Coming to an end...

As my title says, this experience is quickly coming to an end. I just finished my last week of classes with 2 huge presentations yesterday (Thursday) and today (Friday), but still have one exam on Monday and a paper due by next Friday. This weekend will be lots of studying and then early next week will have to work on my paper.

Christmas is coming up fast and that means everyone I have met here, also goes home. Sarah is the first to leave on Wednesday, so it's going to be really weird. All of my roommates leave on Saturday the 22nd, so then everything will really sink in. However, Lilit may come around the 21st and then stay with me over Christmas, so I won't be totally alone! And then my parents and my brother will come on the 26th and then we're off on our own little trip around Scandinavia.

Christmas in Gothenburg is a huge celebration. It's so beautiful with all of the lights around the city and just this last Thursday, December 13th, there was the celebration of Santa Lucia (a saint known for her kindness and love). It is a pretty big deal in Sweden and as this site says: After lunch most schools close on Santa Lucia day around noon. It is a national holiday which comes on the 13th of December. There are also special foods for Lucia's Day like Lussekatter and spicy gingerbread biscuits. In big cities in Sweden there are beauty contests where some women dress up as Santa Lucia and the judges and the people vote for the Santa Lucia of the year. In schools people sing Santa Lucia's song. The words in Swedish and English are in the right-hand column.

Apparently there was some celebration in the Chalmers student union until 10am, but I was in class, so I didn't get to see it. There was a group of people walking through the halls of the building I was in with candles and white gowns and singing, which was neat to see. I also saw in Nordstan (the big shopping mall) posters up of girls competing for the most beautiful Santa Lucia. Don't know who won, but seems like it might be every little girls dream to become Santa Lucia (here in Sweden at least)!

Other than a lot of work these past couple weeks for all my projects, I haven't really done too much. Last weekend was a hard weekend of partying, but I had lots of fun. Won't get to see these people in a while, if ever again, so I've been trying to get out as much as possible.

This weekend I won't be going out, which I'm not happy about, but I really have to study for this exam. But after the exam I'm ready to hang out as much as possible with the people still here.

On Thursday's, a club called Valand has a student night and next Thursday (20th) there will be many people going. Myself and my roommates included. It will sort of be a good-bye party to everyone and it's easier than having someone throw a party.

Sorry if these seems so gloomy, but I have had such an amazing time here, and to know it's almost over is really depressing. It ended up going so fast and I am excited to be going home, but only really to see people, not to get on with school or that part of my life.

On a positive note, Joe Klockmann from Hamburg, Germany came to visit me! Even though I was really busy, I hope he enjoyed himself. Was hard to entertain when I was constantly working on projects, but we did get to do some stuff and he was able to go out exploring on his own. On Monday we went bowling at Frölunda SuperBowl, which was really fun.

Anywho....about time for me to start studying or go to bed to get up to study tomorrow morning. I hope everyone is doing well and I will be seeing you soon! Less than one month! (And for the family....I will be calling on Christmas, so most likely will talk to all of you within 2 weeks!)

I've updated my pics as well...added some to "more fun", "Göteborg" and some more to "Finland". (Hopefully you can find them if you really want to look...)

Sunday, December 2nd, 2007: Kuopio-Gothenburg

Woke up and had a taxi waiting for us at 9:30am. Took it to the Savonia Hotelli for breakfast. Grabbed some lunch from breakfast and was out the door in hopes of walking to the central station still about 2km away. After about 20 minutes of walking in the sort of right direction, we asked for help and eventually found the station. I ran ahead of Eugenia because we had 5 minutes to catch the train before it left and thankfully I did because they were ready to leave. Seemed like forever for Eugenia to get there, but she did and we safely made it on, thanks to the conductors for keeping the train a little longer!

About 4 hours later, we arrived at a stop near the Helsinki airport and got a bus to the airport and soon were on a plane to Gothenburg. Got in around 6pm and back home by 7:30pm! Was once again, a splendid trip and Eugenia and I are excellent travel buddies for the second time!

Saturday, December 1st, 2007: Kuopio

Woke up around 8am and made our way down, walking, the side of the hill to breakfast at Best Western Hotelli Savonia - a 20 minute walk. Breakfast was delicious but once it turned 10, you better have had all you wanted to eat, otherwise SOL - all the food disappeared. They had these amazing rice pastry things that were exactly like those potato things, but with rice instead. They were warm and you are supposed to put butter on top...so good!

Now for the unforgettable adventure! Eugenia had been e-mailing a dog sled company, Tassu Taival, that she was referred to by the tourist office. The man said that he would be able to pick us up in Kuopio and take us 60km north to his home, for a price of course. We took him up on his offer and shortly before 11am, he arrived at the Best Western. A very nice man, we talked a lot about what he does and the whole idea of dog-sledding. He has about 40 huskies, however he has only 25-30 working ones, and they aren't the typical husky you think of. He has Siberian, Alaskan, and Seppala Siberian to name a few. He also breeds his own almost every year, but does it only for himself, not to sell, and has been giving rides for about 7 years.

We got to his house and he had a huge cage that had 10 little cages, all outside with 3-5 huskies in each cage. He separates those that he knows don't get along as well, but also to keep them all cooperating with each other. We were able to go inside the main cage and we met Kisses (not sure what it was in Finnish, but that's the translation). She is a 10 year old husky that has also had a couple litters while he's had her. She is also an excellent leader for his rides, so she always goes in front and we would get her on our ride.

She was so much fun and would always lean against you so you would pet her. We met pretty much all of the dogs, or most of them, by petting them through their cages. They were so fun and so excited! When we first arrived, they started howling and barking and I heard recently that they do that to get the attention of the owner so that they get picked to run. I recorded a couple videos of them howling away and maybe I'll figure out how to post them somewhere. It was so funny! They actually get to a point where they get so angry and start fighting with each other. Wasn't too bad for the most part.

He had a few females either in separate cages or in their own area outside the cages because they were "in heat" so they couldn't be with any males. At one point, a male went running outside the fenced area and was going straight to one of the females. Pekka said that if he doesn't get him within a few seconds, we'll have more puppies! Guess it can happen that quick!

There was also a cage with at least 6 month old puppies! They were adorable! Soon after, he got 8 dogs ready to go. I don't remember all of the names, especially in Finnish, but I remember one he named Shadow because when he was a puppy, he'd follow Pekka around everywhere.

It was really neat how Pekka was so into each and every one of his dogs and they absolutely adored him. Put them all in their correct positions - how he remembers, I have no clue! Eugenia and I sat in the sled, her in front of me, and we were off. Because there was such little snow, Pekka said it was really hard to brake and dangerous because it's all operated by feet and if he would hit a rock or stump, it could really wreck your knees. The ride itself was such an amazing experience! The dogs were so great and it was interesting to watch how it really works. All Kisses really does is run without working too much, but she has to lead the other dogs. Pekka will yell left, right, stop, or go and she almost always listens, except she sometimes gets a mind of her own and decides to go her own way. She did that once while we were riding otherwise, she was good. 5 kilometers later and after stopping every once in a while for the dogs to rest, we were back at Pekka's place. Said good-bye to all the cute puppies and we were taken to a little tepee where he made a fire and then coffee, crepes or Finnish pancakes, and this excellent tea-like drink with red or white currents, raspberries, and cinnamon. I guess this is something that he does with all of his guests and it's so nice and fun!

A while later, we were in the car on our way back to Kuopio. When we got back to the center, Pekka showed us around a little bit more so we would get to see more of Kuopio. Pekka dropped us off on one street close to the main center and went on his way. Once again, Eugenia and I wanted to find souvenirs, but being 4pm, there was nothing open. Walked around in some bigger department stores and other retail, but other than that there was nothing. It was dark at that point and we were so cold that we found a restaurant. We each got a pasta dish (much better than fish...) and found a taxi to go back to the hostel. Were dropped off and we went inside Puijon Tower. Would have been better to do it during the day, but we definitely could figure out where the lakes were because there were no lights visible! Didn't do much for the rest of the night and were in bed by midnight! A fantastic day!!

