Two Weeks in Sverige

Valkomna!

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.

Over the course of the next week we did a variety of things: an opening party with all the exchange students and fadders, visited town hall, explored downtown, visited the market, went to IKEA (a must, of course), had fika (coffee and a chat), and a great time. At the end of the week, we went up to a nature reserve near Eskilstuna to ski, hike and sled, and we explored the mountainside and cross country ski trails. Then we had a nice dinner with the best potatoes gratin ever made in the history of the world and a dance party in the evening until the wee hours of the morning. Good times ahead, captain.

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...

Travel Day!

It's official, my journey in Sweden has begun! After an emotional goodbye with my girlfriend Keryn last night, I wasn't really sure how the traveling was going to go. Turns out, I'm most of the way there and still alive. Lucky me!

I proceeded through security with a great deal of things, including but not limited to two jackets,a backpack and a rolling carry on. I never want to pack a bag that heavy ever again: 35 pounds going through security in 2 airports. More on that bag later.

As I wait for my bags to come through the X-Ray machine, I see a TSA agent take out my backpack for a good old-fashioned hand inspection. She tells me not to touch throw bag while she's searching through it, and I agree to her terms. She reveals as she digs through that she's looking for a tube of some sort that came up in the X-ray. I have no idea what she's looking for. She says she has all night. I secretly admire her dedication to her job.

Then she finds the tube. But it's inside a pocket she can't find the opening to. She finds the opening, and it turns out to be my toothpaste that's been MIA for two months. Go figure.

On the plane to Amsterdam, I sit in a cramped seat next to an Indian woman,  who immediately asks to borrow my cellphone so she can call her son. I haven't hardly put my bag down yet and it takes me a few minutes to get awkwardly situated in my tiny seat. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed but the little Indian woman has asked to use my phone and I oblige her. She tells me she came from Indian to meet her one-year-old grandson in Boston and is returning back home to Bombay via Amsterdam. I eavesdrop on several interesting conversations that happen around me between American citizens and people from Holland, Ghana and others and realize that I am heading into a very different world. But I'm ready for it.

Our flight arrives into Amsterdam and I'm excited because I was told I wouldn't need to go through customs in Amsterdam. SIKE, turns out I do, just not with my checked bag. Remember that 35 pound bag from before? Well a man pulls it out of the X-ray and says, "Did you bring bricks from your house?! I can't be lifting this sort of weight." The bag then gets EVERYTHING in it turned over by a very pleasant Dutch woman, but this bag was full (more like overfilled) and needed to be put back together carefully. So she left me to do that, which I actually appreciated.

Then I saw the airport, and boy was it something. It was more of a mall than an airport, with duty free shops up one side and gates down the other. But these weren't your ordinary duty free shops. There were full-on establishments for handbags, alcohol, chocolate, and a walk-in humidor at a store dedicated to the sale of cigars and whiskey. Pretty incredible. I got a chicken sandwich from Burger King at 8 in the morning and didn't feel one bit bad about it because the guy at the BK was easily the most genuinely nice person I've ever encountered at a fast food restaurant. And with my BK I sat back and just looked at the airport, gorgeous as it was.

I cant wait to go back to Amsterdam to see one of my friend, Bryn, who's studying there this semester, because Holland looked beautiful from the window of the plane.

I slept practically the whole way from Amsterdam to Stockholm and pulled together all of my stuff again for another dismantling involving my larger bag, in which they would certainly be interested to know contained two feet of PVC pipe. But I didn't even need to talk to a customs officer at all. As I ride the train to Örebro,no one has seen my papers at all since I arrived here. Maybe I'm self-centered but j expected that someone would want to see SOMETHING, my passport at the very minimim. I think no one cares, which is great since I'm very tired of traveling now and I stink of must. At least someone is helping me from the bus station when I get there.

That's it for now I suppose. It's been a long day. Until next time.

Max

P.S. check out this picture of the express train from the airport to Stockholm. The highest speed I saw on the screen was 208kph. How fast is that Chris and JChurch? Definitely the fastest I've ever moved but I know Chris has gone faster :)

The Final Week

As I get closer and closer to my departure date, I get less and less nervous and more and more excited for my impending departure. I'm finally starting to feel ready for the craziness ahead; it's getting to be so real, finally.

And as the final boxes get checked, I begin building up my base for the marathon in June. I've got jackets, tights, and shoes (plus enough reflective gear to keep my mother's mind at rest and, with any luck, me alive). And so I begin training full of enthusiasm and energy, starting with about 55 miles per week with the hopes of hitting 90 by the end of May. The road ahead is long and filled with new places to explore. But more than that, I'll be meeting new people from all over the world and I'm excited for that opportunity to make new connections.

I finally feel ready so it's time to get on with it! Sweden spring 2013 begins on Saturday with two plane flights, stopping for 3 hours in Amsterdam, then a 3 hour train ride to Örebro. Until next time.

Acceptance!

Hello world! I'm Max and this is my blog!

That picture up top is someone else's, taken of a castle in Örebro. I assume it has a name and that it's a big deal because it's pretty much the only thing that comes up in Google images upon searching "Örebro". For now, I remain an ignorant American. *shrug*

Since my freshman year of college, I've been waiting for the day when I would be going abroad. And now the time is here! I just got my email of acceptance to study at Örebro University for the spring semester of the 2012-13 school year a couple weeks back. I've been working diligently to get all my paperwork together for my visa application, and this is stressing me out a bit while I wait to get my health insurance coverage up to par (who knew the Swedes would require dental insurance?) but I know that eventually all this stress will lead to a semester of fun in Scandinavia. And that makes it all worth it!

Since my acceptance, I've started making some plans....for a marathon! My hope is to see all the places I visit in a pair of running shoes and short shorts (but really tights and a jacket until it warms up!). After the cross country season I've had, I know I have an opportunity to train really hard but really enjoy running in a very new environment. I have my coach to thank for putting the idea in my head (Inception style!), with me totally just taking it and running (haha) with it. I've already started looking at a couple different ones I could do and I have it narrowed down to either Stockholm or Copenhagen, in early June or late May. No matter what I do, I'm extremely excited. I didn't think I would be training for a marathon this early in my life, but there is no better time than now, when I would normally be training for faster track races. I'm looking to do a half before I jump up to a full, possibly in Denmark or Norway.

So while I'm getting excited about running, crazy as that makes me sound, I'm starting to get sort of nervous about the idea of being so far from home for so long. My time abroad is going to be at least January 18th to June 11th so this is going to be a big concern for me. I'll be leaving behind my friends from home [The Gang :)], those from school [The Troublesome Triangle and the rest of the team, AXEhouse, 305, Tee and Bree, and the rest] and of course my Mom back in Portland and my sisters in South Portland and the Bronx.

One of the things I hope to focus on in this blog is the different places that I run and getting some pictures on this blog of all the different places I get to see on these adventures. My biggest plan is to literally try to get myself lost in the woods, if at all possible. I have a GPS watch and will run with nutrients and water in case I'm gone for hours (no need to worry, Mom). But I really do hope to find some really great spots by accident. There's nothing better than a little spontaneous discovery in a foreign country right? Worst case scenario, I end up in a cult. But I've heard nice things about cults, so maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Of course, I'm just joking. But I really hope this blog keeps people entertained and coming back for more pictures and recounting of good times. I also hope that some of you readers are active in asking me to post about things I see or do. I know I can't stay self-inspired to write for a full 5 months and maybe more, or these are going to become real bread-and-butter crap. I would hate to put y'all through that. So PLEASE send me your questions and ideas!

-Max