The Flowers Are Abloomin'

Shame shame shame on me for not writing for such an extended amount of time. I'm mostly bummed because keeping up with blogging is hard enough to do on its own and I was doing so well for the first semester and pretty much as soon as I went back to California for winter break, it all went down the tank. So I suppose for anyone who reads this, I'll do a short reader's digest version of the last few months of my life.

So I flew home to California for two weeks from December 21st-January 4th. Those two weeks were very full and I felt that the contact I had had with my home life would sustain me until June. Some people shared the general concern that I would come back to California, where a lot of comfort and familiarity was and have an even greater difficulty of returning to Sweden for another semester. However, it was the complete opposite. I had a feeling that California would lose its novelty and that going back to Sweden would sound appealing; that's exactly what happened. When I left Sweden, I knew that I wasn't done, I knew that my relationships and acquaintances and memories were far from over..I knew that I had to go back to Sweden and my life there in order to feel fulfilled to my fullest extent. Fill me up to the brim with experiences I wouldn't forget. I loved eating food from home (bagels and In-N-Out, yumm!) and spending time with my beloved family and seeing my friends who I had missed so much. But when those two weeks came to a close, I felt ready, excited even to return back to Sweden..although sans Jen and Sara. I had simply accepted that this semester would be different, not necessarily better or worse, just different. And so once more, I packed my bags after almost being completely over my jet lag and headed back to Sweden..feeling strong until I saw a mother and teenage son saying goodbye right in front of my mom and I when I was about to go through security. Then I just about lost it. Regardless I made it back to Sweden safe and sound, and happy.

Fast forward a bit and there's not all that much to say about my past three months here, not that they haven't been wonderful and memorable..but my life has taken on a different shape and pace. My experience of the Lund nightlife has greatly depleted, I feel more like a grandma, taking naps at 3 in the afternoon and watching movies on the weekend. Not having Jen and Sara has really changed my experience, they were my day-to-day, it was almost nauseating how often we were together..even more nauseating how well we all got along. But fear not I have not become a total Swedish loner just yet, I spend a lot of my time with my dear Kaj..with whom I have shared many laughs, and moments of sheer ridiculousness. I have almost become more involved in Wermlands Nation, where I am a headwaiter (I EVEN HAVE A SHIRT WITH MY NAME ON IT, HOORAH) and I work a pretty decent amount and feel a sense of family with all of these people that in unbeatable anywhere else. Just about a month ago, my mom and Ron came to visit me in Lund for 10 days, and right after that Maura came to visit for a week. With my parents we ate amazing food, saw some great architecture and some Swedish towns/cities I had yet to see, I felt full. Maura and I obviously explored more of the student life in Lund, working at Wermlands one night for a sittning and going out to other nations. Right around Maura's visit was when the weather started turning for the absolute better: clear blue skies, sunshine and unfortunately some wind.

Here I find myself, it's April 5th and just a few days ago I booked my, as well as Kaj's flight back to California..I have begun to come to terms with the fact that my time in Sweden is winding down. Now I have less than two months left here in this place that has really grown to feel like home for me. Then my mom asked me just yesterday if I felt like I was emotionally and mentally winding down from Sweden/ready to come home. I said that I felt at some sort of crosspoint; that I could easily go probably another semester without issue or reservation but at the same time I feel more fulfilled with my time in Sweden now than I did 3 months ago. I'm not kicking and screaming to leave (yet) but I don't anticipate I will have as big of a hole in my heart as I would have had if I had left in December. I'm standing in between two realities, quite okay with both occurring simultaneously but knowing that in a matter of a couple of months I will be forced to return to one.

Four Months In Sweden...

And I still couldn't tell you the difference between mellanmjölk, lattmjölk, filmmjölk and good old regular mjölk.

Except for the fact that I always buy the blue one, because a Swede working at the grocery store told me it was the best one. I've tried every one except for filmmjölk which is supposed to taste like milk gone bad..but I really couldn't describe to you any distinguishing taste difference. Now I just look for the one in the blue carton, if it doesn't come in the blue carton, I wouldn't know the difference.

Reason 3284923842 Why I love Sweden

In most recent news, I have officially been nominated and then elected for a foreman position at Wermlands Nation here in Lund. In Swedish, the position is called "hovmästare" which translates into head waiter. There are going to be 5 head waiters in total at the nation next semester; a head waiter is in charge of either a sittning (i.e. having workers to serve, setting up and making sure things go fairly smoothly) or a pub night which is a lot more relaxed and just consists of serving food etc. It's certainly one of the most relaxed positions at the nation, and I will only be required to work as a head waiter about once a month but I'm greatly looking forward to being more involved in a nation next semester to give it a different tone and feel from this semester.

