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Week 1
On April 13, 2011 in Sweden by Clint Patterson Clint Patterson
After the scrimmage with the roosters coach gave the guys the week off because some were banged up and also because it is Easter.  On Monday I lifted weights and for all of my Finnish readers I did locate the sauna in the gym and did throw loulu, but it wasn't the same without Marlon by my side.  I had no one to talk to while in the sauna and felt as though I was breaking tradition or something.  Then for lunch I went with one of the guys on the team to the Tyresö Centrum.  Later on that evening my boy Ilija and I went  threw on the field.  It took me an extremely long time to get warm due to the coldness.  I couldn't feel my fingers for like the first 15 minutes.  We threw for about an hour and then went and ate pizza at a local place and caught up on old college days.  Can you believe that a medium pizza could cost 17 US dollars.  I have got to watch myself over here or I will be spending everything that I have without even knowing it.
 
Then on Tuesday I went into the city of Stockholm to meet coach for lunch.  I took a bus then a metro that took us underground and then we popped out in the dead center of town.  This  was a new experience for me.  I don't remember ever taking a metro before in my life other than in Venezuela or Atlanta.  So I finally saw some of the females that everyone has been talking about and no Pat and Adam I don't have any pictures of them  because I don't carry my camera everywhere I go.  The city really has a lot of stuff going on down there.  I will have to get some footage of that place because there is water everywhere, bridges, neat looking buildings and such.  There are also all kinds of people there as well.  I guess you could say melting pot if you want to.  Coach just showed me around and gave me the tour on how to get to different places though in relationship to the city we really didn't get too far because there is so much down there.  It was interesting and I definitely will be heading that way again.
 
When I returned we had offensive meetings here at the club house.  The offensive coordinator was going over the playbook and the routes, blocking scheme, cadence, and theory of the system.  I started to understand how things worked and hopefully I will have a handle on it sooner than later.  After offensive meetings I went with 3 of the guys to watch the movie " The Passion of The Christ ", which made my second time seeing it.  The first time was in Aramaic and English and this time it was in Aramaic and Swedish.  Though I could not read the words, I knew what was going on and even sometimes explained what was happening to one of the guys who went with us.  It was a pretty neat experience to watch it over here though the movie theatre was smaller, the ticket cost like 14 US dollars, and there were less sniffles in the crowd than when I watched it at home.
 
The next day offensive skills had a short practice.  Skills meaning everyone except the lineman...sorry big guys, but its the truth.  Anyways we were throwing and getting warmed up when one of our receivers popped his Achilles tendon.  It was pretty bad and he has already had surgery on it and will be out for the season.  He was in his starting stance and when I said " hutt " he immediately went to the ground.  I guess when he tried to take off it just gave way.  This kind of put a damper on practice, but we still made some strides.  I have to memorize the system quick or I will be in trouble, but I am getting there.  Hopefully I will pick up on things with more reps in practice.
 
I have noticed that here, like in Finland if I remember correctly, that the stop lights don't go from red to green, but rather go back to orange in between.  The lights also can sense when a car is coming so if you are alone on the road you will see the lights changing as you get closer to them.  Just a little factoid for you there.  Also, I mentioned that the people dancing in Finland looked as if they were catching full body cramps.  Well if they were cramping in Finland then I guess we can say that they are having seizures here in Stockholm or at least from what I have seen in the past 2 days that is a safe statement.
 
Ending up the week I have just been trying to figure out how to keep my laptop online and have been throwing the past 3 days in a row.  Ilija came through and got my laptop online for now, but its tricky on how to get it to stay online.  My arm is getting into better shape now that I have been throwing more.  Also this week I took the bus, to the sub to the city....hung out got on the subway from a different location then back to the bus and made it home.  That sounds like an ordinary day for someone who lives here, but for a country boy it was good to be able to find my way around.  I will post a picture of the subway routes so you can see what I am saying.  I think we have a few more practices then we are going to be heading to Germany for camp and a scrimmage against a team in  Russelheim. Our team is also going to go watch an NFLEurope game too because our coach has to scout the game.  I will be posting again before that and afterwards have a Germany trip entry as well. 
 
Regards,
 
Clint

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