Time to go home

It was sunday morning.. I didn't sleep  much that night.. there was too much stuff swimming around in my head. at about 7-7.30 I got up.. My clothes stinked like, oh god, i don't have words.. I couldn't use my jacket.. thank god I had packed my fleece so I could use that.. My hat and scarf had been in the car when we were at the pub so they were okay..

My lungs hurt from all the smoke the previous day,, my head hurted like hell.. and well I could have felt better.
as Much as I love traveling and meeting people, I hate to travel home.. :P and after all the late trains and stuff on friday I wasn't really looking forward to a long day on train again..

so after forcing some breakfast into me.. I heard Ulla waking up.. She was sweet enough to  offer to drive me to the trainstation..

I packed up my bags and sat down in one of the couches when the others started comeing down.. they was feeling worse then me.. I gave Ulla and Silke some painkillers.. I felt so sorry for Silke.. she was really feeling like crap..

eventually I had to take off to the train.. There was some sad goodbyes.. a Big Silke hug and then we were off..

Ulla stayed with me at the trainstation.. after some waiting the train showed up and we had a sad goodbye again..

I was on the first train and a long day had only begun..

trains where on time for once.. the day was un eventfull really. everything went one fine.. Only X2000 to Sweden was alittle late..  on that train I chatted alittle With Rikke and Then Julia.. always nice to have some company even though they aren't right beside you..

then My train in Norrköping was late as usuall.. Mom and Dad had been to Arlanda to pick up my Big brother the same afternoon so I called and said that they could take it easy.. I actually made it home to Eskilstuna Before Mom came into town and got me..

When I got home I was greated by a happy Chomper.. I got food and we talked alittle.. then I feel asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow..

---

I don't know if I can compare this trip with the one to Århus.. there are just 2 compleatly diffrent trips.. with diffrent expectations..

I finally got to meet people I had wanted to see for so long..

I think that everything that happened that Saturday was just incredible..

it's cool how just 1 weekend can make you grow so much as a person.. doing stuff like this makes you find new sides of yourself..

I mean I do stuff that I usually wouldn't dare to do, I came out of my safe bubble and I manage to solve the problems that needed to be solved during the trip..

I mean, I missed a train.. I didn't panick.. I din't break down.. I just took the next one.. :P

I think Iam much thougher then I give myself credit fore. The world out there isn't so scary as I think it is..

I'm happy I have gotten the oportunity to experience this awesome weekend..

I'm happy that people were just as great in reality as I made them up to be in my head. :D

and I can't wait for the next handball adventure to begin

thanks for following me, I think the story of this trip is over for this time.. But you know me and my memory.. there might come a part 9 - the stuff i forgott.. :D

if not, take care, I hope to see you all again soon!

Hugs and Kisses, your handballtraveler Anna....

The pub

so after the game and everything at the Arena we wen't to a pub.. The pub was called Bondestuen. and for me that sounds like Farmhouse. I guess I will have to ask Julia about that one. :P


our cars!


the lovely pub


Anyway.. they Pub.. Was Lovely.. but.. It was filled with smoke.. aparently since it was such a small place people were allowed to smoke inside.. and when the smokers among our gang had to go outside and smoke because it was so smoky inside, well I think you can get an Idea ;)



anyway.. some people decided to get some food.. I had eaten my lunch and wasn't really hungry so i decided to ditch that and eat back at the B&B instead.

so inside the pub there was alot of talking going on.. funny pictures taken and it was really nice..

It's so sweet just hanging out with friends like that.. everyone from diffrent places.. you learn alot.. meet new friends..

anyway.. Funny thing.. Megumi doesn't like weggies.. haha and Ulla had a huge burger..so She decided to just eat half of it.. Megumi who likes to try everything.. was trying to eat a cucmber, even though she doesn't like them.. :P So while she wa sitting there, makeing funny faces.. I decided to show her how it's done. :D

So I picked up the other cucumber and told her.. You just eat it, like this.. :P



and then she tried to force feed me with hers.. :D


Ah man I love this girl!

I mean look at this, here I'm trying to have a serious conversation with Ulla, Cori and Dani, and what does Megumi do, Bunny ears behind my head.. :D



Anyway as if todays game was not enough.. some people decided to watch Byåsen - Larvik.. are you a handball fan, then you are a handball fan.. :D





another funny thing.. people kinda notised that we weren't all danish.. :p and the fact that the man in the bar kinda shouted it out, didn't really help to keep us annonymous either.. :p so one really happy drunk danish dude came over and decided he wanted to have a chat.. :P he walked over to one of the girls that actually were danish, Rikke, and asked in pretty good English.. so, where are you from? and I didn't hear what Rikke responded from all the laughter around me.. But she gave him a pretty good answer in Danish because after that he wanderedon with his beer.. :P


we left the pub around 8th.. because then.. Christina, Rikke and Julia was off with the train home.
and we drove off to the B&B. It felt like the middle of the night though..

