Day 30

I missed another opportunity to sleep in today because I had forgotten that my first class doesn't start until November so I was in school at 8:30 with nothing to do until 10:15... I was lucky though, because I met my friend, Hannah and she invited me to come to her IB math class. (the IB program is all in English but I'm not allowed to go into it because they want me to learn Swedish) It was actually very nice to learn something; we learned about sets of numbers and stuff like that. Although I had never done that sort of thing before, I understood it instantly and was helping out the other people in the class. The teacher was really weird and said that today was ok, but I'm not allowed to come back again... Oops. Oh well. After that I still had some time, so I went to IB Philosophy. Those who know me well know my feelings for philosophy, but it was actually very nice; maybe it was because the teacher wasn't an obsessed, sadistic sociopath. The philosophy teacher was very nice and warmly welcomed me, unlike the math teacher. After that I rejoined my class and had a pretty good day. I finally got home (to an empty house because everybody is away) and now I'm heading to Iliyas' house for dinner and to spend the night. Tomorrow we're off for Viking Weekend and directly after that, Language Camp! So it might be a while before another post, just to give a warning.

Day 29

Today was not all that exciting; I just went to school and then came home. I had my first Swedish-for-non-Swedish-people lesson today and it was painfully boring, because it began at the "I have never heard a single word of Swedish" level and the teacher was extremely obnoxious. Tomorrow is when the fun starts kind of, so until then, the future shall be shrouded in mystery. Also it's worth noting that after tomorrow, I will not be contactable through Skype, AIM, or MSN so tomorrow would be the time to contact me; noon (eastern time) would be good for me, even a little after that. After that I will be unreachable for a week. Well, not totally unreachable, you can always call my mobile (aka cell phone) but for everyone in the US of A, that can become expensive after a while. Well actually, its not too expensive...

Day 28

Today was rather similar to yesterday; mostly just experimenting with water and stuff. Today, my waterproof pant-things were only a couple sizes too big and not horribly immense like yesterday's. We collected some more water samples and then put some chemicals into them and then took them to the lab and put even more chemicals into them and they turned so many fun colors and the whole time I didn't really know what was going on but it was still fun and this sentence just keeps going on and on and on it seems like it will never stop; it's got to be the longest run on sentence I've ever had, it just wont stop, but I guess everything has to end some time, so I guess it will stop now. It was a lot of fun in the lab because we got to wear lab coats and fun goggles that looked like designer sunglasses. After all this, we finally made the journey home and then I took the bus back home. It was really funny walking through town with a giant bag and then getting on the bus. Then I finally got back home to Sunersta (thats the part of Uppsala that I live in) And now, despite having started a sentence with "and," I'm going to sleep because it's almost eleven and I have to go to school tomorrow. I wonder if I should take the bus or the bike to school?

The past 3 day's pictures can be seen HERE

Day 26

Today my class (NV 2-Biotek) headed to Erken on a field trip to study limnology, or the study of fresh water. The bus ride was a little over an hour and I talked with my new friend Anton the whole time. He is Korean, but he is adopted, so he doesn't speak it, but thankfully he was able to tell me about a good Korean restaurant in Stockholm! So we arrived there and then settled into our rooms, which where actually really nice. They were in this building that used to be somebody's house, but was then donated to the University. The rooms had two bunk beds in each, but our room only had three people, which was nice: Anton, Samuel and me. After we got settled in a little bit, we headed to the lab and began our experimentation. We were split into groups and each group would study a different part of the lake and we got the "not exposed to wind" section of the lake. So we had to put on these big rubber pants with attached boots over our clothes and then wade into the water to collect samples. The one I had was 3000 sizes too big in every direction, so I was definitely the most gangsta of everyone. It was a lot of fun to basically go swimming without getting wet and we collected a lot of samples of different plants, plankton, worms and snails. I even saw some fish but I wasn't able to catch them. After many hours of this, we went back to the "house" and then ate dinner, which consisted of meatballs and pasta (with ketchup!! yuck!!) and then we just hung out until sleepy-time. Two of my classmates brought guitars so they were playing and a couple people were singing. They sang some Beatles songs and some Disney songs in Swedish. (which was really weird for me, knowing them in English) I went to sleep at about 10:30 because I was really tired.

pictures coming soon...

Day 25

Today was a Monday and a rather special Monday, because due to scheduling and cancellations, I only had 40 minutes of class today, but it somehow turned into 4 hours... Read more to find out... (this sounds like the summary on the back of some crappy elementary school novel...)

