APOLOGIES! I am back on the grind...

To start off, in response to my previous post; the water finally turned on a day later, but unfortunately the internet and electricity has been going out frequently, about once a week for a few days here and there. Such a pain in the ass! I have now realized what a blessing it is to have consistent running water, electricity, and Internet in the good-old USA.

Since the last post my life has become fast passed like I am used too. After returning from my Barcelona-London Trip my first set of exams began. They were interesting to say the least. In Sweden they give three grades No Pass (U), Pass (G), and a High Pass (VG). How these grades transfer back equally to an A-F scale, I have no clue. It does not make any since that we should receive grades back at home for these courses, especially if our home University new how horribly structured, run, and non-educational they are! I cannot say the courses are easy, and at points they are actually quite difficult, but the structure and teaching resembles an elementary classroom style. I believe they should be strictly based on a pass/no pass evaluation scale, especially since the largest benefit of Studying Abroad is not what you learn in the classroom, but the experiences and cultural differences/similarities that you learn when living abroad.

I was thankful to receive a VG, and I still do not know what I received in my other course. Post the exam period I made a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark for the Sensation White ‘Wicked Winter Wonderland’ Rave/Extravaganza. It was insane to say the least. As well, I have done some sight seeing around Malmo and Lund. The Swedish Country Side is beautiful, especially in the Fall.

Ass well, my second sets of Courses have begun. One of the courses is in Management Control and the other is in International Business for Multinational Enterprises. Both of these courses seem to follow the same unorganized, poor-lecture status as did my two previous courses, but with this I have been able to do a lot of traveling. It’s a catch 22 depending on how you want to look at it.

Fall and No Running Water

Well, the wind and cold has come. The leaves are turning orange and yellow. The ivy is turning shades of red on the building exteriors. Everything is changing here in Lund. The cold weather is definitely a lot nippier then back in Portland, Oregon, but the town and campus make everything refreshing. Lund is so peaceful and quaint, except for when the water is turned off…

I woke up this morning to a cold shower that shut off halfway through the hair-shampooing phase. Too be honest I am not a great morning person and this pushed me over the edge. The water did not turn back on until 1am, great timing. What happened, I have no clue. Will I send a complaint tomorrow to Housing, Oh YEAH! Otherwise, my Lund Experience has been rewarding and great. In the next coming weeks I have my first set of exams, and then I am onto a new course schedule. It is exciting…later this week I will give the response update to my formal complaint!

Barcelona and London Baby!

Wow, Barcelona was amazing. Barcelona is located on the Northern Mediterranean Coast of Spain. My friends and I stayed in a Hostel one block away from the coast. The views of the city were amazing. One day we hiked to a castle that looked over the city, and on the same day we checked out the 1992 Olympic Park and Stadium. Sadly, a lot of the Olympic Park grounds were all run down, but it was still very cool to see. Then the next day we spent seeing Gaudi’s art and architecture around the whole town – from the park, to his house, to the Temple de la Sagrada Familia. These sights were amazing, especially the temple which is not going to be completed until 2026.

Every night we all drank Sangria, and ate Paella. The Paella was so delish. On two random nights we stumbled across traditional events and festivals. One of the events was very weird and dangerous. Spaniards dressed in devil and dragon costumes, and shot fireworks at people in the street. As a group of travelers we really could not figure out what this odd tradition represented. The next night, we found out Spain was celebrating some Independence Day event. This day included an amazing firework display that was choreographed to music, and a huge colorful fountain, and went on for 45 minutes. Thousands of Spaniards joined in on the event. This was very cool to take part in. All-in-all Barcelona was great!

London was also awesome to visit again. I saw old friends, and met up with my colleagues I worked with at St. James Place Wealth Management. I also saw the show Chicago, which was great. It was very refreshing to be back in the town I love and miss so much. I was the head tour guide for this portion of the trip, and took the group on the London Eye, toured the Tower of London, and saw many more other London Town sites.

Pictures Below!

Barcelona (Top to Bottom)

The pictures below are of Barcelona (Gaudi’s art, the castle, Olympic Park, and the city landscape). London pictures include (The London Eye, and Tower of London).

Some Extra Info...

Hello, everyone! I have been doing great over the past week. Classes have been going well. I have noticed a consistent example used in all my courses…Ikea! I would have to say in every lecture or course conversation with my professors, they use Ikea as an example or case study. I realize Ikea has been a great Swedish accomplishment, but I do feel the professors should diversify their examples, but I do smile every time it is discussed. I am starting a tally sheet.

Below are some pictures of campus, Lund, and the Malmo Coast. The weather has been beautiful! I will be in touch in a week. I leave Saturday for Barcelona, Spain, and then I am traveling back to London, England to see new friends and some more sights. I cannot get over that city!

Pictures!

From Top to bottom: Malmo Coast Line, Central Station (Lund), Student Building, Observatory, and the front of the Business Building.

