Stklm :: Day 1

00h00m	I’ve been waiting years for this moment. Good we aren’t flying with BA, they’ve cancelled all the planes today due to some strike action. I feel a strange blend of excitement and melancholy as we enter the Swedish air space. A colorful sunset accompanies us while we solve some Sudoku puzzles, being unaware that the coming days are going to be more intense and remarkable than we anticipated. The plane lands 15 minutes late, in an attempt to make us even more impatient at our arrival.
00h41m	We take the Arlanda Express, travelling at an astonishing 202km/h towards the city centre. Some adverts are being shown in flat TVs throughout the train. We realise our Swedish is more than oxidated and hardly try to remember how to articulate the basic survival stuff such as meatballs, beer, schnapps and the like.
01h19m	Rafa has been waiting in Cityterminalen for more than an hour. The last time I met him was two years ago in Madrid; I notice he hasn’t changed a bit. After calming down, we leave the luggage in a locker at the station and head to Mango, a trendy bar and club in Odengatan. There we meet some more friends and dance until late.
04h46m	Too late maybe. Before hitting the sack we drop by the lockers, only to find out that the station is closed and all our lugagge is inside there. Never mind. The pinnacle of the night happens when we come back to Lappis, the place where we used to live as students. In an emotional urge, we go to the central square and shout ‘köttbullar’ a couple of times, though not as loud as we can.

2 comments August 30th, 2005

So young and so old

The first thing I wanted was to leave far away;
in the picture-card album of resignation
we stuck the kids that hated mirrors,
Rita Hayworth’s gloves, the streets of New York.

I hardly saw an eye winking life at me
I asked her to arbitrarily make use of me,
she gave me the keys to the forbidden city
and I gave her everything I have, which is nothing.

And thus I quickly grew up, and I flew so fast
that even my own shadow lost me,
in order to erase my traces I destroyed my shirt,
I confused the neon lights with stars.

I cheated in poker, deceived my friends,
slept like a log on a bench in the park;
for saying what I think and not thinking what I say
I have been kissed many times (and slapped too).

What I know about oblivion was learnt from the Moon,
what I know from sin had to be sought
as a thief under the skirt of someone
whose name I don’t want to remember now.

And so, for now, no goodbye my fellows,
I fall asleep in the funerals of my own generation;
I invent each night, I still get drunk;
so young and so old, like a rolling stone.

Add comment August 10th, 2005

Stockholm, 5 years later

Five summers ago I embarked upon the odyssey of studying in a foreign country. This country turned out to be Sweden. I spent two years there, met fantastic people and visited places I could never imagine I would see. One of the best periods of my life, so far. I will be travelling to Stockholm in a week. How to compress all the things I did there in just three days? The agenda is going to be so busy I don’t think I will get any sleep…

Add comment August 5th, 2005