPGA bound!

Yes, you read that correctly. Yes, I meant to say driving range and not batting cage. Today, Anzo, Elise, Oliver, and I all went to the local country club to drive some golf balls. The weather was gorgeous, and I was looking to get out of the dungeon. But if I can be honest, I was not excited about golf. I am SO BAD!!!! Like really, I think there needs to be a requirement on driving ranges and golf courses that "you must be this good to play here." Not because they're pretentious and try to keep out the bad players, but for the sake of those players' dignity. Seriously, the last time I tried playing golf, the guys I was playing with let me drive the ball once... only once. Why only once? Because I line drived the ball straight behind me and onto a busy thoroughfare, that's why. I'm really that bad. As a means of trying to help me, they put me in a stall at the driving range and bought me a bucket of balls and coached my every swing. After shanking, slicing, and nearly breaking a couple of clubs because I decided to hit the ground instead of the ball, they decided I was a lost cause and I was then deemed the golf cart driver. Now putt-putt... ohh, I'll tear some putt-putt up. But legit golfing? ummm not so much.

Anywho, so we pull up to the driving range and I can just imagine how embarrassing this is going to be. Much to my surprise, I didn't suck too badly today! Call it beginner's luck, call it whatever you like, but I shocked the socks off of myself haha! Vast improvement over my last golf outing. I was hitting them, AND WELL (well some of them...). There were definitely some swings I wish people wouldn't have seen since I completely missed the ball (yes, I missed a ball that was just lying there), but thankfully we were the only people there... Phew, public embarrassment avoided! There were also so balls that I hit pretty poorly (ie they barely left the mat), but still, I had some 100 meter ones... THAT WERE STRAIGHT! I actually think I may have found a relaxing past time... Of course that's what everyone initially says about golf and then they find it to be the most irritating sport on the face of the earth. But really, I had so much fun!

After we golfed for a couple of hours, we went to Anzo's house that was nearby and had fika. For fika, we enjoyed delicious snicker's cake and elderberry drink. I feel so European just writing that haha! It was delicious. We also snagged a couple of our favorite recipes from her. Meanwhile little Oliver had his afternoon nap. When he woke up, he and I ran around the outside deck together. Yes, he's only 8 months old, but with a good grasp of your fingers, he is all about walking-- scratch that, running! We ran around outside for a couple of minutes before heading inside and running around inside too. When it got to the point where I thought my back was going to break, he got to sit in his walker. He then proceeded to chase me around Anzo's living room. He is such a happy baby! I tried snapping some photos of him in his walker, but he is far too fast and would run up to me before I was able to get the the picture. He thought my camera was the coolest thing, but as much as he wanted to play with it and as cute as he is, I had to keep my camera to myself haha! Today was just such a great way to unwind from a little bit of the craziness I've started to encounter with my preparations to head back home. Thanks Anzo!!! :)

AMERICA comes to SWEDEN!

Ok soooo American didn't really come to Sweden, but if you would have been at the field this weekend, you would have thought it did! This weekend was the annual Billigslauget tournament here in Skövde. For my nonSwedish buddies, that's what the baseball tournament held on our field is called. There were two age groups. There were the under 12 age group (coach pitch) and the 13-15 age group (the cadets: kid pitch). For the cadets, there wer'e 4 teams and for the coach pitch, there were about 7 teams. I got to umpire the little guys games! They were soooo cute!!! Even though the age group was simply under 12, there were boys on the teams ranging in age from 12 all the way down to 5.

Not only did I get to hang out on a ball field all weekend long (which, if I may say, is a FANTASTIC way to spend a beautiful weekend :) ), but I got to be surrounded by ENGLISH!!! That's right! A number of the coaches and some of the kids playing were AMERICAN! It was amazing! Don't get me wrong, I love hearing Swedish and learning more Swedish every day, but to hear your own language in a foreign country where you barely ever hear it is just such a great feeling. The coaches addressed me in English- that was their first instinct haha :) I even had a chance to talk to some of the players in English which was so refreshing. Kids, understanding me! WEIRD. haha, but it was also nice to be able to use some of my Swedish to talk to some of the players who spoke little to no English. The atmosphere, for the most part, was just fun. It did take a turn for serious as the playoffs began, but even in those games, it was so nice to see kids from other teams cheering on those who were playing. Such comaraderie!

I was actually really impressed with some of the players I saw too. They were really great! Like Derek Jeter great.. ok soooo maybe not Jeter awesome just yet, but hey they were only 9 or so lol... so they stil l had time... but really, some of the plays I saw were Sportscenter quality. There was one kid who dove for a ball, caught it, flipped it out of his glove while he was still on his stomach, popped up to his knees, caught the ball, and threw the kid out at first... blew my mind! The future of baseball in Sweden is looking pretty good :)

As a way of capping off a very America in Sweden weekend, I had a delicous pizza from Prima... This weekend was great! Let's just hope the amazing weather carries into next weekend when we have to play!

Skövde to the finals!!!!!

We're in it! We're going to the SM Finals! Today, we took on Sundsvall at home. Even though we've beaten Sundsvall 4 times this season, they are definitely not a team to be taken lightly. They have a number of players with a ton of talent and are definitely a team to watch in the upcoming years. Playing them is always a good time :)

Being as this was the semifinals, it was a best of three series. This means that the first team to have two wins would advance to the SM Finals.

In the first game, the Saints took the field with a force! We played great defense! It wasn't just in the field where we were on out A game. At the plate our bats were a force to be reckoned with. It was awesome! We actually ended the first game in 4 innings due to slaughter rule being invoked. We won the first game 12-2.

The second game was just as great as the first. Priya pitched so well and our bats stayed alive! Again, we ended the game only after 4 innings. The final score of the second game was 14-4.

a Day of shopping in Gothenburg!

