Well...it's now been a full week since I have been back in the United States. Many things are still really strange, but I'm getting adjusted. Was actually a larger culture shock than I thought it would be. Went back to Madison last Sunday for some doctor appointments and to see family. Was nice to be around people as well. Started driving right away and I notice how much money it takes to drive! I'm not looking forward to that again at all! Was nice to have the 4 months off. Came back to Minneapolis Wednesday and continued to work on my room and get it in order and just to rest and get adjusted to life again.
I miss Sweden a lot, in particular, I miss the people. I think if I would have stayed it wouldn't have been the same, but I still want to go back. Once school starts, I'm sure I won't have that feeling as much, but I really miss it. Sweden is so different from the United States and that was what I liked about living there. I don't know how to explain it any more than this, but I just miss it. Like my dad says, I should remember all of the amazing people and the amazing time and experience I had instead of dreading the time away. I just need to make sure I keep in contact with all of these great people I have met! Was honestly the best time of my life so far and I will never forget it! Life goes on, so here goes....
Thanks all for reading and I'll get the pictures updated as well! Will let you know if and when I go back! Hope to soon!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
My last days...:-(
The day my parents left, I did a lot of cleaning. I packed up all of my stuff in my room and moved down to Brennan's room. Cleaned the whole upstairs and the stairs so I wouldn't have to worry about it later. That took up most of the day. Come night, Juan called me and asked me to go over to his place for dinner - - he was cooking! Said yes, and it was really nice to have someone around in Frolunda! Wednesday, I did a lot more cleaning and working on picking up the place and then later that night as well, Konstantine came back from Germany and I went over to Juan's again for dinner and hanging out. Juan was working at Chalmers for the last few days because he has his thesis he has to write this coming semester. Will be tough work for him! Thursday, I went out with Janne to a cafe and then went to see Guldkompassen (The Golden Compass). It was my birthday present from Belma and Janne - a movie and night out...just girls! After the movie, Janne and I said our goodbyes and I went to Belma's work to wait until she was done. We went to Burger King and caught up on each other's lives. Was so good to see both of them after so long! After Belma, went to Juan's new place (closer to campus) and said good-bye to him as well! Such a sad evening and then I went back to my clean place to bed to get up early the next morning.
Got up around 5am to finish packing and return all the keys to the housing office and to get to Central Station to catch the bus to the airport. Got plenty early and spent the rest of my Swedish Kronas. After almost missing my connecting flight in Amsterdam (had to literally run through the airport), I made it to Minneapolis about 10 hours later. Good to be home, but was definitely weird. My mom was waiting for me and she was up in Minneapolis since Thursday, so my room was pretty much in shape! Just had to put more in order and go through many things to get rid of. Can say I'm glad to be back, but not really at this point.
Got up around 5am to finish packing and return all the keys to the housing office and to get to Central Station to catch the bus to the airport. Got plenty early and spent the rest of my Swedish Kronas. After almost missing my connecting flight in Amsterdam (had to literally run through the airport), I made it to Minneapolis about 10 hours later. Good to be home, but was definitely weird. My mom was waiting for me and she was up in Minneapolis since Thursday, so my room was pretty much in shape! Just had to put more in order and go through many things to get rid of. Can say I'm glad to be back, but not really at this point.
Last few days with parents
The last few days with my parents were nice and relaxing. We did a lot of walking around and I showed them more of the city. Especially walked down Avenyn and walked to the Opera house and along the water. The last days they were here, were really rainy and not good, but then the 7th, it wasn't sunny, but at least it wasn't raining! I made them dinner both nights so I wouldn't have too much food leftover and it was really nice to just hang out for those couple days. They left around 4am from my place to the airport and I got up just to say good-bye and then they were gone. Made it safely home as well!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Family trip!
Well, being lazy and having a lot to do before I leave (tomorrow already :-\), I am going to continue from my last post with just bulletting what we did throughout our trip....giving you the most interesting stuff of course!
