venting!

Winter is slowly making its way to Sweden. I opened the door of my house yesterday and was greeted by the most picturesque view ever of ice frosted over all the branches in visible sight. It wasn’t the heavy snow of Connecticut but a lighter,prettier type of sugar frosting that made the whole of Stockholm look like something out of a postcard. Pictures to be posted on facebook soon.

The sky was also blue for a substantial period of time, perhaps the longest episode of blueness I’ve seen in about a month. I had lunch with Chaz, where we proceeded to have our second conversation-rich lunch in about a week. Too bad the ramen place I wanted to head to was closed (for “inventory”. Who closes a restaurant during lunchtime for inventory? Where else will they get their money?!) but we found this really authentic indian restaurant with cheap lunches, delicious food and a charming hole-in-the-wall atmosphere. They even served lunch on one of those age-old silver plates like what you get in Southeast Asia. After dinner with my host parents, I headed to Fridhemsplan to meet the others for drinks in a quiet pub.

Unfortunately, the quiet pub threw me out because I lacked “proper identification” despite the fact that my international student card has worked in every other pub in Stockholm, the “system bolaget” where I actually purchase alcohol and the rest of Scandinavia where I visited. They demanded to see my passport, but let all the other IDs go through– including the American drivers’ license that isn’t a passport either. Also, they have never bothered asking Chaz and Ellen for their IDs, in the months that they’ve been going there.They also refused to accept my Stockholm university student union card, claiming that they won’t know if it’s real since they’ve never seen it before– despite the fact that it’s in Swedish while the American drivers’ license is in English.  All the above, coupled with the lady’s unbelievably rude demeanour to me and the manager’s demand that I leave immediately, led all of us to conclude that it seemed like a racially-tinged bias more than anything. Since as usual, I was the only Asian of the group. If anything, Ellen and Chaz (who have been going there almost weekly) were really stunned by how aggressive and impolite they were, since they’ve been nothing but courteous and wonderful to them before and Chaz was the one who brought up the race dimension as a possible explanation. My personal take on it is: a pub has the right to accept or reject any identification they want. But to demand to see a passport is slightly out there, since why would I bring my passport to a pub? Especially since every other Scandinavian establishment has accepted my ID before. Furthermore, while I accept that they have every right to reject my international student ID (I mean, Zouk had rejected it before too), I really took offense at their general attitude and demeanour.  They were losing business from 6 people and they need to work on their customer service.

That said,we refused to let the event face and and proceeded to a different pub where we had a rolicking good time. We chatted about everything for a good 2 hours and grabbed some Macdonalds before I ran off to catch my late train back. Margarita night tonight!

So my program mates have been getting frustrated by my tenacious refusal to stop talking about the Tiger Woods fiasco. Responses range from “every famous rich guy has an affair. what is the big fucking deal” (Max) to “is anyone talking about the poor labor practices of the tiger woods hotel in bangkok? no! so i dun give a freak about him banging other women” (Ellen) to “I’m so sick of it.” (Sara). So it appears that in this case, I’m alone.

Can I just say! That my dad’s a golfer and I know how important respectable behavior is to a golfer. It’s supposed to be telling of your personality and your CHARACTER. Golf is a gentleman’s game and louts can find their way off the fair and onto a soccer field. Can I also say, that because my dad is an avid golfer whose dream would be to turn professional if he had the skills but is otherwise content to eat his chicken and drink his beer on the course, I’ve been watching golf on TV since I was a kid. I used to adore Tiger Woods and would love it everytime he came onscreen. I looked up to him, respected him. Was a real fan. I bought into his image, the very image that he constructed. Of an invincible athlete, the last of his vanguard and the closest thing we’ll get to perfection on the course with comparable character in the person bringing that perfection. Part of that image was his role as a man and a father, and as a decent person.  He made that image that way. He also made money, millions of dollars off this very image. My mum was going to buy my dad the over $1000 Tag Heur Tiger Woods watch because Tiger was a star! A wicked athlete who didn’t need orgies or bling bling or excess.We wanted the trappings that he endorsed because we believed in what he stood for.