I've mentioned before that at the traditional Swedish dinners at nations you sing a lot of songs..every nation has their own song book with different songs in them. There's a favorite of mine called "Yogi Bear," and here's a little tidbit of the lyrics that I can remember..

Yogi has an enemy, Ranger, Ranger
Yogi has an enemy, Ranger Ranger Smith
Ranger Ranger Smith, Ranger Ranger Smith
Yogi has an enemy Ranger Ranger Smith

Yogi has a girlfriend, Cindy, Cindy
Yogi has a girlfriend, Cindy Cindy Bear
Cindy Cindy Bear, Cindy Cindy Bear
Yogi has a girlfriend, Cindy Cindy Bear

Cindy likes it up the bum, kinky, kinky
Cindy likes it up the bum, kinky kinky bear
Kinky kinky bear, kinky kinky bear
Cindy likes it up the bum, kinky kinky bear

Yogi he likes furniture, Ikea, Ikea
Yogi he likes furniture, Ikea Ikea Bear
Ikea Ikea Bear, Ikea Ikea Bear
Yogi he likes furniture, Ikea Ikea Bear

Walking on pins and needle

So over the past year and a half I've acquired 3 tattoos: a script piece on my back that is a French proverb translating to "There's no place like home," as well as my parents initials on each ankle representing their dichotomy through left and right brain. It would only make sense then that in Sweden, my year abroad, a time in my life I have no doubt I will remember and that it will shape me, that I shall once again get another tattoo. Over the past 6-8 months I've played around with various ideas, and decided that I definitely wanted an image this time..words take up a lot of space and although they hold a lot of meaning, I don't want to be a human book. Which lead me to decide on pink lily flowers; I associate these with my mom's home in San Rafael..whenever we have flowers in a vase on our dining room table, they are always pink lilies.

I did some research of tattoo shops in Copenhagen and found a really nice place that reminded me of Spider Murphy's where I got my first tattoo a year and a half ago. I emailed and talked on the phone with a woman named Rosaminna, who never failed to make me feel as if we had been good friends for 10+ years. She recommended Yanni to me, a guest tattoo artist who was only going to be at the shop for the month of December..reluctant to wait so long I asked if there was anyone else who was capable of tattooing beautiful flowers. She said yes but that she would recommend waiting for Yanni, because he would do the best job. Alright, sold. Consultation and tattoo appointment booked for early December.

Fast forward to last week, I go to Copenhagen, get insanely lost two times but finally get to my consultation at Brightside Tattoo. Rosaminna goes to fetch Yanni, we meet, shake hands and we go to his station where we are to discuss my tattoo. He immediately asks where I'm from, I reply "The states" he asks where, "California near San Francisco," and he says that he is from Santa Clarita near L.A. Well, fancy that..come all the way to Sweden, and then to Denmark to get tattooed by an artist from California who's traveling through Europe; I immediately feel more at home and comfortable with him. Fast forward to today, December 7th, my friend Sofia comes with me to the tattoo shop and because of my killer visual memory we arrive to the tattoo shop early. Yanni calls me back shortly after 12 p.m. and asks if he can just freehand the tattoo directly onto me (usually tattoos are drawn onto paper and then placed as a stencil on the body), I said that he most definitely could, but only because he was from California. I go back and he begins drawing and I was immediately amazed at his talent to draw so well directly onto my body with what appeared to be minimal mistakes. I okay the preliminary tattoo and we get to going. Ohhh that very specific pain that only comes with a tattoo..I don't see the point in expressing it because hell, I have two hours to sit through so no point getting dramatic although I do have a natural knack for that sort of thing. And not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'd like to think that I can handle pain quite well..yes I would occasionally grip the side of the table I was laying on, or look away and mouth "Ouch" but I've got a pretty killer poker face. If anything I enjoyed watching because the technique and the art of tattooing is so unparalleled and fantastic, especially when he was filling in the flowers and told me that the tattoo gun had almost a dozen needles.

In the end, I have never been more consistently ecstatic, besides the pain that was uncomfortable, I immediately fell in love with the tattoo..it is exactly what I had wanted and more: all thanks to Yanni Vera.

