A long way

It's been a week of good and bad, up and down, over under, high up in the sky and far down on the ground. But now I'm back where I, for the moment seem to belong, at home with my family and MY guitars and my music software. I have missed it a lot the last weeks. Almost as much as the day I left...but then I got caught up in finding my way thru the streets of La Laguna and finding my place on an island so far away from home that it's very hard to even comprehend the fact that it really exists on this enormous planet.

This will most likely be the last post I make here, I have realized that I'm not much for the blogging thing and maybe someday I'll try the blogging scene again but I think it all will be in Swedish then.

Somehow I made it home, it was the longest day of my life I think...well, the longest two days... 48h with 30 minutes of sleep all together.
Doesn't seem real that I'm here just yet... and it's a bit sad that I've left the cloudiest place I've ever sat my foot in, La Laguna. It will be hard to explain that fact to people here... that there is this city on an island where people from all over Europe go because it's sunny and warm. But I have been freezing a lot the last weeks. So cold inside...cold outside, cloudy and humid.
So when I flew over the cost of Umeå it looked very calm and beautiful, with the morning sun and this little city down there that looks like a little village compared to landing in Madrid, Barcelona or Stockholm.
Even though it was -10 degrees outside when the doors to the plane opened and this cool breeze found its way around in the airplane it was with a worm feeling inside I stepped out and walked inside the airport.

But of cause I hate the fact that things didn't turn out the way they were supposed to. And the long goodbye at the airport in La Laguna was nice but very emotional.

I just wanted to say to all the nice people I got to meet that I'm happy I got to see you all. Even though it was a few times and maybe even just for a few hours.

I will be good here at home, with my friends in the safety of a city I know better then any other in the world.


That's it I guess, so, besitos to all!!

Extremoduro.... and a long time no see

Long time since I wrote something here... mostley because not that much has been going on. I guess...

But anyways... me and Carla went to see Extremoduro last Friday. I did't know much about the band before Friday... just heard a couple of songs before but it was a good consert...about what I expected it too be... but it was fun to go and see a big band play. But I didn't get a lot of photos...was hard to take them in the mess of people.

What else... I cut my hair...I came up with some new songs... I bought guitar strings and I restrung (hmm, English for that?) the guitar.

Carla is away on German class and I'm gonna watch CL (Champions Leauge)...

Don't know what else to tell you, they are talking about the E.E.U.U. elections all day long for a week...sick of it...so...

I will upload the photos from the concert today or tomorrow... we'll see...

Cheers all!

Heliodoro Rodríguez López

Yesterday we went to Santa Cruz with the tanvìa (correct spelling on that?)... like a sparvagn in Swedish...
When we got off one station earlier because Carla just realized that Heliodoro Rodríguez López was in the neighbourhood. So we started walking looking for the stadium that when it's full can take up to 22.948 spectators... and after 5 minutes of walking...there it was. The excitement was running high... and I wanted to walk all the way around and Carla agreed. Then out of a blue we could see the grass of the field inside...a door was open into the field but we didn't dare to go in at first. But there was an police officer with his motorbike nearby so we asked if it was ok...and he said...strange, usually there is a guy sitting there guarding it..and he continued... if no one says anything it's ok with me. So we entered... And I have to tell you there is something about football stadiums that is magical from the begging...but to be almost alone inside one is just amazing. There were just me, Carla and two other guys inside...but they were 100-200m away from us... so I took a lot of photos and just sat there for a while watching the stands and trying to imagine how it would be when it's completely full... so now we will try to go as soon as possible... hopefully next Sunday if they have a home game.

So that was really an experience!!

Today we are going to a bar for free tango classes...very strange with tango but... might be fun. And tomorrow we are going camping either at Teide or at another place...
So I’ll be back on Sunday with more photos...

Don't forget to check out my photo log... new pictures as soon as I'm finished with this massage!!

¡Hasta la vista!

*EDIT

There will be no tango tonight because we are leaving for the camping tonight... I'll be back on Sunday with the story from the camping!!

A lot of days... but today was the 1st day with the pool!!

