"Culture Night"

Ever since I moved here, I have long wondered about the bandstand in the park on the way to the city from school. I have never seen or heard of a band actually making use of this facility--until yesterday.


I have always suspected it should be nice. The park is green and grassy. There are short hedges lining paths, with benches and tall trees lying about. It feels like the intention of someone who had higher hopes for the life of the city of Umeå once long ago. It's not that the park is abandoned, or unmaintained or anything else that would suggest failure of this goal except the distinct absence of park goers. (And of course the graffiti across the side of the large, darkly stained, wooden band shell. But that of course, can be expected.)

Last night was what they call "culture night" in Umeå. I'm not sure exactly what the goal of the festival is but it certainly brought out the crowds. It was a "clamp day" yesterday--a day in between a holiday and a weekend-- which meant that many people had taken the day off from work and were wandering about the city. The weather was fair, although the morning sun was replaced by an overcast sky by lunchtime, it was not too cold, nor did it rain until quite late. For such a tiny city with about ten bars (I'm serious.) there was an impressive number of bands and stages set up throughout the city center. Apparently, Umea has a strong history of punk and this was reflected in those who played last night. Death metal echoing through the night and youngsters wandering the streets dressed in black were a huge change to the face of the usually quiet, unremarkable face of the city. Strangely enough in the midst of it all, we also happened upon an Irish folk band at the far end of the city center.

Yes indeed. Quite the event.

With spring in full swing and the city Umeå about as lively as it will get (withstanding bränbollsyran next weekend), it was time to make something of the hooplala. Kristin is attempting to relax after presenting her degree project this week, Ole Kristian was in town for the weekend, it was Tao's birthday and Vanessa had a friend visiting from Mexico. Me? I got an internship for the summer in London and am very happy about it :)

So, after unsuccessfully trying to find a bar without a long queue and an entrance fee, feeling discouraged but unwilling to let the momentary feeling of city life slip away, we eventually settled on the bar in the fancy hotel for a glass of wine.

There are no big party events these days in my life. Despite taking things easy at the end of the term, having a great partner for our final project and being relaxed about the whole school scene, it is all still somehow leaving me tired. Maybe it was celebrating with the second year's after their presentations on Wednesday night, the fact that me trying to sleep in means waking up at 9 o'clock, or simply getting up to have breakfast with Anjalika before her morning flight to Barcelona that did me in but a half a glass of wine and I was ready for bed and lazy enough to take a cab home.

It is raining today and I am entertaining myself with laundry and searching for an apartment. The planned venture to the city seems like an extraordinarily unappealing walk in the wet and I guess that means I won't be buying a new swim cap and a third week will pass without me swimming-- so much for my good intentions of getting back into that habit ;)

I think that is all I have today for my one way contact with the world outside of Umeå. Hopefully it wasn't too boring to read.