Final Post from Sweden

Really... my final post ever from Sweden!? This is sad, because I've enjoyed my time over here so much. Tomorrow I leave in the evening tomorrow night, and take a train to Copenhagen at midnight. I will sleep in the airport overnight, because my flight leaves early at 7.30. Hopefully, since I'm flying gold, I can chill and eat free food in the "gold lounge" or whatever.

Recap of James Jarman's and Victor's Visit: They came in Wednesday, and I showed them what Sweden was like, and I think they enjoyed it. We went and hung out at O'leary's sports bar Thursday night. Friday we went snowboarding at a "mountain" 30 minutes away. The mountain wasn't very big, so it was a perfect opportunity to try and learn snowboarding. After falling on my ass the first run down, I picked up on turning/carving and the rest was easy. Even pulled an air off a jump. :) After waking up early on Friday to go snowboarding, we went to a goodbye party at Villhemsro, a student accommodation 10 minutes by bus. James and Victor were meeting people, as people were crying and saying goodbye, so it was interesting, lol. But its a different experience for them, because they came as friends already knowing someone in Sweden.

My finals went well, and I hope I passed all 4 classes so I get my international engineering minor. Everything has been coming to a close the past 2 weeks, so I've been slowing getting ready to go home. I said a lot of goodbyes today, or "see you laters." Most semesters at UCF fly by, but this semester felt like a long time. I've been in Europe for a long time, and done a lot of travelling: Copenhagen, Munich for Oktoberfest, Kiruna, Tallinn-Estonia, and of course Norway and Stockholm with my father. I really bonded with my friends in Delta, and we have become very close. I will miss them a lot, and probably won't see them for at least a year or two. Starting off 4.5 months ago not knowing a single soul in Europe, to the place where I'm at today is really rewarding to think about. I will really miss Sweden, but my time here is finished. Time for the next chapter of my life, to use the things I learned here. Hej da!

Friends are coming soon

As I write this, 2 friends from back home - James Jarman and Victor- are almost here to visit me in Jonkoping. Should be a fun time, and I am very excited at showing someone from back home "my" city. I am done with my finals, but still have 2 small assignments to turn in. But basically, I am free from school now. I just get to experience the last couple of days the way I want - no school. I am thinking about going snowboarding this friday at a "mountain" within an hour drive from here. Yes, snowboarding....the hill isn't very steep, so this will be a good opportunity to learn it - can't be more difficult than wakeboarding.

The sidewalks here are frozen solid. This happened because the temperature went above 0 and the snow melted, then the next day went back below and froze. Its very difficult to walk on them, and I have witnessed one person falling - hilarious! lol

Last sunday, I went to my contact person Madde's house and made Lussebullar, which is typical for Swedish people to eat this time of year. It was fun hanging out, talking about the semester, and playing Swedish games, such as laying out a bunch of raisins on the table, and guessing which one the other person was thinking of. lol yea, Swedish people can be weird. We also drank the alcoholic version of Glögg, which was strong and overpowering. They only drink Glögg during the holidays.

The next couple of days will be full of goodbyes, because I come home in 6 days. :(

KIRUNA + End of Semester

Okej, so I'll do a quick blog update because I'm taking a break from studying. I have a Materials and Simulation Final on Sunday. On tuesday, I have a short paper due for Intercultural Communication, as well as a quiz and we also do a 10 minute presentation about our country in front of the entire class. So this is my last blog update until monday. It's also really sad that I have less than 2 weeks remaining here in Sweden. I think it will be just as tough to say goodbye as it was coming here. All good things must come to an end, though.

Last weekend, we took a trip to Kiruna, and it was a blast. Kiruna is the northernmost city in Sweden that is located above the artic circle, with a poplulation of merely 20,000. The city is alive because of the worlds largest iron ore mine located right beneath the city. Actually a cool thing about the mine is that it is actually destroying the city (due to creep/land deformations from the mine), so the city must rebuild away from the mine in the next 5-10 years.

