The eighth wonder of the world

I never believed I would cry while watching King Kong. I only shed a tear during particular movies or scenes that remind me of something. One of them is Madagascar 3. Now you all might be thinking, why would this fool cry over a giant ape being shot to death or a pair of furry cute cartoon characters in a kid's comedy animated film?

It is obviously not the case. It is about the emotions we have attached to them. For me it has been a person that I watched Madagascar 3 with. We did not watch King Kong together, but during a few scenes it was reminiscent of me, my life and my emotions or thoughts about her.

There is a particular scene where Alex the Lion does some sort of stunt on a train. He climbs on the wall in front of a tunnel and does a back-flip. Gia the Jaguar calls it "Trapeze Americano". The girl I loved with all my heart started using that sentence for those brief days we spent together. The most enlightening, beautiful days of my long, tiresome life.

I have accepted that we will never be together again. But I regret every day that I think about her, that I did not tell her those days how I felt. How I never told her "I love you N".

Since then I have cried many times. In places that nobody could see me. Occasionally, some did. Most of them were tears of frustration, respite, grief. But 2 years later, I still love her. After such a long time, tonight I shed tears of sorrow.

Why King Kong then? When I first watched the movie in 2005 and all those subsequent times until now, all I saw was a beast action film. Tonight I saw something different. I saw Kong swinging around like an acrobat and I remembered trapeze americano. I saw the face of the beauty, that beauty who I wanted to bear my children and be my loving partner for the rest of my natural life. But I ended up being the beast.

And the Prophet said:

And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty.

And it stayed its hand from killing.

And from that day, it was as one dead.

"And then I held her hand, I looked deep into her beautiful, dark big eyes that were looking at me with anticipation."

"Is that the part where you told her how you felt?"

"No, I never said it"

"You never said it?"

"I was afraid. I thought I didn't need to say it"

"Then how does she know it's real?"

"I said we will talk about it later. Only there was no later. It never happened. That is how it ended."

"She would give you the world, she would be the one thing that truly mattered and all you did is let her slip through your fingers Kostas."

That I did. That I did. And here I am in a dark corner of my room in Hagsätra writing up about a person I still love. I made that promise, to love her until the end.

Wherever you are, I hope you have found love. You will always hold a special place in my heart. On that hurts but also fills me with nostalgia and the occasional smile. You were never second. You were always my number one girl.

Goodnight Sweden

I am a raccoon and I have rights

Some things are going great, some things are going bad and some things are average. Some more than others. Just your classic circle of life.

I am having my first super important interview next week and I am so pumped up about it which is interesting as in my situation you would expect me to be nervous. But I am not at all.

My facebook page keeps bombarding me with memories from my first year in Finland. I cherish every single one of those memories and it feels me with nostalgia, smiles and a lot of melancholy since something happened very recently. In the end I am probably a masochist begging for pain and emotional warfare. I wish you still talked to me. You just disappeared from my view. Just like my song. I miss you.

My swedish is going pretty great. I feel progress every single day. I study hard whenever I can and it shows. I haven't met any new people so I am still alone against the world but it is alright. Most of my problems will go away if I land this job. And when I set my mind to something, I get it.

This blog has went from renaming to opening and closing, to gaming, movie reviews, satire, serious posts, melancholy and pieces of my life, inspiration and just random blabbering. I have received no support from anyone, but somehow we have managed to almost be at 40000 viewers, which is astonishing for me. So many random people have found themselves here reading what turned out to be just my diary, just a place where you can learn more about a random guy in Sweden called Kostas who misses Finland and a dog a lot.

Thank you for that. Thank you for the overwhelming support in the Death's Bite series too. Lately I have been dreaming of a white tiger. Let's see what life brings next week. And yes, the title makes no sense.

Goodnight Sweden.

Kostas almighty - Smite me almighty smiter!

If you are a movie enthusiast like me, you must have seen Bruce Almighty with Jim Carrey. Especially if you like silly humor like I do (ohhh, quelle surprise Kostas!). To keep it short, it's a movie where Jim Carrey is your everyday unlucky man trying to have a better life than he is allowed to. He thinks god is behind all of his bad luck and challenges him, ending up becoming god for a week and making his girlfriend's boobs bigger and reaping chaos and destruction in the city. I love this film. It is hilarious.

So why did I bring this up? Well, in the movie, Bruce (Jim Carrey) just CANNOT GET A BREAK. Literally. Water falls on him, he gets the worst reporter assignments, his own car is against him, his dog pees everywhere in the house. I feel him. I feel for Bruce. Because in 2016, I am Bruce. Yesterday we had one of the worst flood disasters in my hometown of Kalamata. People died, properties were completely destroyed and flooded. Let's take a look where nature decided to park my car.

Now that's what I call parking skills.

But then again, in the end everything started going better for him.

Moral of the story: There is always something that will go wrong in our lives and most likely it will be a chain of events, making you want to gouge your eyes out with a pitchfork. However, a problem always makes you work and look for a solution. Everything will get better eventually. Just do not lose hope.

So yesterday I visited the beautiful Stockholm University campus in Frescati. Amazing landscape, full of green, sunny and with hundreds of people suntanning or eating lunch. It was a great experience. I met my two new partners in crime, Imenne and Reyesssss for lunch and we had some nice discussions about life and how unemployed we are. I shared more ridiculous life stories from my past and Imenne laughed and laughed and laughed at me. I am starting to feel like a live meme here. But it is alright, because that is how I deal with those things, I laugh them away. And those two girls remind me of that. Thanksssss.

I finally sorted my taxes, my house and my SFI lessons so everything has started to pick up pace. I am still a professional dog walker, but we will figure that one out eventually too. How about you? How was your week? Did your own car decide to be a squirrel too? Leave a comment and lets laugh about it together.

The next step is to redesign my CV. I mean it is pretty good because I am super awesome and modest, however it needs to be cleaner and shorter and I have some ideas about it. I have shortlisted where I want to work and I will make it happen. That's the spirit Kostas!

Ehm...that's what I felt like sharing while making a greek salad with a lot of feta cheese and way too much olive oil. I deserve it. See you soon? Maybe.

Bye bye! Kiss the week away!

This is my story

A lot of things have happened since the last post in December. I live in Finland now until June. I am halfway through my thesis. I spend too many hours in the house watching Twitch and playing silly video games.

I have been writing a book. It may or may not be released ever. It is based on a true story. As i try to banish these thoughts from my head making it a daily struggle i thought i could write a bit here, a few fragments and share with whomever happens to be around. A message to everyone: Even though a choice comes back to haunt you and your dreams, do not regret it. It happened for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. So without much introduction, here's a section based on a true story. If people like it, i will share more. Enjoy.

"She promised me we would wake up at 4:21 to catch the bus around 5 am. We both set our alarms around that hour and we kept talking and hugging until time passed and it was over midnight. I told her to save her strength and take a short nap as I was anxious and could not sleep, fearing of not waking up. I watcher her sleep and I decided to lie next to her, smelling her hair and neck, trying to absorb that smell and keep it forever with me.

