Surprise Sweden!

So, I’ll cut to the chase and then backtrack here. I think I have mentioned in previous posts how my work was struggling to find something for me to work on in Milan, right? Well, we found a temporary solution- Sweden. Yes, as I post this blog, I am in Stockholm, Sweden. Our company has a project that has apparently been struggling to get enough people on site, so me in Europe with nothing to do + work in Europe that needs people = Sweden. So here I am! Surprise!

I will be here up to 6 weeks… supposedly.. And then the plan is to have something ready for me for when I get back to the Milan office. I’ll get to come back maybe twice in the meantime on weekends, but those will be spent with my mom and Bob next weekend (woohoo!) and then hopefully in Sicily with some work folks! We shall see. I know very little about Stockholm or Sweden or scandinavia in general, but I have heard lots of good things about the people and the natural beauty etc. More later.

Now the backtrack part.

So I ended my last post on Friday evening with a LOVELY night in (seriously, no sarcasm, it was fantastic). Saturday I slept in, made a nice breakfast, wrote for a bit, got a few things done, then headed out to the Inter vs. Verona futbol match for which Matt had gotten me a ticket!

(sidenote: this may seem like a really casual and almost unimportant activity or interaction in the scheme of this trip, but at some point while at the game it hit me that THIS is the stuff we would be doing if WE lived here, and therefore Matt buying the ticket for me really felt like he was with me, and therefore made me feel so loved and it was really, really special)

Inter is the “Internazionale” team in Milan which the internet calls Inter Milan. If you say that you are going to the “Inter Milan game” though, everyone thinks you are talking about the Internazionale Milan vs. A.C. Milan game which is apparently a huge local rivalry game and everyone gets excited and nervous for you at the same time because apparently those games get ROWDY. Anyway. It was a real european soccer game (I also just learned that they call soccer or futbol or football “calcio” in Italian which is also the word for kick or Calcium.. Fun fact), real European soccer and the crowd lived up to all of my hopes and dreams. I got to the stadium,

bought myself a scarf to make sure everyone knew I was a true Inter fan (obviously),

and decided to grab a sandwich and a beer before I went in because a beer sounded soooooo good. I stop at one of the food truck type stands and start my usual pointing to make my order. I try to ask which beers they had “alla spina” (on tap) and just got confused looks in return. I try again, no go, they point to the bottles on display, I give up and ask for a Tenants. They’re out. I ask for a Corona and somehow end up with a Heineken. Fine. I take one sip and… yep… just as awful as it is in the US. Yet, I don’t want to waste it, so I stand and eat my sandwich and drink the whole thing. America!

After I finish my meal, I get inside without any issue (unless you count how many Italians have no qualms about cutting in line). I get to my seat, and the next 2 hours are pretty much nonstop chants and singing and cheering and “Vai! Vai! Vai!” (“Go! Go! Go!”). It was wonderful.

I go back to my apartment after the match to make dinner and relax while I wait to hear from a coworker on some potential plans for the night! He finally gets back to me, and says they are meeting at 10:30 (who are these people.. College students???) at a bar called Taxi Blues. I am not in a position to turn down social interactions, so I go. Attendance ended up including just 2 people from work plus 4 friends of one of those coworkers that he has known since he was in high school. Sounds awesome, right? Meh. They were all incredibly nice, and I am so glad he invited me out, but again.. The language barrier. We would have a brief conversation in english, we would laugh, it would all seem nice and swell, and then they would turn to each other and go into their own conversation in Italian. Two of the friends were a couple that barely talked to anyone. The bar was neat but it was loud and playing club music even though it wasn’t a club so it was difficult to hear even when speaking english. We all had one drink and ended up leaving around 1230am. My coworkers and I tried to find one more bar or club to pop into before the night was done, but it was the night before Easter and the one club Stefano could think of that was somewhat nearby was essentially empty and did not look like a fun time.. So we went home. No one’s fault, and again, I’m so glad I was invited, but kind of a bust. Oh well.

Sunday I slept in again, finished my last post and went for a run! The sun was shining and I could not resist the beautiful easter day. I ran to a park about 1 mile away and really enjoyed watching the other runners, dog walkers, families, and friends who had also been unable to resist the thought of spending some time outside. I sat for awhile by the fountain just listening to music, but started getting hungry and had to head back. After a shower and talking to Matt for a bit, he convinced me to head back to the park to sit and read/write for awhile. Completely worth it. I got another 2 hours outside by walking to the park, sitting and writing for about an hour, then walking back. Finally a weekend in Milan that did not drench my shoes or my spirit.

