Coming Home!

It is hard for me to believe that it has been some 5 months since I first arrived. To think that I've been here 1 month short of half a year is crazy! It seems as though I was just applying for this program. Tomorrow I will return home around 10:30PM after taking an SAS flight from Copenhagen to Chicago and a United flight from Chicago to Orange County. Going to leave plenty of time with all these new security measures in place. The first thing I'll do is grab In N Out!

I've been cleaning, packing, and writing an over-due essay all day. The room looks pretty good now and I am almost done. I'm having a couple of my friends over for a last dinner.

Going to miss Sweden and those I've met, but can't wait to see my friends @ home again! It'll be right back to San Diego Wednesday, with classes scheduled for Thursday. I'm a bit nervous about this Public Speaking course I've signed up for, we'll see how it goes!

See you all soon! :-)

Happy Thanksgiving! / Helsingor, Denmark pictures!

Hey All- Happy Thanksgiving! I know its a bit early back home, but still...I'm tryin to get in the mood since the Swedes don't celebrate it! My friend Ghazal and I organized a big Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow with a bunch of the UC kids and a few others...its going to be potluck style so everyone will be bringing things. We expect around 30 or so! Ghazal & I are waking up to the early task of cooking a turkey (among other things...). Saturday we have the official EAP Thanksgiving dinner as organized by the EAP program. It will be held at the Grand Hotel here in Lund so it should be pretty fun!

After this dinner later tonight I really gotta get workin' on a 10 page paper on the democratization of Czechoslovakia due Monday. I've put it off for awhile and it's time to face the music. In other class related news, I dropped my Human Rights course today since it has continued to overlap with another class and would be too much work. That leaves me with 4 total classes I would have completed here which is still probably 1 more than I will be able to use back home. Last Friday I presented a short powerpoint in my Global Environmental Justice class on the consequences of climate change in Bolivia. This coming Wednesday, for the same class, we have organized into groups to simulate the COP-15 (climate change) Conference that will be happening in Copenhagen, December 7-18. It is going to be a big event that President Obama will be attending around the 9th. I am part of a group representing OPEC (oil-producing countries) so that will be quite interesting. For my Scandinavian Models of Equality class I will be taking part in a seminar with my group on December 8th when we explore the debates surrounding assistant reproduction when it comes to infertile and lesbian women. Another interesting topic. I will also be writing a research paper for the class on a similar topic, comparing the various views of Sweden and the United States.

Last Saturday I went with my friends Ming & Sara to visit Helsingor, Denmark and Hamlet's Castle. We began by spending some time in Helsingborg (Sweden) at a bakery we had been to before. They have the best princess cake there, which for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is pretty much the best dessert ever! From there we took the 25 minute ferry across to Denmark where we spent a couple hours. Below are some pictures from our day (in no particular order).

Time is sure flying by. I am approaching the 4 month mark of my stay, meaning I only have 1 more month to go. I return January 5th. Sweden has been amazing and so have the other countries I have been able to visit. It looks like my friends and I have one more trip planned. In December we will travel to Barcelona & Madrid, Spain and Marrakesh, Morocco and then I will continue a few days and visit a friend in Granada, Spain before heading over to Milan and Rome, Italy! More info on this to come later...goodnight everyone and Happy Thanksgiving!

The Helsingborg (Sweden) City Hall building with a cool statue in front!

Hamlet's Castle in Helsingør, Denmark! Also known as Kronborg Castle.

Helsingborg, Sweden at sunset.

Part of the moat surrounding Kronborg Castle.

Sara & I on top of Helsingborg Castle.

On top of Helsingborg Castle with a view of the city behind me.

The amazing princess cake! It's sooooooooo good!

Part of the moat surrounding Kronborg Castle...its so colorful!

Despite the cranes, this picture of the sunset in Helsingor is still nice!

We found this cool orange-colored building outside the castle in Denmark!

With Ming & Sara outside Kronborg Castle in Helsingor, Denmark. You can see Sweden in the background.

Kronborg ("Hamlet's") Castle! Some birds had just landed in the water causing those cool lookin' ripples!

With Sara & Ming outside Kronborg Castle.

On the train to Helsingborg!

Kristianstad & Today!

Darn, I'm really bad at this whole "blogging" thing. Last time I wrote was 10 days ago...Anyways, I'm up early this morning (its 8:10AM right now) all ready to go present a group seminar in about an hour- our topic is the democratization of Portugal and my part is to give a brief comparative view of Portugal's democratic process with that of neighboring Spain. I'm a bit nervous...hope they don't ask us any questions!

But while I'm nervous about that, I'm also very excited because tonight two other friends and myself leave for Istanbul, Turkey & London for a few days. Very excited! Turkey should be the most interesting and unique so far. Also heard its pretty cheap so that should be nice. And of course, London...just as excited because I feel like I'm going to visit my roots. And the accents! Love the British accents.

