Sweden adventures #10

Friday - leaving Herrang.

I get up at half five and pack up my tent. Ali's still up and comes over to say goodbye again. Lovely guy.

Of course I'm at the bus stop twenty minutes early. I have two apples for breakfast and then it's two buses, the subway, a train, a bus, a ferry, a walk, another ferry, and I'm on my island, Grötö, porridge island. The toilet on the train was the nicest bathroom I've seen in a week. Now to find the hotel. It shouldn't be too hard, there is only one on this island.

I find it, I'm the first to check into my cabin which I'm sharing with friends I know from when I lived in the States. Turns out later that they would have been here already had they not boarded the wrong ferry and as a result ended up spending three hours on boats... I put out my tent to dry and start working on my speech. The speech will reveal the truth about how the happy couple met.

It was spring 2011. I lived in a flat in Princeton with Parween and Sally. Sally lived in the attic, illegally. It was Saturday night and I was going to go to the Princeton University Spring Formal, a party where everyone dresses up nicely. I was going with a Princeton graduate student - my toy boy at the time - and Sally joined us.

When we got there, we first went to a pre-party - the purpose of which was to get drunk quickly and avoid the formal part of the evening, the ballroom dancing. Arriving at the pre-party, Sally pointed out to me that there were only couples, and I looked around and it was true. Apart from that one guy. I said "I think the guy in the top hat over there is single." And the rest is history. I don't remember many details from the party. Sally and the guy in the top hat got drunk, he came home with us, left thirteen hours later, and now they are getting married.

Sweden adventures #9

Thursday at Herrang.

I get up at noon and pick up my laundry. Today is not a good day for drying clothes. I miss breakfast again, so go and have lunch and end up chatting for hours. I have a good meditation session by the lake. I try and get my tent organised for my early departure tomorrow morning.

I run into Jack and Carolin, his German housemate in Herrang, have a chat and then buy bus tickets for my travels, so I won't have to worry about that tomorrow morning.

I run into Ali who has turned out to be my favourite person at camp this year, we have a coffee in the bar. Ali has recently started to play the trombone. He has even brought it along to Herrang. One day here, he decided to practise, so he took his trombone and cycled into the fields for some privacy and to not to disturb anyone. He played for a bit when suddenly three moose appeared out of nowhere - a male with big antlers and two females. I wonder if the trombone playing attracted or offended them.

I stay for the daily meeting but then say goodbye to Ali and go to bed. I'm giving today's party a miss. I don't want to feel terrible tomorrow when I cross Sweden on public transport and meet old friends in the evening.

Sweden adventures #8

Wednesday at Herrang.

I get up early and have breakfast in Heaven's Kitchen, the camp restaurant. Today, there are no morning classes so people have a lie-in and the breakfast room is empty.

I chat with a Swiss guy and then walk over to the lake for meditation practice. Meditation practice gets thwarted by a group of dressed up people clearly aiming for the float in the lake, but too many of them to fit into the one boat left on the shore. They somehow manage. Later, I find out that two of them just got married and are one of two couples this week at Herrang who are spending their honeymoon here.

I make a mask at the mask-making workshop. The theme of tonight's party is masquerade and dressing up is mandatory. My Swiss army knife is very popular at the workshop so I leave it when I'm done.

I get my dancing shoes and get a backie on someone's bike to the blues class. Blues class is fun, and I consider taking a private lesson with the teachers, but then they are too busy and I'm not actually sure what I want to learn. I'm loving the blues class though. It's a beginner's class, and I've been dancing blues for many years. I feel like Monica in the show 'Friends' must have felt when she took a beginners' cooking class even though she was a professional chef. She just really liked being top of the class and getting loads of praise from the teacher.

I'm trying to fulfil today's mission to make it a productive day: Find stamps. The Lindy Hop Shop is closed so I suspend my mission and get a coffee in Bar Bedlam instead. When I try again they are open but don't have stamps. However, I'm right in time for the Herrang Week 5 Group Picture.

I then go to Kuggen, the village store, for stamps and offend the cashier when I say that all the Swedish coins look the same (they really don't). It actually is a productive day: I drop off laundry - my hand washing with regular hand soap wasn't that successful. I also charge my phone.

I take a long nap and go to the daily meeting, then change and dance a bit with a mask on - masquerade night. I go to the blues music jam session, drink wine, have a few more drunken lindy dances and go back to my tent, but on the way stop for a shisha with people I know, and it's half five and proper daylight when I finally go to bed.

