Gamla Uppsala

Hej!

Today I went on an excursion with my Swedish history class to Gamla Uppsala, which means Old Uppsala in Swedish.  Gamla Upps

ala is about a 15 minute bus ride from Uppsala.  The excursion was really neat!  Gamla Uppsala is where a lot of the Swedish Vikings resided, so it's full of history.  In the area there are hundreds of Viking burial mounds, which basically look like big hills.

First, we received a guided tour of the Gamla Uppsala museum by one of the local archaeologists. 

 Basically, we got to see a lot of the different artifacts that have been excavated from some of the mounds.  Then, the guide took us on the mounds, which was pretty special considering the fact that the public is not normally allowed onto the mounds due to preservation rules.  It's funny 

because the mounds do not look very high, but it was quite an adventure getting up the icy slopes!  I wish I had taken pictures of 

that!

Tomorrow I leave for my road trip of Sweden, and I will be sure to write and post pictures!

Picture summary:

1- Me on top of a Viking burial mound

2- A look back at Uppsala from a burial mound- that point is Domkyrka, the cathedral

3- Gamla Uppsala countryside

4- A view of a few of the burial mounds

Hej!

It's crazy to me that by tomorrow morning I will have been here for 2 weeks!  Time has just been moving so fast since I've gotten here.  I was so nervous before I left to come here, and I was mostly nervous about whether I would be able to have a good time away from all of the people I love.  However, multiple people who had studied 

abroad told me that I would love my time abroad and that I would be so sad to leave.  I already think those people are right- I am so pleasantly surprised!

Since Saturday, I've mostly been researching for my paper that I have to write for my Swedish History class.  In between researching, I take lots of walks around the town.  I'm trying to 

become well acquainted with the shops and sights in the neighborhood.  It's really fascinating to me how many ethnic restaurants there are in the town- I wonder if the university presence is a 

factor.  I've also been taking a lot of trips to the grocery stores.  I'm still not very good at reading 

the Swedish labels, so every shopping trip feels like a huge adventure!  For example, I still don't 

really know how to tell the difference between all the different kinds of milk!  Yogurt is also still a mystery to me.  However, people who make fun of my Trix yogurt obsession will be amused to 

note that I have found Safari yogurt here, which is a brand of children's yogurt that is very similar 

to Trix yogurt.  Besides my shopping adventures, I've been out with some of my friends 

from the floor and watched a movie with a bunch of people.  

I'm having a hard time focusing on what I'm doing during the week, though, because I'm already so excited for the weekend!  On Friday, I am going to Gamla Uppsala (old Uppsala) for an excursion with my Swedish History class.  Gamla Uppsala has a lot of the Viking history of Sweden, so I think that will be really neat!  Then, on Saturday and Sunday I am going on a roadtrip around Sweden with 3 German friends (Frederike, Florian, and Wojtek) and another friend from the U.S.(Trent).   We have rented a Volvo for the weekend, and we are planning on either heading to Dalarna,"the heartland of Sweden",  or going to a ski resort.

Well, I'm off to enjoy a slice of bread with Nutella, my new favorite food group!

Picture summary: (From left to right)

1. The inside of Domkyrka, the cathedral

2. Disco ball inside a nation- the only proof I have seen of Abba so far

3. Uppsala by night

4. Some buildings by the river

5. Another river shot

6. Town view and Domkyrka at night

  

A great week

Hi again,

Since I last blogged, I've had my first class!  I'm taking Swedish history, and I think it's going to be very interesting.  It's so different taking classes here because, at least for my class, there is so little time spent in lecture.  My class lasts until the middle of February, and I only have 5 lectures and 2 tours of historical places!  It seems very strange to be in class for so little time, but I've been enjoying exploring the town during my free time.