Yesterday I went on a mini one day trip to Kristianstad, a small town of around 30,000 or so about an hour away from Lund. Had a nice day there...got some work done and did some exploring. They had a real nice park with lots of beautiful scenery. Spent some time walking around there. They had a town square, church, train station, lots of nice shops...a typical nice town here!

That's it for now...I'll try to blog while I'm away. And right when I get back pictures will be posted! I've been bad at putting them up here so definitely next time pictures from Finland, Poland, Kristianstad, and then my latest adventures will be up. Have a good day everyone!

Helsinki, Finland & Stockholm!

Just got back from making Mexican food for dinner with some friends & watching the season premiere of Desperate Housewives! They show the big shows on Tuesday here. I thought it'd be a good time to blog about my rather crazy weekend in Finland and Stockholm (Oct. 3-5)...

Ghazal, Jasmine, & I got on the train early Saturday morning bound for Stockholm. The station wasn't open in the morning for some reason so we got on the train without making seat reservations but luckily they had room left...in the area where they allow pets! So we got to sit by a lot of cool dogs which was fun. Met and had a nice talk with a Swedish lady who offered to show us around her small town which is just a bit north of us. I think we're going to accept her offer and she said there are lots of moose there! Got into Stockholm around 3PM and headed to the area where the ferries depart and got on the Mariella which is part of the Viking Line. The ship departed for Helsinki, Finland at 5PM. After getting settled we went down to the dinning room for a buffet dinner and ate up! The food was terrific and drinks & wine were even included!

The trip across the Baltic started off great and it was Ghazal's 21st birthday so we had a fun night ahead and planned to go to the Disco later that night. Before leaving our room, Jasmine and I got Ghazal a couple desserts for her birthday and sang to her! And that is when the rocking began, and not the rocking we had hoped for in the club. The weather has gotten a lot worse in the past month and once the ship got out on the Baltic it was quite noticeable. Instead of going to the disco we sat in the lobby for hours as people lined up to get motion sickness pills, etc. We all felt the affect of the ship's movement, but other people clearly felt it more...At one point some guy came up to us and asked if he could "ask us a couple questions". He was beyond intoxicated and didn't seem to get the hint that it wasn't the time. There were so many drunk & crazy Finns on board! Another one walked towards me and tried to poke my head. We were all getting pretty annoyed. Guess the only good thing for them is they didn't remember the ferry ride...it was definitely one to forget and they probably just thought it was them rocking side to side! After trying to sleep for awhile in one of the lobby's, we went back to our room at about 6AM when the motion subsided. We got 4 hours of rest in before getting off in Helsinki!

Helsinki was a lot of fun. It was the opening day of a herring festival. The weather wasn't so good as it rained a large part of the day and HARD. It would start without warning, though the sun shined through at times which was nice. We visited a Roman Orthodox Church and saw a baptism taking place! (It was Sunday...) We also visited another Church and watched an orchestra and opera singer practicing. It was a nice few minutes. We walked around the town a lot and along a harbor where there were TONS of ships and sails. For lunch we ate at an Asian restaurant which was quite good! Scandinavia seems to have their Asian food down. I enjoyed the capital a lot and took many pictures, though I think 1 day is about all we needed. Ghazal and Jasmine wanted to look into flights back to Stockholm to avoid the dreaded ferry back, but finding no affordable ones as I anticipated, we re-boarded the Mariella at around 5PM.

First thing we did was pick up motion sickness pills to help ease the ride back. We hung out in our rooms for a bit and then had some Princess cake (a Swedish must!) and tea before heading in to play Bingo! Ghazal won 12 Euros! Woo Hoo. Jasmine and I walked around a bit after and then went to bed...early...it was only 9:30PM! Had a good night's sleep and woke up the next morning ready to explore Stockholm.

Jasmine and I had been but not Ghazal so we walked around the city, explored old town, visited the shops along Drottingatan, saw the Royal Palace, walked through the middle of town, and eventually back to the train station by the end of the day. We left at just after 6 in the evening and again found ourselves in the company of some of man's best friends, including a German Shepperd. It was a fun and eventful couple of days.

My First 2 Weeks in Lund, Sweden

Hi. Welcome to my first ever blog. I thought that since I will be here for the next 4 and 1/2 months it would be nice to have a written record of my travels that can be shared with those back at home. As a note, I will provide a few pictures with each post as visuals, but complete photo albums can be seen on my Facebook page.