Sweden adventures #7

Tuesday at Herrang.

I get up at noon, have breakfast at the Ice Cream Parlour - yoghurt and banana - and hang out here for many hours. I seem to be hosting a salon with various people passing through, staying for a while and then moving on. We discuss the Swing Patrol empire in London, which seems to push other swing dance providers out of the market. We have a Swedish language lesson, and a pop-up shoe repair workshop. At five, I practice some balboa and then have dinner in Bar Bedlam.

I attend the daily meeting and go back to the tent for a nap but don't properly wake up until half three at night. Now I can't be bothered getting up and being all sleepy - even though it would have worked with tonight's theme of the party - Slow Drag.

Sweden adventures #6

Monday in Herrang.


I get up at ten, take a shower and do some laundry in one of the outdoor sinks of the school building, which is at the centre of most accommodation and daytime dancing. I chat with someone who is getting ready for classes, brushing his teeth next to me. I danced with him only a few hours ago.


When I'm done with my laundry it's too late for getting any breakfast around here so I get lunch instead. At the cafe, I chat with a guy about meditation. He plays me some of his own music on his guitar in a back room, and I don't know where to look. It's not that it's bad, but he's so earnest, the situation a bit intimate, and I don't really know what facial expression would be appropriate. He offers to meditate with me but I politely (hopefully) decline and take a nap instead. Later, I see him meditate with someone else on the grass.


I get a coffee and hang out by the Ice Cream Parlour. I meet new people here, and catch up with some I have met earlier. I spend hours here doing nothing much but holding court on the comfy chairs with my company, conversation, and activities continuously changing.


In the evening, I watch the daily meeting in the library, then I join the cinephiles in the red camper cinemateque, the local cinema in a campervan, to watch an old movie. I have a tin of matjes (pickled herring) and some cashews for dinner and get ready for the dance. My friend Jack from Edinburgh was supposed to arrive today, but I haven't yet seen him. I need to find out where tonight's secret blues party is. The laundry?


Turns out there is no blues tonight, but I find Jack and have a drink with him and a staff member from Brazil, who's giving us all the camp gossip. I'm dancing a bit more, but the bebop swing theme doesn't agree with me - the live band is great but doesn't exactly inspire me to dance. I have an early night at half three.

Sweden adventures #5

Sunday.

I see someone distributing posters with information on "secret" blues parties - perfect! Also, tonight's theme is New Orleans Jazz - my favourite music, and great for balboa dancing too.

I'm slowly starting to enjoy the lack of structure to my days. Thanks to earplugs I don't sleep terribly, and when I get up, most people are in their classes and I don't need to queue for a shower. Once covered in insect repellent and sitting with a nice coffee somewhere in the shade, I'm content.

There's nothing to fill my day. If I get too hot I could take a dip in the sea anytime. I read, or nap, or wander the grounds and watch one of the many dance classes, looking out for opportunities to socialise, but happy to just contemplate life on my own.

I walk to the lake and sit there for a while - a beautiful spot.

I browse the Lindy Hop Shop and find a dress that fits, but I can't be quite bothered. I take a nap. I make a cup of coffee - black - and sit down outside the Ice Cream Parlour. Things have changed. Everyone is playing with their smart phones. I don't remember this from four years ago, but maybe that's because then it was me who was distracted by her smart phone. The camp even bans electronic devices from many common areas to encourage a spirit of connecting people. The ban is not working.

Are people afraid of sitting down on their own and feeling socially awkward with nothing to busy their hands with? A lot of people here have come on their own. Herrang is expensive, and when one person can afford to go, their friends may not, or they may have other priorities. I find small talk with strangers exhausting most of the time. But the conditions here are ideal. People here are friendly, we all have the dancing in common, and the camp is quite successful at creating an atmosphere of a happy world where everyone is friends with each other. This is as easy as it gets.

I get a lot of chat later.

I have dinner at Heaven's Kitchen, which is quite expensive, but at least I can eat as many vegetables as I like. After almost three days of snacking, I crave some greens. And chicken. No bread though. I'm thinking of quitting bread for a while.

I watch the daily meeting in the library today, which is more comfortable and less crowded than the ballroom. Afterwards, I take a taster class in ska dancing which is great fun, and for the first time since arriving in Herrang I feel part of the camp.

