Birthday Party & Helsingkrona Nation Last Night

Hej! Its been a lazy day so far after a pretty fun night yesterday. A few friends came over and we made dinner, drank wine, and watched this cool show about the insides of the Obama White House. After, we hit up Alise's birthday party in Sparta and then a few of us went to Helsingkrona Nation. I hadn't been there before...the music was kindaaa lame. Then hung out at Vishnu's place in Parentesen and met his roommates. Speaking of roommates...met some more of mine yesterday...I thought I had met most of them but guess not. I think I met as many yesterday as I have up until now! I think its because a few of them just moved in and a few that I met in the beginning have now left...its a weird arrangement here. Monday we have our first corridor meeting so that should help clear up whose livin here and whose not!

My First Class & 22nd Birthday!

So the morning after my last post we left Oslo and came back to Lund. Its been good to be back and totally different than before I left...the town is so lively now! There seem to be people everywhere- its nice.

Yesterday (Sept.1) I had my first class...Global Environmental Justice. It seemed alright...a bit dull at times but I'm sure it'll have a lot of good info to know. The cool thing is, come December we're taking a trip as a class to Copenhagen to take part in the events surrounding a climate change conference that'll be going on (and that Obama will be at!).

In the evening yesterday my mom (along with her friend) took me out to dinner for my birthday at this nice Italian restaurant. The food was delicioussss! Then they surprised me at their hotel room with a traditional Swedish Birthday cake which was also amazing. Other than that, it was pretty low key...a bit different than my 21st back in the states =) It's hard to believe it has been a year since the crazyness began...

Earlier today I took my mom & her friend to the train station...they're staying in Copenhagen tonight and then flying back tomorrow. It was fun having them visit! It's hard to believe 2 weeks are up! Then I met up with a few of the UC students I havent seen in awhile! We had coffee, shopped around for a bit, etc. Now I'm back in my room and going to get ready for a birthday party tonight!

Fjords of Norway

Yesterday had to have been one of the best days so far of my experience over here in Europe. Before I get to that, I'll mention that we're staying in the same hotel in Oslo that we were in 2 nights ago. It's a very nice placed called the Continental Hotel. We had their breakfast buffet the other morning (one that I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow) and it was the best yet. Eggs, bacon, danishes, seasoned mushrooms, shrimp, and a fruit platter like you cannot imagine. After this we took the train up to Flan, Norway where we ended up staying for the night since we were not able to catch the Fjord tour boat on time, which would have, after another train ride, eventually landed us in Bergen. We made a good call by staying in Flan. We were surrounded by snow-tipped mountains, riverbeds, and green everywhere. Our "hotel" was more of an apartment made of all wood...the kind you'd typically see out in nature.

We woke up yesterday morning and caught the 9AM tour boat that would explore the Fjords of Norway. It lasted 2 hours and was 2 of the best hours yet. The whole ride we were weaving along the river, in and out of high mountains, with waterfalls (both small and large) running down the sides. Some of the mountains blurred with the clouds high up in the sky and some had snow on the top. Occasionally we saw small towns built along the rivers beneath the mountains. It was awesome. After this, we had a 1 hour bus ride to a city called Vass and then took the train back here to Oslo for the night.

Tomorrow we'll explore the capital city here for a few hours before boarding a 7 + hour train back to Lund. Not so much lookin forward to that...its been a great past week though and has gone quick! Since August 21, we've covered 4 capital cities and more. It's all been at a fast speed, but has given me a great taste of Scandinavia. First day of class is Tuesday and it will be my Global Environmental Justice course. Gotta head to bed now...its pretty late here. Since I haven't posted any pics yet, in a few days I'll put up an album of pics summarizing my first month over here. Night!

Stockholm, Tallinn, & Norway

I couldn't think of a better time to blog...I'm sitting in an apartment-style hotel in a very small town in Norway called Flan (the a has that little circle over it). The small town is surrounded by high mountains, streams of water, and lush green everywhere.

Back to where I left off...Monday was quite a day with the test, registration, and departure to Stockholm. We arrived in Stockholm very late at night at went to stay at a nice little hotel called Queens. It was located on a pedestrian walk with a lot of shops nearby. I was pretty hungry so I went to get a snack at McDonald's...kinda lame, but it was the only thing nearby that was open. On Tuesday we found out that Sen. Kennedy had died which was a sad way to start the day...I've been watching the ceremonies ever since. What a gifted politician and kind person! He'll be missed. We went to see the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace which was pretty amazing...much more interesting than the same thing in Denmark. Here in Stockholm, they had a whole ceremony with a marching band. After this, we checked out some museums within the palace where the Royal Family used to live. Also saw armory and carriages used back in the day. Later we walked around the city and took a bus tour that showed us all the highlights. We later went to an area called Stansen but it was closed for the day, so we had dinner and eventually went back.

