SWEDEN!

What a trip! Nearly 24 hours to get to Stockholm from 'burque. We invented a new game in the O'Hare airport, ate some neatly packaged meals on the international flight, and were completely blown away by the airports in Copenhagen and Stockholm.

Oh yeah. That's me playing "ride the luggage cart" in a deserted terminal at the O'Hare airport. Try it some time. It was a good enough game that Tyler and I were actually the last people to board the plane to Stockholm.

Dinner.

Look at those wood floors! And the glass! That was only the security check at the Copenhagen airport. The rest of it was even more beautiful, but you really do have to see it for yourself...the use of space and materials is something else.

If the luggage carts hadn't been in plain view, I bet I could convince you this was straight from a design magazine.

We stayed the first night with a local and his girlfriend in their apartment in downtown Stockholm and experienced some first-rate hospitality. After walking around Stockholm in the morning, we caught a train (barely...can you run up stairs with everything you own on your back?) to Västerås where we checked in to our new homes.

Tyler (left) and I stayed with Fernando (right) and his girlfriend in their Stockholm apartment on the first night.

Somewhere in the tourist district of Stockholm. We basically wandered aimlessly in awe of one of the coolest cities I've ever been to. Funny thing is that were were approached two (2!) times as Swedes...There were people performing surveys on the street, two of whom approached us with survey questions in Swedish.

How many churches have you been? Now, approximately what percentage of those had swings? And of those, how many thought to install the swing INSIDE? Only in Stockholm... NYC, you got nothin' on this.

Here's a video of the new pad. It's a student housing unit named "Junior" and is about 2 minute's walk from the university and 5 minute's walk from downtown Västerås. It's also full of international students. If I had to make a shot-in-the-dark estimate, I would say no less than 20 countries are represented.

I shot this a couple of days before posting and I have actually learned that I lie quite a bit over the course of the film:

• At the intersection, the direction without a crosswalk is due to a tunnel under the street!
• We actually are allowed on the balcony, but it requires a tool. There is a better balcony to go on, though, which is actually the fire escape.
• That map...the dorm is nowhere near the circle. It's actually way north of there.
  

Oh, and the clicking at the intersection is for deaf people. It changes frequency when it's time to walk. I always imagine: wait...wait...wait...wait...go!go!go!go! It really sounds like that. You should hear it some time.

That's about all I've got time for now. There is WAY more that I would love to share, but it's time for sleep. Check out Tyler's blog

for more pics and another perspective of the journey.

I would probably have a better post for this leg, but I spent approximately 6 hours FAILING to learn HTML. I think I've probably got enough for now, though, so subsequent posts should be devoted entirely to content.

Closing In

It's a commonly asked question: What would you do if you had one week to live? Variants of the question substitute differing time frames and are generally constructed to satisfy the questioner's desire for depth in the answer, but the premise is the same--what is most important to you? The past couple weeks have found me, in a sense, living my answer to that question. Of course I have every intention of returning to New Mexico, but it would be imprudent of me to neglect the innumerable possible outcomes of an extended stay overseas.

Family Time

An uncharacteristic holiday. Christmas eve lacked the usual fervor of the occasion, but the relaxed, muted alternative was certainly nothing to complain about.

Skiing

A week in Taos. Sub-prime conditions: a healthy dump at the outset of the week, but completely dry for the remainder of our stay. Sunny and warm. Spectacular food. Fantastic company. The new year arrived to a brief pause in dinner as we watched a cell phone's display refresh. And one of the most breath-taking sunrises on record.

Desert Adventure

With an early start and a set of chains for Nate's Bravada, we set out on another excursion through the New Mexico wilderness. Plenty of snow. Gorgeous New Mexican scenery. The inevitable car trouble...the upper control arm on the left side came unbolted (!) causing a slothful return to Socorro: we stopped at a Denny's in Elephant Butte at 1:30am and didn't see Socorro until 5:30am.