From Ianna, to Snow, to Stockholm and Back

Oh how daunting the idea of trying to summarize the last couple of weeks seems to me right now. Let's start off with last weekend: Ianna (a friend from UC Santa Cruz), came to visit me in Sweden from Friday-Monday. I was so excited and proud to show off Lund and my friends here, two new additions to my life that have undoubtedly altered me in the best way feasible. There are a few things I find necessary to experience when one visits Sweden: 1. The Systembolaget (the ridiculously high priced alcohol store owned by the government, but is amazing nonetheless), 2. The nation life, it's hard to really explain what nations are to people, it's better to just drag them around, 3. Pizza med pommes och vitlok sauce (pizza with french fries and garlic sauce on top, delicious!) 4. Viggo's burgers yumm, 5. A tradition Swedish sittning (and in Ianna's case, a tackfest at Wermlands) 6. A yummy falafel after a night out. and usually 7. Drinking ciders in the park, weather permitting. I am proud to say that we were able to accomplish all of that during Ianna's stay. Her first night here, we went to Hallands Nations, and were able to acquire some free drinks because we knew two of the guys working at the bar and danced until about 1:45 a.m. when we decided to head out. It was the first day of some snow collecting on the ground, and feeling as invincible as I did, I took off my cardigan and heavy duty jacket, frolicking in the empty street leading into town in nothing but a romper and some tights (don't worry I paid for it physically by shivering uncontrollably for almost a full hour after getting home). Saturday during the day, I took Ianna to Malmo, a nearby city very close to the water, and we trekked the long journey to the Turning Torso and unfortunately were unable to do anything else due to time constraints. That same night we had a tackfest at Wermlands Nation (one usually has to have worked for Wermlands to attend, but I am lucky enough to have friends who allowed Ianna to attend free of charge or physical labor!). Sittnings/tackfests are something that we've grown so accustomed to since being in Sweden that it's easy to forget how "foreign" (no pun intended), they can seem to newbies. The other Kaliforniens and I spent most of Friday and Saturday giving Ianna all the details of how they work: from the randomization of all the attendees so you end up sitting next to someone of the opposite sex that you probably don't know, to all of the free alcohol, the three course dinner you get, all of the funny songs that you sing (mostly in Swedish) that can often consist of standing on chairs or tables, with accommodating interesting hand gestures and pounds of the table with ones fist. All in all, having Ianna visit last weekend was a fantastic treat, making me grow increasingly excited for other friends from California to visit so I can share with them all of the magic of Sweden.

For probably about a month and a half now, the Kalifornien girls and I have been talking about Stockholm, let's go to Stockholm, we should go to Stockholm, we need to go to Stockholm. But life, time, prior arrangements and lack of full motivation always seemed to find us and prevent us from doing it. Finally, last week we just decided that we were going to do it, it was now or never. So Sunday night, Kristen, Jen, Sara, Peter and I booked our train and hostel in Stockholm (extremely last minute considering we were leaving early the next morning). It was impulsive in the best of ways. The trip overall was so much fun, Stockholm is very large compared to Lund, there was snow on the ground and the crisp air and wind would bite at your face constantly. Trying to figure out the right formula for warmth was probably the most interesting aspect of experiencing cold weather; our first day there I made the mistake of only wearing pants, and I swear to you my ass felt like 20 bees had stung it and it had gone numb. I didn't make the same mistake the next day: wearing a pair of tights, leggings, and pants. The makings for an impenetrable shield from the cold air and wind. We walked around Stockholm a lot, soaking in it's picturesque scenery and buildings, covered in snow. A memory I hope to never forget was when we decided that it would be really lovely to book a sauna in our hostel (best hostel ever, right?!), and decided it would be an even better idea to run from the sauna, up the stairs and out of the hostel into the snow and cold. We did that twice, part dying, mostly laughing and enjoying it. Another night we were wandering around old town of Stockholm and found a bench in a little courtyard area next to an alley and decided that a jumpingoffthebenchgrouppicture was in order. Low and behold, between the weight of 3 people, and the bitterness of snow and winter air, we ended up breaking the bench..running away like 7 year olds and laughing about it for the next few minutes saying to Peter, "Hey Peter, remember when you broke that bench?"

