No Vlog, Just Words

Hey, kids!

Tuesday is normally vlog day.  Or Vlog Day.  I´m not sure if it´s capitalized or not.  And this week´s vlog is done.  It features Germany´s very own Austin Seaborn, who came to visit me this weekend. But I´m not uploading it because my computer´s charging cord fried itself for heaven knows what reason.  It has very little battery power remaining, so I´m just going to leave it alone until I get a new power cord.  According to the guy at the tech center, if I go back tomorrow, one can be ordered and in my clutches within 3 days.  This is especially convenient, because I´ll be in Poland for the rest of the week anyway, so I have no need for my technology.

Yet, this seems too easy. 

Anyhow, POLAND.  It´s less than 24 hours away!  Well, the beginning of the trip is less than 24 hours away.  We ferry across the Baltic Sea and then drive through the country to Krakow, where we´ll be staying.  This is going to be one of those once-in-a-lifetime kind of experiences.  I´m so excited.

So when this week´s vlog is hopefully published next week, it´ll be all outdated.  Like a time capsule. ´

Also, a super-special shout-out to my father, who is another year older today!  Way to age, buddy boy.

How to Be An Ugly American

Tonight, some woman got annoyed with me when I mixed my coffees together in the cafeteria.  This prompted me to wonder what other things I do to inadvertently bother the people here.  After a little reflection, I came up with this by all means non-all-inclusive list:

• I enthusiastically say "Hej hej!" to baristas and the like, then quickly switch to English when they logically attempt to converse with me in Swedish. 
• The way to authorize my credit card for international transactions changes daily (not really, but I never remember how), so I end up telling cashiers to do the wrong thing when I want to buy a train ticket or something.
• Whenever I have coffee, I accidentally dribble it out of my cup and onto the table. Even though I sop it up in a semi-timely manner, it leaves stains because Swedish coffee is made with black bleach.* 
• Sometimes, I babble a weird mix of Swedish, German, and Spanish and get irrationally annoyed when no one understands.
• Being loud.  It's not intentional.  It just happens. 

Disclaimer: I'm sure these things bother more than just Scandinavians. 

*That's not true. But it's strong stuff. 

Copenhagen, Part the First

Houses and seagulls. 

This is my London coat with the fur attached. And thank God I did have the fur, because Copenhagen is a chilly place!

(I look dazed because it was very sunny.) 

These posters were EVERYWHERE. (What's that orange glow in the bottom left, you ask? No idea. Another ghost, probably.) 

The view from our hostel window. Fourteenth floor!

I put my purse next to a candle in a restaurant. 

Naturally, my purse caught on fire. 

I ended up cutting off the charred part and going on my merry way.

Houses by the harbor.

And boats. 

Boat tour! 

Princess Mary of Ireland tried to go swimming. 

Vlog Five: Wow, This Is Unexpectedly Loud (And Demented)

Warning: turn your volume down, unless you want to be aurally accosted by me, Sondheim, and Andrew Lloyd Webber. (Though there could be worse fates.) 

The musical theatre underscore is because I saw no shows, so they had to be represented somehow. 

Seriously, Self.

This editing of babble is going well. However, it may not be published until Sunday.  We'll just see how it goes.

...hey, I should pack for Copenhagen, considering I'm leaving in ten hours.

Shut Up, Self.

See this? This means I have 23 minutes of me talking to condense into a vlog that cannot be that long.  

...this is the length of a TV show!

"When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time To Go Home."

(Title credit: the late, great Erma Bombeck.)

Worry not, written-word-o-phobes,  a London vlog is forthcoming.  But it'll be a hefty one, so I figured I'd post a teaser here first.

Buckingham Palace: the center of the royalty I love so much.

Shows: I didn't see them. 

The Tower of London: see the rainbow? Until someone tells me otherwise, I'm assuming it's Catherine Howard's ghost.  (Or Anne Boleyn's.  Or someone's.) 

The sights: I can't believe I actually saw everything I saw.  It's still unreal.

The Globe Theatre: I would happily work there someday.  Tour guide, performer, whatever.

The city in general: a mix of old and new. 

I cannot wait to tell you about it all. However, that's not happening right now, because I am spent, in the best possible way.