Friday, February 22, 2008

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!

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