I freshen up and join the party. In the library, tonight's theme is New Orleans, which is my favourite style of jazz music for dancing, and maybe listening too. It's such a happy music. The room is nicely decorated too. After a slow start I spot a few balboa dancers and we are all relieved to have found each other and can stop doing this lindy nonsense. But alas, the standard is so low!

A few dances remind me of my early balboa days - only that now it's bad leading and not bad following that's the problem. There is one good dancer, but he looks like he is having the worst time throughout our dance. I'd rather dance with a clothes horse than with that person again. Then, there is this guy who almost rips my arm out.

I have one nice dance with a German guy before leaving to check out the secret blues party in the Russian Kitchen, a disgusting self-catering kitchen for the campers. All I can face doing here is boiling water, using my own mug for tea. I spend most of the night here and have some lovely blues dances and chats. I have some of my box wine, which is improving my blues dancing.

To finish the night I walk over to the ballroom. It's daylight already, roughly 4 am. I have some great dances with someone who promises me to dance lindy in the style of balboa - and it works! Or maybe it's the box wine working its magic.

Sweden adventures #4

Saturday.

It's change-over day in Herrang. Most people are leaving today, and new people are arriving to take part in week five. It is hot, and I walk to the beach for a bit. There are only a few people here, and it's nice and quiet compared to the camp area.

I walk back to the camp, hang out in front of the Ice Cream Parlour, and make new friends. Exhausted from this, I go back to my tent, read, take a nap, and start getting ready for the evening.

Some heavy showers are passing through. I check my tent but it's holding up ok. My new fancy mat is quite large, and it will be difficult to orient it in the tent so that neither head nor feet will touch the tent skin.

Every night at Herrang, there is a daily meeting. This is part entertainment with dancing and singing performances, part education with historic film clips from old dance movies and interviews and discussions with some of the original dancers from that time who get invited to Herrang every year, and part administrative announcements. People start queueing for this meeting half an hour before it starts so they'll get good seats. Not everyone fits into the ballroom where it is shown, so it gets live broadcasted to other areas: the bar, the dance barn, and the library.

I see someone at the meeting I met four years ago, and haven't seen since. Florian and I have a mutual acquaintance in Berlin, so I have heard of him occasionally. In fact, this was him: *click*.

After the daily meeting, I go back to my tent, have some snacks and put on some make up to make up for not putting any effort into what I'm wearing. I slept in these clothes last night.

At the dance, I am very pleased to find a dance floor where they are playing blues music. However, the main event certainly is lindy hop. I stopped taking lindy classes years ago when I became more interested in balboa and blues. I'd describe my lindy as solid and uninspired, my blues as awkward and variable, and my balboa as carefree and relaxed.

I'm quite awake at 2 am in the morning, not having done anything all day. I'm on the look-out for other balboa dancers but the music isn't really suitable for balboa anyway. I leave at 3.30 am, it's already getting light outside.

Sweden adventures #3

At Herräng dance camp. Friday late afternoon.

I have successfully negotiated my bus-plane-train-bus-bus trip. Everything worked out perfectly, and it looks like I get to pitch my tent in bright sunshine. I even succeeded in getting some cash - not enough, but some. Herräng is a tiny village, the next cash machine is seven miles away.

I bought some groceries in the next town earlier today before boarding the final bus. And a box of wine. There's only one small grocery store in this village, and it has been known for its empty shelves.

When my bus arrived in Herrang I just followed a French couple with big packs. They looked like dancers and seemed to know where they were going. Four years is a long time, but eventually my memory of the place has come back to me.

I pitch my tent after finding an ok spot. All spots in the central area will be super noisy, so I pick one which is not in the sun all day. I chat a bit with my tent neighbour, but that's it for social interactions today. I go to bed for a nap and fall properly asleep, and when I wake up it's 1 AM - perfect dance time in Herrang, but I just can't be bothered.

Sweden adventures #2

At Edinburgh airport.

My pack is packed beautifully. I put a foam mat inside, around all my other stuff. This gives it a nice cylindrical shape without any bulges and dents, and it's also protecting my stuff. My pack is 12 kg. This makes me want to go on a long walk.

I haven't travelled with hold luggage in years - four years in fact. I'm not enjoying the queuing, I much prefer to travel light. But once I'm rid of my pack it is actually quite nice to zip through security without negotiating liquids and electronic devices.

