FINALS... what?

So tomorrow Mariah and I have out first final, on a Saturday, in February? Our course was only 5 weeks. We attended lectures (yes, I actually went) and participated in group projects. This was a hefty load itself for just 5 weeks. In the meantime, we should have been studying for the final. In our defense, we aren't used to having only 5 weeks of class to learn a whole 600 page book, 10 article compendum AND all of the seminar information. Our teacher also said "I'm purposely not including some information that will be on the test in my lectures so you read the book" what a jerk. So needless to say, the test tomorrow will be rough at best. Oh, did i mention the final is FIVE HOURS LONG. I don't even know if I can sit that long. On the bright side, once we are done with the final we will only have one class from 4-6 pm on Wednesdays until April. This is a well deserved break I'd say.

-Shanda

P.S. Yes I wrote this blog instead of studying. Procrastination.

SUPRISE!

As you all may know, Brigitte turned 20 yesterday. We started out her birthday at midnight by surprising her with her favorite ice cream Half Baked Ben & Jerry's. In the morning, she had a 3 hour long class and that was when "Operation Brigitte's Surprise Party" went into action.

We started off the night by us 4 going into town and getting dinner at a sports bar called O'Learys. After that we headed back to the bus station to catch a bus back. While we were waiting there Kari got pooped on by a bird that flew over us (hahahaha). We eventually got back, cleaned Kari's hair, and took Brigitte to the activity room (a room that the international students can rent out to have parties). Once we walked up to the building SURPRISE! Everyone was there to see B-Taine on her precious birthday. It was a good time for sure!

-Mariah

Everyone!

Brigitte, Eve, & Katie 

Johanna, Brigitte, Ivo, Edouard, & Shanda

Nutty Neighbors

It has recently been brought to our attention that we live in a nut-house. Well, an ex-nut-house. Apparently Krebo (our apartment complex) used to be a drug addict housing facility. Most of the loonies don't live here anymore, with a few exceptions. Our lovely neighbor, Sharla (we named her) likes to go on our balcony and yell to no one. The creepy part of it is she almost moans, and speaks Swedish very slowly. Mariah and I had a run-in with her on the path to the University, at 8 in the morning. We saw her coming from 100 feet away, and  we also heard her... talking to herself in her same creepy moans.

There's also this old man that lives on the bottom floor of our building that clears a path (in the grass) from his doorstep, through the yard and around this dead tree that stands about 3 feet high. We've seen him dump crushed chips and cereal around the base of the tree. There also is some sort of rotting fruit or vegetable stuck on the tree branches that he religiously puts there every week.

This information on top of the fact there was a stabbing last semester outside our apartment complex brings us great comfort. There also has been many bikes stolen and a break in which resulted in a broken lock and stolen laptops. Yipee.

Sorry you had to read this, Mom.

-Shanda

Talar du Svenska?

Today I learned Sweden’s have nine vowels, that may be pronounced long or short, and depending on the vowel you will pronounce the previous letter differently. Mind blown anyone? Swedish class is clearly above the American girls heads when we can get the whole class laughing with our bad pronunciation. If two straight hours of this class isn’t considered mental abuse… I’m not sure what is. –xoko

What I Have To Live With...

Shanda Guy in one phrase- No pants, no problem. –xoko

Soda Pop

The selection of sodas in Sweden and Denmark (the only places we have been so far), are not very good. They have Coke, Sprite, Fanta, and Coke Zero. I know a lot of people that love their diet coke (shoutout to my Bremer family) and I have yet to see it. On a more personal level, THEY DON'T HAVE MOUNTAIN DEW! What is wrong with these people!! Anyways, so if you are a Mountain Dew lover and you plan on going to Europe, pack enough for your journey.

Oh Mountain Dew how I miss you. 

They may have Coke, Sprite, and Fanta, but the taste is not the same as the American version. The Coke and Sprite tastes almost flat. Fanta is just totally different. Below is a picture I made to show the difference. Crazy huh?? U.S. Fanta tastes more "orangey" and has more sugar. 

Not drinking pop is for my own good though. You're welcome teeth!

Until later, -Mariah!

Fun Fact:

Doors in Sweden open by pushing out, not in. This takes some getting used to and a lot of looking like idiots; trust me. –xoko.

Take Nothing For Granted.