This whole fiasco has been such a disillusionment. I know what people are saying– that he’s made distasteful jokes in GQ as early as 1997. That there were signs of his actual personality coming through long before, through his temper tantrums on the field and whispers of infidelity among those in the “know”. Well, so fucking what? It’ll be one thing if everyone knew Tiger Woods as some skirt-chasing, alcohol-swigging, misogynistic male. Then I really wouldn’t care that he’s supposedly banged 4 women with more coming up because it’ll be in line with the character that I’ve been exposed to. But that is not the case! Woods would talk about how much he loves his wife. Would wax lyrical about how he’ll get up earlier in the morning to train so that he can feed his daughter. And right now, I’m experiencing what I believe to be very legitimate anger and a sense of betrayal of my realization that I’ve been suckered into believing a lie.

So Tiger Woods, you cheating bastard and miserable excuse of a father. I hope Elin really did come over you with a golf club, because it’ll be nothing less than what you deserve. I hope she takes all your money away and that you get booed when you get on the golf course. You prick.

So my

meat and potatoes and religion

So to explain my neurotic title. I meant to include this blog post on my previous one and say “so moving on to the meat and potatoes of my post” but decided that this topic was just too important for me to tack on the end of my blah-blah updates and warrants a whole post that stands on its own.

Switzerland and its ban on minarets. Having stayed in Europe for a semester now, I can safely say that it’s not perfect. It might be very much more liberal and progressive in its policies than America, but not where Islam is concerned. Everyone knows that radical right-wing politicians are sweeping over Europe, with their racist Islamaphobia couched in saccharine “rights of the homogeneous natives” speeches. I’m proud to be in Sweden, where the right-wing parties haven’t been successful in capturing attention. That said, to borrow the words of the distasteful NMO, there’s a storm coming. & it’s ugly right-wing radicalism.

Max and I led a discussion in class yesterday on multiculturalism and I was both taken aback and pleasantly surprised to realize that the entire class of American students (save this one guy) was firmly in favor of tolerance, multicultural practices and the protection of minority rights. All of them believed that Muslim women should have the choice to wear the veil and religious practices should be allowed to flourish. They were strongly disgusted by Switzerland’s ban on minarets and very considerate of Islam as a whole. To think that we (the rest of the world) always feel so inclined to bash the Americans when they’ve proven to be nothing but educated and gracious (Palin-supporters notwithstanding). Osama Bin Laden would be disappointed to hear that terrorism has failed to incite hatred or a so-called clash of civilizations (oh huntington).

Someone brought up a great point in class. That Islam has been sensationalized to the point where we’ve tugged it to the forefront and placed it up against unfair standards. We don’t really talk about Orthodoz Jews wearing long skirts, or Christians wearing the crosses. It’s always the veil because Islam has been demonized to a point where it’s become the center of discussion. It’s a racialized attack on culture.

Also, it’s so easy to forget that for every honor killing, there’s a group of young Muslim men and women who form organizations resisting such practices. For every fundamentalist, there are my Muslim friends saying that the best way to punish a terrorist is to plonk them on the streets of Pakistan and let the people get at them because no one hates them more.

The Swiss ban on minarets is ridiculous and unfair. Unfortunately,we’re seeing such sentiments all over Europe, including wonderful Sweden where the right-wing party look poised to capture 5% of the vote and enter parliament. It’s a double standard. The Europeans have always prided themselves on being the beacon of liberalism and openness. This anti-Islamic attitude is narrow-minded and destructive because it merely incites resentment and anger.

That said, I’ll agree with Mona Eltahawy’s Washington Post piece that states that the Muslim world needs to look at its own restrictive practices if it wants the moral high ground to criticize Europe. Catholicism and Christianity are hardly tolerated in places like Saudi Arabia or god forbid, Iran. Even worse, discrimination occurs even among the different Muslim sects. Personally, I’d like to see them improve on female education, gender equality and the abolition of genital mutilation in Islamic Africa. I’d like to see Muslim immigrants try to integrate better into native societies. There are many things wrong with the Muslim world, but hey, there are many effed up things everywhere and we shouldn’t single Muslims out.

