Slovenia Part 2

The next day, my first objective was to figure out how to leave the hostel without the other DT fans knowing. The Australian asked me that morning what I was doing, but I didn't fully answer the question. Before the trip, Jordan told me about a Slovenian named Simon, who he met a few years back that was also going to be hanging out with us. Simon was a student at a music school and contacted Jordan through email, and was surprised to get a response! Simon and I contacted each other and decided to meet a little bit before 1, when we were to be at Jordan's hotel.

With the other two Greeks still sleeping/just waking up, I left the hostel and walked around the city again for a couple of hours. At one point, I was sitting at a park near the hotel when I saw a big black tour bus go by me. Not thinking that it could be the Dream Theater bus, I stayed put and a few minutes later walked passed the hotel. Through the glass door, I saw John Myung, the bass player from Dream Theater! One thing you should know about John, he a very private person and doesn't talk much. With that in mind, I decided not to go up and talk to him. They may have JUST got in from Italy, and he could be quite tired from the journey. Even if he wasn't all that tired, he probably wouldn't say much to me. If it was any of the other members of the band, I totally would have gone up and said hello, but John is a different case.


Later on the walk, I found myself in a big park called Tivoli. The concert was actually taking place in a stadium located in a corner of Tivoli. It was a nice walk, but I was just waiting for the time to go by so I could finally hang out with Jordan.


Once Simon and I met up near the hostel, we hung out in the lobby of the hotel waiting for Jordan. The weekend was actually a national 2-day holiday, (day(s) of the dead) so a lot of the places were closed, but Simon had an idea of where we could have lunch. After about 10 minutes of hanging out in the lobby, Jordan finally came down. It was great to see him again! When Simon and I first got to the hotel, there was a camera crew outside waiting for someone it seemed. I told Jordan about that, and apparently he heard Hilary Clinton and maybe even Bill were in town staying at the hotel! We didn't see them though...

For lunch, we ate at a restaurant not too far away from the cocktail bar I was at the night before. I didn't have a whole lot for breakfast, so I was ready for a nice meal! I wish I could tell you what we talked about, but I can't remember it all. Obviously about music, how my trip was, how Simon has been, how Jordan was doing, how excited he was to get back in the states, the frustrations with the internet Jordan was having on this European tour, and much much more! Jordan had until around 4 to hang, so at 3 we took a walk up and down the river. Jordan has recently been trying to learn a traditional song from the country the band was playing in that night, and incorporate it into some part of the show. Simon gave him a pretty simple song to learn and it was great to hear the little part played during his solo/break of the show..knowing it was Simon who taught him the song..pretty neat!


As Jordan does, he took a few videos of the walk including me confessing to the fans back in the hostel what I know Jordan...haha. After walking back in the direction of the hotel, we took a couple photos of each other and after not seeing any fans on the street the whole afternoon, ran into about 5 or 6 people in a 10 minute span! As a joke, I played the role of security for Jordan. Whenever they asked if they could get their picture taken, Jordan would look at me, ask if it was alright, and with great authority I nodded yes and took a picture for the excited fans. It was quite interesting viewing people's reactions to seeing Jordan on the streets. Makes me wonder how it must have looked to Jordan or others when I first saw him!


****EDIT: here are some of the youtube videos from the walk****
Intro
Walk w/ confession
Learning the Slovenia song
It was a great afternoon spent with Jordan and Simon, and after saying goodbye to both of them, it was back to the hostel for a little bit before going to the show. During the walk, Simon was wondering exactly when Dream Theater was playing, so he had an idea of when to go to the concert. I was planning on seeing all the bands, but Jordan said he would call us later and let us know. Jordan also mentioned that there may be some other 'special' things going on at tonight's show because 1) it was halloween 2) it was the last stop on the tour...

Luckily, I brought my phone charger because the batteries were quite low, and after checking my email quickly, I noticed two missed calls from Jordan. Calling him back, he told me that I have a ticket and a VIP pass for the show, and that I should come see him at the production office a little bit before and "come check out" the meet & greet, which consists of getting a picture with the band and getting anything you want signed by the band!! Needless to say, I was very excited to hear about that news.