It's been some days since I wrote the last time.. why I don't really know... nothing out of the ordinary (for being here) to report I guess.

Today me and Carla went to a beach... not a touristic one...and it was artificial... the sand was brought from the Sahara desert... so now I know how it feels to walk in the Sahara...a bit.
It was great there...5 min passed Santa Cruz close to a village called San Andrès...
On the way home we ran into some major problems on the "autopista" (motorway)...the car suddenly started to go slow (40 hm/h) and on the motorway it's three lanes going 120 km/h... so, we were going soooo slow...first we stopped at the side of the road hoping that the car would feel better after a couple of minutes in the shadow...but...nope.. still slow. So we had to get of the motorway and go on a much smaller road back home... and we made it, but it took a looong time..

After that I got to swim in the pool...it was cold..but fun..

Photos will come later...now movie and then sleep...adios

1st Aranda de Duero and now Tenerife!!

¡Hola! from the Island...

Yesterday we arrived to Tenerife.. But first let me tell you about a place called Aranda de Duero.

Aranda de Duero is a little city where Paloma lives, and Paloma is a girl who was in Umea last semester. We left Zaragoza at 7 in the morning with a bus. 4 and a half hours later we were in Aranda... Almudena (another girl who was in Umea) came with car from Madrid with car and Pablo (who also was in Umea) was suppose to come with her but he came with bus from Madrid a couple of hours later.

When we arrived in Aranda it was about 27 degrees warm and sunny. There was a kind of festival for the city the day we spent there so almost all the day we spent out in the streets... and it continued into the night.

I got to experience what the word "fiesta" really means... and now I know what a "bodega" is also... (view photos to the left).

At 7 o'clock we woke up to go to Madrid and take the flight to Tenerife. I slept in the car all the way (about 1 and a half hours) and then I slept on the plane about 2 hours more. And then we arrived in Tenerife.

Carlas mother were there waiting... and the Spanish kissing went better than expected!!

In the evening Carla went to a little gathering for a friend of hers who are leaving tomorrow, but I slept another 4 hours!!

The house is very beautiful, but I haven’t tried the pool yet...

But today...but today I became a bit more Spanish, I now am listed as living in Spain, officially. Me and Carla went to the police station in La Laguna (But we should have gone to Santa Cruz, but all went ok anyway) with all the papers needed to get a paper where it says that I am living in Tenerife... so from this day on I will be in the statistics of people who not just live in Tenerife but also Spain!!

The weather is normal.. 20 degrees and cloudy, it even rained a bit... but all is good and La Laguna seem to be a very nice city. A lot of cars everywhere like in all of the places I've seen here in Spain. But at the same time very nice and even though they drive like crazy there is a couple of streets without cars where you can enjoy a good calm walk!

I don't know what else to say...so much has happened in my first week here so I guess maybe tomorrow I can fill in the blanks a bit... we will have a day of rest tomorrow (it looks like)...

Tonight we have dinner with Carlas English class...well some of them...

And then sleeeeeep!!

Hasta luego!!

In Zaragoza now

Now we are in Zaragoza for a couple of days. We arrived yesturday after a four-hour long bussride from Barcelona. It was nice to see the landscape between Barcelona and Zaragoza. Even though 4 hours was a bit too long...

Last night we went out to a neighbourhood full of bars and had some god beer and eat some really good tapas.

Besides from that not much has happened... it's warm, around 30 degrees and yesturday we even had a bit of rain for about 5 min.

Soon we are going to a big supermarket and maybe we can find a good pair of shorts, im borrowing shorts from Carla right now...

Well, maybe there will be more to tell tonight!

Have a good day!

The trip has started!

¡Hola!

Yesterday we started our trip to Tenerife. First stop was Badalona and Carlas cousins house.

10.05 we left Alvik, Umea and at 11 we arrived at Arlanda, Stockholm.
The next plane to go to Barcelona left at 15.30, it should have left at 15 but someone who had checked in their baggage didn`t show up for the flight so they had to go thru all the baggages and remove his for safety reasons.

