Stockholm trip: Dagen (Day One)

I woke up bright and early the day I left for Stockholm (Wednesday). I didn’t sleep much the night before, blame it on nerves and excitement…so the 6:15am alarm didn’t really get to me too much! After quadruple checking all of my things, I was ready to hike down to the bus stop by 7:15am. I loaded my backpack with all the necessities for the three days. I also took my messenger bag with my mallets/music/camera/notebook/journal/etc. I kept all of my important things (extra money, credit card, passport) in a flat money belt under my clothes that I wore inconspicuously the entire three days. The walk to the bus stop was a fun (sarcasm) 25 minutes.

My first bus from Piteå to Luleå left at 8am. When I entered the waiting room I didn’t see a ticket window or kiosk to buy a ticket. After sitting there for about 10 minutes wondering what to do, I finally asked one of the two people sitting there with me how to get tickets. She said that you just pay when you get on the bus. Phew!

The trip only cost 50kr. I was in and out of sleep, so I don’t remember it too much! It took about 50minutes, and once I got to Luleå I had to transfer to another bus to take me to the airport. It was another 50kr. However, if I would have taken a taxi, it would have cost 216kr, so I at least felt good about the price.

When I checked in at the airport, the machine said that I didn’t need a boarding pass. I thought it was weird, but proceeded to security anyway. I love going through security at small airports! It’s so easy! I didn’t even have to take off my shoes!

At the gate, they didn’t announce anything in English, so I just waited for everyone to line up to board and followed. When I got up to the desk, I noticed a credit card machine. So, I swiped the card I used to book my ticket. It was a good guess, because a tiny receipt printed out with my seat number on it. I have never boarded a plane using this system. I thought it was kind of cool!

The flight was pretty easy, eventhough I was sitting next to a 8 month old baby! He only cried once, and was probably the cutest guy I’ve ever sat by on a trip! :) Had a beautiful view of the Luleå archipelago.

Then, I think this clump of buildings is Piteå. The photo isn’t very good, but I was having fun with my camera

Once landing in Stockholm, I had to find the bus to take me into the city. The FlyBuss ticket counter was very easy to find, and I bought a roundtrip ticket. When I went outside to wait for the bus, I read (or translated) that there was a student ticket price. Darn! The lady at the counter ripped me off! I guess should have done a little research first.

In the city, I was to get off at the St. Ericsplan stop. Since I didn’t know where that was, I counted how many stops there were before I had to get off and made sure that I didn’t fall asleep! I couldn’t understand a word out of the bus driver’s mouth, even when he announced the stop. Luckily, from my window I had a view of the signs outside of the bus and I had been counting! My biggest fear was getting dropped off at the wrong place in Stockholm…

Once I found St Eriksplan, it was around 1pm. I called Anders and he came down to meet me! His studio is only a block away from the bus stop. It’s in the space that Kroumata rehearses and performs in. It’s a really great space!

First, we chatted a bit about Piteå. Anders thinks I should definitely apply for the teaching opportunity that I found at the community school. (yay!) After catching up, we got right into the lesson. We worked for about an hour on the piece that I have been writing. I was nervous to play it for him…it wasn’t a paralyzing kind of nervous, but an excited and hopeful kind of nervous. I didn’t really like the way I played the piece, but Anders seemed to respond positively to the ideas that I came up with. He helped me organize my ideas, to make more sense musically and flow better. We also talked about extending sections, and how to vary some of the motivs. It was a great first lesson!

Then, we met up with Anders’ daughter, Tuva, for lunch. She is 18 and really fun to talk to and hang out with. She is very animated when telling stories and we had a great time getting to know each other. Not to mention that the food at the café was wonderful and the weather was wonderful. We sat outside, and I was quickly starting to love Stockholm!

Lunch was perfect, and we were ready to get back to the lesson. We spent the afternoon continuing to work on my piece, and then dove into some improvisation concepts. As the lesson progressed, I could hear Kroumata rehearsing Reich’s ‘Drumming’ the whole time. It was so surreal!!!

Anders had to leave around 4:30pm, so I went down to check into my hostel. It was about a 10 minute walk from the studio…with some great scenery!

The hostel itself was pretty clean, and quite nice. The restrooms and showers were individual and private. My bed was comfy too!

I took a nap, then wrote in my journal, and got organized. Anders called, and said that I should come up to his family’s place for dinner around 7:30pm. He gave me directions over the phone, and I left in plenty of time to get there.

But, I got lost. Haha. I found my way to the studio, then to the café where we had lunch, but then I got really confused! I turned the wrong direction down one street, called Anders when I didn’t think that it was right, and Tuva came to rescue me! Whoops!

Dinner and socializing with the Åstrands was great! His wife, Anne, is so wonderful! She is a very strong, intelligent woman with a very caring heart. She wanted to make sure that I was feeling comfortable and settled in Piteå, which really made me feel good and taken care of. I tried to help make dinner as much as I could, and chatted with the girls, Emma and Tuva. While Anders was working, we (the ladies) discussed Twilight Series, and how we don’t like Bella’s character at all! Conveniently, I may be in Stockholm when ‘New Moon’ comes out, and they invited me to see it with them. Vampires are sexy in every country! (I wish I would have taken some pictures while I was there! I will have to remember next time!)

Anders and Anne walked me back to my hostel about 10:30pm. I don’t think I could have thanked them enough for the awesome evening! I was still so awake, so I stayed up in the common room and wrote in my journal a bit, and watched a little TV. When I went down to my room for bed, everyone was asleep!! I was the annoying girl that woke everyone up! I felt bad, but it was only a little past 11pm…I mean, come on people! Live a little!