After that, I decided to show the one Australian fan a picture from the afternoon with Jordan and tell him about my story of how I know Jordan and stuff. He wasn't mad at all, and even thought it was a good idea I didn't tell Alex because "his head would have exploded". He then told me that he and the other fan lined up at the stadium at 3, when the doors don't even open up until 5:30! He described the moment as "a pisser" and busted out laughing (as did I) because here I was, this guy just chilling with Jordan the whole afternoon, while a couple of fans are waiting hours beforehand to get in only to wait for a very long time cramped up in front before DT even gets on stage...and I have a VIP pass that will get me back stage just waiting to be picked up!

So a little bit before 6, the Australian fan, one of his friends and I head out towards the concert. Getting to the stadium there was quite a mess of people. From what it looked like, there wasn't a well organized way of letting the people in. I was able to find the ticket booth around the corner and quickly put my VIP pass and headed inside.

The place wasn't very big, but I wasn't expecting it to be. It reminded me a bit of the arena in Copenhagen with seating on the sides and a big open area for people to stand.

The first band was Unexpect, a 7-piece band (with a violinist even!) that I found very interesting..a decent opening band. During the show, I noticed a man dressed in black switching around the symbols on the set of Unexpect's drummer...I was close enough to see the outline of Mike Portnoy's (DT's drummer) face..and I knew there would be more pranks to come! After that song, I noticed some things being thrown on stage...what looked to be fries, coming from the side of the stage...from who else? Mike!! The guitarist even caught one and ate it in rhythm to a break in the song, haha. In between a couple songs, he came out and gave everyone a grape to eat, and after the last song, Mike and a couple of the stage crew guys came out with silly string and sprayed everyone...very entertaining!

After Unexpect played BigElf was up next. Before they got set up, it was about 7:15 and I had to figure out where the production office was to meet up with Jordan...a worker told me I had to outside, and when I was about to go outside, I was told I couldn't come back in...well, that didn't make any sense to me and I had a VIP pass, so I was able to talk the guy into letting me back in if he saw me again.

After being directed to the production office, I saw Jordan listening to a version of the Slovenian song Simon told him about earlier. I also met a couple other of the crew members. It was still a bit early before the meet and greet, so Jordan said we should go see what's going on ON STAGE for BigElf...if Mike was doing anything worthy of being recorded on Jordan's iPhone. So, I followed him behind the stage and before I could say anything I saw Mike running around. I got that excited feeling inside of me...seeing Mike in person for the first time! There wasn't time to say hello or anything..so I just kept following Jordan to the side of the stage.

I wasn't more than 10 feet away from the bass player...I mean, this was DEFINITELY VIP access!!! It was too cool. There was a break during one of the songs, and in my excitement of being a fan on the side of the stage, I let out a shout. haha. Then again after the last song, Mike came out and sprayed the guys with silly string.
Then there were a few quick interview with the band members conducted by Jordan and his iPhone. Here's a couple videos of the band members getting back from playing. Since it was Halloween, the drummer for BigElf dressed up as Mike..haha it was great!
Video prt 1
Video prt 2

Next up was the meet and greet.

In the next few minutes, I was outside of the wardrobe room for Dream Theater. Seeing James LaBrie (the singer) for the first time drinking some water. And was introduced by Jordan to John Myung! He said "hello" and that was about it, but again for anyone who knows John Myung, that's like a 100 words said! Then the question was if I go with one of the workers to meet up with the other fans waiting. The decision was to just walk with the rest of the band to the meet and greet!!! Basically, the best way to describe how I felt was starstruck. Here I am, walking down a hallway with Dream Theater like I'm a member of the band, or even a member of the backstage crew...unreal.

Since I found out about the meet and greet thing from Jordan not more than a couple hours before, I wasn't prepared to have anything signed at all...it was either the little ticket they gave me or the VIP pass...so I went with the VIP pass and hope the marker doesn't smear too bad on the laminated surface.


But first, it was the photo with the band. Not really thinking of what I was going to do, I threw up the classical rock \m/ sign and I THINK I was smiling...I honestly can't remember because it happened so fast. I can then say that I'm the last person on that tour they got a picture with, so we'll see how it turns out. Still not sure how I'm going to get the photo, probably from Jordan or something.

