The First Four Days (abridged)

Hej hej!

It's taken me four days to get proper internet access for various good reasons, so I will give everyone a relatively quick overview of my time i sverige (in Sweden) so far! I won't even start to apologize for the wonky spacing of everything, I'm not a professional blogger.

Saturday, May 2, 2009
lördag, 2 maj 2009

This was a hard day. I obviously didn't sleep on the plane, and later felt better about it knowing that when the plane landed at Arlanda airport at around 6:45 AM Stockholm time (30 min ahead of schedule, of course), it was only midnight in my body. The flight was delightful, although it didn't have the promised episode of Flight of the Conchords, but I appreciate the thought.

Dr. Hocker picked me up and drove me to my darling floating hem--the Sankt Erik. She is a 1915 icebreaker (isbrytaren) that is beautifully kept up, fully functional, and open to the public in the summer.

Welcome to my båt (boat)!

As you enter from the port side, there are stairs to the left that lead down to an exhibition, some cabins and the heads. This is what you see (way more exciting in person, promise):

Thanks, flash.

That open door is to my cabin, the first mate's...no big deal. Really marked första styrman, see:

Note the sweet patina on my little sign and the cool circular air vent.

In the second mate's cabin, where I was for the first night, there was a tiny baby bed, but that second rate stuff didn't cut it for the first mate:

That's right, I actually BRUISE myself trying to get into bed every night! It's quite an adventure, I love it. Doesn't that rug scream "valkommen!"? It's much larger than I had expected (cabin, not rug), and I love it. There's a reading light above the bed, which is just one of the things that makes me feel like I'm in the Life Aquatic. There's a picture of Per Edvin Fälting wearing what I'm assuming is a red knit hat with a tassel, smoking a pipe, in his foulies if I remember correctly. It's somewhere in the VASA I book, for those of you whom have it on hand. There are some other good ones of him walking around the dive site with a safari jacket and a camera around his neck (c. late fifties, early sixties). Right in front of me right now is a semi-cross section of the Sankt Erik. In my cabin there is a half-full set of what I believe translates to something like "Seacraft of Sweden", from 1980-something to 1990-something all in a row. I could go on. All that boils down to...heaven. But I think I know where Wes did his research.

I also adore having a sink with a medicine cabinet and a great desk--that lamp can come off its gimbal and be set on the desk! awesome.

And the last picture of the room is of my couch and one porthole.

And look how happy it makes me!

Okay, I won't pretend like I actually felt like that the first day, I totally took that today (5 maj). I also will not lie to you all and say that I didn't think I had maybe made a mistake...but the next day I realized that it was just the jetlag and airplane food talking. Actually, speaking of the airplane, I thought of you, Dad, when they turned on the super-cool cameras that show you forward and down shots of what's happening outside the plane, so you can watch take-off and landing and all that...you'd like it. You'll just have to fly over here on SAS and see!!

As usual, I'm in the only one in ...but at least this is next to a beautiful park, cool waterfront restaurants and amazing museums, not a graveyard.

Fred gave me a little tour of the museum, and I just really can't explain how I felt about the ship. It's just in such a great setting, so well advocated for. I'm sure I'll find words as the weeks progress, forgive me for not being able to describe it now. Plus, as Mom attests, there's really nothing like seeing it yourself. Please check this out, however:

http://www.vasamuseet.se/#

Don't be discouraged by the Swedish...I'm just directing you to photos. Scroll to the bottom, and click on TITTA RUNT I MUSEET! I'd give you the link but I can't figure out how to elegantly link to things on this yet. Those are the best, easiest to reach pictures I've seen yet. I wish there were people in them for scale, but look at that freaking SPACE!! The ship is central, and the surrounding supporting exhibits explain many parts of her story in various effective ways. But you can always see her. One of the coolest/creepiest is all the skeletons they found on display! They're set in an island of sorts, about mid-thigh height. On the wall to your left is a display space with various objects that were found/associated with each body, marked as such. My favorite part is that the supporting text is set on a background of a contemporary painting showing the object in use. There are many more parts of the exhibit space I haven't had a chance to really get a good look at...but Penny, Jill, whomever else: get ready for some awesome extant garments! I have so much to tell about clothing comparisons, but I'll save that for a specialized crowd.
After work I walked across the bridge to the north (to Östermalm?), and took a left on Stureplan, wondering where to find ICA (pronounced ick-ah). Spending a few hundred (187) kronor is hard, even though that's only like 22 dollars. Supermarkets are TINY, although I think this one is just a small outpost.

It gets dark at 9-something! (Or, should I say, 21-something!)

The people from the three-masted ship across the quay from me use the toalett on the St. Erik, so I met them, and they are very nice, of course. They've invited me to their boat tomorrow!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

söndag 3 maj 2009

I slept until 1145, which changed my whole attitude. It was also nice to hear people on the boat doing this and that; even though I'm living here alone I'm hardly ever here by myself.