Sure, they need to change. But let’s not play a tit-for-tat childish game here Europe. Set an example!

Quick updates!

Ok, so like my previous blog, this blog died an ignominious death. I just can’t seem to bring myself to bother very much with anything these days.

Quick updates:

1) I have 2 more weeks left in Sweden! It’s crazy!

2) Miranda darling visited me over the weekend, fresh off her Amsterdam air. We had great fun, staying in an apartment that my host mum arranged for us, having tarot readings and our usual heart-to-hearts.

3) I celebrated Halloween, my host parents’ birthdays and went to a Halloween dance party at the military academy, surrounded by gorgeous men.

4) I had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner at Sara’s house with her host family and a bunch of other American kids with the program. It was an amazing night- filled with turkey, gravy, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, cornbread and so on. Sara and I put up a valiant effort trying to locate canned pumpkin, but to no avail. The Swedes just don’t like instant stuff. On one of my bad days, I spent a good 15 minutes ranting to Max about how upset I was that they didn’t have instant pie crusts.  Anyway, I made a rather successful blueberry pie for the dinner.

5) I found out from my mum that my 25 year old engaged cousin is getting married Jan 23, 2011.

6) The sun hasn’t been up in Sweden for about 2 months now. It was reported in the newspaper that Sweden has only experienced 4 hours of sunlight in the whole of November.

7) I went through this really depressed stage where all I wanted to do was fly home. I’ve gotten over it. I think. I’m beyond stoked at the thought of having Singaporean food in about 14 days though!

8) Laurel worked a miracle, and I’m staying with her next semester! EXCITED!

9) I’m all ready to bring a Swedish Christmas to Singapore. I have glogg spices- a delicious mulled wine that the Swedes drink. I’ll boil my spices with apple juice instead. I also bought 2 Christmas figurines, decided who to give my homemade jam to when I get back and my host dad bought me a gingerbread house in a box-all I have to do is glue the pieces together and decorate it with icing and chocolate when I get back. He made his from scratch and it’s massive and gorgeous!

10) I have a ton of work and papers to do but I can’t be bothered.

11) I had lunch today with Chaz at Yam yam, this thai buffet place. My stomach feels weird from mixing chinese tea and coffee (not together it one after another) so I’m resting it off. But I had such a nice time teaching him Singlish and chatting.

On one hand, I want to be home. On the other, have I really maximized my time here?

 

Transportation woes

So I have the worse affinity with the tunnelbana and transport system in Sweden.

The first day of school, the entire tunnelbana fell apart and everyone was late to work and school. I had to take 2 buses to a school I hadn’t ever been to before and pray that I didn’t end up in Malmo or something. If my host dad hadn’t been with me, I would have been hopelessly lost and confused since all the announcements were in Swedish. According to my host family, this happens once every few years. It just HAD to happen on my first day of school.

The second time, I took the hiss (that’s the world for elevator in Sweden) that had a huge T sign on top, indicating that it was an entrance to a tunnelbanna station. With me, there was a middle-aged chinese couple with huge suitcases-tourists plus two german tourists- all were asking me for directions. All mistook me for American, much to my chagrin. Apparently the accent is slipping in as the years go by. Anyway, we went down, only to realize that the underground path had been walled off due to construction. Unknowingly, I took the escalator up, thinking it was going to take me up to the first floor again. Both couples followed me, only for us to realize that there was a wall right on top of the escalator and the escalator kept going- if nothing was done we were gonna smash right into it. The german tourists turned around and ran down the escalator in the opposite direction it was going, I hopped over the handle of the escalator and the chinese couple followed me, only they had to deal with suitcases. I was so embarrassed and confused for leading everybody there!

