Zurich is mentioned in 3 posts, which ranks #36 overall for places. It is most often associated with these...

Places:

Things:

I just got back from a hockey game. What a great idea that is. Go to a freezing ass country and then sit in a room with a huge slab of ice. Sheesh. It ended up being fun because the Malmo Redhawks won 11 to 2. They supposedly aren't very good, but they spanked this other team. I've been under my covers in the hotel for about an hour now and I'm still not thawed out.

The hotel room is pretty warm at all times. They don't really have air conditioning here. They just keep all their buildings warm, and then if you get too hot, you open a window. It works pretty well, especially in a country when its not 105 outside. Another difference is the light switches. Their switches are like the size of our base plates. Makes sense I guess. No reason to make the switch so small. And the toilets -- you don't push down on a level, you pull up on a button on top of the toilet. Same concept, just different. Everything here is just different enough to keep it interesting ... and make you have to pause to figure it out.

Everyone in Sweden smokes. Really, I think its just that everyone in Europe smokes. And you can smoke just about anywhere. When we got off the plane in Zurich, the first thing we did was try to find a smoking room. We slowly started noticing that people walking through the airport were smoking. A far cry from DFW, that's for sure.

It seems my employment luck is international. I got assigned to the team that really isn't doing much. I've mostly just been hanging out and eating great lunches before cutting out a little early. I am trying to find out what I'm going to do this weekend and wouldn't you know it, Stino just told me he has a friend in Malmo. He's going to email him for me and see if he'll be my tour guide. That would pretty much kickass if it worked out.

I am watching MTV Europe's version of Jackass. It's these four guys that put Bam and Steve-o to shame. They just waxed this guy's balls and they showed the whole thing, full frontal. That's really the only nudity I've seen so far. With any luck this weekend, it won't be the last.

I don't think I've mentioned Paul yet. Paul is this English guy who is here for the same thing we are. He's really cool. He's like a real live Englishman. He tells us to "fancy" things ... something I will definitely try to get started in the states. Fancy that, another new word for my rotation.

Damnit, I have a thousand more stories, but this will have to do for now. Although the time stamp will read 4pm, its really 11 for me and I still have to shower and then flat iron my hair with my new swedish flat iron ... it was worth all 400 Kroner. Laaaaaaate.

What a long, strange trip it's been. Okay, maybe just long. I got to Sweden with very little trouble. I am in my hotel room now around 7:30pm after having been up since Saturday morning. I am so tired, but I have had a lot of fun today. I am traveling with my coworker, Keith, just to get that out of the way. I'm sure a lot of my stories will involve him. We had breakfast in Zurich which consisted of a liter of Heinekin each and a handful of cigarettes. Gots to expense that shit!

The 10 hour flight was quite trying, but I made it though with a little bit of sleep. It didn't help that when I did fall asleep, I dreamt that we had already arrived. Then I woke up and realized there were 7 more hours to go. We hung out in Zurich for about 3 hours and then took a 2 hour flight to Copenhagen. I slept all the way through that flight. Then we rode a train into Malmo, Sweden. We decided to walk from the train station to our hotel which ended up being quite a ways. I immediately dropped my shit and went walking around. I found a place to buy a flat iron tomorrow. Mine won't work here, and my voltage converter won't work with it either. It is a necessity. Gots to expense that shit!

Let me tell you one thing about Sweden. If I were to rank the 100 hottest guys I'd ever seen in my life, on TV, in movies, and in person ... all 100 of those spots would be occupied by someone I saw in Malmo today. Everyone here is beautiful -- blond hair, blue eyes, tall, just gorgeous. I am a little bit overstimulated. And the women are pretty slammin' as well. Being in Malmo makes me say, "Miami who?" I have already decided that I want to live here. Everyone speak fluent English, even the teenagers working at Subway, which is where we ate dinner. They all start of speaking Swedish to me, which I take as a compliment because they I'm Swedish, but as soon as I order in English they switch effortlessly. It's incredible. This place is so Americanized, yet so different. I need to make some more observations before I assert that.

I took a few pictures today but I am seriously falling asleep on the keyboard so I might post some tomorrow. So far so good though! This place kicks so much ass.

UPDATE: I totally forgot to mention. I met John McKay from the news in the airport in Zurich. He was on his way to Roma to cover JP Deuce's funeral. I know so many celebs. And in other news, NOW MY HAIRDRYER DIED. God damnit, first the Pizzope, now my blow dryer. Why have you turned your back on us, oh lord?

In 12 hours I will board a plane bound for Zurich, catch a connection to Copenhagen, and then catch a train to Malmo, Sweden. There is supposedly internet access in the rooms and I will have my work computer with me, so I should be able to keep this site updated. I will also be available via email, my personal one is probably best (SideshoViD@sideshovid.com) but if it's very important, you can use my work address, which is Myfirstname [dot] Mylastname @ TheCompanyIWorkFor.com. Fill in the blanks, please don't send email to that exact address. Sweden is 7 hours in the future compared to the states, so factor that in.

Wish me here. Here goes nothin.