Today is Skansen day! It's a nice little walk along the waterfront, passing the neat aquarium and the gross carnival, to the main entrance (and the atm, phew!). I was probably--no, definitely--the only person in shorts, and DEFINITELY the only person in flip flops. I wonder if I was obviously American or just looked crazy. It was nice, out, too, and everyone was wearing sneakers or boots! Also, marginal enough as it may sound, I didn't see a single woman pushing a baby carriage, just men! And so many seemingly very young couples--not too young to have a baby, but younger, at least on average, than I believe you'd see in America. Although if we got 15 months maternity leave EACH plus healthcare for that darling child...

Anways, museum. I wish I had gone in with no expectations or comparisons already forming. it was way more...singular than I imagined. It would be unfair to compare bits of it to other museums, parks and zoos I've been to. The dumb old lynx, wolverine and brown bear must have been having a party together or something, I kind of really wanted to see them. I did get to see reindeer and peacocks and...something else crazy I forget. I kind of can't wait to try reindeer....

The grounds are huge, having been started in the late 19th c. and expanded steadily throughout the 20th. The zoo-like part is an appropriate manifestation, since Djurgården, where it is located (as is the Vasamuseet), means essentially Animal Park. It used to be the private hunting grounds for the King oh so many years ago, and it's apparently the only part of the city where the current king still actually legally reigns. He owns all the land--and the VASA too!

So not only are there animals, but there are historic houses from all over Sweden (as well as one or two from Norway, since Norway was part of Sweden when it was founded and those buildings were acquired), a kids park, lots of places to eat, and this great artisan town. Oh, and a funicular, etc, etc, etc, etc.....I was museumed out by about 3/4 of the way through. I'll have to go back. In terms of historic recreation and artisan workshops, I wish I spoke Swedish. I'd love to have seen if they are first- or third-person, or maybe both? The artisans, contrary to my experience at the Crafts Center, do not speak until spoken to. They're there to work, not to answer dumbass questions. Plus, they get so many more visitors than we do....there are ALWAYS lines outside the museums here, in a good way, where the lines move fast and it just indicates volume. I guess the Vasamuseet gets 1.2 MILLION visitors a year, enough that they have to shut down the museum at times in the summer because they're at capacity.

After Skansen I walked to ICA again to get something to eat while sitting in the park next to the VM writing about my day. I've been eating bizarrely since my body's still 6 hours behind, so this is the first I've eaten all day...and it's about 16:30. Salami piccante on a roll with some really cheap appel dryck, kind of like sparkling cider. If I can read Swedish (and I can't), I guess there are laws about not being able to call the ICA-brand stuff cider for some reason..maybe it's made of fake apples. The Champagne of Sweden. Later I ended eating muesli with some honey-flavored mildyoghurt I bought yesterday, because you have to in Sweden. They have so many kinds of milk and yogurt I couldn't choose...until I saw the word honung....mmm.

Just remember, about 8 kronor to the dollar, 2.2 pounds to the kilo.

To summarize my day in Swedish: idag, jag gjorde till Skansen. Today, I went to Skansen.
Yay!

Monday, May 4, 2009

måndag 4 maj 2009

First day of work! Loosely translated (right...), första dagen av min (?) jobb!

This morning was....THE Vasa tour. This tour is reserved for: the King, his visiting heads of state (no one below that, not even prime ministers!), visiting marine archeologists and scholars, and...me! And ok, any other interns or people for whom the experience is relevant, like if the Prime Minister decides he wants to be an intern (praktikant).

Seriously, I almost cried when I stepped foot on that ship...partially because we had to walk across what feels like a completely unsupported bridge ridiculously high in the air, but mostly because I have now experienced something that so few people have: I've had the same view of the entire beautiful ship from where the Captain stood on the poop deck, crouched down in the hold next to the galley, sat in the officers' quarters. Some of the boards are not walkable; many, especially on the upper deck, are replaced. I had beautiful sparkly white shoe protectors so as not to ground the dirt from my shoes into the deck, as well as to keep my Danskos PEG-free (that's the preservation solution...I can't remember if it's polyethlyglycol or polyethylineglycol...it's just PEG). I had my tour with the President of INA (Insitute of Nautical Archeology, I presume) at Texas A&M, and it was wonderful to have the addition of his very knowledgeable (and equally awed) questions and commentary. Oh, and he says Hi, Mom (my mom...I don't think his is reading this).

I wish I had taken pictures and I'm so glad I didn't.

We had lunch at the cafeteria, where I learned how to say kyckling (shick-ling, obviously), which is chicken, and was delicious. I thought of trying meatballs, but Fred's, "they do it okay, here" comment made me hold off, as did the idea of cream sauce. Fred totally got the meatballs, so next time he describes something as "okay" i'll do it. Keeping with more internship tradition, I met super-important people the first day. I will not do Robert Olsson the injustice of trying to paraphrase his job, but he is Fred's boss' boss' boss, I believe. We sat next to each other at lunch, no big deal, with the director of the Vasa Project on my left.

