SUNday

It seems that I only update this when it is sunny! Well, I suppose the explanation is that I like to post photos and I only like to take photos when it is sunny...and today it was! Today was my first sunny day in a week, and I was so happy to see the sunshine when I woke up this morning. I instinctively grabbed for my shorts and t-shirt, but checked into reality when I remembered that it was 35 degrees outside. After dressing appropriately, I decided to go for a walk, which turned into a very, very long hike.

Finally able to sport my favorite accessory: SUNGLASSES

I found a neat trail to hike on today. It went though three or four smaller towns before ending in Bankeryd, our neighboring city. I found several forest spots to hike through and they reminded me so much of home, except for the massive amounts of moss!

Much prettier than this in reality, but the lighting was not working out well with my camera

The hike turned into quite the adventure when I realized that I had been gone for two and a half hours. Luckily, I was able to take a bus back to my house when I got to Bankeryd because there was definitely not enough daylight for me to walk back. Even though it was so sunny out, it was super chilly! I was absolutely frozen even though I was dressed very warmly. After two huge cups of tea and waiting an hour my fingers work properly again!

Other updates from the week:

I have to say that this week was not incredibly exciting, but it went by really quickly! The three conference calls that I had with people in the US in the very early hours of the morning probably helped a bit. I joined the gym in town and I have to say that I am in love with that place! It is very new and very nice (beats Buchanan...haha). It has a fantastic view of Lake Munksjön from the sauna, which I could pretty much live in, by the way. My other favorite part is the channel of choice that is almost always on in the gym: ice skating competitions!

Classes also started this week. I had two Swedish lessons but did not learn any Swedish. That was incredibly disappointing (how am I going to get fluent at this rate?), but I did have an interesting lesson on Swedish culture. Ever heard of an Easter witch? My other two classes seem like they are going to be incredibly easy. I have Economic Geography of Europe once a week with a bit of light reading in between. Guess what the final is for that class? An multi-essay exam, totaling ten pages. Okay, now guess how long I have to complete the exam? TWO WEEKS! I cannot even believe how beyond ridiculous that is. I am used to having a day for that type of work. My International Trade Theory class might be a little more challenging...that would be welcome! I have lectures for that class once a week and sometimes a problem session as well. I am really starting to understand how challenging the Block Plan is, and missing it too. Am I going to have to beg for homework?

Well, I need to go and retrieve my third load of laundry. I can only fit about five things in these washers and do not even get me started on the drying time! Other than that, all is well here! Thank you to everyone for the emails and updates...I love hearing about what you are up to!

PS - Another new Picasa album...link on the right.

Rain & Sunshine

No class today. I am excited to start engaging my brain tomorrow. Oh, and it is Monday, my favorite day of the week!

The best part about today...wearing my rain boots!

I discovered that my rain boots are quite comfortable to hike in today. I was also complimented on them by a sweet lady at the bus stop, who attempted to engage me in a discussion. Unfortunately, I do not speak Swedish (yet!) and she did not speak any English. It was pretty funny! I also bought some blueberry juice by accident, but I am sure that I will find something creative to make with it. :)

This is my 'beach picture'

Lazy Sunday

First, if you would like to see additional photos, click the link to the right --> that says "Picasa" under "MORE PHOTOS." I cannot post all of them on my blog, so I will update these albums as well.

Today was a very lazy day, for no reason at all! I got up late, had some breakfast that was really more like lunch, and cleaned up my room. Then, I was feeling generous, so I picked up all of the trash outside the building where I live and there was quite a bit! Every time I walk home, I see the junk in the yard and feel grumpy. I finally decided to clean all of it up and now I feel much better! I am hoping that people will attempt to throw their alcohol bottles in the recycle in the future! After that, I was still feeling unproductive and decided that an adventure was in order. It was pretty chilly out, but since I was already wearing waterproof gear I decided to go down to the lake.