Today I returned to my favorite city in Sweden, Göteborg... again! I know I've said this before, buuuut I LOVE THAT CITY! Well today was less of a sightseeing, adventure day and more of a 'Casey's on a mission' day. With my trip to Prague approaching quickly, I am in desperate need of some shorts. It's super hot here in Sweden, I can only imagine how hot it is in Prague. So while we have stores here in Skövde, I haven't been able to find anything. PERFECT excuse to head to Göteborg for some shopping :)

With Northern Europe's largest shopping mall, Nordstan, (see how I just throw out little tourism fun facts,? haha!) there are a TON of places to shop in Göteborg... a number of which are not even in Skövde (justification haha) so clearly I had to go there to take a look around. Anywho, my teammate and friend, Marie, hopped on a train with me that morning as we headed to my favorite city and her favorite shopping place. When we arrived, it was ok weather, but a bit chilly and a bit overcast. As we all know, I hate being cold, so this was perfect shopping weather for me... We walked in and out of stores for hours with little to no luck... Since we were both kind of frustrated with our lack of findings, we decided to eat some lunch to refuel. We ate in Nordstan at a little Mexican restaurant. It was actually exactly what I had been craving for some weeks now. Soooo Yummy! :)

After lunch, we headed out into the streets of Göteborg to look in some of the stores around town... Marie hit it big finding everything on her list... me, on the other hand: not so much. I had absolutely no luck in finding a pair of shorts or any of the shirts I had hoped to find, but that's ok! I did find a souvenir for one of my amazing cousins. The weather cleared up and warmed up throughout the day so before we left, we did take some time to eat some of the amazing ice cream sold on the streets of Göteborg. We took it to a local park along one of the canals and enjoyed So outfit for Prague, or not, I had an absolutely wonderful time with a great friend in my favorite city! :)

It is, afterall, SOFTBALL season!

So as much as I love to blog about everything but softball, I am, afterall, here as a softball player and it is, afterall, softball season. For that reason, I dedicate this blog (and this blog only) entirely to softball! Haha! :)

This weekend was weekend #2 that had two 2-game series in store for us. First up was an away trip to Söder. Söder is a town just outside of Stockholm and approximately 3.5-4 hours away. Since we had a haul in front of us, we all met up around 615 in the morning at the field. Despite the early wake up call, I was kind of excited because these games meant that we would get to play against two of our buddies, Tess and Jonna. I've gotten to know these two gals off the ball field and actually wasn't here for the first game of the season when Skövde took on Söder at home. Given this, I was excited to play against two of my friends. That and I knew the competition would be good :)

As we warmed up, we jammed out to some AWESOME tunes... Thank you SPOTIFY! In the first game, Tess and I started on the mound for our teams. The very first batter of the first inning, I walked. She ended up scoring and giving Söder the advantage early on. We battled and battled but had trouble stringing together hits. Finally, in the 6th inning, we scored to tie it up. Neither team scored in the 7th which meant only one thing: ITB baby!!! ITB stands for International Tie Breaker. For my friends and family less familiar with the sport, I'll go ahead and explain it. In the case of a tie afte the regular number of innings (7) have been completed, the 8th inning (and any subsequent innings) will begine with the last out from the 7th inning on second base. There is no special count on the batter, but just a runner on second. We were unable to score in the top of the 8th. This took us to Söder's at bat. Tess was first to bat with Jonna standing on second. Haha, really? I couldn't have written it any better. Tess bunted to move Jonna and was thrown out at first. Ok good, 1 down. Next came possibly the dumbest thing I've done on a ball field since I was 12 when I did the exact same thing. Next batter bunted, I picked up the ball, checked Jonna at third, and thought she looked way off the bag. I went to throw annnnnnd of course overthrew the bag. Söder scores. Skövde loses. I haven't been that upset with myself in a very long time. I sat there and beat myself up between games, during the second game, on the way home, and for the next week or so at practice. I walked the first girl who scored, then over threw 3rd base in an idiotic play that never should have happened. I just couldn't believe i had done something so dumb! My team was awesome as usual though. They ralied behind me after letting cool off and helped me realize that it was only one game in a string of many. They also reminded me that it's a team thing. We win together and we lose together.

With the ugliness of the first game behind us, we were able to come back and win the second game by a substantial margin. We hit, ran, and overall, just played harder. There was no way we were going to drop two! haha. It was great that we ended the day with a W (it made the ride home much more bearable). After the game, Lina, Elise, and I stood around chatting with Jonna and Tess talking about their upcoming visit to Skövde :) When we all piled back in the car, we headed home and started gearing up for the following day when we'd take on Enköping at home.

Welllllll while we were more than ready to play, mother nature was not ready to stop her crying. It rained all night Saturday soaking the field beyond recognition. We got to the field and almost immediately tried to restore it to playing condition, but the moderate to heavy rain that was falling was making that near impossible. We put tarps over the pitchers mound and home plate, and trashbags over the bases (yes, that's right trashbags) to try and keep some of the rain off of the field. We needed to play these games badly. We could not afford to lose these games because we had lost the day before and that would have forced a 3 way tie for first place in the league... So there we were all soaked to the bone in the locker room watching Annelie's puppy Doris run around after a tennis ball. Finally, the decision came. We would cancel the games for the day. We only had one option as to when we would be able to play them: the day after we return from Prague. A double header after a 26 hour bus ride? ooooh boy this was going to be great! hahahaha :)

Ok soooo there actually wasn't much ball that was played this weekend, well at least not nearly as much as there was scheduled to be. But I figured this may have been my only opportunity to write exclusively about softball... even though I didn't exactly do that ;)...

Mariestad!

So this week, I've decided to travel to the different cities around Skövde :). First, it was Hjo on Tuesday, and now Mariestad today! One of my lovely teammates, Marie, lives in Mariestad. When she invited me to come visit, how could I say no? I hopped on a bus that morning, that's right, I had to figure out the bus system haha! I like to think I'm becoming pretty ok at figuring out my way around Sweden :). So yeh, once I hopped on the bus, it was a 40 minute ride to the station in Mariestad which is situated on the largest lake in Sweden, Lake Vättern.

