Stealing Internet in My House

So I decided to steal some internet from a neighbor in my house. Usually the signal isn't strong enough but it's working quite well today.

Here's the what went on early last week (I haven't had much time to sit and write let alone upload to the internet):

MONDAY

We had to be at the University for a placement test and orientation session at 9:30. I had arranged to meet Carly, Jordan, Julie, and Becca at the bottom of the hill to walk to school at 9:00. Jordan didn't show up so the four of us girls started our trek uphill to the university. The easiest way to get to the part of town containing all the schools is to walk through a long tunnel. Once we got through the tunnel the university was supposed to be on our right, couldn't miss it. Then tunnel was fine for walking, not too much exhaust and not to much of an incline. When we got to the other side of the tunnel we ran into a bit of an issue. All we saw was a yellow high school. We made the mistake of following the kids in book bags which led us far far away from where we needed to be.

Whenever anyone describes this city they tell you that it is like a tongue. On the very tip and sides of the tongue is the ocean, downtown is at the back of the tongue in the throat area, and the university is somewhere in the middle and the housing districts are at the tip (and scattered all in between). Rather than heading back towards the throat when we exited the tunnel, we started walking to the tip. When we finally caught a glimpse of the beaches we realized our error. I asked a local woman for help and she pointed us in the right direction. We then had to walk all the way back to the tunnel, all up hill. When we finally found the university district we had to ask another group of students for help finding the building. By this point it was past 10:00, we were over thirty minutes late. Other members of our group began calling asking where the four of us had gone. Upon arriving in the building we found ourselves in yet another maze. Once in the building we had been told to walk through the triangle tunnel and up the stairs. We only found round hallways and no stairs. Finally a very nice man came up and asked if we were Carolinas (what they call the students from NC). He whisked us upstairs to the classroom where orientation had started without us. Our program director Gonzalo poked fun at us and then gave us some more information about the home stays. Hopefully next time I walk to class it won't take me over an hour to get there!

We learned that it is considered rude to walk around barefoot in our homes. At a minimum you should be wearing socks, though slippers are preferred. Lucky for me I am always too cold to be without socks so I haven't made this mistake yet. He then told us about the things we "had the right to" in our homes. These included: one shower a day, three meals a day, a bedroom, and laundry service once a week. We learned that the average Spanish income is one-half of that in the United States. Because of this we are encouraged to conserve energy and take short showers (hot water is a luxury that isn't cheap).

The placement test (50 questions about grammar) was then distributed. One by one we were called out for a brief conversation portion as well. The mood was quite informal, a lot of giggling and joke making by Gonzalo. I realized during the test how much grammar I had forgotten in the two months since classes have ended. I think I probably placed in to the lower level of classes. I always get really nervous trying to speak Spanish to adults so my oral component was pretty disastrous.

When we were done with the test we were free to go for the day. Many of us had left our cell phone boxes/chargers with Greta, another program director, and had set up a time to meet and retrieve them after the test. Greta was running a little behind so we all hung out in our student/computer lounge until she arrived.

Nate and I then set out to find a café with wireless internet. Instead we ended up walking several hours around the beach area. The ocean was absolutely gorgeous. The sun was shining and there was a breeze blowing. It was fantastic to see a truly blue sky for the first time since leaving home! Somehow we ended up back at my house when wandering to find a bus station. Being on familiar turf, I knew where a café with internet was. We went to the café only to find out it closed in twenty minutes for Siesta (this is true of almost every store and is still sort of annoying to us since we never remember). We sat for twenty minutes and then headed home for lunch.


For lunch I had a soup made of tomato broth and garbanzo beans. I had seen the beans on the counter at breakfast time and had been dreading the idea of beans all day. Turns out that I really like garbanzo beans. After soup I was served pork chops and potatoes. Julia showed me several more types of beans (lentils and kidney) that I would be eating in the near future. When I told her I didn't like kidney beans she told me, "I prepare them differently, you will try them". I found this funny and decided I would keep an open mind.