The third time, I left my house way earlier than usual, thinking I was going to try to catch the 9.12am bus instead of my usual 9.25am one and grab some coffee before class. The buses run according to schedule here and are synchronized to match the train schedule. Meaning you get off the bus and you’ll probably be right on time to catch the train and vice versa. At the beginning of semester, I took the 9.35am bus only to realize that doing so made me really late for class. Unfortunately luck was not on my side that morning and ALL THREE BUSES came at the same time at 9.45am! Freakin Hell. I was so late for class and it wasn’t even my fault.

Today, the most unfortunate of all. A woman had a seizure in my train. Right in my compartment. I was bobbing my head along to my ipod when this woman stood up and kept yelling something in Swedish. My first response was to think she was crazy (I’ve had some really INSANE encounters in the train) but I soon realized a girl sitting at the window across from mine was slumped over in her seat. When I took my headphones off, I heard her making this strange gurgling noise. It was a really scary experience. This guy ran up and asking asking her if she was ok. He laid her on the ground and her head came right up to my feet and I could see that she was foaming at the mouth. The guy sitting next to me and myself were so stunned we didn’t really know what to do. Thankfully the guy stood up and walked away and so I could do the same. My train was delayed 15 minutes while we waited for the ambulance to come. Poor girl, she looked so confused and disoriented when the medics picked her up and was looking around wondering why everyone was staring at her.

I think I’m going to take all my classes online from now on. Apparently traveling to school can be a hazard.

The sense of humor that is my host dad

Part I

“Are you doing homework vernie?” Host dad

“Yes, I’m writing a memo.” Me

“Is it economics?”Host dad (He knows how much I hate that class)

“No, it’s for public policy, I’m supposed to respond to the financial crisis in the US” Me

“Wow.Ok.” Host sister

“You want to send it to Obama?” Host dad

Part II

Showing me home videos, and the camera pans to my host dad looking young with a moustache

“Ahhh. Who is that guy? You cannot believe I used to look like that right!”Host Dad

“Nah, you still look the same!” Me

“You want to borrow money or what?” Host dad

Part III

Talking about my host parents’ upcoming birthdays…

“So I picked it up and was going to buy it and was like No! I’ll ask for it for my birthday….Do you think I can remember what it is? ” Host mum

“Ummm..” Host sis and I

“No! I don’t remember!” Host mum

“You should buy her a notebook!” Host dad

Part IV- A Family Affair

Host sister talking about how this guard keeps calling her beautiful at work and she hates it

“If he calls me beautiful one more time!” Host sis

“Just tell him to stop. Be very firm about it.” Host mum

“I don’t know what advice to give. No one’s ever called me beautiful at work before.” Host dad

“Now you’re just being mean! I call you handsome all the time.” Host mum

“I think if a security guard calls you beautiful, you should probably run away.” Me

Rabbits!

So did anyone read the headlines? Sweden is facing an overpopulation of rabbits (fair enough), they cull them (not ideal, but ok) and BURN THEM TO HEAT UP THE CITY. (EW!)

It’s the FIRST, FIRST thing about Sweden that I’ve discovered that I really dislike. My classmates are perfectly fine with it though. Ellen’s logic was “the swedes are nothing if not practical”  and since they’re going to be culled anyway, might as well do soemthing purposeful with them. Don’t you think there’s something kinda icky about that?

Though I did turn over to Chaz and go “OF COURSE sweden’s problem won’t be rats, snakes or something gross like that. It’ll be RABBITS!”

Cute adorably rabbits. Everything in Sweden has to be goodlooking dammit.

Anyway, I got back from Amsterdam earlier this week. It was really wonderful to see Miranda and just chill out without stressing out over the touristy things. She was a great host, cooking vegan meals and setting up this really comfortable mattress for me. I love Sweden but it was quite nice to meet a Wes student and talk Wes stuff (aka CSS and how it ruined my life and how I’m dreading going back to school next semester) and have someone know exactly what I was referring to. Granted. Max and I do it all the time but it was nice to have a girly chat with Mimi!