The fun part of the trip:
We did a dogsled tour the first night, and it was a unique experience. We didn't get to actually drive the sleds, but it was still pretty cool to be driven by Huskies. Our sled was kinda heavy, and I could tell our guide was having difficulties driving the sled - as a result we got a little bit off course and ran into a tree! lol. On Sunday, we went on a snowmobile tour to the ICEHOTEL. The ICEHOTEL (http://www.icehotel.com/uk/ICEHOTEL/About-ICEHOTEL/) is purely made from ice and snow, and was under construction when we saw it. Also the snowmobiles had awesome acceleration (topped out at 105 km/hr) and it was a great way to see the untouched beauty of Swedish Lapland. Our accommodation was an 11-person cabin about 5km away from the city at a place called Camp Alta. It was nice to sit around our fire and warm up after being in -20 degree Celsius weather. Finally, we did not get to see the Northern Lights. :( I think it was too early in the season, which is disappointing. I'll add it to my bucket list and do it later in life. To sum it up: awesome trip, kinda expensive, but definetly worth it. :)

*Check back later for pictures from the trip

Holiday Season

The snow keeps falling, the weather keeps getting colder (last night it was -10 Celsius)....but despite this I am still really enjoying the Swedish winter. There is a Christmas market going on now that is literally a 3 minute walk away, so today I went around explored and took some pictures. It was pretty cool seeing how the Swedes celebrate the Christmas holiday, with a lot of food, candy, sweets, singing, etc. There was a stage set up that had people caroling and also some teenage girls that put on a "dance performance." I sampled this drink called Glögg, which is a Swedish drink that only comes out around christmas time - http://www.saunalahti.fi/~marian1/gourmet/xmas11.htm. The fire department was there, and did a rescue simulation. I am like a half kilometer away, and I hear this "YYYAAAAAA" then a loud SPLASH. I feel bad for that volunteer who had to jump in the lake to be "rescued", because unless you paid me at least 500,000 SEK, I am not jumping in that ice bucket.

Tyler's friend Matt is visiting from Canada, and he's a pretty cool guy. Likes to drink as much as Tyler, and today they are drinking for a straight 24 hours. I am not participating in this because I have to study for my Swedish exam this friday. If I don't pass this class, I will not meet the requirements for my International Engineering minor. Pressure's on!

I bought my ticket to the Goodbye Dinner for this Wednesday, and I am predicting it to be a sad night. This will be the official goodbye, because some students will leave to go back home right after finals. Also I've noticed that where exchange students live has a big affect on their experience in Sweden. Cliques have formed, and people even have names for their accommodation. For example, Vilhelmsro calls themselves "VCrew," and one guy even got a tattoo of their "logo." The people in Furan used the Superman logo and put an F instead of an S. Observing this, we in delta had to come up with a cool name too and came up with "Delta Force." If you check out my Tallinn pics you will see that we put our logo on the back of our white t-shirts. People living in Bäckadal think they are the funnest group. They are fun and awesome people, but not very diverse (mostly French).

For me, living in Delta has been the best experience for me. We are not just really close friends, but more like a family....even fight like one (Friday night there was a big argument about Josete being too loud, was intense at the time but the next day we all made up). Whenver I am at the University or at a night club, I talk to everyone, but when I come home, its nice to have their company. Okay, that is my Delta speech, hope you liked it. :)

Finally, check out the picture of the university on this blog page. Together the Engineering School and JIBS (Jonkoping International Business School) are shaped like a key...symbolizing that the university is the "key to the city."

A Swedish Thanksgiving

Spending time with my "overseas" family was a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving, even though I miss family/friends/old traditions back home. But hey, I'm in Sweden, so I had to do something different. There was about 13 of us, and we all made something different, something that represented our culture, and combined them for one awesome dinner. Shots of Jager from Boris, the German, started it off.....then we had my green bean casserole (turned out excellent!), Chili from Tyler and his friend, Salad, sausage and a typical cake from Slovenia, Quiche from the Dutch girls, Ratatouille and some wine from the French, Goulash soup from the Hungarian, and finally Tiramisu from the Italians...Translated, tiramisu literally means "pull me up"....which I heard the story at least 3 times while eating. Overall it was a great meal, but would have been better if we had more room to maneuver. 13 people jammed in a tight corridor was tough.

If you are wondering why the facebook event for this was called "First Annual Marc Sucks Feast in Sweden," you can blame Tyler, the Canadian roommate, lol. He didn't want to call it Thanksgiving because in Canada, its in October. So after I made him an administrator for the event to invite more people, and he hijacked it.....removing me as an admin., changing the picture and posting "I've got the Power" on my wall. We had a good laugh.

