Swedish National Day

Wednesday was the Swedish Independence Day. Much like in America, that means drinking instead of going to work. I woke up at the crack of 11:23 am, and a couple hours later took the train to hang out with Anton and his friends by the water. Anton and his friend, Johan met me at the end of my journey.

The three of us walked to this lake. Not just any lake mind you, but apparently one that Alfred Noble blew up and created himself. They even showed me Noble's old laboratory, which was so interesting, we looked at it from the distance. Soon we found Johan--a second Johan, whom I will refer to as Lance--who was guarding the our spot, but more importantly the beer.

I had Danish and Finnish beer, which were both good. Of course, with beer comes the inevitable breaking of the seel, and unfortunately there were no public restrooms, not that it really matters if you're drunk. So I climbed up a hiking trail, went about 30 feet into the woods, and prepared myself for relief. I didn't notice, however, that I was actually 5 feet from another trail and currently exposing myself to an old man. When I met his icy glare, I did the classy thing: I put it away and ran.

When I got back from peeing, we played some cards, ending with a game of Go Fish. We agreed that the person who came in last would have to go in the cold water. I came in last. I pounded a beer and then headed towards the lake.

In the back of my mind, I kept thinking that drunk swimming in cold water was probably a bad idea, but as a man I would never break a vow made over Go Fish. Lucky for me, there was a rope swing. You just swung down an embankment, over some rocks, and then let go over the water. Again, in the back of my mind I was thinking this would be a real shitty way to die. I'd never been on a rope swing before, so I just grabbed as high as possible, swung out and let go! Splash!

This is nothing! Gilford Beach. Not even coast-of-Maine cold, and I don't think that was because of the beer. And, being the trendsetter that I am, about 6 other guys came up and asked me about the water, to which I replied coolly, ''Do you speak English?'' They all did, and 3 or 4 went in and thought it was cold. We all left soon after and watched Sweden own Iceland 5-0 before I headed back to Timor's house.