Once I got there, Marie picked me up from the station and after we had parked her bike, we walked around the town. We ducked in and out of shops just browsing the stores before having a fika at a local cafe. After our fika, we went to the Mariestad Cathedral. Ok well I have a thing for old churches and this one did not disappoint at all! It's well over 400 years old and has gorgeous Gothic architecture! I could have sat in that church all day... Thank goodness Marie is so sweet and didn't mind me staying there for nearly an hour snapping photos haha! After I finally managed to drag myself out of the church, haha, we walked down to the harbour and over to Crowned Princess Victoria's summer residence. It was beautiful... at least from the outside :). After that, we stopped by her house to say hello to her mom and to pick up the bikes.

One thing I've learned about Sweden is that it is not built for short people, haha. The jeans are made in regular and long - no shorts. Also, bikes can be very difficult to ride if they're made for someone taller than yourself. I looked hilarious trying to ride Marie's Mom's bike! But it's all good, because even though I looked funny, we didn't have to walk all the way to the lake. It was such a beautiful day to lay on the beach and go swimming. This time, the water was much warmer! Not quite the bath water temperature I'm used to back home, but still so much warmer than Lake Vättern. After we swam for a bit, we dried off in the sun before heading back to Marie's house to drop of the bikes.

Next we went to another old church, the Church of Leksberg. According to the pamphlet we picked up, the church was built in the 14th century possibly earlier. Since it was built, the church has undergone several rennovations. So many, in fact, that not much of its original structure still exists. Regardless, it was a gorgeous church to look at. We weren't able to go into this like we were the other one. We did, walk around the grounds for a bit, though. On the grounds, is a statue from the Bronze Age!!!!! I think that's pretty indicative of this church's deep roots. The headstones in the cemetary dated back several hundred years including several that were so old we couldn't even read.

After we left the church, we went back to the harbour to have gelato and ice cream with two of Marie's friends. We couldn't stay long since I had to catch my bus. It was such a great day in Mariestad, but I had to head back to Skövde because some of the girls were getting together to go bowling!

When I got back to town, I had to ride my bike as quick as I could back to the dungeon, shower, and be ready for Lina to pick us up. It was such a great time! Lina, Elise, Amanda, Priya, and I all headed to O'Leary's for some good ol' fashioned fun! It actually ended up being cosmic bowling night at the bowling alley! While we were bowling, Juha and some of his buddies showed up. After we finished our games (my score was not as terrible as I would have thought; think I would have made my Poppop proud :)) we just hung around the restaurant/bowling alley and talked and watched baseball... Honestly, I couldn't have asked for a more relaxing and fun day!!!!

I Love Hjo!!!

Today, Lina, Elise, and I decided to take a day trip to a town not too far away to visit the pool there. I know it sounds kind of silly, but they wanted to go to a pool other than the one in Skövde, and I wanted to see a new place, so it worked out just fine :). Hjo (pronounced 'you' hence the I LOVE HJO title... ok I'm not that creative haha it's the town's slogan) is only about 25 minutes away by car. It's a small harbour town that sits on Sweden's second largest lake, Lake Vättern. It was absolutely beautiful here. The scenery is unreal! As you look out over the lake, you can see some small mountains off in the distance. It's like something out of a story book! Not to mention that the pol is right there in the harbour next to the lake. So as you swim in a pool, you can enjoy the amazing scenery around you.. look at me sounding like a tourist book now... sheesh.

So while Lina and Elise sunbathed by the pool, I took my camera and went for a walk around town. The town square was much smaller than that of Skövde. There was a small place for folks to sit in front of the church (which was beautiful, by the way) and some shops and restaurants around the square. I took some time to walk up and down some of the streets adjacent to the square as well. The houses were so colorful! It really did remind me of some of the bungalows I might see back in Virginia Beach. While the colors may be reminiscent of the beach, the styles were something entirely different. Some of them were so quaint and quiet while others were enormous! I guess that's to be expected in a scenic town haha! After I had done some adventuring, I wandered back to the pool. I wanted to see what the lake was all about though. So I took my camera with me and walked down to the beach that was right next to the pool. THAT REI MINDED ME OF HOME! The small waves lapping up on the beach was just so relaxing... I ended up just laying on my towl and taking a nap :) Not before taking some pictures, of course. I made sure to take pictures of my feet in the lake and pictures of me standing in the water... Sounds pretty easy, right? WRONG! That water was frigid!!! This lake is a bit deeper than Vänern and so the water temperature never gets warm. The water was around 15 degrees Celcius, which is COLD! Maybe in the mid 50s Fahrenheit? So yeh getting in the water waaaaas rough! But I did it! Anything for a good photo, right? haha! I took a number of them... on self timer of course... the poor man on his towel next to me must've thought I was crazy running in the water smiling, running out of the water, looking at my camera only to do it all again... SEVERAL TIMES! At any rate, it was an incredibly relaxing day on the sand next to Lake Vättern! :)

2 Days, 2 Cities, 4 Games

I never thought I'd be so excited to see the dungeon. It's 11:45 pm and we've just gotten home from our away series weekend. I'm in no shape to blog at the moment, but will def be back in the morning to tell you all of the super awesome things that happened this weekend! Goodnight from Skövde!!!! :)

Ok now that I'm well rested, let's give this a go! Like I said, I don't think I've ever been so excited to see the dungeon. Since our games for Saturday were so far away, we decided to leave Friday evening. The drive to Sundsvall was very long. It was about 8.5 hours to get there so leaving Saturday morning was DEFINITELY not an option haha! We took a van and a separate car. Believe it or not, the ride up wasn't that long and it was a TON of fun! :) On the way to Sundsvall, I had a two hour Swedish lesson from two of the youngest members of the team Malin and Sofia. I was going through the vocabulary in my Swedish book and asking for pronunciation help. Turns out, some of the definitions the book offers are a little different than how a native Swede would use the word. So as we drove, they were helping me with pronunciation, corrected some of the definitions or at least clarified them for me, and even helped me put together some sentences. Emelie and Priya got in on the action, too! When I would say something or ask something in English, they would say it in Swedish then make me say/ask it in Swedish haha! After my intense Swedish lesson, we had a pretty awesome dance party in the van. Video was taken lol! It was so much fun. It was the epitome of what a road trip should be! Awesome company, awesome dance moves, and awesome conversations! LOVE THIS TEAM! :)

Once we got into Sundsvall, it was incredibly late so we all got our hotel room keys and headed to our rooms. the rooms were actually really nice!!! They were so much bigger than the rooms I had stayed in in Stockholm! Even though it was roomy and gorgeous, it was an interesting set up. For starters, the bathroom door was frosted glass that you could totally see through when the light was on... kind of unnerving haha! Also there were two beds, but they were RIGHT next to one another as if to form one bed. It was different, but comfy. Since we were exhausted at that point, we didn't think too much of it and went straight to bed.

