Here I am in my dark room at 2:30 a.m., trying to gather enough information that would be compelling enough for a blog post. I've acquired two crippling (note the sarcasm) issues since arriving in Lund: I've been extremely dehydrated, and waking up multiple times during the night. Call me crazy but after being blessed with the presence of a Brita water filter at home and Santa Cruz, drinking water straight from the tap seems like asking for a radioactive disease to me. I'm slowly starting to accept that I can't afford to buy $3 water bottles every day. It being 2:30 a.m. in the morning also means that it has been about a week since since I touched down in Lund on August 2nd, and I'm beginning to feel my first legitimate feelings of homesickness as I realize that I'm not visiting and just making an appearance in another country for a few weeks, rather that I'm really living here until next June and am making some social ties that will most likely last the duration of my stay. I have those surreal moments where I really stop what I'm doing and once again mentally process the endeavor I have undertaken by coming to Sweden.
So, some new developments in the past few days that I didn't mention in previous entries: I had an orientation with Linus Lindgren, the UC advisor at Lund University who has been communicating with us since what seems like the dawn of time. At the orientation we were debriefed on what our next few weeks would look like until the 10,000+ other students arrive on August 17th. I received my class schedule and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I got into 6 classes (when I only need 4) and will get to eliminate a couple in the following weeks.
It's been really interesting to explore the Lund nightlife so far as my first weekend has come to an end. In the states at university weekends tend to consist of house parties, kickbacks or if you're 21..a club or bar. Since we've been here we've gone to two nations (fraternity/sorority combination) where there is music, a dance floor and a bar. Experiencing a few nights in a European college town vs. 2 years at an American university, I've come to realize how excessive we are in most everything we do (and in this case the amount that college students drink in order to have a "good" time) and how the Swedes tend to be more minimalistic. It all started when I began shopping for different things for my room and kitchen..I realized that the shampoo&conditioner bottles were around the same price in the states, if not a little bit more, for a visibly smaller bottle. I realized it with toilet paper and paper towel, their packages..smaller, the sizes of the rolls..smaller. Even in convenient stores they don't have the wide array of water bottle and soda sizes, they tend to be smaller. I kid you not, a "large" coffee beverage here is certainly a medium in the states (and even then, some places only have two size selections in Lund). I bought tortillas today and got something like 4 in a package, whereas in the states I struggle to finish the smallest package option of 8. Which leads me to my final observation of our excessive drinking habits: sure I've seen a couple people fall over because they're too inebriated in Sweden, but it seems that the Swedes often times won't drink to the excessive nature that I've noticed American college students to. As a country we seem to like everything super sized, in bulk, to the maximum, the limit and over the top.
As my clock on my desktop slowly creeps towards 3 a.m...I'm beginning to realize that sleep is probably the better (and necessary) option at this point. After almost a full 7 days of being in Sweden I already feel like I've seen, and experienced a lot and I'm very anxious, as well as excited, to see more.
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