I met back up with the full group at 4:00 for coffee. The hours after siesta and before dinner are generally considered coffee and chocolate hours. I ordered the special: coffee and a chocolate croissant of some sort for 2.50 Euros. When the waiter brought out our order, I almost fell out of my chair. The croissant was a colossal roll filled (over flowing) with whipped cream and drowned in chocolate sauce. Our whole group was in fits trying to figure out how any one person could ever eat that much of something that sweet in one sitting. I took a bite and then passed the plate around the table so everyone could have a bite. When it got back to me there was still half a croissant left (and everyone had a rather large bite). I took two more bites and then could take no more.

After coffee we all went out to the water front to take pictures of the beautiful landscape we had only just discovered in the morning when the clouds had cleared. There are breath taking mountains on the other side of the bay which are currently snow capped. By this point in the afternoon the wind had picked up and become hurricane like gusts. The spray coming off of the bay dampened us several times. The group split in two along the way when Jordan decided to hang back and talk to some locals and Seth and I decided to take more pictures of the bay area. The three of us then hung back even longer while we waited for Nate to catch up. Then the four of us walked along making jokes and taking funny pictures of one another. We met two guys who had been studying south of here from Germany and Belgium. They were nice and wanted to meet up with us later at the bar. We swapped numbers and went on our way.

After our walk home I went home and had dinner. Julia's daughter Suzanna had gotten home from a trip to Madrid so I got to meet her. Suzanna and I took Timon, the dog, out for a walk. Suzanna may be my saving grace at home. She speaks enough English to help me with really difficult concepts but doesn't speak it to me unless it's important. She speaks really slow and clearly which is awesome because I can pretty much understand every word she says, even if I don't know what the word means. She gave me some helpful hints for learning vocabulary- not hanging out with Americans, carrying a small notebook to write words in.

After dinner we went out to the Celtic Bar, a really touristy Irish sports pub. One of the host family referred to this place as the foreigner bar. It had a really nice atmosphere, and we weren't the only ones in the bar! I had a pint of Paulander, a really good wheat beer.

The next bar we went to was a total dud. It was filled with old men sitting around smoking who looked rather annoyed when our noisy group showed up. The beer sucked and it was expensive. By this time I was getting really tired and creeped out by the guys who were sitting behind us who wouldn't stop staring at us. Nate said they asked him if we were "easy" to which he assured them otherwise. None the less when we finally got up to pay the three creeps were blowing air kisses and trying their best to talk to any one of us. Steven and Jordan walked with the girls who lived in our part of town since we were a little on edge over the forward advances.

One thing we have learned since being here is that the Spanish men are WAY more forward. It's not even just the more than exuberant (almost a sport) cat calling. I thought American fraternity boys and construction workers were bad, they've got nothing on these men. One girl from our group, Sabrina, is the sweetest most innocent looking girl in the world. Walking home by herself in broad daylight she was harassed by a man who tried to follow her into her home stay. She had to yell at him several times and it kind of shook her and everyone else up.

TUESDAY

We had the day off today. I woke up around 10:00 and got up to eat breakfast. Much to my pleasant surprise hot water arrived. I have attributed this to the magical presence of Suzanna. I took my first warm shower (it's still not as hot as I would have at home) and felt much more refreshed. I then took off to the plaza where the group usually meets up thinking that we had agreed to meet at 11:00. I was wrong about the group meeting up so I decided to hunt for my hair dryer.

Hair dryers are hard to come by in Spain, or so I thought. I looked in three or four cosmetic stores (picture Ulta) and looked in the windows of a few salons: nothing. I then passed by a kitchen appliance store with a hair dryer in the window display: success! The first store I went into was not self service and I wasn't feeling up to asking for help in Spanish. I then crossed the street to find three or four more stores with hair dryers! I was in blow dryer heaven!! I bravely picked a store and went in while rehearsing a Spanish conversation in my head. It took me a long time to choose a blow dryer, there were probably close to twenty models to choose from! I ended up picking up a travel dryer with dual wattage settings. I happily approached the counter to pay-- here starts the melt down. The man asked me for 19 Euros, the price of the dryer. All I heard was "ldsajfe" (gibberish). He said the price three or four more times with only a blank stare in response. Finally I figured out what he was saying when he walked to the shelf and pointed to the price repeating "19 Euros". Feeling completely stupid and suffering from a bruised ego, I quickly paid wanting to get out of the store ASAP. Wouldn't you know the sales man then tried to explain to me that my blow dryer came with a two year warrantee! I only know this was his intent because the lady standing in line behind me did a very successful charade to act out his every word. I thanked them both profusely and ran out of the store with my tail between my legs. I some how managed to purchase a mirror for my desk and an umbrella as well before returning home. All in all it was a successful outing, and I am overjoyed to be able to have dry hair before leaving the house for our long walks through the city!

