-Two of my four classes are officially over! Well, I still have a final paper due this coming Saturday for one of them, but other than that, I only have two classes that meet about once a week (sometimes twice) for the rest of the semester. This does seem slightly ridiculous, and don't be fooled because it is completely ridiculous. The SAS (Special Area Studies) courses that I'm taking are geared toward exchange students, and I really have enjoyed the different ways I've been mentally stimulated by the courses, although they aren't academically rigorous or demanding. Because in all honesty, who would come to study abroad only to sit in a library for hours on end and study? Nej, not I...so the relaxed feeling of my classes has really catered and in a way added to my experience here because school isn't something I necessarily have to actively stress and worry about.
-Although we haven't really had rain in about two weeks (yay!) it is definitely getting colder and the days are getting shorter. I've learned how to properly layer my clothing so that I am some degree of warm when the projected high for the day is something around 50 degrees. A couple of weeks ago I was walking with a couple of my friends to a nation in the evening, with gloves, a scarf and two jackets on, being a stupid Kalifornien and saying "It's so cold out!"..you say they get great pleasure out of this, laughing back at me and saying "This is warm, this is pleasant, just you wait" which often times across as some sort of threat..and I can't help but feel that they're waiting to see how I suffer when the weather is absolutely unbearable. Although I find myself following Jen's lead in wearing less clothing now while it's still considered not the worst weather so that I can hope to acclimate to the cold faster (we're crazy, yes). One would be amazed, while I'm wearing a scarf, two jackets and a pair of gloves, I'm walking next to one of my Swedish male friends wearing a leather jacket and jeans, daring to say that the weather isn't bad. Blasphemy.
-My Kalifornien friend from UCSD, Sara deserves her own blog posting in
hopes of conveying her overall amazingness on so many levels. Sara has been vegan for about 6 months and is my absolute idol when it comes to cooking. Jen, Sara and I have cooked together quite a bit (all vegan of course) but I've had so much fun exploring the different ways to substitute dairy and animal products while still having the food be delicious (no offense vegans, I just never really thought it was possible). Jen and Sara are the type of girls to read food blogs late into the night and get overly excited about a recipe and then the next day make it. Our recent triumphs are all in the realm of baking: we make a pie that was 1/4 plums, 1/4 bananas, 1/4 blueberry, 1/4 blueberry banana and it was absolutely delicious! The crust and dough were a little overcooked and harder to eat but regardless, we were very proud considering none of us had ever baked a pie. And yesterday, we made banana bread that was unspeakably amazing, my taste buds must have died at least thirteen times over, it was perfect in every way. Lastly, yesterday was Gaby and Kristen's birthday (Grattis my loves!) and we headed over to Gaby's corridor to make apple pie. Fear not, this time we got it soooo right, we took the pie out of the oven a little early and it was absolutely perfect in every way..needless to say I consumed enough sugar to make a 7 year old bounce off the walls for 6 hours and my tummy is bursting at the seams with deliciousness, but I've never been one to complain about eating a copious amount of dessert!
-I've still been working a decent amount for nations, most recently I worked
at Lunds Nation again last Thursday and Blekingska Nation on Friday. And this week I have three, yes, you read that right, THREE Tackfests at different nations. Wednesday: Sydskanska, Thursday: Lunds, Saturday: Blekingska...and just to reiterate, one doesn't get paid for working at nations, rather you receive tackfests where you often will get a dinner and free alcohol or sometimes just free alcohol. Also, if you work at a nation three times you are able to get into that nation free for the rest of the semester. The people we work with at nations are always so surprised when they realize that there are multiple Kaliforniens working together (there are usually at least 2 of us working at a nation, if not sometimes 4), yes, we travel in packs and are planning for overall nation domination.
-My lovely UCSC friend Ianna, who is studying abroad in the UK for fall term will be visiting in about a month and I'm am so excited for my first visitor :)! My parents are set to visit in March and I'm just getting so excited to share a place like Lund with people that I love and care about, because I do believe it's an extremely special and beautiful place. And surprisingly enough, I've felt very, very minimal homesickness..which is so nice. I haven't had any time where I've thought to myself "God, I just can't wait to go home," I feel so planted here, so rooted and so comfortable that when I think of leaving it does make me sad for the Swedish friends I've made and truly care about. In the same way, when I think of Sara and Jen leaving (which we've deemed an unspeakable topic) I simply can't imagine what the content of my days will look like without them to cook/bake/bicker with.
Cheers from a way chillier place than California!
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