Ice Bar start, Stockholm finish

This is going to be a ridiculously long blog post because there’s so much that has happened in the past 4 days.  As you know, on September 11th, I celebrated my birthday early with my Denmark friends by going to the world famous Absolut Icebar.

Not joking, this was one of the boats in the race

Earlier in the day though, my school had a school wide boat race between all the houses.  There were many boys in their skives (niceeeeeeeee).  Later when we went to the IceBar my friends paid for my entrance fee (thanks guys) and I had the time of my life.  We got to wear these gigantic blue overcoats/capes and they gave us furry boots (kinda like grandma’s puppies).  Everything was made out of ice except the floor, because that would just be absurd.

Our ensembles

Afterward we went to hotel 27 next door where there were a whole bunch of beds in the courtyard so we hung out there for a while and then went to this viking bar where I met a banana, the pink panther and a womble.  They were all cockney, which totally amused the hell out of me.  Then we got a hot dog at the stand the guy who owned it yelled at me because I accidentally put my shoes on the counter and then he refused to speak english to me, which slightly upset me in my slightly inebriated state.

The bartender wearing his Russian ensemble

The next day I started on my journey to Stockholm, Sweden.  This has got to be one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to.  And that was definitely the best birthday I’ve ever had.  On the first day we visited the modernmuseet and the architekmuseet.  We also walked around to four different islands, took a boat tour, walked around the old town, and at the same time realized that Uncle Ron couldnt find use his sense of direction to find his way out of a paper bag.

Quote from Andy: This is the most decadent society I have ever seen. Where are all the bums? Lower class housing? run-down dirty house boats? At least Greensboro has old men drinking 40s at 9am. Where are the 40s, Sweden? huh? where are the 40s!?!

That night we went to a tapas bar called Mamas and Tapas (menu can be found here: http://www.tapas.nu), which was one of the best bars I’ve ever been too.  Although it was small and cozy, and we had to sit at the bar because otherwise it would have been an hour and a half long wait until we could sit at a table, it was one of the best meals I have ever had.  Evidently Sweden has the highest suicide rate in the world, which makes complete sense considering its never sunny, but our bartender/waiter was a perfect example of that.  He definitely had the whole “I’m a bartender which is totally cool, but I’m going to act like my life is a drab, because that’s the totally cool thing bartender things to do.”  We ate jalepeños picantes, pincho de verduras, mamacitas, chili, and some others that I cant remember because the night got kinda hazy towards the end.  I made uncle ron take a shot of Jager along with the couple of beers that we had.  Also, they had the best sangria Ive ever had (besides the batch I made).  We then proceeded to find our way back to the hotel and immediately proceed to pass the hell out.

My new best friend, he knows the king and queen, no big deal though

The next day we saw the Vasa.  In the 1630s the king contracted this dutchman to make him the best ship ever, the day it was to sail off everyone had the day off from work so they could all watch it sail off into the distance, it got sailing for 20 mintues, and then it sank.  Yes, after 20 minutes, what was supposed to be the ship of the century, it god damn sank.  Then about 50 years ago they raised it from the harbor and reconstructed it and now its in a museum in Stockholm.

Us quote-unquote ripping Sweden a new one

Soon it became time to go home, and we said our goodbyes and I got on the train.  It was a lovely ride home, minus the homophobic, sexist, anti-american Turkish/Swedish guy who sat next to me, but other than that it was a beautiful ride.

I want to thank everyone for their cards, which contributed to this making this the best birthday ever.  I love you guys, thanks again.

Also: this was one of my favorite pictures I took while I was there: Also: this is the coolest most orange family ever

LOOK AT THE BEAUTY

THEY’RE COMING RIGHT FOR US