They all met for a while after lunch and I hung out with Emma Hocker, Fred's wife, and realized a bit through it that I was yelling at her, and very fast--I hadn't really spoken more than four words in English to anyone in three days, and apparently I had a lot of things to say (surprise).

After that we went to the magasins, which are the "repositories" under the museum, where all the smaller objects are held. Only about 18% of the artifacts recovered are on display, but when you consider that something like almost a quarter of them are single shot found in a barrel (9000 total, I wonder who had to paint on accession numbers), it makes sense that it would fit into the area it does. Plus there's Unwieldy Artifact Storage offsite, which I believe I will get to go to later in the week. I learned so much about the museum, about storage, and preliminarily about their practices that I can't put it all down here. I'm sure it will show itself in my work here, which is going to be AWESOME.

Fred and I talked for way too long today, we left at like 17:45...just about museums and Facts and life expectancies and Obama and social democracy and boats and clothing....and my project here, which is TBD. Clothing and textiles as a subject group is already promised to two (?) women next year, so that's out....maybe other various personal effects? We shall see. And there might be some writing involved........

TODAY! Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Tisdag 5 maj 2009

Today was learning collections procedure in the morning (morgon) and reading, reading, reading in the afternoon.

The morning was fantastic. There's a new exhibit opening on Thursday about the archeological process that led to the museum and the ship as they stand today, and since I will be working that day, I need to learn about the practices unique to this museum. Still no pictures, and we'll see how the visual aspect of this blog pans out; it all depends on the legality of photographing what I'm working on. Anything within the public view is photographable and publishable--by anyone, which I think is neat. Anything not in the public view is photographable and publishable only in certain situations, as makes sense.

Moving forward...I now have computer access to work in their database, called MarketStore. If you want to brave the Swedish, or just play around blindly and maybe see some pictures of artifacts, a lot of them are here:

http://www.vasamuseet.se/sitecore/content/Vasamuseet/Samlingar.aspx

Fortuitously, there were two similar but not identical objects that needed their documentation updated in MarketStore before they were put into the new exhibit. Two pumps, one with some original surface in great condition but also lots of erosion, preserved with PEG, and one in perfect condition, still with the lubricating tallow in great condition and in place, that had apparently been forgotten in an alcohol bath meant to leech the water out. I guess that although I knew that the PEG was what turned most of the artifacts and much of the ship that dark color, I think I've been trained to think of shipwrecks as dark, dank places from being underwater so long. I should ask Fred before I make any assumptions about how the unpreserved, perfect pump came out of the water more than 40 years ago versus how the eroded, preserved one did--I'd like to say I can't imagine the alcohol bath spruced it right up, I think that's really just how it came out, but a lot of my guesses like that have been wrong...or only "headed in the right direction", which is great about working here. I have 80000000 questions and Fred is willing to answer every one (just wait till week 7!). I'm so concerned with trying to make a good impression that I'm forgetting a lot of simple stuff, and overthinking (who, me?), but I think it's going very well.

So, if you can handle having two or three internet windows open at once and want to see the objects I was working on today (well, not THE ones, just a similar one), then follow these directions. Click on the link up above, and scroll down until you see a link that says, "till vassaföremål", which means essentially, "to VASA objects". On the left hand side there is a menu, and you should click on föremålskategori, which I bet you can guess the meaning of. You should put a check mark next to skrov, which means hull, and then click on the button that says sök down a little further. That means Search, if you didn't guess. Is everyone with me? Sorry there are so many steps, it's easier than trying to make you all figure out how to make ö ä and å with your meagre American keyboards. Once you've sök-ed, go to page 9 (nio). Now find 19034, which is a pumphjärta, and click! This will give you the info. If you click on the tab on the top that says bilder, that's the photos, and you can click on any one to englarge! Anyone who has worked with one of these databases will know that I totally could have had you just enter the number under fyndnummer but then I couldn't shown off how much Swedish I know!

Anyways, the eroded one looked a lot like that, just way more....eroded. We updated the measurements, which had been loosely taken at excavation to save time, and switched the locations, and then drew sketches with notes, which was a little nerve wracking. But I think mine came out fine. I had to switch off the "condition report" part of my brain and focus on historical significance. That condition stuff's for those crazy conservators. Staying On Task is the important part, and I feel I will have to write that in big letters, maybe in Swedish, on a piece of paper and tack it above me, because we all know how much I'll overthink and overexamine and overrecord it...just to be sure I haven't done anything wrong. And I need to get a ruler with only the metric system...I never realized what a knee-jerk reaction I have when it comes to using rulers.

This is a huge responsibility, especially once I am working on a specific project. With no disrespect to those for whom I've worked, this is a step up, and a scary but exciting challenge. I appreciate their faith in me and I can't wait to show them they're right!

I hope you all haven't fallen asleep in your chairs. I would like to note that it is 2145 and the sunset is still yellow, although I believe the sun went down a while ago....at like 2110 or something. Someone get an almanac.

God natt alla! I obviously miss you all very much, and please comment or write me emails, or facebook's fine too....