Hard to believe it's been two weeks already. It's been so much fun, and so many great times have been had, and I still have 18 more weeks! Insane.
First thing when I got here, I met a whole bunch of new people and most of them didn't speak English. After riding on the train and being spoken to very seriously in Swedish on several occasions, I could have felt more comfortable. But nevertheless I got to meet a few people, some of whom I still see on regular basis. I remember talking with three members of my faddergroup (essentially an orientation group, with as many leaders [or "fadders"] as new exchange students): Daniel from Austria, Leyre from Spain, and Ella from Finland. So far it seems that many of these people will be great people to talk and hang out with.
I was dropped off in my apartment by two fadders, Giovanni and Klaus, and I was surprised to see a room much bigger than I had expected. For a single, I really couldn't have done much better. There's two closets, 4 deep cabinets, and a closet filled with drawers for shirts and things. I also have a sort of mudroom/entranceway where my two big closets are as well as an area for hanging my jackets and a shelf for mittens and hats. This leads to my bathroom, which is a single room with a toilet, a sink....and a shower head. Yes, the shower is not separate from the bathroom. And because I am both economical, and good at redneck-ing things for new purposes (Patrick Grondin shout-out), I've been using the old, cheap, disgusting towel I brought from home to dry off every surface of the bathroom after I shower. So far it's been working, no complaints. Unless I forget to wipe up the floor. Then it gets slippery.
The first night I met up with a girl, Meryn, who I see almost every day now, and we met up with another guy who would become a friend of mine, Lucas (both from Canada), to go to the grocery store down the street for some food for the morning as well as that VERY SECOND. It had been a long day of traveling and I was hungry for sure. Talk about culture shock. Everything was: 1) In Swedish Krona (also known as SEK, kr, and "crowns" in English) , a currency I had not yet adjusted to and 2) seemingly very expensive. Make that actually expensive. So I bought some unknown-fruit juice due to the Swedish labeling and some corn flakes and müsli plus milk for breakfast. Then we went and got some pizza (one "personal pan"-type size of pizza here is around 70kr, or a little over $10), and ate in happiness. I was glad to make a connection with people who both spoke English and were familiar with the sort of place I was coming from.
That night I stayed up late making sure I informed people I had arrived (unsuccessfully, as my own mother is somehow blocked from seeing my Tweets that post to my Facebook), and Skyping with my girlfriend, Keryn.
We then came back and had a few more information sessions about the library and what it has to offer, as well as getting a campus tour and attending our first few classes! As it so turns out, Swedish is a fairly simple language that has an awful lot of syllables. But written down, Swedish is simple enough to pick apart using the words that sound similar to words in English to figure out the meaning of the sentence. And even if you're wrong, someone will help you, because everyone in Sweden (except some of the immigrant population, as I have found out on multiple occasions) speaks some level of English, and most are better than half the people in the states of Maine and Massachusetts.
Speaking of English-speaking, all of my classes while I'm here will be taught in English. My current class (besides Swedish Language and Culture I) is Comparative Social Work Studies, and my teacher is originally from the Faroe Islands between Iceland and Scotland. English is her 3RD language, and definitely not her best, but I have a lot to learn from her and from her class over the course of this semester. We've begun discussing the different kinds of welfare states and the successes of the Scandinavian model are tough to ignore: people pay high taxes but they have ever assistance they might ever need. I was thinking yesterday about one of the forms of assistance they give, to help college students with their rent. A university education is free to all Swedish students, but some require additional support paying the bills on their apartment every month. Now what I was thinking was this: if they give college students support, they'll have more money to buy booze (on which there is at least 25% tax, more for higher alcohol content). The money they spend will probably (knowing Swedish college students) equal whatever amount they get in aid every month. Either way, it seems to me that it's a system that works for them, and seems to work quite well.
Now, so far I've been very much enjoying my space except for one small detail: the bed. The mattress is thin as can be because they throw them out each semester, but they're impossible to sleep well on. As I said, we went to IKEA the first week and I decided not to get an extra pad, despite the experience of previous students who had informed me I would need it. I am now happy to admit they were right and go back to IKEA to buy something to supplement the one-inch-thick mattress. Until I get a better night's sleep, don't expect another blog post (good thing I'm going to IKEA on Wednesday)!
Until next time...
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