Moss near the lake

It is puzzling to me why there is not a path down to the lake anywhere near where I live, or a path along it for that matter. In the main part of Jönköping, there is a path parallel to the lake, but out where I live, there is nothing. I guess that people prefer to view it instead of really explore it! Anyways, I have been on a quest for a good way to get down to the edge because the land becomes near vertical by the coast, is very muddy and slippery, and has a lot of trees and bushes. I finally found a semi-reasonable area to descend behind a school near my building.

Lake Vattern

It is lovely down by the water! I love how peaceful it is! Everything is covered in bright green moss and has that semi-rotted appeal. There is literally the bank, which is about five times my height, and the water, so I was really glad that I was wearing my gortex hiking shoes. After I checked out all of the coastline that I could bushwhack too (not much, unfortunately), I decided to hike away from Jönköping and see what was in the other direction.

Mini pinecones

It took me a bit to find a path, but luckily "trespassing" is not really an issue in Sweden. There is a law that states anyone can walk across anyone else's land, provided that one is respectful and is not walking adjacent to homes. I love the trust and respect that this law implies and I definitely think that it is my favorite Swedish law! Anyways, I walked quite a ways and found the cutest houses ever! I also found a possible forest area, which I will have to examine at a later time because during this portion of my walk it was raining.

This one is for Mom :)

I, of course, did not realize how cold I was until I got back and I was freezing! It took me forever to thaw out. I am quite displeased with the stupid heaters in my room because they never make it warm enough. I know that I have unreasonable expectations temperature-wise, but it would be nice if they put out a little more heat!

My first class is on Tuesday! I am very excited because I feel like I have way too much time on my hands here. Unfortunately, the school lacks the variety and number of clubs and activities that I am accustomed to, so I am still searching for extracurricular activities. Luckily my Relay and Sodexho conference calls at insane hours (thank you, eight hour time difference) will provide some stimulation. Last night, orientation ended with a welcome dinner at a Greek restaurant near school. It was pretty good (buffet = lots of veggies for me) and I sat interesting people! I wish that I could say the same about Friday night! The international students were invited to a "sitting," which is a type of Swedish party. Of course, we all bought tickets without really knowing what it was because that is what you do as a new student. Well, sitting turned out to be a dinner party with excessive amounts of alcohol, highlighted by singing Swedish drinking songs. A little global flair was added by performances of national anthems by a variety of countries. It was very boring and annoying as a sober observer. Anyways, that night was pretty much awful and I think that was the first and last event of that genre that I will be attending. Other than that, everything else in the first week has been quite good. Hopefully week two will be as successful!

Sunny Day

Today in Jönköping - the first official sunny day in forty days! I spent my break from orientation meetings outside, of course!

A church in town

JIBS - my school

Lake Munksjön - one of the lakes behind my school


The theater next to the university

Three Amazing Updates

Things are fabulous in Sweden! I absolutely love it here! Today I had orientation meetings from 9:00 to 4:00 pm and used my lunch break to run some errands. I have been catching up on emails and chatting with family all afternoon. It is 1:15 am here and I am up, waiting for my Relay Region D Council call at 2:00 am...got to love the eight hour time difference. Anyways, here are some exciting things from today:

1. INTERNET! The reason I am online right now, in my room, on my computer! I was finally able to get my wireless set up today, both at my house and at school. I am so happy to once again be in contact with the world. Now I will have something to do when I wake up at 2:00 am...hopefully this "sleep three hours a night" phase will pass soon though.

2. MAILING ADDRESS! I have finally obtained my mailing address, so send me a letter. All mail comes to my house and is dumped on the floor in a pile in the hall because the postman is bitter. I heard this story today and am interested in the details! Nevertheless, I will get my mail and the rest of the residents are careful about neatly piling what is not their's.

Courtney Shephard
Rum 14
Ebba Ramsays väg 80
55594 Jönköping
Sweden

3. SOY MILK! Yesterday I stumbled upon an amazing grocery store on my way to school. It is the best one I have found thus far because it has not only soy milk, but soy yogurt and soy whip cream too. I am quite ecstatic about this discovery and will finally be able to make some rice pudding!

Internet...finally!