I have never been so exhausted after just a day in my entire life.. I don't think all the smoke in the pub helped much either..

well at "home" at the B&B Ulla, Silke and I wen't and payed for the B&B. then we sat down in the couches, ate some snacks.. the rest had some drinks, I had some juice.

I noticed that I had a HUGE blister under my foot, this photo is taken on Thursday, and  I got the blister saturday so that is 5 days later..


the girs started looking at photos and putting each others photos on their computers.. and we just talked about the day and life in general.. Ulla again shared her story about her wife, showed some pictures and yeah.. it was a lovely night..

we had some terrible movie on in the background.. and then we found some danish kids channel.. :P and when they didn't show anymore programs at that channel you got to watch the characters sleep while a clock was ticking down untill the programs would start again.. :D

around 1 I headed of to bed..


I can't tell you guys about everything that happened that day, because you know the saying, what happens in Ikast, stays in Ikast ;)

all I can say is that I feel sleep with a smile on my face.. :)

after the game, we it was time to meet the players.. get autoghrafs and photos.
This is when the crazy part begins.. :P I mean seriouslly.. People are like Hawks out there..

Anyway.. I got Gro, Katja and Ingrid Ødegård's autografs. :)

I also got to take some photos for a norwegian girl with her HUGE camera. :P




I also got a photo taken together with Gro.

for once I actually look short. :P


you have to give alot of Kudos to the players for their patience.. I mean people are lineing up well some of them just basicly attacking them to get a photo or a signing somewhere.. and the players just smile, take their time. talk alittle and are just wonderful. I mean they lost a tight game.. I'm sure they are dissapointed and still they are such a friendly bunch.

I mean you would never see a football player like Zlatan, Christiano Ronaldo or whoever else.. Do that.. and they earn more money then all of these players do together.. They could really learn alot from these girls..

Anyway after fighting with " The Hawks" , Me and Julia started palying some handball.. Rikke and Megumi joined in..
and the thing is. You just have to love Megumi. She is the crazies person I know.. and the funniest thing is.. She has absolutely no ball-controll what-so-ever.  just watching her trying to catch the ball and ah god.. It's just so funny. the danish girls on the other hand.. they know what they are doing.. Me, well not so much.. Handball is damn hard.. they just make it look so easy, and I was abit scared I would hurt someone so I took it alittle easy.. mostley standing in the goal. I thought that I can't do too much damage to anyone in there.. :D

I tried to be a wingplayer and score from the side.. But when you are right handed you play from the left side.. and then you should run and jump off your left leg and try to score.. That just didn't work for me..  Julia on the other hand, She scored..

So if I was to play handball.. I think I would be a good lineplayer. just stand there and have like 4 people climping on you and then you catch the ball, wrestle loose from the defenders, turn around and score.. Simple huh?
Or maybe not.. :P

I think Rikke tried to plan something up with Julia there.. she was explaining in Danish.. hehe, Megumi looked like a big ? and I was concentrating to understand what she was saying.. well Rikkes plan didn't work.. :P
I must say, she has a pretty hard shot, being a goolkeeper and all, But she didn't hit the goal that often.. and when she stood in goal, she wasn't really that close to catching the ball either.. don't know if she tried.. But I mean.. I used to be a football goaly.. and for me it is harder to keep away fromthe ball.. because usually when you are inposition.. you just react and your arms shoot out towards the direction of the ball automaticly.. Then i must say.. Football and handball are compleatly diffrent when it comes to goalkeeping.. Even if Julia don't believe me..

Silke gave me a really nice pressent too.. I got the player cards with autografs from the Leipzig team.. and a "musmatta" have to look that up.. ah, mouse pad with Sara Holmgren on it.. ♥

and also when we were playing handball.. I saw Isabella Gulldén, she and a friend was talking to Johanna Ahlm.. But I didn't feel like running and getting my shirt for her to sign.. I will make her sign it the next time I see the NT playing  or if i see a Sävehof game..

anyway after alot of "trying" to play handball.. we eventually had to take off.. we were going to visit a pub.

we gathered around outside.. and sadly the French people had to start their drive back home so we "kidnapped" a couple of germans instead. 2 really sweet girls.. Cori and Dani. They were really sweet.. me and Cori talked alot at the pub.. I really like germans..

anyway.. end of part 6

Lupus, the FCM maskot.. an Uggly Wolf, runs in.. people cheer.. they play an old rocksong.. you can feel the excitement rising among the croud.. it's close now.. really close..

