this weekend was great....scandinavia's largest pool party on friday and Akademien on saturday night. The pool party was awesome, and there was a relay race among schools to start the party off. After that, we partied non-stop until 11 where there was a fireworks finale. It was fun inside dancing and splashing water on people. There were too many people in the hot tub..... that water was dirtier than UCF's spirit splash, lol.
Saturday kinda got rained out, and we were going to play a game called Brannboll. Instead, we went over to one of our "Fadder's" apartments and had a mini party where we played an interesting drinking game. The game was pretty much like BS, with a couple of variations. After the 4th night of Akademien, I'm ready to shift focus into something else for the next couple of days, mainly setting up my classes and trying to figure out the research opportunity that I might have. Goodnight!
Jönköping University
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Class today
I had my Production Logistics and Materials Management class this morning at 8am, and yes, it was just as boring as that sounded. We have a chinese professor that speaks really crappy English, and read from powerpoint slides the whole period.....what the hell!?! I can learn a lot in this class, but it will all be OUTSIDE the class room, with a study group or something.
Tonight there is a pool party. Not just any pool party, but the biggest pool party in Scandinavia......over a thousand people will be there. Can't wait!!
Tonight there is a pool party. Not just any pool party, but the biggest pool party in Scandinavia......over a thousand people will be there. Can't wait!!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
welcome week
welcome week has been a blast so far, with fun stuff going on everyday and every night. It started off monday in the morning, where all the engineering exchange students were in a big room. We met our "Fadders" which were our father figures for the week, who would show us an awesome time, as well as some other nice ladys that will help out on the academic side. Judging from everyones body language in the room, they were all a little bit nervous/anxious about getting this thing going. Everyone is in the same shoes, which put me at ease.
A highlight would be the yellow overall ceremony, which is a tradition at Jonkoping University. Every school has their own color, and their own way of doing things. For us, we headed to the park to have a friendly competition. When we walked there, we saw a bunch of naked people laying on the ground, with their clothes in a straight line. The goal was to make the longest line, with whatever you had on. For me, I got down to my boxers and that was enough. The other activites involved taking a bath in the lake, making a model of the university campus with whatever we could find on the beach, laying down in the grass in a line, and rolling over each other, and finally...going down a slip and slide on a hill into the mud. My yellow overalls got muddy as hell....but its tradition to never wash your overalls, lol.
Swedish night life is pretty amazing, and the city definetely comes alive at night. Last night, we went on a "pub crawl" to 3 different places around the city, which was fun. After that we went to Akademien, which is the student run nightclub for the University. Theres two dancefloors, and a louge upstairs...the beers are pretty cheap too, only 35 SEK, which is about 5 US dollars. I left Akademien around midnight, and then went out to a place called O'leary's with my roommates. After tearing up the dance floor, I called it a night around 2:30. I've never danced that much or had so much fun in a night club before, and the best part was that I wasn't even drunk, lol.
Yestecday, I woke up and my voice was gone, I could barely even talk. I even had class that morning too, and we had to introduce ourselves to the class in Swedish. So when it was my turn, I stood up ( the first one to do that, after I stood up, everyone else followed lol), and tried my best to talk....wasn't too embarrasing lol.
There's also been like zero free time, so this morning it was nice to sleep in and relax. Also if you havent added me on skype its marc.buonanni :)
A highlight would be the yellow overall ceremony, which is a tradition at Jonkoping University. Every school has their own color, and their own way of doing things. For us, we headed to the park to have a friendly competition. When we walked there, we saw a bunch of naked people laying on the ground, with their clothes in a straight line. The goal was to make the longest line, with whatever you had on. For me, I got down to my boxers and that was enough. The other activites involved taking a bath in the lake, making a model of the university campus with whatever we could find on the beach, laying down in the grass in a line, and rolling over each other, and finally...going down a slip and slide on a hill into the mud. My yellow overalls got muddy as hell....but its tradition to never wash your overalls, lol.
Swedish night life is pretty amazing, and the city definetely comes alive at night. Last night, we went on a "pub crawl" to 3 different places around the city, which was fun. After that we went to Akademien, which is the student run nightclub for the University. Theres two dancefloors, and a louge upstairs...the beers are pretty cheap too, only 35 SEK, which is about 5 US dollars. I left Akademien around midnight, and then went out to a place called O'leary's with my roommates. After tearing up the dance floor, I called it a night around 2:30. I've never danced that much or had so much fun in a night club before, and the best part was that I wasn't even drunk, lol.