Monday the Milan office was closed to celebrate the easter holiday, so I enjoyed a relaxing 3 day weekend. I did not really exercise on Monday, but I still got a few things done before I did the most adventurous activity of the weekend- I got a haircut!!

My hair had been getting to that point of needing professional help before I had even left the states, and I think the extra time plus the water here (seriously, I think the water is different enough that it’s throwing the balance of my hair off) pushed me to a breaking point. It was one of those moments where I thought, “I know I should do more research and just wait, maybe find a groupon for a place, maybe ask for recommendations at work… but I also know that I won’t wait and I’m just going to find a place that is open and go today.” So I accepted that about myself, I found a place that was open that had an online reservation system, and I went.

The salon was near the Duomo, so I went down a little early and wandered the crowded streets of shoppers and window-shopped some myself. A little past 5pm I started meandering back in the general direction of the salon. I find it, no problem, but of course it is on the second floor of an office building and when I get to the door, there are no windows and just one lonely sign. Do I knock? Do I push this button-looking object on the wall that is probably a doorbell/buzzer but who knows for sure? Do I just walk in? In this moment my confidence is high so I take the bull by horns, and I walk right in! (I of course later find out that I should have buzzed as I did see another customer ring the doorbell and be let in like a proper guest… what are we ANIMALS?) Still feeling good, I say “Ciao, buona sera,” as if I had done this dozens of times before. A red-headed woman looks over, clearly surprised, and says “...buona sera..?” and starts cautiously walking over towards me. Confidence starts to wane as I try to say my practiced phrase, “Ho un appuntamento per taglio donna” (I have an appointment for a women’s cut).

Blank stare.

Oh boy.

“Uh, women’s cut? I have an appointment?”

Blank stare.

Oooohhh goodness.

The next few minutes were awkward flusters of words that somehow came out SO incoherently that she literally thought I didn’t speak english. What a mess I can be sometimes. We got past it, though. Apparently the online system didn’t really work and she didn’t know I was coming which explained the confused looks. Once I sat down to have my hair washed, I think the blood finally started to leave my face.

She turned out to be this adorable Russian woman (what is it with me and Russians?) that has been in Milan for about 3 years. We chatted and she obviously asked what I was doing in Italy. When I told her that I “just” moved here but will be here for 6 months she asked, “Is it hard?” As you can imagine, I replied with a resounding “YES.” She was sweet and it ended up being a great experience- she even gave me her personal card with her cell number on it so I could get in touch with her directly even if I just wanted some suggestions of where to travel or even a travel buddy haha. Seriously. It warmed my heart. And I actually love my haircut! Overall- great success.

Tuesday night was spent watching John Oliver (man I missed him) and packing for Sweden. I had all of my travel and accommodations ready late last week, but man if that wasn’t even a hassle. In my home office I am used to being able to use our online program to book all travel needs myself- it gives me some flexibility, I don’t feel like I’m being judged for anything, and I can take my time and look through options. Apparently in Italy, they don’t have that system yet, so they normally have the “project assistant” book all travel. The project I am on in Sweden, though, is being run out of the US. So there was no assigned project assistant in the Milan office. Goodness. So after figuring all of this out, I had to talk to a woman who talked to a woman who got another woman to help me out anyway. And then SHE had to search for and book my flight and hotel still through a TRAVEL AGENCY. Ridiculous. It’s 2018 people.

Everything went fairly smoothly today, though. I had a taxi take me to the Milan airport, no big mishaps there.. Small ones, sure, but nothing worth mentioning. I had plenty of time to sit and wait and talk to Matt while he was on his way to work. Flight to Frankfurt was delayed due to weather in Frankfurt, though when we landed, THIS is what it looked like…

I call BS. But then I got cake as my in-flight snack.. So…

Still made my connection to Stockholm (with minutes to spare), had BOTH seats in my row empty, score..

Also had fun reading through the SAS safety cards..

I read this one as, “If you accidentally start fire or go Mr. Freeze on someone outside of the airplane, do not exit the airplane.. You are a danger to yourself and others.”

And no matter how old I get, flying over the clouds will never get old.

Anyway. Made it here safely, grabbed a taxi to my hotel, and had a lovely late dinner at the hotel restaurant. All in all, smooth and exciting new chapter to this story!

I’ll give you guys an update this weekend on this beautiful country.

See you soon!