Anyway... I was very excited about today, because this one, lonely class (Biology) happened to be scheduled for 11:55, meaning that I would be able to sleep in, right?? WRONG!!!! I had forgotten that I was going to the Rotary Club today because Katarina was making a presentation about her job, so instead of sleeping in all day, I had to get up at 6:45 and go into town. Luckily we drove there so I didn't have to bike or take the bus. The presentation was interesting, even though I only understood about 26.385% of it. Everybody was really happy to see me and they all want to take me to do things like fishing and outdoorsy-things. And it's always nice to eat free food at a hotel. After the meeting, I rode my bike home (we took it on the back of the car, they have this magical rack that attaches to the tow-hitch on the back of the car)
--I need to just add a little interjection here about another thing I've noticed about Sweden. Firstly, almost every car that isn't a sub-compact (ex: smart cars and other itty-bitty ones) is a station wagon, (aka hatchback) to make a guestimation (that's right I just said guestimation) I would say it must be about 82.4% hatchbacks and there's practically no suvs or "big" cars here. My Honda Civic, which is considered a "compact" in the US of A, would be considered a normal/full sized car here. Also, there are a ton of Volvos (not a surprise) and a lot of Peugots, Renaults and Skodas. (in case you don't follow, those are types of cars)--
Getting back to the main story... I rode my bike home and then tried to go to sleep, but that didn't work, so I wound up watching American cartoons on the internet, because I got this sudden urge, and they brought pangs of nostalgia. (but not homesickness)
I then caught the 11:06 bus into the city, because it takes a little under thirty minutes, because it goes the ultra-long way around Gottsunda and Södra Gottsunda instead of taking Dag Hammarskjölds vag like I do when I take the bike. It also takes just under 10 minutes to walk from Slottsbacken (the bus stop) to school.
During Biology we mainly discussed the field trip we would be taking the next day to Erken. We were going to stay one night and conduct various experiments with the water. So after that I thought I was free for the day and I wanted to just go back home and sleep, so I figured I would go do that, right? WRONG!! AGAIN!! I found out that we were taking school pictures today (a little early don't you think?) and I figured I must have just missed the memo, but everybody else was surprised too. So I was thinking "Oh isn't that nice, it's just like SURPISE!!! pictures today!!" What really sucked, however, was that the pictures weren't until 16:00, aka 4:00 (that reminds me of something else, here they write times as 16:00 but they don't say "sixteen o'clock, they still say 4, well actually they would say klockan fyra...) So then I realized that I would have to wait three and a half hours just to take stupid pictures. But it wasn't all bad, because I was set to meet with my Rotary counselor Ulrica Ståhl for a visit to a local Biology museum. Upon arriving at the museum, however, we found out, much to her dismay, that the museum is closed on Mondays, despite the conflicting information presented on the website. So instead we took a little walking tour of Uppsala, and visited several University buildings. (anybody notice how I keep switching tenses throughout? That's because in some cases, tense shifts are necessary to make the sentences sound right, but also it partly because I am writing this two days after it actually happened, so it's confusing every time I write "today..." because it was not today. Also, anybody notice how I constantly keep changing from spelling out numbers and just typing the digits? No? I didn't think so, that's why I decided to point it out myself! ^_^) Here, the university, Uppsala University, (UU) is not on one central campus, but the buildings are split up and strewn (I always liked that word) across the city. So after walked all around, we got some ice cream and then I when back to school at about halv tre (2:30). Just as I was walking up to school, Anna (from Australia) came walking out and so we decided to go get ice cream (again!) because she wanted it and I had nothing to do. So we went and got ice cream and while we were eating, Iliyas (from France) called and wanted to come join us. So after having a little trouble finding us, he came and we got even more ice cream (so I had three that day... but I did miss lunch so...) and then Anna headed home and Iliyas and I headed back to school because we were both waiting to take pictures.

So I guess your getting tired of hearing about these people, but I promise that tomorrow and the next day will have many other new people in them. How do I know this? Well if you were paying attention and read my note about tense shifts in my story, then you would already know that I'm writing "today's" events on Wednesday evening.

So after a while longer, we finally took our pictures and then I took the bus home and then packed up all my things for Erken and then went to sleep pretty early (for me at least) at klockan halv elva. (10:30)
Tomorrow the fun starts (and the really funny pictures!)

Day 24

Running a little behind, but here we go...
Today after we woke up, we all ate breakfast and then said our goodbyes and then headed for Kristinehamn to drop off my host-grandmother. When we arrived, we went into her house (well it's like a mini apartment, kinda like a multi-family house) and had fika, which was nice. She told me that the building was over 300 years old! (how long has America even been a country?) We had coffee, cookies, kanelbullar and chocolate biscuits which were all very good. Then we said goodbye and headed back home to Uppsala. I mostly listened to my iPod the whole time (although I must have listened to When You're Gone about six times...) About 40 minutes away from home, we stopped at this enormous candy store that had every type of (Swedish) candy imaginable and Amanda and I got some candy. They had some really strange ones, like salty octupus-shaped candy and egg-shaped (and possibly flavored >_<) candy, which I was too afraid to try. We also stopped at McDonald's on the way home and this was excited because it was the first time I had eaten at one, because I have been to them here before, but I haven't actually eaten anything. (when I went there I was hanging out with friends) I had their Asian Beef burger which was pretty much just a big burger with teriyaki sauce and cucumbers in it; it was pretty good though. Somebody back home check this for me: do we have Asian Beef burgers at McDonald's in the states? Or is it just here? Also here the Quarter Pounder is just called QP and the Big 'n Tasty drops the n and becomes "Big Tasty" and the Big Mac still looks the same. You can get just a regular cheeseburger for 12 kronor (thats "ingen big deal" as they say on the commercials here: not a big deal) I think it's a big deal, because 12 kronor, at current exchange rates, is roughly $2, and I believe unless things have changed since I left, you can get a regular cheeseburger (like with no meal or anything) or only like 59 cents or something. Then we arrived home and that was about it for the day.

Bwaaahh!!!! I absolutely forgot!!! For dinner tonight I experienced something so typically (and exclusively) Swedish: Surströmming (aka rotten fermented herring) The smell is well known for being absolutely horrible and when you want to have it, you have to open the cans and eat it outside or the house will forever be uninhabitable. Well it's not really that bad, (after a few years the house would eventually lose the stench) just after a while, it starts to get to you... The fish are whole (without heads and are already cleaned out) but you have to pull out the meat and try to remove the spine and the tiny bones in it. Then you put the pieces on knäckebröd (aka crisp bread, more like a large cracker than bread) along with potatoes butter and onions. Katarina was nice enough to prepare one for me, so I didn't have to get my hands all smelly and covered in shit herring. It didn't taste all that bad, and it definitely tasted better than it smelled. It was very salty and acidic; it didn't have the nicest flavor, but at least I can say that I've tried it. Most of my classmates were shocked that I even tried it, because they all hate it and most have never even had it!This is the Surströmming after it has been unleashed to wreak havoc on the world.