Before going home I stopped into my favorite coffee shop for some precious minutes of internet surfing. It's amazing how disconnected I feel without internet at my fingertips. I can live without my cell phone, but not email. I had trouble getting the internet to work properly at first (sitting at a table to far from the router) but did finally get to talk to Cormac on Skype for a bit.

When I got home for siesta/lunch, Suzanna and Julia were getting the table and food ready. I helped set the table and then wrote in my journal for a bit. Lunch was awesome! I got to speak Spanish and eat really great food. I had a vegetable soup for an appetizer (soup as an appetizer is a near daily experience). Before I had finished a quarter of my bowl they had both down their whole bowls. I then got told that I was a slow eater and then poked fun of me through the rest of the meal for this. Then Julia spent five minutes telling me what a good eater I was (it reminded me of when I was younger and would eat at the Defeo's house for breakfast). The main course for me was chicken and French fries. Julia and Suzanna had shrimp and some sort of stringy seafood. I tried it and thought it was pretty tasty (a little spicy though) and told Julia I would eat it next time she made it. I have been really surprised how much I have tried and liked while I've been here. To finish off the meal we all had a piece of fruit (a banana).

I took a twenty minute nap before heading to the plaza to meet the group for coffee. We all met up and had no where to go. We walked around a different part of town than we normally do to kill time. When it started raining we ducked into a coffee shop to pass some more time. None of us really feel comfortable spending large periods of time in our home stays yet. This is partially due to the fact that we are too tired to speak Spanish and party because we haven't really felt out the boundaries and expectations of our homes.

After coffee we again set off walking, though this time in a smaller group. About six of us took off for the beach (a common place to go when we have no place to be). It took us a long time to get to that end of town and it was pretty dark by the time we reached the water. The city is gorgeous at night and the beach looks much different at night when the tide is high. Becca, Seth, Jordan and I caught a bus (my first!) back to the top of the hill where our homes sit. I was so tired when I got home I struggled to stay awake through dinner. I climbed into bed and passed out really quickly.

Safe in Santander

I have arrived safely in Santander. I’ve been almost as cold as I was in Sweden and the skies have been almost as grey. It rains off and on all day, it even hailed my first night here.

TRAVEL TO SANTANDER

Around 12:00PM I took a forty-minute train ride from Lund in Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark to catch a flight to Madrid. The Copenhagen airport is really bizarre. Security was a huge pain. I didn’t have to take my shoes off, but I did get a full body frisk (way more intrusive than any I’ve had in the US or GB) when my belt set off the metal detector. When my luggage came out of the X-ray machine I received a lecture about how deodorant isn’t liquid and therefore doesn’t belong in with my liquids and told that I had too many liquids than allowed. I was still let through with all of them, and had to take a proper size plastic bag for my liquids.After getting redressed I went on a mission to find a sandwich for lunch. I had no idea that this would be a challenge in an international airport. The terminal was more of a mall than a terminal.It was lined with hundreds of clothing, electronic, and fragrance stores. To get to the gates it was impossible to avoid them. I found my gate before eating, only to find that it was roped off. I went back out to the shops and found a pizza place- that of course was out of pizza. I had to settle for a really bad plate of Chinese (you could chew the grains of salt that hadn’t dissolved). As soon as I paid I found the sandwiches, too late. I went back to the gate when I was done eating (one hour before my flight) and it was still roped off. I went back to the food area and sat people watching for a while. There was a really sweet baby refusing to eat anything her mother gave her. Finally with 15 minutes to go, I walked back to the gate- still locked. I just stood waiting and when boarding started they let us through to the gate.