The next morning we had an amazing hotel breakfast and then headed toward the field... but of course not without a few quick snapshots in town :P. In the first game, our bats just couldn't be stopped. We hit the ball so well!!! In the second game, I made my debut as a center fielder... it went ok, haha! I was so nervous! I haven't played outfield since I was like 15, and even then it was Rightfield, never center! I caught a fly ball and nearly threw someone out at home :). The second game was a little closer than I think the team may have liked, haha. Both games were well fought by both teams. Nevertheless, we were fortunate enough to take home two Ws from Sundsvall. At the game, the umpire in the field was actually an American baseball player from the Sundsvall team. Turns out he's from a town just 40 mins from where my family lives in Jersey. Pretty neat! After a good American chat with him, Elise and I made our way to our rides. It was off to Duckie's cabin for the night before our games in Leksand.

We arrived at Ducki's cabin called Perhansbodarna around midnight. To my surprise, it wasn't a single cabin, but rather several small cabins. We walked into the cabin in which most of us were staying and it was unlike anything I had seen before! It looked like a museum!!! There were two things that were a bit different than most living quarters: no bathroom and no running water. We brushed our teeth in the kitchen of another building on the property and went to the bathroom in an outhouse. That's right, an outhouse! :) Ok, it wasn't nearly as bad. It wasn't like a hole in the ground or anything. I mean it was an outhouse, but it was a classy outhouse ;). Anywho, after we got over the shock of having to use an outhouse in the middle of the night with no lights, we settled into our bunks. Yep BUNKS! But again, these bunks were very different than the bunks I've seen before. It was actually kind of unfortunate for my taller teammates. The house we were staying in was nearly 200 years old and not built for modern height. Of course I fit fine, but like I said, my taller teammates had issues. We setlled in for a good night's sleep after plugging in our cell phone and Ipod charges... I felt kind of hippocritical, but I just kind of laughed at the irony of it all and went to bed.

The next morning, we woke up to a gorgeous day on a lake. In fact, several of the girls went for a morning swim. We ate the groceries we had bought in Sundsvall the day before for breakfast. Once we had all gotten ourselves together, packed up the van, and after I took a quick photo shoot of the grounds and buildings, we headed toward Leksand for double header number two of the weekend. The drive there was so gorgoues! I learned a lot about the area from Duckie, who sat right next to me. The red and houses with the white frame is a traditional Swedish style house in this area. Between the adorable housing and the amazing views, I have a hard time figuring out why anyone would ever leave this area!

When we got to Leksand, we warmed up like we normally do, but I could feel the game from the day before... I was so sore!!! It took some extra warm up time to stretch everything out, guess I'm not 16 anymore haha!!!! My performance both on the mound and in left field were not my best. Thank gosh for such an amazing team who rallies behind one another. There were actually several things that went wrong in this game. In the first game, Sofia was hit by a ball in the outfield on the wrist and was out for the rest of the day. In the second game, Lisa fouled off a pitch into her nose. Thankfully it wasn't broken!!!! It was still so scary! When that happened, Sofia had to go back into the outfield. Unable to throw the ball, she still had to bat! We looked so pitiful, but thankfully, we had teammates that picked us up and played incredibly well!!! Thanks guys!!! We took home two more Ws from Leksand :) Four games and four wins... WAY TO GO SAINTS!!!!

A day in the life!

So I figured since none of you guys get to actually live a day with me here in Sweden, I would dedicate an entire blog entry to what I might do in a day just to give y'all an idea of what I'm really up to :). Well take for instance Wednesday this week.

Bright and early at 9:15, my alarm went off. Rough, I know haha! I moseyed into the kitchen and ate my delicious Crunchy cereal. I'm seriously addicted to this cereal. It's delicious, and not terrible for you, and of course NOT AVAILABLE in the States! I may go through withdrawal. It's a granola cereal with yogurt clusters and either apple bits or strawberry bits depending on which type I buy. It's seriously so good! I've joked with my teammates about how they're going to need to send me Crunchy when I go home. They think it's cute and funny. I think it's cute and funny that they think I'm joking haha! Anywho, after I devoured my super delicious breakfast, I slapped on some sunscreen and waited for Lina to show up.

Once she arrived, we headed to the little ICA (our grocery store) right by our apartment to pick up cookout supplies (i.e. hot dogs, buns, and nectarines). Rumor had it that we were going to grill out at beach volleyball that afternoon. Armed with our delicious meal, we headed to the lake. Here we met up with our volleyball buddies Juha (a member of the Skövde baseball team) and his friends Marcus, Martin, Ace, Patrick, Frederich, and a couple others whose names are escaping me at the moment. For the most part, Lina, Elise, Juha, Marcus, Martin, and I are the ones playing daily, but it's been so much fun meeting and playing with new people! :) As everyone arrived, Lina, Elise, and I noticed that no one had a grill. Embarrassed that we had confused what someone had said to us, we actually hid our hotdogs under a bag LOL!... No worries, after a couple hours of playing, Juha left and bought disposable grills. THAT'S RIGHT! DISPOSABLE GRILLS! I don't know that I've ever heard of such a thing haha! At any rate, we uncovered our poor hot dogs and grilled out right there on the sand volleyball court beside the lake. It reminded me so much of being at home with my buddies. While it did make me a little homesick for my friends back in Ghent and the Beach, it also made me appreciate the amazing friendships I've developed since arriving here. After we ate, we played some more volleyball of course! haha!

