Staying Off Track

Even though I promised a lot of people that I wouldn’t become “euro-jaded” or start saying petrol instead of gas from this trip, I’m going to have to indulge a bit. It may be a bit cliche to start with this, but traveling really does open your eyes to what assumptions you understand your world through. After an eight hour long flight inundated with B-list films and the most Swedish couple I have ever met, I was greeted by an image of Raoul Wallenberg in the Stockholm Airport. This may not have any significance to most people, but students in the UM Architecture School have a personal connection with this guy. The school has an entire studio course dedicated to his work and contributions to the university; so to say, this was a nice beginning touch for my trip, especially considering I will be doing architectural research in Sweden. If anyone thinks this is the only dumb little coincidence I’m going to put existential meaning behind, we are in for a long journey.

Driving into Stockholm made me quickly realize that I am far away from the greasy South U. and preppy Kerrytown Ann Arbor which I am so comfortable with. I was always conscious of how difficult it was to practice my Swedish in Ann Arbor because I had to annoy teachers and friends to speak with me. But now, I have a constant smirk on my face because of the pleasure of eavesdropping in conversations not in my native tongue. I did get my confidence too high when I understood a mother and daughter on the bus talking about family and their weekend plans. This feeling of being hot shit was quickly dissipated when I tried to explain my entire back story to a cashier simply because my credit card wasn’t working. After she understood I was an American trying to force a broken conversation in Swedish, she easily switched to English and quickly sent me on my way. Luckily, I was buying the most important Swedish candy, Bilar, so I had a quick bounce back.

Once I left the central terminal station, I passed an infamous spot in Stockholm. The last time I was in the city, I came a few weeks after the terrorist attack which happened outside Åhlens City. At the time, a massive piece of plywood was propped over the hole the truck placed in the side of the building, standing as a conspicuous effigy. It was unbelievable to hear my host recall her experience during the attack, but what shocked me more was the reaction to the attack. The following day, she took her children to the location of the attack to join in a vigil and community gathering. I have such a strong memory of her explaining to me how she wanted to show her children that fear could not break their community. Since then, the hole in Åhlens City has been repaired and the street was incredibly vibrant. All of these memories came back to me because as I was walking past the store, I heard screams. I immediately jumped into fight or flight mode and began analyzing my surroundings–as if I had any tactical clue. Once the screams became louder and the commotion was extremely close, I saw an unlikely object which put me at ease: a blue sailor cap. For those who don’t know, these sailor caps are the equivalent to graduation caps for Swedes. Before I knew it, I was swarmed by a group of tall, drunk Aryans who looked like they were recently at a Pop-Eye cosplay convention. My anxiety quickly subsided and I began again gawking about the Scandinavian architecture. However, I never forgot how strong and fast my reaction was for assuming an attack was happening. I wish I could say this was only because of being sleep deprived and hungry, but after reflecting on the shooter scare that happened on campus, I know it comes from my American identity. This is not intended to be political, but to beat a dead horse, traveling often teaches you just as much about yourself as it does the world. While more introspective than I expected, I hope the next few days I’ll have the opportunity to write about the wonders of Scandinavian design and construction.