Eventually I fell asleep. A few hours passed and I woke up by sheer luck around 4:40. In the beginning I was happy. We were sleeping together, holding hands, like inseparable partners. It was the second time I had that feeling i felt in October 21st, that it was here that I belong. Then happiness gave way to panic as I saw the time and woke her up. She panicked too and we started looking for alternatives. It was not easy moving around the deep snow with 5 bags weighting so much. I watched her dress, I watched her care, I watched her have a deep sorrow in her eyes.

We found out a time that we could barely scrape it to the bus and the train at 5:26. We dragged my bags through the snow for 15 minutes in a massive struggle towards the bus stop in Flogstavagen. She was powering forward without stop, determined and strong. If only she knew how much i admired her. Once we reached the bus stop we waited there, it was cold. It took 10 minutes for the bus to arrive and we hopped on in the middle, tethering the luggage with a belt and sitting together on top of them.

When we finally made it to the train station we run with as much strength we had left to catch the train. It was leaving in 3, 2, 1 minute. But when we went to the platform there was no train. It was Sunday and the next train left in 30 minutes at 5:56. I would barely make it to the ship. I sat there with a big void in my eyes while she comforted me. I was about to leave her forever and she was still strong for me.

The train came. We sat side by side and I held her hand strongly while caressing her hand with my fingers. She was wearing the ring i gave her underneath her gloves. A ring that i carried through my entire life since 1998 and I will never see it again. Nor I will see her. The only thing she didn't know was that I had another ring with me. I ring I planned to give her in June 3rd, right after my thesis presentation. It was a vows ring that had a name engraved on it "Νικη Μανδηλαρη Σαρρη". It was the only thing that kept me going.

We once more raced through the train platforms of Stockholm towards the taxis. There was no traffic so there was a glimmer of hope of making it there with the ship leaving at 7:45. It would be close. The taxi driver asked some questions and when we said we are from Greece he began talking in broken Greek as well. He was an expat from the Middle East that loved Greece for his holiday destination. He took us as fast as possible to the ship docks. My heart was racing.

I bought a ticket and was ready to go through the passageway alone to the ship. I don't know how i found the strength to carry 5 bags. I said a quick goodbye to her and a kiss and run and run and run. Bags were falling, but i kept going. And then i reached the entrance of the ship. It would leave in 5 minutes. I stood there watching as the steward urged me to enter the ship or risk missing it.

I turned back and run to the lobby. She called me to see if I made it. I lied and said that the ship left early. It was all a big lie. It was a lie because I missed the ship on purpose so I got to spend another day with her. I could see the small happiness within the sorrow in her eyes. We would spend 12 hours wandering in Stockholm together. I held her hand once more with pride and squeezed it as much as I could as we walked our way towards Gamla Stan to find a coffee shop to sit and relax. I stopped and looked at the purple sky of Stockholm admiring its beauty. I told her "This is not how I expected us to see Stockholm together, but it is so beautiful".

We walked  towards the center and sat down in a shop called Espresso House. It was the dirtiest coffee shop we had ever seen. We took some juice and bread and we sat on the couch removing our shoes. We cuddled as I held her hand and legs. That is how that day started, a day of happiness, love, sorrow and pain."

We don't talk anymore as she blocked me from her life. She doesn't know everything and probably doesn't want to anymore. She is having a good life. I am happy for her. The sun is burning bright in Turku right now. And so is my passion. I hoped you like my story. I will close out with a song. A song I have handwritten among other things and wanted to mail it to her for her birthday in September 4th. Do you think I should, or should I let her walk her own path?

Song by Dido - White Flag

I know you think that I shouldn't still love you,
Or tell you that.
But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it
where's the sense in that?

I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder
Or return to where we were

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I know I left too much mess and
destruction to come back again
And I caused nothing but trouble
I understand if you can't talk to me again
And if you live by the rules of "it's over"
then I'm sure that that makes sense

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

And when we meet
Which I'm sure we will
All that was there
Will be there still
I'll let it pass
And hold my tongue
And you will think
That I've moved on....

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

Θα σε αγαπώ μέχρι να κλείσω τα μάτια μου. Είχες δίκιο, διάλεξα να μείνω μακριά σου. Είχες δίκιο, μου δώθηκαν άπειρες ευκαιρίες.  Αν το διαβάσεις αυτό ποτέ, θα σε αγαπώ όσο καμία. Δεν ήσουν ποτέ δεύτερη. Ήσουν η Νίκη της καρδιάς μου και ήθελα θέλω να γίνεις η Νίκη της ζωής μου.

How often do you hear yourself saying: "I am finally free"?

I try. I really do. But then something deep inside compels me to take the pen and once more unravel my soul one last time and harness the satisfaction and inner peace that writing gives me. I must succumb. What are you waiting for?

I had never known peace in my life. I was borne and raised in the battlefield. Conflict and victory were my parents. I learned to run before I walked. And I ran a whole lot. When I recently began to have a goal, finally tasting victory and peace for the first time, you arrived. You arrived like the rising sun. My hidden passenger that I was taking for some time. And instead of letting go, we closed our eyes time and again, forgetting as we both dragged ourselves down. Yet we still took each other in.

We surrendered, again and again, thinking that this will take us towards the light. I was caught in your slow release but now my reflection will slowly fade into another time and become a distant memory. But even all these tarnished memories, all these memories that haunt us are cherished just the same.

When I was a young little boy I wanted to become a scientist. I wrote that in my school essay back when I was 10 years old. I wanted to change the world. As time passed I found it hard to change the world. I had to think about economics, relationships, power struggles. So I shifted my goal to do something and change my nation instead. I would become a scientist that would yield the power and determination to procure change and rock the foundations of the Earth.

But even that proved challenging as I walked outside the doors of the university with a piece of paper stating academic excellence, throwing me into the whirlpool of unemployment and increasing depression rates. I never gave up. I fought with both conflict and victory. I shrugged the weight that Atlas had off my shoulders each night when I went to sleep. The weight of the entire world.

Titanic strength and steely determination.

When I finally saw the cracks in my plan, I shifted focus once more. I could not change my nation. A nation of corruption and dark deeds oozing out of its core, out of its every pore. I focused on my town. A town of merely 50-60.000 inhabitants. I was shocked by how materialistic and individualistic our society is. I fought against hunters, killers and stray animal abusers. I bathed in their blood and swam in my tears as I tried to correct the injustice. It was unbearable. I fled my country to pastures new, arriving in Sweden as the dream destination.

I tried to form relationships and take that hidden passenger but at the age of 27, finally wiser and forged through the fire and flames I understood I cannot change others. It is wrong to do that, to force them. These days I finally realized what I want in my life. A plate of food, personal development, a roof over my head and a loving partner to hug and swim in the warmth of emotions and banish loneliness once and for all. I understood that if I change myself, if I change my mindset to become something unbreakable I can come out unscathed walking over hot coal and through the burning gates of hell. That my impact will be passed to my off-springs. And then together we will take that impact and change our city. And our nation. And the world. In the end, I can change the world.

