Every time I think I’m having the best time of my life over here, it just seems to get better. I don’t know how, but it seems to manage. I’m just being much more myself and having so much fun, it’s amazing. I think it’s not even the fact that it’s Sweden so much (although I do love it here), just that I needed a bit of a fresh start. When I go back to Sydney, I assume it will be better, too.

I guess I will start where I left off and talk about fika! Kalmar fika goes for four hours, and I was there for all four. Breanne and I met at 12 and ate some delicious sandwiches. We were meeting up because we were going to see Florence + the Machine on Tuesday night, and wanted to vet each other to make sure it would be okay. It was! She’s really nice, and before we knew it, 2 o’clock had come around and some other friends turned up for fika and the language café. I didn’t learn much Swedish, but I’m getting there, and my Swedish this week is definitely much better than my Swedish last week.

On Tuesday, going to see Florence, Breanne and I had the best of luck for most of the night. Our bus ride to Stockholm was free (saved 80kr) because the cash machine was broken and we didn’t have time to go to the Pressbyrån, and I guess the bus driver was nice. I think it helped a lot that Breanne speaks Swedish fairly fluently, as opposed to me who would’ve probably just gone straight to English.

On the way to Debaser we went up Katarinahissen, which I also did last time I was in Stockholm (Breanne didn’t know about it though). It was a lovely view, but oh my gosh so cold. There are photos on Facebook and you can tell just from our expressions. Then we checked out Fiskargatan, which is where Lisbeth lives later on in the Millenium trilogy, which we had both read. Pretty nice place.

We found Debaser a lot earlier than expected, so we went for a walk and sat in a café for a few hours with coffee and food. Surprisingly cheap coffee and food for Stockholm, actually. When it was finally time to head to Debaser, we got there early enough so that the line wasn’t too bad, and waited around some more for the support.

Support (I have no idea who they were) were pretty good, but I hardly remember them because Florence was pretty much the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen, or close to it. Easily top five gigs. Breanne has a thing for standing right at the front against the fence, and I was so glad for it. I really can’t describe what Florence was like, except for lovely and amazing and just yeah amazing. Whew.

The trouble started on the way back to the Centralstation.  It took us a long time to get out of Debaser because of the coat checking line, but we still had plenty of time to catch the last train. Except when we got to the station… There was no train. No buses, either. No cancellation messages, just… Gone. Breanne rang a friend back in Uppsala, and everything was still timetabled online, but they just didn’t exist in real life. We were stuck without a way to get home!

I tried calling Bella, the only person I know in Stockholm, but her phone was off, so it was not much help. We were just sitting around wondering what to do when the Centralstation closed down and the police kicked us out into the cold. Argh! We ended up catching a taxi all the way back to Uppsala, which set us back about $75 each (total was 966kr). Eek. And I still had to walk back home to Flogsta from Uppsala Centralstation, but that wasn’t so bad. I think it was worth it for the excellent night, though.

The next day I met with Anna for lunch at Stockholms Nation, and lunch evolved into fika which evolved into dinner. I guess she’s pretty nice? I also hung out with her the next two days. Last night we planned to go to Kalmar for Smaka (the vegetarian restaurant), but it was not open so instead we rode to get a bottle of wine and I cooked kumara dal. It was delicious, and the best I’ve cooked it so far. It’s so much nicer cooking for more than one, I think. I need to do it more often.

Oh I also tried some tea on Wednesday, and really enjoyed it. It was Lady Grey, and very strong. I think that is the key – I strongly dislike weak tea, but if it’s strong enough it’s pretty delicious.

Now, tonight I’m either going to see Sambassadeur at V-Dala, or joining the FIFA competition with my flatmates. Hrmmm I will let you know, maybe.