I feel kind of silly I didn't say what I wanted to say to each member of the band. I was still feeling the starstruck because of it all. There would have been many fans (including Alex) who probably would have spilled their guts about how great the band is and stuff. Don't get me wrong, I was very excited to have the opportunity to stand in front of one of my favorite bands while they signed something for me and looked me right in the eye...but instead I just said hello and maybe a few other words while Jordan introduced me to each member of the band. I was feeling a little bit of a calmer state from the band as well. They had been touring for a while, and from earlier conversations with Jordan, I'm sure the rest of the guys were just as eager to get back to the States and see their families.

I did tell Mike I was at the Liquid Tension show in Chicago where Jordan's keyboard broke down, so the other members of the band just jammed for a solid hour or so. THAT was also a great concert...but there definitely was some stuff I wish I could have said now after it already happened...

I probably would have said something like thanks for all your hard work, the great albums they have produced, how great it is to listen to their different rages of music, (metal to melodic) and how talented each person is. How I enjoy each member's personality and how it all seems to work out for everyone. Mike with his craziness on and off stage, James keeping the crowd pumped, John Myung just chilling doing his own thing. I didn't get a chance to tell John Petrucci how he is one of the reasons I started playing guitar. Maybe not because I wanted to play just like him, because that would take more than 22093847 hours of practice, but just go help encourage me to at least give it a try...

Hopefully, there will be another time in the future where I can get the chance to say what's on my mind, or at LEAST say more than just hello. Maybe show some excitement and get them pumped for an upcoming show! That will be my mission for next time...

After the meet and greet, it was time for the guys to start warming up for the show. On the way back to the front of the stage, Mike gave me a shirt and a couple of CDs that I think were given to him by some of the fans at the meet and greet. They weren't DT cds or a DT shirt, but just some random bands, probably trying to promote themselves however they could. I was pumped to get the shirt, because that would help me with having a clean shirt for the ride back home :)

The third band playing was Opeth, who were from Sweden. Again, at the end of the last song, Mike sprayed them with silly string.....up next: Dream Theater!!!


I think this is a good time to stop...as well...keep you on the edge of your seat!!!! haha

Slovenia Trip Part 1

After 61 hours of traveling and three days spent in Slovenia, I have MUCH to write about! (31 going, 30 coming back) What you make up in cheaper prices, you lose in time...but it was very much worth it! One of the best trips I could ask for!! I'll split the story up into three parts, so let's start from the beginning shall we???

Right off the bat, I get on the wrong bus to Stockholm..haha! I got on the 830 bus that goes to Stockholm, not the 832 that I needed. Luckily, when I was sitting looking outside the window, I saw the right bus pulling into the station, so I was able to make it on the right bus in time. This bus ride was not bad compared to the ride back... (which I'll talk about later)

I had to wait 6 hours for the flight...so I just walked up and down the airport, bought a magazine to read, and had some lunch. On one of the walks I saw my friend Flo, a German exchange student that lives right next to me back in Jonkoping! He was dropping off his girlfriend who stayed a few days in Jonkoping. While in the line for check-in, there was a lady who had been in the wrong line the whole time. An easy mistake that I almost made, so I didn't hesitate to let her go ahead of me.

I was on a plane that didn't have assigned seating, but rather an order of people who payed the extra price of getting on the plane first. I obviously didn't go with the extra charge, and was still able to get a seat next to a window with a space in between myself and the isle seat. I was able to get some sleep in and enjoy the view of the mountains below before landing in Milan.

Milan Central Station

It was quite weird because it was very sunny until we got into Milan. It was hazy and was instantly dark once we landed. It would have been nice to see more of Milan, but I had other plans for this trip...I'll just have to leave it for another time:)

After a shuttle bus to the central station, I had to get a train ticket to Ljuljana...this ended up being more expensive than I was anticipating, as one of the rides was with a sleeping car. I would have gladly paid for just a regular seat, but it didn't look like there was that option for this trip. The train left around 9 or so. I ended up getting a few more solid hours of sleep, and in a lying position for the first time in a while.
There was another college student from Brazil (can't remember his name...) in the same room as me. He lost his plane ticket to go back to Vienna, so he had to buy the ticket instead.