Then finally.. we saw the teams lineing up ready to enter.. people stand up all around the arena and clap to great the players.. Viborg team runs in.. Then FCM runs in.. and god what a feelingin my tummy..

It is something special to be there.. you can feel the beat from the drums.. everything is just so much better Live.
If you never have experienced it, you can't fully understand.. this was somehow just better then in Århus.. I mean Århus was incredible.. But somehow.. This was my team.. I knew the players by heart, I knew who to look out for in the other team. And I don't know.. the feeling was just so much better.. I get goosebumps by just thinking about it.. I can hear the drumming and the sound of the "tröten" thingies in my head..

the time had come.. The game was about to begin.. the main reason I was in denmark ( well not really, we all know I love handball, but if not sertain people would have been there, then I wouldn't have been there)


The only bad thing about sitting beside a person from Denmark when you are watching Danish handball is that they notice when you can't really pronounce the names in proper danish..

let's just say FCM's Player Mette Sjøberg scored a goal.. and when a hometeam player scores.. the announcer shout the firstname (Mette) and the audince shout the lastname/surname (Sjøberg).. well i was so excited that she had scored that I kinda forgott to add the Danishtwist to the name.. so I screamed it like we would say it in Sweden..

that was not appreiciated by my danish friend beside me.. who aksed.. What was that? then I realised I had actually shouted pretty loud, in Swedish.. Let's just say that after that.. I didn't shout so loud.. :P

on the other hand sitting beside this particular Danish girl is alot of fun too.. she talks alot during the games.. most of the words are not of the nicer kind.. My fave comment must have been to the referee though.. Er Du Blind? = are you blind.

in the halftime break I took My swedish shirt and Walked over to Johanna Ahlm.. Silke and Julia came with me, Silke wanted to Talk with Anja Althaus. Johanna is a Swedish player in Viborg she was/ is injured so she couldn't play that game and had to sit and watch, the same With Anja. Anja is german, so that is why Silke came with me, she wanted to have a chat with her and ask her if she would take a pic with Hungarian girl after the game since she is a big Anja Althaus fan. anyway I talked with Johanna and she signed my Swedish fan shirt.. It was great.



To be honest.. I don't remember much from the game.. and I haven't watched the taped Version of Marnie yet.. maybeI should do that tomrrow. I think.. there was so much happeningin so little time that My brain just couldn't keep everything in my mind..

I know the Viborg fans are great.. they are heard.. they shout and drum and make noices.. they look funny too.. they are green, some of them have green christmaslights blinking on their heads.. :D


I remember when it was like 2 mins left and FCM lost the ball on a fastbreak leaving Viborg in the lead with 2 or if it was 3 goals.. thinkingthen.. well that was the game.. they would have needed to score on that won to have a chance to win.. and I got this sad feeling in my tummy.. abit dissapointed.. because we could have won that game.. the girls could have done it..


Lupus photo by Megumi N.


End part 5

Photo By Megumi N.

So Finally I saw the famous "Bus" come driving and 4 lovely girls waveing before parking.. they got out of the car and Ulla and Silke started waveing.. I waved back and walked over and got a big hug from Ulla before being attacked and getting a big hug from Silke too.

then Silke saw the french people arriveing and ran over to them.. She had presents and stuff.  I said hello to our Hungarian friends Rainne and Iza. ( I hope that is their names) all the diffrent names makes me confused.. :P

anyway.. we stod there talking trying to see what needed to be brought into the arena.. I belive this is the time when two lovely danish girls showed up.. one was Christina the other one was Julia.. and yeah.. I didn't really know what to do. because I didn't have the chance to prepare myself.  I had this idea in my head how I should handle all the people and stuff.. lets just say it didn't work out that way.. haha..

all I can say is that from this point.. things are starting to get alittle blurry in my head..

we moved down towards the entrance of the arena.. and then Rikke showed up.. she is also a young girl from Denmark. enough said.

Ulla my great "foster mom" had fixed Tickets. so she started handing them out.. and I got Jackpot! (well I didn't know that then, we will come back to that) anyway.. we walked into the arena.. and over to our seats I think.. Thats when the jackpot got confirmed.. I got the seat between Julia and Silke.

well now we can start discussion the jackpoint part.. because I should have known that concentraiting on the game would be a small problem.. no comments!

I guess we just kinda hanged there.. and then I got a text from dear miss crazy, also known as "Japanen" and Megumi.. she nad her travelmates had arrived from Copenhagen. we got out to meet her nad give her her ticket.. It was so great to see her again!