Friday, November 30th, 2007 - Helsinki-Kuopio

Woke up a little later than planned, had a decent breakfast at the hostel, gout our luggage into the luggage room to grab later and headed out. Walked past an outdoor market where more traditional objects are sold. Was interesting and we ended up buying a traditional Finnish pastry with potatoes called Karjalanpiirakka. Turned out to be pretty good!

There is a self-tour they offer that is going around the city on tram 3T and they highlight what's interesting and if it's worth getting off to check out more. Took about an hour and all of a sudden it was noon.

Got to Savotta and it was such an adorable place! We got to sit in our own little space in the wall and was all underground. Some very interesting dishes on the menu as well. Could get reindeer, bear, lamb, veal, vendace, and much more. Eugenia got reindeer soup and I ended up getting vendace (little fish) in hopes of just getting the meat. NOPE!! Came out with little 2 inch fish all stacked on top of each other, tails and all. They were nicely fried though! Ate only a couple, after picking out the spine, but they were too fishy tasting for me, so I couldn't eat too many. Also ordered Glögli, which is a traditional warm sort of cider beverage. Tasty as well! Ordered apple pastry and homemade lingonberry ice cream for dessert....also very good!

Got out of there and ran in to Stockman's lost and found in hopes of finding my lost mitten, but with no luck, we headed to the hostel, grabbed our bags and went to the train station. We were extremely short on time to catch our 3:12pm train, and after missing the tram stop to get to the station, we thought we would miss it. With 10 minutes left, we grabbed a tram back from the stop after the station and practically ran to catch the train! Luckily, we made it!

After a few short snoozes each, 4 hours later we arrived in Kuopio! We found someone in the tiny train station to see if they knew how to get to our hostel, which we knew was about 2km away from Kuopio's center. All anyone told us was that we would have to taxi. Therefore, we needed cash and there was no ATM in the train station. We hunted one down about 3 meters away and also found a pizza place to eat dinner. After probably another hour, we went back to the train station to catch a taxi at the "taxisi" area where they line up for people to come. Twelve Euros and a ride up a hill later and we were at Puijo Maja Hostelli. It was amazingly beautiful and it had recently snowed, so all of the trees were covered in white!

There is also a tower called Puijo Tower that Kuopio is known by and we would head up to the top on Saturday night. We were pretty much the only people around, which was sort of weird. Just a couple weeks shy of when it gets really busy with Santa and many winter activities. Got our keys and made it to our wonderful room with 2 beds, a refrigerator and a toilet and shower. Didn't do much for the evening and eventually went to bed.

There is this huge story of how Santa comes from northern Finland and if you try to argue with any Finns about this, they'll argue right back. There is a whole city in the Lapland (northern area) of Finland and here's the whole website and the story for the Finnish Santa Claus: http://www.santaclausvillage.info/eng/story.htm

Thursday, November 29, 2007: Göteborg-Helsinki

We left Gothenburg around 8:15am - this time by plane - after a bit of trouble figuring out how to get to Landvetter Airport. Arrived in Helsinki around 10:40am and made our way to Central Station. Planning to get our train tickets to Kuopio, we got distracted by figuring out our way to EuroHostel. Got to the hostel, which is on an island to the east of the center and I was pleasantly surprised. The hostel looked very clean and very fun in the lobby and people were friendly. When we got to our room, it wasn't necessarily horrible, but definitely no the cleanest and we had very hard mattresses and lumpy pillows.

Decided to head towards Senate Square where, according to a travel guide "an assemblage of neoclassic buildings surrounds the Senate Square representing the soul of the city. Overlooking the whole arena is the grand Cathedral." The Cathedral was definitely grand! Was so beautiful from the outside and with the little bit of snow and Christmas lights, it was even more! We also passed by the Uspenski Cathedral, which is the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe.

Eugenia and I were talking about how some buildings look like they come from Russian influence, which makes sense in the fact that Russia used to own Finland. Also, many Russian souvenirs in stores made us feel like we were in Russia!

After doing those few picture ops, we headed back to the train station to buy our train tickets. Got our transportation to Kuopio and headed out in search of souvenir shops. After more than 4 hours of roaming around the city, in shopping malls (some were even underground!), going to a huge department store called Stockman's, we decided to find a place to eat dinner. We saw a traditional Finnish restaurant right across from the Cathedral. Found out we had to have a reservation and they had no open tables. They recommended another restaurant for us to go to, but it was quite a walk away and it was rather cold out (less than 30 degrees the whole time we were there), so we knew a couple places we walked by earlier that were closer to the hostel. Ended up at a pub that served food.

Grabbed 2 beers and 2 burgers and hung out there for most of the evening. Even got to speak with a group of drunk Estonian old men...that was interesting and weird. Paid, went back to the hostel and shortly thereafter, went to bed. First day was good. I like Helsinki a lot and from that first day, we were able to see a lot of traditional Finnish things, like the many little handicraft shops we went into.

The Christmas lights were all so beautiful around the city, which was fun! We also made a reservation at the Finnish restaurant for Friday at 12pm, so we still get to try it!

Thanksgiving - Friday, November 23rd, 2007

Before I get too much into my trip to Finland this last weekend, I wanted to update you on my first Thanksgiving dinner that I was in charge of....was quite difficult too. I decided to throw a Thanksgiving dinner primarily to show the international students what we eat, since it's hard to think of strictly American food. Only about 4 people who had never eaten turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, etc came, and the rest were either American or had been to the US and was able to celebrate Thanksgiving while they were there.

Turned out to be a fantastic dinner, but it was very stressful at times! I had no idea really what I was doing and all my directions were from my mom, so panic mode really set in within the last half hour. The fact that the turkey wasn't done on time didn't help either and gravy is definitely a tough task....at least I thought it was! Wouldn't thicken up for me! Overall, very good and everyone enjoyed it.

I will update my "More fun" album with a couple Thanksgiving pics and some more random ones. Should be towards the end. I also have some updated pics in the middle of my Norway trip, but close to the end. Were ones I got from Eugenia just recently and still wanted to add!

That's all for now....stay tuned for Finland! (Hopefully tomorrow it will be fully updated!)

Pics

I updated my Göteborg and More fun! albums and then added the Munich one!

München: Sunday, November 18th, 2007

After a long night, woke up in Hamburg and got my train to Copenhagen. Not to go too crazy on all of you, but I have to write about this because it infuriated me so much at the time and it still frustrates me right now, almost a week later. I don't know if something really illegal was happening, but "polizie" came on board when we were going to get on the ferry to cross to Denmark and started asking those who "looked middle eastern" where they were from and more questions that I couldn't fully hear. He then checked the rest of the train, glanced at me and other white or Asian people, but never asked for our passports, stopped at an Iranian and asked for his passport. The police eventually escorted the Iraqis out and I sort of followed to see what might be going on. Went to the bathroom, came out and the guys were off the train. I have never seen anything like this before and it was really disturbing. I asked a worker right after it happened and specifically mentioned Iraqis and he said "it's routine. The police always do this." I don't think racial profiling is routine.

I spoke with the Iranian a while after and brought it up and he said that it's very hard to get Visas to other countries and coming from Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan you have to have visas to most countries. So maybe it had something to do with that. I don't know, but it was extremely frustrating. They were discriminated against and pointed out in front of everyone on the train. The policeman was even yelling and being really mean about it...whatever....I guess, was frustrating and I don't know the facts.

Got into Copenhagen, found a store to buy some stuff for home. Got on the train for home around 4:30pm and arrived home in time to watch the end of the Packer game's live stats! Amazing trip overall and so glad I took the time!

