One of the best political cartoons I have seen in a while...

http://cagle.msnbc.com/politicalcartoons/PCcartoons/PCbest2.asp

Along the Shore

88 photos in 45 minutes? A sunny morning is a powerful motivator! Of course, not all 88 made the cut. Here are a few of my favorites:

Got 20 minutes and 40 seconds?

Watch this: www.storyofstuff.com.

Bonfires and Ki Jympa

Is it already Friday? It seems like I was actually busy this week...yay for that! On Monday, one of my friends planned a bonfire next to the lake. We used a fire pit and were literally next to shore and combined with the fact that Sweden is constantly moist, there was virtually no fire danger. I was pretty proud of myself for actually attending an evening social activity and surprised that it was fun! I made some Swedish jam thumb print cookies - cruelty free, of course - and everyone liked them. Here's to spreading the vegan love!

Classes are starting to pick up a little bit. Swedish is getting really challenging because it requires remembering EVERYTHING that we have done thus far plus new material. I feel like I am starting to make a tiny amount of progress. Plus, this week I had three Swedish lessons, which is also incredibly helpful. My schedule changes week to week, which is why I will sometimes have a class twice one week and then not at all the next. I really do not understand scheduling at this school at all. Economic Geography of Europe was painfully boring. Our lecturer was from a different Swedish university. He was incredibly monotonous, and I really do not remember what the lecture was about. I will have to review my reading for that one! I had a problem session today for International Trade, and it went well. I was actually at school all day - Swedish from 10:00 to 12:00 pm and Trade from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. I stayed until 5:30 pm working on Swedish homework because I was on a role. I am feeling quite accomplished!

However, the real feat of the week was completing my first Swedish gym class last night! When I purchased my semester gym membership, I also opted to pay a little extra to have the option of unlimited gym classes. Jympa is my gym's specialty. A jympa class is a mix between aerobics, cardio, cool music, and core strengthening. There are the basic jympa classes which have varying degrees of difficulty, but also classes that mix in kickboxing, yoga, weights, etc. I will admit that I watched the classes every week while I complete my personal workout and they looked fun, but I could not bring myself to try one. Why? Well, it is pretty intimidating to spend an hour long class doing something that you have never done before, taught in a language you do not understand, with about fifty other people (big rooms). However, I decided on Wednesday that after spending exactly one month in Sweden I was going to try it. I picked ki jympa - kickboxing jympa. The verdict: so fun and a great stress reliever! I discovered that I am pretty good at following what everyone else is doing and pretending that I know what is going on...haha. I will definitely be taking that class again!

It looks like the weekend is going to be devoted to Sodexo work (oooh name change), an internship application, class reading, and whatever else is emailed my way. I need to do some major grocery shopping tomorrow. I waited on purpose because there is a neat Saturday market in downtown Jönköping that I discovered last week - part flea market, part farmer's market, part whatever else you can think of. Hopefully, it will stop raining!

Twilight Zone

Today I had one of the wierdest encounters ever. The world is a very small place.

This morning I went to Swedish class. I had my funny professor, so all went well. We reviewed our verbs, conjugation in four different tenses, and left feeling relatively overwhelmed but slightly more confident...haha...the last part was a joke. I begin my walk to the bus, which involves walking up the main street in downtown Jönköping. I am walking along, sort of spacing at as usual, when a nicely dressed girl steps in front of me and says, "Hej!"
"Hej," I reply, "Jag taler inte svenska" (I do not speak Swedish).
"Do you speak English?" she replies, without the slightest accent.
"Yep," I say, "I am American." Well, guess what? So is she! Then I notice the name tag and connect the name tag to the nice attire and the friendly, greet random people on the streetness...oh my gosh I think to myself, this girl is a missionary.
"Where are you from?" she asks.
"Colorado."
"So am I!" Holy crap, I think to myself. "I am from Centennial...it is near Denver. And you?"
"Wow...my roommate back at school is from Centennial. I am from Evergreen. It is a little town..."
"Oh I know Evergreen! My dad lives there!"
I decide to verify my suspicions: "Are you a Mormon missionary?"
"Yes! Have you ever heard of the Mormon Church?"
"Yeah...well actually, my best friend is a Mormon missionary in Paraguay..." Then, she gets really excited.
"Oh how wonderful! You attend church here?"
"Well no, you see, I am actually Catholic."
Obviously discouraged, but she is still going to try: "But your friend, has he shared the wonderful Book of Mormon with you?"
"Yeah...but I am pretty set on being Catholic." Is there a better way to break the news?

