Not much going on lately...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stockholm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Realizations

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

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

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

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

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

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

More deepness coming...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pics

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

College life in Sweden....no different

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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