David Arneson - Sweden, February 28th 2008
Is this really Sweden? I woke up today to clear blue skies and semi-warm weather (40° or so with slight windchill - yes, this is considered warm(er)), and simply smiled because the weather is so beautiful. Its certainly not the snow-covered, arctic tundra I was expecting when I was flying here 1.5 months ago. Whoa...I've been here that long? Wait, that means I only have 3 months to go, what is happening to my time?! Its okay, because I know I am making the most of this journey. This post (like all of them) serves to share my experiences with those of you that read this blog, and it serves as a way for me to remember my adventure when I'm back home...and since I haven't recorded my time here for the last 3 weeks (since Amsterdam), I think its about time that I do.
Thursday was studying almost the entire day...and by the end, I felt fully prepared to take my exam. I made sure I found the room where the exam would be held on thursday, because I did not want to search for it at 7 am on friday. I had got up early the previous two days to change my sleeping schedule, so when friday morning, 6:30 am came around, I was ready. However, the night before I slept terribly, in and out of sleep, and I doubt I got more than 3 solid hours despite the true need for a rested mind and body. The exam on friday went pretty well, I knew all the answers (nine essay questions, which took 2.5 hours), but what was interesting was the test-taking style. Here at Linköping, you must register for the exam at least 10 working days before the exam (which I almost forgot to due, being an exchange student), and the test is taken in a huge room with hundreds of students (only 13 in my class) taking exams from various courses. You must have your ID card on the table, no bag nearby, sign out to pee, one bottle of water or coffee on the table, and some other strict rules. I was very relaxed before the exam (normally am, and I felt confident), and had a smile on face because I thought the experience was interesting...one girl in my class asked me "why are you smiling?" I said, "I know this sounds weird to you, but I am about to take an exam in Sweden, about biology, in a huge room, in a style never before experienced, and I think its fun". She looked confused.
Oh well, I finished, rode my bike home in nice weather and felt relieved. That night I went out with Sam (intending to go to sleep early because I was leaving early for Stockholm the next day) had one drink, and then, was unknowingly convinced to drink some 10x caffeine espresso. I know, how does that happen, right? Well, it was such a small portion, I thought I was just trying a sip of it, but no, it was a whole portion (thanks Italian guy)...and I realized I was going to be buzzing with caffeine. To put it simply, I feel asleep at 4:15 am, and woke up at 5 am to leave for Stockholm. Hilarious, but not at the time. Me, Arne, Chris and Laura rode our bikes in freezing weather to the bus/train station to catch the 6:30 bus to Stockholm. We all slept on the way, got to Stockholm cold and tired, and just started walking. We found a coffeeshop (not Amsterdam-style) and I downed a double espresso and muffin, then five minutes later a regular cup of coffee and a sandwich...now I was ready for the day. We headed down the right street, it turned out, because it took us to Gamla Stan (old town Stockholm) where the Grand Palace (the King's spot), Nobel Museum, and other beautiful, historic places were. It was a gorgeous part of town, with old houses and buildings, tiny streets and other great sights. Very different from Amsterdam, but European indeed. We watched the changing of the guards (they had funny white boots), saw the Palace and other big buildings, and ventured through the Nobel Museum which held the current exhibit, "Design for Science", which was all about biological enzymes and mechanisms and the fusion with technology (just my thing). I was fascinated to be in the presence (relatively speaking) of great minds and great achievements...it really was inspiring. One quote that was on display stood out to me: "What is Now Proven, Was Once Imagined". I liked that...and decided that I would receive a Nobel Prize someday (we'll see about that :) ). We left old town to walk to City Hall which held the Blue Hall where the Nobel Prize is awarded...we couldn't get in but looked through the windows, took some photos in the courtyard and along an inlet of the Baltic Sea, and, as always, simply took in the sights and experience. McDonald's for lunch, haha.
Then we strolled through downtown towards the Science and Technology Museum, which was boring (the museum), but the was walk to and fro was fun. Arne and I threw lots of rocks and sticks at the frozen water, which sounds stupid, but it was childishly amusing. They tried to get me to walk on the ice, but, no thanks, I'm not interested in wet feet for the next 10 hours. My camera stopped working because it was so cold outside (the batteries quit on me despite a full charge), but we got some good photos. We walked to the southern part of the city to find a place for dinner, and seeing as we had a cheap lunch we wanted something nice. We all had a great dinner and some beer, then followed that with more coffee and chattin' to kill time before the nighttime bus. We walked through the town a bit more, then boarded our bus, upon which I slept the whole time before we had to get off and ride our bikes home from the station. Stockholm was great. Beautiful, historic, large, grand...all the adjectives you would expect, and some others, like strange, cold, clean, packed. I enjoyed our day trip and the group that went a lot. I did nothing that sunday. Really, I don't even have anything on my calendar to remind me except "Relaxation".