Wednesday, December 26th: Picked up my parents and my brother from the airport! Was really exciting to see them all and as I was waiting, it seemed like it took them a while to come out, so the first thought through my head was that their bags were lost. Sure enough, turns out 1 out of the 4 bags were lost somewhere! To make it worse, the airlines didn't even know where they were! Went back to my place where Lilit was waiting and hung out and ate lunch for a bit. Around 2:30pm, we took Lilit to the train station where she caught the bus back to the airport and my parents, brother, and I walked around downtown and Nordstan. Made our way towards Chalmers and I showed them around campus, couldn't get in any buildings except for the union, but I think they got the idea of where I had spent my time for the last 4 months. Found the pizza place Belma took me to and ate dinner. Went back to my apartment and my mom called about the bags. Turns out they really didn't know where they were and mentioned that they could get them on Thursday mornings flight, if they were found. Was so frustrating! Figured out that we'd have to get up and run to Frolunda Torg to find some clothes and toiletries at least until the bags would catch up to us. That was also the hard part, since we were leaving to start the Scandinavia tour the next afternoon, so who knows what part of that trip they'd return. Went to bed in hopes that the bags would be on the morning flight!
Thursday, December 27th: Woke up a little later and were planning to head to a couple stores to get some necessities to hold my parents and bro over til their bags would catch up to us, but called the airport and the bags were in Brussels and were planning to get to Gothenburg on the morning flight, so they should be to us before noon. Good because we had an early afternoon train to catch! Packed up the bags and headed to central station. Got on the train to Copenhagen and arrived later in the evening. Arrived at the CabInn where we were literally in a ship cabin (see pics). Asked the front desk where a good place to eat would be and he pointed us in the direction of a Greek restaurant. After some lamb, pork, and beef, we headed to Hard Rock Cafe to pick up some souvenirs (key chain and pin) and each had a beer. They have a Julöl for pretty much every manufacturer of beer (Carlsberg, Falcon, Tudor) and I had that....most of them all seemed to be darker beers, but different. Stopped at a convenience store on the way back and got some ice cream and headed back to try to survive in our tiny room....with 4 people.
Friday, December 28th: Woke up, ate breakfast at the Inn and went out to find the Little Mermaid! Not quite the Disney story, a little more depressing, but was fun to see. Found the Carlsberg plant and quickly walked through the museum and had our 2 free beers and got a couple souvenirs and then raced to get a taxi and back to our Inn to get our bags then to the train to go to the airport. Got to the gate with more time than we thought we had and a couple hours later, arrived in Oslo. Was the same hostel as I had been at earlier with Eugenia, so I knew just where we needed to go. Led the family there and after getting to the room, went out to do some quick shopping before all the stores closed. Had hot dogs for dinner in a large shopping mall and made our way to Vigelundsparken. Not what it was like before, being dark and dreary and foggy (see pics), but was still pretty neat. After about an hour at the park, went back to the hostel, had some drinks, then to bed.
Saturday, December 29th: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD! The previous night we bought some breakfast at ICA (grocery store) across the street from the hostel. Easy breakfast being way before 7am. The start of the fjord tours! Compared to the first time in October, the scenery was crazily different. Beautiful both times, but so different! To get more details from the whole trip, you can look at the descriptions from my previous trip. Caught the train to Myrdal, where we caught the Flåmsbana. Rode the Flåmsbana to Flåm where we checked out the souvenir shops. After an hour wait, boarded the boat to Gudvangen. After drastic differences and gorgeous scenery, we beat most of the darkness, but it still was dark by the time we got to Gudvangen. Immediately got on a bus to Voss and had dinner in Voss. Billy and my dad went to walk around Voss for a little bit, since we had a bit of time. Got on the train to Bergen and all passed out for the hour ride. Same hostel as the first time as well, so led the fam straight there. Was funny because we were in the exact same room Eugenia and I had been in before! Rode the funicular up the smaller hill and saw better scenery...at least it was clear, but cold as can be! Took some pics then back down to walk along the wharf and see Bryggen. Played cards and eventually headed to bed. An exhausting day once again!