München: Saturday, November 17th, 2007

We planned the night before to get up early, then Lilit would study and we would go out. However, that didn't happen. We got up around 10:30am, ate an amazing breakfast by Zara of toasted cheese, ham, and pineapple, coffee, and juice. Lilit wanted all of my music from my computer, so I started transferring that immediately...all 15GB. Before we knew it, it was already 6pm and we had to eat and I had to pack. Zara had been cooking pretty much all day, so we ate delicious food once again!

There were some meat things (tasted like meatloaf), some potatoes, some sort of Spanish soup, and chatchapuri (with cheese this time, instead of meat). I would have loved to take her home with me with all of the amazing dishes/meals I have eaten!

Lilit and I got ready to go and we headed to the train station to put my bags in a locker, then were planning to go to Hofbraühaus, but we didn't have too much time at that point, so we settled for another bierhaus Nik recommended, Augustiner. Had to get a möss and of course brez'n (pretzels). We also ordered some sort of cake dessert with ice cream. Very tasty, whatever it was. Had less than an hour to drink my liter of beer and had to drink it all because I wanted to bring home a souvenir! Great beer and successfully got it out of there without getting caught. (Lilit practically ran out!)

Back to the lockers, hid the möss in my bag, got a cup of coffee, and went to my platform. Was so sad saying goodbye to Lilit. No tears, but I especially had so much fun and we've both grown up so much and we can relate to each other so well! Said goodbye's and off I was on my first train at 11pm.

Lilit gave me a pair of earrings that she got in India that are beautiful! So different, but so pretty! Zara also gave me a soft, pink scarf that she got in Barcelona. It is also so beautiful! Lilit and her family have been so generous and so hospitable and welcoming to me! I had so much fun getting a chance to get to know Zara and Razmik a lot better. Was a great trip and I would love to do it again!

München: Friday, November 16th, 2007

Got up with Lilit again for her 8am lecture. Got on the one S-bahn within the hour (I like to stress this apparently...) and headed to the lecture hall with the actual professor in it. This time we learned about joints and bones. Very interesting stuff, but also very hard. Lilit's exam was today on the Latin words and what they mean in German - mostly on different diseases. They have an exam every week and what's hard is that they have a lot to study, but the exam is very short, so they have no idea what will be on it out of the 500 terms, for example, that they have to learn.

After the first 2-hour lecture, I took off to go look around the city and maybe stop at some museums. Lilit and I decided we would meet up at 1:30pm at Marienplatz. I left to go see some museums that Razmik recommended. First stopped at Glyptothek, which had many sculptures from 2000+ years ago. After that, I went to Alte Pinakothek, which has the oldest art out of 3 art museums, one being modern art. Both were interesting, but a lot of it I didn't appreciate as much as I should have.

Met up with Lilit and we went to a pizza place. It's funny because when we walked in, it reeked of smoke. I'm not used to people smoking in places anymore and I guess they are passing a law to ban smoking in most public places that will begin this January.

By coincidence, we ran into Lilit's good friend, Dave, who was eating there with a friend. It was neat that I got to meet some of her friends because I also get to learn more about Lilit. Next, we went hunting for Birkenstock stores, but were out of luck in finding the shoe she was looking for. Were planning to hit up a biergarten, but we were tired so we found San Francisco Coffee Shop. Coffee was really good! Headed home and another of Lilit's friends, Lara, came over and we hung out. She is also a great person and seems like a great friend to Lilit. Then....headed to bed! Last night in Munich!

München: Thursday, November 15th, 2007

Lilit and I woke up around 11am to the sun shining and a few inches of snow on the ground and all over the trees. Was absolutely beautiful! Lilit was feeling a lot better and her fever had gone down. Also woke up to find that workers of the S-bahn and other main rail stations in Munich were on strike until Saturday and there was only one train per hour to get to the central area of Munich. Razmik told me that this is a very common thing, but it's frustrating because so many people rely on public transportation and when things like this happen, it screws up people's lives a bit.

Razmik and Zara made breakfast for us: toast with eggs and tomatoes, German frankfurters, and leftover salad from the night before. It's been a while since I have eaten such good meals and it was so nice of them! They went to work around 1pm and since Lilit was feeling sick, she didn't go to class. I eventually left the apartment around 4pm to catch the one train within the hour.

Went to Hauptbahnhof Central Station to find the tourist office to get some more information about stuff to do. Got lost for almost an hour trying to find the main pedestrian street, but eventually found it. On the hunt for Birkenstock's for my mom, I found a shoe store and bought 2 pairs of shoes for myself! Can never have too many!

Went home, ate some dinner along with 2 shots of gramole (some Italian liquor) and a bit of beer with Razmik and Zara, and Lilit studied. Later, Lilit and I chatted about lots of random stuff til 2am when we fell asleep.

It's so fun to be able to go to another country and even though you may not know some people very well, you sort of become dependent on them. It makes it so easy to open up and I especially notice with Lilit that we have become such great friends. We've only seen each other 3 times before (twice in the US and once when I came to Europe in '99), which is pretty amazing!

München: Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

After getting up 1 hour later, around 6, Lilit & I got ready to go to class. They live about an hour commute from her college and she had class at 8, so we had to leave pretty early as well. I spend the morning with her in one lecture on muscles, however, since it's all in German, I kind of just looked at the video of a real corpse and the muscles on it. Was interesting to see all 800+ students so interested in this stuff when it sort of grosses me out - at least the whole touching real muscles with bare hands. This class has 2 rooms, one with half of the students that sit in one hall with the professor and the other half are in another room where they watch a camera. We were in the room with the camera, so was very different that in any of my classes in Minnesota.

After that, I went to the library where Lilit could study for her Friday exam. The buildings on this "campus" are so beautiful and so old - all are around 100 years old or more. We went to eat lunch on campus and after that I went to another lecture of hers. I believe this one was also on muscles, but I can't quite remember because I was dozing off half of the time. I will put some pics up of the lecture hall because it was very different than any I have seen.

Directly after this one hour class, Lilit took me to her microscope class. About 100 students are in a room and all get a microscope to observe cells in their normal states, so they can understand how healthy cells should look like versus those with diseases. Was pretty interesting and it was actually something I already knew because they focused on the cell processes, which I learned in biology from previous years before.

Lilit attends Ludwig Maximilians Universität. Apparently it is compared to the standards at Harvard Medical school, so she must be at a very good school.

We headed to Starbucks to grab something to drink and Lilit then went home because she was feeling sick and I walked around the city. Munich is such a beautiful city and I don't think I mentioned before, but it was snowing all day and it made the city even more beautiful! The last time I was in Europe (and Munich) was in the summer, so it is an extremely different atmosphere, literally, as well as just the life on the streets.

Went shopping for a little while and then hopped on the S-bahn, hoping to not get lost and went back home. I ended up getting very lost when I got off the train because I wasn't quite sure where I needed to walk to get to her apartment. I eventually asked someone on the street because I had the street name and found my way. Got home and Lilit was in her pajamas in bed with a fever. Shortly thereafter, Zara and Razmik got home and they made a delicious dinner of salad, this vegetable salad thing, a very tasty thing called chatchapuri (very thin pastry layers with hamburger and spices, sort of like baklava if you've ever had that, but more of a meal, not a dessert) and red wine. Not very long after, I went to bed. Was so nice to finally sleep after very long 2 days!

Göteborg - München: Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

I'm going to go about this as I did Norway - I will be entering in daily entries because I took notes as I went through the trip so I could give you as many entertaining details as possible! Here goes....have fun reading!

Oh my goodness! After close to 24 hours on a train, I finally arrived in Munich around 4:30am on Wednesday morning. Quite a long and sad story and I can explain the general part, hopefully without too many details.

I had been speaking with Lilit via e-mail for a few weeks and I finally figured out some dates when I could visit her. (Lilit is a very good family friend that I have met a few times before - currently she is 19. Her mom is cousins with my Aunt Nonna, all from Armenia.) I went to the central station in Göteborg about a week before to get my tickets for the trains. I decided to travel train not only for the cheaper price, but because I had 2 Eurail Passes that would go towards the trip. That means that I didn't necessarily have to buy reservations unless it were necessary because the Rail Pass operates as a ticket.

