11/26 Stockholm was a touch more cosmopolitan. not much though. I wonder where all the immigrants live --I know stockholm has a large Turkish and Syrian population (relatively), but I only saw them at work. Last night I went to a nightclub in an amazing building with marble floors and many rooms with windows looking down on the dancefloor. The music was okay. The people mostly uninspiring. Some folks were dressed in somewhat fabulous gear, but everyone was so clean and somehow repressed/groomed/i can't quite name it, but i wasn't intrigued. And Swedish men seem to get extremely obnoxious when drunk. not loud, but overly personal. maybe it's a culture clash thing. however, I met a very nice woman who let me crash at her house: when she saw me slinking out of the club at 11:30 to catch the train to Uppsala she said (in the perfect English most swedes speak) "you can't leave yet, it's just getting started!" She was right, but when I explained my situation she said I could stay. People always think I'm younger than I am. And more innocent. That's okay, it seems to make them protective. Anyway she had two Spanish women staying with her (that's how we had started talking, in line to get in, I tried out my 'espanol horrible' on them. I'd been feeling bad that I couldn't speak to anyone in their own language.) We chatted, although my comprehension is way ahead of my speaking skills. She had a lovely apartment. One bedroom, high ceilings, clean, nice colors, nice little kitchen. She works in a resteraunt. Wages must be good, or she's gettin' help from somewhere. Slept from 4:30-9am, then staggered back to the train and drooled on the pillow all the way Uppsala. haven't slept again and it's almost 3.

It's amazing the social programs here, though. Taxes are high, but they call ita "social wage" and it goes to a kind of infrastructure that the US can't even dream of. Some of the academics I've met are pretty critical of Sweden, and I have to say I think they're taking a lot for granted. You can just walk into a clinic and get medication, checkups, treatment. If you need dental work you get it. Childcare is affordable and plentiful. I waltzed into the library of the University of Uppsala, which is Sweden's equivalent of Princeton, apparently, and could have gotten a card to check books out simply by flashing my UMass I.D. No third degree, no fee.
My mother pointed out how weird it is in the US that things which are called "entitlements" are precisely the things which people do NOT feel entitled to. what a depressing mental hangup. yawn. more on that later i need to sleeeeeeep.

11/23 Well, Uppsala, Sweden is not the most interesting place. The folks my mom is working with seem pretty fascinating. And her work is expanding in really interesting directions. It's cold but not unbearably so. This is a college town where everyone looks pretty much the same. Mostly young folk, in skinny pants (boot cut optional). Everyone rides bikes, young and old, which may be another reason for the lack of flares/baggy pants (it sucks to get yer pantleg caught in yer chain). The hipster boys have mod haircuts, bangs, short sideburns. Most everyone is skinny, long-leggedy. And white white white. There's something depressing about the homogeneity. I feel a little rush when anyone who doesn't look swedish walks by. Of course, this is a small college town. I hope stockholm will be a little more cosmopolitan.
I did get to stockholm for a couple hours yesterday, long enough to find a cafe that looks promising. Racks of tapes and cds and videos by local artists, a catalogue of zines. A DJ. Pretty kool layout, actually. But it closed at 6 on Sunday. I'll be back.
Late last night I saw EuroMTV with a Swedish (or nordic of some kind) hip-hop act. The video was pretty: two shaven-headed white guys rapping in swedish, on a fishing boat, hauling nets, sailing in fog. familiar hiphop gestures, decent beats. The world is strange and amusing sometimes.
And then the night I got in I had another missing-the-plane dream. is this metaphorical?