Roland Garros

Hello there!

Sorry, yes it's been a while since I have written, and for that am I sorry! The last month or so has just been crazy, I have been meaning to get up-to-date on this site, so let me give it a go!!

Well, one of the highlights of my last months in Europe was a visit to Paris to watch the French Open. Headed down with my mate Jon, we organised a 2-day journey to take in some 1st-round action at Roland Garros.

It looked daunting when we arrived to Paris, lots of rain about which had caused lots of cancellations and delays. On our first day we just looked around the city, first time for Jon, ending up in the Latin Quarter, wandering around for ages looking for somewhere to eat, finally settling on some galletes, something I hadn't encountered before. A savoury crepe you could say. In any case, was nice! More wandering around in the cold and rain as we looked for a pub, eventually making our way between a couple and just escaping from the rain for a while.

Tuesday was our big day at the tennis. Luckily the weather was perfect for us, so we had a nice day out in the sun. Had tickets to Phillipe Chatrier court, and thanks to the previous day's rain delay, got to see Federer and Nadal win their first-round matches. Was pretty exciting to see the world's best two players in action right before our eyes. Other players we saw that day included Hewitt, Grosjean, Bagdahtis, and Bjorkman. Arrived at 12pm and stayed til 9pm, all in sunlight, but could have stayed longer. Was a great day!! Ended up with a not-too-dodgy kebab from near Pigalle and headed up to the steps of the Sacre Coeur to enjoy the lights of the city as well as listening to what the drunk busker had to offer (wasn't too bad actually!)

Wednesday was allocated to sightseeing, walking gradually from our hotel down to the Champs Elysees, over to the Arc de Triomphe, then wandered along to Le Tour Eiffel, also known as the Eiffel Tower. Decided to skip the queues and save a few Euros by walking the first two levels and just take the lift to the top from there. Wasn't at all as exhausting as I might have imagined, only 15 minutes or so worth of work. First time I had been up the tower in five years, so was all new to me again, nice to see all the great views on offer! From here, we wandered the calm streets then made a wrong turn or two on the Metro, which extended our journey a little longer than needed. Went to have a look at the Pantheon, then dodged the rain again as we made it to Pont Neuf, the first bridge in Paris to cross the Seine. Soon enough it was time to head off and get the airport bus, not without a hot and exhausting trip across town on the Metro to first collect our things, then get to the airport bus. 1 hour and 20 minutes later we were at Beauvais Airport, north of Paris, ready to get our good ol' Ryanair flight back to Sweden. Made it home at about 1am, finishing the adventure with a cycle from the station to home. Had a really great time!!

Need to finish this entry with a note about SOF, the biggest student party to hit Sweden! Held every 2nd year in Linköping, we were lucky enough that this was our year! After much anticipation, we made it down to the uni to go to the bus stop, as the first night's action was in neighbouring city Norrköping. After getting ourselves there in enough time, Jon and I seemed to secure ourselves a place in the second bus. Yet after the eventual queue jumping that happens at these sort of things, all we could do was stand by as the doors to the second and apparently last bus closed in our face. Not happy! After some deliberation amongst organisers, they miraculously managed to source another bus, due to arrive in another hour. Yet this time a bit more order was taken to the queueing, so we were placed well and truly at the head of the line.

Got there eventually, all prepared for a good time! And we got it! It was a really cool location, the student union house, down by the water, and we got much better music than we were used to, both on the dance floor and provided by the bands playing. I should take this opportunity to explain, that SOF stands for Student Orchestra Festival, where orchestras from all over Northern Europe, as well as a couple from Germany, converge on town to play for us. Not the sort of music you listen to every day, so for that, I enjoyed listening to it! No such bus dramas on the way back, our outward journey assured us a ticket for the return bus. Glad for that, not many other options at 3am!

Thursday I had a rest evening, greatly caused by a lack of ticket, but in any case, it all began again in full swing! During this week, it was great to have Simone and Neele visiting from Germany, so we were able to do some things during the day as well, but the main focus was on the festival. Friday night was pretty full on, would love to tell you more about it but we'll have to skip straight to Saturday night....

Oh, first of all, Saturday in the afternoon was the traditional student parade through the streets, with all sorts of crazy floats on display. Was fun to see, very creative, with a USA theme, so all sorts of aspects of the culture put on show. I couldn't see it all though, since I had to get to work! I volunteered to work behind the bar, so from 3-7.30pm I was one of a few of us pulling beers and serving chilli nuts. Had a break until 10pm, when it was back to work. A LOT busier in the evening of course, going flat out on the hamburger stand until 1.30am (serving them not selling them). Was pretty hectic but a lot of fun, got to work with Jule so that made it better at least! By the time I clocked off, I tried to catch up with my friends' efforts, but it was too late, so took the chance to enjoy the last hour or so of music.

After all the hype and anticipation, SOF was over, but we all had such a good time - I think a visit to Linköping in 2009 is in order!!

Anyway, gotta go, but stay tuned, will write more soon!! (Even if it is a bit out of date =(..... )

Scott