Cultural Learnings of EuropeCultural Learnings of EuropeAfter doing the Eurotrip2006.com thing and then living in Stockholm for a year Louis is off to Tallinn in Estonia to live the good life. Articles
Cultural Learnings Of... The Systembolaget
2007-06-17 19:41:00 Finally, ive worked up enough material for a blog! Time to celebrate with a drink! Oh wait, I cant go to the booze store today, its sunday.. which leads me to the topic of my discussionThats right! The Systembolaget which literally translates to "The System Company" and its the only booze store in Sweden. And the government runs it. Thats right, you heard me. You can still buy in bars and licensed establishments of course but if you want to buy some grog for home, when inside Sweden, you have to buy it from the SystemBola get.Apparently it all started around 1766 when king Adolf Fredick (clearly from this act he is the greatest Swedish leader since "rockin" Gustav established tartu university) abolished all laws on the sale of alcohol. Good show! By about 1800 Swedes had become some of the biggest piss heads in Europe. I bet they had wild parties back then. Sauna, good looking swedish girls and guys, heaps of cheap booze, I bet it was an awesome time. Howeve... More About: Cultural , Ural , Stem , Earning
Cultural Learnings Of... Life In Sweden
2007-06-17 10:14:00 So its now something like week 6 here in Sweden and its a rainy sunday morning so time to fill you in on whats been happening here. The more observant amongst you may have noticed I havnt blogged much of late, coming back to my idea that if you dont have anything interesting to blog well then... you shouldnt be blogging. Its not its bad, just that Iam now some sort of regular respectable, functioning member of society with a proper fulltime job, leaving me with precious little opportunity to get up to some craziness.I was delighted this week to be teaching again for the first time in 6 months, I had a captive audience of 15 who HAD to sit and listen to me for 4 days straight. I think computer programming is, at the best of times, fairly freaking boring to listen to in class so I try and spice it all up a bit and as a result my students now know all about eurotrip, the volvo and what it takes to get from estonia to latvia to stockholm when you are a poor confused boy away from home. ... More About: Life , Cultural , Ural , Earning
Cultural Learnings Of... Life In Sweden
2007-06-17 10:14:00 So its now something like week 6 here in Sweden and its a rainy sunday morning so time to fill you in on whats been happening here. The more observant amongst you may have noticed I havnt blogged much of late, coming back to my idea that if you dont have anything interesting to blog well then... you shouldnt be blogging. Its not its bad, just that Iam now some sort of regular respectable, functioning member of society with a proper fulltime job, leaving me with precious little opportunity to get up to some craziness.I was delighted this week to be teaching again for the first time in 6 months, I had a captive audience of 15 who HAD to sit and listen to me for 4 days straight. I think computer programming is, at the best of times, fairly freaking boring to listen to in class so I try and spice it all up a bit and as a result my students now know all about eurotrip, the volvo and what it takes to get from estonia to latvia to stockholm when you are a poor confused boy away from home. ... More About: Life , Learn , Cultural , Ural
One More Time From Dancing Boris
2007-06-15 09:08:00 Boris my old friend whom I never met, you are gold, gold gold gold. I cant help but think of all the questions Id ask him if he were still with us, Id grab two bottles of vodka, a freezer of good ice and record the whole thing. Heres an actual Boris quote when being interviewed by a British journalist. Journalist: "So, President Yeltsin, how wouldyou describe the state of the Russianeconomy in one word?"Yeltsin: "Good".Journalist: "Okay then Mr President, perhapsyou would describe it in more than one word?"Yeltsin: "Ah, in that case - not good." Updates coming soon, Ive been teaching all week and even for me theres a limit to the amount of utter crap which I can come up with. I do like my company however, the last two nights Ive been out on it with company sponsored booze. Good show old chap. More About: Dancing , Time , Boris
One More Time From Dancing Boris
2007-06-15 09:08:00 Boris my old friend whom I never met, you are gold, gold gold gold. I cant help but think of all the questions Id ask him if he were still with us, Id grab two bottles of vodka, a freezer of good ice and record the whole thing. Heres an actual Boris quote when being interviewed by a British journalist. Journalist: "So, President Yeltsin, how wouldyou describe the state of the Russianeconomy in one word?"Yeltsin: "Good".Journalist: "Okay then Mr President, perhapsyou would describe it in more than one word?"Yeltsin: "Ah, in that case - not good." Updates coming soon, Ive been teaching all week and even for me theres a limit to the amount of utter crap which I can come up with. I do like my company however, the last two nights Ive been out on it with company sponsored booze. Good show old chap. More About: Dancing , Time , Boris