Australian culture day was on Wednesday, and was fun hanging out in the Student Haus. After trying some Australian snacks, we went outside in the snow and kicked the football around (Australian football, that is). One of the Sarah's from Australia that I talked to said that this was an accurate representation of Australian people....if thats the case, then I would like to visit Aussies in their home territory one day.

what a week

Here was my past week in Sweden:

During the week, Tallinn Cruise: We took a bus ride to Stockholm, and then left for an overnight trip to Estonia. The first night there was a dinner buffet with unlimited food and alcohol for two hours: lets just say that Jonkoping was the loudest school there. Party at night (was okay), then we arrived in Tallinn, Estonia at 10AM. At 12:15 I proceeded to wake everyone up, which was dificult, lol for obvious reasons. Our first impression of the city was that it was dirty, depressing, and just overall not very cool. This was just by the boat docks, because once we arrived at the

This past weekend: Friday night just stayed in and watched a movie ;) and last night we did our normal trip to Huset after a birthday party on the 5th floor. Was a fun weekend, but during the week was better.

-The weather is getting colder (obviously) and has been snowing more often. Also, the main street is lined with lights overhead, which makes it look awesome at night. Unfortunately night begins at 4pm.

-Initiation is going on back home for Beta Theta Pi. I can't wait to meet the new brothers of my chapter. Which is actually coming up too soon. Just about a month away until this whole process is over!! :( I cannot say goodbye to this just yet, and will probably shed a few tears when the time comes.

Things I'm looking forward to:

-Thanksgiving is this thursday. Need to represent the USA on this one.
-James Jarman and Victor visiting me in December
-Taking 3 finals....just kidding! not looking forward to this one.

-Kiruna trip. There's 9 of us going, and after calling a few audibles, we finally have the plans set. We are flying there on saturday (no 24 hour train ride), taking a doglsed tour in the evening to see the Northern Lights. Sunday we are taking a 6 hour snowmobile tour to the ICE Hotel (which we will see under construction), and monday we are getting a tour of the iron mine, which is the largest underground mine in the world. I'm really excited for this, but need to do school work in the mean time. Hej då!

22nd birthday

hej, thank you all for the birthday wishes. It was cool having friends from different countries write "happy birthday" in a bunch of different languages on my wall. Also, I miss back home, and even though its been the best time of my life over here...I know I have to get back to "reality" sometime, lol. My birthday night was fun, supposedly everyone counted down to midnight and yelled HAPPY BIRTHDAY, and I hugged everyone. Sunday, about 12 of us went to a pizza place for a bday dinner, and I ordered the Kabob Pizza (looked bad, but tasted phennomenal). No cake, but it doesn't matter to me because whats important is the company.

Today was pretty busy. We spray painted white t-shirts for the Tallinn cruise, which is tomorrow!! We had stencils that said random things like "Team JKPG" and "I'd hit that" and we made our shirts unique. Should be fun, and we leave tomorrow!!

Also, today I had the opportunity to help a researcher in one of the materials and casting labs at the university. I helped in an experiemnt that basically heated a magnesium and aluminum mixture, cooled it down a little and poured out the "sloshy" mixture. Boring? a little bit. Was cool when some of the 600 degree celsius material missed the container and almost caught the floor on fire. Other than that, its just something to put on my resume. :)

I failed my Swedish Exam!!! I feel dumb, and now have to re-take it on December 3rd, right before the Kiruna trip. No pressure, though, because if I fail it again I don't get my minor in International Engineering.

Finally, I forgot this story: About a week ago, I got a haircut from a swedish guy who spoke literally no English. The only word he knew was "shorter?" After his boss translated my request, I sat there extremely nervous and watched closely the entire time. Turned out great though.

brief update

so theres about 5 weeks left in this whole exchange experience, and it keeps getting more fun every day. Our floor has been full of visitors (friends, girl's boyfriends, etc.) and mostly they're Italians. Akademien was fun wednesdy night, my birthday is this weekend, we have planned our trip to Kiruna, Tallinn cruise is next tuesday, my 2 classses are actually pretty cool with great professors, talking to girls is going well. And yea, that's pretty much it for now. Have to go back to work, and then we are going to a chocolate factory this afternoon. Yea, a chocolate factory, lol. When we walked home from the free nature hike, we saw a sign that said "chocolate factor tours" so we're going back there today and checking it out. I'm keeping my expectations low for this one. lol Ready for a great weekend!