Day 23

Today was a lot of fun. I woke up a little before 10 and ate breakfast and then we left for Eva and Tomas' boat. (my host-aunt and host-uncle) We headed to the water, which was pretty close to their apartment and got on a little boat, and I was thinking "I thought they said we were going sailing, how is it sailing if we're on a tiny motorboat?!" What I didn't realize is that we were riding the boat to the marina and then getting on the real sailboat. It was a lot of fun sailing to the island on Sweden and Europe's largest lake even though it was really cold because of the wind. We finally got there and got off the boat and went around the island mushroom-picking. This is actually a popular pastime; picking strange mushrooms and then eating them. It sounds rather crazy, but the mushrooms were actually pretty tasty and not poisonous, as I am righting this over 24 hours after I ate them, and I'm not dead. After we ate dinner on the island we sailed back to the mainland and just chilled for a couple hours and then I went to sleep.

You can see the pictures here.

Day 22

Today was my second day of school, and I liked it a lot better than the first. Not that the first was bad or anything, its just that I probably spent more time out of school than in school today. the day had an interesting start, however, because it was Katarina's birthday, so, following Swedish tradition, we all woke up up with singing, cake and presents. After a big breakfast I had to scramble to get ready, although I guess I didn't scramble fast enough because I missed the bus... But luckily Katarina and Per were taking the car to work today, so they were nice enough to drop me off at school so I didn't have to ride the bike.

My first class was an elective block and I had chosen photography because I had figured that it would be easy and fun, so I headed down to the classroom it was supposed to be in and as I was waiting, who shows up? Anna, from Australia, so we waited outside the room, but then we realized that nobody else was there so we were beginning to think that we were the only ones, but no teacher showed up, so we asked some administrator and she pointed out to us that the class didn't start for a couple of weeks, so we suddenly had nothing to do. So we decided to walk into town (well we were already in town, but to a different part of town) and get something to eat. (well I wasn't hungry because I had that big breakfast, but she didn't eat anything) So we ate and talked for about an hour and then headed back to school and I went to Swedish class. It was kind of hard to understand, but then the teacher handed out this paper that showed a river that flowed into the "literary ocean" with little streams from Greece, Rome and some other places that demonstrated the course of literature over time. I actually felt good because I recognized many of the authors and their pieces of work, and I had already read many of the books. But then Anna showed up and pulled me out early so we could go meet with Sven. I forgot to mention this, but we had organized to go meet with him because we wanted to manage some parts of our schedule or schema. So after that, we had some more free time, because I didn't really need to go back to Swedish (well I could have but I didn't really want to...) so we went and ate lunch which consisted of "chicken bits." When I first read that, I was a little scared, but upon arriving in the lunch room, I realized that they were chicken fingers with some curry sauce on the side that was really good. After that we decided that we would go with Anna's host sister to fika, which was fun. After about an hour I had to go to my next class which was Math.
I figured math would be the one class besides English that I would be able to understand, so i was kind of looking forward to it, except that fact that it was 2 hours long... It wasn't that bad however, because everything was really easy and it's all stuff that I already knew how to do. Sweden is really far behind in math compared to America. Another thing about Swedish schools that I like is that most teachers let you listen to your iPod during class, which is really cool. I didn't have mine, but I did have my phone and the headphones for it, but I decided I would wait at least a week or so before trying it, just in case... I don't want to make a bad first impression... We had a break half way through the class which was nice and I also managed to answer two phone calls without anybody noticing... Which reminds me of another topic about school; you are allowed to use your cell phone (mobil) here during school, just not during class. Which really makes sense because its not doing anybody any harm if you use it between classes, but at home they go apeshit if they see a phone. You're not supposed to use it during class but everyone does anyway, its just usually sms (text messaging) not calling like me...

I also forgot to mention before that since I'm an exchange student, nothing that I do really matters and I'm not getting grades because I'm not in the full class. Here each class is spread over 3 years so I can get a grade for just a third of it. It's better off this way anyway because if I was being graded, I would be failing already... Well maybe not already, but I would be pretty soon.

So, after math, Anna and I met up again and headed to the supermarket to go get flowers for Katarina. I had gym class then, but it wont be starting for another couple of weeks like photography so we just left (I still can't get over the whole leaving school thing...) and went to look at the flowers. The local florist was way too expensive so we only bought filler flowers from them and bought some yellow and red roses from ICA, the supermarket and made a little bouquet. We also got some små godis (candy) for oursleves and then waited for Katarina and Per to come pick me up.

They finally came and we gave her the flowers which she loved and then we left (when I say "we" I mean Katarina, Per, Amanda and myself) and were headed to Karlstad in western Sweden. We were going to see Katarina's sister, Eva, in an outdoor play with horses and dogs. So after about 4 hours we arrived in Kristinehamn and picked up my host grandmother, who is 82 and only spoke a little English but was really really really nice to me. Then we headed to Karlstad and finally arrived on this horse farm as the sun was beginning to set and a fog was rising from the ground.
The play started a little later at about 9:30 when the sun had almost set. At first it was very interesting, and there was very little dialog, which made it very hard to understand, and it only got worse. I'm not saying the play was bad, it was just very very very very confusing and very very very very hard to understand, and everyone was just as lost as I was because the dialog did not explain anything. We all agreed that they could have cut the play by about an hour (or two) because it was too long and frankly rather boring. But I still thought it was really cool with the horses, they were very well trained.

After the play we headed back to Eva's house and after a while we had dinner, which consisted of kräftor, (crawfish) prawns and some type of crab claws. (maybe stone crab) It was very good and after all was said and done, it was about 2:30 and I was really tired so I went to sleep. It was a very busy day and I had gotten up that morning at 6:45.