When everything is said and done, why don't you stop looking for answers, if only there is one. And as I turn my back, finally the urge is gone, left with no reason, we come undone. And I am free. My chains are broken. As I crawled out of the bottomless pit I threw myself into I saw the light. And as I swim upwards I will see you, the individual that is doing the same and grab your hand while we walk towards the light. 

I have no strings on me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every story is important. Every pain or every joy. Stories are a very important part of our culture. Telling those stories is our way of coping with things. Maybe someone out there will identify themselves with this situation. Maybe not. But there is one thing that we can all agree about. Stories are memory aids, instruction manuals and moral compasses. It is a nice quote. They harden us, they make us think, sometimes they make us cautious and weary and some other times they make us smile and look on the bright side of things. And even if the storyteller does not intend to, ALL stories teach. They bind us together. What is your story?

Goodnight Sweden...For I am free.

Bonus post: I am the heartbeat of a true heart

I have a few different values in my life. I want to live a decent life. I want to work instead of studying. I want to have a nice family without crazy things. I am not your average party drinker. I will rather cuddle with my partner in the couch rather than getting those moves done on a dirty dancefloor. I learned to be honest even if it means my punishment. I learned to love unconditionally, even though I said I will never do that after my first heartbreak. I told my self that I will never cry for a woman before, yet I did it again and again, crying for months. For months i bled dry, both from my heart, from my soul, my mood and my eyes. But I did not care. For I rather be emotional and true to my self and not emotionally shallow.

I loved someone with all my heart. In the beginning I didn't show it, there were complications. So the person got psychologically tired while i plummeted into free-fall in the depths of depression day by day. In the end she had enough. She switched off at the point where I was about to make things right. To do what she asked me to do and live an eternal life of passion, love and caring with her. I started to think of a place for us to stay together and it almost came into fruition. Oh I felt so good that day! I was powered by love, the most gentle and pure sentiment. And she broke down. Torn apart from the weight of her own classes and the added weight of what she called love to me and inability to commit at that point she shut down. She shut down like a steel trap-door, trapping everything inside and leaving me in my own prison. These days I felt like I was Stanley in the Stanley Parable for all you game nerds. Living in an empty world where everything else has vanished.

The girl needed time. She said she could not make the choice. To be or not to be with me. The girl that unconditionally loved me had to make a choice if she would be with me. Staggered I started crying for days. Once we met and I gave her my heart on a plate along with some things. But nothing. That day I cried so much I could not breath, that my eyes were gushing red from pain, that my lips were so sore like I was in the desert for days. My stomach instead of butterflies was filled with rocks crushing the butterflies. My heart was being pierced every second. I prayed to god to give me strength. He didn't. I need to find my own strength.

When a girl you are ready to die for asks you for time it can mean a few things. It can mean she indeed has other problems. It can mean that she found someone else. It can mean that you destroyed her trust before. It can mean that she never loved you as much as she said. Don't make scenarios.

In my opinion you should give her time and move on with your own things. It is as a friend of mine said recently:

Always..fill your life with exclamation marks..!!

But..you can put a dot..where it is needed..!!

When there are many question-marks..leave a blank line..and move on!!

Put in a parenthesis..what you need..!!

And when a chapter ends...don't hesitate..

TO TURN THE PAGE..

What that means is simple. The girl asks for your time. If you are sure that your emotions and feelings towards her and you previously did everything you had to do, like say your feelings, be sincere and honest then you have nothing to fear. When she finally takes her time, if that is what she needs at least, she will come back. She will come back to the person that showed her unconditional love and passion. That felt freedom only in his tight hug. There is nothing to think after that. If she really loved you she will come back. Just be yourself and be happy. Move on and do other things to make you happy. Don't cling on to that hope. If your feelings are also genuine keep them somewhere close to your heart so if she comes back you can shower her with what she hopefully missed. Because you my dear reader. If you felt like I did and you identified yourself with this text. Then you are worth it. YOU ARE THE CATCH. And if she is a little diamond like my girl was, it will be like alchemy and turn everything into gold.

You will feel her passion coming out of her skin pores and she will feel yours. You will both transcend into a nirvana that was felt when I kissed her that day. It was the purest thing I had felt. The most important in life. When you kiss someone and you know that you want to grow old with him/her. I bled for weeks, but I would not change that feeling for anything in the world. For I have witnessed true love. Thankfully more than once.

But the saying also says one more thing. If she does not come back, or if she takes too long for you to handle my friend, do not be afraid to move forward. Life is short. You do your part. You give her the time, you grow personally and you focus on being happy. And if she is really the one you want, like how I wanted her she will come back. And you will love her forever. She will be the mother of your kids. You will be there to guard her every night in bed and keep her safe. If she doesn't..maybe her love was not strong enough, maybe she was unsure, maybe she had other things in her mind. Don't think about that. Think about what makes you happy. Sometimes the answer will be that SHE makes you happy. But there are more things than that. Focus on them for a bit.

A broken heart takes a while to mend. I once made a drawing about that. I gave it to her and it read "Everything is possible". It had a heart broke in half that was mended with stitches. Don't despair, who that reads these lines. Everything will be alright. I feel you. We can do it together. And when you are unshackled you will be happy that you lived through this. You will be happy that you tasted true love. And if she is chooses to live this dream with you, you will both explode and ride the rockets to the stars.

I promised I will be waiting NiSaKi. I remember that promise.

Goodnight Sweden, goodnight young and old lovers of the world. I love you all as well.

Drink with me friend - It's time to get Valborged

Alcohol is interesting.

Alcohol can offer you a getaway from a hard day in the office. It can take you to the clouds and then drag you down to the depths of Tartarus. It is one of the banes of humanity and the destroyer of men. It destroys people, men, women, kings, crusaders, families and empires.

Yesterday it was Valborg here in Sweden. It is a fairly important day, as you can see people of all ethnicities enjoying themselves, being social and outgoing all day long. It is actually a national holiday that spans across the cold north in countries like Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Netherlands. Going deeper into Valborg (or Walpurgisnacht) you will see that it is also associated with LaVeyan Satanism and the foundation of the church of Satan. In short description its a form of "religion" that believes in a materialistic egocentric individualism and that every human is his own god and that there is no room for another god. Interesting.

However here it is associated with the first of May and the coming of spring. And something that follows celebrations is high amounts of alcohol. Why do i bother to write about all this first rather than talking about my day during Valborg and trying to give you an idea of how it feels to be there? We will get to that soon. But let me first say what sparked me into starting this conversation.

