Coffee-driven, caffeine-fuelled.

Ad nauseam

Time for an update

It’s been bloody ages since I wrote anything here. Not very impressive.

So, I’m in Sweden nowadays, and am liking it immensely. Work is absolutely phenomenal: the company’s great, the people I work with are really friendly and good at what they do (I keep saying this, but in case you’ve missed it: one of them is this guy.), and even though the stuff I do is difficult, I think I’m pretty good at it. I’ve found a really nice flat too, smack-bang in the middle of Stockholm (Kungsholmen). It’s only ‘mine’ for a year, but I figure that once the lease is up I’ll know whether I want to stay here for a considerable amount of time, and therefore whether I should buy a flat..

I know I just said this, but I’m gonna repeat it: my company’s great. In September, we had a company conference, the location of which was kept a secret to anyone not involved in the planning. The conference was ‘Superstar’-themed, meaning a lot of people dressed in random outfits to look like a superstar of their choice (we had a lot of Elvises), and after a morning of presentations at a hotel in downtown Stockholm, we were packed into buses and driven to Bromma Airport. There, we boarded a chartered plane (whose destination actually said ‘Unknown’ on all the monitors at the airport) and had a merry time not knowing at all where we were going - only when we landed did the flight attendants tell us. Paris. Sweet as. Rollerblading between the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe; crepes and frogleg-eating; the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in; conference cruising on the Seine; and a Madonna-concert. Back in Stockholm the evening after we left. Pretty cool.

Burlington, VT

Last night I ran from Montpelier to Boston and back. Honestly. Didn’t even take that long..

We’re roadtripping! Lots of fun. I might even go ahead and call it amazing, even though my mum thinks I use that word too much. Over the last few days we’ve driven from Boston to Portland, on to Bar Harbor, Skawheegan, Montpelier, and now Burlington. The car is a relatively new and reasonably large Kia. It is, of course, an automatic, which together with the cruise control means that driving is insanely easy. The country-side is gorgeous, especially here in Vermont, but it’s proving kind of tricky to capture just how nice it is on camera. I’ll keep trying though.

The place we stayed in last night, Montpelier, is the state capital of Vermont, which is hard to believe because the place is tiiiny. Set against a backdrop of really lush, forest-clad mountains and with no real industry, it’s probably as close to my “ideal” American small town as I’m going to get. It was great. We also had a two-course meal in a really nice restaurant for the equivalent of about 12.5 pounds a head, drinks included. Not bad.

Before driving into Burlington today, we stopped off at the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Waterville (?), which was a bit of a let-down. The factory itself is quite small and very tourist-oriented, but we did get to eat ice cream, and I learned that the company is not as cool as I though, as it’s been owned by Unilever since 2000. The drive from the factory to Burlington was absolutely beautiful, with long, narrow mountain roads going through really deep green forests. The roads were slightly scary at times, especially when meeting SUVs..

Tomorrow we’ll be heading south (I think). There are some loose plans on renting a cottage somewhere in New Hampshire, but since this is the height of the tourist season, we’ll see if we can afford it. Other than that, I don’t really know what we’ll do. Which is in no way a bad thing.

Boston!

Right, so I didn’t finish my last post, and to be honest I don’t think I will. Making a new one instead. James, Debbie and Steve have all left now, but Mark’s here instead so all is well. Spent a few days on my own, which was nice. I think I’ve pretty much walked all of Manhattan by now.. Still not been shopping tho, despite having seen lots of cool shops (and a book called “Is Your Dog Gay” :-)

Mark and I have been out walking lots, eating good food, and drinking beer in random places. It turns out that while it’s easy to find good restaurants in NYC, finding good bars is difficult.. We’ve managed though. I’ve yet to overdose on coffee, which is impressive given the amount I’ve been drinking (in Starbucks especially). We’ve been to the Met, the Guggenheim, and taken the boat to Staten Island in order to see the Statue of Liberty (which is MUCH smaller than you’d think).. avoiding the mile-long queues Debbie and Steve had to stand in. HAH.

So we’ve left NYC now, took the Fung Wah bus to Boston this afternoon after walking around Central Park for a while. Feels good to be somewhere different, it’s even slightly CHILLY here, which is a change from 90F heat — I’m wearing a sweater! We’re staying in an old hotel turned into a hostel in a suburb (I think) to the city, which is also quite a change, having stayed 10 seconds from Central Park the last week+. We’re spending the next few days here, exploring the city and seeing historical buildings etc, before picking up a car on Saturday and driving around for ten days — woo!

