End of Week 2

I had just finished writing this entry when I accidentally pasted over the entry and erased everything and blogger promptly saved my new version so there was no hope of getting my previous entry back. Here is my second attempt.

Thursday

Went grocery shopping with Nick at the larger and less expensive ICA supermarket near Flogsta. Laurie and Anneloes came over to our place to discuss possible travel arrangements. We ended up booking a cruise to Tallinn, Estonia for this coming Friday to Sunday. The cost for the five of us going, Franzi, Laurie, Anneloes, Nick, and me, was about $20 each! This includes a room for two nights on the boat and a 1.5-hour entrance to a day spa in Tallinn! We’ll be able to explore the rest of Tallinn for about 8 hours while the boat is docked there and then will sail back to Stockholm overnight. It is actually going to cost us more to get to and from Stockholm on train than the whole cruise. We will still have to figure out our own food and drink situation as well. We plan on getting to Stockholm early on Friday so we can explore some of it before boarding the cruise. We will definitely be looking into the cruises to Helsinki and Riga if we can get these prices again! We booked through the Swedish version of the cruise line Tallink and booking through the Swedish site was about 1/10th the cost of booking through their English site (they know how to take advantage of English speaking tourists!). After booking the cruise the four of us went to dinner at Snerikes. I ordered a salad that turned out to only consist of 5 spinach leaves, a crouton, and two slices of mozzarella cheese, not worth it. I also ordered this beer solely based on its name:

We decided not to go to Stockholms club night, but as we were walking by the nation to head home we realized the police were carefully following and watching us because they thought we were trying to jump a fence and sneak into the club for free.

Friday

I finally did laundry and didn’t struggle too much getting the machines to work for me. I then had a group meeting for a presentation we have on Monday. We are supposed to summarize the scientific findings on climate change as if we were presenting to a politician. There are four of us in the group, but only Magnus and I showed up for the meeting. We got a good outline set up and decided who would say what, but communication with the group has been very frustrating. Nick and I met up with the Minnesota girls Anna, Dawn, and Katie before heading out to Östgöta Nation (ÖG). I hadn't been there previously, but their club was pretty good and there was no queue when we arrived. Varmlands Nation also has their club Friday night and their line was extremely long. ÖG's club stayed open until 2am instead of the usual 1am, which is a big deal when the nations can do that.

Saturday

Nick and I went and paid our rent at Forex, which was a relatively easy process thankfully. We then went to the Systembolaget to stock up on beers. The Systembolaget closes at 3pm on Saturdays so we were there during the last weekend rush, which was very crazy. Got a donut from a vender on the main pedestrian mall for a delicious taste of home. Took it easy the rest of the day until meeting up with new friends before going to a corridor welcome party. It was a very big corridor and packed with people and there was also a DJ again with a very impressive sound system, these corridor parties are serious! Apparently the party was a little too good and what happens when something is too good? It doesn't last. In this case the police made sure of that by ending the party. The police seem to have a better relationship with the students here as no one was arrested or felt they needed to run and hide from the Police, as may be the case back home. The party dispersed slowly, but efficiently under the watch of the police and we headed back to Rackarbergsgatan for bed.

Sunday

Took it very easy today and did some homework for the coming week. Was supposed to meet with my group for our presentation, but again email communication was poor and it ended up falling through, so now we are meeting tomorrow a few hours before we present to finalize everything. It will be very nice to have this rather annoying little assignment behind me.

I am excited for classes and then our cruise this week. I think the cruise will really kick start more adventures and travels instead of just being in Uppsala, having class, and going to the pubs, clubs and parties. We are still trying to set up a time to go north to Lappland and are now leaning towards going in early March. Nick and I are also looking into going to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day, which would be an amazing once in a lifetime experience. Some possible class schedule conflicts and possibly expensive flights still need to be looked at and resolved before we can book this trip though.

I also forgot to mention that on Wednesday I met a Swede, Jacob, who is considering studying at CU next year on exchange! He asked me a lot of questions about CU and Boulder and I think I left him with a pretty good impression of it all so hopefully he comes next year!

That’s all I have for now, this my second time writing this entry. Next new post at the latest by next Sunday after the cruise! One last picture I snapped of the river through downtown at night.

Hej då
Jesse

Second week in Uppsala so far

Monday
Finally getting into the swing of classes and feel like I know my way around town pretty well already. My accommodation is in a very prime location so walking to most places I need to go to is not a problem. Had a very interesting lecture by Martin Hedburg who is a meteorologist about science of climate change in CCL. The lecture lasted from 1pm to 3pm, but he took questions until about 4:30, very interesting stuff, and scary. Then I remained in the same building and had my introduction to my third and final class, Actors and Strategies for Change. All of the classes should complement each other very well and several of the same people are in at least two of my classes and some in all three so it will be good and easy to meet even more people who care about the same things as I do and can work on class work together with.

