Or-re = Are

Aside from the usual progress with school, working a lot and general party scene in Sweden there hasn't been a lot to report of late. Until this weekend.

I actually got out of the city and did a bit of shinaniganing> I have been looking at other employment options here in Sweden and came across the possibility of working at a Ski resort in the north of the country called Are. I got myself signed up for a group interview package and jumped on an overnight train there. It was just under 9 hours on the train before we all arrived. I would guess about 150 in total all there for the weekend. Interesting...

We had some breakfast, checked into our rooms and split off into our respective groups (application types). We had some group activities, games etc. You can imagine the typical team building exercises people go through... in Swedish. I understood most of the exercises and got by ok, except for one that I had no idea what was going on. People were lying down head to toe and saying all these weird numbers to each other. Right towards the end of the exercise, having looked very confused the entire time- I figured out the point was to try to figure out, as accurately as possible, the distance between two points. Everyone was taking into account how tall they were and using themselves as measuring sticks. "Ahhhhh. That's what the hell they were doing."

The rest of the weekend was filled with bus tours, presentations and information sessions. I understood generally but when everyone started laughing, most of the time I had no idea what I just missed. I met loads of cool people though and we got up to some pretty cool stuff.

All applicants were given access to the Holiday Club facilities, pools, bowling, minigolf etc. but my personal favorite was Sauna World. A big area with all kinds of crazy things: An ice cave, 5 different saunas of different temperatures ranging from 35-75 degrees. Ice water: a chamber of water around 6degrees that has just enough room for you to drop into over your head and then get the hell out before your body goes into shock and then hit the sauna again. Apparently its really good for sore ski-worn bodies/circulation but this way it was just a bit of fun.

After a reasonably big night out on Saturday (the clubs were packed full of locals even in the off season... pretty surprised actually) I had my interview late Sunday morning. I went in an explained to the interviewers, in Swedish, that even though I can speak Swedish- it's important to convey one's personality in this situation.Personality-wise, mine is somewhat stilted when speaking a second language and as such I would speak English for the rest of the interview. I told them they were welcome to keep speaking English if they wanted: not really expecting them to take me up on my offer.

Despite this it all went pretty well and I left with a good feeling about it. Wish me luck people!

Sunday afternoon I spent a few more hours at Sauna World before getting back on the train home. A few of us from the interviews got together in one of the carriages and set about single handedly drinking the restaurant cart out of alcohol. Next thing I know I am waking up in Stockholm with very little idea of what happened. I texted my friend who was there the next day and he didn't remember either. I'm sure we had fun regardless.

So here I am, back in Stockholm again waiting news from the resort. Realistically my chances are pretty slim, effectively there were 11 people applying for 2 spots. And while my snowboarding qualifications are pretty good and I have the advantage of being a foreigner- in a small resort like Are- the flexibility of being able to both ski and snowboard is important and never having skied puts me at a significant disadvantage. But I can dream right?