Day 21

Today was a very interesting day as it was my first day of school. I awoke at the horrid hour of 6:45 or qvart i sju and then got ready for school. After a breakfast of yogurt and cereal (mixed together, because that's how they eat it here) I left the house at 7:30 or halv åtta and headed for the bus stop which was about a five minute walk away. I waited for the bus for a while and paid for my fare with a text message (its 5 kronor cheaper that way) and then got on the bus. At the next stop, Anna (from Australia) got on; this was no coincidence, it was carefully planned, and a few stops later, Iliyas (from France) got on and then we rode into town where we got of and walked in the rain for about ten minutes to school. As soon as we arrived Anna started saying hi to everyone and we felt all sad because we didn't know anyone yet... but then I saw a bunch of people that I knew and I started saying hej and then I felt better about myself. ^_^

We all gathered in the Aulan (like an auditorium) and then they gave a speech about what a great year it will be (of which I did not understand a single word) and then we headed to our respective classes. So we all met in a room and they said some words about the upcoming year and thankfully one of my friends, Viktor, translated for me and then we got calendars (planners/agendas) and then we left to go to our next class. (even though it was for a while) That's one thing very different about Swedish schools; there is a lot of free time in between classes. Then one of my teachers (Stina) pulled me aside and was nice enough to take me to the office to get punished for being a stupid American to get my meal card, bus card and locker key. The meal card is to ensure that non-students or former students or homeless people don't try to come and get a free meal and you scan it every time you go in, which is kinda cool. The bus card is for anybody that lives more than 6 kilometers away from school so they can ride the city bus for free (the city buses here are sooooooo nice and they're really big and green) twice a day (once to school and once back) or if you want you can ride the bike to school and then use the bus card to go into town later... And finally, the locker key; well it's not that exciting but the lockers here actually have keys instead of combination locks so that's cool.

After this I found my classmates hanging out in the hall so I stayed with them until my next class: English. It was actually a lot of fun because the teacher was American and spoke 100% English during the whole class; not a single word of Swedish. We practiced some tongue twisters, then we practiced say Shakespeare-era insults at each other (Thou are an onion-eyed serpent's egg!) and then we did a group exercise that involved telling a story, with each group member adding on from the last. Our group's story mysteriously paralleled the plot of the movie Speed, but that wasn't my fault, the guy who started the story made it about a bus with a bomb that explodes if the bus goes under 50...

After English we went to Chemistry and everyone warned me that the teacher was really mean and nasty, but when I met her, she seemed very nice, but maybe that's just because I'm an exchange student... Haha I actually like that she spoke very clearly and I could understand a little bit, but when she started using bigger words she lost me.

After this we had lunch which consisted of some kind of soup with bread and this nasty "pancakes" that were neither American nor Swedish style; they were square and mushy and rather disgusting... but everything else was good.

After lunch we had a "Language block", so I decided to go check out Spanish 2 to see if it was too easyt. They only offer Spanish 2 or 4 for my schedule, and I have already taken Spanish 2 back home, but I figured it might be nice to take a class where I actually know what's going on... There were only about 5 others in the classroom, but the teacher seemed nice enough and she could speak Swedish, English and Spanish, so it wasn't too hard to communicate with her. But after about 10 minutes she said we were done even though we hadn't learned anything, so we left and she gave us textbooks to take.

So I met up again with my friends and we had some time to fika, so we ate kanelbullar and drank coffee while we talked about stuff. People always keep asking me why I chose Sweden, and now every time someone asks me, I try to come up with a really crazy answer, like "I LOVE Abba" or something funny like that. It's a good way to break the ice anyway.
...dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen....

Moving along, we had physics, which was absolutely impossible to understand, and also absolutely impossible to stay awake during. So I basically stared at the floor and fell asleep with my eyes open.. Then finally the class was over and we headed to what I thought was Swedish class, but turned out to be Biology.

The room was really interesting, probably to a downright distracting point, because the side of the room where I was sitting had about 6 fish tanks of various sizes all filled with different types of fish and tons upon tons of algae. two of the tanks were really small and had only algae in them, I think this was so some type of study. The teacher passed out some information about a field experiment that we are going to conduct in a small town outside of Uppsala. We are going to spend one night there and conduct various experiments on the water and aquatic life there and since I'm not getting any grades and I can barely understand them, I'm just tagging along and getting closer to my classmates. This was the final class of the day, so after that I left and I was able to find my way home on the bus all by myself! And I also got to use my fancy new bus card, which was fun because you have to wave it in front of the machine and then hit a button, but mine wouldn't register, so I had to stand there for a while waving my card around like an idiot while people stared. Well it actually wasn't that bad... I got it after like three tries, so maybe I'm exaggerating...

So I arrived home and then remembered that I was having dinner at one of my Rotary contact person's house so I got ready and then she came to pick me up. Her son was leaving on exchange for Ireland this Saturday so she wanted me to meet him before I left. Dinner was nice and during the meal, vi pratade bara svenska (we spoke only Swedish), which really boosted my confidence level and made me more confident. For some reason it was easier to understand them than just about any other Swedish person I have met... maybe it was because we used a lot of "Swenglish," so I guess we didn't truly speak only Swedish.

So tomorrow is my second day of school, and it will probably be a little better than today because I wont be so tired, and hopefully I can try to understand a little more. And maybe I will actually try speaking Swedish with my friends, because I have to say, with some guilt, that it is way too easy to just let them speak English because they are so willing to practice speaking it. I'll have to insist: bara svenska! bara svenska! ingen engelska! After school tomorrow, my host family is taking me up a little north and we are going to see my host aunt perform in a play, and then we will go sailing if the weather permits, so I am greatly looking forward to this, so until next time,

Hej då!