I've still been busy trying to meet lots of different people.  Mostly, I've met a lot of international students that live in the same housing as me.  I've been so (pleasantly) surprised at how friendly people are - it makes it very easy to enjoy my time here!  My new friends and I have been planning lots of different excursions over the next couple of months.   So far we want to go on cruises to Helsinki, Tallinn (capital of Estonia), and Riga.  I also am planning a trip to meet up with some other ISU study abroad students in Paris.

The people in my hall are very close knit with each other, and we all do a lot together.  We've already had a birthday party, and we're having a going away party tonight and ice skating and basketball tomorrow!  Last night our floor went together to one of the nation's parties.  The parties crack me up because they only play American music there.  It's funny to hear what American music the Swedes like - the most played songs so far are Jackson 5 songs and Johnny B. Goode!  That was definitely not what I expected!

Yesterday I joined Stockholms nation.  It is one of the 3 biggest of the 13 nations here, so they have a lot of activities planned.  They also have their restaurant and pub open almost every day, and they have fika a lot!  Fika is my absolute favorite Swedish tradition so far.  Fika is when people get together in the middle of the day for coffee and a pastry.  It helps that I have loved all the Swedish pastries that I've eaten so far!  My favorite is the kanebulle, which is like a cinnamon roll except that it is flavored with cardamom.

Oh, I also think it is important to let you know that I have mastered one Swedish phrase (besides hello, goodbye, thank you, etc) that I make a point to use in everyday conversation.  The phrase is "Jaha! Precis!", which means "Yes! Exactly!"

The pictures embedded in here are both views from my room.  The courtyard is part of a school, and I can see kids playing there a lot.  The other view is just to show what typical buildings look like here - I love all the color!

Well, I think I'm off to fika! :-)

My first few days here

Hey all,

I have safely been in Sweden for a frew days, and I'm already loving it here!  The city I live in,

 Uppsala, is very beautiful.  The buildings seem to all be yellow or pink, and it makes everything look picturesque and sweet.  The university buildings are just as pretty as all the town buildings, and it's sometimes hard to tell where a university building is if it is unmarked.  Just a few blocks away from my housing, there is a river (in the picture) than runs through the city.  The river looks so pretty at night because the buildings and trees around it are all lit up.

For the past couple of days I've just been settling in.  It hasn't been hard to get used t

o the weather because it's actually been a lot warmer here than it's been in Chicago!  As for the daylight, I really don't notice a significant difference between here and Chicago, either.  The biggest struggle so far has been food shopping.  I just have to follow all of the pictures to know what I'm buying!  When it comes to cooking the food following the directions, I have to go down the hall and ask some people if they have any idea!

The people in my housing are all very friendly.  I live in a dormitory/ apartment type setting with about 60 or so other international students.  So far I've befriended several French people and people from Morrocco, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, England, and Mexico.  It's great to talk to a lot of the other students because many of them have already been here a semester, so they know the "ins and outs" of a lot of things here.

Since my class has not started yet (it starts Wednesday), I've been doing a lot of the International Office orientation activities.  Most of the activities include looking at different nations.  Nations here are like clubs that contain a restaurant, pub, library, sports center, music equipment and stages, and more.  All students who go to this university are required to join a nation, so it's a very big deal to figure out which of the 13 nations is most fitting for a person.  So far I've been to several nations for a variety of things like table tennis, fika (the swedish midday snack/dessert), open mic night.  Tonight I'm going to a karaoke night, but I plan on watching only!!

I hope everyone has been well!!

Summary of my pictures:

1- The river that runs through Uppsala

2- One of the entrances to the university's botanical gardens

3- Part of the beautiful cathedral, Domkyrka, located in my town center

Getting ready!

I can't believe that it's just a couple of days until I leave!  My plane leaves on Wednesday in the afternoon.  Even though I've been hard at work packing (while listening to Abba, of course!) , I'm not feeling quite ready.  Right now I am just so worried about getting to Sweden that I am not even worried about living in Sweden or surviving my classes.  Unfortunately, the weather forecast is not making me feel better.  High winds and 6 inches of snow threaten to postpone my flight.  I certainly hope that everything will work out with my flight.