February fun

Hey everyone,

I've been having a really fun time since I last wrote.  I've gotten to the point where I really feel like Uppsala is my home.  I have a routine here.  It is very different from my routine at home, that's for sure!  Here, I wake up at around 11 (unless I have class) and I get ready.  In the afternoon, I get together with friends to do something (walking, fika, sledding, etc).  Then I read books until dinner.  After dinner, I get together with friends and we either go out together or stay in and watch a movie or play Uno (the rules with all the international students are absolutely crazy!!), and we all stay up late together.

Even though most days have been the same silly parade, there have been some standouts.  Last week, a few of us got together for a pizza party.  We actually made the pizza's at our friend Wojtek's apartment.  It actually turned out to be a bad idea because we let Florian and Wojtek do the shopping for the pizza ingredients, and they came back with all very weird things.  We had ham, hot dog, feta cheese, salami, tuna and other things on the pizza!  Yikes!  Luckily, we ate very late, so the crazy pizza tasted good anyways!  The next day we had a welcoming party for the sister of one of the girls on our floor.

On Sunday, I went to Stockholm with Trent, another American.  We didn't really have any set plans of what we wanted to do, so we just ended up walking around for the whole day.  We went to Gamla Stan, the old section of Stockholm, and then we headed to the big shopping center.  It was absolutely crazy in the main Gallerian (where a lot of the famous shops are) because it is currently one of the big sale times in Sweden.  After that, we took a walk along the waterfront, and before you knew it, it was time to take the last bus home!

The Europeans have taken me in as their "sweets pet" because I am unfamiliar with so many European sweets.  So far they have shown me lots of different chocolates (including kindersurprise, which is a chocolate egg with a children's toy inside) and also many types of cookies.  I have been trying to think of things that are American that I can show them.  While I was having this idea of things to show people, the idea turned into an "American party".  Next Friday I will have people from the corridor over to have a couple of different American foods.  It was quite difficult to figure out what to make since I had such strange requests.  Frederike really wanted me to make something with marshmallow fluff and peanut butter!  I have been out to the grocery stores to look for ingredients, but it has been difficult to buy certain things.  For example, I cannot find powdered sugar (for Buckeyes!!) anywhere!

Over the next month, we have a lot of visitors coming to the corridor.  As I mentioned before, our friend Marie-Anne has had her sister here this week.  A lot of people have their boyfriends/girlfriends coming in the next couple of weeks, and there are also quite a few friends and siblings coming.  I am excited to meet these people because I think you can learn a lot about people by seeing the people who they love.

Another thing that has really surprised me here is how easy it has been to fall into friendships here.  I know I have mentioned several times that people here are very welcoming, but I've just been so surprised at how fast acquaintanceships have turned into close friendships!

Photos:

1. A view of beautiful Stockholm

2. Lily, me, and Frederike

3. Frederike and me

4. Florian, me, Wojtek, and Lily