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Even before arriving at this continent, I knew there was one place I wanted to go; it was Sweden. Why Sweden? Two main reasons, firstly I know Sweden is as hockey-crazed as Canada, so that was a big insentive to go, and secondly, I wanted to see if its true what they say; a country full of gorgeous blond haired blue eyed women. My roommate Kevin has always wanted to go to Copenhagen, Denmark, and so we decided to go, and while over there check out Sweden at the same time, since there is a bridge that goes to Malmo. I wanted to go to Stockholm, but this was a good compromise.

Malmo, Sweden

The moment we got to the Copenhagen airport, we took the first train to Malmo, Sweden. When I got sight of the ticket prices, I knew this country wasn’t going to be cheap; $20 for a train pass to go over the bridge. So, we bought a ticket, and took the first train to Sweden, with no idea where we were going to stay for the night. The first thing I see when I arrive is a Burger King, and if you know me, that made me very happy; until I saw the prices that is. A Whopper combo came out to an equivilent of $12 CAD. I like Burger King, but not that much. But, it turns out that these are the typical prices in this city, everything is extremely expensive, the cheapest thing we found was $3 CAD for a muffin and a coffee.

Kevin with our coffee and muffins in a burger joint called Max

So, with caffeine in our system, and our stomachs slightly more filled, we decide that its time to explore the city. Now, while in Scandinavia, we didn’t do the typical tourist thing, like find specific monuments or find places where Vikings died, we just went off and explored (although one thing I found that was pretty cool is when you actually find a statue/historic area, there is a number that you can call and a voice recorded message tells you all about it, might be a good idea in other places of Europe as well). There were a lot of things about Malmo that reminded me of Vancouver, there were plenty of nice parks, there was lots of green, and the buildings were significantly more modern then Prague in most areas.

Town square

After a couple hours of exploring, we decided it was time to find a place to sleep for the night, and while exploring we did step into a bunch of hotels to get some prices, but when we asked a lady at a Best Western where the cheapest place to stay was, she directed us to a hotel on the other side of the Central Station. We went to check it out, and hey, what do you know, she was right, it was the cheapest place to stay for the night (~$55 CAD for the night, yeah, Sweden is expensive). But, not only did we have our own room with two beds, but we got a free all you can eat breakfast the next day, and all you can eat waffles all day long. This was the deciding factor in choosing our hostel.

Waffles, we could made these all day, any time. Awesome.

So, after getting settled in, we went out to buy some food and beers from a supermarket we randomly found when taking the wrong direction back to the city (starving student style). After having a few, we decided it was time to see what the nightlife had to offer. It turns out Sweden was stricter then we had initially hoped, not strict by North American standards, but definitely by European standards. Alcohol was no where to be found on the side stores, the only drink we could buy were beers that were 3.5%, quite a weak beer. We went to a couple pubs in the main area, but unfortunitely the pubs were quite expensive, and we couldn’t find any real clubs. After a bit of bar hopping, Kevin and I found a big line into a building, so we decide to go check it out.

Line in the distance

We ended up meeting a really awesome Swedish guy who answered a lot of the questions we were having. We found out that we couldn’t get beers over 3.5% because that was the maximum any corner store could sell, any more and you have to buy alcohol from a designated liquer stores, just like Vancouver. We also found out that the clubbing age in the city is 20, meaning I made the bare minimum, but Kevin wasn’t old enough, so the line we were in was completely pointless… We headed back, and went back to the burger joint were we got the coffees in the morning, and got a couple burgers and finished off the night talking to a forty year old Swede who was completely out of his mind.

Frustrating night in Sweden

Copenhagen, Denmark

The next morning, we took the train and headed over to Copenhagen. This was almost the same situation as Sweden, we had arrived in the city and really didn’t know were we were going to sleep that night. The plan was to stay with one of the girls that Kevin and I had met in a bar in Prague, but we were still communicating back and forth, unsure of anything. Copenhagen was a very gorgeous city, large and full of cool looking landmarks. A big bonus was that in this city, we could get alcohol almost anywere, and therefor the guy we met in Sweden was right; Denmark has a much better drinking culture. But the big downside was the price of this city, a Whopper meal came to ~$15 CAD.

The architecture to me seemed like a mixture of Amsterdam and Vancouver

Turns out that we had a place to stay for the night, Sille (danish girl) came through, so for night two, we had a bed. The house was on the outskirts of the city, a decent bus/train distance away. The house itself was very cool, made of brick on the outside, and the inside was filled with what you would see in a typical family house; kids drawings on the wall, a couple rooms, and a (interesting looking) furnace. Luckly the family wasn’t there that weekend, they were in Sweden, although I wouldn’t have minded meeting a full Danish family.