Sunday, December 30th: Bought muffins from 7-Eleven the night before and got up early to eat them. Had a bus to catch to get the airport, where we hoped there would be some last minute souvenirs. Turns out we were out of luck, but boarded the plane to Stockholm, where we would go to Gällivare, a tiny town about 100 kilometers north of the arctic circle "line". Taxi to our hostel, which was not what we were thinking, but it was cute enough. Little cabins, where the common areas are shared with 3 other bedrooms. Went out to hunt out some food, but nothing was open! Think everything closing early in busy cities is crazy, go to a smaller town where nothing is open! Found an O'Leary's Irish pub, got beer, nachos and watched some NFL. After seeing that the Packers won, we walked home and went to bed.
Monday, December 31st: Woke up around 8, but it was still pitch black out! Got ready and out around 10, still pretty dark out, but getting lighter. Walked the whole town to find some breakfast, but couldn't find anything open. Guess New Year's causes everything to shut down! Around 11am, went to ICA and bought some pancake mix and other stuff. Came out of the store around 12pm and the street lights were already on! Went back and Billy and my mom made pancakes, then we played cards. Check out my pics and my times on it because it is crazy how early it got dark! Around 5pm, went out looking for some food to eat. Found the one and only pizza place open. Walked back and watched fireworks across the river as we walked. Big thing in Scandinavia as well - - lots of fireworks during Christmas and New Year's. Played more cards and then everyone, except Billy went to bed...before midnight too! Billy stayed up to watch the fireworks, and my dad got up to watch them as well. No northern lights, which was sad, but the locals say that it's not cold enough, so I bet they know what they're talking about!
Tuesday, January 1st: HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Had the leftover pancakes/bacon from the afternoon before. Waited til 10 when our dog sledge lady would pick us up! She had the dogs and the sled in the back of her truck. Was an amazing experience and very different from the one I went on in Finland. Lots more snow and she was training her Siberian huskies to race, so they were so fast! Even for 4 people riding! 11 dogs pulled us and we each got a chance to ride standing us near the trainer. Was so crazy standing up, and my mom even gave us a laugh when she fell off as we started to go! I was pushed in the snow by the dogs, we stopped to have some cookies and tea or hot chocolate, and even though we were freezing cold, we had a fabulous time! After the ride, we had to hurry to get to the airport, the smallest airport ever, where our plane was still waiting for us...freezing cold inside included! On the way to the airport, we told our taxi driver what we missed, including reindeer and the northern lights. She quickly called someone and she took us to see some dead reindeer. Apparently the Sami people put them there to scare off the other reindeer from getting hit by cars. Sort of strange, but was neat to see. Hopped on our cold plane to Stockholm and caught the second half of the Badger game at O'Leary's Pub in the train station. Trained to the hostel, unpacked and made our way to Gamla Stan (Old Stockholm). Found O'Connell's pub for dinner then went to bed. You'd think we were Irish because we go to all these pubs, but really, they seem to be the only thing open everywhere! Good to be Irish I guess! ;-)
Wednesday, January 2nd: Breakfast at the hostel and did some laundry. Out to Gamla Stan and my parents and bro went to the Nobel Museum while I sat around a cafe. Saw the changing of the guard and even though wasn't as big of a production as what I saw in September, was still pretty cool. Headed to Skansen, a huge outdoor museum and got to do a little shopping there as well! Went to a glass-blowing place where they do all their own glass-blowing and bought a few beautiful things! Headed back to Gamla Stan and went to some stores for lots of last minute souvenirs! Went to the same cafe for dessert, Billy - amazing carrot cake, the rest a raspberry pie...so good! Will miss that! Drinks, cards and bed.
