Not entirely sure how a week has already passed since I last posted. It’s also been almost a week since we left Sweden, as we arrived in Oslo on Saturday. So I’ve had time to reflect on our fleeting visit to Sweden, and these are the things we learnt:
– When two girls are sat alone in a station for four hours, there will be at least one creepy guy.
Creepy Guy Number One kept looking our way (definitely not at something behind us, of course) and was acting shiftily whilst making suspicious phone calls. He was clearly trying to figure out how to abduct us, Taken style. We started attaching ourselves to our bags in case that might help our predicament. He then appeared on the train we were on for the night and sat two seats behind us. Coincidence? I think not. Apart from the fact he left the train before us, and the worst thing he did whilst on the train was dragging his feet up and down the aisle, making one of the most annoying noises known to humanity.
– Drunken men gravitate towards us.
Sat in Malmö station a guy sat down on the bench next to me, looking very interested in what I was typing on my iPad (my grip definitely tightened). He asked where we were from and proceeded to start talking about New Year’s Eve in London, became very confused and told me he’d had too much to drink, before his friend came over to rescue him (and us). He also invited us to stay, but fortunately his friend wasn’t so keen. When he left he tried to high five me but missed, and his second attempt left my hand stinging for at least five minutes. This happened on the train to Berlin too; two men stinking of alcohol and armed with more turned up just as the bus was about to leave, choosing the two seats next to us. One of them was very vocal, thought we were German, and thought he was going to take part in the International Poker Championships (we’re not, and he wasn’t).
– There are lots of dogs in Sweden (and Denmark) – on the trains, on the ferries, in the streets.
Some are completely unlikely matchings with their owners; others are difficult to tell apart. Most are as immaculate as the Scandinavian people in their behaviour as well as their looks, apart from the Great Dane that launched itself at my face while I was sitting on a bench in Malmö station. Maybe he was Danish (I definitely did not just google whether Great Danes are from Denmark), and just being exceptionally and Danishly nice, in a dog kind of way.
– An overnight train is not necessarily a sleeper train.
For our overnight train from Malmö to Stockholm, we didn’t book beds because seats were cheaper and we assumed that it would still be an environment conducive to sleep. But the (very bright) lights were left on all night, and the train stopped numerous times. Plus, not everyone is very considerate and someone left their suitcase in the aisle next to me, so people thought it was mine, therefore resenting me when they inevitably tripped over it and fell on me. The owner of the suitcase sat away from it, refusing to swap seats with me, ordering me to ‘sit, sit’. Needless to say, she slept soundly for most of the night, whilst I didn’t sleep much at all. It did mean that I got wonderful morning views of the Swedish countryside as soon as it was light though, so I can thank her for that.
Anyway, today’s challenge is to be patient next time someone inconveniences you, whether this is in the form of someone blocking you in with their suitcase on a train, drunkenly trying to engage in conversation with you, allowing their (friendly) dog to come a bit too close for comfort, or something else entirely.
P.S. Great Danes aren’t originally from Denmark, but Germany.
unchainedjourneys 