I was at the bus stop in the city center waiting for some friends to arrive and have a beer before i go home. Something casual nothing really fancy like dancing like monkeys. They were a bit late "cough 20 minutes" so i started looking around trying to read people and guess what they were up to. Next to the bus stop i see a girl slipping down and two of her friends trying to support her. She was completely smashed. I haven't seen a person so drunk since i was at Flogsta on New Year's eve. She could not walk, she could not stand, she could not drag her body and her friends looked a bit drunk too. She leaned forward like Michael Jackson and she managed to hold on for dear life on a little box where they put those free newspapers. Her friends held her head, opened the box and there, in all her glory she started vomiting uncontrollably inside the newspaper stand. Then after 5 minutes of vomiting she stood there with her legs shaking like those liquid dancing guys on YouTube or those newborn deers you see on animal planet where their legs shake and they can't walk. Her friends crashed her on the bus bench and after a while the police came.

But but lets take things from the beginning again.

I was supposed to wake up and meet Dimitris around 9:20 in Stora Torget. I woke up at 8:30 and was unsure if i had the mental and physical power to do that and i stalled and stalled until the end. I mustered some strength and dressed myself and prepared for a long, long day and night. Oh boy i was right...

It was a bit cloudy and i was afraid of rain so i work a grey blouse that was warm enough and hopped on the bus. I met Dimitris right outside Storken which is a nice Fika place for anyone that visits Uppsala and actually is owned by a Greek. Right there was a girl bending over on a stand showing us her butt. I almost said something funny but i am glad i did not. You shall see why.

Dimitris comes and it turns out that that girl bending over was his Greek friend. Hilarious. Sofia is pretty cool and likes my ridiculous, sexual, gossipy style humor and she always complains that i need to stop joking because her tummy hurts. Well i did promise her abs of steel from laughing...

We head out to the Fyrisan river and we are greeted by thousands and thousands of people flocking to see the self-crafted rafts going down the river made out of foam. People of all ages, women, kids, men with picnic baskets and food and drinks trying to get a glimpse of what is happening. We found a place and we were like sardines. I have never felt so tight since my army enlistment day.

We stood there next to some friends from Dimitris's faculty of chemistry. Two of them were a couple and that annoying blonde midget kept telling me to move so she can see. I politely told her to fuck off in Greek and i stood there. How on earth was i supposed to move when there was not even an inch of space? She irritated me as she complained about everyone around while they were hugging and kissing and i felt sick from too much syrup (famous greek phrase).

After countless delays of "15 minutes until we start" and people wearing jeans, swimming suits and flippers the first boats started to arrive. They represented many different stores around the city. What was more interesting was that the first boat was an inflatable one driven by the two same people that started this tradition 40 years ago. Everyone cheered for them and they looked so lively and happy. Everyone was hoping the boats would fall apart and they would fall into the water when traversing the waterfall. Most of them actually made it, some fell apart, some others forgot about everything and started tossing candies to people. Others started throwing water and flour to the rival boats and others used a selfie stick to take pictures. Interesting start to the day really.

Then after countless complaining about cold and that couple by Sofia we regrouped to go to the park behind the Ekonomikum where there was a party like atmosphere. A swedish cute girl with freckles called Belinda greeted me and told me my zippers are a bit down.

"Nice to know that you have been looking down there already" i said.

Everyone giggled and we started walking towards the park. Ridiculous conversations ensued with Dimitris and Sofia and we got to the park. It was like a rock festival. So many people sitting down on the grass, light music playing and loads of food and the smells of grilled food. We found a place and went to the nearest ICA to buy some beer and supplies. I got a six-pack of Lapin Kulta (Kulta = gold in Finnish), chips and a big bag of candies. Sofia was on a diet so she could not decide which cookies or unhealthy chips to buy. Good job.

We were back at the park and we sat down and started drinking and eating. It was like a virus of Greek people as at least 6-7 of us were in the group and more arrived later. Hilarious scenes ensued as me and Sofia spent most of the time looking at a British girl that was so drunk and was directly hitting on a guy that kept pushing her away. She then passed out on the grass and that guy kept throwing plastic bottles at her head. She woke up for a brief moment each time and then died again.

The hours passed and the sun was shining. It was great coupled with the light breeze moving along the area. I could just fall asleep. The internet was clogged from all the people using it so i could contact anyone. Soon i became bored and i also had to go to the toilet. Never ever ever go to a public chemical toilet in a place like that. I haven't seen something so disgusting since i was in the army and the toilet was clogged :D

Hello handsome.

Then just as i was about to leave we witnessed the best scene ever. The British girl was alive again and she jumped on the same guy throwing him to the ground. She immobilized him and started kissing the grass probably because she was too drunk to see where his head was.

The head, where is the head?!

After that i knew that i was complete as a man and i had to leave. I sent a text to Jaime and told him i will drop by his place. In the meantime another friend would arrive later and i would join them for a beer in the city, the same ones i mentioned waiting for when i saw the smashed girl in the center.

After watching Jaime play Sniper Elite 2 again with the hands of a Parkinson's disease patient we went to grill some chicken in the yard. His little sister tried to turn me into a dog, a horse and then a boxing bag.  Jaime managed to overburn the chicken a bit but it was so tasty and we served it with rice, spicy courgette and ketchup. Yum.

He had some of his own issues though so i kept him company until late and we also tried to go see the bonfire that was supposed to be lit around 9pm. Jaime's dad was not much of a boyscout and saw no smoke or fire so we relied on GPS and a map. Then we found it but ehmmm there was no fire at all. Gah.

Back on the bus towards the center waiting for my friends. You already read what happened. So fast forwarding to the part where my friend arrived. She had another friend with her and her boyfriend. Both of them were really cool and happy but had some sort of hidden romance due to cultural misunderstandings. We ended up in Terrassen, a nice bar/restaurant to drink socially and chat.

Waiting in the line with my friend in line a black guy with a hilarious afro turns around and starts talking to me saying that he is the annoying guy in the bar that talks to strangers. I play along and when he asks me what are we doing here i tell him "I am getting married with this girl". His eyes almost pop out and says that he is sorry and he will go fuck himself. Touche.

Then the guy at the bar talks to me and tells me that the bartender is the best in town.

"Nice i hope he can really make my drink because it is very complicated" i say in a fairly serious voice. And i order a beer. He looked confused.

We sit down and start talking. More weird guys join us. Some speak english, some don't. Some start talking me about Serbian prostitutes and places you can get laid in Prague. I already feel more intelligent from those conversations.

Time to go home now. It was a long day. Please drink responsibly. And do not vomit in newspaper stands.

Goodnight Sweden. Though i am not gonna sleep, as Pacquiao vs Mayweather starts in 4 hours! Puss och kram!

I wear my winners hat

For the first time in my life i had nothing. I had nothing to write about. A whirlwind of thoughts but a lack of motivation and passion, something concrete to grasp and write about.

But today i wanted to write. Because yesterday i wore my losers hat.