Tuesday
Had CCL and a lecture about the planetary limits of different pollutants and resources we use beside just focusing on climate change. Climate change definitely isn't the only big problem we will run into in the future and most of these planetary limits are intertwined. I've still postponed ordering my books I need for the classes and need to do that soon or it will catch up to me. For Sustainable Design the whole class had to catch a 20 minute bus to SLU, the other university in the region. There we did a work shop on the process of design and were to create a model of a new type of chair with the given supplies within 40 minutes. My supposed camp chair turned into something only maybe just resembling a chair, but the process was interesting and it was nice to do something in class that made me think in a different creative way. It was one of the coldest days since I've been here and after I returned from SLU Nick and I went to Snierkes Nation for the club. We had just become members of that nation today, which gives us some perks, the main one being we don't have to pay to get into the club night. It was freezing in line and we waited for about 1.5 hours before getting in. Luckily they club was allowed to stay open an additional hour until 2am which is apparently a very big deal here! I don't mind the "early" nights as much as some of the Europeans who are used to partying until 6am, at least here I can be productive the next day still!

Wednesday
Had a seminar (like a recitation) for CCL and discussed what we had heard from lecturers so far. Also need to meet with my group in CCL as we are all giving an 8 minute presentation summarizing the science of climate change next Monday. Had a lecture in SD at night which was a very broad overview of sustainable development challenges and opportunities. The international student pub crawl was tonight, but started while I was in class. After class I didn't feel like joining the crawl late and fighting through the cold so I just stayed in.

Thursday (so far)
Slept in and have tried to start being productive. Cleaned up the room and am about to go try to use the high tech laundry facility here. It is free, but you have to reserve machines for specific times and the machine is in Swedish (go figure). I'm slowly getting used to hearing and not understanding most everyone speak Swedish around me, but there is a fair share of English being spoke as well and most everyone here at shops, on the street etc can speak decent to very good english to you. I am learning some basic words and can make sense of reading instructions better now. I won't be taking the offered Swedish language course as my classes are a full schedule already and I want to leave time for traveling. I am practicing some Swedish through an online program though. We have run into some problems in booking our trip to Lappland, which we had originally hoped to do next weekend. We may do a very cheap 40 hour cruise across the Baltic Sea and back instead for now. The ships go to either Helsinki, Tallinn, or Riga and looking like the whole experience could cost less than $200 we may end up doing several of them this semester. The big draw of the cruises for the locals too is the duty free alcohol, plus how many people can say they've been to Finland, Estonia, or Latvia? Going to do a more substantial grocery run here in a bit and may go out to Stockholms club tonight, we'll see.

Well we are now up to date with my experience in Uppsala! Hoping to have more adventures/travels and pictures soon to add to the post!

Hej då!
Jesse

First Entry (2 weeks after arrival)

I've been in the great country of Sweden for 2 weeks now and have loved every bit of it (except perhaps some of the colder moments). I am still getting settled in, but feel very comfortable in my new home. 

Uppsala Cathedral

A rundown of what I have done in the past two weeks:


The parents spent the night at our house in Boulder and then drove me to DIA for my flight. We had to rearrange my bags because my large suitcase was overweight and would have cost $200! Flew to O'Hare and found that two girls also from CU going to Sweden were on the same flights as me. We worked our way to the international terminal in Chicago and boarded a very nice Scandinavian Airlines plane around 4pm. I was in the second to last row on the plane. Every seat had its own TV, blanket, pillow, and we were served two meals on the 8.5 hour flight overnight to Stockholm. I talked to the one person sitting next to me, Josie, and she turned out to be a student at Uppsala and an international officer at one of the nations so she was great to talk to for almost half the flight as neither of us could sleep very well. Once we arrived in Stockholm at 8am and still mostly dark I was told one of my bags did not make the plane to Stockholm (a nice thing in hindsight, as it was the huge heavy suitcase that was eventually deliver right to my room in Uppsala instead of me dragging it around Stockholm and Uppsala). Josie helped the 2 girls from CU and me around the Stockholm airport and the 3 of them caught a bus up to Uppsala, while I caught a bus to downtown, Old Town Stockholm. After wandering around a little lost I found my way to my hostel and checked in around 11am. Having not slept on the plane I was exhausted and slept for 3-4 hours in the hostel. I wandered around the shopping area of Stockholm, got a panini, purchased a Swedish cell phone and some toiletries. Hung out in the common area of the hostel and starting talking to a group from Switzerland as well as others from Spain. We eventually went out to a near by Irish pub which had an awesome live band. Beer and everything else here is very expensive! I also gambled for the first time with two hands of blackjack at the pub. (Only lost about 5 dollars). 