I got seat reservations for all but one train from Hamburg to Munich because, according to the computers in Sweden, it was full. I didn't need a reservation for this train and it could be possible to check in Copenhagen to see if any seats opened up, otherwise I could wing it and hope there would be a seat.

After leaving at 6:25am Tuesday for Copenhagen, we arrived around 10:30am. Went straight to the ticket office and they told me I HAD to have a reservation because "it is an express train and goes fast, so I need a reservation" and it was still full. After hearing that news, I started panicking. I had a 6-hour ride ahead of me and all I could think was that I would be in Hamburg for the night. Got to Hamburg after a few catnaps here and there. I now had 30 minutes to find the ticket counter for DB and hopefully get on the right train. Hoping they still had seats available, I spoke with a lady and she said that I didn't need a reservation. Most trains in Germany don't need reservations. I was so frustrated and flustered and with less than 15 minutes to get on the train, I practically ran. Saw a train was still there, so I jumped on. Pretty lame of me at this point because it took me about 6 hours to figure out I was on the wrong train and I was still in central Germany.

After speaking with a worker on the train (and after finding out Lilit was at the train station and I quote "Laura, your train is here, where are you?") he helped me figure out another route to Munich that began at the following stop of the train I was on. I would arrive at München Ost (the eastern side of Munich) around 4:30am. Lilit sent me her address and after sleeping for a couple of hours, got a taxi and arrived at her apartment. Zara heard me after a few tries at ringing the doorbell and she was very kind, especially for me arriving so late/so early in the morning! Went to sleep around 5am to wake up at 6am to go to class with Lilit. One helluva first day I must say!

I've had a very fun week. Not a lot to do with school, but outside of class, we've done quite a few activities. On Sunday we went to Eugenia's apartment and she cooked my whole apartment lunch! Was delicious and some Italian dishes mixed in too! After that we had a little expedition to find a go-kart track somewhere north of the main city. Nine of us including my whole flat, Casey, Ketchup, Juan, Eugenia, and Juan's friend from Spain who was visiting. We eventually found it and the place has an indoor and outdoor track but we got there too late, so we raced indoors. Was a lot of fun! I've never been on go-karts that go so fast, and we had to wear a little racecar suit and helmet and gloves. Juan beat us all in the amount of time it took us to make one lap, but whatever. It was fun!

For the rest of the few days, I had class. We are starting the two main projects in both of my classes, so I'm sure I will start to get really busy. My Construction Contract Relationship class has a project where we have to interview a large business, ours being NCC, and how they create their contracts and what they include in it to hopefully avoid any complications during the construction process. Sort of confusing, but I'm figuring it out. The only real reason I'm taking this class is so I can spend more time with Belma and Janne since I only have one month left!

My other class, Vehicle Ergonomics, has a huge project where we have to analyze the inside of a vehicle for it's ergonomics and if it would need any improvements, etc. One of my group-mates has a friend that has a car, so we used his. Much easier than trying to rent one, and since none of my group mates have a license, I would have to try and figure out how to drive it! On the streets of Gothenburg...doesn't sound like fun to me! We analyzed the car Wednesday night, took a few pics, and asked the driver many questions. Seems kind of cheesey, but I find it rather interesting!

After meeting with my group Wednesday, Juan, Casey, Ketchup, Brennan, Nik, Juan's friend, and I found an ice rink right near our place! Frolunda is good for something I guess! Was so much fun! Just 50kr to rent skates and could skate for 2 hours. Had a huge track and wasn't that good of condition, but it worked. Juan had never skated before, so it was funny watching him and trying to teach him how to skate; he's never rollerskated before either, so there was no trying to explain the difference in that. Had a couple falls, not me, but the others. I think we'll be going back soon, especially since it's so COLD out and the ice will stay pretty frozen.

Well....that's about it for the last week. I'll try to get some pics up of the last few events. Oh..I have a trip planned to Munich, Germany and I leave Tuesday November 13th and I come back on Sunday November 18th. Should be lots of fun! I'm going to meet family friends that live there, so I will have a place to stay, which is really convenient! I also might be going to Barcelona, Spain within the next couple weeks or Helsinki, Finland. Not quite sure which one yet, but I'll let all of you know as soon as I know! I'm trying to make the best of this last month, especially since this whole semester went so fast!

All for now....

21

I want to start off saying that I had a fantastic birthday! Thank you to those that called me (or tried to since I was horrible at answering my phone) and it was great to hear all of your voices and to talk with you! Also, thank you so much for all of the cards! It's always fun to receive things in the mail and it was definitely a nice surprise to have received so many!

I also want to thank my amazing friends here that made my 21st so special for me! No 21 shots, but it was nice to have the Americans to know what 21 really means! I won't go into details of the night, but do want to say I learned how to tie a tie! That was pretty neat, and the boys even approved it!

Thanks all so much! Miss you lots and I hope all is well!

Sunday, October 28th, 2007 - - Stavanger - Oslo - Göteborg

We found out last night that the clocks turned back! That means we had an extra hour of sleep! After our delicious breakfast from the inn, we were out in the rain, heading to Norsk Oljemuseum (the Norwegian Petroleum Museum). This was very interesting. Neither Eugenia nor I knew very much about drilling, so what a perfect place to learn! Norway has a very large drilling industry and they make a lot of their money through their oil. We also found out that Norway isn't part of the European Union because of their oil and the money they make on it (at least that's part of the reason).

After, we had time for one more museum before our train left at 2pm. We decided to explore the Stavanger Museum in hopes of learning more about the city. Not what we were thinking at all. Aside for many animal and dinosaur exhibits, we got to learn a tiny bit about Stavanger.

Went back to the inn all soaking wet from the wind and rain, warmed up our food from the night before, packed, paid and we were out. Made our way to the train station and got ready for a 12 hour train and bus ride back to Göteborg. While we were waiting for the train, our 2 Norwegian boys from the night before came walking up. The train we were on was stopping in Kristiansand on the way to Oslo, so they'd be on our train with us! The train had to go all the way around the coast of Norway. If you look at a map, you can see the route from Stavanger, through Kristiansand (on the southern tip), all the way north to Oslo. that's why it takes soooooooo long!

Arrived in Göteborg around 2:30am, got a cab and was in bed by 3:30am. Long day, but it was well worth it!

I had a wonderful trip and I think Eugenia did, too. It was definitely fun to travel with her and we knew exactly what we needed to do to get the most out of our trip, without any disagreements either. If anyone who's reading this ever gets a chance to explore Norway, I highly recommend touring around the fjords. It is breathtaking and I think the nature definitely pays for the trip!

Saturday, October 27th, 2007 - - Bergen - Stavanger

Got up and out of our hostel after a great nights sleep. Still no one at the front desk, so I don't know what we are going to do about paying.....

We read in a Bergen guide about a funicular and cable car that would take you up a mountain. We really wanted to do the cable car because it goes up a higher mountain, but it doesn't open until 10am, when our boat for Stavanger leaves at 10:10am. We found the funicular close to where we were walking around Friday night and it opens at 8am, so we decided to do that. Ran into 7-11 to grab something to eat for breakfast and got our tickets to go up 320m. Oh, and I never mentioned that it was still raining, so we knew we weren't going to have a perfect view of the city, but we wanted to do something in Bergen, especially since we didn't have much time.

Along with our bags, we rode the 7 minute ride up the track. Got to the top and we could see some, but was really windy and cold, so we didn't stay too long. However, the gift shop opened so of course we did some shopping! Made it back down and headed to the express boat.

Aside for a few choppy areas and an unexpected stop where everyone had to get off and switch to their final destinations, we arrived in Stavanger by 2:45pm. So far it had rained for the first half of the day and thankfully we have been on a boat. Met a woman from Michigan also heading to Stavanger, which was fun. You can tell American accents apart from anything, so there's always questions like "where are you from?" all the time.