My journey began back on August 3 around 5AM when I woke up to go to John Wayne Airport in Orange County. As I was driving to the airport with my parents, it had yet to set in that I would be away from my family, friends, car, and all that was familiar to me, for the next 5 months. My first flight departed around 8AM and landed at Chicago's O'Hare Airport a few hours later. From here I had to transplant myself clear across the enormous airport to the international terminal that would take me to Stockholm, Sweden. I arrived in Stockholm the next day, August 4, and then took a one hour flight to Copenhagen, Denmark, at which point I took a train across the Baltic Sea and into Lund. I must say, SAS was a very nice airline to travel with. They had great service, served two meals, and had TVs on the back of all seats where you could watch movies and TV shows, play games, listen to all kinds of music, AND most of all (and coolest, to me at least) you could watch live feed from the front and bottom of the airplane of what was happening outside. This was especially cool when you were taking off, landing, and flying over cities.

So I arrived in Lund quite tired and jet lagged as you can imagine. It didn't help that I had two large suitcases and two smaller bags that I had to transport. I left the train station and had no idea where I was wondering and could not read any of the signs. I saw a girl (who I now know as Jasmine) wandering as aimlessly as I was. She eventually asked for help, got it, and so I followed. With the help of a nice Swedish woman, we found where we needed to go, after lugging our luggage throughout much of the college-oriented city. We and some other UC students eventually made our way to the International Housing Office where we checked in and received our keys. While there, I met up with my Kappa Sigma bro, Vishnu! That was nice. After checking in and going to exchange money, myself and many of the UC students went to see a movie outside in the town. This is where I met Nora, Anita, Sarina, Ghazal, Rochelle, and many of the other awesome students that I'll be spending the semester with. I also met Luise, a very cool German! The movie turned out to be in Spanish, with Swedish subtitles. So this, along with the fact that I was jet lagged and tired to begin with, made for an early night. Though, before going back, a few of us wound up at a local bar/pub where we met Alex, one of the Swedish mentors.

On Wednesday, August 5, we had our ILP (Intensive Language Program) and UC Orientations with the Director of the program and the UC coordinator. Afterwards, a few of us went to see the Museum of Sketches in Lund. This was awesome and very well worth it! The tour guide was quite knowledgeable and provided us with some much info on the artwork in the museum, which included pieces by Diego Rivera and Henri Matisse. The museum is free to students, so I will very likely return. Later in the day I went to my first "Nation", Krischansta. Social life here at Lund basically revolves around the 13 nations, which provide lunches and dinners at discounted prices to students and have nighttime club events. It is required that every student at Lund join 1 nation. This night was a lot of fun. I met many UC and Swedish students and had a few good beers, too!

Thursday, August 6, was our first day of Swedish class. It went from 9AM-12:30PM. Surprisingly, it went pretty quick. It helped that we had 2 15-minute breaks that divided up what was otherwise a long class. This is all I really remember from this day...though, I should mention, today as with most all other days in this first week, included a lot of exploring in town. We visited the 2 town squares, the H&M, a very good ice cream shop, a McDonalds, and the 1,000 year old Cathedral. They also have very good Thai food...and a Subway! And 7/11! It is quite a city!

Friday, August 7, was our second day of Swedish. This day went even quicker! I learned to say "Jag heter John. Och du? Jag i fran California och jag bor i Sparta." Can you guess what that means??? Later in the evening a few of us returned to Krischansta for dinner. This will usually be the place to go on Wednesdays and Fridays...they have good food at good prices and its just a more laid back place, which is nice once and awhile.

Saturday, August 8 was my first night at Lunds Nation. This is a nice place that is located rooftop. I had dinner but did not stay long, as I was quite tired from the nights before. They had excellent techno and electronic music! Oh, I forgot to mention, I had purchased a bike earlier in the day for 1,000 kroner. This comes out to about $130. The nice thing is, we resell them at the end and make up a good portion, if not all, of the money we originally spent. On a less positive note, I currently (August 18) have not used my bike for a day because the chain fell off.

Sunday, August 9 was our trip to Lomma Beach! This was a very fun day. While some rode their bikes the 7 or so miles to Lomma, myself and a few others opted for the bus. The beach itself was located on the Baltic Sea and had a nice view of Copenhagen across. The really cool thing was that the beach was shallow for a couple hundred feet out, so there were people playing in the water for some distance out. The one VERY big downside was that there had been an influx of lady bugs which swarmed us by the hundreds and would not leave us alone. The only escape was in the water, or leaving, which we eventually did. BTW, it did not help that I wore a yellow shirt.

Monday, August 10 was our third day of Swedish class...that's all I can remember!