I had to change trains at a place called Villach, which I thought was in Switzerland, but I found out after leaving Villach that it was in Austria...haha. Quite funny not knowing exactly where you are, especially when you're talking about countries! The train station was completely dead, and rightfully so because it was 4 in the morning. I had to wait 2.5 hours before getting on the train to Ljubljana.

The countryside of Slovenia was quite nice actually. I didn't know what to expect, but there were hills throughout the ride in. It didn't matter how tired I was on the train, because I had to wake up to find the hostel I was staying in for the trip...and not knowing a single word of Slovenian could make it difficult!

One mistake I made on this trip was not writing down the address of the hostel, or even the freakin' directions that they give out on the website! Lesson learned. I knew which hotel Jordan was staying in, used Google Maps to see where it was from the hotel, and it was literally 2 blocks away from the hostel I was at...so I was able to find the hotel fine, but it took another hour or so to find the hostel. It didn't help getting directions to different areas of the city. I was starting to think the place didn't exist after a while! I got a map from the tourist info center, asked a hotel worker, and EVEN asked a coffee shop that ended up being the next building over from the hostel! The guy didn't even know about the hostel and he works not even 30 ft from the place!!! I will also give partial blame to my tired mind. It was Friday morning, and I had been traveling and waiting in places since 1:45 Thursday morning...but it didn't matter because at 10 o'clock, I finally made it to the hostel in one piece. .

I took about a 3 hour nap before walking around the town by myself. I ended up finding a winding trail that led to the castle in Ljubljana. For most of the walk, I was only thinking about what would happen the next day hanging out with Jordan. After that, it was ANOTHER nap, which I probably didn't need as much, but I took it anyway.

One of the more interesting stories about the trip was about the people who were staying at the hostel. As I was hanging out at the hostel, there was a guy who noticed my Liquid Tension Experiment sweatshirt (3 of the 4 members are also in Dream Theater) and instantly knew that I was going to be at the concert the following day. There were actually 3 other guys staying in the same room as me who were in Ljubljana for the show. Two of the guys were from Greece and the other was from Australia who was taking a break from working in London. Alex, who noticed my sweatshirt before, was the bigger fan of the bunch. I can't remember the names of the other guy from Greece and the Australian...gotta work on remembering names! Nice guys though! It was good to talk about Dream Theater for a bit. Alex's English was spot on and from what I remember, he used to speak with more of a British accent when he was younger, but he had many friends from America, so it just changed over time.

Now comes the interesting part that was running through my mind the whole time: "do I mention to them my story about meeting Jordan in Copenhagen, and am going to be spending the afternoon with him the next day?" or "tell them that I know Jordan Rudess, make their day, and maybe introduce them to Jordan as well" I didn't really think that this situation would happen, but I ended up keeping it from the other guys because I didn't think it would be the best for a group of guys to hang out with Jordan...also, I'm sure Jordan wouldn't appreciate have a bunch of fans around him all the time...it's like inviting people to a party that you were invited to by someone else...it can get crowded. And if they ended up running into us on the street, then I would have to explain to them what the deal was...haha! Who knew I would have to keep such a secret while visiting Slovenia?!

There were a total of 4 people from Australia, including a couple who had been traveling since February and spent 3 months living in Germany. I guess if people from Australia travel, they do it in big chunks because they live so far away!

After a tasty lasagna dinner, the DT fans and I went out for a drink at a cocktail bar near the river. It was a good time, just chilling. Still in the back of my mind I was struggling with the whole should I/shouldn't I tell them about my story, but kept mum. I decided to head back to the hostel for some sleep when the others wanted to go somewhere else. They ended up coming back not much later after I did, because they couldn't find a place to go.