On my flight I sat next to the most obnoxious and rude European-American on earth. He started off telling me that he was an American citizen who could take it no longer and had to get back to Europe. I sympathized at first, noting the racial discrimination and profiling he probably went through as a Spanish speaker in California. But then he went on to tell me about how is landlord screwed him, he had to pay extra to bring back his luggage (which was overweight and consisted of 5 bags) to Europe, and how he couldn’t smoke in restaurants. My sympathy was quickly dissolving as he told me that all American’s feel entitled (including me) and that we are the root of all evil. I knew he was a total jerk when he told me about how he sold his stock option for two million dollars and made over $150,000 a year (boohoo) and had to pay so many taxes (Tommy, Grandma, and Grandpa- picture Ed but skinnier and European). I eventually gave up being polite and tried to read my book- he wasn’t having that. He started in on the War, which we sort of held the same views on, on his were 924739247 times more extreme. When he was all talked out (2 hours in to our 3 hour flight) I got to read in peace.

I flew Spanair to Madrid. It was a pretty bare-bones airline, even the seats felt cheaper than usual. You had to pay for everything on the flight, including water. I was glad I had filled up my bottle before getting on board. At the end they gave everyone a free lemon-bar cookie thing.

When I landed in Madrid I first found an ATM to get some cash. Then I set out looking for my luggage- harder than you’d imagine. I couldn’t even find my way out of the gate area. A guy from my flight recognized me and flagged me down. I followed him down to baggage carousals.We were apparently in the wrong “arrivals lounge” however, and could not find the right carousal. Before I knew it I had walked out of the secure are and into the taxi/shuttle area.Whoops! I had to ask a woman in information where to find my bags. When I got them, I then set out to try to call my hotel which had a free shuttle service. I couldn’t figure out how to work any of the pay phones (all the directions were in Spanish) and couldn’t find someone who could understand my terrible Spanish to help me. The machine ended up eating all my loose change before I got through to anyone. I found some guys (really weird band members from all over the world) who spoke English and they let me use their cell phone to call the hotel. I caught the shuttle and made it to Hotel Osuna around 8:00PM.

The shuttle ride to the hotel was very interesting. An older man, in his mid-sixties, picked me up. He was listening to a Nelly Furtado rap song and then to the really obnoxious “I kissed a girl and I liked it” song. He sang along to them as I was tossed around in the back seat.

At the hotel, the woman at the front desk spoke English. She gave me my room key and I bought 24 hour access to the wireless internet for 12 Euros. I then lugged my suitcases to a different building to my room.

My room was pretty nice. It had a marble bathroom and two twin beds with really pretty linens.The mattresses were hard as rocks and the room was kind of cold, though. I had a TV with less than ten channels, one of which was CNN in English. I watched the news until it began repeating itself and messed around on the internet for several hours. I went to bed and woke up wired around 5:00AM. I did some more internet and TV watching. “Knocked Up” came on but it was dubbed in Spanish so I couldn’t really understand what they were saying. At 8:00 I went to the lobby to catch the shuttle to the airport.

There were two older couples in the shuttle with me. One couple was Italian and I was able to speak a little Spanish to the woman. The other couple was from the US and bickered the whole way to the airport. The woman really wanted her husband to leave the shuttle driver a good tip (which isn’t really customary in Spain). Then she became convinced that we were at a different airport than she had arrived in (it’s a HUGE airport). I was the last one out of the shuttle and had to communicate that I needed to go to arrivals and not departures. I managed to do this fairly easily much to the driver’s dismay. He was willing to take me to arrivals though clearly thought I was crazy for doing so.

I got to the arrivals lounge at 9:00 but the group’s flight didn’t arrive until 9:45. While I waited I read “Marley and Me” and tried to scout out Greta. Greta said she would be on the left and would look “really American”. I never spotted her but I eventually saw Carly walk out of the gates. It took a while for the rest of the group to come through and we still hadn’t found Greta.Eventually Greta arrived; her credit card had been blocked in the hotel which held her up. When the whole group gathered Greta stayed with the luggage and we all grabbed a snack. I got a cheese baguette. Nate chose the ham and cheese. Mine was really good; Nate kept choking on his because it was so crumbly. Our bus was late in arriving to the airport so we waited nearly an hour in the lobby.