Then, she pinned me down on the sidewalk and converted me!

Just kidding. Actually we agreed that it was a small world and I continued on my trek to the bus.

Thank you, Mom!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today has been one of those weird, mixed days where I will undoubtedly go to bed wondering what to make of it. I have to say that it started out incredible. I woke up to sunshine this morning at 7:30 am! This is the FIRST time that I have woken up to the sun shining in Sweden ever. Then, I checked my email. I discovered that the Evergreen Rec Center has a new name, which I find unappealing for a variety of reasons. I decided to go to the gym to blow off some steam, where I realized that it was going to be a 'speed walk on the treadmill day unless you want to find yourself completely broken in Sweden without your chiropractor to fix you.' Bummer. However, when I left the gym, the sun was still shining beautifully!

I received two packages today...awesome! The first was my books - finally! I can now read my class assignments for the last four weeks. Of course, it does not really matter here whether I study or not, but I enjoy exercising my brain on a regular basis. There is probably something wrong with the fact that I am looking forward to reading 150 pages tonight? The really sad part is that 150 pages of reading would be a normal night of homework, if not a little on the light side, for me at CC. Here...well, let's just say that it is my homework catch up for the last month. I had to go all the way to Bankeryd to pick up Mom's package - I am not really sure why, but anyways, that was fun. I decided to break Lent and eat some of the cinnamon hearts...well a lot of them and then felt sick, sick, sick. I then made a better decision and took the candy upstairs to the Common Room to share. Oh, and Smart Balance Omega 3 Peanut Butter? Wow! What an amazing invention! I have not tried it yet, but it says 'VEGAN' right on the label which improves its value 490% in my book. Class this afternoon was awful. I supposedly have one of the 'best' professors in the school for that class. Well, I am sure that he is a great person, but professor? I will just say that having a stuttering problem + not knowing what you are talking about + losing your textbook and admitting it to the class + always late = no thank you. I suppose I should get back to my reading now. Yippee!
PS - GO OBAMA!

Things I Have Learned In Sweden

The title is pretty self explanatory, so here we go:

1. A sweater + tights is considered a great outfit (pants or skirt are not included) and is not seen as completely scandalous. However, it should be.
   
2. Havregryn means oat...so if you buy havregryn milk, it is actually oat milk instead of soy milk. If you happen to purchase this by mistake, you will discover that it is actually better than the sad excuse for soy milk found in Sweden and much better for cooking too.
3. Sketchy is not a known term and no one will understand you if you happen to use it in conversation.
4. If your Swiss neighbor happens to see the red lifeguard shirt that you occasionally wear to bed, she will get really excited. It will probably take you at least an hour to figure out that it resembles the flag of Switzerland.
5. Flour is different in every country. Adaptation is difficult.
6. Recycling is difficult, especially on the Jönköping University campus. Surprisingly, the only place to recycle paper on campus is at the Sodexho Cafe. Life is really strange sometimes.
7. A gorgeous basil plant costs the same amount as a cucumber. Purchase both.
8. School is much more relaxed. Prepare to miss homework, stimulating class discussions, competent professors, going to class every day, and the Block Plan immensely.
9. The shortest route to the bus stop involves crossing train tracks. Learn the train schedule before attempting this journey because trains use the tracks regularly.
10. It will seem like there is absolutely no way that the bus driver will make 98% of the turns he attempts, but he does - 100% of the time.
    

Weekend in Göteborg

Canal in the city

Ships in the harbor


Rainy day in the park

I finally saw a moose (called elk here)...I felt terrible for it though! Clearly he hated his awful cage.