I watched a video from Sean Stephenson on facebook. It made me understand that yesterday i was defeated and i wore my losers hat after such a long time. And today i decided to wear my winners hat. And i felt it.

I woke up fresh, i made my sexy indian food and i sat down, stayed away from Twitch and almost completed my assignment for tomorrow. I then went to class for 2 more hours and I am back home not feeling the slight tiredness. And that is good.

So why did i wear my losers hat? Because my plans were ripped into shreds yesterday. My application for exchange in Finland got rejected and that broke me down, it almost made me cry. Because i had invested so much positive energy and motivation and i was excited about it.

But there are machines that feed on our tears everywhere. So why sabotage ourselves even further? Why through wrenches in our own machines?

I also remember walking towards home the previous week. It was 1 am and i was back from Stockholm. I lost the last bus and i had to walk home. It was a painful 1.5 hour walk in the cold. And 1 hour in i find out a lost my gloves. The gloves that someone very special to me had given me.

I gathered all the strength i could muster and i ran, and ran and ran for 4 km until i had no more breath and i could not scream in the dark anymore. I found them. Never back down. I looked back and i saw a colossal mountain, another hour of walking.

I went and went and went and tried to occupy my mind with happy thoughts and finally i was almost home. As i walked through the familiar forest path i felt strange. The lights began to dim and the road was pitch black after that last lamp.

It was like a black hole consuming all the light, all hope and sucking you in, ready to plunge you in the darkness and the void. But something happened as i approached my doom.

As i was passing the lamp my eyes started to adapt. I could barely see what lied ahead of me. I was blind but now i see. There is always a small glimmer of hope that you can only see if you don't see your glass as empty. And it gradually got better. There was light in the end of the tunnel. And i would fucking capture it.

Thinking about it, things have gotten better. My health has improved, my determination has improved. I still need to work on my motivation but i will get there. My grades are improving and suddenly the tides have changed. From 2/5 courses i am sitting on 4/5 and i am doing fantastic in the 3 so far this semester.

So with this bombshell it is time to end this short post.

And remember. Always try to wear your winners hat.

Thanks Sean Stephenson. Goodnight Sweden.

20.000 views under the sea

This is not going to be a really big post. And its amazing to see less than a year in here 20.000 views.

I have been sick for the past 5 days with loads of fever and spent them in bed. Apart from today. Today i had a presentation at university in the environmental assessment course. For you interested in that, an environmental assessment is an activity/process that is used to determine the impact of projects or phenomena on the ecosystem/human health and they offer solutions, methods to minimize or prevent them.

I felt the need to write about what happened today. I had 39 fever and i made a colossal effort to stay awake all night and complete my presentation. I presented about the Great Barrier Reef and the effects of dredging and the politics behind this in the Australian government.

I was there sitting for 3 hours with burning eyes waiting patiently for my turn. We were around 10 people in the room plus the supervising professor, Henrik. He is pretty young, cool and helpful.

I spend hours in the presentation. I really did. When i hear the word presentation i expect some visual material, at least in academia. Or something innovative that will keep me interested or that i will be able to absorb the information.

So we were stuffed in a microscope room for presentations. The computer had issues working as well. Definitely not a great start! Moving on Erika starts first. I like how she is not only pretty but also very intelligent. She pays attention, she has always questions to ask and she has a vibrant and colorful personality too. I was a bit nervous because i did not know if i picked the correct structure for my topic. So she reassured me that i was in the right path after she finished.

The problems started after that. Another girl spoke for 3-4 minutes when the presentation should be around 15. She had around 8 slides when i had 22 so i started to worry again. Then another one showed up and she had only one picture with a few information and she went on to talk about her project for 10 minutes. It is very hard to retain all the information and make constructive criticism just like this.

Then another one from my group came on. She had an interesting project on wind mill parks in northern Sweden and the Sami people are protesting. And then she says she has no presentation. She pulls out a chunk of papers and starts reading from them. I frankly do not remember almost anything. And that makes me sad because i really liked the topic and i really like the Sami people.

Then my turn comes. I do great considering my condition. But when you are up there and you look at everyone, you are like a teacher. You see every detail going around. And i could not take my eyes off someone in the far back who was sleeping or trying to keep his eyes open every 10 seconds.

Most of the presentations had great topics and some came with good presenters too. But i felt really offended by the other occurrences. In the effort i put to make one and others didn't at least. I don't know maybe that's me. Maybe i do not expect this in a masters level program. Oh well.

Lastly i might make a review on the Dumb and Dumber To movie one day. It's is unreal. You should watch it in 24 monthly doses because i just close it every 5 minutes. Its unbelievably bad.

That's it for now. Goodnight Sweden

Never be ashamed of your tears

 "Why Alexandra why, why have you done this to me?", he cried in pain the previous night.

 

Blessed with titanic strength and steel resolve he decided to keep on going, keep on pushing, until his dream came true. Trouble always found a way to reach him yet he always pulled through. He is not going to buckle under the pressure now is he? Domestic violence, psychological warfare, identity crisis, heartbreaks, kicks, punches and he kept going.

He found himself on the floor next to the battle sacks, in a room long forgotten where almost nobody entered unless it was time to change and visit the outside world. Crawling on the floor, back against the wall waking up to ash and dust. A soldier walks in and sees him in that condition.

"What are you doing here like this?", he asks with a confused look and a worried face.

"I don't know, i just remember the pain", Kostas replies.

He was lying there for 30 minutes, sleepless for yet another night unable to clearly track his footsteps during the last night. He wakes up and dizzy manages to walk with trembling, shaking feet towards the army headquarters. He had to change to his army outfit and be there shaved and normal for the morning report.

He harnessed one more all the strength he could muster, a strength he did not have and looked superhuman even to him, while cataclysmic thoughts of how is he going to make it for another 4 months flooded his mind and clouded his vision. Kostas looked like a human wreck, an abomination and a zombie of that vibrant colorful personality that made everyone around him positive and happy.

He witnessed yet another scene during the morning report that made him feel like his home once more. The captain shouting, insulting, threatening and punishing people for no reasons, just because he could, just because he wanted to. Kostas felt cold and shiver tingling down his spine, as the memories from last night became to be crystal clear and combined with the fear of punishment and jail wanted to let go and cry rivers of blood and tears, to soothe the frenzied tantrum he was into.

He wanted to raise his fist and raise his voice, its a revolution i suppose. Welcome to the new age.

They were instructed to clean the buildings, the toilets and gather up dust and spiders, every single pine needle from the ground. They were given pickaxes and picks that were so old as time itself to remove the weeds from the tarmac and it was like they were trying to remove themselves, that is how they felt. Like weeds, being taught a lesson that you will be punched and kicked and picked in every step of your life.

Dizzy from his hangover and his lack of sleep, Kostas staggered found a bed and went into deep slumber and then all the previous night's events struck him like an atomic bomb.