Day 20

Today was rather interesting, it started off with me waking up and then I suddenly felt like riding my bike so I called Iliyas and asked him if he wanted to ride into town but then I found out that he was already there so I raced off to meet him. We ate at Max (well actually he just ate) but since we didn't have bike-locks we couldn't leave our bikes so we just rode around for a while and then I got a call from Anna and about 20 minutes later she met us at Stora Torget (the main square) and then we went shopping for some school supplies, which actually turned out to be just a notebook because apparently that's all I would need for now. So then she took the bus back to my house and we rode back and the funny thing is that we only arrived about 5 minuted after she did, despite the fact that the distance was about 8 kilometers. So we met Anna at my house and Amanda was waiting for us, because I had accidentally locked her out because she didn't bring her keys with her... So then we hung out for a while at home and then Anna left and then Iliyas left and then Katarina came home from her conference that she had been at for the past day and we had a quick dinner. Then Katarina left to pick up Per at the marina because he finally sailed the boat back.

Well it's a little after 10, and I'm going to sleep now because I have to get up around seven tomorrow and catch a 7:40 bus into to town for my first day of school! I can't wait and I'm really excited, even though I won't be able to understand anyone or anything that's going on around me... So that's all for tonight and wish me luck for tomorrow!

Day 19

Today proved to be slightly less exciting then I originally had hoped, but it wasn't too bad. I started off like countless other days with mere vegetation and I spent most of the day reading online humor sites and funny blogs to pass the time. Amanda came home from school and we were planning to do something, but we couldn't really figure out anything to do and the plans kind of fell through. So I called Iliyas (from France) and asked him if he had any ideas of what to do and he invited us over to play video games and hang out so we figured that sounded alright. Then Amanda got a call from her parter in an upcoming sailing competition and they had to practice today, so a little later she left with her friend and I went to Iliyas' house in Södra Gottsunda, which is where I will be staying for the second half of the year. (to clarify, they will be my second host family and he will come stay with my current host family) They have a really big house and they seem very nice. We played Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo which really brought back fond memories of childhood. (even though it wasn't that long ago) After I few hours we stopped and had some ice cream and then talked for a while about different things and then it was getting pretty late and dark so I decided to head home. Now, it's a little after eleven and I won't be going to sleep just yet, but probably pretty soon. Tomorrow will probably be just as boring, but the day after is when school starts so that should be exciting and fun.

Monday

Today is day 18, but who's counting?

Today was just like many others; I mostly just vegetated on the couch or in my room for the whole day and thats about it. Tomorrow we hopefully have something planned for the afternoon so that should be a little more interesting than today. Also all my readers (even though there's not that many of you) please keep Tom in your prayers and hope he has a quick recovery from his hip surgery that he had today.
Thats all for now.

Random thoughts

here are just some random thoughts that suddenly came to me:

• I have yet to see Swedish fish. (except the icky black ones that are salty-black licorice flavored)
• Fika is amazing
• People here dont text nearly as much as in America, they think I'm crazy when I say that most people send between 2000-3000 texts or "sms's" every month
  
• They call it "sms" instead of text here (sms is the official acronym for a text message and mms is the acronym for a picture message)
• Still haven't had meatballs but will be having them sometime this week
• I love Sodastream and we need to get one! (it's a magical machine that carbonates water)
• Biking isn't that bad
• School will be fun, even though I wont understand most of it for a while.
• Swedish people talk very very fast
• I can live without Starbucks and Dairy Queen
• I love yogurt
• yogurt+cereal = good ^_^
• It actually won't snow nearly as much as I thought it would
• language camp will hopefully be a lot of fun

thats it for now


Today we fika(ed) with a friend of Katarina and her daughter and then we helped them load a mattress that we were storing here onto their car and now I've just been writing blog entries and journals for Rotary all day. Do check out my journal Although I don't think it's been posted yet but probably some time later tonight.

Day 17

today was definitely another one of those unproductive days; I mostly just sat around watching tv and I saw "Who's That Girl" with Madonna in it, it's from 1987 and was actually kinda funny. I watched some more tv and then we had dinner and then watched Stranger Than Fiction, which was actually pretty good, even though it was a little slow in the middle. After that, I went upstairs and studied some Swedish and then went to sleep again at around 12:30. I tend to sleep about a full 12 hours every day; from around 12:30 at night until almost 12:30 the next day.... But that will all change this Thursday...

Day 16

Running a little behind, but here we go:

Today stared off like many others, but quickly elevated to a level of excitement that was not extremely high, but still rather acceptable. I rode my bike into the city (distance which I now know is about 8.2 kilometers) to my school, Katedralskolan in the city center. I met Katarina outside of the school and we went inside. It had a little bit of a funny smell and was dark and a little creepy with nobody in it, but I think it will be better once school actually starts. I think the smell came from the new flooring they were installing on one side of the building. We met with a lady, whose name has escaped me, (just like everybody else's) who discussed my classes and the program that I would be placed in. In Swedish gymnasium, (upper high school, grades 10-12) one chooses a program (kind of like a major) that corresponds with their desired field of study. As I currently do not know what my intended field of study will be, I had no idea of which program I should go into, but we've decided that the best program for me would be the NV2-Biotek program, which is mostly science, including Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Micro Biology. I met with my physics teacher also, but again I try to remember his name, but to no avail. He gave me the physics textbook that we will be using, which is good because now I can try to translate or at least look up the subjects in English that we will begin to study now.
I also found out that there was no room left in the Japanese class, but I'm ok with that because it is supposedly late in the afternoons and I dont want to stay later than I have to, and it will be difficult enough learning Swedish (and probably Spanish) along with Japanese; especially trying to learn Japanese in Swedish. This brings me to another point: I will probably also take a Spanish class here , which is good because I can continue my Spanish when I get home. the only problem is, for this year, they only have Spanish 2 or Spanish 4, and as I've already completed Spanish 2 in the States, I don't think I would want to repeat it, but on the other hand, I don't know if I can handle Spanish 4, as this would be skipping an entire year. And again, the whole "learning a foreign language in another foreign language" thing might make it difficult as well. If I take Spanish 2, then there's a good chance that it's all things that I already know, but it might also help me learn some Swedish in reverse. (If I already know the Spanish word they are teaching , but I don't know it in Swedish, I will successfully be learning Swedish in Spanish class)
I also found out about several other classes that I am allowed to drop from my schedule because they are stupid. Just kidding, actually because I'm an utbytestudent aka exchange student, and that makes me special. I'm probably going to drop web design, because I kinda already know it, and doing so would let me go into school late on Tuesdays, because it's the first class of the day, and let my leave early on Thursdays, because it's the last class of the day. I also think I'm going to drop music, as I don't play an instrument and I have more important things than music...
I also have one (well actually two) periods where I can choose a class to take and there are several choices but the ones that I think I can actually handle are Photography and Film. Photography seems like a nice easy class, and Film seems like it might be fun, but a little difficult because it involves watching movies and then having serious discussions about them. (and I was never good at picking up the subtle nuances that make a film a "masterpeices" while at the same time costing millions of dollars just for a single two second shot that nobody will even remember except the freaks that go to Sundance) Wow, that was a little rant there, anyway....
I can also take Psychology, and actually learn something (Anna Cullen!!!) but that might be too difficult and I don't really want to repeat, and I don't think I would be able to survive in Swedish Law.
I have a little bit of time before school starts on Thursday (yeah, Thursday, not Monday!) to make my choices for the classes and see how everything works out.

