Octoberish

^^ Malin, Kim, Myself, Matilda and Maria at the Veterinary Student Union Songbook Party^^

Its been a while since I've posted last, but not a whole lot has happened. I've been on my medicine and just got finished, so nothing wild to report. But here's what I have in my jounal.

October 6th - Part II- Went into town with Nate and met up with Sean at China Garden. We met his friend Layla at the train station and then hung out for a bit. I went home early. I didn’t feel like going out due to the medicine.

Saturday October 7, 2006 – Day 43 – Slept in late and did a bit of reading in the afternoon for my Viticulture and Enology class. Met up with the American crew plus Layla at Snerikes for pub night. I had the venison again and it was amazing! Hung out with the crew for most of the evening and then caught the last bus home so I could get some sleep before Stockholm the next day.

Sunday October 8, 2006 – Day 44 – Got up around 8-ish and headed into town with Nate to meet everyone for our trip to Stockholm. It took them a while to get back; I guess they had a pretty wild and late night. Took a train at around 12:00ish down to Stockholm. We went to the Vasa Museum which was pretty amazing. If you’ve ever seen the Goonies it was like the scenes with the pirate ship. It was amazing how they preserved the ship as well as some of the skeletal remains found around the ship. Half of our crew left early and went out on their own so I hung out with Nate and Anne. We found a TGI Fridays and had some American food! It really was close to what I call American. I had the Jack Daniels Salmon. MmMmM. We took another walk down to Gamla Stan and saw the palace as well as the Nobel Museum. It was closed, but we want to go back sometime soon! We went to get on a train, but they were all shut down. Apparantly there was a fire on the tracks somewhere so no trains could be attached to the electrical wires overhead. We waited about 30 minutes for a train, but then caught the next one to Uppsala. It was a great day.

Monday October 9, 2006 – Day 45 – Made my favorite new food from scratch. Pasta Alfredo!!! Then I went to my Wine Tasting, I mean Quality Evaluation for my Viticulture class. It was white wines this week, which I’m not a very big fan of, but it was okay.

Tuesday October 10, 2006 – Day 46 – Headed into town to grab some Groceries. Went to Rackabergsgatan for Anne’s birthday! She is my age which is nice. Most of the people I hang out with are a year younger than me. After quiche and cake at her place we all headed to SNerikes for the evening. I ran into Oskar there again and he introduced me to a whole new group of his lady friends. I think I’ll stay in touch with him just in case ;). I waited in line and when I got in, we all went and sang the Happy Birthday Song in Swedish to Anne. Lots of fun.

Wednesday October 11, 2006 – Day 47 – Talked to Seth today on the internet. I really miss him. He’s a great guy to hang out with. Had wine lecture. I went into town with Nate to pick up a package at a post office that was pretty far away from where we live. We then made another trip to Ofvandahls. Pretty damn good. Then I came back home, but decided that I needed some Casey and Stacy time, so I met them at SNerikes for dinner. Venison again, DELICIOUS!!! Service was VERY slow.

Thursday October 12, 2006 – Day 48 – Didn’t do much again. Made some meatballs for lunch, that’s all I can remember. I didn’t write anything down. (Oops)

Friday October 13, 2006 – Day 49 – Went into town again with Nate. We did an IKEA run. I got a new lamp for my room because it was just too dark. We met Anne and Inga at Storra Torget and they helped me pick out one spiffy suit to wear to a party I was invited to. After that, Nate and I went and visited Sean and Tara at SNerikes, and then afterwards we headed home and then to Line’s place for a little German/American/Norwegian/Swedish Reunion. I ended up telling some children’s stories like the Three Billy Goats Gruff, and Jack and the Beanstalk and the Gingerbread Man. It was a lot of fun because we were making them unsuitable to be told to children. No bad luck, although we had our share of Black Cats, Mirrors and Ladders.