An American talks to me. He's friendly but he looks like he isn't and could turn aggressive any minute. One of those faces.

My plane is full of Swedish hunks.

Sweden adventures #1

Here comes the first part of my travel notes from my recent holiday in Sweden.

I'm embarking on a very similar - if more compressed - trip as I did four years ago. Then, I travelled from Glasgow to Stockholm, spending a few nights there (*click*) before I went to the famous Herräng dance camp (*click*), and then on to Grötö, Porridge Island, a tiny island off the coast near Gothenburg. My friend Leo's family has a summer house there, where I visited him and my other friend and former flatmate Sally, who had been on holiday there. And this is where the two of them are getting married in a few days.

Then, I was on an eight months long trip around the world. I had a lot of time on my hands. Now, I feel like I'm abandoning my boss at work during the busiest time of the year. So I'm only taking nine days off, two and a half of which I'm going to spend on crossing Sweden to get to my multiple destinations quickly - using public transport.

What else has changed since 2012?

• I have a new boyfriend
• I have no acne anymore
• I have some grey hair and lines
• I have a home and a job
• I'm much happier with my dancing skills, but less keen to use them

Swedish wedding

A cheerful and tearful occasion - weddings always make me cry, but Swedish ones are the worst! All those thoughtful and moving toasts from friends and family - many of whom I knew from my time in the States where I had introduced the bride to the groom. Seeing them again, getting married! Seeing a lot of old friends again! They are all such good people and I miss them a lot.

Swedish holidays

I was away in Sweden for a while at a dance camp and a wedding, and I will report in detail soon. And I missed Scotland! When coming home late at night my plane landed in pouring rain, and the rain also poured into the buses that were waiting to take us to the terminal. Lovely. I was cold and tired, I missed the last local bus and took a taxi home. Halfway there, I realised that it was just after midnight and that it was my birthday. Having no one else to tell I told the driver. He said happy birthday and said he was a leo too. That was sweet and a little pathetic too.

So, here's to everyone who thought of me (without the help of Facebook!): well done and thank you, especially for cards and messages! And to everyone else: try again next year! (I probably forgot yours as well...)

Goodbye Göteborg, ...

...city of Bruce and Beachboys fevers, choklatbols, blonde and tanned healthy-looking Swedes, awesome secondhand shops, great lindy hop scene, home to the shoe store that sold me THE PRETTIEST Italian shoes fit for dancing and dolling up for 50% off!

Hello, Reykjavik, what do YOU have to offer? Fairies? Geysers? Volcanos? Free wifi on the airport bus? Funny money? A penis museum?

Göteborg and the Bruce

I am writing this as I'm giving the three blonde, tanned, Swedish boys (friendly hunks really) who invaded my 4 bed mixed dorm some privacy since they seemed in the process of changing when I last entered the room.

I will always connect Göteborg to Bruce Springsteen even though he is from New Jersey. It began when I first looked into accommodations in Göteborg back in April and couldn't find any for July 27th and 28th. What was going on I asked the people I was drinking with back in our Princeton apartment. It turned out that nothing really is going on in Göteborg, but that Bruce Springsteen would give concerts there both days. I dismissed the idea of a fellow New Jerseyan being the cause of my housing crisis, let me convince that people just liked the city for its nightlife at the weekends, and booked a room in a town a few hours north instead. But when I finally arrived in Göteborg, the Bruce greeted me from posters that not only announced the big event but also advertised for Bruce-parties all over the city.

In the hostel in Göteborg I stayed in a week before the concert a staff member confirmed the Bruce-mania and said that he was rather big in Sweden. Oh well. Having lived close to NYC I indulge myself sometimes in looking down on people who haven't had any taste of big city life. Hostel boy did not appreciate that, but he gave me a room for the concert dates that surprisingly became available anyway, so I didn't have to leave the city for two days. I ended up staying in a 4 bed mixed dorm, where I was woken up by my roommates' alarm this morning playing a Springsteen tune. During a thunderstorm today when I was stranded under a roof for shelter together with two Swedish men, they asked me if I, too, was going to the Springsteen concert. And at dinner I sat next to a German family dressed in garments with Springsteen's name on it.

I wonder if the three Swedish boys are going to the concert as well or stay for my entertainment. I'll report.