After the meeting we went to the supermarket and bought a few things, and it was a lot of fun, as it was my first time in a Swedish supermarket. We bought some ice cream and then waited for Iliyas (if you don't know who that is, then maybe you should pay more attention to my previous posts!!) (I also realized that explaining who he is would take about two words, while this whole parenthesized rant took 38) to arrive at the school, because Katarina was going to go in with him to his meeting, because his host parents don't love him were working and his Rotary contact-person/counselor is negligent on vacation. So I waited outside a different office while they met with Sven (see I actually remembered one name!) and then we went home. I was too lazy to haul my fat ass back home on the bike (there are a lot of hills on Daghammarskjöldsvägen and its very tiring) I went home in the car with Katarina and then we ate dinner and then we watched Rush Hour 2. Katarina went to bed then, but I stayed up and watched CSI and then Taxi (with Queen Latifah) and then I went to sleep.

Day 15

Today I met my other host sister, Anna, who works at a hospital in Stockholm. She is leaving for a week-long hiking trip to Norway tomorrow and was preparing everything for the journey. Thats about it. As you can tell, I'm rather tired and this is the bare minimum of details. Sleep time now; its 12:13

Day 14

Today I took my bike into the city with Iliyas (from France) and back again, it was over 22 kilometers. That's about it.

Day 13

This here is the homemade bread dough (read below for the story)

These here are two types of yogurt; strawberry-passionfuit(the Yoggi one) and plain vanilla (the square one) and on the bottom is mayonnaise, which comes in a tube here. the green one is regular and the yellow one is lemon flavored.

Today started exactly the same as the past couple of days, and like the others it really didn't get interesting until Katarina came home. I watched the Olympics and that was about it for the day.

After Katarina got home, we watched a little tv and then we started making some bread from scratch. It had a lot of whole grains and some nuts in it and it smelled really good when we put it in the oven. We ate dinner outside because it was rather warm tonight and a little bit after that we took the bread out of the oven. We then watched some more news and a summary of the day's Olympics and a little later we tried some of the bread and it turned out really well and I really liked it. After that we watched American Idol (which is still running here and there's six left) and then I came up here and I'm getting ready to go sleep. I also just found out that Bernie Mack and Isaac Hayes died and that made me a little sad... :(

Day 12

Today was slightly more exciting than yesterday, although it started out quite similarly to some others (see days 7 and 11 for details)

The first highlight of the day was dinner which consisted of Swedish pancakes. It may sound funny, but pancakes are a dinner item here and are eaten with different types of jam instead of syrup. One takes a thin pancake on a plate and spreads a line of the jam on the pancake, then rolls it into a little tube. This is then cut into bite sized pieces and ingested; this process is repeated until all pieces have been ingested. Three choices of jams were present at tonights dinner; strawberry (chunky style), apple sauce, and lingonberry. The strawberry jam had little pieces of strawberry in it and was my favorite, and I tried the lingonberries, but they turned out to be almost inedibly sour. I also forgot to mention that before one even begins to commence the pancake-ingestion process, one must first ingest a soup, (it was actually very tasty and had chicken and little shrimp in it) as this is the customary procedure. Usually it is a type of pea soup, but tonight it was a creamy chicken base.

After dinner, we biked over to a family's house to give their son, Daniel a gift as he is going on (non-Rotary) exchange to Ohio. They family was having a little going away party with their neighbors and we also found out that it was also his birthday. (Katarina had forgotten this) So we sat through their dinner while I was trying to make sense of what his mother was saying because she speaks so quickly that native Swedish speakers have a hard time understanding her. She was very nice though, as was everybody else. So we finally left at almost 11 and headed home and now it's almost 12 and time to go to sleep.

Day 11

Today was very boring, blah blah blah. Spent the whole day on the computer reading about plane crashes and sinking ships on Wikipedia. That pretty much sums up day 11.
The end

Day 10

Today I awoke rather early at 9:00 (that's early for me) because Katarina and I were going to Stockholm. We took Iliyas (from France) with us because he hadn't been to Stockholm yet. We also gave our neighbor (I think her name is Anita if I remember correctly) a ride because she was going to meet with some friends and it would save her a train ride. Anyways....

