Once our tour ended, we decided to have a quick bite to eat then head over to the botanical gardens. We ate in this super adorable open air cafe that was on this less busy road right next to some shopping venues. It was so Sex and the City meets Sweden. As we sat there eating our delicious sandwiches and sipping on our sparking water, it hit me: I need to find a job where I can do this EVERYDAY! haha!!! After we had eaten, we headed toward our appropriate tram stop only to wait 20 or so minutes and never once see a 7 tram. Since it was clear that we either had the wrong tram number (which we were assured by several bystanders we did not) or th
at this particular tram was not the most reliable, we opted to simply do some exploring on our own. As we were walking we noticed some stadium lights off in the distance. Convinced that these were lights to a baseball field, we walked toward them. A mile later, we realized that it was a stadium, but it was not a baseball stadium. We had walked to Ullevi, the soccer stadium in Göteborg. Disappointed, we walked back into town and took some time to look at the local art museum. It was far too gorgeous out to waste such beautiful weather so we did not actually go into the museum, but rather admired it from outside :). Next, we walked to the harbor. It was so relaxing. We just sat there and watched the boats bob in the water. After walking all over creation, we were HUNGRY! We found this great little restaurant with steak on the menu. We were both craving red meat since neither of us had had it in a long while. I'll be honest, it might have been one of the best steaks I've ever eaten! It was cooked to perfection. I'm serious. No exaggeration! It was cooked precisely how I asked for it. It was served with an avocado cream and some boiled potatoes. It sounds so incredibly simple, but together it was AMAZING! We concluded our adventure in Göteborg by snagging some of the ice cream we had seen so many people throughout the day enjoying. Now we know why we saw so many people snacking on it! It was fantastic! We ate our ice cream on a hill by the canal. It really was such a great ending so such an adventurous day! :)Four days later, Elise and I went with Malin, Maria, and Lina to national team camp in Enköping. This was a day for two of the national teams (ages 22 & under, and 16& under) to get together, bond a bit, and work on some of the mechanics of the game as a team. It was also a chance for Elise and I to meet the Enköping American players :). During the AM session, Elise and I along with Shannon and Kristen (our Enköping American buddies :) ) helped the national team members with the mechanics of their hitting, bunting, and base running before breaking for lunch. For lunc
h, we went to this nice little eatery not far from the field. The food was good, but the thing I loved most about this place was the music they were playing. It was AMERICAN COUNTRY MUSIC!!!! Sigh, I had a very hard time not singing along or dancing to some of my favorite songs. Figured I didn't want to see toooooo American haha! During the PM session, we actually played a game. Both Shannon and I, along with some of the Swedish players, got to pitch. This was actually really nice since everyone got to see live pitching :). Overall, it was a really great day of softball, chit-chat, and team bonding... both within the national teams and across teams :).So y'all may be wondering what exactly I do with my time when I'm not traveling to gorgeous cities or having a blast playing/coaching ball. Well, I'll be honest. It's kind of a rough life. I set my alarm for 10 AM, put on suntan lotion, and head to the lake to play some beach volleyball. This is such a tough existence! :P HAHA! In the past two weeks, I have played more beach volleyball in the past two weeks than I did my entire time living at the beach! Nearly every morning, we head to the lake to play with Juha and some of his work friends. They've all been so nice and so inviting, it's just been such a great time! We jam out to some very Swedish tunes (and an occasional American song!) and just have a blast. It is SO much fun! I honestly can't believe this is what I'm doing with my life. Three months ago, I was sleeping maybe 2-3 hours a night, working 3 jobs, working an internship, and going to school full time. WOW! The times have certainly changed, but it is such a welcomed change of pace!!! This is exactly what I needed after the past two years! :)
So there is one more HUGE event that I should probably tell you about. It's a little thing folks here in Sw
eden like to call Midsommar. Ok so it's actually a really BIG DEAL. In fact, it's like the second (some would say the first, but Wikipedia says second) most celebrated holiday in the nation. It's full of incredibly rich tradition, great food, oh and AMAZING company!!! It's a holiday to celebrate the summer solstice (aka day with the longest amount of sunlight). It starts with a lunch where it's tradition to eat herring, potatoes au gratin with sour creme, boiled potatoes, and strawberry cake. It is also tradition to sing Swedish songs and take shots of Swedish Snaps (schnapps for us Americans). This might have been the most foul tasting thing I have ever drank, but as I was told, "You don't have to like it, you just have to do it." After we had eaten our lunch, most of the gals and I
went on a walk in search of our Midsommar flowers. Our Midsommar flowers were to be seven different kinds of flowers that we would pick and place under our pillows that night. As a result, we were to dream of our husbands. Sounds silly, but it was so much fun going on a hunt for these flowers! We also picked flowers to decorate the Midsommar pole and our Midsommar wreaths both of which represented fertility. Making our wreaths was a process and a half, haha! Cece made mine while Emelie mad
e Elise's. I think mine ended up looking a bit more 'traditional' haha! Anywho, we decorated our wreaths with some of the flowers we had picked, but made sure to keep our Midsommar flowers separate :). We also decorated the Midsommar pole with the flowers we had picked. As the afternoon progressed, we played some Swedish summer games, with a twist. Later in the evening, we grilled out and sang some more traditional songs. As it got cooler out, we moved the party inside and had a sing along while one of the guests played his guitar. There were also a number of people playing Sing Star upstairs. The clashing sounds was actually pretty comical. We'd be singing songs with a guitar accompaniment downstairs while people jammed out to the Spice Girls upstairs. AWESOME! haha. We finally made it back home around 445 in the morning. Needless to say, Midsommar was quite an event and one I'm sure to visit for in the future!
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