It's been SO long. I'm sorry, if there are any loyal readers out there, but the wired internet in my room STILL does not work. Luckily, someone set up an unsecure wireless network that I have been piggybacking on occasionally.
So to catch you all up,
Aug 28. Friday.
Overall, I don't remember Friday being super eventful, except for Swedish class and the corridorparty. In Swedish class, an English woman who married a Swede (and now lives near Malmö) talked about what the Swedish people are like, and why they are like that. It was SUCH a good talk. She was seamless at working in some Swedish history and facts along with descriptions of the people. 54% of Sweden is trees, 16% is mountains, and there are only 9 million people. A hundred years ago trees and lumber were Swedenäs largest exports. Many of the mature trees you see now are in rows, because they were planted to sustain the business and the country. Sweden has been the most ethnically preserved country (people-wise) for a very long time. Which is why all the Swedes are 6 foot tall, blonde, tan, and beautiful. But, about a hundred years ago or so, the Swedes had created too many jobs for only themselves to do. So they invited people in for the first time. Mostly people from southern Europe (Italy, Turkey, Greece, former Yugoslavia, etc.) so now you see several very dark-complected Swedes as well that are 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants. I could go on and on, this lady was soooo good at speaking and really conveying her message.
Friday night, my mentorgroup(19) and our twin group (20) had a corridor party in Delphi C4, which is convenient because I live in Delphi B2 right next door. Johan (mentor for group 20) lives there and had a fog machine and glowsticks and also videotaped the whole thing. It was pretty awesome until I realized I had left my keys in my room, so I couldn't get back in my corridor. Finally, after ringing for a while and thinking I would have to sleep on the hard stone floor, my corridormate Tobias let me in.
Saturday, August 29.
The first day of the internet drought. I stayed in my room all day, hoping the inernet would magically work again every hour or so. I listened to music, cleaned up a bit, and went to bed early to the sounds of the engineers singing...no, screaming, something in Swedish to the tune of 'Grapes of Wrath' (you know...mine eyes have seen the glory do doo do do).
Sunday, August 30.
First contact with the Germans...haha. Actually, I went on the excursion to Österlen (which is the east side of Skåne...öst is east in Swedish, I think). Thibault and Sascha from my mentorgroup were also there. I met a masterstudent from Leeds Uni named Fred on the first bus stint. Our first stop was the city of Ystad, which probably would've been alright except that it was Sunday, and Sweden is closed on Sunday. So we walked for a bit, took pictures of some cool houses, looked at a ferry that was leaving for Poland, etc. Our next stop was better, we went to Kåseberga, the home of Ales Stenar. Ales Stenar is basically the Swedish form of Stonehenge. You'll get more information from Wikipedia or google than I could give you, but it was a really great little seaside location. I took videos there, so they'll be posted later today. The third leg of the journey was the best. Glimmingehus. Again, google it. It's this giant fortress-house thing in the middle of the countryside that has some booby traps and was built by a giant. The funny thing is, actually, they dug up the grave of this nobleman/admiral guy who did build it, and he was nearly 2 meters tall, probably 6'6" or so. Which is tall for us, but for 1499-1520ish, it is giant-like. My favorite part of this was that we got a guided tour and she told us one folk myth that Jans the giant stood there while his wife stood on the island off the coast and threw rocks to him, with which he built the house. But every so often, he would throw one at a church (there was a lot of political unrest in Skåne then, it was Danish at the time and the king and archbishop were always fighting or something) so that is why the terrain has a bunch of big rocks sticking up.
I'll continue with Monday thru today later.
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I am a loyal reader and I was getting worried that you were dead in a Swedish ditch somewhere! I was afraid that you had found a Swedish version of me (picture ten foot tall girl with my gorgeous face) or that you had just decided to resign your American status and stay in Sweden where you would then have surgery to have your legs lengthed, buy some so-blue-they-are-creepy contacts, a lifetime supply of blond hair dye, and call it a day. Or dag. Yes, that's right, I looked it up. I'm glad that you are having so much fun! If you capture a hedgehog and bring it back, I will share custody with you because that would be awesome! Jag alskar dig! (Sorry I couldn't get the dots over the 'a', did you know that when you comment on this site you are not allowed to copy and paste?! That means that I now know how to type jag alskar dig because I had to go between tabs to remember it instead of just copying and pasting. In trying to copy and paste the first copy of this comment was initially deleted, so this second is from my memory which means that it did not seem as witty and fun as the first copy because I am sure that I forgot something, but since you will only read it the once, hopefully it will make you le. Is smile really only two letters in Swedish? It seems like something that is so big that it covers your entire face at times should merit more letters...just me? Miss you tons Smelly, continue having fun and update often because I love reading about it and knowing what you're up to! Jag alskar dig (with the dots on the 'a')!!!!
ReplyDeleteJag älskar dig, också!
ReplyDeleteI miss you too. And unless I get some sort of protective gloves, I don't think I'm really going to catch a hedgehog, but I would really like to. I was talking to Magnus about them, and apparently they are like super huge pests, especially this year because of the climate or something. Whatever.
Also I really like the names of Swedish boys. Johan, Magnus, Martin(but you have to say it like MAH-tin), Robin, Liam, Tobias...etc.