First and foremost, I've officially been in Lund for five weeks! It's an interesting sensation; initially, time went by rather slowly, and now I can't believe how quickly it's going. Lund truly feels more like home than anytime before. All of us Kalifornien girls seem to have really cemented ourselves in Lund; and through Kristen/her Swedish corridor mates have met some truly fantastic people. I can't deny that during the past couple weeks I've had feelings of regret around staying for the full academic year..especially considering that my California girls leave me in December and not knowing exactly how I'd adjust to the shift in social circle. However, in that time, I've continued to meet more Swedes and felt increasingly more comfortable with the thought of really living here and going all the way through to June. On a side note, I've realized that I have the ability to adapt to new situations and settings really quickly, and I partially fear that I may become disenchanted with Lund and this unforgettable, unfathomable opportunity that I have with studying here. Sometimes I stop what I'm doing and realize that this is a time of my life that is going to leave a great impression on me.
Okay, so now for a general update..it's been quite a week indeed. I've felt reminiscent of the first few weeks of my freshman year at UC Santa Cruz; everyone is excited to get to know each other, you're overloaded with a variety of stimuli, you want to do everything, meet everyone and savor every opportunity. Essentially, the beginning of freshman year of college and the first month in Lund have felt like summer camp. And unfortunately, summer camp has ended..meaning that yes, class has started. This past week was probably one of the most random, flustered, confusing week of my whole life. I'll be taking what are called SAS class (Special Area Studies), they're in English and only for international/exchange students (also known as joke classes because they aren't departmental). It's insane to hear all of the different places that my peers are from(Finland, Switzerland, Singapore, China), my situation feels all too surreal to fully grasp. After quite a hectic first week of classes, it appears that I have my final schedule pinned down: Swedish Social Policy, Governance and Conflict in the Middle East, Global Environmental Justice, and Population Settlement and Economic Geography. So, a difference that I've noticed that irks me slightly about the Lund University system is that 1. no meeting time/day is ever really consistent 2. because of this general inconsistency leads to another issue, classes can have time conflicts! Which absolutely, never ever is allowed to happen at UCSC. Two classes at the same time? Just decide which one's more important. This, I can tell will be a consistent struggle for me. All in all, I'm pleased with my schedule and classes. For a variety of reasons I'm sure (partial homesickness, partial unhappiness with school seriousness starting), I've felt slightly melancholy throughout the week. But with the promise of my mom and Ron visiting sometime in the near future, as well as getting a care package in the mail..I feel like this little raincloud on top of the current rainclouds in Lund will pass.
Last week, we were more or less forced to decide on which nation we would like to join; which for us exchange students only staying for a semester, or year is slightly irrelevant because no matter which nation you join, you can go to any other nation. Nonetheless, I decided on Lunds Nation (mainly because it's close to me, the largest nation, and I didn't really care either way), Gaby, Kristen and Sara joined Krischan Nation, and Jennifer joined Blekingska. Another general highlight of the weekend was working as a server at a sittning (formal dinner) at Wermlands Nation on Saturday..which once again reinforced my general anxiety revolving around doing anything that involves serving, food, and potentially mean people. The
Californian exchange students dominated most of the kitchen: Jennifer, Sara, Gaby, myself and Cyrus all worked with serving the food for the evening. Munching on bacon and delicious french fries all throughout the evening. Besides having fun while working in the kitchen and getting free food, there is an added bonus: the thank you sittning that occurs a few weeks after you work for a nation where they in turn provide free food and drinks. It truly is quite glorious.
Over and out.
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