When you study abroad you truly find out how many emotions are possible for a human to go through. You can cover overwhelmed, angry, excited, stressed, lonely, confused, etc. all in just one day. In these instances we turn to each other and say “We’re in Sweden” and the stress is soothed, anger calmed, or excitement increased. These words seem obvious, but it’s scary how easy it is to forget we’re 7,000 miles away from home, our time is and will continue to fly by, and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. 

–xoko.

Gothenburg and Care Packages

This weekend we traveled to Gothenburg, a large city about 3 hours from here. The city was gorgeous but sadly it was too cold to take advantage of it. We were running from the outdoors to hop on the nearest tram. Of course, we spent the majority of the first day shopping. We then went to McDonalds for the first time in Sweden (sadly, its more expensive)! The American girls all stayed in a Hostel together. The room wasn't as bad as we thought it would be... except 3 out of our 4 blankets they supplied us had spots of blood on them. Ew. So we slept with just our sheets (which we brought from home), our winter coats, scarves and gloves. The room was FREEZING. The next morning we woke up and ate at the hostels breakfast buffet. We got the luxury of using a toaster! Then we went to the Universum, where we got to go through an aquarium, rain forest and a play room (?). Then we went back to the main center and checked out the town. We would love to make a trip back if there is time :)

Gothenburg city streets.

Oh, just hanging out at the Universum.

Pizza/Pasta restaurant in Gothenburg!

Today I received my moms 27 pound care package.... yikes. It was filled with 14 boxes of mac and cheese, 2 boxes of cocoa puffs, rice, oatmeal, chips, NUTELLA, cookies and etc. We will definitely not go hungry. We all also got an envelope from Trent.This included letters and pictures. Today was a good day! It is so nice to know people are thinking of us back home. So if anyone else would like to send us a care package we would gladly accept! Just ask for our address :)

Ridiculous care package from Mama Sheila.

We also met an awesome Dutch girl who wants to take us to Amsterdam to show us the sights! We are currently planning a trip for the first weekend of March!

-Shanda

Gothenburg

The ladies are off to Gothenburg for the weekend with a group of the exchange students! Wish us luck in the city. Here's a site with some facts if you want to check out what we'll be doing: http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden/Regions--Cities/Gothenburg/ (check out the picture slideshow :) )

Pictures will be up soon!

Tube-Tastic

Here is the infamous wall of tube food..... bacon, shrimp, lobster, etc.... sick.

-Shanda

They're Baaaaaaaack.

As I walked by my lonesome to campus I saw what I've been dreading. The little girl with the stick. This time she was stickless but to make up for it she had two friends to accompany her. As they saw me, a lone sheep, they started screaming in their native tongue (which is frightening when it come from the mouth of children, my worst nightmare). They spotted me and instantly they ran over to me on the path. They continued to yell at me in Swedish, grabbed my arms, biting at me and stopping me from walking. Through this nightmare I was surprisingly hysterical. I could not contain my laughter because in my head I was already imagining telling Kari, Mariah and Brigitte. This only egged them on. Finally I walked about 50 feet and they stopped. So my question to you, what would you do if you were attacked by three Swedish girls? Think about it... how frightening.

Pray this doesn't happen to you.

-Shanda

P.S. Us American girls are not cut out for Swedish class... wish us luck.

A Trip to the Centrum

Today we didn't have any classes so Brigitte and I made our way to the Centrum. Finally getting the hang of the bus schedule here, we hopped off and did some shopping. The Centrum is so cool because there is a ton of stores and ones that we have never heard of before. We went into a couple different book stores since Brigitte is a reading machine. In the first one we went to, they had a small section in English but in the other one, the English books were scattered throughout. Nonetheless, the book stores were both really sweet and made me feel like I was in Barnes & Noble again (only without the Starbucks). 

After walking around for a while we decided that we needed to hit up Mcdonalds. Everything tasted the same except the ketchup was a little funky.  As we ordered, there was a guy who asked us where we were from.  We later found out that he was from Canada and had been studying here in Sweden for a year and a half! He also hit close to home.

After we got back, the Austrian girls made us a delicious dinner! It was a successful first Tuesday dinner/Girls Night! After we played some games, we went to a double birthday! A girl from Spain and a guy from France both had a birthday yesterday and decieded to share it with all of us. All the exchange students live right by each other and we are all getting really close! It was a good time.


Ta ta for now!

-Mariah