Friday, November 26, 2010

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)

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