A Tribute to Bo Lundin

Last night I was out with one of my good friends Oskar. When I was completely new in Sweden Oskar was one of the first people to speak with me in Swedish and not switch to English even though I was obviously struggling. He helped me fight the good fight. Tough love you could call it. Last night as we stood at the bar waiting for Juvelen to take the stage we shot the shit, as usual, 100% in Swedish. A night like that only builds my confidence.

But before I moved here I was taking a Swedish class in Chicago as preparation. Once a week for 4 months we learned the complete basics of the language. The book we used in the class followed the lives of the families living in an apartment building in Lund, Sweden. They lived on Storgatan (that translates to "big street"). My favorite resident was a rough around the edges and in that classic "finding yourself" part of life student named Bo Lundin. So before I had Oskar to chat with I had Bo Lundin to walk me through what a day in the life as a Swedish 20-something was all about. Here's my tribute to Bo, the guy that taught me to speak Swedish.


Translation: Bo Lundin is a student. He doesn't have a job except studying English at Lund's University. He doesn't earn any money except his student loan.


Translation: Bo is 23 years old and unmarried. He's a student.


Here's Bo in his room. Notice the poster on the wall that reads "Black Festival." He's a very culturally diverse guy! In the book it made note that Bo enjoyed listening to both classical and modern music.


Bo spisar lite jazz. (no translation, I'm just showing off here.)


Bo enjoyed inviting his lady friend over to discuss literature and drink wine.


Bo wasn't the most punctual guy. Here he is missing his bus. Too much wine last night Bo!


What really let our relationship bloom was the fact that as I was studying Swedish he was studying English. This common trait of being thrown into a new language really helped us bond. Bros for life.


A great mind at work. Bo always found time for his studies. Not many 23 year olds can pull off smoking a pipe. I doubt there's tobacco in that pipe, maybe something a bit more mind expanding.

Bo Lundin, a true renaissance man.