Sunglasses, Dali, and the Pittsburgh Steelers

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So, I was writing along with this entry, and I accidentally erased everything I'd been writing for about 20 minutes. Damn. I'll try my best to replicate the amazingly entertaining prose which I had put down, but I'm not promising anything.
The weekend is over, and I'm diving into my first week of full classes here at the University of Stockholm. Though I can here you cry "But Matt! You've only had Swedish lessons so far this week! How can you write about anything new?"
Touche, but I can still write about what I did this weekend, can I not?
Anyway, I didn't end up going to the bar made entirely out of ice. My lack of attendance was equal parts apathy, laziness, and me being too cool for school, but apparently it was a good take, so I'll have to go back there at some point. Maybe again when my family comes to visit me in a few months. Of course, there's a lot more of the city to see between now and then, so I can be a bonafide expert on greater Stockholm by the time they arrive. I mean, how hard can it be? This city's only been around for 750 years, right?
I went to my first Stockholm Museum on Sunday (Well, second, if you count the Vasa Museum), the Museum of Modern Art. Now, I'm not usually one for modern art, as I don't "Get It", but it was a chance to spend the day with some friends I hadn't seen in a few days, and I figured that it couldn't be all bad. And it wasn't. Really, there was some cool stuff there, in addition to the stuff that makes you think that anyone with half a brain could be a modern artist. They had some weird Swedish stuff there, as well as some more notable pieces. For instance, they had some Picasso, as well as some Dali, as well as one particular piece that I'd actually heard of. Of course, this required my History of Art and Architecture 101 training to come out of a 13 month dormancy, but it worked. The museum had Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain", which was the only piece that triggered my aforementioned memory. Anyway, as I'm sure you'll all googling "Marcel Duchamp+fountain" right now, I'll spoil the surprise for you: It's a urinal. Basically, this intrepid Frenchman was fed up with the world of art, and wanted to make a statement that anything could be made into art. So he signed his name and the year (1917) to a series of French urinals and called it art. There was also another Duchamp piece there, which was a shovel. A snow shovel. He didn't sign it, or change it, he just put a shovel on a wall. And you wonder why I don't like modern art.
Anyway, the walk to the Museum of Modern Art was a good ten minutes from the nearest T stop, which was not actually a bad thing. This was because it was a bright sunny day, and the temerature hovered around 40 all day. I nearly broke out the shorts. The walk also was across the river from Gamla Stan and the Royal Palace, as well as past the National Opera House, the National Museum of Art (older, more conventional, ie, "real" art), and the Grand Hotel Stockholm (It's really ritzy; there were Rolls-Royces outside). The other museums that I'd like to get to by the time my family comes to visit are many, including said National Art Museum, the Swedish Nordic Museum, the Museum of Wine and Spirits, the Museum of Architecture, the Royal Army Museum, and the Treasury, where the Swedish Crown Jewels are kept. I'm sure that my older brother will want to go to the National Museum of Music as well, so maybe I should scope that out to make sure it's safe. There's also the local hockey team (Djursgarden IF) to see, as well as the Olympics to watch. To my friends in Italy: I'm jealous. And as I mentioned the Steelers in the Title, here's the corresponding line: Finding a place to watch the Super Bowl from 00:00 hours to 06:00 hours will be difficult. The moral: don't take American TV for granted.
Well, I should get cracking on my homework?!!???!?!??
To my friends and family, I hope that your semesters are going well, and I can't wait to see you all again, whenever that will be. Feel free to IM me or Email me or something.
All for now,
Matt (Six hours in the future...Think about it!)

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Comments

[Phoebe]

Marcel Douchamps
so jealous, I love the story of "the fountain" because that guy was such a rebel ;) sounds like a goodtime!

[AnnLind]

Love the entries....
Matt - We've been reading every entry, and commenting - but don't think we were registered properly, so you probably couldn't see them. Love the blogs, so full of wonderful information - and damn, can you write! Mom