June Megapost

It's been quite some time since my last post - over a month, in fact. Since Aalborg, I had been to the fjords of Norway, the untouched-by-communists part of Krakow, back to Stockholm to rub shoulders with the power elite, and back (hopefully for the last time) to Aarhus to host a delegation from Thailand. Then, a move to Malmö, Sweden. Apologies to my two or three loyal readers, but I simply have not had the time! So, to make up for the almost-month-of radio silence, here is a post recapping basically the entire month of June.

The Majestic Fjords Norway

One of my dreams for much of my life has been to visit the fjords of Norway. They seemed so exotic, so magnificent, so Scandinavianly-cool. Part of my desire was borne out of the fact that Scandinavia seemed to be some mystical land of tall, beautiful blonde women with incredible taste in modern design that I would never get to see. Well, that situation has obviously changed. Another reason was simply that "fjords" sounded so cool. What the heck is a fjord? - who cares! It's big, it's pretty, it's in Norway. Well, much to my disappointment, fjord = gorge. I've seen gorges before. They were even in Portland, and I hated Portland. Don't get me wrong, the fjords were quite impressive...just not quite what I thought it would be. Kudos to the Norway Tourist Board with a good job of branding. I traveled with my parents, who were visiting me while I was still living in Copenhagen, and the trip even spanned the occasion of my 32nd birthday - quite an improvement over my 30th, in which I was unemployed and sleeping on a leaky air mattress in a sublet apartment in New Haven.

Departing Copenhagen on the ferry to Oslo. Basically a small cruise boat where all you do is eat and shop (usually alcohol, since Norway is not an EU country with EU taxes)
Fjord cruise out of Flåm, in one of the biggest fjords in Norway
The Bergen Harbor, where we stayed
This is what Bergen looked like at about midnight. It never got dark.

Old Krakow

Continuing on my quest to visit my previously unexplored areas of Europe, namely Eastern Europe, the next week I traveled to Krakow, Poland - yet another country I've always been curious to visit. Again, I didn't really know much about the city, but I knew I love Polish food, and that Pope John Paul was from there. Good enough for me! Everything about Krakow was cheap. My flight, $115 round trip. My hotel, located right by the Old Town Square, $75/night. Food, unbelievably cheap. In an effort to try to spend my Polish Zlotys, I had dinner smack dab in the middle of touristy Old Town at a Georgian restaurant (Georgian food!!! I don't even know where that country is!), and went to a bar where I met a friendly bartender who I shared shots of Polish vodka with. Two entrees, a Georgian lemonade (kind of like a San Pelligrino), a 1/2 liter beer, and 6 shots of vodka later, I had spent the equivalent of $34 USD. Feeling a bit sick from gorging myself, I decided to just spend my leftover cash on my hotel bill. Another factor making this an incredibly cheap trip was the fact that I did not have to take any vacation days. Unfortunately, that was because I had to work, much of what I saw of Krakow was at night. I didn't get to see much beyond Old Town and Wawel Castle Hill, but it gives me the opportunity to visit again. Finishing off the Poland section of the post, I leave you with an interesting fact. All those countries we Americans used to call Eastern Europe, like Poland and Hungary? Well, turns out they've developed enough to become Central Europe. Eastern Europe today has now become countries like Serbia (a possible EU newcomer) and Bulgaria. They're basically just about the same longitude east, but I guess Central just means "not as poor as Eastern".

The Old Town Square. This is actually only half of it - it is about the size of two football fields, the largest square in all of Europe
Wawel Castle Hill. A pretty large area hard to capture by camera; this is just the church
Streetcars are everywhere in Krakow. It reminds me a lot of pictures of New Orleans

Return to Stockholm

Cutting my original vacation plans to Krakow short, I flew up to Stockholm (on my first trip ever on Ryan Airlines - not so bad) to attend the Eurelectric annual conference. Basically, it's the meeting for all the most powerful people in electricity generation in Europe - typically the dirty kind, too. Conferences are not the most exciting events, so I will share two stories.

I had always thought that my friend Roberto (who I visited in the Netherlands a month ago) had the most unique networking experiences, meeting CEOs on the Macchu Pichu trail and the such. In my case, I can say that it pays to be in shape. Taking a brisk walk through Stockholm after a conference day, as my knees hurt too much from running the day before, I ran into the chairman of the conference. He was on a run, unfamiliar with the city, and there I was - someone who knew his way around! My walk quickly turned into a jog, and I ran 9 kilometers with him for some nice 1:1 networking. To be honest, he ran way too slow for my taste, but I was there on business not fitness. If I get a job in London in the future, don't be surprised its because of this guy.

A view we likely saw during our run, as we passed by City Hall

I am occasionally reminded about how fortuntate I am on the experiences I receive. On this trip to Stockholm, I was reminded once again when I attended the conference's gala dinner at Stockholm City Hall - the same location that the Nobel Prize Dinner is held. Simply amazing venue. The vaulted ceilings were pefect for the mens' choir they hired to entertain us. Other entertainment included an ABBA tribute band. They successfully got the CEOs of Europe's energy companies on the dance floor - I could not believe it!

Stockholm City Hall - amazing!!!

Yusing Talk Thai

Rounding out the month was one of my final big responsibilities in my rotation in Group Government Relations - the receiving and presentation to a delegation of 34 people from Thailand, traveling under the Federation of Thai Industries. This was exactly the kind of schmoozing that I had always imagined to occur in government relations, but it turned out to be a stress-filled event that required a "go with the flow" attitude to take over for my normal planful self.

1. I had no time to prepare for the presentation, due to other work demands. In fact, it was not even done until about 8PM the night prior.
2. I arrived at the office about 1 hour prior to their scheduled arrival. I get a call, telling me they are going to arrive 30 minutes early. Of course, I am the only person around.
3. I enter the meeting room to discover that they did not set up enough chairs. There I was in my suit, moving tables and chairs around, trying to figure out how to fit in 4 more people.
4. To start the presentation, of course there are technical difficulties and the presentation monitor is broken. I had to give my entire presentation without any visual aids - a difficult thing to do with so many graphs in the presentation.
5. I narrowly averted an embarrassing situation with the ceremonial gifts. With so many people, I was told to only bring gifts to for the two Federation of Thai Industries representatives. Upon presentation, only the head guy came up so I only handed out one model turbine...but next, the head of the Thai electrical grid monopoly came up to present me with a gift. Thank goodness I had that turbine leftover!

That was the month of June for me! One more post to come, about my final days in Copenhagen, but that will be for another day.