Thursday, January 3rd: Breakfast and walked out to find snow! All went to the airport where Billy was off to the United States for 12 hours, then back on a plane to go to Hong Kong. My parents and I were off to Helsinki. Got to Helsinki and found the hotel (close to where my hostel was that I stayed at in December) and checked in. Took the 3T tram around the city, which is a "self tour" to see outside the city center. Went to Stockmann's to buy some souvenirs and walked by Senate Square. Was so cold out, but absolutely beautiful. Got back to the hotel, found a movie on TV and then headed to bed. Billy wasn't in Hong Kong yet because of many complications with flights and scheduling, but he eventually made it there safely.
Friday, January 4th: Breakfast in the hotel and off to Tallinn, Estonia for the day. After a hour and a half ferry ride, got to Tallinn and it was so beautiful! The sun was out and the city has so much Russian influence, that it felt like we weren't in Europe anymore. Bought lots of souvenirs including some juniper wood items that are very popular and famous for Estonia. We hit up the Occupations museum before leaving and it was very interesting. We never knew how much Estonia played a part in World War II, but they were hugely effected by the German and the Russian invasions. Back to the hotel late in the evening and watched a movie. Nice and relaxing and then bed.
Saturday, January 5th: Flight early in the morning from Helsinki to Stockholm, then Stockholm to Mälmo. Bödil Jonsson picked us up at the airport! Bödil is a lady that studied at UW-Madison 40 years before and my mom's family was her American family in Madison. Although my mom didn't remember her that much, she sure remembered my mom! She drove us around Lund, just north of Mälmo and then we went back to her place to eat lunch. A delicious lunch indeed! She made this reindeer/wild mushroom casserole, boiled potatoes, lingonberry jam and salad and for dessert, a saffron almond cake. Was all so delicious! We didn't know which time our train for Gothenburg would leave, so we made our way to her office in the University. She studied entomology in Madison and we think she is an entomologist, but we aren't positive. The weather was starting to act weird and we went back to her place to wait a bit for our train. Around 4:45, we went out and everything was ice. Got to the train station and half of the power was out. A lot of trains were delayed, but ours came just a bit late and we said good-bye. Was so fun to meet her and I hope to make it back to Sweden and get to see her again! Got back to Gothenburg and were all so pooped, we headed to bed fairly early. A great trip, but was glad to quit running around!
Wednesday, December 26th: Picked up my parents and my brother from the airport! Was really exciting to see them all and as I was waiting, it seemed like it took them a while to come out, so the first thought through my head was that their bags were lost. Sure enough, turns out 1 out of the 4 bags were lost somewhere! To make it worse, the airlines didn't even know where they were! Went back to my place where Lilit was waiting and hung out and ate lunch for a bit. Around 2:30pm, we took Lilit to the train station where she caught the bus back to the airport and my parents, brother, and I walked around downtown and Nordstan. Made our way towards Chalmers and I showed them around campus, couldn't get in any buildings except for the union, but I think they got the idea of where I had spent my time for the last 4 months. Found the pizza place Belma took me to and ate dinner. Went back to my apartment and my mom called about the bags. Turns out they really didn't know where they were and mentioned that they could get them on Thursday mornings flight, if they were found. Was so frustrating! Figured out that we'd have to get up and run to Frolunda Torg to find some clothes and toiletries at least until the bags would catch up to us. That was also the hard part, since we were leaving to start the Scandinavia tour the next afternoon, so who knows what part of that trip they'd return. Went to bed in hopes that the bags would be on the morning flight!
