Sunday, May 23, 2010

To the Ones I Love

I've never been away from my family for more than a week and now I've been away from my family for 5 months. I feel that I've learned a lot about myself in that time, and some of it I may have never known if I was at home, but mostly I've learned that I want to share everything with my family. I miss telling my Mom about my day when I come home from school or work, and talking about my newest plans, and even arguing about politics with her. I miss taking my brother to movies and to play disc golf. I miss sitting at the couch, watching TV and eating dinner at the same time with them. I will try not to take it for granted again. I wish I could see my sister and her new beautiful little daughter today.

Something about being here has really made me realize how short life is. I was thinking about my plans after college. Graduation will be here before I know it. Then I will look for a job, find one (quickly, hopefully) and then 5 years will be gone. Maybe then I will be starting a family. My 10 year highschool reunion invitation will come. etc, etc. I know I'm still young, but I think I understand how brief this life is going to seem when it's nearly over. I want to make sure that it's the best it can be.
I wish my family was here, especially my Mom. I think she would love every minute of it. I keep thinking of what her reactions would be. Amsterdam would take her breath away. It is so beautiful. Sometimes I feel guilty for coming here without them...it seems so wrong that I can tour Europe when my parents haven't been able to. I wouldn't be here without my Mom's and my Dad's and my sister's and my brother's support. If we can't get in touch, and they read this, I want them to know that I owe them everything and I miss them and love them so much!

Anyway, I guess I'm rambling now. I have one exam next Monday where I will demonstrate how to set a semi formal table in Swedish. That should be fun... haha. Then we will have fika for our final class and then a few days later, our final written exam. As for my lab work, I'm finished taking samples, I just have to collect data for alkalinity and finish writing my paper and make a presentation. I'm soooooooooo dreading the presentation...  I really need to study more, but it's been perfect weather for a few days and spending the day studying seems like a waste. Instead, I've taken many bike rides and planned for my Europe trip, which leads to more plans and so now I'm thoroughly distracted. Hmmm, I guess I should stop blogging and start studying, eh?

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Alla goda ting måste få ett slut

It's only 3 weeks until the semester ends. My goal is to see all of this town before I go. My list of sights includes: Kvarntorpshögen, an open air art exhibit set on a gigantic oil shale slag heap in Kvarntorp. It has awesome sculptures and it also just happens to be partially burning at any given time; Naturens Hus, a cafe set in a nature reserve. I really want to see the nature reserve and Lake Hjälmaren in Spring. The cafe is just a starting point; Wadköping, a picturesque example of a Swedish old town right in Örebro. It is an open air museum with cafes, markets, and theatre.
Exploring all these places is a good way to spend a day, especially now that the weather is changing. Yesterday was such a perfect day. It was 20 C, about 70 f, sunny and green. I went for a bike ride through the woods behind Brickebacken. There are trails for walking or biking and even places to have a small fire and barbecue. I love Sweden in Spring! If only every day was like yesterday. Today I planned to ride my bike down to Kvarntorpshögen, but it's cloudy and looks like it might rain. I don't really want any more pictures with a cloudy background, so I decided to wait until next weekend. I guess I'll have to fit in two trips next weekend!




The semester coming to an end is bittersweet. On one hand, all we exchange students have come to depend on one another over the past few months. We are surrogate families to each other in a lot of ways. When the semester ends, we all go back home and possibly never see each other again. People who live close may see one another again, but for the most of us, it will be goodbye forever. On the flip side, a few will become friends for life. We won't know until it happens. Also, for me and many others, the end of classes means traveling really begins! Another American guy and I have booked flights all over Europe. First, Berlin, Germany, then London, England, then Barcelona, Spain, then Paris, France, then Prague, Czech Republic, then Rome, Italy, and last Bratislava, Slovakia and possibly Vienna, Austria. It's the trip of a lifetime and I could not be more excited about it. It's my dream come true! Fingers crossed that the Icelandic volcano doesn't ruin our plans! I'll be sure to write more about this later.