Time re-winded in a fancy nightclub of Thessaloniki called Bedroom along the coast. He was in there with a young football player he met in a cafe a few months ago, called Christos Alexiou. Kostas is currently unaware of his tracks and where he plies his trade. Back then his was playing for a famous local team called Iraklis (Heracles) and they ended up going for a drink there. Kostas did his usual stuff, strutting around with grace and confidence and a swagger few could pull off. He already met with multiple people and the Dj, increasing his social value in the club. At one time he passes some people to go to the toilet and there is a man very angry at a girl, shouting and waving.

"What did you tell him! Go after him!" Kostas tells the girl jokingly. She laughs and he goes to the bathroom.

On his third walk around the club a man approaches him and tells him "Follow me outside".

Unaware and unsuspicious Kostas follows him outside.

"Did you talk to my girl?", he asks Kostas.

"Yes, i just told her to go after you" were the last words spoken that night.

Before even finishing his sentence, Kostas feels the dark cold swipe of fate and stupidity slapping him in the face. His opponents palm was hitting him in the face with a thousand swings. It took him 10 seconds to understand what is going on.

Then a switch flips out. The hunger and the thirst for power, revenge and pain creep into his mind and he lets loose the beast within. He ducks and skips on the left, avoiding the hit. He unleashes a left cross with blazing speed and lightning reflexes to his opponents throat.

He is staggered and dizzy. Kostas takes a quick step to the right and hits him with a low kick to the thigh. You can hear his scream and agony, the pain in his eyes, the need for destruction and war.

Left cross, skip, left uppercut, right cross, knee to the stomach and a headbutt to the nose. The dude falls flat on his back, everything looks like slow motion as his body drops like a lifeless log on the ground. There is blood running from his nose.

Kostas turns around as everything returns to normal. The girl is crying next to him. The bouncers around the club are simply watching the show, they do not give a shit about what just happened. Kostas picks up his stuff and runs in the dark street trying to escape from his actions. He only tried to protect himself, but he always fears what people think and the aftermath.

A few blocks later he reaches his favorite place, a small club where he felt like home. Sort of. He picks some ice cubes and he plummets to the ground next to a pair of plants. Everyone around is having a great time and he is there, cutting a frustrated and forlorn figure. He holds the ice cubs wrapped in a napkin and holds it pressed against his bruises right above his left eye. His head still spins from the alcohol and the fight and the adrenaline shot he just consumed.

He sobs and he thinks about life. How all these unexpected turn of events have led him there. When instead he would be sleeping next to his alleged life partner he was about to sleep on the bus stop for 30 minutes before he returned into the army camp.

The pain is unbearable. He is a little sick and his throat is sore. He can barely speak let alone think. He starts to cry uncontrollably and nobody cares. He should not be there.

"Why Alexandra why, why have you done this to me?" he lets the world know, even if nobody would ever listen to him.

Then he wakes up from his slumber. He was dreaming the events for 15 minutes until another soldier told him to get the fuck up and go help again.

Kostas is left picking up his pieces and pulling himself together for just another day in the office.

Goodnight Sweden.

PS. That was the last time i cried in 2013. You can knock us down. But don't think you can keep us down. We will be getting up stronger than you can possibly imagine. And you will dance to our vibe. Never give up. Never back down.

Dark, gloomy, a bringer of death and destruction, painful but strong and resilient.

Lights, camera, action!

I have been thinking today. Our lives is like a live scripted play. Or a tv series. Full of changes, twists, expansion and it keeps you on your toes for what will follow.

But have you ever felt that you are an extra or a body double in your own script? That the script is just linear and you  simply follow it around and play no real role? That is so interesting.

I certainly felt like this until i moved to Sweden. My life was scripted and linear. Go to school, stay with that boring girl from Thessaloniki, go to the dog park, back home, eat, finish university for no reason, go to the army, help in the family business without having any say in all this.

When i finally realized how stagnant and boring my life had been i decided it is time for a change. But how do you do that when you are just an extra? You know what? You are the writer, you are the main focus of your own script, or you should be at least. And this is an ongoing process so what should you do?

It's fairly simple, even though harder to execute. I wrote myself into a new storyline. This time it was different, this time it was mine. I am done chasing my tail. Embrace change.

Today i went to the International Students Office here in Olofsgatan 10A. If you live in Uppsala and you need information about Erasmus or scholarships pay them a visit Monday-Friday 09:30-12:00 and 16:00-18:00. They were essentially the same people from the swedish seminar yesterday and they were pretty helpful. They answered all my questions in detail and now i am sitting happy with a 99% complete application to finally move to Turku in September. Yay! See, its like a spin off of my script! I want to write a new chapter!

On the way back the bus was full and there was a cute young lady with her baby on a carrier and she smiled and made space for an incoming man with his baby. Or so we both thought. As it turns out the man had filled his carriage with supermarket products and bags and during one turn it slipped to the door and everything crashed down. There was also a very old man that looked at me with a strange look i guess because of my loud music, but then i caught him staring at the butts of young girls.

I also feel a little of an outcast in one of my new classes. I don't know why again. I just don't feel like i want to get to know people and they don't want to know more about me. I tried to talk to some of the people from my group but after a few phrases its like they want to run away or i run out of topics and i can't/don't want to think of any.

Regarding to the events of friendship, i am pretty happy and i sleep well at night. Riding the bus home though i was thinking that i should have known the storm was coming when the clouds are big and black. And you know what? In the end i may as well let the rain come down and enjoy the circus of people.

You can sense sometimes when something is changing or you know when people can help you but they just don't fucking want to. I am sick of chasing, as i said, this is my time to shine and i will make the most out of it. I will set myself ablaze and i will take off like a shinning star, writing my own spectacular script, the way i want to, with the people i want to. And i have enough of them.

I like this one very much.

Along that bombshell, have a good day Sweden!

Update: Have you ever got so angry that you started saying things you don't mean? Or you made that racist joke just because your friend laughs at them? Do you always ignore warnings and take everything 100% seriously? Do you consider social skills a woman shitting in the forest in front of everyone in Sweden? Deal with it and take everything with a grain of salt.

I am not hurting people, they just make me do it

Why do people hurt each other? Is it in our genes? A desire to say and do things that make others lose their temper and say extraordinary words they would not say in any parallel universe?

Maybe it is like a virus, like an alien, hidden dormant within us and waits for the moment to crawl its way out of your mouth and poison your thoughts, your imagination, your judgement and turn you into a savage beast that hungers for revenge.

Or maybe it is purpose. Cause and effect. Purpose defines us, binds us, guides us. Cause and effect is everywhere as well. You say something that you didn't give much thought, or phrased it wrong, or maybe someone transferred your words wrongly and paraphrased them and now the angry pack of wolves is out to hunt you down, make you cower in a hellish corner and wait for the impending doom.

Choice. Talk about that. What is democracy? A way for some others to enforce their opinion in the end? Or is it the choice of many? It is always about choice. Someone will always be dissatisfied. As i looked outside my frozen window today i saw choice. The choice to be where i want to be, struggling for existence but under my own rules. And nobody will ever take that away from me.