We got about 40-1h of sleep on the plane and it was a bit bumpy time to time. When we starded our descent to land I got an amazing veiw over Barcelona. It was something completely diffrent. All the houses with a swimming pool next to almost all of them was a really cool thing to see. And even though I tried my best to see Nou Camp I didn`t, I think it might have been better to sit on the other side of the plane.

Once in Barcelona we ran from the baggage pick-up to try to catch the train but we failed with 20 secounds... the next one was only 30 min away so it was no big deal really, exept that we already was souking wet of sweat. The humidity was really high and it was 28 degrees witch came as a chock for bouth me and Carlas bodies.

But after changing train to the Badalona train, which we also had big trouble getting on, but this train we made somehow, the doors cloes right behind us.

We got a good cold shower and some clean clothes and then we went out to eat something. We found a place not that far from the appartment and ate tapas and drank a beer.

The appartment we are staying in is amazing, and it`s only 100-150m from the beach so we have a beautiful view over the sea.

Today we woke up around 10.30 and went to the "inner city" with a lot of shops. We had coffey and I had a Bocadillo (sandwitch). We continued walking down the small streets just looking, and a bit trying to find a pair of shorts but this proved to be a bit hard, they are almost just selling "winter" clothes now, and the only shorts they have (what we could find) are basketball shorts or football shorts which are really expensive, 40 € was one we looked at.

But we bought beer, three 33cl for 1€... not that bad...

Now we just arrived back from the beach were we had beer and chips in a little bar on the beach..

Well, tonight Sweden is playing Hungary, but as you can imagine that wont be shown on the TV here, but we will watch Spain - Armenia instead! At 22.00... and remember that its the same time in main of Spain as in Sweden, but in the Canary Islands it`s one hour less. (Sweden GTM +1, Canary Islands GTM)

That`s all for today I think, but it's great to finally be here!!!

Don't miss my NEW PHOTO ALBUM, I have a link on this page, it says "Photos" to the left... but here is the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/nicodelasnieves

Ta luego!!!

Rafa, nr uno!

I'm celebrating my birthday right now, with the best thing in the world; Music.

And don't be alarmed, I'm not a nutcase! well, maybe a bit.... but who isn't?

it is 3 days and...hmmm... I suck at math but around 20h, so 3 days and 20 h until my love land at the very small airport here in Umeå.

I'm going a bit crazy, not just because she is coming here, but because I called her earlier tonight and she didn't answer...

living for music is also very large, and since my love has been down by the side of Africa, I guess music has taken over a bit... but don't get me wrong... I don't masturbate to my music! ;) Even though I wish I could ;) hahahaha (jejejeje en Español).

Don't mind this

It's my birthday right now!!! I'm one year closer to death!! It's so sweet, and look where my life has gotten me!! It's freakin' fuckin' unbelievable!!! I'm moving to a paradise (In normal Swedish families eyes) with a girl I've never loved this much....with a girl I've never missed this much!!!

To a country where the biggest star i Pau Gasol or Rafael Nadal!!
In Sweden we have.... well...let me think.... hmmmm... Zlatan Ibrahimovic?? He counts? Doesn't he?

In the Olympics we have Ara Abrahamian!!! The best wrestler in the world right now...but since the wrestling medals in the Olympic Games is auctioned out on eBay he got the bronze... I guess the Italian guy paid the most, so he got the gold!!

Well....I'm sorry, somehow I get back to the Olympics!! Because I hate so much of it... and the broadcasting that SVT chooses to show!!! SVT is shit, Fila is shit, the Chinese government is shit!!!

And then we have one of the most fucked-up athletes in the world; Carolina Klüft who has 9 gold medals in Heptathlon, one of them being the gold in the Olympics in Athens. But this year, she has chosen to compete in length-jump (don't know if this is the correct word for it). And in this SHE SUCKS!!!!!!

So... she is the best in the world EVER in Heptathlon but she chooses to compete in being fucked in the ass!! And if I'm not mistaking there's no medal in that??? So, instead of winning ONE gold (maybe Sweden still will win one) she and the Swedish Olympic Committee agrees that it's better she end up at 40th position instead.... well done Sweden!! Well done!

