Hey all,
Its been awhile since I last posted so I am going to try and fill you in on what has happened since my trip to the Lappland (the north region of Sweden. A lot has happened so I will try my best to be comprehensive in my reflection (with certain censorship). I will also reflect a bit on my lifestyle since I have been here long enough (2 months already!) to develop patterns to my routines.

School:

Oh yeah, school- with the lectures over with both of my classes I am taking the first half of the semester, we are now into project work and final exam preparation.  This means that I no longer have to bike the 4 miles to class everyday (I sort of miss because it was a good workout).  Instead, I can stay out late and wake up even later and, of course, work on projects and exam prep.  I took an exam last week for one class and presented my project to the other the previous week.  I should be studying for an exam I have on Thursday or working on a project due next Monday but I would rather be doing something else like “blogging”- sounds bad but it is more productive than what I might  be doing otherwise:”watching movies”.

I have had fun doing work for these classes and it’s because they are quite different from what I was used to.  For the group project, we were told to defend the vegan diet with a report and presentation for a debate about livestock’s role in climate change.  It ended up being kind of fun defending a position I didn’t believe in and I was told that the instructors liked our presentations best.  The test I took in my Agricultural Cropping Systems course was quite different but I guess was the norm for SLU.  They had us write out long hand the answers to 5 different extended response questions.  I haven’t had to write out a sentence in the past years let alone the answers to these questions.  Wrist sore, I handed in my test after about two hours.  I felt bad for the non-native speakers as they were fretting the test because of the language barrier-not the long hand writing like I was.

Food:

I go to Willy’s for all of my grocery needs.

It is by far the cheapest I have seen and they have a pretty good selection of products.  It is on the other side of Uppsala but again a good exercise with my bike.  Actually, I will probably be heading over there after this blog post because I just ran out of milk.  I am always running out of milk.  I am going to go ethnocentric here and say that they need to adopt the gallon size milk container.  I may be a bit biased being from a dairy farm and America but I am always running out of milk!  The largest size sold is 1.5 liters and I will always get two of this size when I am at Willy’s but even this doesn’t equal a gallon!  I am a bit excited over this because I tried to fix myself the American classic before writing this- pb and j with a glass of milk but I was all out of the milk.  Btw, I have served the pb and j with many Europeans because they have never heard of it and they love it.  Making friends with pb and j.

I started the semester getting a wide array of groceries so that I could prepare great meals for myself in the kitchen but I soon realized that it was not appropriate for me.  Taking 20-30 minutes to prepare a meal just for me was not worth my time so I went to more basic food items that I could prepare quickly and hold me over.  I could get more variety in my diet by going out to eat places with friends.  My basics- Milk, bread, yoghurt, cheese, muesli, frozen vegetables, oranges, bananas, honey, peanut butter, jelly, frozen pizzas, eggs, pasta, butter, and hot peppers.  I bought so much pasta at the beginning of the semester because I didn’t realize how far it goes and so I think I won’t have to buy it again in Sweden.

I have discovered that I do have a bit of knack for cooking.  I have never really had to cook in my life before but now that I have the opportunity through slight necessity, I have picked up a new hobby.  The group of exchange students have been hosting food nights where you represent your country with something and I have made corn bread to everyone’s delight.

Bike:

My bike has been doing great.  I have grown somewhat attached to it.  It will be hard to get rid of it when I go (hope to get 800 swedish crowns for it).  Only slight vandalism since the Viking night incident.  Someone pushed it over when parked (I am guessing in an effort to get their own bike out) and it put the handlebars off center but I fixed it.

I put a couple mods on to the bike.  I raised the sit to its highest capacity because it was sitting a little low for me.  By luck, I found a saddle carriage for my bike in the bushes and I quickly grabbed it up and put it on my bike.  I can bring much more back from Willy’s now- maybe 4-1.5 liter milk jugs?!

Camping out:

Six of us in total went out one Sunday afternoon on our bikes to a cabin we had heard of that is stocked with firewood and can be stayed in overnight at no cost.

It is funded by the nation of Sweden or some

thing and welcomes all visitors for free.  It was unknown what we were going to but we had heard from friends that it was a great.  After a 8 kilometer bike ride and then a 5 km hike through the woods we finally came upon the cabin.  It was a wonderful night.  We brought the food and had two fireplaces going to keep the cabin warm.  Luckily, we had the cabin to ourselves that night and thankfully so because there are only 6 cots in the place.

Language:

Language has been by far the most interesting cultural topic during my stay in Europe.  A good portion of the conversations had with people by myself or with a group of people have talked about the concept of language.  It makes sense in a way because people from all over the world are coming together to a place whose own language is a fairly minor one on a world scale.  If english is your native language then feel lucky that you were born into it because it is the universal language used around the world by academic and educated people.  Even if you think that you do not know the language that well- you do relative to most non-native speakers that will converse with you in your native language.

This blessing comes with some misfortune at the same time.  I am jealous of the non-native speakers in that they know another language altogether from english.  It seems as though they are geniuses being bilingual and all.  I realize the cultural importance of language and to have my language (english) shared with the whole world waters down the cultural significance of the language.   I do not share the language with just the people of my country but rather the whole world.

I do notice certain things amongst my European friends with respect to their spoken english and their ability to do so.  Their is a certain disparity between countries and their generalized abilities to speak the language and this is a result from societal differences.  Swedes and the inhabitants of the other nordic lands are some of the best Europeans to speak the language.  The Dutch are argued to be the best, however.  They say it is because the Netherlands is the harbor port to Central Europe and therefore is full of non-native people who do not speak Dutch.  The worst of the Europeans I would say are the Italians followed by the French.  The german speakers are in the middle of the pack as far as being able to converse in the language.  The differences to speak english amongst the countries is a direct result of the institutions set in place as well as geographic position and international relations.  A big factor in the level of english ability is how their entertainment is given to them- subtitles or overdubbing.

Music:

Most of the popular music here is the same popular music in the states.  Sweden does have this awesome music program that is sort of a mix between iTunes and Pandora but better than both of them.  It is called Spotify.  It is trying to work its way into the states but is having a hard time getting through artists’ contract rights.  It is an on demand music player.  I can search any song a play it fully and immediately.  I did not have to pay for the program just invited by someone who paid for the premium program.  I am listening to it now.  The music artists are paid by how much there music is played.  There is a 20 sec ad between every three or four songs but it is great otherwise.

I guess Swedes are known for their software programming abilities.  They are also the creaters of Skype that we all know well.

Nightlife:

I feel like I should keep this one short and sweet but I must comment on it a little bit.  I have had a lot of fun going out at night.  The nations in Uppsala make life a lot of fun for its students.  Uppsala is a very much a student town like Ithaca is if not more so.  Every night the students make their way the nation bars and clubs to have a good time.  The nights out here start out really early and end early as well.  In order to make it to the club without waiting in a line you must leave by 9 at the latest.  Most everything is done by by 1 or 2 am.  It is fun to ride your bike downtown at 3 or 4 in the morning because it is absolutely dead.  Not anyone to be seen.

I have been to 2 gasques now and they are quite some fun.  It is a formal dinner with a lot of singing followed by an afterparty “slopp”.

ABSOLUT abroad.