As the time got closer to our practice time, Elise and Lina decided to head back to the dungeon to escape the sun that was particularly brutal that day. I opted to stay behind and play a bit more before going for a run. After my run, I headed to the field where I practiced with the team :). After practice, we headed to the restaurant where we get our meals, Prima. At Prima I generally get a salad, pizza, or calzone. The salads are AWESOME. Again, something I may suffer withdrawal from when I leave. I normally ask for the salad bar and get a salad consisting of lettuce, cucumber, mushrooms, corn, pesto pasta, a mix of kidney beans and chick peas, and a little bit of cheese. It's sooo good! The pizza is a bit different here than back home. Here, the crust is a bit thinner, but it's not a thin crust. It has the same texture as pizzas in the States, but is just a much thinner crust. It's good! :) Also, the calzones are not just filled with cheese like how they are back home. Instead, they automatically come with cheese and ham.

After our dinner, Elise and I walked back to the dungeon and changed into our swim suits. When Lina picked us up, we headed to another local lake for a night swim (mind you that the sun was still up since it doesn't set until about 11:15 pm). It was getting a bit chilly, but the water was still so warm! I was amazed at how clear the water was. It's unreal to me that I can walk into water up to my waist and still see my feet, haha! That is NOT something you get at VB! :) We swam for a bit and then decided that we should head home as it was getting late. Once we got home, we watched some American programming and then headed to bed.

It's a rough life here in Sweden, but someone's got to do it :).

All in a day or two in Stockholm...

The fact that when people ask me, "So what did you do this weekend?" and I can respond nonchalantly, "Oh I just went to Stockholm," still makes me giggle A LOT! That's exactly what I did this past weekend!!!

Since the team had the weekend off from games, Elise and I decided to go play the part of tourists in Stockholm. We hopped on an early train Saturday morning and made our way to the largest city in Sweden :). Once we arrived in Stockholm Central, we made our way to the hotel our wonderful teammate Annelie helped us reserve at an AWESOME rate (thanks buddy!!!) only to find out we wouldn't be able to check in for another hour or so. While it stunk having to tote our bags, we decided that this would be a perfect time to find the Absolute Ice Bar where we had reservations for that night. Turns out, it was literally right behind the hotel we were staying in and in another hotel. While we were there, we asked the concierge desk about archipelago tours we had read about online. After we had gotten everything straight there, we still had about half an hour to kill before we could check into our room and drop our stuff off. Not wanting any time to go to waste, we walked about a block away from our hotel and took some time to sit in a park my mom and I had found while we were lost in the city during our visit. Being as it was incredibly hot, we didn't sit there for long haha! We made it back to the hotel right and thankfully they let us check in an hour early :)!

After we had dropped off our stuff, we decided that we should locate the dock where our boat tour the following morning would depart. We started off by taking a walk along the canal toward Gamla Stan (Old Town Stockholm). Before we crossed the bridge into Old Town, we took the opportunity to walk around within Stockholm's City Hall. The last time I visited, it was not open to the public. I am so thankful that it was this time! It was absolutely gorgeous inside. The old architecture mixed with the open air courtyard in the center of the building combined with the breathtaking view of Stockholm made this place AMAZING! Of course, we couldn't resist the photo ops! Once we had finished playing tourist here, we continued our walk toward Old Town. on the way, we stopped at a kiosk for the tour we wanted to take. We were told to venture to another dock since that's where our particular boat was going to take off from. It was right next to the Royal Palace so that worked out great since the next stop on our tour was the Royal Palace!

After we had taken in the sights of the Royal Palace and walked through some of the smaller streets surrounding, we wandered over to kiosk #2. The people here told us that we ACTUALLY wanted another dock and directed us there. It was actually very nice. Every person we were talking to about this tour was more helpful and informative than the last. We were getting a ton of information and a number of options! On our adventure, we got to see a part of Stockholm I hadn't seen before. The 3rd and final kiosk (the place where our boat was actually leaving from) was on a harbor behind all of the gorgeous hotels that overlook the palace. Even though we were probably still in a very touristy part of town, I felt as though it was a bit more residential since there seemed to be more apartment buildings and less hotels. It was incredibly beautiful! Finally, we had booked our boat tour and were free to do some more exploring.

On our way back to the hotel, we saw some sort of festival going on. Not wanting to miss anything, we ventured over to it. It turns out, it was the Stockholm Street Festival! Wow, we have been so lucky with our trips! First we see a commemorative ceremony in Göteborg and now we wander into the Stockholm Street Festival? AWESOME! When we walked up, there was a street act in progress. I think we missed something, because when we showed up all we saw were two British guys in British flag Speedos, top hats, socks, and sock straps. They were doing acrobatic maneuvers, so clearly clothing just wasn't an option HAHA! We took some time to walk around and take a look at what the vendors were offering. To be honest, there wasn't hardly any Swedish vendors and there really weren't that many. I would have imagined this event would be much larger than it really was. Nonetheless, it was very cool to experience:). On our way out of the festival, we did notice something VERY American. Ok we've seen McDonald's, Burger King, even a Pizza Hut, but this one rules all: TGIFRIDAY'S!!!! haha I couldn't believe it... It was hilarious!

That afternoon, one of our friends Jonna, from the Söder softball team, met up with us in town and had fika with us! It was so nice to see her again and so nice of her to come into town just to see us! I had a delicious chocolate cake that I can totally pronounce thanks to Jonna, but unfortunately cannot spell so that may be something I need to learn haha! We just sat and talked and took it easy and chatted until we needed to head back to the hotel to get ready for the night.