Thursday, December 27th: Woke up a little later and were planning to head to a couple stores to get some necessities to hold my parents and bro over til their bags would catch up to us, but called the airport and the bags were in Brussels and were planning to get to Gothenburg on the morning flight, so they should be to us before noon. Good because we had an early afternoon train to catch! Packed up the bags and headed to central station. Got on the train to Copenhagen and arrived later in the evening. Arrived at the CabInn where we were literally in a ship cabin (see pics). Asked the front desk where a good place to eat would be and he pointed us in the direction of a Greek restaurant. After some lamb, pork, and beef, we headed to Hard Rock Cafe to pick up some souvenirs (key chain and pin) and each had a beer. They have a Julöl for pretty much every manufacturer of beer (Carlsberg, Falcon, Tudor) and I had that....most of them all seemed to be darker beers, but different. Stopped at a convenience store on the way back and got some ice cream and headed back to try to survive in our tiny room....with 4 people.
Friday, December 28th: Woke up, ate breakfast at the Inn and went out to find the Little Mermaid! Not quite the Disney story, a little more depressing, but was fun to see. Found the Carlsberg plant and quickly walked through the museum and had our 2 free beers and got a couple souvenirs and then raced to get a taxi and back to our Inn to get our bags then to the train to go to the airport. Got to the gate with more time than we thought we had and a couple hours later, arrived in Oslo. Was the same hostel as I had been at earlier with Eugenia, so I knew just where we needed to go. Led the family there and after getting to the room, went out to do some quick shopping before all the stores closed. Had hot dogs for dinner in a large shopping mall and made our way to Vigelundsparken. Not what it was like before, being dark and dreary and foggy (see pics), but was still pretty neat. After about an hour at the park, went back to the hostel, had some drinks, then to bed.
Saturday, December 29th: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD! The previous night we bought some breakfast at ICA (grocery store) across the street from the hostel. Easy breakfast being way before 7am. The start of the fjord tours! Compared to the first time in October, the scenery was crazily different. Beautiful both times, but so different! To get more details from the whole trip, you can look at the descriptions from my previous trip. Caught the train to Myrdal, where we caught the Flåmsbana. Rode the Flåmsbana to Flåm where we checked out the souvenir shops. After an hour wait, boarded the boat to Gudvangen. After drastic differences and gorgeous scenery, we beat most of the darkness, but it still was dark by the time we got to Gudvangen. Immediately got on a bus to Voss and had dinner in Voss. Billy and my dad went to walk around Voss for a little bit, since we had a bit of time. Got on the train to Bergen and all passed out for the hour ride. Same hostel as the first time as well, so led the fam straight there. Was funny because we were in the exact same room Eugenia and I had been in before! Rode the funicular up the smaller hill and saw better scenery...at least it was clear, but cold as can be! Took some pics then back down to walk along the wharf and see Bryggen. Played cards and eventually headed to bed. An exhausting day once again!
Sunday, December 30th: Bought muffins from 7-Eleven the night before and got up early to eat them. Had a bus to catch to get the airport, where we hoped there would be some last minute souvenirs. Turns out we were out of luck, but boarded the plane to Stockholm, where we would go to Gällivare, a tiny town about 100 kilometers north of the arctic circle "line". Taxi to our hostel, which was not what we were thinking, but it was cute enough. Little cabins, where the common areas are shared with 3 other bedrooms. Went out to hunt out some food, but nothing was open! Think everything closing early in busy cities is crazy, go to a smaller town where nothing is open! Found an O'Leary's Irish pub, got beer, nachos and watched some NFL. After seeing that the Packers won, we walked home and went to bed.
Monday, December 31st: Woke up around 8, but it was still pitch black out! Got ready and out around 10, still pretty dark out, but getting lighter. Walked the whole town to find some breakfast, but couldn't find anything open. Guess New Year's causes everything to shut down! Around 11am, went to ICA and bought some pancake mix and other stuff. Came out of the store around 12pm and the street lights were already on! Went back and Billy and my mom made pancakes, then we played cards. Check out my pics and my times on it because it is crazy how early it got dark! Around 5pm, went out looking for some food to eat. Found the one and only pizza place open. Walked back and watched fireworks across the river as we walked. Big thing in Scandinavia as well - - lots of fireworks during Christmas and New Year's. Played more cards and then everyone, except Billy went to bed...before midnight too! Billy stayed up to watch the fireworks, and my dad got up to watch them as well. No northern lights, which was sad, but the locals say that it's not cold enough, so I bet they know what they're talking about!
