Stockholm trip: dag trå (day two)

The plan for the morning was to do some sightseeing on my own and meet up with Anders around 1pm again. Last night at dinner, Anne and Anders helped me sketch out a walking route on my map, so I knew exactly where to go! I began around 10am after eating a big breakfast at the hostel.

I took a short video, and then followed it with a slideshow of some of the pictures that I took. Once again, at the time I thought that narrating the video was a good idea, but not only do I sound silly, I got half of the information wrong! It was Thursday, September 10, and I’m sitting at the City Hall. Enjoy :)



Once again, the afternoon was filled with a lot of great information not only during the lessons, but even in between playing sessions as we chatted about the business and such. Right now, I am striving to feel more comfortable improvising within a tonal foundation. I feel that although I am confident with my sight reading and music theory abilities on paper, I want to feel more free and inspired when just walking up and playing on the keyboard. Anders gave me a lot of great info and I have a ton to do when returning to Piteå!

Once we parted ways for the day (Anders had some family plans), I practiced for a bit more. Once I felt that I couldn’t possible cram any more into my brain, I went back to the hostel. I had intended on seeing the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra perform Mahler No. 1, but decided it was too late to get across town…not to mention the thought of spending any more money was a bit painful. I decided to just walk down to the market to pick up some food for dinner and breakfast the next day and hang out. I purchased a salad with chicken, 2 rolls, 2 apples, a bottle of water, and a piece of chocolate ;) I went back to the hostel to eat at the community dining room.

I saw an older woman who was staying in my room sitting at a table. I had helped her get settled earlier in the day, and found out that she is originally from Sweden, but lives in Florida now. Her name is Aina, and she was traveling on her own. She just loved talking about everywhere she has been, and I felt bad that she didn’t seem to have many family members to share her stories. So, I went to sit with her and a young couple that we found out spoke English (French was their first language), and were from Switzerland.

The four of us had the most entertaining dinner! We must have sat there chatting for 3 hours. Beatrice and Alex (the couple) were so sweet, and live in Geneva. I asked them how they met...they ran into each other when buying groceries. They had already met each other when they were kids, about 10 years before, and recognized each other in front of the Asian food section. Alex followed Beatrice around the store until he eventually got her number!

We chatted about a little bit of everything, including some politics and foreign affairs (which I don’t talk about often! But, it was really interesting to get their perspectives on some issues, and it felt good to share my opinion!) They were also really interested in music, and curious about how you study and practice percussion and improvisation. It was a ton of fun to explain everything to them, and even more exciting as we drew some parallels to Tai-Chi (which Alex practices). I also gave them a quick coordination/drum set lesson. I felt so lucky to have spent the evening with them. We traded emails, and I hope we will keep in touch!