Carolina Klüft has changed her profession... this is what I'm saying...from one thing she is the best at to something she sucks at... and if I have to compare it to something similar it's like:

Rafael Nadal all of a sudden decides he's A BIT tired of tennis and wants to play badminton instead!!!!!

THIS IS THE SWEDISH OLYMPIC COMMITTEE!!!! Completely stupid!!

I'm so sick of the Olympic Games.... no more, please!! I'm happy it's every 4 year!!


ONE HAPPY NEWS!!! :

Today Rafael Nadal is ranked nr. 1 in the world for the 1st time!!! Congratulations Nadal, Mallorca, and Spain!!! An happy birthday to me!! We are both happy!!!

Sweet dreams!

I miss my girl, more then ever!!!


Oh, I almost forgot, I wrote my beautiful lady a song, that I will send to her, all the way from Umeå to Tenerife!!! And she has hopefully heard my song called "My Spanish Girl" (Mi chica Española) before she reads this!

Ta luego mis amigos!! Y Taoro! Quizás yo entiendes cinco dedos cuando yo venir!!!

My Semi-Birthday

Today me and my closest family celebrated my birthday. But actually my birthday is tomorrow but sinze my parents are working on Monday I and they thought it would fit in better with our lifes if we held it today.

And it was a pretty normal birthday, which in my famelie is: Both of my grandmothers comming and my grandfather, my mother, my father and most of the times both of my sisters (because my sister Sofia lives in a city a bit south she might have trouble showing up because of work, but this year she made it).
Then the birthday dude gets to open the presents and after that we have what we call in Sweden "fika", which is coffey, some diffrent cookies and on birthdays we have "tarta", Tårta in Swedish!!

After that we don't do very much, just hang around and socializing and then my father drives my grandmother home while my other grandmother stay behind a while and then get on their bikes to go home. That's it.

And today we also had dinner, well, not the grandparents, but mi familia! And as always the birthday dude gets to decide birthday dinner, and I choose "something from the tapas book Carla gave you"... and my mother made chicken with garlic and lemon! Very good! Even though it didn't look like the picture in the book when it was done, but I guess it never does.


It was a good birthday...and I got a lot of good things (I didn't wish for much so I got the two things I wished for), I got a new Ukulele (my old one was crap) and a guitar tuner. Then some clothes, socks, and ofcause I already had recived mi regalito Españolo, a very good-looking backpack from mi amorsita who's on her way here in a couple of days!!!

That's about it, and oh yeah, almost forgot about the Olympics...well, newsupdate on that: It sucks! I'm gonna stop to watch it when the football is over... I'm sick of it!

Adios!

FFS!!

FSS!!! (FOR FUCK SAKE!!!)

coward fucking SVT!! For fuck sake!!The "moment of the day" that SVT (Swedish Television, a governmental owned TV channel in Sweden) has every day was........... well... the tennis!?!?!??!?!!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??! Well, all my congratulations to the victory in the double in tennis. It was a while since we were close to a medal before in tennis but common!!! SVT.... you are so lame I can't understand it!! For the first time this century we made a statement that is as big as Phelps winning all of his 8 possible medals (he has already won most medals ever altogether in the Olympic Games, 11... and more to come)

But the cowards at SVT is so lame it's crazy.... I thought, as I said previously in my blogg that maybe tonight I would feel better about the Olympic Games... but not showing one of the biggest statements ever from an Olympic medal winner as the "moment of the day" is so fucking crazy....

WELL, I GUESS THAT THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO SVT WHEN THE RIGHT PARTY IS RULING (LOS CABRONES AZULES).

I guess I'm still upset over the referees in the semi-final game... it just keep on getting worst, the scandal. A Swedish well known wrestler who had been an director in the world wrestling committee (Fina) Pelle Svensson who just after Ara Abrahamians bronze-medal met up with journalists from one of Sweden’s most well-known newspapers and talked about bribes and major corruptions within the wrestling... going back at least 8 years according to him. That meaning the summer Olympics in Sydney when they tried to take away the gold medal of Mikael Ljungberg (who killed himself 34 years old, 4 years after the Olympics in Sydney). So...apparently there is more corrupt sports then the Italian football, the doping within the biking sport and so on...