We met up with our 2 Americans and the Aussie to find the tourist office. Found the big "I" and to our surprise, it was closed! Closed at 2pm on a Saturday! Isn't that when tourists will come? After that luck, we found our little inn and unpacked. We stayed at Rogalandsheimen, which, if you look online, is absolutely beautiful! Very old and antique-y looking, it was really fun to stay in. All the 3 ladies in charge while we were there were also extremely nice. We had our own room, which was very comfortable and we were really able to relax!

We went out around 4pm, hoping we would find something to do, especially since all museums close at 4pm. We ended up getting some food at "Bagel Buddy" and went around the center of Stavanger looking for souvenirs. However, we hit a dead end: nothing was open! And, to make it even worse, almost every store is closed on Sunday's. Out of luck with that, so we eventually ended up at an Irish pub.

Eugenia and I got Kilkenny and sat around and chatted, even with a couple of Norwegian boys up from a city in the south, Kristiansand, to party in Stavanger. While walking around the city, we found the Stavanger Cathedral, which was beautiful, and Valberget, which is an old tower.

Around 10pm, we made our way to the train station to eat dinner at "Mona Lisa". Good food and even had leftovers for lunch on Sunday. Asked the workers at the restaurant if they knew anything for us to do Sunday because most museums open at 11am. They told us about the Petroleum Museum that opens at 10am. We decided that we would do that right away in the morning.

Went back to the inn, checked our e-mail on the free computer they offer, took showers, and headed to bed. Aside for all the rain, Stavanger is a beautiful city and a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be!

Friday, October 26th, 2007 - - Oslo-Myrdal-Flåm-Gudvangen-Voss-Bergen

We got up at 6:30am and were out the door by 7am. Overall, the hostel was nice. Wasn't the cleanest place, but was nice to have a toilet and shower in the room. There was even a kitchen, but we didn't use it. Went right next door to the Anker Best Western Hotel to eat a 75NOK (Norwegian krona) frukost (breakfast). As Eugenia now knows, we killed two birds with one stone because we took lots of food for lunch so we didn't have to pay even more! The NOK is extremely pricey compared to SEK. Same prices as in Sweden, but with a worse exchange rate.

Hurried out of the hotel, caught tram 11 and eventually arrived at the train station. Now begins our very busy day.

Boarded the train and we were out of Oslo, on our 4.5 hour ride west to Myrdal. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking that I can't even begin to try and explain it. The early part of the trip was extremely foggy and cold out and there was frost all over the fields and trees. Everything was white. Slowly the sun decided to shine, which of course, made everything more beautiful. Once in Myrdal, we switched trains to the Flåmbana, a very famous railway in Flåm that goes through the fjords. Got to the fjords and by the Flåmbana we were going in and out of tunnels through the mountains and even stopped in areas where we could get out and take pictures.

Next stop was 50 minutes later in Flåm where we had an hour break to look around the city of 450 people. Wasn't much going on, but was amazing to be eating lunch with all of these cliffs surrounding you. By now it was early afternoon and the sun was already disappearing behind the fjords, so it was getting rather chilly.

Now we changed forms of transportation. We boarded a boat to Gudvangen. We had moments when it wasn't too cold to go on top to get pictures, otherwise with the wind it was very cold. Cold enough that ice was forming on the water and snow on the hills! However, the views were amazing and truthfully, it sort of reminded me of our Yangtze River boat tour through the gorges.

Arriving 2 hours later in Gudvangen and we jumped right onto a bus to take us back down some of the 1,000+ meters to Voss. It was now getting dark out (about 6pm) and we had an hour wait for our next train in Voss.

Eugenia and I decided to hang out and get something to eat in the train station because any part of Voss that looked interesting while driving through, was pretty far to walk to. Got hot dogs to eat and stayed warm til the train. About an hour later, we arrived in Bergen.

Found our hostel, Marken Gjestehus, and after a little confusion on where the actual place was, we found our room. The reception desk closes early and opens late, so we really didn't know what we were supposed to do as far as paying goes. Made our beds, once again, and decided to check out the night life.

Bergen is known as a city where it rains all the time and it didn't change for us either. We walked along Bryggen and found a castle tower called Rosenkrantz Tower. It was built by the governor of Bergen Castle (Bergenhus). Bryggen is a series of Hanseatic commercial buildings lining the eastern side of the fjord coming into Bergen. We also walked along Haakon's Hall, which was built in the 1200's.

Continued walking along the wharf and found a bar to grab a beer and chat. Talked and talked til midnight when we left to go back to the hostel. After showers, were in bed by 1am with alarm set for 7am. Today was a fantastic and tiring day. We met 3 students studying in Copenhagen. Two are from the United States and one from Australia. Jeremy is from California and goes to USC and Mark is from Boston and believe it or not, he goes to school in Madison! UW-Madison to be exact! Small world! All 3 are on the same tour as we are, so we saw them all day and will continue to see them!

Norway!!

So after my exam was finished on Tuesday for my project management class, I began to get ready for Norway. I already finished my essay for my economics of innovations class, so I felt free and ready to leave for a vacation! I will write separate entries for each day because I wrote on paper what I did each day so it would actually be detailed and I knew if I wrote later, it wouldn't be detailed and I wouldn't have had the patience to actually write nice!

Here goes....

Thursday, October 25th, 2007 - - Göteborg, Sweden - Oslo, Norway

Eugenia and I met at 9:00am and were ready to get to Central Station. Got on the bus at 10:15 and were on our way to Oslo. After a 4 hour ride of gorgeous Swedish scenery and a bit of Norway's, we arrived Oslo at about 2:30pm. We immediately went to find the NSB (Norway train line) counter in the central train station. Got our tickets from Stavanger to Oslo for the way back and our fjord tour tickets as well. We found the tourist office and luckily we did because we had no map or any information about Oslo, aside from our "Things to do in Oslo" list we made prior to going. Got a lot of helpful information on where to go, what time things closed, and most importantly, how to get to Anker Hostel.

Found the hostel, checked in, got to our 6-person mixed room, made our beds (were not the cleanest looking duvets, pillows, or mattresses), made plans for where to go and headed out. Eugenia had read and heard from many people that Vigelandsparken is a must-see, so we hopped on a tram. It is filled with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite, and cast iron and is all outdoors. Some of the most famous sculptures are the "Wheel of Life" and the monolith. (I found a great website: http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/arch/769/Vigeland/ that explains a lot about all of the statues.) It was a beautiful day and most of the fall leaves were still colorful and the sun was shining. We had a wonderful time.

Next stop was Akershus Slott, the Akershus Fortress. Built in the 13th century, we couldn't go into the castle because it was closed, but could go onto the grounds and look around. Saw the small production of the changing of the guards and took a few pics. We wandered around the main street, Karl Johans Gate, and came across many beautiful buildings. Stopped at Hard Rock Cafe for a key chain souvenir on our way to the Royal Palace. It was dark at this time, so we could see the palace all lit up at the end of Karl Johans Gate. Walked onto the grounds and found many "people" in traditional Norwegian dress and many in tuxes and gowns going into the palace. We asked some other gawkers what was going on and they told us it was a government official dinner. There were news cameras and all sorts of photographers there, including us, taking pics of the Prime Minister of Norway as he climbed out of his car! Yes, we got to the Prime Minister from less than 50 feet away!

After the party we weren't invited to started to die down, we hiked it back to the city. Stopped by the National Theatre, which was beautiful from the outside. We were told from the lady at the tourist office that Ekebergrestauranten was a nice place to eat as well as an excellent view of the city. It is southeast of the center on a hill, so we got on a tram to go up the hillside. After missing the stop the first time up, we caught it coming back down. To our surprise, we needed a reservation and they were fully packed.

