Handball World Championship

Handball is my new sport. Saw a couple games live in Malmo for the early rounds of the world championship and I am hooked. I would never have thought handball could be so badass! I'm watching the finals right now with Denmark vs. France. I'm cheering for Denmark because I think I made it plenty clear in my last post that I love Copenhagen and I have seen them play AND they are the underdogs. However, I am crushin of the best player in the world Nikola Karabatic. Up to date stats: 22-19 France with 17 minutes to go. 23-22!! Nail biter. 25-25 whaat?? Denmark's goalie is the business. Denmark down 1 with 30 seconds to go. OVERTIME SHOOOO!!! This is too stressful I need a brew. Fan. loss in OT. Congrats Babe. (Karabatic)

Copenhagen

I love this city!! It's so beautiful and has great shopping and food and that's all I'm really looking for from a city. I have been a couple of times now and every time I go I enjoy the city that much more. I had a 100% volleyball free weekend which was unusual, but welcome because it means rest for my poor little knee. Saturday I adventured to Copenhagen with my little American Lauren and we went big! She is kind of a big shopper so I was worried I might spend too much money, but I was a good girl and just shopped with my eyes not my wallet. Our first stop was into an Irish bar to use the toilet and warm up with some Irish coffees. Wow. They were BOMB. So good we ended up staying and having two because we started talking to the guys sitting next to us. Strangers were a little more friendly here, I think it's because there are a lot of people from all over and more tourists. The waitress there told us that bars stay open till early in the morning so if we wanted we should just stay out all night then take the train in the morning back because it stops running around midnight. We loved the idea of this because we were ready for a good time. Window shopped and blah blah blah you know enjoyed the city then grabbed a drink and snack at a little cafe. Our next stop was the Dubliner, another Irish bar. We immediately met guys that bought us drinks and it turned out that one of them was the owner of the bar! Uhhh....that equaled never having an empty drink and free dinner! The owner convinced us to get a traditional Scottish dish (he's from Scotland) Haggis. Before we "dug in" he told us that it was banned in Brazil for being unfit for human consumption....what? But we tried it and I liked it, a lot. Later that evening, and by evening I mean 5am, cutie bartender told me what it was made of and how it was cooked. Really glad I did not have this knowledge while I was eating it, but safe to say I would happily eat it again. It was a wild and weird night which included dancing, singing, meeting a Giants fan, dancing on tables, drinks, rating hotness of girls, getting a key to a hotel room, and most importantly not paying for a damn thing. Old guys that are okay with paying for all my drinks while I still talk to the young attractive guys....perfection. Now that I know Copenhagen is an all night long city, we left around 5:30am and my bartender love said I was leaving too early and they were about to go party for a couple more hours down the street, we will be back soon and somewhat often. I'm just sad that it has taken me this long to find out this beautiful news.

Images above include our boy Gus, Owner (?) and the beloved Haggis

Admiring the Tatted

I don't have any tattoo's and have only recently grown enough courage to get another piercing on my ear. I have always said I wanted a tat and have really made my Dad cringe with telling him I was really going to. I have made drunken pacts with my friends to get tatted, but to speak honestly I never see any of that happening. I am one the the most indecisive people and will mos def end up hating what I get later on in life. I am a bit jealous of people who have the courage to get tatted, but I often think they are idiots with the weird shit they ink up with. Drunk Kelsey loves talking to strangers and is always looking for a way to start a conversation and tattoos are definitely the number one way to do so. Sorry for referring to "drunk Kelsey" in third person, but she is a semi different person and everyone who drinks can attest they they often refer to their drinking selves as someone different from there sober selves. My drunk need to talk to strangers does NOT mean I am hitting on them, well of course I am sometimes, but for the most part I just want to talk to someone new. Of course every guy that has a strange drunk girl come up to them and start talking to them assumes she's interested. This has led me to meeting some real freaks. I'm sure there are normal guys with interesting tattoos, but so far I have only met the weirdo's. Example from this weekend at Club Pub: A guy had a tear drop tattoo below his eye and I was fascinated! Obviously I asked if he had killed someone, but it turns out since it's colored it's for two of his friends that died (BTW I'm so amazed I am able to remember so many details from that night). I did not feel like I was getting my flirt on at all, just holding a conversation with a weird looking stranger. Another drunken habit is to hand out my number like it's free candy, so of course I have my new friend my number. He has text me every day since, and every text includes a creepy smiley face. When will I ever learn?

Nej Svenska

What is the normal or average time that it takes to learn a new language? I have been living in Sweden for almost 6 months and I know a decent amount of Swedish words, but have yet to gain the ability to form sentences. I wonder if I had been taking classes (like I was told I would) if I would be able to hold a conversation... I am disappointed that when I return home I will not be coming home with a new language.

"Shag Balls"

I 100% regret my decision of teaching my teammates and coaches the term "shag" (which just means go get the balls and put them in the cart or basket). Because my coach now uses the phrase "shag balls". And my dirty little mind is either laughing or disgusted every time I hear it. So this makes me wonder why we use the term shag. It used to seem so normal and natural, but now I always think of Austin Powers and dirty dirt dirty! My mistake.

Blog 'bout it

Before I even left for Europe I had people tell me I should start a blog about my travels. I have successfully procrastinated for more than 5 months on starting this bad boy. I have always thought of myself as a strong storyteller, but only in live situations where I can make voices and act scenes out. Hopefully I have enough skill with the written word to do my stories justice without making it as bland as possible. I'm not quite sure how I should recap these past 6 months (holy crap I can't believe I've been gone that long). So here is an attempt....Joined about 25 other girls in Slovenia in August for the Firesale tour with Bring It Promotions where we all had dreams of getting signed some where in Europe. On the 3rd or 4th day of the camp the agents sent me on a tryout in Sweden. Pretty sure I didn't know the name of the town for the first week. Woops. The contract sounded good and I had no idea what else I would do so I signed on for an 8 month season with Svedala volley. Lived by myself from the middle of August to the middle of December. If I didn't talk to myself before I sure do now. My life was oh so simple, played volleyball in the evenings and weekends as well as coached the B-team at our club. I was told I would be able to take Swedish lessons, but so far that has been a big bust. Lucky for me, and my entire team, Mari-Liis joined us for our last game of the first half of the season. I now have a roomie from Estonia so my days are much more enjoyable. Things have been good so far, with some adventures to different countries along the way and I only hope that these next 3 months are even more adventurous.