When we finally got on the bus it was large enough for each of us to have our own row. As we left the city I began to notice that the bus was really rocking a lot. I took half a Dramamine hoping not to get drowsy. I still got really nauseous and eventually caved and took the other half. I had to lie down for a while to let the medicine kick in and prayed I wouldn’t get sick. I dosed off for a little while only to be jolted awake by a sudden stopping of the bus. By this time the Dramamine had taken effect and I was okay sitting up and looking out the windows. The landscape was very similar to what I had seen in Reno. Snow capped mountains and large plains between. As we drove further from Madrid the snow line got lower and lower. We went through one section of really tall hills lined with hundreds of wind turbines for power generation. We stopped for lunch at a little bar on the side of the road that was experiencing a power outage. I had another baguette, this time ham and cheese. The bread was so hard it cut the roof of my mouth.

When we got back on the bus almost everyone was awake and ready to chat. We talked about how much the landscape looked like Hogwarts. Then Steven started making fun of me for knowing so much about Harry Potter, so I was sure to bring up HP whenever possible. The snow began falling really hard; a snow plow even appeared in the other side of the road. We went through a tunnel and were shocked to find on the other end that there was no snow on the ground. We had gone from an area of 4-6 inches to nothing. The snow had changed to rain. As we pulled in to Santander, the rain let up.

We got off the bus at a Maritime school building where all of our families were waiting to greet us. It was kind of chaotic as the Senoras came up and called out names. Some of them knew us by our pictures from the applications we submitted. I was whisked away by an older woman and her grown son.

They talked about me, thought I don’t know what they said, on our way back to the house. We went in to a building, up an elevator, and in to an apartment. The apartment is nothing like I had pictured. I had in my mind an old row house with lace all over the place and a bed room on the second floor with an adjoining bathroom. Wrong! This apartment is smaller than the one I had in Raleigh. It consists of my bedroom, my senoras bedroom, a kitchen, and a salon. My bedroom is pretty nice; I have a desk and a wardrobe. I don’t have much storage space though; many of the drawers and the closet are filled with things already. I unpacked my clothes and then watched TV with Julia until eating dinner. For dinner I was served rice, an egg, and two hot dogs. It was the most bizarre meal I have ever eaten. I am not fond of any of those three food items so it was a bit of a struggle to get it all down. After dinner I watched some more TV. At 9:30 I could not stay awake any longer. I was freezing and kept falling asleep in my chair. I went to bed and fell asleep really quickly. Unfortunately we live on a really busy street so I was awakened several times by noises below.

SUNDAY

I somehow slept until 9:00 on Sunday morning. I wasn’t really sure what to do so I got up and went to the bathroom, hoping Julia would see me and get breakfast ready. It worked. She made me toast with peach jam. We then went out to walk the ancient dog, Timon.

Timon walks really slowly, especially in the rain. This was both a blessing and a curse. It gave me plenty of time to look around but also provided time for many awkward silences. Julia showed me some key landmarks to look for when I am coming home.

After coming in from the walk I decided to take a shower. I asked Julia if there was anything special, assuming there would be. She got up and went about telling me how to work the shower.No hot water was coming out so she went into the kitchen and started messing with the hot water heater switch. It didn’t seem to be working well. Then we went back to the bathroom where she ran the water until it was “hot”. I say “hot” because it was more like a tepid lukewarm temperature. It was the kind of pool water I would reframe from swimming in. None the less I climbed into the tub, sat down (there’s no shower curtain), and started taking my cold shower.Just as I thought, “damn this cold water sucks”, the “hot” water ran out. I was sitting in FREEZING cold water that took my breath away. I held my breath, rinsed off, and got out of the tub as quickly as possible. I dried off and ran back to my room to get dressed. Julia poked her head out to ask if the water was hot, I said “un poco frio!” to which she responded by going back to the water heater and messing some more.

I took a long time getting dressed since the towels here are HUGE and warm. I then sat down at my desk to write in my journal. Julia came in to my room and encouraged me (strongly) to go walk around the city. I finished up what I was writing and then set out for a stroll. I had no idea where I was going, but I did have a shopping list that I hoped to put a dent in. I wandered around the downtown in the rain for a couple hours. Almost everything was closed since it was Sunday. I did find a pretty cool street market in one of the tunnels in the city. I don’t much care for crowds and small spaces (especially when I stand out as much as I do here) so I only made one pass through and didn’t see much of the merchandise. On my way home I found my new favorite café, Vega, which has free wireless internet. The only downfall of this place is that it is extremely loud and I sort of have to yell into my microphone when I make calls on Skype. The coffee and food is really good and very reasonably priced.