So we had a nice time in Stockholm and saw some of the sights that we missed last time I was there. The Vasa museum was pretty interesting, as it housed a ship (called the Vasa, named after the king that time) that sank in Stockholm harbor when it was first launched. It was excellently preserved, but they estimate that it will only last about another 200 years before it completely deteriorates. It was pretty amazing actually.

After that we met up with some friends and went to fika at a nice cafe. The food was really good and we had a nice time.

After that we parted with them and walked around Gamla Stan (old town) with tiny winding streets and souvenir shops selling Swedish flags and shirts. It had such an old world feeling and I really liked it.

Well that about sums up the day, for dinner we had some sushi and it was alright, but we're going to try a different one next time. Hopefully I can find a Korean BBQ place here... After dinner we watched a movie called 21 Grams and it was really good, I suggest that you watch it. Right now. Seriously. Now.




Just kidding, not now. But soon. Very soon. In about six minutes and thirty eight seconds from now.
Anyway, that's it for today so God natt



Do have a look at today's pictures; they can be found HERE!

Day 9

A little late as usual in posting yesterday's activities, but I got home late and I was tired.

Yesterday had yet another uneventful start, but it was the evening that was of much more interest. I met up with a group of 7 of my future classmates and we fika(ed) at Mc Donalds. i may have explained what the concept of fika is, but for those who do not know, it is a unique aspect of Swedish culture that can most easily be described as a coffee break. Friends meet at a cafe or coffee shop and sit and drink coffee and eat pastries like Kanelbullar. This can be done anywhere, and we did it at Mc Donalds and it was a lot of fun. After about an hour we headed over to the movie theater to get our tickets which cost 100 kronor (about 15 USD) to see Mamma Mia. Its funny how I keep doing so many stereotypically Swedish things, like going to IKEA or watching Mamma Mia. I have to say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; it was a nice feel-good, happy movie. Meryl Streep sang much better than I expected her to, but Pierce Brosnan can not sing at all and should never ever try to or even think about trying to sing ever ever again. Another thing, I found the character Sophie (the girl who wanted to find her dad) to be rather obnoxious and way too perky... But anyway (there I go starting another sentence with but) the night was very enjoyable and I got to make some new friends. So until tomorrow (which will actually be later tonight),
Hej då

Days 7&8

Nothing very interesting happened yesterday, and I didn't really feel like writing about it yesterday, so I skipped. But I'm sure everyone lived without it. (I just started a sentence with but!! >_<) Oh well... So yesterday was pretty uneventful; I slept until 12 and spent almost the entire day on the computer so it wasn't very productive. That pretty much sums up day 7.

Day 8 (today) started the same as yesterday; slept in and went on the computer. Today I went to Anna's house for dinner (if you dont know who she is, read the other posts) because today is her birthday. So I spent a couple of hours chilling at her house and then I walked home and watched American Idol with Katarina. It's actually running right now as if it's still ongoing and there were still 7 or 8 left. It was funny though, because every time they would say call 866-IDOLS01 or 02 or something, a notice would pop up covering the phone number saying "Voting is not currently available within Sweden." I guess it would be hard to vote, you know, seeing as how it's already over and everything. She wanted to know who the winner was, but I didn't want to ruin the surprise, but after it ended I told her that even though David Cook one, I liked David Archuleta better. So that's about it for today, and I'm going to sleep now, as it's 1:03 here. Isn't it funny that this is how I end all of my posts? Until tomorrow,

Michael

Day 6

Today was not that interesting to write about as some of the others... Sorry readers, but I did have fun today.

I slept in until about 11 this morning and then spent the rest of the morning on the computer. At about 3:30 Amanda came home and we planned to meet Anna (from Australia for those of you just tuning in) and go into town. So we caught the 4:05 bus into central Uppsala and went to a place called Max to eat. Max is like a Swedish version of McDonald's and their burgers were actually very good. (Sweden does have McDonalds in case you were wondering and Burger King too) After that we went to the candy shop and got some Swedish candy and then rented Big Momma's Hus (yes that's Hus not House, it is Sweden after all) and Juno and went home to watch them. Another thing, all American movies are in English with Swedish subtitles and there's also a lot of American shows on TV with subtitles; nothing is dubbed here, it it's really cool. The movies were pretty funny and Amanda's friend Ulrica (or maybe its spelled Ulrika) came over too and watched with us and we had a lot of fun. Well thats about it and it 12:15 here so good night.

 

it means "my big love" aka Shallow Hal

  

aka Miss Congeniality

  

Big Momma's Hus aka Big Momma's House  

Day 5

I was too tired last night to write this, so here it is; what I did yesterday.

Today had a very early start; I had to get up at about 6:45 for my first Rotary meeting here, for which I have been preparing for several days. I had to give about a 10 minute speech about myself in Swedish in from of 30 people I didn't know. Well I did have some (a lot) of help from my host father with the translation and I had a little Powerpoint too to show everyone some pictures of my house, neighborhood, family and cats. It turned out that there were only about 15 people there, so it wasn't so bad and they all really like my speech and couldn't believe I had only been there 5 days.

Later, I went into the city again to try to straighten out the problems we had when we tried to open a bank account last week. After presenting a letter from my Rotary Club saying "yes they weren't lying, he really is studying here for a year" they let us open an account. So soon I will have a local debit card to use. After getting that sorted out Per left Amanda and I to explore the city, so she showed me around some of the local areas and we went inside the Domkyrkan which is that giant church in the middle of the city. So after about another hour of walking around we took the bus back home.

About a half an hour later, Anna from Australia came over and we all watched 21 and SuperTroopers which were both really funny and ate popcorn. After we ate dinner Anna left and about a hour after that I went to sleep ^_^ So that was pretty much what happened today (well really yesterday because I'm writing this today, but whatever)
Until tomorrow (well actually later tonight...)