But I have to say that I prefer some EPO-doping in the biking sport rather then to see what happened in the wrestling!!!

So.... I guess my Olympic Game-meter is pretty low.... about 20% right now... today the Track & Field starts...so...hmmm...maybe it will approve, but I don’t think so! Because track & Field is shown the year around in Sweden and I don't like it that much.

Sweden might take one more medal...or two if the tennis guys does something Superman-like.
One more medal, in single scull... with a gut who has a Finish name... Lassi Karnonen. So, let's go Lassi!! VAMOS SUECIA!!!

And... I love Ara Abrahamian.... the greatest immigrant to Sweden ever!!!!

Pingis (Table Tennis) on Peking+ now.... The track & Field has just started, but who-the-fuck-cares?

Throwing Away Olympic Medal

Today Sweden won their 3rd medal, a bronze in wrestling. But it should have been a gold if not the stupid referee (arbitro).

so after the defeat in the semi-final he almost didn’t show up for the bronze-match if not his coach would have told him to "go and show these fuckers". So he showed up just in time for the bronze-match and won it without problem. At the medal ceremony he received his medal first of them and then he just left the podium and left his medal in the centre of the wrestling ring, did a quick wave to the other medal-winners and left.

So now Sweden will probably loose this medal and still be on two medals. But I understand Ara Abrahamian. Wrestling is a shit sport now with all of the rule changes and apparently not even the referees knows the rules. So... here is the medal ceremony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Iuo3JT-aM

Anyway... I'm getting more and more tired of the Olympic Games as the days goes by... we'll see if something good comes tonight! Ta luego!

Counting the fucking days!

Buenos dias!

Well, its 9 days more or less until mi amor comes back from Tenerife. It will be great... it's very strange what missing someone does to you. At first it was so crazy hard all the time.... it didn't matter what I did... I still couldn't stop thinking about, and missing carla like crazy. And this feeling, of being away from a person, a very guapa person, held on for about a month. (She left in July and will come back the 21st of August, three days after my birthday... but this amazing and wonderful guapita sent me a regalito which came today!!!) well, after about a month, just a couple of days I go I realized this feeling of missing was a bit different from before... but I know that this is normal... but it really sucked to realize that the feeling of missing sort of became a part of me. It attached itself to my mind and the distance to my love felt even further away!! It might sound a bit bad, that I don't miss her as much, but I do!!!! ... but in a different way!!!

Anyway, missing is a big part of a normal day in Nico De Las Nieves vida.
"Vida" means "Life" in English and in Swedish the word is "Liv", just so you know, all of you.
I’ve been back at my parents house for about a week keeping the dog Hamlet alive while they have been on a well earned vacation in southern Sweden. It was an ok week... but the strangest of things is that I don't feel like home at my parents place anymore....after just living about ONE year on my own! This is a bit depressing, or maybe not, I don't feel that bad about it, but maybe I should???
Well, me and Hamlet went on walks, he was doing what a good does on a good walk! And then he half-bit me, (It's still hurting) after one of our late-night walks... guess it was a bit too much of me being there and my parents being away, he didn't feel as secure as he usually does... but he got a good beating (no direct hitting, just having him on his back and pounding him against the floor holding his chest skin, he can't ever bite a human!!! So you have to show him both what's right and who is the master, you don't fuck with the master!!!)
We had a couple of days he wouldn't "talk" to me... but we went on our walks and we are ok now, me and Hamlet. He's a good dog but very emotional. He gets sad, happy, afraid and angry like all of us!

Anyway, tonight is my first night back at "mi cuarto" (min kvart, in Swedish) and it feels good...even tough I move out with in 20 days...or 19, who cares, math sucks!!