International Day

Yesterday was International Day at each one of the individual schools, which is basically a huge event where students represent their country. This was done mainly by food from their country, but it was also a means for students intersted in studying there to talk to someone from that country. I should not have eaten anything this day before I got there, because food was everywhere! My favorite was Switzerland, where they had cheese fondue on bread, and it was spectacular.

We represented the USA and UCF by cooking Mac'n'Cheese, playing Beer Pong, and having a powerpoint on my laptop. We couldn't have alcohol, so we used Coca-Cola instead (still American! lol). We had limited space, so we had everyone take 2 steps back and take a shot, and if they made it, then they "won" coke. One guy (from Germany), made a shot from accross the room, which was impressive. Coke Pong was perfect because it was a good way to pass the 3 hours that we were supposed to stand there, and a fun way to interact with everyone....and not be like "hi, where are you from? what have you heard about America?"

Now I'm really busy with school, and need to focus on that.....until the weekend. Also plan the Kiruna Trip.

Kopenhavn

(EDITED)

Copenhagen was a lot of fun, and a GREAT way to spend Halloween. Highlights of the trip include walking around downtown Copenhagen with Viking hats, me getting lost in a staircase, not being able to find Tyler on Sunday, and ending up in a different town Monday morning with Josette. Ask me to tell the story of me getting lost in the staircase, its better if I tell it in person, lol.

I'll always remember this trip for the rest of my life....check out my facebook pictures :)

ready for a great weekend

School is back in session (already?), but my two classes seem to be a lot better than last segment. My Materials and Simulation professor is very helpful, and has a sense of humor (even though the material is kinda boring). I actually recognized my other Swedish professor when I walked in the room, because he was the one who gave us the funny/weird "inspirational speech" at the beginning of welcome week. He teaches "International and Intercultural Communication," which is perfect because I'm essentially learning about what I'm already doing here in Sweden...communicating with different cultures and breaking down the barrier that exists.

In class today, I realized that I was the only person from the United States in the lecture hall. Being surrounded by 100 or so students from all parts of the world was a unique experience. I represented the USA by being loud, obnoxious and clueless about other people's cultures! just kidding, lol. We also split up into groups of 8 or so, and got to know each other. In my group, we have people from India, China, Belgium, Netherlands, and 3 from Sweden.

Anyways, we leave for Copenhagen tomorrow morning at 9! Ready to celebrate halloween in style, as a viking! The trip isn't 100% planned, and we will plan as we go (the best way to do it, lol). Hej då!

1 week off!

Advantage of studying abroad in Sweden: 1 week off in-between segments! Exams are finally over with, and now I can party/do whatever I want for the next week and a half. Copenhagen is in 6 days, and is going to be an awesome way to celebrate Halloween!! Yesterday we went to the local mall, and bought viking hats/weapons at the kids toy store. Vikings in Copenhagen? Sounds like a great combination, lol. Also at the mall I bought a new shirt, which is still a "Marc" shirt, but just a lot better style and better fitting. Going back again today to see what else I can find.

Exams went okay.....Production Logistics took me 4 hours and 40 minutes to finish!! (there was a 5 hour window) Very long, and frustrating...I think every person in the class would agree that our professor was bad, and needs to get out of Sweden. To be optimistic: I know that every person who has done something good in this world has had a bad teacher/class along the way. So I gotta just keep going, and work harder. My Swedish exam went pretty well, after staying up until 3 in the morning studying for it. I actually learned a lot in 1 day, and can now speak basic Swedish sentences mediocrately (spelling?) well. My english is still pretty bad tho, because I just used the word "mediocrately" which I don't think is an English word.

Thursday night it "snowed" again, and in some accommodations outside the city (Raslatt, Villhamsro) there was light snow that stuck on the ground. By Delta in the city, the snow melted pretty much instantly. There should be at least 1cm of snow in Copenhagen, my guess.