Tuesday, January 1st: HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Had the leftover pancakes/bacon from the afternoon before. Waited til 10 when our dog sledge lady would pick us up! She had the dogs and the sled in the back of her truck. Was an amazing experience and very different from the one I went on in Finland. Lots more snow and she was training her Siberian huskies to race, so they were so fast! Even for 4 people riding! 11 dogs pulled us and we each got a chance to ride standing us near the trainer. Was so crazy standing up, and my mom even gave us a laugh when she fell off as we started to go! I was pushed in the snow by the dogs, we stopped to have some cookies and tea or hot chocolate, and even though we were freezing cold, we had a fabulous time! After the ride, we had to hurry to get to the airport, the smallest airport ever, where our plane was still waiting for us...freezing cold inside included! On the way to the airport, we told our taxi driver what we missed, including reindeer and the northern lights. She quickly called someone and she took us to see some dead reindeer. Apparently the Sami people put them there to scare off the other reindeer from getting hit by cars. Sort of strange, but was neat to see. Hopped on our cold plane to Stockholm and caught the second half of the Badger game at O'Leary's Pub in the train station. Trained to the hostel, unpacked and made our way to Gamla Stan (Old Stockholm). Found O'Connell's pub for dinner then went to bed. You'd think we were Irish because we go to all these pubs, but really, they seem to be the only thing open everywhere! Good to be Irish I guess! ;-)
Wednesday, January 2nd: Breakfast at the hostel and did some laundry. Out to Gamla Stan and my parents and bro went to the Nobel Museum while I sat around a cafe. Saw the changing of the guard and even though wasn't as big of a production as what I saw in September, was still pretty cool. Headed to Skansen, a huge outdoor museum and got to do a little shopping there as well! Went to a glass-blowing place where they do all their own glass-blowing and bought a few beautiful things! Headed back to Gamla Stan and went to some stores for lots of last minute souvenirs! Went to the same cafe for dessert, Billy - amazing carrot cake, the rest a raspberry pie...so good! Will miss that! Drinks, cards and bed.
Thursday, January 3rd: Breakfast and walked out to find snow! All went to the airport where Billy was off to the United States for 12 hours, then back on a plane to go to Hong Kong. My parents and I were off to Helsinki. Got to Helsinki and found the hotel (close to where my hostel was that I stayed at in December) and checked in. Took the 3T tram around the city, which is a "self tour" to see outside the city center. Went to Stockmann's to buy some souvenirs and walked by Senate Square. Was so cold out, but absolutely beautiful. Got back to the hotel, found a movie on TV and then headed to bed. Billy wasn't in Hong Kong yet because of many complications with flights and scheduling, but he eventually made it there safely.
Friday, January 4th: Breakfast in the hotel and off to Tallinn, Estonia for the day. After a hour and a half ferry ride, got to Tallinn and it was so beautiful! The sun was out and the city has so much Russian influence, that it felt like we weren't in Europe anymore. Bought lots of souvenirs including some juniper wood items that are very popular and famous for Estonia. We hit up the Occupations museum before leaving and it was very interesting. We never knew how much Estonia played a part in World War II, but they were hugely effected by the German and the Russian invasions. Back to the hotel late in the evening and watched a movie. Nice and relaxing and then bed.
