One Week (!)

Approximately. More or less. I'm leaving on the 6th, so 8 days, really.

Spent the holidays in California with my dad. There's a strange, pervasive sense of detachment that's dominating my life right now, and I think it's because I'm preemptively saying goodbye to people. While I'm really, really excited to leave, there's probably a great deal of nervousness I simply haven't acknowledged yet.

So yeah, the last week has been a lot of family and some old friends saying goodbye. It's odd, though--I only see them once or twice a year anyway, yet the farewells seem fare more final, as if I'll be gone for years, or I'll be unrecognizable when I return. Perhaps I will; perhaps the Swedish culture is more insidious than I'm anticipating.

Anyway, a trip update. I picked up some Swedish Krona from Wells Fargo the other day - that's their national currency. Fun fact: despite being part of the European Union, they voted down a motion to adopt the Euro, because they liked their currency too much (A major economic issue, boiled down into a five year old's sentence. Go me!).

All their bills are different sizes! Who knew?

From top to bottom: 100 Krona, 50 Krona, 20 Krona. Because you can't read numbers.

I guess it's not just a Swedish thing. My grandma had some (now defunct) Italian Lira, and the greater the value, the bigger the bill. Honestly, I would have expected this trend to be opposite between the States and most European countries. There's such an overwhelming sense of "Bigger is better" in America, which is a cultural trend I thought they'd overcome already in Europe.

The bills are pretty, but it bugs me that I can't square them properly. Plus, my American wallet puts weird creases in them.

I suppose I'll survive. 

To do list directly related to Sweden:

1. Order more Krona (500 is not enough)

2. Buy a backpack/duffel thing

3. Buy some hiking boots (more on this later)

4. Laundry

5. Pack

6. ???

7. Leave

Ancillary goals:

1. See approximately 8 billion friends before I go

2. Sleep

Cheers,

Daniel