It is my choice to make whom i trust and where i share my secrets. Until Saturday that was around 5 people. Today it is only 3. When i do something wrong i realize it and accept it. However there are times when you know that trying to present your arguments even if they are valid will not make a difference. Watch out who you share your thoughts with. It is like a broken telephone and in the end, you will be fixing both the line and the device.

This reminded me of a story i was involved with back when i was around 10 years old. As a little child i had to conjure a lot of lies in order to keep secrets or fool my father. That however followed me in my life outside our house, as i tended not to keep secrets, fabricate stories and spread rumors in order to hide my own insecurities and have a false hope of at least appearing popular to the rest in class.

I had that really good friend Stavros with whom i seldom talk once every year now during his birthday. We lost each other after i went to university. His father's passing affected him greatly and he was caught in a spiral of self conflict for years. I am glad to see that now he is a straight A scholarship student in Athens and is very passionate about public speaking and his political beliefs.

So our moms were very close too. I overheard something on the phone and i thought i heard the words Kalashnikov and chase. I presumed that his dad had chased his mom with a gun like this.

I told many people in class and school. And you know that especially in these ages and those environments rumors spread quite easily. It was a Friday night when we were all outside in the center playing. I miss those days. I learned that he was looking for me and then i realized what i had done. I was so afraid to face him and so ashamed as well. So i went to another friend's printing press building and he hid me there. Stavros arrived and i was hidden right behind him under a desk. My friend did not rat me out.

The outcome? A memory and shame that i will carry with me for the rest of my life. It took him years to talk to me again. And you know how we talked again? In a computer class outside school. Through Pokemon. He said "No matter what you did i could never hold a grudge against you". I will remember that day until i die.

Since then i tried not to hurt other people and tried to be overcautious with things i say. But thinking too much sometimes makes things worse. Sometimes you just care for someone and you ask them what are their plans for the future and it sounds so bad like you are judging them. I am not judgmental. I am not a sinner nor a saint.

This is simply some food for thought. And i am fairly sure that if this is read by the wrong people it will sound equally bad. But that is not my intention. I just want to get this out of my system. For i have clear conscience and i explained my points, even though apparently they never reached the target.

And remember, people will fail you. They will always do. Even the ones that you consider closest to you. But when you find that person that sticks by you in the hard times and instead of bashing you relentlessly when you do a mistake he holds your hand, criticizes you with justified arguments and then picks you up and gives you a pat on the back, keep him/her. It is funny how i wrote that article about friendship a few days ago and now i have to write this. I will still give my left arm and leg for some people. That number just got lower that's all.

I will leave you with a beautiful picture a friend of mine took from the Canaries.

Goodnight Sweden. I would like to hear your thoughts or stories down below in the comment section.

I wish i was there right now.

Sex, sulfur and a fishy business

The more i go to these new lectures, the more i understand that power, business and economics are the influence behind everything. From the earthquake decisions in L'Aquila, to the ridiculous reductions in emissions in cars, to the ban of Tesla Motors in the USA, to the so called environmental assessments.

My Flicka... :(

It's been a very interesting week as always. Lectures with the yoga-man, a professor named Troll, another person called From and my favorite, Justin Time. No wonder i came up with the fantastic phrase: "A Troll came From Stockholm and arrived Justin Time and Yu Niu about this". Magnificent. Maybe the reasons i do not have friends, or friends like Jaime :D

In Entrepreneurship we were handed a case about a film making company in Sweden called Mookie. What a ridiculous name, when i heard of it i thought of bankruptcy. It was a real story from 1998. We read a small paper and we were asked to put from a scale of 1-10 how we thought they were going to perform one year later. I immediately turned left and told Silvia: "Bankruptcy". 

Oh boy they did end up bankrupt! I love this class even more by the day! And today's ridiculous class with the yoga man and his red underwear for 4 hours straight was exhausting. I failed hydrochemistry along with many others because we sucked in the last question. Way to go fantastic grading way!

Also, if you clicked on this page because you saw sex in the title, go back to your caves, to pornmd.com or click in one of the ads on the left that offer you dating with Russian women.

Sex, sulfur and a fishy business is a video we watched in class about the extinction of fish in Norway and it was pretty fun, i definitely recommend it. There is also another baboon called Hans Rosling that apparently says that the Earth's population will stabilize in 10 billion people based on statistics, babies and religion. I guess he thinks that a magical snap of fingers will give our planet limitless resources. There are lies, damned lies and statistics.

I wish i had more pictures to show to you. The only new one comes from class today, where everyone was "so" thrilled and interested.

Swedish tabloids at their finest.

My posts are getting more frequent again, but also shorter. I did find out that i have around 3 weeks free at the end of March though! Wee for Finland! Other than that i am alive and kicking, just ask Holger and Jaime what i would do if i got 1000 crowns every month for free! Other than that i was in such a good and asshole mood today that i drew a very mature dialogue on a poster that said "I like to suck cock". Shallow, like the Greek economy i know.

Well i hope i can cook up something interesting during the weekend and hopefully after i am done drafting my projects i can write something substantial. Which reminds me it would be great to see some comments hitting the comment section!

Until we meet again, Goodnight Sweden!

The King is happy - All hail the King!

I have a great sense of excitement for the past few days.

The weather is still great, i love the snow, the day is becoming bigger and i am starting to come out of hibernation. 

Was i complaining about the lack of friends before? You know what? I have all the friends and important people i need. I have Katerina, my dearest friend of all in Kalamata. We have few discussions due to the distance, but i know and she knows that we are here for everything the other one needs. The same applies to our mutual friend Aggeliki. She is always so happy when i am there and so sad when i leave and she has nobody to make those horrible sexist jokes i do. Afroditi has her own struggles with her new life and i miss the fun we had in those ridiculous greek night clubs. And here i have that Portuguese baboon Jaime. He has helped me so much and i would give my left arm and right leg for him (could i give just a kidney mate? I am too handsome for 1 leg and 1 arm! :D). And i have the best friends in Thessaloniki as well, were Xaris is my savior during New Year's and Mary and Viktoria are the best friends, travel partners and sisters a man could ask for.

Tack sa mycket then friends! Thanks for getting me through these tough times here.

What about the boring classes i had last semester? Oh these are gone too. Yesterday for the first time in my life i approached the professor of Entrepreneurship, Katarina Lundqvist and told her that i have not been excited for a class for over 10 years. I felt like i was the jury or a lawyer in an important case or a soap opera called "Just or Unjust" learning valuable and interesting things, historic facts about business that i love and i was handed the freedom to choose a project to write about, a project that excites me and stimulates me. It was very interesting how most people there were dressed so formally or like going to a fashion show coupled with ties and suits and an apple computer.