My head is exploding with thoughts, worries and desires: the main being that Sara and Jennifer's time here is quickly fleeting and I am feeling more and more like I don't know exactly what I will do with myself. In an attempt to create a new sort of routine next semester, I will probably be more busy with school seeing as I'm planning on taking departmental courses (WITH ACTUAL SWEDES), and am also in the process of trying to become a foreman at Wermlands Nation. I was nominated through my friend Sofia for three positions, hovmastare (head waiter of sittnings), lunch chef, and Saturday cafe chef. I tend to steer clear from cooking because of my genetic predisposition to messing up any sort of food that I touch, and hovmastare seems like it would be a fun position for me; I've dealt with 5 year olds, I'm pretty sure that I would be able to boss around some twenty something year olds. I am to attend a meeting on December 9th, where I believe is when I give a little tidbit about myself and the members will vote for those who they see fit to become more involved in the nation. Wish me luck! As I mentioned earlier, I am feeling increasingly sad about my two closest friends in Lund leaving so soon, which leaves me here..at the end of my update because I need to go get ready to create even more memories with the people I've come to love so much here.

Kram och puss

(Hugs and kisses in Swedish)

Adventures In Copenhagen

So last weekend, after talking and planning about a visit to Copenhagen, Denmark, Jen, Sara, Kristen and myself finally paid a visit to our neighboring country! We had heard that some other UC girls had spent the whole night in Copenhagen and then took the first train back in the morning at around 5 a.m., so we thought, hell..we can do it too! After missing the first train we were trying to catch to Copenhagen, we made it on the next one and huzzah, a mere 45 minutes later we were there! In Sweden, you're only able to buy alcohol in the Systembolaget, an alcohol store that is owned and operated by the country, with a heavy tax on all alcohol and in smaller quantities. Imagine our happiness when we walked into the first 7/11 we saw only to find mass amounts of ciders and beers in the refrigerators. We each bought a cider and confirmed with the young looking cashier that we were able to drink in public (although I was really skeptical about his level of validity; pretty much I thought he was trying to set up some stupid Kalifornien girls to get arrested in a foreign country).

Let's make a very long story short: we heard about this college-y area in Copenhagen, and about the bus we had to take to get there..we took the bus and ended up outside of the center in a very sketchy area. In the end we were pretty much right back where we had started and made our way back to the center of the city and looking for bars/clubs/food. We collectively decided that since we never eat out at a nice restaurant (besides the occasional 2 a.m. falafel in fluorescent lighting) that we deserved a meal at a nice restaurant. And Italian food it was! I'm pretty sure that the Italian waiter wanted to kick us all out when I bothered him for bread repeatedly, Sara wanted her meal vegan, and Kristen and Jen wanted to split a dish. The food was nice, although I was still hungry after..but we got to sit around and have good conversation for some time before migrating back out into the cold and onto the remainder of our evening.

We ended up at a bar which was exactly when I was reminded that when one goes to a nation in Lund, there's a very specific age range of youth that are there. Talk about a rude awakening when we walk into this pub/bar that was underground to find that, yes, there were people our age there, but there also were men, I kid you not, old enough to be my dad there. When I was at the bar ordering drinks, this guy started talking to me..way upwards of 40 and I couldn't help but think to myself, "Dude, how old do you think I am?" Ahh, gag. Anyways, I spent a ghastly $8 on a yummy pina colada and the four of us exchanged some major girltalk for some time before we decided that we were all tired and couldn't bear to stay out until 5 or 6 a.m., when we couldn't even find a reliable club and weren't really feeling in the club mood we decided it was best to head back to little old Lund. On our way home we found some fake snow that we frolicked around in, that was quite lovely! Copenhagen is so incredibly different from Lund, big urban city versus a tiny itty bitty town..and as much as I enjoyed a night out on the town as I guess one could call it, it made me love and appreciate Lund even more.

à toute à l'heure!

Late Night Walks

When I first came to Lund, I (being the extremely paranoid person that I am) wasn't really a fan of walking at night and in the dark. But throughout my time here I've grown to really enjoy the cold air and the serenity of walking at night. Last night, with a million thoughts floating through my head I decided it best to go take a walk. I suited up in my jacket, scarf and gloves and went for about an hour long walk through the town, which is saying much because the city itself isn't very large. Something about the peacefulness here is intoxicating. Then again tonight for example, I headed to one of the Wednesday night pubs with some friends, and decided to take a longer route walking home. I don't remember much of the walk only because I was so wrapped up in my own head and thoughts, but there has to be something about the crisp air that adds to the appeal of the darkness here.