My Mormon Scandal (among other things)

Got back Saturday from a phenomenal week at an LDS young single adult conference called Festinord. It's been around for decades, and originally only youth from the nordic (northern European) countries would attend, but in recent years its fame has spread basically worldwide. I met people from England, France, Estonia, China, and even Slovenia.

I loved it. 

First day there, I knew about 5 people out of the 600 attendees, and I wasn't tight with any of them. I was terrified that the week was going to turn into one of those things where I'd just drift along, not really fitting in, playing the part of the loner against the wall. It's happened before. Much to my surprise, I started making friends quite literally the minute I got there and I didn't stop till the minute I left. The people were awesome! Rarely ever does one get the chance to associate with so many people from such varied cultural backgrounds as I did at Festinord. 

The days were long and filled with workshops, sports, activities, and music. We'd get back to our rooms around 1:30 a.m. and breakfast would begin at 8 (and if you're a good person you'd to go to the optional morning institute at 7:30. Needless to say, I did not.) John Bytheway, a celebrated Mormon author/comedian/motivational speaker attended and gave multiple devotionals, which were each fantastic, fun, and spiritual. We had dances every night, each lasting an average of 5 1/2 hours. Holy crap, those were tiring, but I still enjoyed them.  Most of the time, I just danced in a group with my homies, busting some fresh moves and all that, but sometimes, a guy would get the nerve up to actually ask me to dance with him... which brings me to this delightfully disturbing little story.

It's Friday night, the last dance of the week, and I'm on the floor putting all my remaining energy into rocking my body and partying like it's 1999, when I am made aware that tables with treats have been place at the back of the room. Naturally, I immediately abandon the group and head to the sugar. I grab a candy bar, and a voice next to me goes, "You deserve it. I've seen you out there dancing. You're good." I look up; he's looking at me. I say, "Thank you. Um, I'm sure you deserve your candy too. But, like, I haven't seen you dancing so I guess I don't know." I am obviously not as smooth as this guy. 

"I'm pretty good, don't worry," he says.

"I have no reason to believe you," I reply.

"I would like to prove it. Will you dance with me when you finish your candy bar?" he asks.

"Yes. But I'm probably gonna be better than you."
"It's a competition, then."

We continue to talk, and I find out he's American like me, and graduated from BYU. The fact that he's already out of school makes me a little nervous, since that means he's probably a bit old for me, but I don't think too much of it. A few minutes later, he leads me to the floor, and proceeds to thoroughly show me up with his superior dancing skills. When the song is over, he graciously says, "I think we tied." I give some sort of disbelieving snort and we part ways. I see him a few minutes later talking to one of my friends. The evening continues uneventfully, until eventually I go outside to cool down with some other girls, including the one Twinkle Toes was talking to earlier. We'd been outside a few minutes when the same girl asks, "So how's your 45-year-old boyfriend?" I say I don't understand what she's talking about, so she says, "That guy you were dancing with before. Yeah... he's 45."

Um...

Uh...

FORTY-FIVE YEARS OLD?? He was old enough to be my dad! He could have fathered 8 children by now! What's worse, the age limit for the conference was 30! He lied about his age at registration! I was utterly and completely scandalized. I mean honestly, what kind of guy hits on a girl well over 20 years his junior at a religious convention!? Jeez Louise. I'm still disturbed about it. And in my defense, he did look pretty old, but not THAT old. I just assumed he was one of those poor guys who aged prematurely.
Yech. Blech. Blehhh. This is why I wish magic existed. I could obliviate that memory right out of my head.

Excluding that major incident, though, my week was a blast and a half. I didn't want it to end, but alas, Saturday arrived and goodbyes were said, and I returned to the family I'd been staying with prior to Festinord. Then on Sunday night, I left Sweden for good. Took the midnight train to Stockholm, and then a ferry across the sea to Turku, Finland. I'll miss the land of the Swedes, but I'm excited to explore more of this continent. EVERYONE needs to go abroad at some point. Trust me. Go. Now.

K bye.

"The world is a book and all those who do not travel read only one page." -- Augustine of Hippo