The semester started yesterday and i got in touch with my other 2 classes and especially the one today was so interesting, the professors so cool and the historical facts great. I learned the story behind the L'Aquila earthquakes of 2009 and the ongoing trials, or how i successfully researched the storage of nuclear waste in the crystalline bedrock under Sweden and Finland. I am also one step closer to moving to Turku with my beloved Fox. My life could not be more exciting right now.

A new beginning, a new hope.

Well there is one thing! I love your comments, i want them! I want your suggestions and your criticism! So drop a nice little comment below, leave a like, follow, subscribe, it is all in the panel on your right!

Since i am all feeling pumped up and happy right now i will provide some info that someone that lives in Uppsala or in Stockholm might find it useful. I had to go to Stockholm the other day and i needed to know what is the cheapest way for me.

I have a monthly student yellow card that is valid for the whole of Uppsala up to Arlanda airport. That is 550 crowns per month, or around 60 euros. I would stay in Stockholm a day or so, so a 24 hour pass would suit me well. Therefore, a 130 crown SL card lasts 24 hours and is valid for every transport in Stockholm until Arlanda. So if you have one of those monthly cards, a 24 hour, 3 day or weekly card in the respective city will be enough and will help you save some costs!

I am gunning up for my project in entrepreneurship, which will most likely be the way important people managed to secure capital for their economic ventures when they were actually broke. What else to expect? I am trying not to read the news anymore because all i see is things like how rich women party in Iran, or how a radio show can help you sleep with 3 pornstars and one of them looks like a combination of the Golum and the Bigfoot and the woman with addiction to breast implants. Or how innocent women are shot in the head in the name of Islam, or the orgies that happened in the Vatican or Monasteries. The last thing i read was that a man went on stage with his girlfriend and performed oral sex on her on stage during a Dead Kennedys concert. That was on the Huffington Post. Entertainment and news coverage on its finest. Good grief.

Is there something else to say? Nah i was just so excited i wanted to share my thoughts with you all! Help me grow more!

Goodnight Sweden!

A slap in the face

We were in class around 10 am. A small class of 16 kids around the age of 12 in the spring of 1999. Geography was in session. I was pretty damn good at it. I could name most of the countries in the world along with their capitals, i knew every single big city in Greece too. It was a subject where i flourished along with history. I was like an information sponge back then.

The school was a private school. It was run by a gambling glass wearing man with fake teeth and self-destructing habits. When someone did something bad he smacked them in the face once or twice as a form of punishment. I only remember him hitting the boys. I remember once hiding in the toilet for 2 hours after i was kicked out of class for being noisy during theology so he wouldn't find me.

He comes in as a surprise visitor and asks what are we studying.

"Geology sir!", echoes from the class with a commanding shout.

"Great. Who is going to stand up so he can show me some countries on the world map?", he says.

We had a particular person (let's call him Sokratis) in class that was always conjuring stories to get out of trouble, enslaved us to do chores and he was the most selfish football player i had ever seen. Nonetheless he was our friend, i guess because when he was not surrounded by his other older friends or cousins he was not an asshole.

The previous week we had finally edged a mini football marathon between us and the high-school class 33-32. So he decided to storm into the principal's office and steal a fake golden cup as a trophy for our win. The principal (the same guy this story is about) sees the missing trophy that was on the left of his office entrance right next to "The Dictator" by Charlie Chaplin. He goes on a revenging rampage trying to find out who did this.

He confronts me, this friend and two others from the higher classes in the entrance to the main building trying to beat the information out of us. Then my best buddy then Stavros arrives. Back then he was a far cry from what he looks like now. Just like i was. No wonder we matched. Small, thin, with baggie clothes and round big glasses and spiky hair.

He arrives casually with a smile on his face and a brand new croissant he had just purchased from the cantina in school. Then Sokratis points at Stavros and says:

"I saw him going out of that room!"

The gambling principal turns around and smacks him in the face so hard that his glasses were thrown away and his croissant fell on the ground. What a bunch of assholes.

Back to our story, after that incident i was fuming as he treated me like garbage every single time he had the opportunity. This was my bright moment.

"Sokratis is pretty good at geography sir!", i yell with lightning reflexes and a quick smirk on my face. Comedy was about to ensure.

He walks to the World Map and i will remember the following thing until i die and hell freezes over.

"Tell me Sokratis, where is Greece on this map?"

You could feel the tension rising, the anticipation of me and my fellow students and the nervousness of the boy next to the nefarious principal.

"Here sir!", he says with a fake confidence that would fool anyone that didn't know him.

"You stupid malaka! This is Africa!" replies the principal.

He then unleashes a fearsome right slap on Sokratis's face and after the initial silence everybody else in class bursts into laughter.

What is the moral of this story however? If there is any that is.

This man now earns 1.500.000 euros per year and he plays football for one of the leading teams on the planet, Borussia Dortmund. He claimed once in 2008 in a newspaper that in his free time he likes to read history and geography books.

The principal lost all of his teeth, his wife left him and his son is a failure. He had multiple heart attacks, lost the school and all his property. I am not even sure he is alive now.

There is another story i can share with you. All of these may seem pointless, but they are not. There is always a moral in the end. You learn that in the army, you can find something positive even in a pile of shit.

I was always good with the English language. Sure i am not perfect. But i speak and write much better than most people if i make the effort. It is one of the only good things i gained from playing World of Warcraft. Vocabulary, accent, speech and communication.

So from a young age in Greece parents instill a need to be multilingual to succeed in this complicated world in their kids. Fine with me. I can speak Greek, English, French, Russian, Swedish and i am learning Finnish now. I was sent to a private school for foreign languages for english. I was pretty good and they recognized that, sending me to summer camps and advanced lessons 3 years above my age. I was there with the big boys and i was 9-10 years old. I was very noisy. Very noisy and irritating to some people. Especially a girl called Christina that was so ugly i would rather see the human race perish than procreate with her. Needless to say i hated her as much as she hated me. She sent me to the principal's office countless times. Once i was sent there accompanied by her and they both told me one month before my Proficiency Certificate in English exam that "There is absolutely no chance you will pass this exam with that attitude." She also told me i suck.

Forward a few months and the results are out. I passed with a great grade. I frowned upon the principal in the ceremony. 90% of the class failed the exam. Including that girl.

What is the moral of all these stories then?

First is that revenge is a part of human nature. We are a competitive species that always wants to be in power and make the others bow and submit to our superiority. And if they don't we will make them to. The other one is that you get what you deserve. Sooner or later. Sokratis made fun of us. He paid in the same way. My girl cheated on me for a new love. She got dumped 1 month later on Valentine's Day. A prick ratted me out in the general for sleeping in the army. He got 30 days extra service.

The last and most important part is: Never back down. Never. No matter what they tell you, no matter how nobody may seem to believe in you, you can do it. Have a goal, fixate on it, trust yourself, like yourself and you can do it. And do not seek revenge on others. Life is a wheel and it will keep spinning. My two cents for the day.

Good day Sweden!

On top of the world in the Arctic Circle.