3 weeks left also means that studying has became priority. My environmental science project work is finally coming to an end and then I will have to finish writing my paper. In 2 weeks I have an Oral exam in Swedish language, and just a few days later, the written exam. Words cannot express how difficult it is to get motivated for homework while on student exchange. I would rather write this blog for hours, or clean the apartment, or go to the gym, or stare out the window than study, but I have to do it... So, I better get to it :D

Friday, May 7, 2010

Shea, the Meatballs, and Dutch Dreams



Well, Shea came to visit for two weeks and we had such an awesome time!! He brought me some things that I really miss from home, like Mac and Cheese, fruit leather, ranch dressing, and even some duty free tequila!! We spent some time exploring Örebro - the castle, downtown, Svampen, went to the nightclub Satin, I showed him around the University, etc, and the first weekend we went down to Stockholm.

We were just a 15 minute walk to Gamla Stan, the old town. Our hostel was really cool because it was a boat!



I never had a chance to see Stockholm when I flew in from the U.S. so it was new to me, but Shea went there when he was a kid so he knew a few places that we should go. Gamla Stan is so beautiful and you can really see what sets Swedish architecture apart. We visited the Royal Palace, or Kungliga Slottet, there and watched the guards patroling for a while. Then we visited the Alfred Nobel museum. It was pretty interesting to learn that Alfred Nobel, who founded the Nobel Prize for Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, and Peace was also the inventor of dynamite.

I loved walking around Stockholm, but perhaps the coolest thing we saw was the Vasa. It's a ship that was built in the 1620's and sank on it's maiden voyage but was salvaged largely intact. It's huge, and covered in carvings. I think it's amazing that it has survived this long. The story behind it is kind of funny though because it sank before it even sailed 1 nautical mile. Apparently it was built a little too top heavy and a slight wind simply pushed it over. At least 15 people died and their remains were found at the bottom of the shipping lane in the 1960s when it was salvaged. It's still a great symbol of Sweden's military effort at the time, and damn impressive to look at. :D



The Eyjafjallajökull Volcano eruption in Iceland nearly ruined our trip to Amsterdam, but lucky for us, flights resumed the day before we were scheduled to fly! When we got to Amsterdam, the weather was beautiful (which was very luck for us since we left both our coats on the bus and didn't get them back until we returned to the airport) and the first glimpses of the city were more than I ever imagined. Amsterdam is breathtaking to say the least. There are picture perfect scenes in every direction. The canals, the buildings, and the flowers, everything. My roommate, who is from the Netherlands, once told me she wasn't that impressed by Stockholm and I think I know why. After seeing Amsterdam, I'm not sure if any other city can compare! We had a lot of trouble finding our hostel at first, but once we did, getting around the city was very easy. The bikers and trams are a little bit terrifying however because they don't stop for anything and they seem to come out of nowhere!



The next thing we noticed is that there are "coffee shops" everywhere you look. I use quotations because although they do serve coffee, their main menu item is marijuana. Interestingly enough, marijuana is tolerated in Amsterdam but isn't actually legal. Since the shops say they sell coffee it allows the police officers to look the other way. It's a strange reasoning, but it seems to be working out!
We were staying near the Red Light District so after we checked into the hostel, we went to look for a place to eat and ran across some of the aforementioned Red Lights. It was quite shocking at first to see girls standing in windows in their underwear winking at you. haha and it was a little surprising that they're mostly very pretty. The ext day we took a tour of the city and learned about the history, laws and customs of Amsterdam from an Australian guy who fell in love with the city. It was really interesting and afterwards we joined him for a dutch lunch in Dam Square. The meal was basically a big mound of mashed potatoes and a sausage, but it was really quite good!



Other places we visited in Amsterdam were the Heineken Brouwery, VondelPark, the Tulip Market, and Anne Frank Huis. The Anne Frank House was definitely the most amazing part of the trip. Since I read the Diary when I was a kid, I've always been very astounded by the Holocaust and I feel very strongly that all people should be educated about it. A museum is built next to her house and you are allowed to walk through it. We went in the small, dark confines that Anne, her sister, her parents and 4 others lived in for over two years before they were discovered. It's such a horrible and sad story to hear. I can't imagine having to live that way. It's just outrageous that people can treat their fellow human beings like that. I think that it's a very important place to visit if you ever travel to Amsterdam and it's so fortunate that I had the opportunity to see it with my own eyes.



I know that I will be visiting Amsterdam again because it's my new favorite place in the world. It's so progressive and welcoming. I love it!

There is so much to say about the two weeks with Shea, I can't possible relay it all to you. I had such an awesome time!! When we got back to Stockholm, we stayed one night there and then we went to the airport and Shea left back to CT. Saying goodbye was soo difficult. I'm just looking forward to seeing him again in 2 months and planning our next big adventure together!!