That said, I’m absolutely tired out from all the traveling. For awhile I had hoped that my mum could join me in London but her boss canned that idea (since the travel industry in Singapore is going through a disaster right now and all hands need to be on deck) so I’m  totally scrapping my London and Paris plans and just spending my second week of holiday right here in Stockholm. I’m tired out from all the moving about, security checks, train tickets, packing and sleeping on people’s floors. The thought of doing it one more time for a whole week makes me feel a little ill.

Also, my host parents have hinted that I’ve been missing out a lot in Sweden by going away so much and I want to spend time with them and my host sisters before it gets too late and I leave the country. Ugh.

I went to watch an opera last night, The Barber of Seville, with tickets paid for by the Swedish program. The opera was in Italian, the subtitles in Swedish so none of us got anything but it was still great fun. Kungstradgarden is a wonderful area with gorgeous streets and houses and the Royal Opera House is breathtakingly beautiful, both inside and out. Plus it was really fun to wear a dress and see everyone gussied up for the night.

I’m in the midst of my midterms, 2 down 2 to go. Econ and Public Policy weren’t too outrageous. Econ was actually quite easy, though I don’t really know what his grading standard is like. Public Policy was slightly more challenging but he gave us the questions beforehand so if I don’t do well, the problem lies more with my preparation and it’ll be my own damn fault. So we’ll see.

Alright, been lazing around ALL day. Time for something more productive.

Copenhagen

So after getting up from a two and a half hour nap, I think I need to fuss around and get some stuff done before I slack off again this evening.

But really, all I’ve gotten done is playing around on my laptop, taking a shower and well, blogging now.

Oh well, moving on to my memories of Copenhagen!

Copenhagen was wonderful. We were lucky to have beautiful weather the 3 nights we stayed there. The architecture was amazing, very much like gorgeous Stockholm but over a wider area since the city is bigger.

We arrived around 9pm on our first day and fortunately, our hostel was just 2 mins from the central train station. That said, we were just a few blocks down from the red light district, so at night there were a lot of sketchy men gathering around the streets in groups. This meant that we stayed in and played…SPADES! Of course! I miss playing spades with the gang so much! We need to have a spades reunion.

On our second, we took a wonderful, highly recommended canal tour of the city. It lasted an hour and hit the gorgeous highlights of the city. Unfortunately it got really nippy halfway through and I had to head in and sit under the plastic cover because my ears felt like they were going to drop off.

Other fun bits of Copenhagen-hanging out with Anna and Max drunk in our hotel room (alcohol is SO CHEAP there), heading to the botanical gardens, meeting Ruby for lunch and catching up on our scandinavian lives.

Taking a walk to the little mermaid, taking a detour towards the palace and church and catching Michelle Obama, Oprah and the other royals come out of a lunch with the Danish queen. Best moment of my life.

Continuing my walk to the mermaid with Anna and catching the Danish Royal family walk right in front of us to their boat.

Coming across the prettiest church with a moat of water around it.

Actually coming to the Little Mermaid.

Michelle Obama and Oprah aside, I must say the Little Mermaid was probably one of my favorite parts of Copenhagen. There was something delightfully special about it, like having a part of my childhool come to life. Ruby said she found it a little too small but I thought the size was just right, it didn’t seem appropriate to have it too big. & there was something wistful about the way her head was turned towards the water. I was absolutely charmed.

The pub life was nothing special. Rather sketchy to be honest. We had a really troubling encounter and after that, chose to stay in every night and drink 7-11 wine. Just as enjoyable if I may say so myself.

The journey back was tedious, unfortunate and took forever. But I’m so glad I got to see Copenhagen. There’s something amazing about the thought that I can actually say, yes I’ve been to Oslo and Copenhagen. & Milan and Venice if we want to throw that in. Previously these were just places on a map that I’ve only ever heard about. It’s so thrilling to see the various attractions and famous spots with my own eyes. I feel so much more wordly and educated, the sort of learning that I can never obtain in a classroom.

I’ve also fallen in love with ABBA because we kept singing Voulez-vous throughout the whole trip. So that’s one added benefit!