I went home for lunch/siesta around 2:30. Julia had a vegetable soup and fried cheese with ham in the middle waiting for me. Lunch was a huge improvement over my past two meals which brightened my spirits a bit. Julia went to lay down for siesta as soon as she served me so I ate in silence.

At 3:30 I left the house to meet the rest of my study abroad group in the Maritime Museum.When we met up, we all swapped stories about our awkward first day and night in the home stays. It’s very interesting to hear how different each family is.

Our tour of the Museum was done by a Spanish woman who tried her best to get us to understand what she had to tell us. Part of the issue I had was that the museum was filled with screaming children and large halls that echoed. I was also pretty tired so it was hard to pay attention to Spanish for an extended period of time. I caught two or three of the explanations and compared notes with the others to confirm what we thought we had heard. I think it would be interesting to go back at the end of the program and see how much more/what I understand differently.

After the museum tour we all walked over to a Taberna (tavern) for sangria and snacks. The sangria here is awesome, much fruitier than anything I’ve had in the States. We were also given a weird garlic broth drink to warm up, calamari, cheese, bread, sausage, and a shot of some cream liquor. Everyone was talking and getting along really well. It was the first time I had gotten to be with the whole group for an extended period of time to just sit and talk. Everyone seems to get along really well which is a nice change from my Guatemala trip. When the wine was gone (several hours later) we were given our cell phones and told to head out. Some people called home and told their families they wouldn’t be home for dinner. I couldn’t get in touch with Julia so I had to go home to eat. For dinner I had left over ham and cheese balls. I then went back out to meet the group at a bar called The Loft. We were the only ones in the bar and we were pretty loud (16 American’s tend to get that way). The bar owner was really nice and spoke really slowly for us so we could understand him. He told us about the economic situation in Spain and about his businesses. Around 1:30 I walked home with the kids from my part of town to sleep.

Sleepless in Sweden

After my first two days/nights in Sweden, I have only managed to sleep four consecutive hours each night. It's not for lack of trying, either. One night I just didn't fall asleep until nearly 8AM (jet lag, that would be 2AM in NC). The past two nights, however, I have slept fine until 4 or 5 and then had to get up to go to the bathroom at which point I am wide awake for the rest of the morning. I don't get tired much during the day, only around dinner time. I hope this is just a phase that passes once I get to Spain!

Now I will try my best to catch you up on the adventures of Lauren and Cormac:

MONDAY
After finally recovering from my two days of sleep, we had planned to get up on Monday and do some site seeing. Somehow we over slept our alarm, so we didn't get up and around until almost 1:00 PM. We went out and walked around, hoping to buy postcards to send home and pick up a few things for Cormac's room. We went to a few flower shops and picked out some nice potted plant/trees for his room. We found postcards, but as usual, I forgot to ever mail them.

We had a really nice dinner with one of our Swedish friends we met at State last semester this night. He met us at Cormac's and took us to a little cafe-esque place that served really delicous meals. Cormac and Jorgen both ate some sort of "flat-fish" which we guessed was flounder. I, being cautious and picky (all the menus here are in Swedish mind you), went for the chicken tortilla meal (sorry, Emily, no pictures). Jorgen told us about some parks we could visit in Lund, so we made plans to do that on Tuesday.

TUESDAY
Cormac got up and went to class and I did some work tying up loose ends on my travel arrangments to Spain. I booked a hotel room for my first night (the rest of the group is all flying in together) and made a powerpoint presentation for my first Cultural Correspondence Class (CC). For those of you unfamiliar with CC, it's a program that matches US students studying abroad with an elementary school classroom in NC (http://nciwconnections.wikispaces.com/Cultural+Correspondents). I have been matched with a second grade class from Jacksonville.

When Cormac came back from class we went out on bikes (one of his really nice roommates lent us her GIANT bike for the day). We had gotten directions to a park where you can see the Twisted Torso (tallest building in Sweden and an architectural treat) so we set out with high hopes that the fog wouldn't hender our view. Unfortunately you could hardly see Lund, let alone the neighboring city that hosts the Torso. It was really fun to ride bikes (I hadn't done this for several years) and see more of Lund. The park was really pretty and awesome for sledding!