Really enjoyed NYC, especially NoHo, SoHo and Chelsea. Could possibly see myself living there at some point in the future? Maybe.

Hope you’re all well :-)

NYC Post 2

I’m in a hostel on the Upper West Side, about 25 seconds from Central Park — very nice! Steve’s here too, and we’ve met up with James and Debbie quite a number of times. Really enjoying NYC, the architecture’s really cool and there are Starbucks everywhere! I’ve managed to do quite a lot while simultaneously not doing very much, which is impressive. I’ve seen Times Square and all the central bits, walked loads, got lost on the subway countless times, bought a really nice pair of running shoes, eaten good food, been running in Central Park (which was really cool), been to the Natural History Museum.. Busybusybusy.

I stayed in the hostel in Spanish Harlem for two nights, and although the hostel was really nice, the area was perhaps not ideal. Steve’s first hostel was worse though, and I think he’s quite happy to have moved to a better location.

Yesterday, after we’d moved hostel and checked in properly (and eaten), Steve and Debbie wanted to go to the Empire State building, so James, James’ friend Dmitry and I went for a little wander round the Village, NoHo, SoHo, Little Italy, China town, Wall Street, and the WTC memorial site. Saw the statue of liberty from afar, looks friendly. Probably won’t go out there though, but take the Staten Island ferry instead. You can’t go up it anyway, so what’s the point of paying to go? James and I then headed back to the hostel to meet up with Debbie and Steve, but got bored of waiting after about an hour and a half so left to go find dinner.

We managed to both find a place, eat dinner and drink a beer, and walk around a fairly large area before the other two got in touch with us.. it appears they have subway issues too. And it apparently took them about four hours from leaving us until they were actually in the view-bit of the tower.. Sucks to be them.

(I’ll finish this later! Need to go out :D)

I've arrived.

I’m in NYC. I’m tired, sweaty and have lost my ability to think properly, but I’m here. Took me ages to figure out how to get to the right tube stop, then a similar amount of time to find the hostel (which turned out to be less than a minute from the tube station). Not at my brightest, it appears :)

Staying in a hostel in Harlem (Spanish Harlem, even), and it’s not too bad. Not gorgeous, but totally liveable. I don’t think Mark will like the area though, so I’m gonna try and find something else for when he gets here. Meeting up with James and Debbie tomorrow, and Steve is arriving at some point too — it’s like a mini-Informatics reunion, woo!

Just thought I’d post saying I’ve arrived. I should probably try to stay awake so that I have some chance of not waking up at 4am tomorrow, but it’s gonna be tricky :-)

I’m going to the US on Thursday. Maybe I should start packing? Or at least planning? I booked a hostel for the first two nights the other day, and was really proud of myself for my planning abilities.

Can’t wait to head off, it’s going to be AMAZING.

Slight worries.

Got back from Stockholm yesterday evening, and even though I had an amazing time with people up there, it feels really good to be home. I can’t wait until I’ve got a place up there though, so that I can go home but still stay in Stockholm, because Stockholm is amazing. Getting back does have some negative aspects, however, because my parents were away for a week before they headed up to Stockholm, so there’s very little food for me to steal, and worst of all almost NO COFFEE! I almost got worried for a second this morning, but managed to find some anyway. Catastrophe averted.

I’ve been worrying slightly about how to keep my adonis-like physique while I’m in the US, because I don’t really feel like throwing caution to the wind completely, and getting any kind of proper workout on while I’m out there will probably be tricky.. Unless I pay for single-session gym visits.. James, do you know how expensive this would be? I’ve decided that I’m going to try and get back into running again as soon as I get out there, since I figure I can get a proper pair of running shoes for less money than in Sweden, and it’s an easy way to avoid getting obese.

My third worry is the flat situation in Stockholm, more precisely where I’m going to live this autumn. I helped my sister move in this week and have come to really love her flat, which is good because the flat I’m hoping to have sorted for myself before the end of August is a mirrored version of hers, but bad because I can’t get hold of the landlord.. I’m about to write a letter to him today — a letter! I must be getting desperate..

And this coffee I found is old. Life is hard.