Slovenia: pre-trip

About two weeks ago, I was looking at my schedule for the next half of the semester, and mostly looking if I would be able to go on the Kiruna trip once they finally announced the days of the trip. NOPE. Exam schedules are again making that not possible...
So my thinking was it would be cool to see Dream Theater again while they're still playing in Europe. I thought it would be cool to meet up with Jordan again too.
Looking at their schedule, they play their last show in the European leg in Ljubljana Slovenia on Saturday the 31st. It works out pretty well because my last class for the week is on Wednesday, so I can take the time to travel there. I told Jordan my idea and he thought it would be cool if I could make it!
After a couple days of looking at the different possibilities of traveling there, I was able to make out this schedule:

Thursday the 29th --Leave Jönköping at 1:45 A.M. to Stockholm Arlanda (the airport) by bus. Get there at 8:50.
Stockholm to Milan: 2:40-5:30 via easyJet (cheap airline. but doesn't go directly from Stockholm to Ljubljana...the other option was Copenhagen-London, London-Ljubljana, but it was a bit more expensive)
from the Milan airport to the central station, I'll have to take some shuttle that leaves every 30 minutes or so, takes an hour.
Then it looks like I'm taking the train from Milan to Ljubljana at 9:05 P.M. and getting there at 8:10 A.M. on the 30th.

I'm staying at a hostel pretty much downtown, and actually about two blocks from the hotel that Jordan is staying at (at least that's what Google Maps tells me).

Getting back will be just as long. Leaving Ljubljana at 8:48PM on the 1st, and eventually getting back to Jönköping at 3:30 in the morning on the 3rd....seems like a lot of traveling, but the fact that I'm going to see Dream Theater playing in freakin' Slovenia, hanging out with Jordan again, and just the fact that I'm in Slovenia itself is pretty cool. I've heard good things about the country, so I'm pretty excited to see what it will be like!!

October News...so far

It seems like more people have read my blog than just the two people! So I thank you for your time reading my blog. It'll be kind of tricky to follow up from my last blog about the fantastic adventure...but I'm sure it's just nice to give an update every now and then. I'll even throw in some more pictures that I may have forgot to show:

I went to a hockey game the Monday after Copenhagen. The team here is pretty good! They won the league a couple years ago...so we'll see how they do this season. A lot of people assume I follow NHL...but I don't really.

One evening, I went out just taking pictures...here's the canal near my place.

Here's the ceiling of one of the many churches I found in Copenhagen. 12 Apostles

A very SMALL golf course we biked passed on Visingö.

School has been getting kind of busy especially last week with two poster presentations for both of my classes. I kind of liked the way it was set up: making a poster, walking around to see how others did things...made things a little more informal and not as stressful as getting up in front of a class, with powerpoints just reading off the slides.

Also, the previously-mentioned "ridiculously important" exam scores are in...and I passed! Immediate relief came over me and it was nice to know I don't have to worry about failing the class and not getting the credits I need. There's still a presentation next week in Marketing which is almost as important, but as long as I do alright in that, it will be ok. haha, here I was thinking that the great weekend I had in Copenhagen was just to prompt me for disappointment with the exam, but it's nice to get my cake and eat it too :)

I have recently decided to spend Christmas in France with the same family I stayed with for three weeks back in 2004. It will be great to see them again, and to go Snowboarding in the Alps!

Speaking of trips, there is now word on the schedule of the Kiruna trip in December. However, it looks like it will be during a few classes and it's towards the end of the semester...which sounds a lot like the situation I had with the Norway trip: school getting in the way of a once in a lifetime trip! I would really like to go on this trip, it's a little more expensive, but I'm sure it is worth it. It's still up in the air for now, we'll see how it plays out in the upcoming weeks.

I have talked to Jordan (the keyboardist from Dream Theater...see previous blog if you don't know who he is!) a few times on Skype, just in between his gigs and days off...not talking much, but just chatting about music and stuff. He's given me a few artists to listen to which he is "coming from". Getting the direct influences of the artist is pretty cool I think! I have thought about trying to go to another concert while they are in Europe for the rest of October, like the 31st their last spot on the Euro tour is in Slovenia...a place which definitely sounds interesting! And maybe walking around with Jordan, but I feel like that would take away from the adventure in Copenhagen and just sounds...needy...I don't know....I'm sure there will be times in the future when they are in Chicago or Wisconsin again and I can try to meet up then...again, who knows!

Copenhagen Weekend!

This is the story of my weekend. I apologize for the length, but it must be told!!!: I may have told everyone this story (*cough* Luke & Dad *cough*) who follows my blog. But for future reference I'll write it down!!