Cultural Learnings Of... Swedish Police
2007-06-03 11:54:00 SWEDISH POLICE! Buggers! Where ice T when you need him man? Ok heres how the story begins..I got my new bike yesterday and its FANTASTIC, super light, super smooth gears, feels great to ride. So I got up this morning and headed off into the glorious Stockholm sunshine, its fabulous, warm sunshine, getting out of the city center into some greener suburbs, good times. Heres a blurry photoSo Im heading back home through the city, "iPod of Invincibility" on as usual and i duck in and out of some cars, though an intersection, regular everyday stuff I used to do to dodge the traffic in Sydney, no car, not even a 2 ton Volvo worries me. So just as Im getting over the last bridge to my apartment I hear a siren behind me and up pulls the coppers in their big van! 3 of these guys get out, sweden's finest no doubt and hit me up. After agreeing to do the discussion in English i get told "you know you went through 2 red lights there?"RED LIGHTS? ON A BIKE?? DONT YOU GUYS HAV... More About: Police , Learn , Dish , Cultural , Poli
Cultural Learnings Of... Swedish Police
2007-06-03 11:54:00 SWEDISH POLICE! Buggers! Where ice T when you need him man? Ok heres how the story begins..I got my new bike yesterday and its FANTASTIC, super light, super smooth gears, feels great to ride. So I got up this morning and headed off into the glorious Stockholm sunshine, its fabulous, warm sunshine, getting out of the city center into some greener suburbs, good times. Heres a blurry photoSo Im heading back home through the city, "iPod of Invincibility" on as usual and i duck in and out of some cars, though an intersection, regular everyday stuff I used to do to dodge the traffic in Sydney, no car, not even a 2 ton Volvo worries me. So just as Im getting over the last bridge to my apartment I hear a siren behind me and up pulls the coppers in their big van! 3 of these guys get out, sweden's finest no doubt and hit me up. After agreeing to do the discussion in English i get told "you know you went through 2 red lights there?"RED LIGHTS? ON A BIKE?? DONT YOU GUYS HAV... More About: Police , Dish , Cultural , Poli , Ural
Scandinavian Nights
2007-06-02 00:10:00 It has just gone middnight and I can still see light on the horizon, its amazing. At street level its dark but look up and its like sunset tried to finish but just couldn't. Usually I come home tired as a very tired person and fall alseep but with the excitement of tomorrow im wide awake and realising what it means to be in a Scan dinavian summer. Its still a few weeks away from midsummer too so the nights still have some further length in them, which is great news because...Tomorrow I am both moving into town AND picking up my new bike. The room is right in the middle of town next to central and the bike is FANTASTIC, some kick ass SPECIALIZED model which was reduced by 4000 sek.. how could I refuse? Exactly, theres no way my visa card could refuse. Pics of both new things coming tomorrow. Maybe Im awake because im sober... perish the thought. More About: Dina , Scandinavian , Nights
Scandinavian Nights
2007-06-02 00:10:00 It has just gone middnight and I can still see light on the horizon, its amazing. At street level its dark but look up and its like sunset tried to finish but just couldn't. Usually I come home tired as a very tired person and fall alseep but with the excitement of tomorrow im wide awake and realising what it means to be in a Scandinavian summer. Its still a few weeks away from midsummer too so the nights still have some further length in them, which is great news because...Tomorrow I am both moving into town AND picking up my new bike. The room is right in the middle of town next to central and the bike is FANTASTIC, some kick ass SPECIALIZED model which was reduced by 4000 sek.. how could I refuse? Exactly, theres no way my visa card could refuse. Pics of both new things coming tomorrow. Maybe Im awake because im sober... perish the thought. More About: Nights
Henry Rollins
2007-05-29 17:07:00 This is Henry Rollins and last night I saw him do a spoken word show here in Stockholm and he was FUCKEN AWESOME MAN. So who is Rollins and why is this aging alternative icon one of my favourite people in the world? He's 46, American and he used to be the lead singer of a punk group called Black Flag After they broke up he hit the road trying to get gigs and started to write down his experiences and also started to do these speaking shows in crappy little venues wherever he was to pay for the next meal. He talks about everything, his experiences in life which never end, music, politics, men trying to deal with the world, women trying to deal with the world, culture, you name it. He works like a madman, does about 250 shows a year inbetween running his own publishing house, and doing a weekly TV and radio show in the US. He is amazing to watch on stage, he talked for 2 hours and 15 minutes STRAIGHT and then came back for an encore of 30 minutes, not even taking a sip of water... More About: Henry Rollins