Saturday, January 5th: Flight early in the morning from Helsinki to Stockholm, then Stockholm to Mälmo. Bödil Jonsson picked us up at the airport! Bödil is a lady that studied at UW-Madison 40 years before and my mom's family was her American family in Madison. Although my mom didn't remember her that much, she sure remembered my mom! She drove us around Lund, just north of Mälmo and then we went back to her place to eat lunch. A delicious lunch indeed! She made this reindeer/wild mushroom casserole, boiled potatoes, lingonberry jam and salad and for dessert, a saffron almond cake. Was all so delicious! We didn't know which time our train for Gothenburg would leave, so we made our way to her office in the University. She studied entomology in Madison and we think she is an entomologist, but we aren't positive. The weather was starting to act weird and we went back to her place to wait a bit for our train. Around 4:45, we went out and everything was ice. Got to the train station and half of the power was out. A lot of trains were delayed, but ours came just a bit late and we said good-bye. Was so fun to meet her and I hope to make it back to Sweden and get to see her again! Got back to Gothenburg and were all so pooped, we headed to bed fairly early. A great trip, but was glad to quit running around!
Monday, January 7, 2008
Lists of lots of stuff...
Sorry all, but I have been so busy since I last wrote (a long time ago), so I'm going to make some lists of what's been going on before I left for my trip with my family! Here goes....
Monday, December 17th: So I had my construction contract relationships exam, which went pretty well I think. Aimed for passing, and as of today, don't know the final grade. After the exam, Belma and I ate lunch and a pizza place near campus. Definitely recommend kebab pizza if you ever get the chance to try! So good!
Tuesday, December 18th: This was Sarah's last full day and I caught up with her on Haga, one of the old streets in Gothenburg with cute little shops. We ended up going to the fish market in downtown Gothenburg for lunch. This was also Laurent/Ketchup/Frenchy's last day so there was a party for lots of exchange students at an apartment not too far from Frolunda, just about 5 tram stops to Marklandsgatan.
Wednesday, December 19th: Woke up and helped Sarah finish up packing. Took her as far as Chalmers then I had to get off to work on a group project due Friday of that week and she continued to Central Station. Hung out at Casey and Juan's for the evening.
Thursday, December 20th: Worked on the project all day on campus. Eventually ended around 7:00pm and went to Casey's for dinner...that he made for all of us! Was delicious! Then all went to Valand nightclub for the evening. Sort of was a goodbye party to all international students, so had to go. Wasn't that much fun because it was so busy, but was nice to hang out with more people for the night.
Friday, December 21st: This was a great day! Lilit (from Munich) came to visit me! We had been talking about it for a while and it finally came through and it was so nice! She stayed with me til the 26th, so was great to have someone over Christmas! After she arrived, we went straight to Juan and Casey's for lunch. Juan made us Spanish omelets and it was his last day, so we said good-bye to him as well. Hung out at my place for the evening - - was the last night for Brennan, Dane, and Casey.
Saturday, December 22nd: Went out shopping with Lilit after saying goodbye to Brennan and Dane. Eventually decided to see a movie, never had been to a Swedish theater yet, and we settled on American Gangster. Was really good actually and all English with Swedish subtitles.
Sunday, December 23rd: Laundry and said goodbye to Eugenia in the morning. More shopping and more purchases....Later called the Anderson family in Milwaukee who were celebrating an early Christmas! Was great to talk to everyone and found out my cousin Forrest and his wife Tracy are expecting their second child! Was very exciting and I am extremely happy for them!
Monday, December 24th: Lilit and I eventually ventured out to an island in Gothenburg's archipelago. Was really beautiful even though it was really windy and really cold. At least no rain I suppose! Called my parents and my dad said he would treat us to dinner, so we decided to go back to the mainland and hunt down food. However, nothing was open. After making many stops, at an Irish pub as well, but they just served alcohol, we found Gothia Towers hotel where we could get a bit of food from their bar menu. Was really neat because we were at the 23rd floor of the hotel, so we could see all of Gothenburg! Later, I called home/Madison to wish my family a Merry Christmas and talk with everyone....was really nice to hear everyone's voice!
Tuesday, December 25th: This was quite a laid back day - probably not one Lilit wanted, but I wasn't feeling too well, so we hung out at my place for the day. I cleaned a bit before my parents were to arrive. (They left the states on the 25th in the morning, got to Gothenburg on the 26th.)