So I got on the bus to Copenhagen at 3:30 in the morning. Getting a little bit of sleep here and there, but probably not enough. After getting off the bus, I recognized a Chinese guy (that I'm going to call John because that's what I heard come out of this mouth...haha) with a JIBS (Jonkoping International Business School) bag that they gave out the first week. After talking to him, I decided to go to the hostel he was staying at to see if they had any other rooms available. The only rooms they had were double rooms for 500 DKK /night (danish crowns) a night. So after getting directions to the other hostels near downtown, and saying goodbye to John, I found a place for 400 DKK for two nights...not bad.

The yellow line on the edge of the building is a thermometer! Also to the right, I like the slogan "probably the best beer in town..."probably!

Here's a cemetery that I stumbled upon on my walk the first day..pretty much a garden!

As for looking around Copenhagen, I got a 24 hr bus pass which also had some free deals to museums and other nice sights. Around 6 in the evening, I was walking around a park when I saw John with two other Chinese girls. Haha, he looked quite surprised to see me. After walking around a little bit more, we ate at a pizza buffet and went back to John's hostel and played some card games. A good day I must say so for not having anything planned!!


One thing I know about Jordan, the keyboardist for Dream Theater, is he likes to walk around the city that the band is playing at....so my objective for Sunday was to try and find Jordan in Copenhagen...haha the task seemed a little tricky but I didn't care...He also has been tracking some of the places he has been with his iPhone. Just taking short clips of him, in the city and some clips of the other members before or after the show.

So around 9:30 I started my journey. First, I thought to check some of the more obvious spots in Copenhagen that I would think he would go to...for example, where I went yesterday. I walked up and down some main streets, looking for a bald guy with a wicked goatee...haha

After three hours of constant walking, I was starting to lose some hope...how on Earth would I find find one guy in all of Copenhagen? Maybe he didn't feel like walking around today...that would suck, but definitely a possibility.


At one point, I found myself in the same park that I saw John the day before and took a seat at the bench. After 10 mintues, I see Jordan freakin' Rudess waiting at a crosswalk to come towards the park. After a rush/shock that ran through my body, I told myself to remain calm (as possible) and just introduce myself. I was wearing my Liquid Tension Experiment sweatshirt, which he is a member of that band as well and have some instant recognition of me as a fan. I walk up to him, hand out for a shake and after a couple minutes of me explaining to him what a guy from Wisconsin was doing in Copenhagen, we continued walking around the city. We were pretty close to a cool canal I saw earlier, so I thought it would be a good idea to go over there. At one point, he takes out his iPhone and tells me to introduce where we were...too cool! Here's one of the videos. I enjoy the comments the people have :)

**EDIT** I forgot to mention the ticket situation!!! So, I couldn't get the tickets to the show Friday night off ticketmaster because the show was too close to the date, so my plan was to go to the actual hall and buy the ticket there on Saturday. Well, they weren't open, so my new plan was to get the ticket when the doors open Sunday night. I had a feeling the show wouldn't be sold out, but there was always that chance..so when I was walking and talking with Jordan, we were talking about the concert that night. Not even thinking about it, I told him my situation and he instantly pulls out his iPhone and texts the band manager (rikk = rick) and gives me a free ticket and after show pass!!! Should have proof-read the blog, a good chunk of information missing there...haha

After a 20 minute walk and another video, Jordan and I sat down for a drink at one of the restaurants by the canal we were at earlier. It was really cool just to talk to Jordan, knowing he's a huge and respected musician, but just talking to him about anything else like another guy. I honestly can't remember everything we talked about. I mentioned to him the Flowers band and some of the stories from playing with them. He showed some cool apps he has for the iPhone and let me play with it a little bit...haha again, too cool!!! Two more videos were taken on the way back to Jordan's hotel near the downtown. Both of street musicians. 1st one...and second one

So, before the show I got just a little after show pass that I put on my shirt...and since Jordan hooked me up with a free ticket, I could buy a shirt and still save money!
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The concert itself was great. There were four bands: Unexpect, BigElf, Opeth (from Sweden) and of course Dream Theater. The nice thing about Dream Theater is they like to mix up their line up, so for the third time seeing them, I heard a few new songs (besides the ones off their new album) I hadn't seen before.