Where I slept; Sille’s sisters room

After we were all settled in, it was off to the city to see what the nightlife had to offer. Sille went to go meet up with some friends, while Kevin and I went to go to a bar that offered cheap drinks for a Sunday night. There wasn’t many people in the bar, but we made friends with the bartenders, whom we bought drinks for. One was a Columbian who came to Copenhagen on a student exchange, loved it so much he decided to stay and bartend (a big insentive was minimum wage is equivilent to $20 CAD). The other was a gorgeous blond haired blue eyed bartender, the one who initially cought our eye when we were passing the bar, we later found out that she sang as well, and was pretty decent. The bartenders recommended us to some event, and so they marked it on a map and wondered across the city to this place, which ended up being an hour and a half walk, and it turns out it was were Sille was going as well. Along the way, she tells us not to go there, but to go to the bar she was at, and so we headed over there instead. This bar was quite a grungy bar, and we were definitely the only tourists in the area, we later found out it wasn’t the safest area in Copenhagen. While in the bar, I noticed three Danes who wanted to play fooseball, but clearly needed a forth man, so I offered my services, and they were happy to have me. We played a couple games, and for each game, the loser bought the winners a round of shots; my partner and I won twice.

Foosball partner; Turns out his wife is Persian, and he spent a lot of time telling me to go to Teran, Iran

Afterwords, we headed back with Sille on a bus, and thankfully we were with her, because there is no way Kevin and I would have found it on our own using the bus, it was a big maze. We went back, passed out, and woke up to a new day. Sille made us coffee, I took a shower, and we were on our away. Her parents were coming back that night, she said it would be fine to stay another night if we couldn’t find a place to stay, but we didn’t want to overstay our welcome.

Thanks for taking us to Danish secret nightlife, and the free place to stay. We owe you one Sille!

We ventured into the city, and we needed to figure out what to do. The question was, do we find a place to sleep, or do we tough it out and stay out all night. We decided on the latter; we figured we were getting back late anyways, we would really only get 4 hours of sleep at most, and considering the cheapest hostel was ~$60 CAD, it wasn’t worth it for us. That night in Copenhagen, we were homeless. We walked over to the Central Station, bought some lockers, and kept our bags there for the night. The first thing we decided to do was to finally get something to eat, we had been living off the food we bought in Sweden for the last couple of days (bananas and nuts). We found an amazing middle eastern all you can eat buffet, and surprisingly for a decent price.

All you can eat dinner, the candle in my opinion was kind of misplaced, but who cares when you get unlimited food. But having so much food made me realize how much my capacity to eat has gone down. I may not eat the most food at the next Christmas eve dinner…

We decide to look for a pub, and to our surprise, the bar has the same deal that it had on Sunday. This time, we tried a bunch of Danish shots. One tasted like licorice, one tasted like childrens medicine, and one tasted like something I can’t compare, its a drink that old people drink; I hated it, Kevin liked it. It was a little more lively this night, a lot more locals. After about eight shots or so each, we decided to find a different bar. We wondered around aimlessly, and we happened to see an middle aged couple, and we asked them if there were any good pubs in the area. They said they were heading to a jazz bar, and we were welcome to come of we’d like. So we followed along.

Myself, Kevin, Henrich and Henne

We ended up spending a couple hours with this couple, they bought us a couple rounds of beer, and we did likewise. They also bought everyone a shot of the old people drink; I wasn’t very excited about this, but I’m not one to turn down a drink. We found out that they were both teachers; Henne was a teacher for the disabled, and Henrich was a history teacher. They told us a lot about their lives, and Copenhagen as well, they marked a couple places for us to go. Afterwords, we headed out, and almost everything was closed, so there was nothing left to do but find a place in Copenhagen to sleep. The first place we found was a little enclosed space we had previously ran into when going the wrong away, we saw it and figured it would be a good place to sleep.

Tighe passed out, I didn’t sleep here, I wasn’t tired so I played Wolfenstein on my iPhone instead

While we stayed there, a white truck pulled up, and it kind of freaked us out since we didn’t know who it was, and we were in an enclosed space with no other way out, so we got out of there as fast as possible. The next stop was to see if we could sleep at the Central Station.