After taking a couple of pics of the city, we headed back down to find a place to eat. Ended up at a place called Tempest and had a fantastic pasta dish and a drink the bartender made for us. Not sure on the name, but had Bacardi Limon, some Norwegian liquor, Sprite and limes. Very tasty! Roamed around some more and finally found a tram to take us back to the hostel. On the way, though, we stopped at Stortinget, the Parliament, and admired the outside and as much of the inside we could see. Got to our room and much to our surprise, it was full with most everyone sleeping already. Quietly made our way to bed.

Asleep by midnight after setting our alarms for 6:30am. Wonderful 8 hours in Oslo, and even though we couldn't go inside most places (all closed by 4pm), we definitely felt we did as much as we could while we were there. Eugenia and I have the same idea of traveling: sight-see while you can and leave the shopping for home! Perfect travelling buddies!

A quick post because I'm not sure when I'll be able to update you for at least a week. It's come to the end of the quarter here at Chalmers and of course that means exams. I had one half of an exam last Wednesday for my economics class and the second half is an essay that is due this coming Friday (Oct. 26th). I have an in-class exam for my Project Management class on Tuesday, so I've been busy this weekend studying and writing.

The fun part of the week is that since I have an exam on Tues and nothing else for the rest of the week (as long as I get the essay done ahead of time), I am going with Eugenia to Norway! We leave Thursday morning for Oslo and will stay over night in a hostel. Then Friday morning we get up and get together with a tour that will take us through the fjords on the western side of Norway. I'm very excited for that and it's supposed to be beautiful! Hopefully we'll have nice weather too! I was just talking to my dad and he said that this weekend in the states should be really good for the northern lights. Apparently here, the northern lights are extremely bright and the farther you go north, they are even brighter! In Norway, they even have northern light tours that go through the fjords! So, hopefully when we are there, we'll be able to see the start of them!

Well...off to bed and early to rise tomorrow morning to do some writing on the essay! I'll post immediately when I get back from Norway and will definitely be taking many pics!

Hope all is well with everyone! Miss you lots!

Not much going on lately...

Sorry all - - haven't written in a while. Truthfully, like the title says, there really isn't much going on here lately. I made a list while sitting in class, which I always do so I remember what has happened.

Nik and I went to the Botanical Gardens on Saturday. It was a beautiful day and the gardens were absolutely gorgeous! We eventually found a path and started roaming around. Before we knew it, we were in the arboretum (connected to the gardens) and more paths were winding all around lakes. At that point, we wanted to get out of there, so we kept walking in the direction of the main road. Finally found it and were way out of the way from the tram and any main road. Walked probably another 30 minutes after we found a sign with and arrow pointing us in the direction of Frölunda Torg. (The botanical gardens are like a 5-10 minute tram ride from Frölunda Torg.)

The rest of this week has been class. However, today, we had a lecturer from Beijing come and speak to us in my Project Management class. He spoke on the Beijing Olympic construction and all of the important buildings like the "Nest" for the main events/concerts and the swimming pool building. Got to see pictures of the building process and the whole planning of all the buildings back in 2001. This guy isn't part of the actual construction project. He is a professor from Tsinghua University in project management. It was a really interesting lecture. I also really want to go to Beijing to see the actual buildings (or the Olympics would be fine too!)!

Getting darker everyday here. We are getting some sun every couple of days, but like every Swede has told me, the winter is all rain and cold. Hardly any sun, so any we get now, I'm going to have to soak it up!

That's all for this time! Planning some trips and final exams for this period are in a week, so I'll definitely be busy, but the boring kind of busy. I'm sure there will be some fun in there somewhere?!?!

PS....don't have a camera right now (or for the past week) so there aren't any new pics.

Stockholm

Well, like I said before, I traveled to Stockholm for the weekend! Was an absolute blast!! I left Friday morning around 8am with Sarah from Milan, Italy and we arrived in Stockholm by train around 1pm. This was where the fun and cluelessness began...

Sarah had booked a room at Formule 1 Hotel, so we knew we had a room, just didn't know exactly where to find the hotel. After trying to find the tourist office in Centralstation in Stockholm (the tour books told us they had one), we finally asked someone where we were supposed to go. In Stockholm, they actually have an underground train system, so we hopped on that after buying our one time tickets and headed to the stop we were told to get off at. We ended up going about 20 minutes southwest of central Stockholm and, after walking through a construction site since we had no idea how to get to our hotel because the street was under construction, we finally saw the sign.

Hotel wasn't terrible. The typical European hotel with the bathroom and shower in the hallway for all to share. Very clean, so it passes my mom's "barefoot test". Also, the hotel was extremely cheap, so that's always a plus.

After unpacking briefly, we hopped back on the subway and found the tourist office in the centre. Grabbed lots of brochures and a 24 hour transportation pass and went out exploring! Stockholm is absolutely beautiful with all of the historical buildings and tall buildings. There is an area that we especially enjoyed. Gamla Stan or "old city" was gorgeous! Narrow streets and older buildings with bright colors! So fun!! Since it was getting to be a little chilly out and getting dark, Sarah & I eventually found a little café. It was truly an adorable place! Right near the Nobel Museum, we split a piece of raspberry pie with vanilla sauce and ordered a coffee and white chocolate (apparently that means warm milk with melted chocolate thrown in - wasn't the best, but Sarah liked it).

Got back to the hotel and Sarah's friend Claudia and Claudia's friend Léa were waiting for us! Sarah had originally planned to meet up with Claudia, also from Milan, in Stockholm. Léa is from Paris and she and Claudia are studying in Norway. Was fun to be with another set of girls!

Got ready to go out to check out more of the nightlife and ended up finding an Asian food restaurant. Wasn't just one sort of food - a mix of Chinese, Japanese and Indian. Had a choice of anything! Sarah and I ordered some sesame fried prawns, Claudia got a garlic prawn salad, and Léa got meatballs with curry sauce and miso soup. The actual service was absolutely horrible!! If I was in the US, I would have demanded the whole meal for free. They brought out 3 of our meals, then literally a half hour later brought out the fourth meal. Aside from our food getting cold, we also asked for our bill, and also a half hour later, they came with it. We did get something out of it, though. We got a dessert buffet thing where you pay for the plate and get unlimited desserts, so we didn't end up paying for that, which was 100kr, but still. It really made me mad!

After that, we walked around the city a bit more. Claudia & Léa headed back to sleep and Sarah & I checked out some more bars. Found a little club, bought some drinks, found a table, and a couple of Swedish guys started talking with us. Before we let them buy us more drinks, we headed out of there and back to the hotel.

Saturday, got up, had our 40kr breakfast of rolls and butter/jam, coffee, tea, and juice. First stop was at the Royal Palace. We got there in time to see the changing of the guards which was fascinating! I have never seen a big production like this was. A drum corp came in along with the representation of the flags. Was about an hour long production, since they have to change every guard around the huge palace. After that event in the pouring rain, we walked through parts of the palace and saw past memorabilia. This palace is currently in use, but only for big gatherings and festivities.

Next up was the Nobel Museum. Definitely a must to just see. Then was Storkyrkan, a big cathedral in Gamla Stan. Beautiful inside and acoustically, would be soooo much fun to sing in!!

After that little bit of sight seeing, the girls were ready to hit the shopping centers. H & M for me and bought a new coat, which is fashionable and very in here. Back to the hotel and got ready for the night.

Watched the Italy-Scotland rugby game at an Irish Pub in Gamla Stan. Sadly, Italy lost, but we got to enjoy some tasty fish 'n chips while watching the game. Got into one club and had drinks and danced, then decided to check out the one Sarah & I went to Friday night, but the bouncers wouldn't let us in. So we left and went back to the hotel to sleep.

Sunday came and we got up and got out by 10:30am - Sarah & I with our bags to put in a locker at the train station - then headed to Djugården for the Vasamuseet. It is a huge war ship built in the 1600's for the war against Poland. Took them 2 years to build and carve many statues on the oak boat. They barely got out of Stockholm's harbor when the ship sank. Actually a funny story and people seem to find it amusing all over the museum.