Death mix! Last night Tyler introduced to us death mix, which is a bottle of vodka, two energy drinks, 7-up and Kool-Aid! Obviously no one from Europe knew what Kool-Aid was, but they liked it. We all drank from the big container of death, and played Kings, which is our new favorite drinking game (basically like ring of fire, with different rules). And yes, we keep going through phases with our drinking games. Then we went out to Centrum, the other bar. We are all getting to be really close, like a family. Not like a "Jersey Shore" type of family, but a normal one, lol. Our kitchen right now looks like theirs.....its what happens when the girls all go and visit their boyfriends. :)

Also during my break, I am planning a trip to Kiruna, which is a city up in north-north Sweden. I definetely want to rent snow-mobiles, dog-sled, and see the Northern Lights (which isn't guarranteed). Also, the famous Ice Hotel (http://www.icehotel.com/) is nearby, but I'm not sure if it will be open yet. Options for getting there: 20+ hour train ride, or fly there, or fly....I'm leaning towards flying, for obvious reasons. lol

On the same subject of travelling, Visitors are welcome! I James Jarman mentioned that he may come with friends some friends and come visit after finals....which would be awesome. Also, my brother got a new job at a bank in Merritt Island, and said he may "stop by." If you ever wanted to see Sweden, then nows the time! (this is me convincing you to come, lol)

Final thought: should I get my hair cut before Copenhagen? I want it short now, but on the other hand, if I keep it long and grow my beard out, my Viking costume would be awesome! Thoughts on that? let me know

first snowfall

So last night at Akademien, it SNOWED!! Okay, it was just flurries and it melted in the morning.....but really Sweden? Already? Your autumn lasted about 2 weeks, lol. I'm actually ready for the snow, so bring it. Might as well see as much of it while I can, because back in Florida its hopeless.

Finals are approaching quickly, and for the next 5 days I need to be studying quite a bit. I still know as much Swedish as I did at the beginning (plus a couple of swear words, lol). Also, its been around 2 months that I've been in Europe! Time is going by faster now, and I blame it on studying and doing homework. For example, during welcome week time pretty much stood still, because of the craziness and the amount of activity going on. I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, and want the next 2 months to be twice as good as the first. (which it will)

Back to studying....Hello Production Logistics and Materials Management!

Autumn

Went for a walk around Jonkoping today with two of my friends...what a beautful time of year in Sweden! Leaves are changing colors, the sun was out, and we took some great pictures of the city and university (see fb). Actually there are rumors that we will get our first snowfall this saturday, which I hope is wrong because I'm not ready yet! This past saturday we went on a hike to a hilly/foresty area about 7 km away from the university, and was refreshing to see nature and be outdoors with good company. After the hike, we were given the option to walk home and see the Swedish countryside.....had nothing else to do, so why not? At first, it felt like we were lost, because we were by a lot of farms and pastures...but eventually we made our way back after a 2-hour journey. :) below are my favorite 2 pictures...

Copenhagen. I'm going there for Halloween weekend (Friday 10/29 to Monday 11/1) with about 16 other people. 5 people including myself are taking my friend Sebastian's car, which will be cheaper than taking a train. We just booked a hostel for 3 nights that has 14 beds to a room! I'm not sure what to expect from this trip, but I am excited because the people going are fun.

Tyler and I finally found barbeque sauce here in Sweden! We were both really happy, and made BBQ Pork with rice, and vegetables last week and it tasted great!(because it was American). Also, Taco Tuesday was bigger than usual last week: 12 people! I helped cook a little so I wouldn't have to clean afterwords, lol. We're doing it again tomorrow as well. I wonder what our next tradition will be.....maybe snowball fight sunday?? lol

Also, the end of Segment 1 is approaching, which means finals for me are in like 8 days! Time to actually study and learn Swedish. I like only taking 2 classes at a time for 10 weeks...it's much easier than trying to balance 4 or 5 classes for the whole semester. Sweden 1, America 0.

Congratulations to my good friend Jared Masucci for winning the title of Mr. UCF back home! You did amazing, and should try out for American Idol next year for sure. http://sga.ucf.edu/extra/. My fraternity also won first place in KD Shakedown last month, another great accomplishment! I'm proud of all my brothers in what they have done this year, and miss everyone. I am looking forward to meeting the new brothers as well. The best thing I can do now is wear my Beta shirt when I go on cool trips around Europe. Beta's going international! Forever in _Kai_.

random

It's saturday mid-day, nothings really happening....time to write random stuff on my blog!