Yestecday, I woke up and my voice was gone, I could barely even talk. I even had class that morning too, and we had to introduce ourselves to the class in Swedish. So when it was my turn, I stood up ( the first one to do that, after I stood up, everyone else followed lol), and tried my best to talk....wasn't too embarrasing lol.
There's also been like zero free time, so this morning it was nice to sleep in and relax. Also if you havent added me on skype its marc.buonanni :)
Sunday, August 22, 2010
first weekend
so for the past day or two I've been meeting my new roomates, and its been a hell of a lot of fun. We're a very diverse group, with students from Germany, Spain, France, Canada, Italy, Slovenia, Holland, and two from Netherlands. The first night we just hung out in our common area, and got to know each other. Last night, after the "party" up in the 3rd floor died down, we walked around the city for a little bit, then decided to go to the club right below us. It was an interesting crowd and fun....but at the same time it was like watching our parents make out in a club, so we left pretty quickly.
I also met a swedish engineering guy who jokes about every exchange student and where they're from....for the United States, he joked about americans being stupid/dumb, that we just care about ourselves and not other countries....and that he hated bush (which isn't too surprising). As for the beef on Sweden, supposedly they have the highest suicide rate in the world. (I said prob cause of the weather, lol...)
Also, a big hit and conversation starter has been this stupid game where you get zapped. They left it behind from last semester, and it looks like 4 metal handles attached in a circle. After creepy music plays for like a minute, the person who reacts the slowest gets zapped. It's pretty hilarious watching people try it for the first time and see their reactions.
Anways, tomorrow is "Welcome Week," which is basically a week of partying an no classes....so I can't wait! Tomorow at 10am the madness begins...
I also met a swedish engineering guy who jokes about every exchange student and where they're from....for the United States, he joked about americans being stupid/dumb, that we just care about ourselves and not other countries....and that he hated bush (which isn't too surprising). As for the beef on Sweden, supposedly they have the highest suicide rate in the world. (I said prob cause of the weather, lol...)
Also, a big hit and conversation starter has been this stupid game where you get zapped. They left it behind from last semester, and it looks like 4 metal handles attached in a circle. After creepy music plays for like a minute, the person who reacts the slowest gets zapped. It's pretty hilarious watching people try it for the first time and see their reactions.
Anways, tomorrow is "Welcome Week," which is basically a week of partying an no classes....so I can't wait! Tomorow at 10am the madness begins...
Friday, August 20, 2010
Finally in Sweden
Well I'm finally at my apartment in Jonkoping, which is overlooking the main street. I'm right in the middle of it all, and a 5 minute walk to just about anywhere in the city. I'm right above a club called "the velvet louge," and from what I've been told gets pretty loud at night. The building was pretty much empty last night, and was kinda creepy at night, like out of a horror movie. Luckily I knew a swedish girl Maria (friend of a friend of a friend) who showed me the city last night. We walked around for a while, and had a lot of fun just talking about everything and anything. It was nice to finally make a good connection, because when I left my dad at the train station, I felt kinda lonely. I also just met a guy in my hall from Germany, named Borris, who seemed pretty cool.
Now the hard part will be actually living here: doing laundry with buttons in swedish, and cooking stuff from the grocery store, with everything also in swedish. My laundry was taking forever in the wash (over an hour and a half), so I said screw it, opened it up, and water came gushing out. Looks like I'm going to have to run the dryer for a little bit longer, lol
Now the hard part will be actually living here: doing laundry with buttons in swedish, and cooking stuff from the grocery store, with everything also in swedish. My laundry was taking forever in the wash (over an hour and a half), so I said screw it, opened it up, and water came gushing out. Looks like I'm going to have to run the dryer for a little bit longer, lol
Recap of Trip
The Midnightsloppet 10K run was soo cool. There were 21,000 runners, which is close to that of the Boston Marathon, and we all wore bright yellow neon shirts. Right before the start, the long street was crammed with runners as far as the eye could see.....They also played some dance music to warm us up, and even taught us a dance, which was tough because there was no room to move....The race itself was very hilly, and allowed us to see stockholm in a unique way, with thousands of fans cheering us on along the way. :)
The next big highlight was Glacier hiking in the Fjords of Norway. When we first pulled up, we couldn't believe our eyes....hiking on it was a little difficult at first, but once we learned how to use our ice spikes and our ice pick, it wasn't that bad. A couple times we were pretty close to a steep crevace, with one wrong step leading to something really really bad. It made me wonder, how is this even legal? We almost missed the bus coming back...luckily a very nice family from Holland drove us back in time to catch it.