Herräng 7

Goodbyes. I left Herräng half glad and half sad, and also half dead I must say. Half glad because I'm looking forward to plenty of sleep, a bit of privacy, clean bathrooms and hot showers. Half sad to stop dancing for a while, to leave the happy Herräng world and my new friends. Alanna got up really early to say goodbye which made me glad and sad at the same time. Leaving behind some really cool people always sucks. But I'm sure I'll see her, and Raul, and Bella, and hopefully a few others again. After all, the swing dancing world is a small one.

On my travels, I have been growing as a person. Today, I experienced something unbeknownst to me: I missed a bus. I missed the bus from Herräng to Hallstavik even though I was at the bus stop 20 minutes early. Herräng is a tiny village consisting of a main street and a few side streets. At the end of Herräng is the Baltic Sea. The bus from Hallstavik enters Herräng at one side of the village, stops a few times, turns around, stops a few times on the other side of the main street, and drives back to Hallstavik. This happens every two hours or so. At least, that's what I thought. I was waiting on the side of the street where the bus would stop after turning around, right before leaving the village. I saw it coming, stopping on the opposite side of the street where a woman boarded it. I decided to wait for the bus to turn around and come back instead of crossing the street. In fact, I was feeling a bit smug about that woman who had needlessly rushed to the bus and who would now get a tour of Herräng instead of taking her time and cross the street to wait with me. Well, my smugness disappeared when the bus never came back and I realized that it did not always turn around but sometimes took a different route back to Hallstavik. This was confirmed later by a friendly local who told me exactly that, about half an hour later. It was then that I felt half dead, tired, cold, sick and a bit embarrassed.

Instead of waiting for the next bus two hours later, I got a ride to Hallstavik by an elderly Swedish couple (have I really never hitch-hiked before?), and thus, I missed my train to Gothenburg (Göteborg) only by a few minutes. Missing my train was a bit unfortunate since I had a really cheap ticket which I had bought from a fellow dancer whom I gave my ticket to Stockholm in exchange - she had had to change her travel plans. Her Gothenburg ticket was connected to my missed train, so I had to get a new one which cost twice as much. But it turned out that I couldn't have used her ticket anyway since it had her name on it. This way, I avoided an unpleasant situation in the train.

Anyway, I'll be in Gothenburg tonight, sleep, wash my clothes, and get better for the next three days before I meet up with Sally and Leo, take the boat to their island and have an awesome Swedish time!

Herräng 6

Pirates and Parrots - or - How Many Dances Is One Too Many?

On Friday, it was Pirates and Parrots night. I was not only sleep-deprived from previous nights, but also had finally caught the camp flu. Therefore, I decided to take a nap after dinner, and I really surprised myself by actually getting up again at 10 pm to dress up and go dancing.

The venue was decorated with palm trees, all imaginable kinds of pirate accessories, a jungle, a screen with a film of a muggy sea and a sailing ship in the background, and many more little details. People were dressed up as pirates, parrots, pirate ships, a flamingo, a beer keg, etc. I don't remember seeing anyone of the hundreds of people dressed in regular attire.

But what really stood out was the bar. During the days a regular bar, it had been transformed by volunteers to a seamen's watering hole with huge hand-drawn maps on the walls, shanty music in the background, old candelabra and rum bottles on the tables, and at some point the whole place singing along to a song which, naturally, had the chorus: Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum, accompanied by a fiddle. It was in the bar where I had a strange encounter. A guy I had been dancing with a couple of times that night and, as I later came to realize, for probably six dances in a row, came over to apologize for being rude, since he had left me on the dance floor a bit abruptly after our last dance. I have to add that it is unusual to dance for more than one (in the US) or two (Sweden, Germany) dances in a row with a stranger. But this guy and I had been chatting a bit earlier about dancing and were on similar terms about enjoying a dance as opposed to showing off one's cool moves. He also did Balboa and helped me a bit practicing which lead to the first couple of songs in a row. We then did some Lindy Hop which was fun, too, and there weren't many dancers that I clicked with on the dance floor. All good reasons for me to hold on to him as a leader, especially since there weren't enough for all the followers. But when he left I didn't think much about it and had a few dances with other leads.

So when he apologized later in the bar I told him not to worry, but then he seemed to want to say something more. Eventually, he did and left me speechless when he said that he had family and didn't want to raise any expectations. Apparently, he mistook my interest in him as a dance partner for an interest of a different kind. All I could say then was Ok..?