I've been watching the Olympic Games since it began and it sucks, well, not the Olympic Games but the Swedish broadcasting of it!! Fuck you SVT (Sveriges Television). They only broadcast sports where Sweden is/have been/or going to perform!! Wich sucks!!! And for all of you not living in Sweden this means that so far SVT1 has shown this:

Balon Mano (Handball)
Football Men/Woman
Swimming (most of the time it's this on the tele)
Boxing (witch was ok until all the Swedes got beaten and went out!!!)
Beach Volleyball (it's broadcasted 03,00 in the morning, when no one is up but me!!!)
then it's just short looks on the gymnastics and tennis....maybe there's something I forgot now, but who cares? SVT1 sucks!!

But though I have to say I'm very impressed over their streaming on their Internet page...the best I've ever seen, plus they have one "channel" that is not shown on TV there. (The Swedish gouvernment owns SVT1, SVT2, TV4, Barnkanalen and SVT24, please correct me if im wrong!!!!) The Olympic Games are just shown in SVT1 and SVT 24... and an additional channel on the internet called Peking+ (Beijing+ in English).... well, I have a lot to say about this...

And the Olympic Games in China, politically and the shit Swedes that are competing...

I'm hoping, that of my luck of meeting the most amazing girl in the world will pay off.... not just in being happy everyday I wake up next to her but also to be able to win some fucking gold’s in the Olympic Games in London in 4 years!!!

Because.... Sweden is a nice place...about 40 days a year...and we once was one of the greatest nations in the world!! We have a lot of history, a lot of barbaric beautiful history, the Vikings. And also when we ruled over both Finland and Norway and a great lot more!! So don't fuck with Sweden (hmmm, well, we don't have much anymore, do we???)

So what do we have????? Here in "Du gamla, du fria" (You old, you free). Well.... hmmm...not much, maybe this guy with a Finish name will win something in the single scull.

And although Sweden what do we have to offer the world? Hmmm... naked, blonde woman? Naaaaa... they don't exist as much as they should.

Sweden is going DOWN!! The last thing we have to give the world is made by two musician from ABBA... who rote all of ABBAS songs and will make a big impact and are already making it on the world with the movie Mama Mia!

It will take a lot of years until we make a big impression on the world again...so.... Enjoy Mama Mia! you all! I hate Abba so.... I guess I don't have a lot to be happy about being a Swede! But for being me, I'm happier then ever!!!

And maybe we will win the World Cup in HOCKEY!!!! or ice-fuckin!



Keep it up Spain!! I’m giving you 90% of my love!!!!


Anyway... Vamos Nadal and Tommy!!! Y Vamos Marco y Pau Gasol!!!!

Good night!!!

Nico de las Nieves... one month left!

Hay all of you!

I guess that some of you wants to follow my "new" life down in a place I didn't thought was completely true until Anders went there and proved to me it really existed!

I mean, there are these places on earth that you hear about from when you are young until present day and you can't really imagine a society, a place based on completely different values and existing in a completely different world. I haven’t been to a lot of places. And the ones I've seen outside of Sweden and the Nordic countries have really amazed me. Turkey... amazing place, and the weather compared to here was just the opposite. I landed at Heathrow once... and the fly-in over London was like landing at another planet. Everything looked so different from what I'm used to! i saw a bit of England, southern England... just so amazing.

And in 30 days I'm leaving for a country I've never been to before. And I'm doing that because I met this beautiful and wonderful girl! How fucked up isn't that when you start to think about it? And the country is Spain. But I'm not moving to Madrid or Barcelona... not even Mallorca! I'm going to the most southern place Spain got... Tenerife!!! So crazy!! It's closer to Africa then it is to main of Spain!! So.... I'm going to a place where like...well... not a lot of the population speaks English... and my Spanish is...hmmm... questionable! It will get good pretty fast I hope! Or my visit there will be a big question mark!!

But love will make you do all kind of crazy things I've come to realize. And this will be the best crazy thing I've ever done!

For all of you wondering I'm writing in English because I want all my Spanish speaking friends to have at least a shot at understanding what I'm saying! Sorry about this and my quiet half-shit English...I do my best and will keep on doing so!!More to come I hope... see you! and talk to you later!!!

Besos!