New Semester, Same old Blog

Hello Everyone,
I almost forgot that I had this up, but apparantly I remembered the password so here goes another post. I thought I'd catch up on some of the international things that have been happening. I made it home safely from Sweden, although it took a little longer than I hoped. Due to Denver's airport closing on Dec 20th, most of the flights got rerouted to Chicago, causing a massive delay, and me to miss my plane. I made it home after about 15 hours of travel and 52 hours of being awake to enjoy Christmas with my family. Back at school I'm still looking for opportunities to travel and was elected as Co-President and IAAS Chair for the ACES Global Ambassadors organization. I'm hoping to set up an exchange week with my friends from Sweden, and possibly do a bit of traveling with the organization. We'll see what happens!
paul

Computer CRASH!

Hey everyone.
Bad news, my computer crashed so Ive lost a lot of what I wrote from the last post. Im hoping that it all got backed up on my external hard drive but I dont know for sure.

Today it snowed and the wind blew A LOT! Im very greatful to Matilda for letting me come down and borrow her computer (and for putting up with me) ((also because I see that she has my blog on her favorites list which is a little stalkerish, not gonna lie)). PS her new pink hair is making Uppsala colorful now that everything is white and grey and it looks really good. Alright, wish me luck finding my "lost days", and also wish me luck on getting my part to Sweden and back.

Hej Då

Paul

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.

Finlandia!!!!!!

Self explanitory picture from Helsinki, Finland

19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 – (Days 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30,) Six Days in Finland

So much to write about.
Tues 19. Packed things in the morning and met at the student union at 1:00. The other students were there and we found out that there were 10 international students going along for the trip. At first we didn’t really know what was going on because there was a lot of explaining in Swedish and a lot of singing in Swedish. We had to wait a while for the bus, he was late. When the bus got there we got on and everyone proceeded to start celebrating with drinks, I couldn’t I was on antibiotics for the whole trip. We learned some of our Swedish songs and sayings. We had to stop at the Bus drivers house, his name was Bjorn, and then we made our way to the harbor and boarded the ferry. It was very very large, comparative to a cruise ship. It was also very very nice. We got on the boat, found our rooms and then began to explore. There was a duty free store on the ship, as well as several restaurants, a casino, and a spa. I went up to the top deck with the Americans, and some of the guys began the night with some beers and Jagerbombs. I had a pepsi. We walked around a little bit and watched the cars getting loaded into the bottom of the boat. Then we hung out on deck for a while and watched as the boat pulled out and headed out towards open water, which took a while because Stockholm isn’t actually right on the sea coast. We went down and some of the guys hit the duty free store for some alcohol. I got some candy. My friends Seth and Nate each got a bottle of 1.5 liters of Heineken. They were good to go for the evening. We went to grab a bite to eat and then kind of split up a bit. We had some germans explain to us exactly what the outside of a Jagermeister bottle said, and had a debate as to if there was actually any stag blood in the bottle. We decided that no there wasn’t. After that we all kind of split up a little bit. I headed back to bed a bit later, and right afterwards some people brought one of my roommates in, and within 5 minutes of laying down, the person sat up and threw up all over their bed. It was the worst smell and the cabin was very small so we couldn’t get rid of it. I didn’t get much sleep that night. The next morning we grabbed some breakfast and then got of the boat in Helsinki.

Wed 20 - Got off the boat and headed to the university on our bus. We got there and were temporarily put in a room so that we could relax and rest. The Swedes were up and ready, the Americans, I can’t say the same for. The other four were a little hungover, and I didn’t get any sleep thanks to the vomit smell that penetrated my room. We sat around and discussed which events we would be doing the next day. Then a group of us headed to the grocery store to get a bit of food. After we came back some of us headed into Helsinki for a bit of sight seeing. The first place the five Americans went of course was. . . Mc Donalds. Sad I know, but so far I’ve eaten at Mc Donalds in four of the five countries I’ve been to. We started back and looked in a few shops. We stopped in a little corner market across from the square and picked up some shirts and post cards. We then headed down the street to grab some stamps (Although we never got to mail our cards from Finland because we were so busy and tired). Then we went back to the bus. After that we went up and had some dinner. After that we went to our “camp” for the week which was a daycare center, and we got ready for the opening ceremonies. We painted Swedish flags on our faces and got flags to carry. Then we lined up and started walking to the football (Soccer) field where the other countries were also walking in. We sang our songs and it was a bit of a competition to see who could sing the loudest. Then we headed to the gym where they had presentations waiting for us. Everyone was partying the whole time and having a blast. Then they said it was time to get on the busses to go watch the swimming event, but before we left the drivers got on the busses and said that because so many people were drunk that they wouldn’t let them into the swim hall, so none of us got to go to the swimming event. I was kind of bummed, but I just headed back to the daycare and fell asleep.