I don't have words to describe this woman.. her energy, they way she gives so much of herself, she is just one in a million and I'm so happy to have her as a friend.. I'm so happy I went to Århus that week and met her.. She is someone that changes your life for the better. :)

anyway.. when we had met her we all kinda hanged outside the fanshop.. Ulla said that there would be a little surprise for us. there Ulla introduced me to a french friend Marine, she had a videocamera also and asked if I was gonna film the game.. she asked me what kinda battery I used.. since hers wouldn't be able to cover the hole game.. I told her I had extras in my bag and that I would be happy to lend her one if she wanted to tape the whole game..

then Marlene and Frank showed up.. they thanked us all for comeing.. and talked abit.. and then we all got a FCM Scarf, is it called scarf? hang on I have to look that up..  well I think it is scarf.. anyway.. that was kinda cool and Frank ( he is some sort of clubdirector or something :P ) walked around nad shaked hands with everyone.. then we all walked into the court  and we had a photo taken all together.. :)

There were poeple from Everywhere!

this one was used in an article.

I like this one better though.. taken by Katja Boll ( click the picture to make it bigger)


after that they came and wanted to make an interview with Megumi and Ulla.. it was fun.. Megumi tried to hide as usuall.. :P

we headed over to the seats.. again.. I gave Marine one of the big batteries so she could film.. I think we had some exchange in presents too.. :P

Megumi got an easteregg from me and little brother.  and Ulla gave us cute little Berlin bears..

me and Silke threw a handball around..


Photo by someone in  the gang :P

oh yeah.. I also found a spider on one of the chairs.. and it was soooo tiny.. but ofcourse Julia thought it was scary.. :D seriouslly.. you could barly see it..

what more happend before it actually started.. yeah I called home.. to little Mamma.. :D

anyway the players came in to start warmingup.. I tried to film alittle and take some pictures.. But the videocam sucks to tak pictures with.. and well the danish girls talking/ arguing behind me kinda made it hard to not start laughing. I got a few minutes of clips.. but Marine was filming it so I decided to cut the camera down and just enjoy being there.. 

Katja played football with the ball.. friends from the diffrent teams talking and just the usuall warm up got going.. :)



FCM team stretching


Photo by Megumi N.

I can't think of anything more that happened before the game actually started right now.

End part 4

Saturday Morning.. I forced myself to stay in bed to 7.30.. then I had so much excitment in my body that I thought I would die so I wen't up.. It was a grey morning. rain was hanging in the air.

I took a hot, Really hot shower.. Didn't manage to change the temp on the shower and I didn't feel like breaking the damn thing.. :P

I walked out on the backterass for a bit.. nice to just walk around barefot in the cold for a bit.. just taking the place in. then breakfast.. I forced myself to eat some breakfast.. Still too excited to be able to really eat. :D I surfed around abit on the net.

Then I packed my backpack.. made sure I had everything needed (and not needed) like 3 times.. :P

and then around 9.30 I walked out the door to start my walk into town. outside the door I met the other owner of the B&B. the woman.. she started talking to me in Danish and the first sentence I got.. she asked if i had slept okay.. I said yes. then she said something else that i didn't get. :P so I just nodded and hoped that was the right answer.. :D

I though English might be the best language to use now.. so i told her I was gonna walk into Ikast and she said, Wow that is quite long you now.. I told her i lived on the countryside too and was used to it.. she smiled and wished me a good day..

outside the lovely dog came and said morning.. :) and apparentlly she wanted to follow me.. so theowner had to comeout and get her.. :P

the walk was about 6.3 km.. not so bad.. It was nice.. the air was fresh.. on one of the fields there was alot of Swans.. some of them decided to fly away when I got there.. here is a bad picture taken with my mobile.


about 1.5 hours later I reached Ikast.. I went and checked out where the arena was. It still didn't feel real to actually be there.. I had seen it on pictures and on TV but to actually stand outside it felt unreal. I took a quick snapshot nad sent a text to my friend in germany.. Holy Ground!



since I was pretty much super early.. :P I decided to walk around abit.. I found the trainstation..
and after some more walking a found alittle bench.. I decided to sit down for a while. eat a snack and just trying to still my heart for abit.. 30 mins later I knew the German/Hungarian gang would arrive..




after a while when My legs where ready to walk away on their own again.. I took off towards the Arena again.
there a gang of kids where haveing football practise at the football field beside.. I decided to stand and watch them and dream back to being 9 and kicking ass on the footballfield.

While doing so I saw a dark haired girl with a huge bag on her back come running down the road.. I said to myself.. that looks like someone is late for teammeeting.. and haha.. 1min later the girl passes me and it is Alette Stang. ( FCM player)

End part 3.