Pole blocked with tires for Sledding Safety

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday we planned to go to one of the museums in Lund before Cormac had class. In true Lauren-Cormac luck, Cormac accidently left the headset we use to talk on Skype plugged in so we never heard the alarm. We didn't make it to the museum but I didn't sleep much the night before so I was okay with staying in bed (where it's warm) for a while. Cormac then went to his class and I logged on to do my CC class. The internet connection here really sucks (but only when you want to use it) so this proved to be kind of a challenge.

After Cormac got home we got ready and went out to eat at Startgort (?), a really cool bar/restaurant off one of the large squares. The food was AWESOME! I had some sort of baked pumpkin, cheese, and mushroom (maybe?) dish with a side of mushroom gnocci. Cormac tried the seafood soup and also loved it. We people watched most of dinner, making up scenerios about the Swedish people we couldn't accurately eavesdrop on (a hobby I am beginning to miss dearly thanks to the language barrier).

Our Cappuccinos

My pumpkin dish
Seafood Soup

After dinner we met up with some of his international friends at the Smalands (a fraternity type organization) pub night. It was really nice to meet some of the people I have been hearing about. When the pub closed we went to his friend's apartment to just hang out for awhile. His friend Michael served us some homemade sushi, which I have been craving (as usual). We all sat up talking for several hours before wandering home to sleep.

THURSDAY
Today we got up early (after a late night, Cormac didn't really want to get up but I had been lying in bed awake for hours) to go to Malmo. Malmo is a city close by (15 minutes by train) which is supposed to have a lot to offer for tourists. We got to the city and realized we had no map or general direction to head in. So we walked where everyone else went. The first square we came to had a really pretty building and an ice skating rink (like a mini-Rockafeller) full of kids.

City Hall and Statue
Ice Rink

We were getting pretty hungry so we eventually landed in China Box where an Asian woman just assumed we wanted chicken and so that's what we got. The portions were huge so we took most of it home for dinner.

Finally we caved and tried to ask for directions. In my guide book it says "Malmo's most well known attraction is the Castle" so we decided this was a good place to start our tour. The problem we soon faced was that not a single local person knew of any castle or palance in Malmo. We were told to just walk through the park, there's some sort of museum or something on the other side, so we gave it a try.

Playground in the Park- note the rolling hills and happy rainbows

It turns out the "castle" is actually just a large museum that takes up what minisucle amount of castle remains.

"Castle"
Cool Kayaker

The museum part was pretty boring because it was all in Swedish. They did have an awesome animal and aquariam exhibit, though. We saw fruit bats eating, a sugar glidder eating, , an electric eel (really ugly), and an smaller version of a capibara. There was a really weird exhibit on Sheep Cruelty that we found kind of ridiculous.

Mesh Butts
A mini Me

Sugar Glider

We got to see the Twisted Torso building and weren't very impressed. It's not nearly as tall as expected and rather bland (all white) looking. A Swede told me that up close it's much more impressive, I'm not so sure.

Twisted Torso

On our way back to the train we decided to try to find City Hall. Turns out we had taken pictures of it earlier without realizing what we were seeing. We wanted to try the bar in the basement (one of Cormac's professors recommended it) but it was closed.

By the time we got back to Lund we were exhausted from walking all day. We took showers, ate dinner, and a twenty minute nap before heading out to an international meet and greet at Cormac's nation (fraternity). Neiter of us really wanted to go since we were so tired but we went in hopes of meeting new people.

At the nation we were assigned to a group of mostly Swedes and one Bulgarian. The Bulgarian was HILARIOUS! He is a graduate student of gender studies and has seen nearly every American TV series known to man. At one point he told me that "You will love Spain because the Spanish are emotional people. American's are really emoitional, too. I love you all because you are so unsophisticated!" He was trying to say that we aren't standoffish but unsophisticated is rather fitting, too.

After the initial meet and greet we were led upstairs to some apartments for more drinking and Guitar Hero. I got to meet several more Swedish girls who had just started classes at Lund. For the most part they wanted to know all about America, and I was just excited that they were speaking English to us!