Thu 21 – Day 1 of real athletics.
Started out the morning with a trip to breakfast, and then headed back to watch some sports. I went to watch the volleyball game and for a long time none of the Swedes showed up. They had a soccer game that ran a little late. I was getting ready to play, but then they showed up. We lost, but finland had some guys that were in their 40’s, maybe 50’s so it wasn’t really a student event. Then we got on the bus and headed to the Monari (Sports Center) and watched a handball game, and then it came time for the basketball game. There were very few Swedes who actually played. In fact there was really only one, he was very good, but they couldn’t rotate in and out very much. So I grabbed some shorts and a jersey and played a little bit. It was very tiring and I wasn’t used to playing basketball, but I got in there and did what I could. We lost by a lot, again, Finland had some really tall people, and they were NOT college aged, so it wasn’t a fair game, plus with no one there to rotate in and out, we were dead. I went down and hit the showers and felt about a million times better. Went back and laid down for a bit, then grabbed some dinner. We met as a team again and discussed what would happen the next day and which events people would participate in. Then we headed out to Club Cooppera in downtown Helsinki, near the Olympic stadium. It was a theme party and the theme was legends from the last 60 years. I didn’t want to go out and buy a costume, so I borrowed a shirt from someone that had lots of gold crowns with a blue background and wore it and went as a Swede. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet more of the teammates and get to know them, and had a lot of fun. The first bus went back at around midnight I believe and it was 90% filled with Swedish people. It was lots of fun.

Fri 22 – Day 2 of Athletics.
This day is almost lost in my memory. I was so tired the whole day. Got up and went straight to Volleyball. Played against denmark, we lost, but not by much. Then headed back and played basketball. I watched some other sports including floorball, badmitton, and handball, but then again went back and got a little rest. Went to dinner, had a team meeting, and then got ready for the barn party. We were going to go in, but it cost 3 Euro to get in, so we decided that going back to the day care and hanging out would be more fun, so we did, and it was. Again, it gave us a good opportunity to meet more teammates. Apparantly right after we left they stopped charging, but it was okay.

Sat 23, last day in Helsinki
Another full day of sports, Basketball and Volleyball, the only difference is that we won both games. Norway didn’t show up to the volleyball game, and the whole team showed up to the basketball game so we could trade out players and keep people fresh. We beat Denmark in baskeball by 10 at least. It was a very good feeling. We all went back and packed up our stuff and loaded the bus. We were all dressed up in as dressy of clothes as we had, and then we headed to the opening toast. We then walked to our busses, and some Danish girls joined into the Swedish group so I got to talking with them, and they gave me their e-mail addresses for when I go to Copenhagen to show us around. We got on our busses and headed to the Astoria for the banquet. The Danes mooned us the whole way there. They were behind us in a double decker tour bus with a large window in the front of the second level. It was all in good fun.
Made it to the banquet hall and found out that Helsinki has Subway Sandwich shops, so I was jealous. Got into the banquet hall and found out that about half of the Swedish Team didn’t have places to sit, including me. So we kind of stood around until things got straightened out. I sat next to a Norwegian girl, a Danish Girl and my friend Rickard from Sweden. Dinner was fancy, 3 courses, and also WILD! Everyone was hitthing the wine hard, and they were awarding prizes. Every time someone won, their team sang some kind of song, and gave a speech. Denmark won almost everything, followed by finland and then Norway and Sweden only won a couple, I think we could have done better if we’d of had a larger team like Denmark and Finland. A Danish girl gave a speech that was quite risqué I wont go into details, but it started out something like this. “One morning at the Nordic Games a Danish girl woke up with a Swedish guy on her left, a Finnish guy on her right, a Norwegian guy on top and a Danish Guy underneath . . . “ That pretty much sums up how the danes were on the whole trip, party party party. After the Banquet we headed to the city square for the after party, which was a lot of fun. It lasted until 3 in the morning. After that we headed out and got on our bus, I fell asleep, but apparently we drove a couple of hours to Turku, a port on the western coast of Finland. We waited around there for a couple of hours for the ferry to get there. The Danes and Norwegians were also there. They just never stopped partying.
Sun 24 – Ferry ride back to Stokholm
We got into the lobby of the ferry company. The Danes were in full force singing their songs, and the Norwegians were still drinking. The Swedish team was very well behaved and not in the wild party mood. We got on the ferry and found our rooms, I’m pretty sure we were below the water line and next to the engines. I know for sure we were below all of the cars and busses. I grabbed some breakfast and then went to bed, a little backwards I know. I slept for 3-4 hours. Then I got up and started exploring this boat. It was much smaller than the first, but still nice. I went out onto the deck while we were on open water in the Baltic between Åland and the Swedish coast. It was So windy that I had to hold onto the rail the whole time. I walked up to the helicopter deck and had a look and it felt like you could see for forever. I could see 5 other ships out on the water at the same time. I then headed down and went inside. I saw there was a spa so I went in and got a massage and relaxed for a bit. I met up with some of the other Americans and basically just kind of rode out the rest of the trip. We were all tired. I bought some champagne in the tax free store and then we just waited to get into Stockholm. After we got off the bus, we all stood in a long line and hugged the other teams and said our goodbyes. It was a great way to end the trip. We then headed back to Uppsala and had one more hug line with the Swedish team and then headed back home. I was very excited to see that I had gotten a package from home and it had some of my favorite stuff in it. Oreos, Cheeze-its, Orbit gum and Sweet-tarts. I opened the package and went to bed!

