Third Cousins

Not much to say about today other than that it was awesome! Hanging out with my third cousins here in Stockholm is better than I could have imagined.

Today, for the first time in what feels like ages, we had SUNSHINE!!!!!

Daniel, who is really into history, took Laura and I into town and guided us around telling us bits and pieces of information about the area and buildings. I think he was holding back a little though because he didn't want to sound nerdy or bore us with his 'lecturing'. Around 1, we decided that no, it wasn't too early to have a beer. We found a cafe and tried a Swedish beer there and got into a good conversation.

Then we moved on and kept walking. Soon we found another cafe with a sunny, huge, outdoor cafe in the middle of a great people watching square, and decided to stop again for another beer. The conversations flowed so easily and we just chatted and laughed for hours. A bit later, Helen met us at this bar and after one more drink we moved on.

Sandra had called and she also works at a bar, so we headed to her bar next. Now I had officially met all three of my third cousins here! We again sat outside and had some beer and ordered some food and just kept on chatting and laughing. Soon, Linn (Daniel's girlfriend) came to meet up with us. Eventually, we decided to mosy on over closer to home to Daniel's favorite local bar.

At some point at this last bar, I looked at my watch and realized that is was 10 PM! I literally had not looked at my watch before that since that first beer around 1 PM. It stays so light outside here that I had completely lost track of time, I was shocked at how late it was! That just goes to show how much fun we were having!

People here seem very curious about Laura and I. My favorite part of the day though was when people would ask, "Oh, so how do you know Helen?" and I could respond, "Yeah, we're third cousins, no big deal..." And then they look kind of surprised! Somebody else asked what I was doing in Sweden and I told them I was trying to find/meet/get to know my family here. And then I said, "check!" as in 'I have accomplished this!' and when the guy looked a little confused Daniel chimed in, "We're 3rd cousins!" For some reason it just makes me so happy to be here with them and tell people how we are related. I can't get over how cool it is that our great great grandfather was the same person. It's such a long journey from Sweden to the States and I think it's amazing that I've kind of circled back and made it here to meet the family line that stayed in Sweden. I'm just continually amazed and elated by being around and getting to know them.

Helen and Daniel are also excellent hosts, they are so excited to show us around and do things with us and keep telling us that we need to say if we're bored or tired or want to be alone. We have to keep assuring them that this is perfect - we're not here to visit churches and museums and try to do everything there is to do in Stockholm. I'm here to hang out with them, and I'm quite sure I'll end up seeing some of the best parts of Stockholm along the way :)

Sandra and her new puppy Harley came and met us at the bar a little bit later, and we stood outside playing with Harley for a while before finally walking home.

In truth, we saw very little of the actual city today. But I think it's a huge accomplishment just drinking beer in the sun with your third cousins all day. Today was absolutely great.

Today also though is the beginning of June. This is quite sad because it means I am home in 22 days. Most US companies give you only two weeks of vacation time. I think the fact that I'm sad about coming home in three weeks might cause some problems for me later in life...It's weird too because we only have Sweden and France left, so the pace will be much slower. Also, if you were just normally working, have 3-4 weeks off to play in Sweden and France would be a great vacation, so it's amusing to me that we have this special time to spend in the last two countries at the end of a rather fast paced 9 week back packing trip. It almost feels like it's piecing two different trips together, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, I hope I will be able to come back to Sweden and I REALLY hope that our generation will stay in touch. That would just be inexplicably awesome.


Quotes:
Far too many, I wouldn't even know where to begin...everything was just funny today.

Accomplishments:
See above.

Travel Tip:
Take advantage of shaved legs and sunshine and wear skirts!!!