After nearly 4 hours of walking around almost nonstop, we were feeling it, but this was no time to quit. We had to hustle back to the hotel so we could shower and get ready for the evening. As I mentioned before, we had reservations at the Absolute Ice Bar: Stockholm. This was the very first ice bar in the WORLD... yeeeeh I said it! haha. Also, for those who may not know, Absolute Vodka (the bar's namesake) is actually a Swedish export-- perhaps the reason this was the very First ice bar (actually I'm willing to bet on that one :P) It was a really neat experience!!! When you go in, they first suit you up in a cloak type thing that has a hood and gloves attached. Next, they admit you to this room that leads to the Ice Bar. Since it has to stay -5C, the door to the actual bar will not open until the door to the cloak room closes. It was a little unnerving to be in a room with neither doors opening, I'll admit haha! Once we got in, it was BEAUTIFUL! It was an aquatic themed ice bar so all of the ice had back lights in different hues of blue :). There were even sea creatures cut and etched into the ice from the back so they appeared to simply be floating in the ice! Also very cool, the bar itself was made of ice as were the cups they gave you your drinks in! The Ice Bar experience actually came with a drink included so after taking some initial photos, we took a look at the drink menu and ordered our drinks. I ordered something I had never heard of before figuring that I'd only experience this once and why not give it a shot? Yeh, no. If you ever see gooseberries in a drink, it's not great lol! What in the world are gooseberries anyways? I thought it would be a flavor. No, it looked like something they just picked from the forest or something HAHA! I'm pretty sure it might have been the strongest drink in the bar. It was basically just vodka and these berry things. Oh well, got my money's worth lol!!!! It was very cool because they allowed us to go in early and we stayed in the Ice bar during the period where they normally shift people in and out. For like 3 minutes, we were the only ones in the bar. We opted to take advantage of this and take some ridiculous photos of course HAHA! :) After 40 minutes, we were chilled and decided to leave. Walking outside was amazing. To everyone else, it was humid and incredibly hot. To us, it was PERFECT! We headed back up to the room to change into our flip flops and out of some of our warmer clothes (that's right, we went prepared-ish!).

For dinner that night, we went to this really good Chinese restaurant. I don't know that I've ever had chicken and cashews quite like this. The sauce that was on the dish was spectacular! Oh and the veggies that accompanied were so delicious! While it was no Kin's Wok, it was very good :). After dinner, one of Elise's friends who is doing an internship in Stockholm over the summer met up with us at the restaurant. From there, the three of us started walking toward a low key wine bar. Twenty minutes into our walk, we figure out that we've actually been walking in the exact opposite direction this whole time haha!!! Apparently Blackberry maps are about as good as Mapquest... aka not great at all lol! Anywho, we hopped in a cab and wound up at the right place. It was this outdoor bar that was apparently an affiliate of a larger bar just some doors away. We sat here for a good while just sipping on a delicious white wine and just chatting. It was so relaxing and exactly what we needed. After we were done there, we walked back to our hotel, dropped off some of our things, and then walked around Stockholm for about an hour just taking in scenes of the nightlife. It was a great day!

when we woke up bright and early the next morning, we had several things to do. We had to get ready for the day, eat breakfast (the spread at the continental breakfast was UNBELIEVABLE! everything you can imagine... no really!), check out, go to the train station and put our bags in a locker so we wouldn't have to carry them around all day, and get to our boat. We did all of that with plenty of time to spare. We made it to our dock about 50 minutes before departure time.

The tour was simply breathtaking. We saw so many islands and hear so many stories about several of them, not to mention the houses on the shore! They were HUGE! The tour itself took about 3 hours and featured Vaxholm, a fortress from the 1500s designed to protect Sweden from any intruders (unfortunately, by the time it was completed, it was already out of date). If you wanted to, you could get off at the fortress and walk around. Since we'd have to change boats to return, we just opted to stay on the boat and enjoy the tour... most everyone else did too. Since we were kind of worrying about our luggage the whole day (since neither of us had ever used a public locker before) we decided to go ahead and pick it up after we got off the tour. We only had about 4 hours before our train left and it wasn't like we were going to be doing too much walking anyways so we went ahead and got or luggage from the locker.

Elise and I had a fika of our own at a small eatery not far from where we had fika the day before with Jonna. I wanted to try and do a bit of shopping while I could since I'm having such a hard time finding gifts for people (HINT HINT! I need ideas folks! :P). Since Elise's feet were hurting her so badly, she offered to stay with the bags and sit in the square while I went looking. I walked up and down some of the roads lined with tourist shops ducking in and out of every single one of them looking for gifts for my family. NOTHING! I couldn't find anything that I wanted to give them. An hour and some change later, I met back up with Elise and we headed to the train station to catch our ride home. It might have beent he most miserable train ride ever. It was one of the hottest days to date this summer in Sweden and we were on an intercity (the slow one) train for 4 hours with no AC. I think the fact that we were already exhausted just exacerbated the situation. It was miserable. However, the fact that we had such a great time in Stockholm totally overpowered however terrible that train ride was. It was so nice to get away even if it was just for a few days :)

Games and the 4th!

On July 3rd, we travelled to our first games in what feels like FOREVER! It has been SO LONG since we've played! Ok, so it's only been like 3 weeks, but seriously it's felt like forever. This past weekend, we got back in the swing of things with away games at Norköpping. The drive wasn't too bad. It was long, but scenic :). Took us a little over 4 hours to get there (probably would have taken a bit less had we not gotten lost haha!). Anywho, we played a double header, and aside from some first inning jitters in the first game, we played pretty well! It was so exciting to see everyone apply what we had been practicing so hard back home. In the second game, our bats couldn't be stopped! It was crazy how many hits we had and how we were able to string them together! I just hope that wasn't a fluke and we can do it from here on out, haha! Also, our base running looked 20x better than it had just weeks before. We won the first game something like 15-2 and the second 25-2. I don't recall the scores, really. At any rate, we played well and were able to bring home two more Ws. Thanks to my wonderful teammates for some of the pictures they took during the game! These are a couple of them :) It was a great way to kick off July 4th celebrations! :)

Since July 4th is not celebrated at all over here (obviously, being as it's America's Bday haha!), we decided to celebrate on the 3rd :). Some of our friends were in from out of town so we all met at one of our buddy's houses and just hung out, listened to music, and watched the World Cup! :) It was good times with great company! Can't ask for too much more on the 4th (or the 3rd in this case). I did make sure to listen to Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless the USA'. I can't listen to that song without getting a little teary eyed. Even though there were no fireworks accompanying it, it still made me feel like I was at home :).