-I downloaded this music program called Spotify, and I'm not sure if many people in the US have heard about it. It's free, and you can take pretty much any song and add it to your library. You can connect it with facebook too. The only thing is that you only have a certain amount of minutes a month, but it's free music! I'm not endorsing it.....just sayin it's cool, lol.

-I would like to skype more with people that I haven't talked to in a while, so add me marc.buonanni (there's 3, so add the first one that comes up)

-I finished my lab report for my Production Logistics and Materials Mangement! About time! We added another Swedish person to my lab group, who helped tremendously ( I did most of the writing tho, because my english is "superb"). Also it was cool working in the lab about a week ago, because there was a very diverse group in the room. I heard many different languages all at once: Swedish, English, German, Spanish and French, maybe some others....it was pretty cool to just stop and listen.

-Since I am Marky Mark, here is my inspiration lol http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eSN8Cwit_s&ob=av2e

-Sometimes I feel like I don't know enough about what's happening in America. I met this cool guy from Iraq who kept saying stuff like "oh, did you hear about BLAH BLAH." Most of the time, I'd be like "Ohhh realllyyy?" It makes me think, should I start watching CNN more?

-Looking at what other people are wearing over here, I'm probably the least fashionable person (other than Tyler, who always wears Canada shirts, lol). Not that I really care, because I hate shopping and thinking about matching my belt with my shoes. But it makes me think, should I start buying some more fashionable clothes?

-Weather's getting chilly here, about 7 celcius (45 Fahrenheit). The fall is also very beautiful here, with different colored leaves scattered about the streets and parks. It reminds me of when I used to live in Pennsylvania...we used to rake up all the leaves into a big pile on our front yard, then jump into it from our big tree. Give it about a month, and we should be getting some snow!

Oktoberfest

hey all....its been a while since I've updated. I'm still adjusting my sleep schedule from last weekend at Oktoberfest. What an amazing weekend! The pictures came out great on fb. The day after I got back (tuesday), my roommates and I woke up at 4:30 to stand outside the student union to wait for tickets. What tickets you might ask?? Tickets for the Tallinn Sea Battle, which is 2-day party cruise with 3000 students from all over Scandinavia. I was first in line, after shivering for 3 hours outside in the cold with my friends, lol. The cruise includes a half day in Stockholm and a half day in Tallinn, Estonia. Okay, here's Oktoberfest highlights, in random order...

- Saturday was a full day at the legendary tents. We woke up early and waited outside in the pouring rain with umbrellas dripping on us for 45 minutes before we finally got in. There was a lot of anticipation, and a lot of pushing and shoving once the doors opened up. If it wasn't for the huge security guards yelling at the crowd in German, then there probably would have been a mini-riot.

- Beers were €10 a piece, and were a L in size. I had 4 on saturday, and was really drunk. Once the german band got on stage, the songs/chants/mayhem really started. Near the beginning, we had 4 young german dudes wearing Lederhosen sharing our table. We thought they were cool at first, but after they got wasted off of 1 beer, they turned into assholes (aka Deutschbags). They kept stomping everywhere, and even pushed off all the dishes on the table and tried to break it. We all looked at each other like "what the hell?!" Eventually they wandered away and were replaced by some Aussies and a couple of cool, old guys.

- Favorite German song to sing along to is "ein prosit" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR8VmCDdt5o&feature=related

- What surprised me the most was that Oktoberfest is a huge carnival. There are 8-10 huge beer tents, but outside of those there are all sorts of rides/rollercoasters/games/places to buy bratwursts (had a .5 meter one that was amazing!). I also went on the Olympic Rollercoaster with my aussie friend, which had 5 loops/olympic rings. Best rollercoaster ride ever.

-A group of Mexicans put together the trip, and drove the vans down. Sleeping was very uncomfortable in these vans, and probalby only slept 2 hours each way. Also, we got lost a couple of times, and had a van separate from the rest more than once. The only suggestion I had for this trip was that there was more organization, and more accountability for those who made us late for things. I like to be fast-paced and do everything, especially if I'm only there for 2 full days....the Mexican's kind of lolly-gagged a little bit. BUT that's my only criticism.