Other cool stuff:
-The Flam railway was cool, it dropped 3000 meters in just 45 minutes, which led us to our hostel that we stayed at for 2 nights. When we first arrived at the hostel, there were two beds already taken, and judging by the feminin looking clothes and small bags, we figured we had two girls in our room.....however, when we got back from dinner we saw that it was a tiny kid from South Korea and a guy from Italy...haha whoops
-I got zapped by a barbed wire fence on our hike to a waterfall in Flam. My dad touched it, and nothing happened. but when I touch it....ZZZZZAAP. It hurt like hell, and it made my dad laugh histerically.
-We went through the worlds longest car tunnel, 24.5 km
-On a train ride, I saw some young swedish girls trying to sing the lyrics to Lady GaGa, and failing miserably.....made me laugh, lol
-We met people from all around the world on our trip, from Switzerland, Chile, China, Italy, UK, Danish, and Germany.
The next big highlight was Glacier hiking in the Fjords of Norway. When we first pulled up, we couldn't believe our eyes....hiking on it was a little difficult at first, but once we learned how to use our ice spikes and our ice pick, it wasn't that bad. A couple times we were pretty close to a steep crevace, with one wrong step leading to something really really bad. It made me wonder, how is this even legal? We almost missed the bus coming back...luckily a very nice family from Holland drove us back in time to catch it.
Other cool stuff:
-The Flam railway was cool, it dropped 3000 meters in just 45 minutes, which led us to our hostel that we stayed at for 2 nights. When we first arrived at the hostel, there were two beds already taken, and judging by the feminin looking clothes and small bags, we figured we had two girls in our room.....however, when we got back from dinner we saw that it was a tiny kid from South Korea and a guy from Italy...haha whoops
-I got zapped by a barbed wire fence on our hike to a waterfall in Flam. My dad touched it, and nothing happened. but when I touch it....ZZZZZAAP. It hurt like hell, and it made my dad laugh histerically.
-We went through the worlds longest car tunnel, 24.5 km
-On a train ride, I saw some young swedish girls trying to sing the lyrics to Lady GaGa, and failing miserably.....made me laugh, lol
-We met people from all around the world on our trip, from Switzerland, Chile, China, Italy, UK, Danish, and Germany.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
update from AF Chapman
Trip so far is goin great! I finally found a free computer at the hostel we're staying at now in Stockholm. Its basically an old ship that sailed around the world, that they converted into a hostel. Pretty sweet looking!
My trip started off this last wednesday, where we flew to the Philadelphia airport. My dad and I talked to a pretty cool girl from Germany while waiting for our flight. She was pretty cute, and communicated differently than American girls.
We didn't really sleep much on the 7 hour flight to Frankfurt Germany, and by the time we got there, it was midnight back home. As you may know, I am not one to fall asleep before midnight. When we got off the flight, we talked to the german girl again, and right before we spit ways, she gave the name of a website to check out, and also wrote her name down for me to look her up on facebook :) .....I probably won't see her again, but a sign of good things to come, lol.
After a quick flight to Copenhagen, we took a train ride to Jönköping. However, our train broke down! This never happens in Europe, and I felt like I won the lottery or something (except the prize is a 3 hour delay after a looong flight). Our hotel in Jönköping was small but functional, and had bath towels the size of a welcome mat. Later in the evening, I went for a run with my shirt off, and quickly discovered that most Swedes run with their shirt on. I realized this after all the weird looks I was getting. At first I thought it was bc of my six-pack...guess not. We went to bed early, feelin the 6 hour difference and slept that night for at least 12 hours.
Day 2 - Stockholm
Stockholm is a beautiful city....very big buildings and very open. We checked into our ship hostel, aka the "AF Chapman" and walked a 1/2 mile to the city. There was a HUGE festival going on last night. We had swedish meatballs at a place called Pickwicks on the crowded Drottninggatans street, and I got drunk off of 2 very strong beers. There were 3 enourmous concerts going on that night all at once- one for high school kids, one for those who wanted to dance to spanish music, and one for those who liked hip-hop/techno music. I'd say the 3rd one was the best, and heard a band called the White Pony from Copenhagen that was my favorite.