Cultural Learnings Of... I TOLD YOU THERE WAS A LENIN STATUE IN TALLINN
2007-05-27 15:47:00 Oh cripes, I almost fell off my chair. I TOLD YOU ALL THERE WAS A STATUE OF LENIN IN TALLINN. Ok let me take you back.Id just come back from Finland, tail between my legs and I was checking out Tallinn , I walked along the waters edge to that BFO ugly soviet monument, the one on the way to Pirita with the tall concrete tower and the cemetary behind it. Now I was armed with my trusty Lonely Planet guide where I had just been reading about Narva, the town on the border with Russia which is populated by almost exclusivly ethic Russians. Only some ten minutes before I read this line"... and the castle grounds are the refuge of Narva's statue of Lenin - the only fully intact one left in the Baltics"Fair enough, it was troubled times and aint nothing a revolution crowd loves to do more than a "Saddam drag" of a former leaders statue.SO Im waking back to town via a small bike track which goes behind Maarjamäe Palace, the Estonian history museum and from a distance ... More About: Statue , Learn , Stat
Cultural Learnings Of... Kick Ass Blogs
2007-05-27 13:42:00 Ok if you logged in 2 hours ago you would have seen a different blog post here, it was long boring and full of crap. awesome. However in the meantime i found a site listing stacks and stacks of great european blogs about all kinds of stuff, so instead in here to amuse you with these, taking a lesson from my comedy mentor Jon Stewart, that if I can make you laugh, youll probably remember more than if I bore you with facts. What a crazy idea.Ive been laughing for the last hour at this website, "English Russia", it basically shows crazy stories of insane stuff which happens in Russia. I LOVE IT. LOVE IT. Check this photo I pinched, look at the horizon. GOLD! Its not fake either, theres a video on the website which it would be rude to hotlink off.Siberian Light: Some rooooly smart russian guy made some nifty code which Russian people can put into their blogs and have it blocked from people in Estonia looking at it. Clever move mate, now the 1/3 ethnic Russian population of Est... More About: Blogs , Learn , Logs , Cultural , Kick
Cultural Learnings Of... The Putin Youth
2007-05-21 21:28:00 Remember that whacky group of kids in Germany just before the turn of the century called The Hitler Youth ? What a crazy bunch! Well being the gentle statesman he is, Putin has decided to learn from this, what a fine diplomat! Heres an article in the international edition of Newsweek which is coming out soon, talking about these well organised Russian youth organisations which are popping up around Moscow. Its the latest most hip thing, i swear.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/1875394 6/site/newsweek/I'll save you the two page read. Putin learnt something from the Orange revolution in Ukraine and indeed almost every uprising against in Communism that occured across Europe, that it starts and ends with the young people. Old people are old and resistant to change, but young people are passionate, idealistic and often prone to influence. I can say that now im 27. So instead of letting the young of Russia succumb to the likes ot MTV and McDonalds, his good buddies in the Kremlin (now incident... More About: Learn , Cultural , Ural
Baltic Days
2007-05-21 14:20:00 Enough with the words already, I only had my camera phone this weekend, 3 nights in Tallin, 1 in Riga, 7:10am flight back to Stockholm monday morning. Love it. The islands off Stockholm, god bless you Tallink and your wonderful party boat. The park where the bronze soldier *used* to be. Someone has left a solitary red flower symbolising the soviet times in the newly planted garden. Tallinn main sqaure. Kevad ja elu on ilus! More About: Days , Baltic
Ilus Tallinna
More articles from this author:2007-05-18 14:07:00 Its another weekend in old town Tallinn, Riga was pretty busy so I decided to stay here instead. The boat over was awesome, a really good party night, made a stack of new friends, including people who live in Stockholm and Tallinn, drank a boot load of grog, danced, had a good time. I also realised something..who the biggest sex tourists are.. is it the british guys coming for a stag weekend? is it the Finnish blokes coming across for a boozy weekend? No. Its middle aged Swedish women. All Swedish go crazy on the boat, they love it, step on that floating RSL and its a ticket for them to break free of their regular lives. So get these women away from their husbands, on the boat and a few drinks into them... its a problem im telling you, protection is required. Find someone nice and say shes your partner. Even this doesnt slow their efforts down too much... It must be something about the boat however because in Tallinn they are more subdued. I wondered if there was a way we could pair... More About: Ilus 1, 2, 3 |
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