Gränna

Yesterday had the day off from classes (again!), so I decided to take a day trip to Gränna. Gränna is a town adjacent to Jönköping, just a little further down the shore of Lake Vattern. It is quite a charming place! I found a great hiking trail/lookout, and was able to take this photo of Gränna from above. No, the ocean is not in this picture, it is the lake!

Gränna

I found a beautiful place to hike, so I decided to start off my day that way. There are a lot more photos in my Picasa album, so check those out. I am definitely coming back here in the spring...the forest was so beautiful. I found this lovely little pond and then, the sun came out!

Gorgeous sunshine

I also discovered that February is NOT the time to visit Gränna - it is definitely a summer tourist destination. A lot of the shops and attractions were closed for the season, but I still enjoyed walking around the town and enjoying its "cuteness." Gränna is cited as the first town to manufacture polkagrisar, which is basically peppermint stick candy. It is a little bit softer than your average candy cane, and now it comes in a plethora of flavors and designs. Out of the twenty polkagrisar manufacturers in town, one was open yesterday! I walked in exactly when the guys were starting a batch, so I got to watch the process. It was really fun! I have never seen sugar look like silly putty before.

I also visited the Gränna Museum. It was really neat! There is an exhibit on Gränna history and one on arctic expeditions. The other trademark of Gränna is that it is the hometown of S.A. Andre, the first man to attempt to explore the North Pole with a hot air balloon. The story is rather tragic, but the exhibit is really interesting because thirty years after the expedition failed, someone found the balloon, his diary, and all of the other remains. Thankfully there were no bodies present at the museum! The exhibit also has information on more recent arctic expeditions, which is quite interesting as well!

-------

Today, I had a great Swedish class. The two hours completely flew by! I came home this afternoon and decided to make vegetable soup for what turned out to be a very late lunch. I got a little "chop happy" and made enough soup to last me a week! I just returned from the gym, which was much needed after yesterday. I received a FANTASTIC package from Mom, who incidentally has gift with international mail - that box made it in a week. I decided to celebrate "Fat Tuesday" a day early with glorious Whole Foods PEANUT BUTTER and a spoon. It was definitely one of the best days of my life. I should probably start on my Swedish homework before I forget everything I learned this morning. Peace!

PS - Eagerly awaiting Super Tuesday results!

Snowy Week

Another week come and gone. Classes were much better this week! I had a great lecture for my Economic Geography course on Wednesday. Our professor was a guest from Linköping University and her topic was "Energy in Europe" - always a winner in my book! It was really interesting to see the present and future status on European energy consumption levels, energy sources, etc. We did a lot of comparisons with the rest of the world, which was particularly embarrassing for me because I am the only American in the class. My only consolation was that I was one of the most knowledgeable in the class, in terms of the technologies, policies, and solutions. Lecture in that course will always be interesting because we have a different professor almost every time! International Trade was less than engaging, but what can really be expected in a lecture hall with over 100 students? I am having a really difficult time adjusting to that course and I typically spend the two hour lecture missing Colorado College. Luckily, I have already learned most of the material and the new information is really easy to understand. Swedish went very well this week! I am so happy that we are finally broken into our small groups. We are learning basic conversational phrases right now, and I am doing a lot of review on my own so that I can learn to read and write too. I am finding it easier to recognize words, predominantly out of necessity, but whatever makes me learn it is okay by me!

Path to the city

In other news, not much happened this week. It has been incredibly cold and windy, so going outside is quite challenging. We had a light snow on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - that was really surprising. I found out this week that there is a ski area nearby, but it has not opened this year due to lack of snow. I have been getting really creative with my cooking endeavors, which is always fun. I made some hummus this week without any appliances, which I am pretty proud of. I kind of feel like a pioneer in the kitchen because we do not have a blender or any baking pans, cookie sheets, etc. Other than classes, I have spent a lot of time at the gym and working on my summer plans. Applying for internships when one is abroad can be quite challenging! I am thankful for all of my great resources back at CC and email!

PS - This is where I live...building #2, rum 14