The day of the actual 4th was very strange. Normally, I'd have gone to the beach with my friends, grilled out, had a beer, and watched fireworks over the water. This year, I walked through a tiny town in Sweden. No one was decked out in red, white, or blue. And everyone just went about their normal Sunday routine. There was nothing special about this day to them. I mean I understand why it was just a normal day haha, but it just struck me as odd. This was the first time I wasn't in the States for the 4th. To be honest, it made me a little home sick. On the plus side, it made me realize a number of things I miss and will appreciate that much more when I get home. It also made me think of the things that are going to be SO WEIRD when I get back. I thought I'd share some of those things with you now :)

Things that I miss:

First and foremost, my family. The fact that I am separated from them is nothing new really. I've lived away from home for six years and and fully on my own for the past two, but still remained incredibly close with my family. However, there is a major difference now. I don't have the means by which to keep in touch with them in the same way I would if I were back home. I don't have the option of simply picking up my cell phone and bugging my mom or calling my grandmom. Instead, I have to hope that my ma will get home early enough from work to chat with me via Skype of hope my dad will have his up while he's available. Everyone's schedules are so crazy right now that with the six hour difference it's been tough to chat. Thank gosh for email and Facebook! haha!!! Seriously, Facebook has been awesome. Other than my blog, it's the easiest way for people to see and read what I've been up to!

I miss my jobs... I know that's sick and twisted to say, but you really take for granted knowing what you're doing and where you're going on a given day. While the freedom to do what I want has been incredibly liberating, it's a little unnerving having to find stuff to do haha. I've been doing my best. (I actually have a number of trips planned!) Also, I should say that I really miss my students! They always made my day so much better when I got to hang out with them!

I miss the familiarity of home (be it Norfolk, Moseley, or Hamilton) I miss knowing what's around haha! Don't get me wrong, the thrill of new is so exhilarating, but there is a part that just wants to walk to Cogan's and get a pizza, or go for a drive in the country, or go play ball at Homedell.

I miss the currency. While I appreciate the fact that I'm getting reaaaalllly good at division by 7, I miss just understanding the value of the currency and how much things are 'supposed' to cost. I know what a dollar is, I know what that means haha! I have no idea what a kronor is and how much that is, really! :) As you can imagine, shopping's been an adventure... haha!!!

I miss the independence. I am SO appreciative to my teammates for hauling me everywhere, but I miss just being able to hop in my car and go. I think this also goes back to the familiarity aspect. Things here are within walking distance, for the most part, but not knowing where anything is is the problem. But like I said, I'm so thankful to have teammates who are so accommodating :). Thanks guys!!!

There are so many other things I miss about the States, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Who knows, I'll probably edit this post like 45 times between now and the time I actually get home because I'll find more things I miss, rather more things I can think of that I miss. Stupid writer's block

Things that will be weird:

Now on to the things that'll be SUPER weird when I get back...

Driving. Ok, so when I went to college, there were like 3 months stints where I didn't drive my freshman year (you know that silly rule about freshman not being allowed to have cars? Hated it as a freshman, but LOVED it as a sophomore, junior, senior! haha!). But that was only 3 months. This will be over 5 months that I haven't driven. That's a realllly long time. Not to mention that now I'm getting used to seeing things in Kph (kilometers/hour) and adjusting to the lack of stoplights (everything is a round-about) and even the fact that if you come to a stoplight, you CAN'T turn right on red. Even as a passenger, I've become accustomed to these laws. So yeh, I'm a little more than interested in seeing how I do driving when I get back, haha.. Don't worry, I'll let you know where I am so you can avoid it :P

Flushing toilets.. Sounds really bizarre, but the toilets flush so differently over here. No longer is it that shiny handle on the back of the toilet tank. Instead, you either press a button on top of the toilet, or life a knob on the top of the toilet, or press a button on the wall behind the toilet. And seriously, I doubt they have nearly as many clogged toilets as we do. The water flow into the toilet is so much more intense than back home... Wow, have I really become THAT person? The person who analyzes the way a toilet flushes? Good grief...

Opening doors.. Back in the States, most of our doorknobs are just that, knobs. Here, they're more like handles. Instead of twisting, you push down on the handle to open the door. I really can't think of a place I've been and seen a door knob. I don't think that will be that difficult to readjust to, but still! It'll definitely be something I'll notice!

Music.. The music here is very different from back home. There are new and different songs I hear everyday. Even if it is a song that originated in the States, it will have a different back beat or an entirely different singer all together. I heard a very different version of Billy Joel's 'Uptown Girl.' I didn't know whether to be home sick or upset that someone had the audacity to remake that song! (haha that's for you Amanda and Becky! :P)

Again, there are a ton other things that my roommate and I say in passing everyday, but for the life of me, I can't recall any of them at this given moment! I'll probably edit this section as well haha!