Saturday October 14, 2006 – Day 50 – The Big 50, what a better way to celebrate than with a party. I hung out for most of the day. Nate came over and we watched Euro trip. I ran into town at the last minute because I needed money for the dinner. Came back, showered and changed real quickly. Met Matilda’s friend Anton, and then we headed over to the Vet union for the party. It was a “sangbok festen” which means Song Book Party. They have these hard back books that they sing songs out of all night. It’s a lot of fun. We had a Spinach and Mushroom Quiche, Duck with potatoes and green beans, and for desert, lingon pears with cinnamon cake and whipped cream and since I had taken my last dose of medicine in the morning, all the wine I wanted for dinner, (oh yeah, and beer, and schnapps) There is never a lack of alcohol at a formal Swedish dinner I was told. We ate and sang all night until 11:00pm, then they took out all the tables and we had a dance until 2:00 AM it was so much fun! I saw many people I knew from the Nordic Games, and just had an all around good time. I came back and we sat up and talked until 3 in the morning. My roommates are going to make me speak Swedish come hell or high water!

Sunday October 15, 2006 – Day 51 – Again, not a whole lot was done today. I studied in the morning and also am trying to organize my music library on my computer. I went to church with Sean and Tara, and then came home for more studying! There must have been some party at SNerikes tonight, but I opted to stay home and Study study study, plus drinking after going to church really isn’t my style. I love lazy fall days. Oh yeah, and today I noticed how early the sun has been going down. Tonight it went down at 5:41pm, WOW. By the time I leave they said that we’ll be down to only 3 hours of daylight. BOO!

Copenhagen and another trip to the ER

^^^Kings Library, Copenhagen, Denmark. ^^^

Thursday – September 28, 2006 Day – 34 – Relaxed for pretty much the whole day. I studied a bit for the trop crop and hung out with Nate for a bit. Went to the union for lunch. Got some things at the little boutique. Later that night we went to Stockholm’s nation. Patrik and Hampus were there. Later on Sean, Tara, Anne, Inga, Carsten, and Gon showed up. I didn’t stay late; I had the trop crop early the next morning. Got a new Romanian corridor mate named Gianina.

Friday – September 29, 2006 – Day 35 - Passed my trop crop exam with a 7/10. Tried to explain American grading system to Magnus. Went to Gottsunda and paid the rent and the internet. I had to max out my debit cards to do it. All in all it cost me over $1000 American for two months. I was going to go to SNerikes for a party, but ended up going to a party at the Union, much cheaper and less people. It was nice.

Saturday – September 30, 2006 – Day 36 Took Gianina into town to get a Sim card for her phone. Nate and I decided that we wanted to go to Copenhagen so we got some train tickets. I bought my wine glasses for wine tasting, it cost me 300 SEK. That night we went to a party at little sunnersta. Nate left a trail of destruction on our walk back. Went to bed before midnight so we could catch the first bus the next morning.

Sunday – October 1, 2006 – Day 37 – Was up at 5:15, caught the first bus from SVA to town at 6:00 am. Took a train from Uppsala to Stockholm. Got breakfast in the train station in Stockholm. Got on the x-2000 and took it to Malmö. We were behind schedule most of the way there. There was a couple that sat across the aisle from me and in front of Nate that were very VERY annoying. They were either from the West coast or Canada (or both). He was some kind of choral conductor I believe, and she was just annoying. At one point she crawled up on the arm rests and over the top of him to get out into the aisle. I would say that either the two of them, or their parents (who happened to be in the same car only further up) stood in the aisle for at least 1/3 of the trip. We got to Malmö, and RAN to catch our train across the bridge to Denmark. We got on the train and went across the big bridge. We got dropped off at central station and then went looking for our hotel. It just so happens that our hotel was on the edge of the red-light district. I wasn’t too impressed. We also got lost looking for our hotel, at one point I looked down on the street and saw about 50 needles on the ground. There were houses of ill repute all up and down the street, but luckily we found our hotel, and the area it was in wasn’t too bad at all. We did decide however that we wouldn’t stay out too late just in case. When we went to check in they couldn’t find my reservation, but I guess they found it anyway. They upgraded us to a deluxe suite for no additional cost. The room was nice. We went sightseeing for the rest of the afternoon. Saw Christianborg palace and took a quick tour of the ruins underneath. We tried to go inside and take a tour, but the last English tour had already left. So we took some pic’s outside. We then headed to the Kings Library and Garden and took some pictures, it was Very beautiful. After that we decided to get something to eat. We got into the shopping and walking area and there was lots of commotion and we could see police vans all over. Apparently there was a soccer match that night between Copenhagen and their rivals so people were getting drunk and causing quite a stir. We got the hell out of there, we didn’t want to get in the middle of anything, so we headed down the street and got some Italian at Puglias. It was SO good. Towards the end of dinner we heard more noise and looked out and it was the hooligans again so we went out and watched them marching to the stadium (their team lost unfortunately) we left there and went to a garden and walked around a bit. Mom had called so I called her back and found out that Patrick and his FFA team had won State Forestry and were going to Nationals. I was very proud. We left the garden and headed on a quest to find the Little Mermaid statue. We stumbled upon the square where the Queens palace is and saw the changing of the guard. Pretty cool. We then ended up along the harbor and headed north until we came to the garden where we knew the statue was. We kept looking and finally found it. It was much smaller than I originally thought. At this point it was starting to get pretty dark so we headed back. We came across a metro stop and decided to take that. We ended up getting on the wrong train and going the wrong way. So we switched and got back on the right way. We rode for one stop and then the train stopped for about 15 minutes. Apparently a train in front of us was having problems with its doors so we couldn’t go until the track was clear. We rode it for two more stations and then switched to the subway. Got off at our stop at Central station and it was raining. We made it back to our hotel without being totally soaked. Started flipping through the channels. We thought it was kind of weird that on one channel they were playing Nanny McPhee (a children’s movie) and on the next channel was hardcore pornography. Luckily for us there was an American football game on so we watched the Panthers v. the Saints. Didn’t stay up too late.