-Saturday night we just hung out in the tents, and came up with a new drinking game called "Wunderbeer." You basically just yell WUNDERBEER and tap people's mugs, and whoever you touch, they have to drink. Simple games are the best, in my opinion.

-German girls were really sexy in their lederhosen, but the majority of them did not speak good english, lol. My 2 years of German in high school wasn't enough, lol. Still fun to look at.

-The autobahn wasn't how I pictured it in my head. I thought it would be wider, with ferrari's and porsche's doing 250 km/hr. The road was just like I-95 with 3 lanes...with people driving a little faster than usual. Oh well, it was still pretty cool to be on it, and it's another thing to check off the list. :)

- This year was the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest, but there were no signs or anything whatsoever saying that.....Tradition, I guess.

-Saturday was the only day that I went to the beer tents. I wanted an all-around trip, so when we got there mid-day friday, I went to see the BMW museum. The architecture for the BMW buildings was amazing, and there were a couple of cool things to see inside (it was another thing to check off the list, probably will never go back). Friday night we went on a beer challenge, which was basically a tour to many places to drink in the city...where we learned "ein prosit." Then on Sunday we went on a 3-hour walking tour of the city, and what a beautiful city it is. I'm glad my camera died after I took the cool pictures, and not before. :) I've seen two spectacular cities on my Eurotrip....Stockholm and Munich. What's next?

8-)

soooo I went to the 6pm meeting today for the Oktoberfest trip, where we went over the "iterary" for the trip. Since only 29 people are going, it is going to be cheaper to rent 3 vans to take down to Munich instead of just one big bus. I like this idea because it gives us more flexibility if people want to go to diferent places when there. Also, talking with some of the Canadians going, its as if they were preparing for an olympic event or something, as if it would honor their country if they drank 7 litre beers in four hours, lol. I'm excited, the people going are a fun group, even if we are small. Also, on the way down there, we will drive on the Autobahn! I've always wanted to do this, and even though we'll probably only go 130 km/hr in the van, it will still be worth it. 16 hour trip total to Munich, including a ferry ride.

After eating 3 large burritos for Delta's "taco tuesday," I'm starting to feel fat, lazy and out of shape. (I'm really not, I just feel that way lol). So tomorrow I am going to take a spinning class, and lift weights at the gym 1 block away. It's not too expensive, only 350 SEK for 10 sessions, which is like $5 a session. I didn't come to Sweden to work out, so I'll confine my gym workouts to once a week. :)

This will be my last update until after the trip. Full day tomorrow, plus Akademien in the night. Followed by an 8 AM lab, followed by packing. Auf Wiedersehen!

mix of emotions

hey blog followers, lol. Its been a couple of days since I last updated, because it was a busy week. A quote from my canadian roomate Tyler...."my classes are getting in the way of my vacation" is kind of how I feel about the shitty classes that I currently have to sit through every week. My swedish class isn't that bad, but there is now the culture and society part of the class that started, which equates to ANOTHER 8 AM lecture during the week. I couldn't think of a better way to start my day than to listen about Swedish Immigration policy during the 20th century!! I want to learn the interesting/cool things about Sweden, not about history. Okay, maybe like 10% history, 90% useful/cool things about Sweden. Also, on a side note: the exchange rate between the SEK and US dollar is at an all-time low right now. Yesterday, we received our invoices for 2.5 months rent. Coincidence? I think not....

Today is my brothers' 24th birthday, so I would like to wish him a happy birthday. Wish I could be there to celebrate it with him. :(

....On Thursday, I met up with my Swedish contact person, and she cooked a typical Swedish dinner for me. Her names Madeleine, and she made boiled potatoes, meatballs, home-made bread, Skärgårdsill, Inlagdsill, and a special white sauce that she made (sour cream with chives plus some herb salt). The two fancy words ending in "sill" are Herring fish, and come in different varieties. The Skärgårdsill (dont ask me how to pronounce it, lol) is Archipelago Herring, and the "Inlagsill" is pickled herrring. It sounded weird, but I ate it, and it was delicious! Afterwords, 3 of her good-looking friends came over, and we drank a little bit. They went to an expensive night-club around like 11:30ish, and I went back to Delta bc I had a 8 AM class the next day.