On the one hand I find it very decent of him to be upfront about existing relationships and intentions or rather the absence of any intentions. But I was embarrassed and I do wonder what I did that made him think I was interested in him in any other way than dancing. I asked around, and my non-representative poll resulted in a number of dances with a stranger that you should not exceed in order to avoid misunderstandings: It's 3.

Herräng 5

Speed-dating. Has anyone ever done it? I know Kat has, and from what I've heard it is a serious matter where you are face to face with a guy and you try to make a good first impression in 3 minutes, before you are put in front of the next person. In the end you choose the people you liked and want to see again, and if it turns out that two people chose each other they'll get each other's contact information.

Herräng speed-dating was different. I first had moral reservations against participating, since I'm already taken, but then the set-up looked like a whole lot of fun and my friend Alanna wouldn't go if I didn't. So I went.

We sat in a big tent which was usually used for dance classes. The floor was decorated with roses and pillows. People wanting to meet ladies (mostly guys) were sitting in an outer circle, while people wanting to meet guys (mostly ladies) sat across from them in an inner circle. We were given tasks to fulfill before we would rotate and end up in front of a new partner. The first task was for the inner circle to rotate for two seats so that everyone would sit across a different person. Then, the guys had to give the ladies a nice back rub, and after a minute, the roles were reversed. The next task with a new guy was to discuss solutions for the European financial crisis. Next task was to look into each other's eyes for a whole minute without talking. I've never experienced such a long minute and this much awkwardness.

We had to talk about our regrets in life, what turns us on and puts us off, most important aspects of a relationship, ask each other all the questions we wanted to ask (without getting answers), invent a secret handshake, give each other a hand massage and at the same time ask the partner the question: What's your problem?

It was a lot of fun, and successful matches would get a dance card with an agreed time and location for their dance.

Unfortunately, the organizers messed up the results so that at one point five guys were waiting at their meeting points for their dates who never showed up. Also, neither did I get any dates nor any words of consolation for that from my boyfriend :)

Herräng 4

I'm sitting in a big tent which has been provided for doing hair and make-up. It's raining hard, and this is a good place with a chair, wifi reception, and a power outlet. Next to the tent is the sauna building which also has showers and a toilet.

Suddenly, just now, the door to the sauna opened, I saw a hand and a shoe and the hand grabbing something in the shoe and, with a shriek, throwing out a frog. That poor guy sat on the doormat for a while, paralyzed, or waiting to get back in, but figured soon enough that he wasn't welcome when that woman, exiting the building and seeing the little man there shrieked again. Apparently, she's not on friendly terms with the fauna here, having found a dead ant in her ear the other day.

Herräng 3

After one week Herräng Dance Camp I ran out of Moskito spray, finally found the self-catering kitchen, and sadly, had to say goodbye to some of my new friends who left today.

One of them sneaked in this morning while I was still sleeping and left me his food. A bit creepy but greatly appreciated.

The last night of week one was legendary, and no pictures or videos could capture the atmosphere of the combined music, vintage hairstyles, clothes and decoration, together with the late hours. After a coffee and a beer around 3 am I found my second wind and had a few really fast Charleston dances before I retreated to the bar. There, a few musicians came together for a jam session, surrounded by a few dancing couples and just everyone swaying. Imagine clothes in Savoy Ballroom style (the theme of the night) and you feel like being part of a black and white movie from the 40ies.

I went to bed at 5 am, haven't stayed up that late in a very long time.

Pictures of the general accommodations, where I'm staying, and the surprise I found under my bed this morning.

Herräng 2

On day three the sleeping accommodations look like a refugee camp but with mostly happy (and tired) people around. My moral issues with killing mosquitos (bad karma!) have eventually disappeared as the area of skin which is not yet covered with bites decreased. My planned daily exercise routine in order to prevent camp flu got replaced by vitamin C supplements.

I am terribly grateful for the advice from a fellow traveller to bring a clothes line on travels. Having 3-4 dance classes plus social dancing every day means a lot of sweating and thus washing clothes a lot. My quick-drying clothes are so worth their money when it is muggy and rainy all day.

Besides dancing, so far I have taken a lesson in miming, watched a movie from the 40s with the Glenn Miller orchestra, had fun dinner and breakfast company with people from >10 different countries, and learned a lot about the history of swing dance.

There will be more to report, I'm sure.