Things Courtney Won't Miss About Sweden

Courtney headed back to the states on Wednesday. It was an emotional day, and I know now that she's filled with lots of conflicting feelings. For one, you must be excited to see your family, friends, dogs and indulge in your favorite foods. But then, you must also (at least I hope) realize all the things that you'll miss.

I don't think I need to go and list these things you're gonna miss, because I'm sure they're right at the forefront of your mind (I better be on that list ...). So, to put a positive spin on this, lets focus on the things you WON'T miss. It all starts with one of our "favorites".

1. Oblivious Swedes: When you'll walk down the street in Detroit, Seattle or wherever, you won't have random people slowly, unnecessarily and unapologetically walking into your walking path. Similarly, when you're walking behind someone and attempting to pass their slow ass, no longer will you have to deal with their slow and unpredictable staggering/meandering. You're basically getting 20 minutes of your daily life back!

2. The darkness: Sure, the summer months are amazing with the hours upon hours of daylight, but we're now well past midsommar, and the days are already noticeably shorter. You won't have to worry about suffering through a Swedish winter. Sun? What's that? It was dark when I went to work and dark when I came home.

3. Grocery shopping: Guess what! When you go to the store you'll actually be able to find vanilla extract! And Ziploc bags! And decent BBQ sauce! And good spicy food! And to top it all off, you'll have more than 2 options for every product you would ever want to purchase!

4. Booze: Goodbye Systembolaget! Hello cheap alcohol! Now you can buy beer and wine at a moment's notice, and for a third of the price. What's that? Some friends are coming over for dinner? I'm just gonna zip down to the grocery store and peruse their plentiful wine selection! Problem solved!

5. Ryanair: What's that? Extra money for checked luggage? No leg room? Hideous blue and yellow flight attendants with awful ear-splittingly grating voices? Shitty shitty flight times to shitty shitty airports? I got a better idea Mr. Ryanair. Why don't you go "Eff" yourself!

6. Bandy: What a dumb sport. Need I say more?

7. Swedish TV: No longer will you have to choose between "Joey", "Cops" and "Xena". Now you can watch football on Saturdays and movies courtesy of Netflix!

8. Your old boss at IVL: Now you'll get to get a job giving you experience you actually enjoy, and hopefully working for a company that treats you with more respect!

9. Trivia: No more all Swedish Trivia nights. No bizarre "1, X, 2" tips prominades. And no more questions oriented around archaic fish smoking devices. Now you'll be able to use your Sex and the City knowledge talents to its fullest once again.

10. Sur stromming: Never. Ever. EVER again will you have to eat sur stromming.

11. Court, I'm sure you can come up with something I'm forgetting. :)

But to remember the good times, that's what these blogs are all about. So you know you can always look back and see some photos from our cruise, or our trip to Barcelona, or your trip to Paris with Meghan. And as for some nostalgia, lets review some not so distant history.

08/08:

With time running out, we chose to meet up with some close friends for a day of sitting in the park followed by a potluck. The only hiccup of the night was to let Björn try and be grill master. Pshhh, I should have just taken care of it from the beginning. Eventually we were able to get the grill going though.
Courtney and former co-worker Andreas.
After lazing in the park for a couple hours we headed back to Björn and Ulrika's for dinner. Here is their amazing view.
The group sitting down for dinner:
Courtney, Pär and Andreas.
More wine please!
Sitting on the balcony:
Björn and Courtney (Courtesy of Ida and her long shutter time).
Discussing Allsvenskan football most likely:

You must be THIS blond to be in this photo:
After a delicious meal we played a very competitive game of caps, with the rookie Björn defeating Pär, the seasoned veteran. Note the nifty hand bandage I've thanks to jamming my finger while playing football. It got disgustingly swollen, but fortunately it's almost back to normal.
Craziest picture of Ulrika. Ever.
And weirdest picture ever. What exactly am I doing, and what the hell is Courtney doing? Bizarre.

08/09: The next day we met up with Björn and Ulrika for a couple hours of kayaking. It was a bit of a challenge with my bum hand, but it was a great trip that took us around Kungsholmen (one of the main islands that makes up Stockholm).

Here's Björn, out ahead:
The girls!
Stadshuset:


08/10:

To cap off a very social couple of days, we had dinner with Björn and Ulrika at Pär and Ylva's house. No photos exist, but I can tell you that we had some delicious reindeer thanks to master chef Fjällström.



So to wrap this up, on a personal level I will miss you so much babe. The time may feel like it crawls, but it won't be that long before we're back together. So best of luck with finding the right place to start your career, and of course the right town (coughseattlecough).