Mon (25) – Recovery day
Didn’t do much today. Studied a bit and did a little work on my home examination for Global Crop Production. Went into town and got some dinner with the Americans, and just kind of picked up my room and slept in.

Tues (26) - Thomas’ birthday!

Got up and did a little more work on my take home final. Called Thomas for his birthday. He was very excited because he got a Detailed die-cast semi truck, a carhart shirt and coat, as well as some other neat things. Talked to mom for a bit. Then headed to Gottsunda with Nate to grab some groceries. We were on the bus and it got hit by a car less than 200 metres from where we got on the bus. We had to wait for half an hour for the next bus to come, and no one would speak any English to us to explain what was going on. Went and got our groceries, then headed back to the bus stop. It turns out we got on the exact same bus going back, so the damage must not have been too bad. Came home and then I met up with some people at SNerikes. Had some fun, grabbed some McDonalds, took the bus home and fell asleep.

Wed (27) - Got up early, finished my home exam. Seth took a jump drive into town to get everything printed off. In the mean time, the emergency room doctor called me from a week and a half ago to let me know that I have the Antibiotic Resistant strain of Staph. Aureus. Not good news. He said that he had to report me to the Swedish Infectious Diseases Department or something like that. I’m worried about if I could have gotten anyone else on the team to finland sick with it. I’ll have to ask the Swedish Version of the CDC when they call. Went out to eat at Tzatziki’s with Seth and the Gang because he is leaving tomorrow morning to go back to Indiana for a month. Came home, took some antibiotics again and went to bed.

The First days in Sweden

Photo is of myself and Jyns the viking, the mascot of the Swedish team at the Nordic Games. (You'll hear about that in the next post)

Days 1-7 may come later, but for now they are written in my notebook. They are kind of depressing, but I finally started finding my way, and this is what happened in Sweden. . .