Central Station

Unfortunately, we were kicked out by a security guard. The next thing we decided to do was to go to a early morning breakfast place that the Danish couple told us about, and it was a pretty far walk on a cold night, but we decided to give it a go. We get to the exact location that she marked, but there was no breakfast to be found. We found a church and slept on the outside bench instead. It ended up being too cold to sleep, I couldn’t do it so we continued to walk. We found a bakery that was opening in an hour, so we slept outside of it until it opened. I figured, if I bought a sandwich, they wouldn’t mind if I rested my head on the table for a bit, but I was wrong, they kicked us out after I paid for a $10 CAD sandwich that was worth about $2. By the time that whole ordeal was over, we found an open McDonalds, bought some burgers, and took a nap. Clearly, I can always count on McDonalds to save the day.

Me outside of the bakery, extremely tired

There were a couple more places we slept, like the park, and I’m sure there are more that I can’t remember. Overall, it was a ridiculous night, and I have new found respect for the homeless, its not easy out there. We headed back to the airport, and our Scandinavian adventure had come to a close.

When did it become risky to walk home in North Burnaby?

On November 8th, 2008, at 3:30am.

Well, maybe that’s not the exact moment that it became risky, but it was the exact moment I realized it was. Ever since I can remember, I’ve never had a moments hesitation walking anywhere in Burnaby. Hell, I’ve waited for a bus in the middle of East Hastings and have always felt safe enough. I’m sure that was never a good idea, but I’ve never had a run in with a junkie before, so I figured I was safe. Clearly, I’m too trusting.

Friday night was like any other, we drank and went to go downtown to a club. We danced, talked, laughed, hung out, and had a great time. Then, we decided to go home, and who but the really cheap guy decides that he doesn’t want to take the taxi, he wants to take the 135 down Hastings (hint: he writes this blog). So, along with me is my cousin Peter and my friend Laura, and we take the bus and get off at Kensington Plaza and walk down to Peters house. This is a neighborhood that I’ve never thought twice about, I have always felt safe in it no matter what time it was. I have walked down it in the middle of the night on multiple occasions, but unfortunate this time I was not as fortunate.

We turned left on Parkdale, oblivious as to what was to come next, right up to the moment it happened and not a second before. A red hatchback passes us, and it from what I can recall, seemed like a very old Honda, although my cousin claims it was a Volvo, but in any case it turns back the other way. Even at this point, I thought nothing of it, thinking to myself “he must have just taken the wrong turn”. Even as this car pulled over, I figured he went down the street and turned around because he likes his car facing that particular direction when he gets to his house. I was wrong.

The man jumped out of his car, welding a large machete, and bolted towards our direction. I can still remember his face, his body shape, what he was wearing, even though I saw him for only a split second before I turned around and ran for my life. He was a large man, Caucasian, chunky, with a bandanna across his mouth, who yelled a couple of things that I can’t remember, but I’m sure they were irrelevant. As the man continued our away, all I can remember thinking about was getting as far away as fast as possible, and I regret to say, I wasn’t thinking about anyone else. That is, until I heard a large scream from Laura, and at that point, my brain was struggling between survival mode and the mode that would make me go back in a second. Thankfully, my brain didn’t have to make that decision, because while the man had grabbed Laura, she managed to escape right away, as apparently she had looked him in the eye, and all she saw was a confused and possibly drugged up man who didn’t seem one hundred percent there. When she ran towards us, it was the single greatest feeling of relieve I have ever experienced in my entire life. We grabbed her and kept heading towards my cousins house. They did not continue in pursuit. Finally, we got there, and we called the police.

It gave me a lot to think about; it made me question the level of trust I have for people, it made me wonder what kind of sick individual would do something like that, and I also couldn’t stop thinking about there motives. Laura said that when he caught up to her and grabbed her, there was so much he could have done, but instead, he did nothing. There was also another man in the car, he was a black man, fairly skinny, but he didn’t chase us. I continuously wonder what their intentions were, did they do it to scare us, did they do it to rob us, or were truly have the intention of killing, but because they were too fucked up on drugs, simply couldn’t “pull the trigger”. But if something happened to her, we would have undoubtedly gone to help, and all of our lives could have potentially ended that night.

You always see the terrible things that happen to people in the news, and I’m sure most people figure “Wow, that’s terrible! But I’m sure it will never happen to me”. That night made me realize that I’m not invisible, your life is as fragile is the mosquito that you kill without a seconds hesitation. Anything can happen, and so, I just hope that if anything, I can learn from this, and change in a positive way. In the end, I just hope that this experience doesn’t effect my ability to walk the streets without feeling fear, although I’m sure it will for a period of time. In my opinion, the best thing to do in a situation like this is to come out stronger, with more caution, and a greater appreciation of life. Knowing life could be over in a second makes me appreciate what I have at least a little bit more, but a little could go a long way.