I've been looking for this thread!
I've always seen surfing as the ultimate thing to do since the first time I heard of it. I live in Sweden, where there is no surf culture at all. Windsurfing was pretty big in my parents generation, but most people don't really understand surfing on waves. That being said, it's growing rapidly here, and there are Swedish surf bums in most european surfing towns today.
I decided I wanted to surf after high school, so I went and spent a month in Biarritz, France. Took surflessons five days a week for four weeks, and felt like I learned enough to get going. Bought a board back in Sweden (stupid) and surfed once, about a year later, in the baltic sea (windswell, snowing, not awesome). The board, which I still have, is a 6'9", and it's pointy and kind of thin. Essentially a gun. Stupid. I bought it because it was cheap and available. Surfboards in northern Sweden is a bit like I imagine skis are in Florida or something. In the beginning of June I was in Portugal and spent a week at Lapoint surfcamp. Part of the surfcourse there was that one of the instructors (who was way too good to be an instructor) took us to a local board factory and explained everything about surfboards. Lucky my board was cheap.
Last week I was in Hoddevik, Norway, visiting my girlfriend, and I got to try some actual longboarding. Definitely my thing. Holy shit it was amazing.
Now I can't stop thinking about surfing, and even though I live on an island on the west coast, the closest surfbreak is at least 8 hours away. I can't go until like in a month.
Also, wetsuit gabber. I have a Rip Curl Dawnpatrol 6/5 with hood. It rules.