This is where I will stop for this bit of activity. The next time I will post (hopefully tomorrow) I will include the whole trip and the rest of my time here! I have 3 full days to go and my parents leave tomorrow (January 8th) morning very early!
Monday, December 17th: So I had my construction contract relationships exam, which went pretty well I think. Aimed for passing, and as of today, don't know the final grade. After the exam, Belma and I ate lunch and a pizza place near campus. Definitely recommend kebab pizza if you ever get the chance to try! So good!
Tuesday, December 18th: This was Sarah's last full day and I caught up with her on Haga, one of the old streets in Gothenburg with cute little shops. We ended up going to the fish market in downtown Gothenburg for lunch. This was also Laurent/Ketchup/Frenchy's last day so there was a party for lots of exchange students at an apartment not too far from Frolunda, just about 5 tram stops to Marklandsgatan.
Wednesday, December 19th: Woke up and helped Sarah finish up packing. Took her as far as Chalmers then I had to get off to work on a group project due Friday of that week and she continued to Central Station. Hung out at Casey and Juan's for the evening.
Thursday, December 20th: Worked on the project all day on campus. Eventually ended around 7:00pm and went to Casey's for dinner...that he made for all of us! Was delicious! Then all went to Valand nightclub for the evening. Sort of was a goodbye party to all international students, so had to go. Wasn't that much fun because it was so busy, but was nice to hang out with more people for the night.
Friday, December 21st: This was a great day! Lilit (from Munich) came to visit me! We had been talking about it for a while and it finally came through and it was so nice! She stayed with me til the 26th, so was great to have someone over Christmas! After she arrived, we went straight to Juan and Casey's for lunch. Juan made us Spanish omelets and it was his last day, so we said good-bye to him as well. Hung out at my place for the evening - - was the last night for Brennan, Dane, and Casey.
Saturday, December 22nd: Went out shopping with Lilit after saying goodbye to Brennan and Dane. Eventually decided to see a movie, never had been to a Swedish theater yet, and we settled on American Gangster. Was really good actually and all English with Swedish subtitles.
Sunday, December 23rd: Laundry and said goodbye to Eugenia in the morning. More shopping and more purchases....Later called the Anderson family in Milwaukee who were celebrating an early Christmas! Was great to talk to everyone and found out my cousin Forrest and his wife Tracy are expecting their second child! Was very exciting and I am extremely happy for them!
Monday, December 24th: Lilit and I eventually ventured out to an island in Gothenburg's archipelago. Was really beautiful even though it was really windy and really cold. At least no rain I suppose! Called my parents and my dad said he would treat us to dinner, so we decided to go back to the mainland and hunt down food. However, nothing was open. After making many stops, at an Irish pub as well, but they just served alcohol, we found Gothia Towers hotel where we could get a bit of food from their bar menu. Was really neat because we were at the 23rd floor of the hotel, so we could see all of Gothenburg! Later, I called home/Madison to wish my family a Merry Christmas and talk with everyone....was really nice to hear everyone's voice!
Tuesday, December 25th: This was quite a laid back day - probably not one Lilit wanted, but I wasn't feeling too well, so we hung out at my place for the day. I cleaned a bit before my parents were to arrive. (They left the states on the 25th in the morning, got to Gothenburg on the 26th.)
This is where I will stop for this bit of activity. The next time I will post (hopefully tomorrow) I will include the whole trip and the rest of my time here! I have 3 full days to go and my parents leave tomorrow (January 8th) morning very early!
Friday, December 14, 2007
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.
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...)
Thursday, December 6, 2007
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!
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!!
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
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
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
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!
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!
Monday, December 3, 2007
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!)
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!)
Thursday, November 22, 2007
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
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!
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!
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!
Friday, November 9, 2007
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....
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....
Saturday, November 3, 2007
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!
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!
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