Swedish Journal – Day 7 – September 1, 2006
Went to class, we learned about water usage from Jennie Barron. Hard to believe that the class is one quarter of the way through. Magnus is pretty cool, but of course I’ve already got something to worry about. I have to have a grade for the class, so I’m hoping that there will be a way for me to get one. Here they just do the pass/fail system, which won’t get me any GPA points back home.
Went into town for lunch, I was just kind of craving some Mc Donalds, you know how it goes. I went to the bookstore and bought a planner, notebook and some maps. They of course are all in Swedish which I forgot about, but its ok. There are no bad experiences, only learning experiences. I then went to Snerkies Nation to try and join. I got all signed up and everything, but I forgot to check to make sure I had enough cash. It turns out I didn’t. I’m still not used to looking in my wallet and seeing 180 of any kind of money and thinking that its not a whole lot. Its ok, I’ll go back on Monday and get it all settled.
There was an international student meeting that I went to. I showed up pretty late, I’m also still getting used to the 24 hour clock. For some reason I saw 16.00 and equated that to 6:00 pm. Yeah, WRONG, so I found out I can run to campus in less than five minutes, which will be useful in the long run I’m sure. I caught the last guy’s little speech. He was talking about the student newspaper, I think I’ll write a few articles for it while I’m here.
I then went and did some hardcore facebooking/myspacing. I was politely reminded that it was Megan Coyle’s birthday, so I gave her a shout-out, and gave her a birthday present of a high phone bill by calling her on her birthday. Whooo-hooo, 21!!!!! I then came back to the corridor, changed some clothes real quick and caught a bus to town to go to one of the nations. It was okay, but very croweded. I also can’t really get used to the beef taste. Its all grass fed beef, and I can certainly taste the difference. I sat with the Purdue peeps. I think I’ve really found my group of Americans at least. They mentioned something about going to denmark in a couple of weekends. I think I’ll probably do that. We went back to Snerikes Nation for a club party. Not much of a club, I heard several songs three times. Not so cool, but the drinks were cheaper. I’m not much of a whisky drinker, but Jack and Coke were my friends tonight. There was one Swedish girl that came up to our table and wanted a cigarette and we told her that we didn’t have one. Then she asked if we were Americans and we said yeah. Then she asked if we were Christians and we said yeah, (in fact we were all catholic), and she then proceeded to tell us that she hated us, religion was stupid and went on and on, at which point I stopped listening. Then she fell over a chair, so I figure that she got what she deserved. I went back to Storra Torget, which is the town square and ended up waiting 45 minutes for a bus. There was some guy that was talking to himself, and then one guy that was so drunk he could hardly sit there. I felt bad for his girlfriend who was holding him up almost the whole time I sat there. It was an awesome day, and I am falling more and more in love with this place everyday. I know that the culture shock and homesickness are coming, but hopefully with this group of American students that I’ve met up with, things will be eased significantly.



September 2, 2006 – Day 8 – Nothing to report today. I called my credit card company to make sure I had all of my stuff set up so my account wouldn’t get frozen. I spent 10 minutes with them on the phone, and they tried to sell me something. At least I got stuff set up so I can pay my bill online.
Talked to mom Just kind of hung around the house today. Went and ordered my global crop production book online. Hopefully my U of I account doesn’t get frozen. I sent them an e-mail. We’ll find out. I think that a couple of the Purdue guys mentioned something about going to Denmark in a couple of weeks and they invited me along, I’m all for it. Yay travel. I need to get internet ASAP. I’m going on Monday to have Stina fax my application. There’s another couple hundred kronor I’ll be spending. I need to really watch my money situation. Its pretty expensive here, esp for doing all I want to do. I’m going to church with the Purdue guys tomorrow night, they have an English mass at 6:15, so I’m going to check it out. I’m not tired, but Malin’s brothers (I think) and Mom are downstairs, so I think I’ll just watch a movie I have downloaded and chillax.




September 3, 2006 – Day 9 –
Had a nice and relaxing day. Woke up about 10, watched some movies/played computer a bit. Got hungry about 2 so I decided to go into town and try this place they call Max. It’s the Swedish version of McDonalds, (of which they have two within 5 blocks). But it’s a bit bigger, and a whole lot better. Not to mention the restaurant is in the middle of this Town square, has red carpet with velvet ropes that go up to the front door, and is much cleaner and has more room to sit down. So I ate there, and then wanted to go to H&M, a clothing store, to see what they had. I ended up getting a cool dressy/sporty coat, two shirts and a sweater for right at around $100 American which isn’t too bad for the type of stuff I got. I was really hot, plus I didn’t want to carry around my bag, so I went back home to drop stuff off/ change. I watched a little bit of one of my favorite movies, Dazed and Confused, and then hopped on a bus back into town so I could meet my friends for 6:15 English Mass. It was very different. I’m pretty sure English wasn’t the priest’s first or second language. He was almost as fast as Fr. Hembrow, I’d say mass lasted a total of 35-40 minutes. When we left we were looking for a place to eat, but nothing was open, so we went to O’learys pub, a place that the Purdue guys go to a lot. We went there, and I had a club sandwich, but didn’t eat much else. We sat and waited for our check for what seemed like forever. We headed out and luckily I caught the Tjugo back to SVA right away from Storra Torget. Came home and just kind of relaxed, nothing I really want to do, so I’m just not doing anything, and that’s fine with me. As long as I’m not spending money, I’m good. (even though I splurged a bit at H&M today)