Monday October 2, 2006 – Day 38 – Woke up and it was raining. Paid for the hotel, but our credit cards wouldn’t work anywhere else in the city all morning. We wanted to catch the boat tour, but it didn’t leave for a while and would have cut it way too close for comfort to catch our train back to Stockholm. We walked around a little more and went up in the Observatory, it was pretty neat. Mailed some post cards and then headed back to the train station (had to return an umbrella we borrowed, but it didn’t rain the rest of the morning). The train back to Stockholm was much nicer. We rode backwards from Copenhagen to Malmö, but then we must have turned around the rest of the way, it was nice to take the trip riding forward. Getting into Stockholm the train was 22 minutes late. We caught the box train from Stockholm to Uppsala and then we met Tara @ SNerikes for lunch. They redid it, it looks nice, but it is way too crowded.

Tuesday October 3, 2006 – Day 39 -- Slept in, had lunch at the Union Cafeteria. I sat with Rickard. I saw Marco and Frederick from the Nordic Games. Came home and napped for the afternoon. I made meatballs and mashed potatoes for dinner. Went to my wine tasting class. It was confusing and not as fun as I had hoped. I went to the ER again that night because I was getting another blister. I sat in the waiting room for 5 hours. I was not happy. The doctor came in prepared to slice this one open again too, but it was very new, so she really couldn’t. Instead they gave me a much stronger antibiotic to see if it would work this time. I left there at 5:00 and caught the first bus back to Ultuna at 5:30. That’s the earliest bus that runs, so I got lucky that the times were close.

Wednesday October 4, 2006 – Day 40 – Slept in till 11:00, got up and got ready for my Wine lecture. Went to class and then to Gottsunda to get my medicine and for Nate to pay some bills. Apparently it was Kanelbullens dag. So my roommates had made some Cinnamon rolls. Nate and I made a pizza and it was amazing. We traded some pic's and then went to the union for a little party. I was tired so I took some Tylenol PM and hit the hay.

Thursday October 5, 2006 – Day 41 – Got up at around 9:00am. Went into town around noon. Refilled my phone. Got some Mc Donald’s because it sounded delicious. I want to go to H&M to get some nice shirts and Ties to wear when I go out. Most of the nations I go to are pretty posh. Went to Anne’s place and shared pictures from the Nordic Games. Line and Little Kalle came, and Carsten, Inga, Anne, Rodrigo, Gon, Nate, and I were all there. It was a nice mini reunion. They all headed Stockholm’s Nation afterward, but I just headed home.

Friday October 6, 2006 – Day 42 – I’ve done a whole lot of nothing all day. I went to the Union cafeteria for lunch but didn’t see anyone. Came home, opened my Oreos, they were still delicious! Matilda got her computer back, but was having some problems with internet. I guess she got it fixed. Did a little bit more cleaning and then just kind of hung around.