I honestly didn't know what was going to happen at the after show. I was hoping to see everyone from Dream Theater and maybe some of the other band members and talk with a bunch of the other people that got to go to the after show.Well, it wasn't like that at all...haha.

After the show, the people with the after show pass were to wait to the right of the stage while the band members got a little break and cleaned up before seeing the few fans that were invited to the after show. There was one guy from Romania who was very impatient and wanted to see Opeth as soon as possible. He said he was a promoter and helped with a 10,000 person festival in Romania...cool I guess, but he was not very nice. Anyone at the show would have been content with waiting for 2-3 times longer than what we did just to see the band members!! Including me!!

So after about 15 minutes, one of the guys who I recognize from the dvds and behind the scenes stuff brought us back to a cafeteria place. After the impatient Romanian guy asked again who he could talk to and get "some answers" as to where Opeth was, he was given the bad news that they had already left...I didn't feel bad for him at all though.
After another 10 minute wait, Jordan came out and talked with me and the two other guys that were sitting at the table. I thanked him again for the free ticket and after show pass. After that, he said goodbye. Earlier during the day, he gave me his email and skype account! So last night I chatted with him a little bit while he had a free day in Berlin.

The other guy I found out was a guitar player who plays clinics and is sponsored by Ibanez. Magnus Olsson from Sweden. He got his tickets from John Petrucci (the guitar player) so the same guy who brought us back went to go get John and see if he would be able to say hello quick. Of course, I stayed too just to see one of my favorite guitar players and one of the guys who inspired me to start learning guitar...seeing him walk down the little hall sent yet another rush of excitement/shock through my body. Had a little bit of an awkward handshake with him: went to shake his hand, no hand was shown on his part, then saw I had my hand out, then he gave me the handshake...haha

Magnus and John talked some guitar tech stuff for a good 10 minutes while I listened not knowing 80% of what was said, but he could be talking in Russian and I would still listen just the same..it's John freakin' Petrucci! Magnuss stated he wanted to see how his rig (amps, speakers) were set up on stage, but they had already torn that down, so instead he asked if he could see one of John's guitars and look at the setup of it....a great request if I must say so myself!!!

John left and came back with one of his 14 guitars he has on the tour. And after Magnuss played a little bit and commented on the setup, he passed it to the next guy, Nickolas, around my age, who played a little bit and then passed the guitar to me...holy s*t! Here I am, holding one of John Petrucci's guitars, playing a little bit of it, while he's right across from me in a cafeteria place in Copenhagen on a Sunday night....if you would have told me that a week ago, I would have thought you were on something and making a very unfunny joke...and yet it happened!!! how great things can turn out just for being at the right place at the right time.

After saying goodbye to John, Magnuss Nickolas and I went our separate ways. The buses stopped going 30 minutes earlier, so I decided to take a taxi. Being in Copenhagen at 1 in the morning on what was a 15 minute bus ride doesn't seem like the smartest time to walk...so I'll pay the extra money this time.

Got back to the hostel, tried sleeping but one of the new guys that was in the room snored soo much! His phone went off around 5, but he was sound asleep. it went off every hour after that. I had the buffet at the lobby, got on the bus at 9, back in Jonkoping at 1:30, class at 3-5, hockey game at 7, back home at 10:30...a very busy and eventful weekend to say the least!!

I still can't believe how lucky I was to see and meet Jordan. One different turn and I could have missed seeing him completely and the rest wouldn't have happened...it's quite funny though: Dream Theater's new album called Black Clouds and Silver Linings has some themes in the songs to the saying of 'black clouds and silver linings'. The same can be said about my situation. Here I was, wanting to go on the Norway trip, but couldn't because of the Marketing Management exam I had during that time. THEN thinking that 'ok, I'll go to the Dream Theater concert instead in Stockholm after the exam' NOPE! Exam is scheduled late in the day so I wouldn't have been able to make it to the concert in time....but making the decision to go out to Copenhagen by myself was the best idea I could have made. So in a very weird way, I have the exam to thank for getting in the way of what would have been an alternate world indeed for me....YAY SCHOOL!!! :)

Busy week....