On Wednesday we went to the Vasa Museum which told the story of the Vasa ship which sank back in the 1600s after the first 20 minutes of its life. Almost 300 years later the ship was rescued and today has been preserved quite well since it had sunk in an area of little salt and shallow water. From here we went to Stansen again which is a small town nearby with arts and crafts stores and animals. After getting a few baked goods I left to check out one of the main shopping and tourist streets in Stockholm. Later, I met back up with my mom and her friend and we took a taxi to the ferry that would take us to Tallinn, Estonia.

The ferry was awesome! Right when we got on we had an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet while being able to look out into the Baltic Sea. Our room was small but nice. The corridors and all felt as if you were in an actual hotel. They even had a nightclub and disco! Later in the evening my mom and her friend Kathy watched TV and discovered that in Europe "Adult" TV isn't that uncommon... The ferry lasted over night and we got into Estonia around 10AM Thursday morning. We walked around the city and saw a lot of the historic part of the city and could see the Russian influence in a lot of the architecture. There was a nice mix of old and new in Tallinn which was awesome. After seeing the "old town" we saw the modern part of the city as well as the well-known "sweater wall" where they sell a bunch of sweaters. The day went quick and by 5PM we were back on the ferry to head back to Stockholm. We had a later buffet dinner, but it was just as good. We arrived back in Stockholm around 10AM Friday and waited a couple hours at the train station before heading to Norway!

We got into Oslo, the capital, late Friday night and stayed at a really nice hotel called the Continental right in the center of the city. It was quite a happening place as all the bars n' pubs were pretty busy. My mom and I went out and walked around a bit and I got a late night dinner, at Burger King =/ We woke up early Saturday to a terrific buffet and then took a train through Norway to Flan...where I am right now. Our train ride had the best views I've seen so far. Streaming water down the sides of the mountains, green pastures everywhere, and occasional spectacular waterfalls. Later this morning (since it is technically Sunday) we are going out in a ferry to see the famous "Fjords of Norway". I'll be sure to write about those later. Then it's back to Oslo for the night and then Lund Monday morning!

Copenhagen (among other things)

Haven't written here in over a week so I think I'm about due...I'm currently in a hotel room in Oslo, Norway and should probably head to bed soon, but wanted to follow up with what's happened since I last posted...

The day after my last post visited my mom and her friend who had flown in to Copenhagen and made their way to the Grand Hotel in Lund. That night we walked around town and had a nice meal in one of the town squares. I had a nacho dish, which despite what I heard about Mexican food here, was not too bad. Thursday I went with them, and later met up with some friends, at the Malmo Festival. A few of us watched a band known as The Sounds perform. They were awesome (especially the whole use of cigarettes/wine while singing)!

Late Friday after my last Swedish class, my mom, her friend, and I went to Copenhagen for the weekend. We met up with a family friend named Jane and her family. They live out in the countryside about 30 minutes south of downtown Copenhagen. They are very nice and allowed us to sleep at their home on Friday night. She and her husband Kenneth cooked us a traditional Danish dinner consisting of meatballs, open faced sandwiches, and a whole bunch of other stuff which I'm forgetting right now...In the morning we went to a bakery to buy a lot of Danishes! They were tasty. That day we went to Tivoli Gardens and the theme park. For the first time ever I went on one of those "supreme scream" type rides that go straight up and drop down. I think I'm good for awhile...

The next day we went to a Church Service in Danish...that was nice. Afterwards, we walked over to see the changing of the guard at the Danish Royal Palace. From here we walked along the water down to see the Mermaid Statue. We later took a nice canal tour that took us around the area. We visited Nyhaven which was a very cool part of Copenhagen! It is basically a long street of different restaurants and bars, in different colored buildings, lining the canal. I'll post pictures soon. Soon after this we headed back to Lund, as I had a Swedish test I had not studied for yet.

The following day, on Monday, Aug. 24, we all had our Swedish test. I'm glad this is over...and even more glad I took it Pass/No Pass as opposed to a grade. After this we had registration day at Lund University. It took about an hour and a half of waiting in line to receive a bag of information that really could have just been handed to us. Later in the day I went to visit with our UC Coordinator, Linus Lindgren, who's been very helpful. My classes for the quarter include 4 SAS courses (Scandinavia Areas Study), and possibly some Political Science courses, though I have not been to the office yet.

It was a busy weekend in Copenhagen and the same for Monday with the Swedish test and registration, but it didn't stop there...Monday night we left for Stockholm, then to Estonia, back to Stockholm, and to Norway (where we're at now!). Details on this past week to come...

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!