Novisch Party – Friday

Wow. This was a Swedish Event to remember. There was a Formal Attire sittning which started at 5:45. The ballroom of the castle was filled with tables, fine china, and had 400+ seats filled with a majority of Swedish Students. You are assigned a spot and the drinks are served. A three course, two intermission meal follows. Two Swedish students who work for the 5 Torno Nations (the best nations on campus) MC’d the event. Through the whole dinner songs were sang and cheers were made (In Swedish and cheer is called a Skull). Language and inappropriate videos are not a problem during this event. Professors spoke at the 3 hour long dinner, which then lead into a massive after party with more than another 1000 students joining in with the festivities. The Melody Club, a good Swedish band played, and then a DJ took over. The party went into the early hours of the morning. And then the after party began, once we all left the AF-Building. During this event I realized something about the Swedish culture, they are very Liberal and Free Spirited about sex, drinking, and having fun. It does not matter the generation… everyone is LIBERAL with the social views of the world. This is great, especially when the population is soooooooo attractive.

A Traditional Swedish Meal…gone crazy! –Thursday!

I attended a Holland’s Nation event this Thursday called Ämpos. Translated, this is a name for an event where you eat pea soup and pancakes, drink punsch, and sing a lot of crazy songs. The meal was great…I hate pea soup, but this wasn’t the same, it was loaded with ham and almost was like a lentil soup. The pancakes resembled crepes and were great. The pusch is type of alcohol; the Swedes drink ALL THE TIME and ON ANY OCCASION. Awesome! It makes every event just-that-much-better! Pusch tasted like sweet schnapps with a bit of a moon shine twist. It was gross, but you drink it. Beer and cider is also served trough out the meal. The fun part is when the singing begins; halfway through the meal the Vocal Foreman (an actual position in the Nation) begins the singing. Songs are sung for a good hour. The songs were all in Swedish, and the atmosphere of the event is hard to describe. This traditional past time has been going on for 300 years. Once every one is drunk…the inappropriate and modern songs are sang…they are outrageous.

Tonight, I am attending the Novisch Party. I am thinking it will be the best part of this very Swedish week I have experienced.

Sittning - Wednesday!

This specific sittning was a themed, dress up sittning…so our group dressed 'Ikea' (how Swedish). The meal was a three course drunken fest, lots of singing, and then clubbing afterward. The Novisch party I am attending Friday will be a formal Sittning.

I will update the blog and compare the events in order to be able to fully describe this Swedish Tradition of the 'Sittning'.

Adventures!

Wow, the last week was full of adventures. The first adventure being laundry! My dorm complex, Sparta has the most confusing process I have ever experienced in order to do a simple task; it literally blew my mind with how confusing and hard doing my laundry was! You are not given any maps or directions to wear the laundry is located, so I asked around and found out you had to first make reservations at a kiosk, and then attend your reserved time frame, and then I finally found out the laundry room was in a basement 4 buildings away. Well, I figured the kiosk to reserve a time was also in the basement, NOT, it was in another building 2 blocks away from where the laundry room is located. When I am at the kiosk I realize the whole thing is in Swedish, great! So I spent 30 minutes at the kiosk, hoping I was pushing the correct buttons to make a correct reservation. Two days later my reservation came up, and I made the hike to the laundry room with all my clothes. When it comes to me doing laundry, I wait till the last minute, which leaves me with a ton of clothes, well this made the hike to the laundry room exhausting, and I also found out I only had one washer machine reserved. So, I washed the more important items, and I will put together a better game plan in the future. I got a C doing my laundry.

My other monumental adventure has been working on my group projects in the two different courses I have, Business Policy and Business-to-Business Marketing. Both courses are taught in English, but are full of different exchange students from around the world. Well I always thought group projects even back at home were freaking difficult to accomplish, well I found out I have met a new beast of a challenge. In my Business Policy course, I am in a group of 4, and have a project do this upcoming Tuesday. In my group I have one lazy American, a German, and a guy from Austria. Wow, well the German and Austrian are great people but cannot write or speak English very well, so I have to do the paper, because the lazy American wanted to go north for the weekend…figures. I guess I am just going to work through this part of the project on my own, and attempt to incorporate everyone for the presentation. It is a learning process.

I will keep everyone updated on the upcoming weeks adventures. I will be attending two sittnings (Swedish pre-party dinners), and the Novicsh party on Saturday. Should be a lot of fun!

Settled-In

I am finally settling down in Lund, Sweden from moving in on the 22nd of August. Going from interning, the busy lifestyle, and partying in London, England for 2 ½ months, to getting back to the studies in a true college town has been quite the shock! I am living in the Sparta dorm complex in a Swedish hallway, and I am a lucky one to only be 2 min. away from class.

Over the past few weeks I have joined one of the many different Student Nations, toured through the town center, and gotten acquainted with the beautiful campus. A Student Nation is a social group,club,pub,greek life mixture. Being part of a nation gets you acquainted with the social community and activities. THEY ARE AWESOME! The town follows after your typical European design, cobble stone roads, picturesque buildings, a cathedral at the center of town, and filled with great places to eat and drink. The campus is at the top of town and covers the rolling hills of greenery. The buildings are brick, with ivy, or modern, but all follow a common trend.

Classes have begun, but I will update you all later on those! Otherwise, for the first blog there is a general overview of my new home and surroundings. Talk to you all later!