Week29: Stockholm Drama

Last night I had to call the police. My host was trying to stop a fight at a tube station in Stockholm and was protecting a guy who was bleeding. The police turned up very quickly and we could go home, but I still feel a bit shocked.

Sometimes it feels like Stockholm and Sweden are two different countries. I've spent four weeks in Stockholm with four different people during Swenglish, and what they have in common is that at least three of them are stressed, more stressed than people living in other cities.

Stockholm is where it all happens. Both good and bad stuff. This week I've been to the opera for the first time in my life and I've been to a PR event for a new magazine and I've been to a bar/club where only selected people got a stamp and an entry to the "secret" dance floor. I've seen two very good authors, Karl Ove Knausgård and Nina Björk. I've also been to McDonald's for the first time in twelve years, a place I would never have entered if it wasn't for this project and the fact that I have to shadow the person I'm staying with.

Now I'm on the train on my way South to Småland where I'll spend my last Swenglish week in Flisby, the village where my dad grew up. Hopefully it should be quiet, but I've learnt to expect the unexpected ...

PÅ SVENSKA