After taking pics and touring around, went just south of Gamla Stan for a tower that we could see a better view of the city. Gorgeous pics we got there too. Since Sarah & I were leaving (Claudia and Léa were leaving Monday), we headed back to the same coffee shop Sarah & I went to on the first day. Ordered the same raspberry pie and also got an apple cake and carrot cake. Such good desserts here and I don't even like desserts that much!!

Said our hej då's and Sarah & I continued to the train. Riding the X2000 back, was a nice and speedy 3 hour trip. Was definitely a fun weekend and even though it was last minute, I am so glad I went! Will never forget this experience!

A few more updates for the time being. I AM FINALLY TRAVELING SOMEWHERE!!! A girl from Italy, Sarah, and I will be heading over to Stockholm on Friday morning and staying until Sunday. I am so excited and so is she!! Sarah was planning to go, but only if someone would go with her, so I said what the hell, and said yes. I've now been reading a lot about Stockholm to figure out some interesting attractions. I've noticed a lot of stuff stops in September, which isn't really convenient considering we are all studying for most of the time when things will be closed and my family is coming over in the dead of winter when pretty much EVERYTHING will be closed! (Except for the indoor museums.) Either way, it will be a lot of fun!

Today, there was a workshop for my project management class that lasted from 9am - 7pm. Tomorrow (Thursday) is supposed to be about the same, which is really exhausting! Today, alone, was horrible. With the class split in half (half went last week, half this week) and we got in a big conference room and the professor came in. They just told us what our task was: to create a proposal for Göteborg Cultural Festival that they have every summer in the main city of Göteborg. They then left the room and we were supposed to figure out what to do next.

We all formed groups ranging from 4 people to 11 people and started discussing. After a few group meetings with lectures and more information in between, we realized we were focusing on the task in a very wrong direction. We were thinking of how to create the project instead of focusing on how to create the proposal for the project. There is a big difference between the two because the proposal is pretty much just a way to show-off our group versus actually planning the whole project, which is done after getting accepted. Anyways....tomorrow we'll be figuring out a lot more information. (I hope this made sense!)

Well....for the weekend, quite a bit more partying, once again! Brennan, however, had some very interesting stories! First, I want to say everyone turned out fine and no one got hurt. On Friday night, after some beirut and drinking, we headed out to find some party. Ended up at some random apartment with other exchange students that took us there. After about a couple of hours, we noticed Brennan was missing. By the way, he had a little bit to drink, so it was important that we found him. Looked around the whole apartment building and couldn't find him anywhere. Finally, I called his cell phone and he said he didn't know where he was, was on some tram and finally got off and told me his stop. He said he'd be able to figure out his way back to us. I called a bit later and he said he'd be fine and would find his way home.

We ( Nik, Dane, Casey (another Californian), and I) hopped on a tram sort of heading in the direction of the stop Brennan told me he was at. Got to the stop and I thought I'd just check under the station to see if he was still there. Sure enough, there he was passed out on a bench. It was truly one of the funniest things of the night! Like I said, everything turned out fine, and I'm sure he would have made his way home even if we didn't find him.

Saturday, the last CIRC event was the Sauna Party. All bought tickets for Scandinavia's largest sauna, which is also owned by Chalmers. As much as I don't like saunas, this wasn't any better. We were forced to jump in the FREEZING cold lake because that made the sauna experience even better. However, about 40 guys, 6 girls (it is IT, isn't it??) sitting on benches in a room about 40' x 40' facing each other, got to be a little bit awkward at times.

After the sauna, there was another sittning hosted by CIRC as well. Ate some pea soup (a sauna meal) and some Swedish pancakes, we started blasting music and dancing the night away! After the sauna party ended at about 11pm, we gathered for the 30 minute bus ride back to Chalmers and then headed out with some of these ERASMUS students for another party. Lugging wet towels and bathing suits, I found Janne at the party! It was close to where she lived, but to bump into her like that was really funny! Left the party about 3am and headed back to Frölunda.

Last Wednesday, there was a Student '07 event hosted by the city of Göteborg. It was at a park in the centre and consisted of free food and drinks and many student associations were there as well. After a couple of hours, a famous Swedish singer put on a concert. Laleh was very interesting. I definitely recommend finding some of her songs if you have a chance. It was very different music and also very unique. http://www.laleh.se/.

I've posted some more pics on the Picassa site, so check them out!!

Realizations

Even though I posted recently, I have some new perspectives on certain ideas I had previously. I don't want to make it all deep, but I truly have found new perceptions. First, I will start a little lighter....

The girl I was speaking of earlier, Janne, took me out on Tuesday for some sight-seeing and some coffee. For coffee, we went a little off the southern part of Chalmers to this water tower that has a little café on top of the actual water tower. It was absolutely stunning! No one, even the locals, seems to know about this place, so it was great to be by ourselves in the peace and quiet with the sounds of traffic way down below us. We could sit outside and chairs and tables went around the whole café, so you really get an aerial view! I've never seen the city from so high up and it was gorgeous!

Janne and I each got a cappuccino and a piece of this raspberry "pie" with vanilla syrup and vanilla ice cream on the side. The pie here is more like a strudel type dessert. Very delicious! We talked about girl stuff and other random stuff for probably an hour and then Janne took me over to the other side of the river, on the Lindholmen campus of Chalmers.

We first went to her apartment, which was adorable! All to herself, has a little kitchen, a bedroom, a little living room with a TV, and a bathroom! Right next to campus, so not too far away and what was even funnier is that on my first day of wandering around in Gothenburg, I actually walked by her whole apartment complex! Would have been funny if we actually walked by each other and never knew it!

Went by bus to the island to look back at the city from over there, too. Also breathtaking! It's so fun to say that I've lived in a city with actual history and actual proof of that history as far as buildings and statues and castles go. Janne & I talked about many things throughout the few hours we were together. She says she absolutely loves the English language; not the British English or Aussie English, but straight up American English. I thought that was neat, I've never heard anyone say that about English.

I'm fascinated with Janne as well. She studied in Seattle at 19; just graduated from high school and now moved to another country for a year. I couldn't imagine doing that right from high school. Yeah, I am 20 now, but I've been away from home for 3 years and I've been more than on my own for 3 years. That's also brought up another thought. I know I have been very fortunate to have travelled so much in my 20 years (thanks to my parents). Maybe that has what has made my decision to study abroad easier. However, I do not understand why so many friends back home in the US aren't even considering studying abroad. I don't know if it's just because they don't want to leave their "comfort zones" or if they want to graduate "on time", but it still frustrates me as to why they aren't taking this once in a lifetime opportunity. I just know I will never forget this time I've had here meeting new people and enjoying first time experiences on my own.

More deepness coming...

Today in my Economics of Innovations class, we had to present our research into whatever country we chose to discuss the science & technology and innovations. We didn't have to present, but Colombia, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and India all presented. At the end of the presentations, our professor (the one from Texas) had some very interesting observations. There is a huge appreciation for all of the countries involved in just that class. With the new master's programme where international students can attend Chalmers for 2 years and receive their master's for free, opens up a gigantic opportunity to meet people from several countries. That is one thing the professor pointed out. As far as English speaking goes, she said with there being only 2 native English speakers in the class (one being me, the other her), all of the presentations were excellent. It can be frustrating for foreign students to have to get in front of a class and speak in a language they aren't fluent in, yet everyone did an amazing job!

I also learned a lot from these presentations. Yeah, I know a little bit about some of these countries, but if I was never in this class, put in this situation with all of these international students and "forced" to study or listen to these people speak about their countries, I would never have learned about this in the US or even on my own. It makes such a difference when you are actually in an environment where the majority of the students are international and are there to learn about their country. For this professor to give us this opportunity, as annoying as this sort of project can be, is still pretty amazing.