Tuesday, August 11 was our fourth day of our ILP program. At this point I have forgotten what we learned each day, especially since they've crammed what I heard was a 5 week program into 2 and 1/2 weeks! In the evening, a few of us went to see "The Wrestler". Luckily, this movie was in English! And it had Swedish subtitles which were good to practice with. We arrived a little late and had to stand for the first hour, but then found seats during intermission. The movie and especially the acting was great! Sorry Christine, but it was... =)

Wednesday, August 12 was our fifth day of Swedish. In the evening we went to Krischansta for dinner. A few of us played this dice game which actually turned out to be a lot of fun. For dinner I had a cheeseburger, fries, and slice of raspberry pie with ice cream! It was yummy.

Thursday, August 13 was one of the best days thus far of my stay. While I don't remember much of my sixth day of Swedish class, I remember what a great evening my friends and I had at Lunds Nation. We arrived there and had dinner early on, around 7PM or so. Since the club doesn't start till 10PM, and its usually not crowded until 11:30PM, we walked around town for awhile before coming back. While hanging out and having a beer, my friends Alex and Ghazal and I noticed a very trendy, Stockholm-ish looking guy come in to the blackjack table. He proceeded to play, earned quite a bit, before losing it all. We began chatting with one of his friends and then this guy who had just lost at blackjack. They were both Swedish college students. Later in the evening, after they'd had a few more drinks, we ran back into them. They were wishing us the, should I say, "finest" time in Sweden. They seemed quite excited to have met some Californians. The guy that had previously lost money in blackjack left the room and returned with around 10 beers that he handed out to us! I'm always down for a free drink...Throughout the night, he was under the impression I wanted to meet a Swedish girl, and so he introduced me to a few...or, more like 10! They were all nice, some a little more forward than others. The music was great the whole night...a lot of electronic dance music. After most of my friends had left, I remained for a bit and hung out with this new Swedish "friend" and his friends. At one point he said something about me being from California, at which point they all picked me up and passed me around, in the air...this was my first, and hopefully not last, "crowd surfing" experience. Fun night!

Friday, August 14 was our seventh day of Swedish. Classes seemed to be going by pretty fast now, which was nice. They continued to be challenging yet we have learned some useful phrases. Today was the first day of a week long festival in neighboring Malmo, which is the third largest city in Sweden. I attended the festival with Rochelle, Ghazal, Jasmine, Alex, and Melissa. We had a lot of fun and gorged on all the good food! They had SO much of it and from everywhere you could imagine! They also had things for sale, rides, games, dance booths, stages, and a live tent where they were doing real tattoos! That was pretty insane. I ended up getting a crayfish wrap at one point, which was amazing. Crayfish, it seemed, was what this first day was all about. Hundreds gathered in front of the main stage to devour their crayfish with many other festival-goers. It was something else! After while, we were tired and took the train back to Lund.

Saturday, August 15....I don't really remember what I did other than sleep till late in the afternoon. After that I spent some time on the computer chatting and skyping with friends back home. In the evening I met some friends at Lunds Nation for dinner. The club didn't get busy till around 11:30PM and we danced the night away until about 1:45AM. Another fun night...

Sunday, August 16. I met Ghazal and a few others for an all you can eat Pancake Breakfast Baffet in town. It was delicious! While it did cost 99 Kroner, it was well worth it. They had pancakes, waffles, jams, whipped cream, fresh fruit toppings, ice cream, juices, bread, etc. It was yummy! After we ate until around 3:30PM, we walked around town and attempted to find a tourist office and library, which we did, but they were both closed. We discovered a movie place where we can rent movies and bought some candy while there...afterwards, we stopped by a pizza place and bought a pizza! Basically, we do a lot of eating.

Monday, August 17...our eighth day of class. Today I decided to take the class P/NP so that I did not risk getting a bad grade. It was a rather uneventful day though a couple of us went to this amazing burger place by the train station for lunch. Afterwards, we went to a couple travel agencies where we found some great deals on trips to France, Italy, and around this area...can't wait to travel! On the way back from town, my bike chain fell of for a second time...and this time I couldn't get it back on =/ My night was pretty low key...

Tuesday, August 18...TODAY. Now we're finally caught up. I started this post a couple hours though, so it's Wednesday now. Today was the ninth day of class. Afterwards, I grabbed a falafel at this good stand near by, and then came home. As I have done lately, I listened to my brother's and Christine's talk show back home since I'm awake when it airs soon. Tonight I did laundry for the first time....couldn't read a word on the machine. I hope its clean! I also spoke with my mom, who is currently on a plane bound for Copenhagen! I will meet up with her and our family friend Kathy tomorrow in Lund. I am excited for the next week (since we have it off before the start of the semester) since we will be going up the west coast of Sweden, into Oslo, Norway, then back across Sweden into the capital of Stockholm, before taking a ferry into Estonia! We'll end that trip by coming back down the east side of Sweden. Before all of this though, we will be going to Copenhagen this weekend! Ahhh, it looks to be a fun week and half ahead. I'm tired now and can feel it affecting my writing...more to come later!