Day 3- today
Woke up around 9ish, then walked around old Stockholm. We checked out the Armour Museum, which was "ehh". I almost got kicked out after touching an old carriage. I don't know why I decided to reach over and touch it, but when I did a loud-ass alarm went off and a museum worker all dressed up scurried down to see what happened. After that drama, we saw the daily Passing of the Guard Ceremony. It was basically a Swedish marching band on horses, combined with a little bit of marching. They do this every day in the middle of the Royal Palace (where the king and queen used to live). There was a lot of tourists there, and also just in general in the city of Stockholm.
Midnightsloppen race tonight!
My trip started off this last wednesday, where we flew to the Philadelphia airport. My dad and I talked to a pretty cool girl from Germany while waiting for our flight. She was pretty cute, and communicated differently than American girls.
We didn't really sleep much on the 7 hour flight to Frankfurt Germany, and by the time we got there, it was midnight back home. As you may know, I am not one to fall asleep before midnight. When we got off the flight, we talked to the german girl again, and right before we spit ways, she gave the name of a website to check out, and also wrote her name down for me to look her up on facebook :) .....I probably won't see her again, but a sign of good things to come, lol.
After a quick flight to Copenhagen, we took a train ride to Jönköping. However, our train broke down! This never happens in Europe, and I felt like I won the lottery or something (except the prize is a 3 hour delay after a looong flight). Our hotel in Jönköping was small but functional, and had bath towels the size of a welcome mat. Later in the evening, I went for a run with my shirt off, and quickly discovered that most Swedes run with their shirt on. I realized this after all the weird looks I was getting. At first I thought it was bc of my six-pack...guess not. We went to bed early, feelin the 6 hour difference and slept that night for at least 12 hours.
Day 2 - Stockholm
Stockholm is a beautiful city....very big buildings and very open. We checked into our ship hostel, aka the "AF Chapman" and walked a 1/2 mile to the city. There was a HUGE festival going on last night. We had swedish meatballs at a place called Pickwicks on the crowded Drottninggatans street, and I got drunk off of 2 very strong beers. There were 3 enourmous concerts going on that night all at once- one for high school kids, one for those who wanted to dance to spanish music, and one for those who liked hip-hop/techno music. I'd say the 3rd one was the best, and heard a band called the White Pony from Copenhagen that was my favorite.
Day 3- today
Woke up around 9ish, then walked around old Stockholm. We checked out the Armour Museum, which was "ehh". I almost got kicked out after touching an old carriage. I don't know why I decided to reach over and touch it, but when I did a loud-ass alarm went off and a museum worker all dressed up scurried down to see what happened. After that drama, we saw the daily Passing of the Guard Ceremony. It was basically a Swedish marching band on horses, combined with a little bit of marching. They do this every day in the middle of the Royal Palace (where the king and queen used to live). There was a lot of tourists there, and also just in general in the city of Stockholm.
Midnightsloppen race tonight!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
leaving America!
goodbye USA, hello sweden...
I can't believe today is finally here, after waiting and telling people about it for over a year! I'm about to head off to the airport: feeling excited, anxious, and excited. Gotta go---bye!!
I can't believe today is finally here, after waiting and telling people about it for over a year! I'm about to head off to the airport: feeling excited, anxious, and excited. Gotta go---bye!!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Finally setting in
Thanks to everyone who came out last night! I loved the swedish fish cake - shout out to jordan bledsoe aka 'mom'. The thought of leaving for an entire semester is finally setting in, and couldn't even sleep last night. I'm very anxious, but excited at the same time.
Here's a quick summary of what my Father and I will do the first week: leave Wed, get to Jonkoping on thursday. Friday and Saturday will be in Stockholm, and the 10K race (see below). Sunday we're traveling to the beautiful fjords of Norway, where we'll stay a couple of days, then I head back to Jonkoping for welcome week!
I'll be using skype a lot while I'm over there, so add me at marc.buonanni if you want to chat. And I'll be updating this with epic and hilarious stories, lol. Pictures too.
Here's a quick summary of what my Father and I will do the first week: leave Wed, get to Jonkoping on thursday. Friday and Saturday will be in Stockholm, and the 10K race (see below). Sunday we're traveling to the beautiful fjords of Norway, where we'll stay a couple of days, then I head back to Jonkoping for welcome week!
I'll be using skype a lot while I'm over there, so add me at marc.buonanni if you want to chat. And I'll be updating this with epic and hilarious stories, lol. Pictures too.
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