September 4, 2006 – Day 10
Wow, 10 days, hard to believe. I think this will fly by faster than I thought it would. I guess someone was ringing my doorbell this morning, it woke me up at around 10. I kind of rolled over and went back to sleep. Got up and out at around 10:30. Went to the computer lab, then grabbed some food. Then I went to class. We learned about oil crops today. I was nodding and agreeing with the teacher and she asked if I grew soybeans back home, and I mentioned that I worked for the national soybean research lab back home, so that sparked some questions from other class members. It was a good class, but went a little long. Afterwards Seth and I went to talk to Stina-Lena about a couple of things. I think we are both going to try and participate in the Nordic Games. I want to try rowing while I’m here. The games are in Finland, and it costs 1300 SEK to participate. Stina answered all of our questions, I was concerned with grades, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Seth came back here and I showed him where I live. It was of course a disaster area, but whatever, we’re both guys. He left, then a bit later I went into town to get a Swedish Cell phone. I was going to use Matilda’s, but it didn’t work for some reason, so I got this other one. It wasn’t too awful expensive, but a bit more than I would have liked to have spent. I went to McDonalds again. . . bleh, I need to try some other places. This time the food was really really bad. I went back to Storra Torget and caught the Tjugo back to Galbo. I watched super nanny with Malin, her sister, I don’t remember her name and Maria. I of course had already seen it. Then I came up to bed and read a little bit for class. Now I’m writing to you and then going to bed.

September 5, 2006 – Day 11 – Woke up late, Phone had died over night, therefore no alarm clock, went to class. Picked my topic for my paper, I’m doing a comparison/contrast paper on Different ways of cultivating maize around the world. Went and signed up for the Nordic Games, YAY! I have to go and pick up a package in Gottsunda, that will have to happen tomorrow. Went and finished joining SNerikes. I’m official. I was going to go to Gottsunda tonight, but I would have caught the last bus, which totally defeats the purpose. So I ordered pizza instead. Kim gave blood today, I also found out she is vegan. I basically sat around and watched tv all night. Not too motivated. Very tired, Night.

September 6, 2006 – Day 12 -- HORRAY!!! I got internet in my room today, groceries, and my books for my online class! WOW!!! When it rains it pours. I’m very glad to have the internet, I needed it. I went and bought my groceries, it was a little more than I expected to pay, but its all good, a man’s gotta eat. Other than that, not too much else to report. I love it here!!!

September 7,8,9 & 10 – Days 13, 14, 15, 16. Wow, long time no write. I got a little busy with things this weekend. Thursday I was studying all day and night for my exam on Friday. I was really nervous so I was hitting the books pretty hard. I ordered a book from a company online and it still isn’t here yet! Had lunch with Seth at SNerikes, it was pretty good

Friday, I took my exam and we had our discussion. I was a little nervous about it, but I ended up getting the best score in the class. I went home and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Then that night I met up with Seth, Sean, Tara, and Nate and we went and ate at China River in Uppsala near the train station. It was ok, but I don’t think I’ll go back. Afterwards we headed out to O’Learys for a few, and then we went to SNerkies for the evening. I really can’t tell you much about after that, but I did buy a plane ticket home that night, that I found out about the next morning. I’ll let you take it from there.

Saturday, Got up and tried to make pancakes, but they were horrible, so I just drank a lot of milk and juice for breakfast. Met up with Seth and Sean and we walked to Gottsunda because no busses run there on Saturdays. Got some groceries and stuff to make Alfredo Sauce, then I walked back home, they took a bus. I talked to Mom and Dad on the way back. My sandals gave me a huge blister on the back of my foot, so that kind of sucked. Stayed home the rest of the day and did laundry from Midnight to Three AM.

Sunday – Got up and headed to the bus station. I met up with some people from SNerkies and we rode to Stockholm for the day. It was pretty neat. I got to see lots of different things and places, as well as buy a few things. It was very touristy, which I’m not a huge fan of, but it’s an okay town. We saw a bunch of street performers, a bunch of people were trying to sell us roses, the little kids were even in on it, I felt so bad for them. Then we sat on the steps of the big square and some guy came up and asked us if we knew where he could get some cocaine. We said no of course. Then we headed to the train station and took a train back to Uppsala. We got off the train and headed to church, then we went out to eat at Tzatziki, a greek restaurant down on the river. It was pretty good. Sean was pretty cold so I gave him shit all night, but it was fun, and very good.

September 11, 2006 – Day 17. Lecture was cancelled today. I don’t think I’d have gone anyway. I was able to sleep in, and I really honestly did nothing all day. It was very nice, I was completely drained after my day in Stockholm. I met up with Seth and Nate at Snerkes. We had dinner and Sean was our waiter. The food was good. I got home later that night and pretty much went straight to bed. A bunch of us are going to Copenhagen this weekend, and then Helsinki next week. It should be lots of fun!