**Oops!** forgot to post this when i first wrote it....this was from Friday night...

This past week has been QUITE busy for me study-wise...Two exams (one oral). I don't think I've studied this much in a long time...but paid off with the oral exam!!

Today, (Friday) I had my ridiculously important Marketing exam. Basically, I need to pass this exam (60%) to pass the class no matter what. The re-exam period for this is in the 5th week of the next year...WAY past the time I'll be back in WI. Therefore, if I fail this, I fail the class, don't get credit back home, and get in some trouble with the student loan peeps, because I won't be qualified as a full-time student!
I don't want to get my hopes up, so I'll just patiently wait for the results sometime next week. I felt like I did ok...I started to get a headache during the exam from all the intense thinking. This was probably the first exam I took that I didn't have to fill in a little circle in a LONG time! Just a 'X' on a table for each question. And a 60 word MAX for short answer questions. I found it funny at the end of this ridiculously important exam to be counting how many freakin' words I had...more than 60 and no credit!! Interesting ways people have with tests.....

Afterwards, I talked to my parents and let them know how it went. I also mentioned that Dream Theater was playing in Copenhagen this weekend. And after some words of wisdom, told me to go! So now (Friday night) I'm waiting to get on a bus to Copenhagen at 3:30 in the morning... As there aren't many Dream Theater fans here, I'm going by myself and hopefully finding a relatively cheap youth hostel to stay in and take a bus back Monday morning in time for class in the afternoon.

Gränna & Visingö

It's been a while since my last entry....I should have posted something last week about my trip to Gränna & Visingö while it was still fresh in my mind, but I will use this lovely Sunday afternoon to try and remember as much as possible.

Gränna is a small town about 30 minutes by bus from Jönköping. Around 60 people (all International students) went on the trip.

First, we visited a museum and learned about a man by the name of S.A Andrée, a balloonist from the late 19th century. He tried to explore more of the Arctic Sea and Bering Strait with a hydrogen balloon and two other people with him. Basically, they flew for 5 days, crashed, and tried to walk back to land. Unfortunately, they didn't make it, but one of the members of the expedition had a camera and a diary. 33 years later, another group found their stuff, including the camera and diary and able to tell the story of the failed expedition! FUN huh? I thought so!


Next, we visited a candy shop across from the museum. They are famous for making candy canes. The store and the kitchen they make the candy are right next to each other, so you can see the chef making the candy.

After that, we took a 15 minute ferry to the island of Visingö. We had a little "BBQ" aka two hambergers, and rode bikes around the island. At Visingö, there's an old castle that they used back in the 18th century to keep Russian POWs. The island isn't very big, at one point you can see the water from both sides.
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Other than that, not much has been going on. School is going alright. The Swedish education system is a little bit different that I'm used to. There isn't a set day when there's class, or where it's located. You can have 3 meetings a week, or just one, and it can be on the 4th floor or 2nd floor. There are also clashes with classes. So, if both of your classes are at the same time, you have to just pick one to go to and hope there isn't a pop quiz in the other one! I've only had one clash, and that was in the beginning.
There are discussions called "Seminars" where you and your group (that you get paired up with in the beginning of the semester) meet with other groups, and the facilitator gives you a topic for you to discuss. Kind of an interesting way to teaching, because you can debate about the topic and learn that way instead of just reading it out of a book.
There's basically no homework/written assignments, but the exams and project work play a big role in the course.
Most of the classes are at least 2 hours, and up to 4 hours long. Usually, there's a break every hour or so. Which helps you get some coffee and stay awake.

School HAS gotten in the way of a trip to Norway that I hear is very good. I have an exam this Friday in Marketing Management. The exams are usually not that early, but for some reason, they decided to have this one early. The trip itself is 6 days, so you would miss some class anyway. I'm a little frustrated I'm so close to going to Norway, but can't (at least not yet). There is a trip to a place called Kiruna in Northern Sweden that looks great as well. Dog sledding is involved...hopefully I can get on that trip!

Ok this looks like a nice-sized blog. So I will leave you with this much for now! I'll try to keep up with this more than every couple weeks or so...