Off to bed to ponder some more...maybe. Til next time

Another week has flown by! To be honest, I didn't really do too many activities this last week. I'm still going to post, however, because I need to stay up to date! Tuesday's I do not have class, so I usually just hang out and catch up on homework or run errands. This last Tuesday I went searching for a comfy chair for my room. Went to a small IKEA-like store and found one. So now my room is a little more comfy for my next 4 months. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I had class. In my Economics of Innovations class, we were assigned groups for a "group task" which is to be completed in one week and there is a possible presentation involved also. For some details to bore you with, our task is to pick a country and determine 10 variables that contribute to the country being strong through technology, science, and innovations. There is also a 10 minute presentation on the following Wednesday, but the professor chooses the groups, so we might not have to present.

That group project has taken most of my time the last 3 days. My group is with 3 other students, all male, 2 from Sweden, the other from Turkey. Has been very fun working with them so far. Have another meeting on Sunday to (hopefully) put everything together!

On Wednesday night, Dane's dad and grandpa came over to our place. Dane's dad is from Denmark and so he came over to see Denmark again, along with visiting Sweden. Dane's dad has a friend that is rather wealthy and apparently owns a private jet and to make it even better, has a runway at his house! So the friend was coming over to Gothenburg to pick up Dane and Brennan and they were going to Copenhagen from Thursday afternoon to Monday....on the private jet. Sounds pretty neat to me!

Friday night, Nik and I went to a Swedish Sittning that CIRC was hosting. A sittning is a dinner and there is a lot of singing involved - - both the hosts and everyone eating. So...it wasn't a traditional Swedish sittning because we didn't exactly sing many songs in Swedish. However, ABBA is Swedish, and we did sing a few of their songs, along with Queen and Creedence Clearwater. The food was really different and very delicious. Three courses, first was a slice of traditional Swedish bread with some sort of cheese spread on top. Second was a very traditional meal of some sort of hot dog-like meat and pasta with ketchup. Sounds basic, but it's very good and the meat is different. The third was ice cream with a little wafer cookie in it. Ice cream seems to be a big thing here, too. There are so many little ice cream shops all over and always are busy.

Today (Saturday), I kind of hung low. Went out exploring to find my textbooks for the "Swedish for Beginners" course that starts Tuesday! I'm very excited for it! I really want to learn some Swedish because I always feel like everyone "has" to speak English. Most do now, but it will be nice to be able to maybe respond a little.

Now to be a little random, I don't know if I made this clear before, but trams are above ground trains. They run pretty much just in the center of Gothenburg, but they do reach out to the larger suburbs, like where I'm at. Very fast and convenient transportation.

Now a few more pieces of information. Chalmers just started this Bachelor's and Master's Programme where you can get both within 5 years. It's all very well planned out for whatever major you are interested in and it is very basic. There aren't a lot of extra classes like we have at the U, just all your tech classes that have to get done. I actually really like their setup here.

They also started the Master's Programme where every class is in English. That is why there are so many international students now attending Chalmers for 2 -3 years. Most that I've met here are in the master's programme. Also, most students start college when they are 20. They have 5 years in high school and then are encouraged to take a year off before college. So in my two classes, which are both in the master's programme, I have classmates that are mostly 23 years old or older. Kind of funny being that I am 20. I feel very young!

There is a girl I met in my project management class who is 24 and she has been very helpful. Her name is Janne and she's originally from Hamburg, Germany and has been living in Sweden for the last 10 years. She studied in Seattle for a year, which has made it fun when talking with her. She understands our way of life as well as the change she had to make when being abroad. Also has perfect English! She's a lot of fun and hopefully I'll be able to hang out with her more outside of class!

Well...I think I'm done for the evening. Sort of falling asleep as I'm writing! Probably should hit the sack, so til next time!

Pics

Ok...finally figured out the pics thing (with the help of a man named Chris Thorn), so now the links are on the left, mostly will be loading pics to Picassa pics, but might still add a few to the original flickr site. So...check both!

College life in Sweden....no different

Wow...many days have gone by and we have done so much within the last week! On the first Thursday of every study period (quarter), all of the pubs on campus have huge parties. CIRC was taking people on a Pub Crawl, however, we left a little late and new they were going to end at the Architecture building, so we went straight there. Not what I was expecting at all! We arrived to campus and there were so many people there! I thought it was just some small and quiet thing. Headed to the architecture building and there was music blasting and a long line to get in. Nik and I were fairly confused. Got in, and the whole place was turned into a club. At least 5 bars in the whole place, 1 upstairs, 4 downstairs. Truly insane and this is where I have class! Beers weren't too bad at 20kr per bottle. After a few beers and a few hours of dancing, had to head home because the last tram leaves at 12:10am on the weekdays.

Friday I had to get up early for my Project Management class for a 3 hour lecture. Very interesting class. A Swedish professor and already made a few Swedish friends in the class! Some very friendly girls and not as many international students as in my economic class. Went home and as Nik, Dane, and Brennan got home, they told me they were going to go to "After Work". Every Friday between 4 and 7, many pubs have this thing where you come in after work and eat for free. They have this huge buffet set up and I'm guessing that encourages you to buy drinks the time you're there.

Very good food at the pub we went to. Had all sorts of potato and pasta dishes, even some potato pancakes! We actually had to pay a "coat check" fee because apparently people were coming in, eating the food, and leaving without paying. Guess that's what we did, too, but we also paid a fee for coming in. A guy from Cal Poly who Dane, Brennan, and Nik sort of know was there also, and he said they were going to be watching a rugby match and then having a party at some flat in the area we live in. Got his number and would wait for the call to when they were starting.

Went home and started playing beirut/beer pong for a couple hours. After getting a little tipsy, walked 10 minutes over to the apartment. Aside for having to jump a fence to get in, we got in the elevator and before we knew it, we were stuck. A huge elevator that can only hold 5 people apparently where we had 9 people in it. After a couple of minutes, it started to get really hot and some french people who were in there with us called the help line and they told us it would be about a half hour. Half hour came and went, while everyone who couldn't take the elevator stood in the little window and took pics of us. Still no one came to save us! After 45 minutes of sweating and chatting, a man came and unlocked the door for us! So good to be free! However, now we had to walk up the 11 flights of stairs to get to the party!

Lots of international students, one from one of my classes. Met a lot of people from Spain, Italy, Portugal, and France. Got a couple numbers and talked about getting together the next night. After about an hour, went home and all passed out.

Saturday, we called the Italians and Spaniards and made a date to go hang out at Slottsskogsparken just a couple tram stops away. There is a zoo at the park where Nik, Brennan and I walked around and looked at the seals, penguins, deer, moose, birds, goats, and rams. It was definitely fun! Caught back up with the group of Spaniards, Italians, and French who were playing beach volleyball and joined the game. Talked about what the plans for the evening and most of the guys were going to watch the European World Cup where Italy and France were playing. Definitely some fighting I'm sure after the game!

Went back home and played some more beirut and called Eugenia and Sarah who are both Italian girls we met on Friday. Met up with them and headed out for the evening. Got to Avenyn and met up with a few other international people and decided to head to Göteborg Universitet where there is a club called Nefertiti. Got there right when they opened at 12am and drank some Hoegaarden on tap, and danced for at least 3 hours. So much fun! Great music and it changes every weekend, so would definitely be fun to go back! Came home with a few extra glasses (once again) and passed out.

Five hours later, got up to go to Liseberg with CIRC. Scandinavia's largest amusement park and best wooden roller coaster. Got the all day pass and hung out with CIRC members Pan Pan, Nancy, Jasmin, and Abdeel, Brennan, Nik, and a few other international students. Great fun! Lasted from 12 to about 7 and headed home (me soaking wet because we decided to go on a water ride as the last ride). Had to do some homework for the night and then off to bed.

Monday, woke up, went to Economics of Innovations, came home and slept for a little while. Headed to the grocery store and bought some food for dinner and here I am sitting. Well...that was pretty much the last week. Lots of drinking (too much maybe?), but hej, it is college, right?