September 12, 2006 – Day 18. Not too much happened today. Went to class, then grabbed some lunch with Seth. Spent most of the day working on my paper and studying trop crop. Was going to go out, but spent all night studying. I think I got some kind of bug bite, its really starting to hurt.

September 13, 2006 – Day 19. Woke up this morning and did more trop crop studying and paper writing. This bite is really starting to hurt bad, tomorrow I’m going to try and go to the Dr. We went to try and buy some train tickets to Copenhagen, but Seth’s cards were blocked. We went out to eat and I got a sleeping bag, Air mattress and pump for the trip to Finland. I’m pretty excited. We’ll see what happens this weekend. Back to finishing my paper for the night.

September 14-18, 2006 – Days 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. Serious problems.
14 – Failed the Trop Crop exam, but Sweden is the land of second chances, so I get to retake it. Turned in a paper which was totally different than the one I started. I used a paper from freshman year and just tweaked it a little. Beginning to think the bite on my leg is actually a boil. Made the decision not to go to Copenhagen, got a bus card.

15—Couldn’t even lay on my bed comfortably, something had to be done, No classes today. Went to Gottsunda to the Vårdcentral, it was closed so I had some lunch in the bar there. Came home for a bit and laid down, went back at 2:30 when it was open again. Took my number after two old people practically shoved me out of the way. When it was my turn they told me that they couldn’t help me because I didn’t live in the right section, its something with their healthcare system I don’t understand, but whatever. So they said try another place. Seth had mentioned going to a place where a nurse looked at something for him, so I did that. I got there and asked to see someone and they said all appointments were filled, so they gave me a number to call and assured me it would be in English. It wasn’t, and to top it off, my phone cut out in the middle of trying to explain what was wrong. I went back in and practically begged for someone to see me. They said a nurse could see me after 5. I waited for an hour to see the nurse, and when she looked at my spot, she said I should go to the emergency room that night. She told me to home, get something to eat and take some Ibuprofen because I may have to wait for a long time, but I needed to go. So I did that. I got to the hospital about 8:00. I took a number and waited to be called. I went in and explained my situation. They said hold on for one sec. There was actually a Canadian Paramedic that was working there, so they got him to come and halfway translate what I was saying. He took me back and looked at my spot and said that it was a boil and needed to be drained. Then came the bad news, he told me that it was going to cost a ton. I said I needed it done, so whatever the cost, do it. It cost 5590 Swedish Kronor, That is equal to 800 US Dollars. After I picked myself up off the floor I said okay. I finished filling out my paperwork and went and waited to be called. Luckily I didn’t have to wait long. I was surprised for a Friday night, but lucky. They took me back, asked me some questions and the surgeon was in very quickly. He told me that he had more bad news for me, that local anesthetic wouldn’t work on the infected part that he had to cut, but that he could numb the area around it. So he did, and he was right, no numbness at all when he cut me open. The cut was about an inch and a half long, but he did it very quickly. It still hurt like hell. He drained the whole thing (which was pretty damn big), and cleaned it and sent some of the pus to the lab. I still haven’t found out what it was for sure, but Im thinking it was the same kind of staph infection that my mom and brother had this summer. They gave me some antibiotics to take, and told me to come back the next day. So I went home, took my meds, and then went to bed. It was a very long and tiring day.

16 -- Went back to the ER to get my dressing changed. The same nurse was working. Took a little longer. She worried so much that her English was poor, but she did a GREAT job. I kept getting other nurses in to check on me to make sure that I was doing alright. The only real problem of the day was when the gauze got stuck in the open wound so they could drain it. It hurt like hell, but again, this doctor was very fast at getting it out, and it only hurt for a little bit. Then I went and met up with Seth and Nate and we had some lunch. Came home, and I don’t really remember what else happened that night. Called my dad and wished him a happy birthday.

17-- Worked on my presentation most of the day. Went to dinner at Stacey and Caseys. It was delicious. Stayed up working on presentation. Sore around where the blister was. The skin is purple and bruised.

18-- Had exam and presentations today. Exam went alright, I passed and did above average. Presentation went well I thought. It seemed to generated interest and good productive questions. Relaxed in the afternoon with Seth, watched a movie. Went into town to get some supplies for the trip. Had dinner at a new bar. Very good. Had my introduction to wine tasting lecture tonight. It was great. Looking forward to that class. Leaving for Finland tomorrow at 1:00 pm. Cant wait!!! Late night laundry or early morning, cant remember!