The next morning (Saturday) I caught the train to Uppsala. By chance I met two more girls from CU going to Uppsala and also met two Australian girls also headed there. We were all very weighed down with luggage. The two Aussies Laura and Catherine joined me in meeting my buddy Ava in Uppsala and she guided us two the housing office to get our keys. Then we went to the international office to check in with our advisor and then two my new residence: 

Rackarbergsgatan 24, 433

SE-752 32 Uppsala
Sweden 

My room

I slept that afternoon until the next morning after arriving in my room.

Met one of my Swedish corridor mates Nils and later met Louisa and John also from Sweden. The other room belongs to Nick who is also from CU (although we never knew each other before). Nick and I went on a guided tour of Uppsala for new International Students. It was raining! Meet some more international students including a group of girls from Minnesota. Had fika (afternoon coffee/tea and pastries, a Swedish tradition) with a large group after the tour. Had a brunch and smorgasbord at two nations for lunch and dinner. 

Nations are like student groups/fraternities/social groups with their own pubs, cafes, study areas, and some even their own clubs normally once a week. There are 13 nations in Uppsala and they date from the 1600s when students from the different regions or nations of Sweden would be part of their nation while in Uppsala. We as international students can choose any nation to join.

Monday 

went to a MAX burger place (Swedish equivalent of McDonalds) then to IKEA for some room essentials. Registered for my classes and then attended and international students welcome talk and an introduction talk to all of my Sustainable Development classes. The met up with other internationals for fika and then the pubs. 

Proof I'm actually in Sweden, dressing very European, and shooting cannons

Tuesday 

had my first class Climate Change Leadership. Very interesting talk by one of the many guest lecturers we will have. It is a very diverse group of students. At least are masters students and there are only 3 Americans and maybe 6 native english speakers in a class of 40. Learned more about the different nations at the international student fair. That night Nick and I went to the first club night of the year at Snierkes Nation. The queue was extremely long and not moving so we went to two different nation pubs with some internationals from Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy before finally getting into the club around 11:30. There are coat checks at all the nations and once in we had our choice of about 4 bars and 3 dancefloors. Very fun time.

Wednesday

had CCL again and then that evening had Sustainable Design. SD should be interesting because I've never really focused on the design side of problems. Really focuses on a very creative approach. Went out to V-Dala and then Norrlands pub with many international students. Met a friend of a friend, Max, from CU who has been studying in Uppsala since August. We went to Norrlands club night after the pub too, but Snierkes was much better.

Thursday

didn't have any class so I slept in still not quite on Sweden time. Took it very easy for the afternoon. Went to the grocery store for some basic food and also the Systembolaget, the Swedish state monopoly on liquor sales. At night went out to another nation club, Stockholms Nation. Had to wait in line for an hour+ but meet and talked to 4 Swedish girls waiting to get in. Once in I met up with the Aussies and some Canadians I had met earlier in the week as well meeting up again with the Swedes from the line. 

Scenes around Uppsala

Friday 

also don't have class. Nick and I finally went out, toured around the city some more, went into the cathedral and walked by the castle, and used our cameras around town which I will try to post or set up a link too. Also got a scarf, which has been a great purchase in this rather chilly town! Friday night we were back out again going to Varmlands Nation club. We had dinner early at the Varmlands pub and stayed there until the club started in order to avoid standing outside in line again. 

Things get very crowded in the clubs and the Swedes are very pushy! I have met some very nice people here, but it is easier to meet internationals than Swedes at least initially because the internationals are also very eager to meet new people and the Swedes are more reserved so you have to be the one to initiate a conversation.

At Varmlands

Saturday

Took it easy until catching a bus to Flogsta with Nick, an area of 10 high rise buildings where many students, particularly internationals live. We got food at the local supermarket and made burritos in our friend Laurie's corridor with two other new friends too. With this group of 5 we are trying to plan a trip to the North of Sweden above the Arctic Circle. Later we went to a crazy and packed corridor party in Flogsta. It was a blue party so everyone was to wear blue. The corridor was packed with maybe 100 people and a DJ! I walked the 20 minutes home in the cold later at night and luckily made all of the right turns to get back to my accommodation!

Blue for the party

Sunday
Finally a day of rest and not going out at night. Took it easy and attempted to watch some of the NFL playoff games streamed online as well as watching some TV shows online. Watched How I Met Your Mother episodes with the Minnesota girls who live nearby.

So there is the summary for the first week. I will try to post more often so I can remember more and keep you all up to date.

Jesse