Oslo

So I’m finally back from my awesome Scandinavian adventure in Oslo and Copenhagen.

It was great great fun. Part of it had to do with the people I was with. Chaz, Sara, Max, Kristina and Anna (in copenhagen) were really good company. We barely, if ever,  fought and played a lot of spades to pass the time, one the main highlights of the trip I think.

We arrived in Oslo around 8pm on Friday night, after taking a very pretty train ride from Stockholm straight after our Swedish test. We really lucked out with our hostel. Instead of 5 beds cramped in a dinky room, we got our own little suite with 2 storeys, the top floor had a hang-out area with a TV, kitchen, bathroom and coffee table plus comfortable chairs. The bottom floor had really soft and fluffy beds. We spent a lot of time in the hang-out rooms playing “Questions” and spades and carousel.

Norway is outrageously expensive. Really outrageously so. We often ate at Macdonalds (10 krona cheeseburgers!) to save money but splurged on this great thai restaurant on our final night there. I visited a bunch of museums in Norway-including the Edvard Munch museum with the Scream and the Viegeland Park, with gorgeous sculptures all over. The Opera House in norway looks like an ice-cube and gave us the best night view of Oslo that I could imagine. We also played around with the lights and shadows and came up with this great little video of us playing with shadows. You can visit Chaz in Sweden to watch it.

Other fun things: The fortress with the gorgeous view of the ocean. We paid for a fjord boat trip around the city. We saw them have their marathon. The norwegians go “haiya!” to cheer people on, in place of our “jiayou!” or “gambatte!”.

Because we were in a group, we felt safe going around at night and visited a lot of pubs, including gay and lesbian ones. At the gay pub, we lucked out and caught their karaoke competition. I kept bugging Max to go up and sing until I realized it was in this American idol type format and the songs were preselected. It was also at the gay pub that we had this REALLY GROSS guy who must have been at least 60 come up to our table, start gyrating around Sara and hitting on Max and Chaz. That was funny but not very fun.

It was also Oslo where this mean drunk guy told us to shut up in a bus.

That’s not to say the norwegians are not nice. Our hostel owner for example, was awesome and bought me a cup of hot chocolate after Max regrettedly messed up his coffee. Not that it had anything to do with me but it was nice of him to do anyway.

That said, I prefer Stockholm to Oslo by far. I didn’t feel as safe in Oslo as I do in Stockholm, the people aren’t as friendly, not as attractive as the Swedes (which is an odd criteria I know) and just generally, the Swedish vibe is better.

After 4 nights (they really zoomed by!), we hopped on the train to transit in Gothemberg for about 15 minutes before heading to Copenhagen!

oslo and copenhagen

So my week since returning from Milan has been going very well. The weather in Sweden is getting colder and greyer. which makes it all the more tempting to snuggle under my covers and not get out of bed. Or take way too many naps.

My parents really liked the jacket I bought in Milan, and my mum liked the murano glass jewelry that I bought so much that she asked if they sold any in Oslo and Copenhagen. Which they don’t. Though I’m really glad she liked it.

I’ve found a wonderful shop that sells hot noodle soups exactly the way they do them back home. On Tuesday I went for wanton mee and today I couldn’t resist and headed back for a steaming bowl of hot meatball noodle soup in beefy stock. They were both so delicious– I joked to my friends that I nearly started weeping. For some reason, I can’t help but feel that the Asian cuisine in Sweden is just so much more authentic than America’s. None of that chinese food nonsense that we get back in the US of A, the dim sum is so much better than what I get in Chinatown, the japanese food doesn’t have weird hybrids like the Golden Dragon roll or something stupid and you’ll never find a place in America that sells noodle soup like the place I’ve found.

You know, coming to Sweden has really opened my eyes to a lot of things– I thought the world of America before I came here. I was rather irritated by what I still see as an American close-minded sense of superiority but I liked the people and I loved Wesleyan. Which is why I’m so surprised to find myself preferring Swedes, Sweden and Stockholm. Here, I’m free to be myself, to explore around independently and no one has formed a preconceived notion of me. Sweden is a nicer place to live–more egalitarian, less poverty, universal healthcare and education, less complicated and frustrating politics. The Swedes are humble and wordly–many have traveled around a lot and are very open-minded, which is much more than what I can say about some Americans. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m not looking forward to heading back to Wesleyan next semester because I know I’ll miss Sweden way too much.

