Hello from Malmo! After a long travel day I finally made it here and am getting settled. My flight from Philly to Frankfurt was about 8 hours during which I watched Foxcatcher (good movie), ate and unsuccessfully attempted to sleep. The guy sitting next to me was clearly not a believer in personal space because his elbow must have hit me in the arm or side at least 15 times during the flight. What is so hard to understand about the armrest being the dividing line?!? I arrived in Frankfurt a little before 8am local time and had to go through customs. The customs officer asked me where I was going and what I was doing. I told him I was headed to Malmo for the Women's World Championships and he was very excited - he said he knew a player on the German team.
After making it through customs I went to find my gate for my next flight to Copenhagen. While looking for that gate I ran into the 3 Canadians who are working the tournament. For some reason they were on a different flight to Copenhagen than I was so after hanging out for a bit we went our separate ways. The flight to Copenhagen was pretty short, only about 1:20. I headed down to baggage where they had monitors telling you the approximate wait time for your bags, all of which were well under 15 minutes. Philly International, you should come here and take notes! After collecting my bags I found someone waiting to drive me to Malmo. It is only about a 30 minute drive and to get there you have to take the Oresund Bridge. This is the longest road bridge in Europe and goes for 2.5 miles underwater and 5 miles above water.
Once in Malmo we went straight to the hotel where I was able to check in and get into my room. For the first time in my IIHF career we all have our own rooms. While I have enjoyed getting to know my various roommates over the years I have to admit it is nice to have my own space. I had 30 minutes before lunch so I decided took a quick shower to try to wake myself up a little bit. Lunch was a small buffet that had pasta and Swedish meatballs. They were delicious. If you've ever had the Swedish meatballs at Ikea these were very similar. Speaking of Ikea, I keep laughing because every time I looked at a random sign on the way here I kept thinking "I wonder if this is a line of furniture at Ikea because it sure looks like it!" I was so excited to take a nap following lunch but then I was told I had to go to the main arena to get my accreditation. By the time I got back I only had about an 1:30 minutes until our first meeting. I layed down and slept like a rock. Thank goodness I set an alarm, otherwise I'd still be sleeping. At our meeting we did introductions and got all of our new gear - track suits, helmet, jacket, hoodie, etc. We then ate dinner and here I am, sitting in bed at 8:00 fighting to stay awake just a little longer so I adjust to the time change better.
Tomorrow morning we have a skate followed by our big meeting where we are reviewing some more of the procedurial items along with the rule changes. As far as I know we then have the rest of the day free to explore the area a little more. Should be fun!
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