Gothenburg

January 11th, 2011-

For my first full day in Sweden, Thorlief was going to pick me up in his little car and take me for a sightseeing tour of Gothenburg. I have to say that I was really nervous. I was spending almost a full day with someone that I had only exchanged a few emails with in the past. What if we ran out of things to talk about?

Even thinking about that now makes me want to laugh. True Life: Not only am I sorority girl, but I am one that is in love with recruitment or “rush.” I could honestly make conversation with a wall if I had to.

As it turns out, Thorlief is also a conversationalist. He really is one of the smartest and one of the most interesting men I have ever met. Thorlief can speak fluent Swedish, English and German. He is also pretty good at French and knows some Finnish too I believe. Even though he is now retired, Thorlief still talks a lot about his job as an engineer with Volvo. It is the reason why he knows so many different languages. Thorlief is also a spokesman for a Swedish animal advocacy group (whose name I do not remember). Thorlief reads newspaper articles from all over Sweden and anytime an article refers to certain breeds of dogs as “evil” or “unfriendly,” he sends that newspaper or journalist literature defending that breed. Therefore, Thorlief defends mostly the pit bulls and the bull terriers. He, along with his wife, Ewa, also own an English bull terrier. Her name is Maya and I really can’t wait to meet her because Thorlief talks about her so often. All of this is rather close to my heart because my dog, Duke is a pit bull. It’s funny how families are so alike.

After a short drive, we arrive in a part of Gothenburg called Haga. Haga is what in the United States we would call the historical district and it is the part of town that used to be known for 15 people living in one room. I actually learned that Arne grew up in Haga. Nowadays, each little house is now a little shop. It has uneven cobblestone streets but it is definitely a charming area. Thorlief promises me that like most places in Sweden, it is much better to visit when it is warmer out.

Since Thorlief grew up in Gothenburg, he has stories about everything. He also seems to know the entire historical history of Gothenburg by heart. He showed me an old fortress that was still standing, where he went to high school, where his son used to own a shop and more. I was impressed. Obviously. Even given that my hometown of Geneva has much less than half the history Gothenburg does, I know that I could not tell you the entire history of Geneva. Thorlief knows the years of everything, what businesses were located where and how life must have been when Gothenburg was a booming harbor town.
We only stay in Haga for a little less than two hours. Thorlief owns (from what I understand) a diesel car. Because the emissions of his car are considered environmental friendly, he can park in the city of Gothenburg for free for two hours. This is something he is clearly proud of and I understand why. It seems like people in Sweden care about these things. Thorlief wants cleaner air and less pollution to save himself and future generations. I only draw this contrast because I feel like most Americans think that being environmentally friendly is in order to save the polar bears.

Next up, we finally go to the modern downtown area of Gothenburg for lunch and to walk around. For lunch, we get sandwiches (mine with Swedish cheese on it of course) and coffee. By 1 PM, I was already on my second cup of coffee (keep in mind that I woke up at 10:30 AM). It was all very good though, of course.

After that, we just walk. My favorite part of visiting a different city is just to walk around and look at everything. With Thorlief as my knowledgable tour guide, I see the harbor, the ferris wheel and we walk around the shops downtown. The weird thing about the sidewalks is that there isn’t much salt put down. The just put gravel on top of the ice to make it less slippery. However, suddenly in the middle of everything, the sidewalks are perfect. Outside sidewalks, no gravel, no salt.... but how ? Chicago, I introduce you to the next big idea: heated sidewalks. I’m not kidding! The sidewalks in the business touristy district are heated just enough to keep away the ice and the snow.

Then, maybe two hours after our lunch, we stop for fika. Fika is Swedish for a break that usually includes coffee. Thorlief and I get coffee at a shop that roasts their own coffee beans. The whole place smelled like thick, smokey, delicious coffee.

For dinner that night, Gunilla made pork with Swedish cheese that has mushrooms in it on top, small “Swedish” potatoes where you need to peel the skin off and carrots. I was so hungry and it was so good, I didn’t even realize I was supposed to take the skin of the potatoes. Whoops. For dessert, we had the best thing ever. Gunilla pulled out the Swedish-English dictionary for the name of it...but it only translated to cream. In Swedish, she called it kräm. Even better, it was blueberry kräm that she made herself. She asked me for the English translation and the best thing I could come up with was jello. Gunilla seemed mildly offended by that, “Jello is just sugar, water and color.” I tried to explain that anything that jiggles, I call jello and that I didn’t necessarily mean the brand name. In the end, kräm is best described as maybe blueberry pie filling...but better...and more like jello. You eat it with some milk and cream in a bowl. Apparently, instant kräm exists according to Gunilla.
I’m already know what my Swedish college student diet will consist of: cheese and kräm.