The next morning (2/18) at 10 am I had a Bavarian Breakfast with the Stockholm group plus one Austrian guy and Jerritt, another German friend. The breakfast consisted of Bavarian sausage, baguette with a cheese/garlic/onion spread and some delicious German beer (yes, at 10 am - I love the Germans). We all fell asleep after the breakfast (could have been the beer, probably was). After my evening Swedish course, I watched "Bucket List" at Arne's with the breakfast group. The next day I bought tickets for tonight's Kravall (woohoo, not really), went on another bike ride with Sam, this time across the river to explore new parts of town, and then rested to prepare for the night (tuesday, HG night, again). I had the Aussie boys over to my place for some pasta and bread for dinner (cooking was interesting), which culminated in a pre-party with more friends in my corridor, after which we headed to the club/pub for our weekly international drunkfest. The next day was a certified hangover and a very messy room (which was spotless the day before), and the desire to do nothing but sleep. However, I was invited to go to a Sauna with some friends (you can book them for free for a few hours, there are three in my area), which was ideal for a hangover. I sweated vodka for the first five minutes. After that I felt great.
The next day I downloaded movies and researched for my biology project, not leaving my room for way too long. I decided I needed to get some fresh air, so I rode my bike to campus for coffee and to put air in my tires. The next day was more research and too much free time (as has been the case lately), followed by a desire for Mexican food...however, there are no mexican restaurants here, so me, Arne, Kayla and Jerrica (two American girls from W. Virginia) cooked up some burritos. It was delicious. We said grace to Wesley Snipes, Claudia Schiffer and a toy gorilla that all resided on the dinner table (why, I do not know, but it was hilarious).
That night I went out to the pub for about an hour, which was a complete bust, boring, useless, etc. I stayed up really late talking to Colleen on skype, booking our hostels and bus rides for our upcoming trip to France and Italy. Saturday I did nothing...well, a little bit of research and a solo bike ride, but nothing much. Sunday (2/24) I took a day trip to Vattern Lake, the second largest lake in Sweden and fifth largest in Europe, with Arne and the W. Virginia girls. The town was dead, as in, we maybe saw 15 people the whole day. But, the lake was nice, kind of cold and windy, but we had fun. Lunch at a cafe, walkin' around, climbing trees and tables and taking random photos. That night I had a pasta dinner with Arne again (the man can cook I tell you), which consisted of homemade carbonara (sp.) sauce and some wine. Delicious. I slept in the next day and proceeded to work on my biology research project. That night was my evening Swedish course, and, when I arrived, I had the pleasure of watching Brody (Aussie) and Matteo (Italian) walk in, coffee in hand, looking dead tired and overall terrible following their 5 day trip to Lapland/Kiruna (N. Sweden) with an exchange group. They said it was a blast; tiring, drunk, interesting, cold, and they had returned (22 hour train ride, plus bus ride) only three hours before, just woken up and came to class. That made me laugh. After class, me, those two guys and Arne had some burgers for dinner from a little place called Andreas' Gatukök nearby that has better food and better prices than McDonalds, hence, we chose it over the golden arches. I worked on my project the next day, fixed up my bike, then went to Tornby (IKEA place) with some of the guys to go shopping at a cheap supermarket. We all loaded up on the essentials (for me: pasta, chicken, bread, cheese, green tea, bbq sauce, and much more) and had one hell of a ride home with full backpacks and tired legs. We all got home, showered (it was raining a lot), ate dinner, then pre-partied before, as usual, HG (three times in one post, granted, three tuesdays have passed). As always, it was fun.
Yesterday I woke up and ate a huge fried egg/cheese/meat sandwich before biology class (three weeks since the last), which was simply a project report/question session with the professor. I am on track to finish on time, due 3/7. We also got our test results back...and yay, I passed with a B+, meaning I don't have to retake it in June (which is good, since I'm leaving June 1). I made myself some delicious chicken pasta after class, watched a movie, cleaned, napped, then around 9:30 the Aussie boys came over so we could glue patches on our overalls/drunksuits for tonight's Kravall. Today I slept in again, made some tea and had a Nutrigrain bar (you don't care, I'm just rambling), and wrote this post. I've realized lately that I've had tons of free time because I only have Swedish class once a week, no bio class because we have independent project work, and am sort of just on vacation...which is really nice. I am still a full time student, and the second half of the semester will be really busy again, but after the first five weeks of intense classes, adjusting to life here, meeting friends and finding my place, its really nice to just live alone, relax and be bored. It's helping me clear my head and get my motivation back, which seems backwards, but it works for me. This summer I will be busy, next year I will be extremely busy, so this study abroad trip is, so far, ideal. I'm learning (in class and in life), growing, having fun and getting a nice break from the past seven or so years (actually, for every year of my education) of working really hard and stressing over schoolwork. Its difficult for me to take a deep breath and say "its ok, this is why you are here, enjoy the free time", because I always feel like I should be working hard, doing homework, studying, etc. But, this is the European study system, I am a student and I am fulfilling all requirements both here and for Willamette U., and I have been preparing myself for summer research by re-reading all the complex journal articles I read last semester. For now, I'll just keep doin' what I'm doin'. I found the balance that I need, I feel comfortable in my environment and think everything will work out just fine. So, that is the last three weeks, in a nutshell. I need some food, and I'm tired of typing. Until next time...thanks for reading.