Hej då

Day 4

Well even though its only 10, I'm very tired and want to go to sleep soon; this one will be brief.

Today we went into Stockholm to pick up my host sister, Amanda, from the train station. She has been sailing in Norway and just got back today. After meeting with her we took a brief mini tour of Stockholm to see some of the sights; the most exciting was the Royal Palace and the marching band in it. Well that's all for now I'm going to sleep as I have a big day tomorrow. But do have a look at today's pictures:

They can be viewed HERE

Tredje dagen i Sverige (Sweden, day three)

Today was a rainy day in Sweden and the temperature was around 20 (celcius) so it wasn't too bad. The day started off with a trip to Uppsala Konsert&Kongress in the southern part of the city, which is a brand new opera house that was designed by a famous Danish architect. The building was the subject of much controversy because it was constructed in a very old area with very old buildings and local residents didn't want this ultra-modern building spoiling the old world charm of the area. We went inside and the interior architecture is just as impressive as the outside and we went to the observation deck on top and had a look around.

After that, we walked back into the city's central area and visited a local festival celebrating Carl Linnaeus also known as Linné. It was a nice cultural festival with folk music, traditional crafts and foods. I especially like the hjortron jam and the havtron juice. The handmade brushes were especially fascinating, as the process has been the same for over a two thousand years and it's just amazing. I also walked by a stand selling jewelry made of bent forks and spoons, and they were so amazing and ingenious. Well then we went back home as the rain was really picking up.
After changing into dry clothes, we went and picked up Anna, an Australian girl who has been here since January and went to meet Iliyas, who just arrived from France. They have a very nice house and seem like very nice people. I also learned that they will be my second host family after 6 months and they have a son and daughter, who is leaving for Spain pretty soon. We just got home a little while ago and I'm really tired, as it's almost midnight here now. Well until tomorrow, Hey då

You can see all of today's pictures here

Sweden, Day 2

Today, the Nielsens took me into Uppsala for a nice walking tour. The city is amazing, and the center is closed off to traffic, so everyone is either walking or on bikes. Our first stop was the bank to try to arrange an account with a card for me, but this was unsuccessful because they need a letter from my school, so we'll have to wait until Monday for that.
Next we walked through the main center and eventually stopped for some kaffe at a fika. Another thing I learned today about the Swedes is that they really love their coffee and they love it really strong. (well actually I already knew that) But this morning (well actually noon when I woke up) I had breakfast which consisted of a sandwich and some coffee. Now this coffee was about half as strong as espresso (I think) and was black, with no milk or sugar; that's how my family drinks it. Now, despite what I expected, it actually wasn't that bad, it an interesting taste and flavor. Back to the fika, it was a nice small cafe and we had more coffee and some enormous kanelbullar which are cinnamon rolls with sugar chunks on top. (almost like tiny tiny sugar cubes) This time, I got an Islatte which had some milk and a scoop of vanilly ice cream on top. The milk didn't really help the taste that much, but the ice did. The kanelbullar were very tasty and looked like the giant pretzels you get in New York because they were brown and had the sugar chunks on them which look exactly like the salt on those pretzels.

After that, we walked over the creek that runs though the center of the town and past the Domkyrka or Cathedral and into the Gustavianum museum. Contained inside exhibits about early Swedish history and the vikings, but the main point of interest was the anatomical theater, which was a large room where medical students (and the paying public) would watch the dissection of executed criminals.

Then we headed back to their house, but had a quick detour to the local marina on the enormous lake (the same one from yesterday but a different part) and saw some of the views. Despite it's size, the entire lake freezes and during the winter there are lots of people skating and snow yachting (which is basically a little sailboat on skis). The ice will even be thick enough to drive a car on, and many people do to avoid having to drive around the lake. (why drive around a lake when you can drive through it! ^_^)

I also met the neighbors around our house, and they are all very nice, I just wish I could remember their names... Two of them have dogs that are really cute and they both have pools. (I didn't think anyone would have a pool in Sweden) They also have sons all around my age and one who is 13, who's name is Erik (I think). Our next door neighbors also have two trampolines, that I am allowed to jump on at any time. The people here are so laid back and you can just walk into people's backyards and they don't care at all, the people here are so nice!

This reminds me of another thing I learned about the Swedes: they love to pick wild berries and mushrooms. Yesterday when we were walking around the lake we picked some wild raspberries which were very tasty. And today my host parents where asking our one neighbor who ate dinner with us if she seen any hjortron or cloudberries where growing in the area.

It was starting to get a little cold after dinner (we ate outside) so we went inside and I watched tv or "the telly" as they call it in English here. I was flicking through the channels but nothing particularly interesting was on, so I watched the news about the Olympics for a while and them looked again. After our guest left Per and Katarina came and joined me and we watched Dirty Jobs on the Discovery channel. Another thing about Sweden; there are a lot of American shows and movies on the telly including Family Guy, Scrubs, Roseanne, America's Funniest Home Videos (which is on several times every day), The Fresh Prince "in" Bel-Air, CSI, All American MTV shows, all American Discovery (except shark week) and Animal Planet shows, and Dharma and Greg, to name a few. All American shows are in English with Swedish subtitles, which actually helps, because I can hear the sentences while reading the Swedish text and I can make the connections and also notice the differences in translations, especially with "figures of speech" and slang. We also had another cup of coffee while watching the telly, despite it being 10:30 pm.

Well now it's almost 1:00 so I need to be going to sleep so I don't wake up at noon like today. Tomorrow we are going to Stockholm to pick up Amanda, my host sister and to see the sights. I was just informed by Madelyn, who's from California and is staying in Stockholm that tomorrow there is a huge Gay Pride parade in Stockholm but I don't think Katarina and Per know about it yet, so this should prove to be a very interesting trip.

Well that's all for now, so until next time,

Hej då