Today I was able to set up internet access for both my room and at school. I can now respond to emails in a timely manner and chat via skype/gmail. Thank you for your patience!

Hejsan från Sverige!

Lake Vattern

Well, I am finally in Sweden! Getting here was quite the experience! I left Denver on Thursday morning and got to Jönköping on Saturday afternoon…twenty-four hours later than anticipated. Thanks to my flight being delayed in Denver due to some mechanical issue with the plane, my entire trip got completely screwed up. By the time I made it to Chicago, I had missed my flight to Stockholm. I was rebooked on a early evening flight to London, but missed that one because I had to cross the airport, obtain my boarding passes, track down my luggage, and get through security…in one hour. I was then put on a later flight to London, which ended up leaving three hours later than scheduled. The one good thing about my Chicago experience was that I met a couple from Sweden, who were also traveling from Denver. They were super nice and told me a lot of great information about the country. I also met another guy, Vince, in Chicago who is studying at JIBS too! The four of us grouped up and ended up going through the ordeal together! It was nice to have other people with me. Let’s see, so when I finally got to London (after the worst seven hours of turbulence ever), I had exactly forty-five minutes to navigate across the airport and security and make my flight to Stockholm. Luckily, we got there just as they were closing the gate! That flight was much nicer! By the time we finally arrived in Stockholm, our flight to Jönköping had left, and apparently there are no flights there on Saturday or Sunday! The airlines arranged rooms for Vince and I at the hotel and booked us train tickets for Saturday. The three-hour train trip to Jönköping was actually pretty fun, minus the three switches, which were horrible with the amount of heavy baggage that we had. It was fun to see the landscape and all of the cities and towns that we passed through.

So, finally we arrived in Jönköping on Saturday afternoon. We had to wait for three hours to find out where we were living, but a bunch of other international students were waiting too. I am surprised by how diverse the international student group is – there are literally people here from every corner of the globe. Jönköping is on the shore of a huge lake, Lake Vattern, and near two smaller lakes. It is much warmer here than I anticipated (yay!). There is no snow on the ground! I am living near the edge of the lake, about four miles from the school. I really wanted to live in the apartments where the majority of the international students live because the complex used to be the Swedish projects! I have my own room, so I cannot complain too much. The place where I am living is sort of like dorms – there are a lot of rooms that share common kitchens, bathrooms, etc. I do not have internet yet, which is really difficult, especially because I wake up at 3:00 am every morning and need something to keep me occupied. Hopefully when I sign my lease (no idea when this will be), I will be able to figure out how we can obtain access to the wireless. Yesterday, my life was changed by my first trip to Ikea, which is pretty much the most incredible store ever invented! I went nuts at Ikea! I am glad that it is very far away – otherwise I would probably live there. My room is disgustingly dull, but I am working on the decorations.

Not as many people speak English here as anticipated. Most speak some, and I usually try to find someone younger because they can usually understand me better. I am excited to start Swedish classes! It is not too difficult to read because many of the words resemble English words. I have mastered the essentials – milk, eggs, cream, butter, etc, etc. That was key in order to navigate around the grocery store! I have not found soymilk yet, but there is a wide selection of gluten free food, which is encouraging. I am also getting pretty good at figuring out the bus system. I cannot wait to get a pass because I am sick of making sure that I have Swedish money with me. I am glad that it is Monday so that I can finally exchange all of the US money that I keep pulling out by accident. I forgot about the 6.4:1 conversion rate yesterday and attempted to pay the bus guy about $50 USD for a $2 bus ticket. Luckily, he was really nice and just let me on. I am really happy that Jönköping looks a lot like Evergreen! It was actually sunny yesterday too!

Orientation starts today, and I think that we get out passwords to use the school’s wireless. In the meantime, I am going to see if I can remember where the library and hope that I can tap into internet there. I am also going to check out the closest grocery store to my house, which the two British guys I met described as, “Cheap, crap Walmart.” It sounds really enjoyable!

I still have the same email (courtney.shephard@coloradocollege.edu), and will hopefully be able to check it more regularly in the near future.