Anyway, back to mundane things. I cooked fried rice for my host family today. It went much better than a few weeks back when I first cooked it for them. I added too much soy sauce and too much salt, not a good combination by any standards. Though they were nice enough to claim that they liked it and told me to do it again. Thank goodness it went well this time.

Also, I have a Swedish test tomorrow but for some reason I can’t bring myself to study hard for it. I need to make sure I don’t bomb any of the papers or exams here-especially after complaining endlessly to anyone who would listen about how bored I am by the classes.

I’m off to Oslo and Copenhagen tomorrow for a whole week with a bunch of kids from my program. I’m uber excited about it, though slightly concerned about group dynamics. Milan and Venice opened my eyes to the wonders of traveling by myself but going in a group is definitely safer and less stressful for my parents. Plus I get to see Scandinavia! So no updates for a week and when I get back, I absolutely promise to get my pictures up somehow!

Toodles oodles!

Back in Sveridge

So Sveridge is the Swedish word for “Sweden”. Rather embarrassingly, I can’t really pronounce it right. It’s like “swer-yeh” or something similar. Isn’t it just a little sad that I’ve been in Sweden for a month (good gosh!) but I can’t even say Sweden in Swedish?

I’m exhausted beyond belief. Took a bus to the train station in Milan yesterday. Took the shuttle from the train station to Malpensa Airport. Waited around for my plane to take off. Flew back to Stockholm. Took the Arlanda Express to the T-Centralen before getting on my usual one hour route home, including a long subway ride and a bus. I woke up around 7.30am and got back to my house in Stockholm around 4.30pm.

Despite sleeping early last night, I can still feel the remnants of tiredness in my body.& to think I’ll be doing this for the next few weeks. Oslo and Copenhagen for a week followed by a weekend in Amsterdam.

I’m also quite behind on my work. I have a problem set to turn in for econ and a cultural diary entry (shit nonsense) to do for the program-both due by tomorrow. I don’t feel like doing either. Oh yeah, it’s my turn to clean the house too, so at some point I’ll have to get off my lazy arse and vacuum the floor.Ugh. Bed. Too. Comfortable.

Also, can I just say, that the people in Sweden never cease to amaze me with their niceness? I needed to print my e-ticket for my train to oslo and copenhagen. Everything was in Swedish, so Kristina asked this girl next to us if she could help us translate. she was so helpful, helping us through the process and putting up with my grumpiness when my ticket didn’t go through. When it came time for me to print, this other girl told me to go ahead before her since she was practically photocopying a whole book. (oh, this is where I complain about how terrible the resources are in Stockholm University. For Sweden’s top university that takes in 60,000 people-how the fuck do they justify just having ONE STUPID PRINTER IN THE WHOLE SCHOOL?) On my way to the train station, I was stopped by this Amnesty International girl who wanted to talk about recruitment. It was windy and freezing cold but since it was Amnesty, I stopped (I gave Greenpeace the fuck-off twice because, hey, it’s greenpeace and I don’t really like them)  and launched into this great discussion about the organization and their gorls and successes. At the end, the girl said I was so nice to talk to and I said she was so nice to talk to and we got into this great understanding of mutual kindred spirits. I love Swedes.

On the other hand, while I do like the Swedes in my school, I don’t like my classes. They’re boring as hell. & much too basic. I never realized how much CSS accelerated my education but coming to school here has opened my eyes to how much I’ve progressed as a CSS student. I’m bored out of my eyeballs and doing anything academic makes me so moody. I’d rather they either intensify the complexity of the program, or just not give any work at all. This unhappy medium is annoying.

But it’s nice to be back. I foresee myself missing Sweden desperately when I leave.