2014. Part 1.

2014 begun and I turned 22. It was my first birthday in London and we celebrated it in a friend’s house, my fellow au pairs and my fucked up floorball family.

My London life then continued as I knew it. I took care of my boys, learned how to cook food that was very knew to me (like Shepherd’s Bush Pie), I understood the beauty of west London and I drank more beer than ever. I loved it.

We celebrated Chinese New Year at Trafalgar Square before going down to South Bank for some touristy sightseeing. The South Bank and anything by the river felt so far away, and very east, for me. It is funny how that has develop since then.

Trafalgar Square, a lot of people and a blue cock.

Tourists ahead!

I love the skate park by the south bank, especially when stuff like this is happening.

Spring came early in 2014. It was almost shorts and skirt weather in March, so we spend a lot of time in parks with Tesco lunch deals and strawberries. This season was one of the reasons I fell in love with London.

I spent more and more time with these two silly faces. Me and Mikael first clicked because of our interest in football and stånd (too much of an inside joke and too Swedish too explain) but somewhere a long the way I noticed that me and Linn were alomst too similar in so many ways. My sister of anxiety, coffee, long talks, love for cameras, and over thinking. We became the threesome everyone wanted, with Mikael being the third wheel.

I went to see my first ever Premier League game at Craven Cottage in March. I took Gustav and I was a bit too excited. It was Fulham vs Newcastle… but my expectations were high. It wasn’t the greatest of games, but Fulham managed to win and the sun was shining, so it was overall a really great day.

Me and two friends went to Royal Albert Hall to see Ed Sheeran, that was a truly magical experience. He had only released one album at the time and tried out his loop pedals for the first time live. I called Jenny during Give me love and she cried so I cried.

I went on holiday with my au pair family for the first time in April. To the lovely Mallorca! We rented a car, had freshly squeezed orange juice, went out for dinners and made the most amazing grilled peppers. It was me, Hesther, John, Bobby and Hesthers father who came on the trip and it was so so lovely.

We had the most amazing view. But it was also hell to get up that hill with a huge rental car. We even had to go out and give it a good push once, and it was lucky that Hesther’s mother was not there, she would have had a heart attack.

I loved loved loved this holiday! I still ate meat at the time as well…

Just after our holiday I had my old classmate Maja here in London for the first time. I have known her since we started high school and I was so happy when she wanted to come. We went for Fika, went shopping, took touristy walks and went out drinking.

Maja with Big Ben

And Maja with Tower Bridge (and Mikael).

This year I also properly got to know my Jenny. We started hanging out because she lived almost next door to Gustav, but the first time we met was at the Swedish pub when Sweden played football, and somehow we got really close. She supports Liverpool and I look like a leprechaun next to her, but we are great at drinking beer, fight off sexism and dance our shoes off in Camden. She has left London and me twice already and I will never be okay with her not living within an hour away…

We continued to hang out in West Hamptead and at The Railway, so much that they started to know our preferred drink: Stella.

Linn, Mikael and I felt some kind of responsibility to arrange something for our Au Pair oraganisation, so we had a Brännboll tournament in Hyde Park. That was a lot of fun and we also attracted many curious eyes during our hours running around hitting balls with big bats.

My second trip of 2014 went to Malaga with my floorball team where I played my first ever tournament abroad. I was not suppose to play, I just came along as support, but there was a finish team that needed a couple of extras so me and my friend Evegenia joined them. We also managed to win the whole thing. Success.
Other than playing floorball we spent a lot of time drinking and eating yummy food. And a bit more of drinking.

My team mates have always been a charming lot.

My view though.

Orange is our colour.

More hangouts in the park, Queens park this time.

We were quite good at celebrating each others birthdays in our little au pair group. When it was Erika’s turn to get older we lured her into believing that none of us could celebrate her day. Instead, we waited for her in a restaurant, jumped out, sang to her, bought her dinner and led her up to the Shard for one of the best nights I have ever had in London. We stayed up there for hours and saw the night slowly fall over this city that I had such a crush on.

I need to part 2014 into two posts, there is just too much to cover.
Next post might be about Brännboll though, it feels like people need to know this sport.