Remember to Bring Your ID and Letter of Acceptance!

Just back from my very first fika with my new friends Max from Germany and Frances from California. A fika is when you get some peeps together, hide away in a cafe and drink coffees and talk for the afternoon. It requires stamina and high caffine tolerance, but by gosh it makes you feel good. This was despite the fact our conversation was mostly about the ways our respective countries have fucked up their citizens...Australia and its indigenous population, Germany and the Third Reich, and the US for, well, just being the US. And electing Arnold Schwarzenegger into a position of power.

These Swedes are onto something. There's nothing like a good yarn to raise your spirits and make you feel happy vis-a-vis the world. And it seems like I'm not the only one feeling kind of listless at the moment. The volume and intensity of Sweden so far is like being a first-year student at college again. But although the parties are legendary and the people are fun, we're kind of ready to start doing something. Learning, having commitments, etc. Basically we need some routine, and something to bitch about again.

Last night there was a massive crayfish party at Helsingkrona, a student nation. Penny and I got ambushed by some Church of Jesus Missionaries or some such nonsense on the way. We had a great chinwag about Sweden before we realised what was going on. When we said that the only way to get Swedes to truly open up was to buy them a drink, they firmly disagreed. We have a card and their address for their church ("a lot of young people come!") in case we feel like being saved any time soon.

You can see some pictures of the Crayfish party here. If you want to see half my face, click here.

Memorable highlights include:
- singing rousing Swedish songs
- teaching people how to eat crayfish by using your fingernails and molars in ways previously unknown to them. Crayfish are a lot like yabbies, FYI, but more red.
- Being covered in attractive crayfish scent - it has remarkable staying power.
- Skolling snaps with 150 other peeps.
- Coming face to face with the girl/pathalogical fibber who, for an entire evening, had me convinced that she was from Bhutan when she was actually from Germany, like everyone else. (she is ok though).
- Playing this wacked 'singstar' game. It's a competitive version of karaoke, and you have to hit the right notes to win. Having 20 people screaming into a microphone the words to 'Take On Me' in any kind of random melody has made this my favourite game so far.

My besties (if you can even use such a term after knowing people for one and a half weeks) Dougal and Penny have buggered off to Norway to go walking across a glacier. They had a few days left on their Europass and thought it'd be a good way to use it. I will miss them dearly, but it gives me the chance stop hanging out with australians who both lived within 2km of me, unbeknownst to me at the time.

My bike is such a piece of crap. The pedals don't work, and the people who sold it to me have skipped town. I am almost seriously contemplating paying someone to steal it so that I can claim it back on travel insurance. Maybe someone will steal it without my encouragement. I don't know. I feel like kicking it. We'll see what pans out.

Here is some serious blogging: So I was sitting in the famous felafel kitchen this morning, enjoying a $3 lunch and pondering the Swedish Way. One of the more socially acceptable reasons that I came to Sweden was that I admired the social equality and the ideals that Sweden bases its politics and policies on. But already in my time here I have realised that the reality is far from the golden view that is commonly held in Australia. Many people are upset and frustrated by the Swedish government. The high taxes are one very sore point. Because of this, people feel they can't really become 'rich'. I get the feeling that well-to-do Swedes (or young Swedes planning their life ahead) are getting sick of the burden of the rest of society. They also feel that the economy is a bit stagnant. The election is coming up in September and I think that, like the rest of the world, the population will elect a more right-wing group, or at least a centre group.

But these are just my observations on Sweden so far, based on very sketchy conversations (one might have been with a homeless guy on a disability pension - that is not to say it's any less valid, mind). I find it very fascinating. So if you're a politics nut, say 'aye' and visit back in the months to come for some more relevations.