Rollercoasters and shopping... just your normal Tuesday in Sweden

So yesterday we went to Liseberg! For my American buddies, Liseberg is a theme park similar to a Busch Gardens or 6 Flags depending on your location. We all (Anzo, little Oliver, Lina, Elise, and I) hopped a morning train to Göteborg. When we got there we realized that we had a little over an hour before the park opened. So what were we supposed to do with time and the largest shopping mall in the Nordic countries right in front of us? That's right, we went shopping. Although it wasn't without a purpose. We were on a mission: Anzo needed a dress for an upcoming wedding she's attending. So we headed out into the streets of Göteborg with an eye on the prize. Anzo and I went into a couple of her favorite stores in Göteborg while Lina and Elise checked out a couple of others. I have to say, Anzo has Pretty darn good taste. I fell in love with a number of outfits that I saw in the stores she took me in to. However, being as it was not me we were shopping for (oh and the fact that I wouldn't be able to eat for the rest of my stay here in Sweden had I bought them <-- that's how many there were haha!) I decided I'd better not purchase them. And then there was Mango. In this store I found the cutest jacket! Being as I've been searching high and low for a jacket since before I left the beach for Sweden and the fact that the jacket I'm currently rocking was bought for me when I was in the 7th grade (that's right, when I was 12!!!!), I went ahead and bought it. No worries, it was half off ;). I really love the fashion styles over here! They're so comfortable, yet so me!!! Anywho, Elise also found herself a dress here as well. Oh and Anzo did too! Well, after we figured out how to wear it. Fashion here is so comfortable, but confusing at times haha! By this point, we had long used up that hour we had to kill, and we headed toward where Jan (Anzo's fiance) works to grab lunch with him before we ventured into the park. Lunch was amazing. I seriously have not had a bad meal yet in Sweden. Being the typical American, I opted for the buffet instead of a sandwich. On the buffet, there was a salad bar with the most amazing pesto pasta ever. I dare say it rivaled the pesto pasta of Prima (my favorite thing in the salad bar there). They also had the best mushrooms I've ever tasted. I have no idea how these were cooked (tasted part grilled but part sauteed at the same time... strange but great combination), but they were INCREDIBLE! I could have had a meal of just mushrooms, that's how great they were. Oh but right, the main course. Sorry, couldn't get over the pesto pasta and the mushrooms haha. But yeh, the main course was roast beef. Now I'm not a huge roast beef fan at all, but this was incredible. Arby's ain't got nothin' on this place! A little combination of that, the mushrooms, some more pesto pasta, this delicious corn dish thing, and some veggies and what a lunch I had. It was all concluded with tiramisu. No, really it was. I won't lie though, I was a little nervous to have eaten such a large meal before heading into the theme park where my stomach was sure to be jostled by the rides. But no worries, Mr. Tummy did just fine :) The theme parks here operate a bit differently than it does in the States. Back home, you pay a flat rate for admittance and then have access to all of the rides within the park. Here, you pay an admittance fee and if you'd like to ride the rides, you have two options. You can a certain number of tickets (the tickets require a given number of tickets) or you can buy a day pass. Well since I'm a roller coaster and ride enthusiast it just made more sense to buy the day pass. It all ended up equaling about what it would cost to get into a theme park in the States. Once we were armed with our wrist bands, we wasted no time. We made our way to the first coaster the 'Lisebergbanan.' Being an idiot tourist I, of course, took my camera with me. Whatever, it didn't have any serious drops or upside down parts. Plus my camera was kind of tied to me. Anywho i think I made Lina really nervous with my camera as I was still taking pictures as we approached the drop haha!. These are two of the pictures I took while on the coaster :). I won't lie, this was probably one of the longer coasters I've been on. It wasn't nearly as intense as a coaster you might find back home, but it still went pretty fast and was a ton of fun! Next, we made our way to two of the rides that were reminiscent of Drop Zone at KD for my Mary Washers. The first of the two shot you up and then you fell and bounced up and then fell again... TONS of fun :) The second was a tower that drug you to the top then let you plummet. Again, SO MUCH FUN! Sorry, no pictures from the actual rides... figured it probably wasn't the best idea so I left it with baby Oliver. Then there was the log flume. Camera stayed with Oliver here too. We had it all strategically planned so that we wouldn't get too terribly wet... and then it backfired. Poor Lina got soaked. Elise and I just had small spots, but Lina was drenched. As funny as it was, I did feel a bit bad for her, haha! But it's all good we made our way to another ride. I sat this one out. As much fun as it looked, it spun annnnd my tummy is not a fan of the spinny rides. Anywho, the next coaster we made it to was the 'Kanonen' It was a pretty neat coaster. It shot you out with a starting speed of like 70mph (I'm guessing. I didn't do the Km/hr conversion for this haha) but right before it did so, it pushed you forward and then rocked you back to the sound of a heartbeat... it was AWESOME! The next coaster was my favorite of the day and honestly maybe one of my all-time faves. It was called 'Balder' and it was an old wooden coaster that had a 70% drop at it's first hill... SO MUCH FUN! It was fast and had blind drops! oh wow... to me, it was the epitome of what a roller coaster is supposed to be! You know, the twists and turns, the drops that seemingly come from no where, the moments where you think you're going to be decapitated by a low lying beam; ya know just your normal coaster :P... The next ride we rode was the 'Kållerado.' In case you can't tell from the name, it was actually modeled after the Colorado River!!! Little piece of home here in Sweden, I guess haha! It was A LOT like Roman Rapids back in Va. The whole point of this ride was to get soaked. Thankfully, Lina got the brunt of the water again. Sorry buddy. It was all good though. We hopped back on Bilder and dried off. One thing that I noticed was a bit different in the Swedish theme park as compared to parks back home was the fact that while we play games to win gigantuan panda bears, they play games to win an incredibly large chocolate bar or bag of chips. You put your coins down (2-3 SEK or 10-15 SEK) on a set of numbers or a single number. A huge wheel is spun and if the wheel lands on your number you win. Simple enough, right? Ummm except that the wheel hated me. Well it hated Anzo more, but still haha! She and little Oliver played while we rode rides, and it wasn't until the very last time of playing that she won. Poor gal didn't even win one of the ridiculously large ones either haha... That's ok. Next time Anzo.

Once the day was coming to a close, Cece met us at the park and we left soon thereafter to go snag some dinner before catching our train. We had dinner (again amazing!) at this little French cafe. The prices were great and the portions were large (just what an American dreams of, right? haha) I had a chicken and bacon sandwich on a French baguette with goat cheese. Now honestly, if I were reading that I'd probably gag a little. I don't know that those 4 things sound great together, but they sure did taste great together!!! :) All in all, it was a fantastic day!