Around 11:00 we went down to the dance club. Swedes are really entertaining dancers. I believe that Tommy (my brother) would fit right in. Here are a few examples of my favorite dances of the night:

Please notice the kid in the plaid shirt in the center, he danced only with his shoulders like this ALL NIGHT. I guess these slick moves explain the chiseled muscles.

There were also people who managed to turn Techno music into some smooth swing style music?


The Swedish version of the Tom Forbes dance (white and navy stripes)

We decided to leave around midnight because we were beginning to get bored of people watching. On our way out the door we ran into the people we had hung out with the night before so we stayed a little longer and danced. I had to stand in line at the bar where I was harassed for being American for the first time. One kid said to me, "We have an expression, Blame it on America" to which I replied "We say, Blame it on Bush". He found that quite funny and gave me his spot at the bar which was nice. Cormac kept being awkwardly complemented by the same guy over and over for his "nice shirt" (a plaid button down).

When we finally left we were both starving again. Cormac finished his seafood soup from the other night and I treated myself to some M&M-Chocolate-Chip cookies and milk. I fell asleep really quick but woke up around 5AM and haven't fall asleep since (it's now 8:30 so I should get moving on re-packing for Spain)! I have to leave Lund around noon to catch my flight. I'm really sad to leave Cormac so soon but looking forward to Spain!

Sweden

I have arrived safely in the frigid land of Sweden. It has been snowing here and the powder stuck around for the first time since Cormac arrived. I am freezing my butt off since I am genetically cold-natured (thanks Mom).

I left Raleigh around 2:00 on Friday afternoon. As soon as I got through security I got my first taste of foreign culture. A Spanish speaking woman came up and was asking me (in a very rapid pace) for directions to her gate. I understood this concept but could not for the life of me remember my basic vocabulary to convey the directions verbally. Luckily she was on the same flight as me, so I managed to give clear enough hand signals to get her to follow me to the gate. On our way to the gate she kept asking me questions but I didn't get a single word of what she said. She was very soft-spoken and I was still in awe that I was already having to try to use my Spanish. I hadn't even left Raleigh yet, for heaven's sake!

My flight to DC landed 22 minutes ahead of schedule (so I was told 23320948 times by the pilot). I found my next gate and then went to Five Guys for one last batch of American French Fries. I rarely like french fries but when they come with malt vinegar, it's sort of like an addiction to me. I downed the whole thing in ten minutes.

I flew with Scandinavian Airlines to Copenhagen, Denmark. The flight was really nice. The chicken dinner was pretty crappy- too spicy for me to eat without guzzling wine and water between every bite! My grandmother would have died if she would have tried to eat it. I was picturing this in my head as I tried to get as much down as I could. I got the chance to watch two and one-half movies during my flight (six hours long). I sat next to a wonderfully nice but dreadfully stinky Swedish man. We talked a lot about the differences in culture between America and Sweden (he works in the US quite frequently). At the end of my flight I felt really sick because I was really dehydrated and hadn't moved from my seat (that's right- no potty breaks) the whole flight. I will never make that mistake again!

The line for customs was kind of confusing. There was a long line at a stand still that suddenly started moving very rapidly. I went through that and had my passport stamped. On the other side was the luggage carousals. I got my bags and then walked through "Nothing to Declare" doors... which led me to the exit. None of my bags were ever X-rayed. I'm still not sure if I did that right.

From the airport I had to take two trains to Lund, where Cormac is studying. I had to ask multiple times whether or not I had infact arrived in Lund. When I got off the trains I had a little trouble finding Cormac because I had forgotten we had changed our meeting spot. We then had to drag my heavy luggage twenty minutes across town to his dorm.

I slept pretty much all day long on Saturday. I didn't really get up and move around until noon on Sunday morning.

Cormac and I woke up to a blanket of snow covering Lund. We went out for a walk and he gave me a tour of the city. We went inside of a cathedral that is over 900 years old. It was incredible to see all the wood work and stone work that had been preserved. I also got to see his university which is also way older than any campus we have in the US.

When I could take the cold air no more we came back to the dorm for lunch. Cormac had reserved the dorm's sauna (this is Sweden) for a couple hours which was really relaxing (and finally warm!!).

Tonight we watched the SuperBowl with one of his roommates and explained a lot of the rules to him. I'm pretty exhausted and can't wait to see some more of Sweden this week!