Friday night, after warming up with beer pong, we went to a night club called Centrum. This was my first club outside of Akademien, and was a pretty cool place. The music was LOUD, and the light effects were pretty cool. The girls were okay. It was a good night, and a good start to the weekend. I was invited by Madeleine to a harvest festival this sunday in Visingsö, which is an island in Jönköping. I may go to it, depending on how much $$ it costs.

So....I'm angry at the exchange rate, and with both of my classes....I'm sad that I can't be there for my bro's bday, and happy/joyous about everything else. :) 5 days until Oktoberfest!!!!

gettin cold

Last night it was 9 degrees celsius outside (48 degrees American), and I can definetely feel the transition to colder weather here in Sweden. I can handle it for now, but me being a thin-blooded Floridian, it's only a matter of time before I wear two pairs of pants to schoool, lol. Also, last night the street was literally empty with people. Swedes do not go out on Mondays....at all.

The forest party last saturday was fun, and there was a great turnout (40-50 people). It took a while for the party to get started, because my fire making abilities are very limited (see fb pictures). Once we got the fire going, we could actually see each other and the party started. We roasted hotdogs and marshmallows, then the Spanish guys jumped the fire.....Honestly tho, after about 2.5 hours, it was getting kinda boring (no music)....and we called it a night, and took the 20 min bus ride home.

On sunday, we went to see Jonkoping's championship hockey team (HV-71) play an exhibition match. There weren't any big fights or bloody noses, so it wasn't as good as Canadian hockey, but it was still worthwhile seeing and going with friends. And getting free stuff :)

My Italian roommate Chiara is teaching me to speak a little Itanliano. I just want to be able to say a couple of things, not speak the language fluently. Same with Swedish....I just want to be able to call a person something, and say hi/bye. Maybe have a first grade conversation. Swedish class is going okay, but it feels like we're learning random things here and there....and its difficult to learn the goofy Swedish language. My other engineering class is pretty bad as well....my Chinese professor who doesn't speak english and reads from the slides is a guaranteed winner of Sweden's Worst Teacher Award 2010.

But I'm not letting that get in the way of my experience here. Also...can't wait for the care package my parents sent! There's no Mac'n'Cheese here in Sweden!! lol

1 month anniversary

"This is the true story, of 12 strangers, picked to live in a floor in Delta House...go to school together and have their lives photographed excessively......to find out what happens, when people stop caring about their own country, and start getting real....The real world: Sweden!!"

I figured that fit with the theme of the blog, and also because I'm living my own real world experience, knowing zero people about a month ago. Which reminds me...today is the 1 month anniversary of being in Europe! It was August 11th that I bid farwell to the States with my father and took a 7 hour flight to Europe. This has been the longest, and most fun (grammer?)month of my life. It's sad being away from friends and family, but at the same time I know they understand that its definetely worth being over here....and that I shall return soon.

I'll celebrate tonight at the "Forest Party" in a nearby place called Raslatt. The idea for the party was my idea, after talking to an Australian girl who mentioned that in Raslatt, there was a lot of forests nearby. I was like "hey, we should have an outdoor party, have a fire, drink some alcohol, and maybe make s'mores." She liked the idea and we made a private facebook event (so the landlords won't find out). So far there's 31 attending.....I'm hoping it doesn't rain.

Also, there are now 12 people living on my floor, after a guy named Luigi moved in (It's easy to guess where he's from, lol). Its been fun living with my roommates so far, minus sharing a kitchen with 12 people. The wide range of personalities makes it interesting, and I am happy to be known as Marky Mark, and my roommates are the Funky Bunch. lol

SPORTS: I've played volleyball two nights this week, and has been fun minus the balls leaving red marks on my forearms. I also played a Swedish sport called Innebandy, which is basically like playing floor hockey with a wiffleball....trying to score into a really small goal. After playing for 2 hours, I was completely drained. In this sport, you are constantly starting and stopping. It's a lot of fun, but exhausting.

Finally...Oktoberfest is officially going to happen, and bought my ticket this week for 3000 SEK, or 300 Euros, or 400ish US dollars. This includes a bus ride to and from Munich, two nights at a campsite, a 3 day unlimited metro card, museum discounts (yea....maybe), and a Beer Challenge tour. Two weeks away!!