Yesterday marked my first day of real classes here. Pardon me, I meant to say class. Part-time class. As in, meet once or twice a week for a couple hours. And it’s the only class I’ll have here till November, when my full time course starts up (I know it sounds crazy, but if I study extra hard I THINK I can manage two courses at once). But trust me folks, it gets better. The course itself is entitled ‘Sweden and the Swedes’ (Right? Who wouldn’t want to take that?)  and it includes three especially interesting pieces of information:

Nummer ett, the person teaching the Swedish history portion of the course is actually an old, almost entirely deaf (her words not mine, though I’m not disagreeing) American lady with zero Swedish accent and a fantastic (note: sarcasm) sense of humor.

Nummer tva (imagine an o above the a on the off chance a Swede is reading this), the examination plan is flat-out awesome. Two exams. The first can be retaken two (count’em) TWO times, in case I somehow manage not to pass the first one (wood=knocked on). Even better, the second exam is a one week take-homer that can be submitted electronically. Europe by train, here I come!

Nummer tre, we have a (wait for it) CLASS FIELD TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thinking about this class makes me feel around the same as I did when I got my first liter mug of beer at Munchen Hoben, Linkoping University’s version of Oktoberfest, as seen below.

Well, almost. That beer was awfully satisfying, and the two (or three?) more that followed really hit the spot. But don’t worry, I learned a lot that night that I have painstakingly condensed in to the following maxims:

1. Beer is good

2. Lots of beer is better

3. A 1-liter mug of beer that I get to bring back to the US is, in a word, best

So you see, I’m just trying to get a well-rounded education over here in Sverige, and I’d like to think I’m well on my way.