The Misadventures of José Faxner

Wow. Wooow. I had such a fantastic day! People would come up to me all day, congratulating me - how so many people were able to find out that it was my birthday, I’m not entirely sure (I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it) - but it was great nonetheless.

In the evening, we went to some sort of Flamenco show which was entertaining, if a bit artsy at times. I don’t know if I would call myself a fan of Flamenco, or any kind of dance for that matter, but watching physical performances is always fun, so I guess I had a good time. Once we got back to campus, the ever-partying guys from Taiwan and Hong Kong insisted that we’d do something, so we went out to the outskirts of campus to do some drinking and just have a good time. I hadn’t expected any kind of celebration really; I figured we’d just have fun like any other Friday night, but I as it turned out, I was dead wrong. The guys did all kinds of cool stuff for me, including the following:

• Sang for me in Swedish
• Sang for me in English
• Sang for me in Chinese
• Got me some cellphone accessories
• Got me some Japanese pastry (in lack of a proper cake)

But undoubtedly, the best part was Atsushi giving a speech… in Swedish!! I was not only thoroughly impressed with his Swedish (of course he did it all phonetically, but it was still damn impressive), but I was really moved as well. No friend of mine ever did something like this for me on my birthday, and this guy I’ve barely known for a few weeks! I get all teary-eyed just talking about it.

I’m so happy right now. This was my best birthday in years.