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Published: September 9th 2012
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I currently feel like I am on a long-term holiday as I have alot of down time that I spend exploring the city and campus. Now that orientation period is over and classes are underway there is less organized activities with other exchange students.
Downtown Lulea: there are basically three shopping malls in the shopping area of town. There is a mall called
Shopping , which is the oldest shopping mall in all of Europe (opened in 1955). There is also one called Strand Galleria and the newest one,
Smedjan (which is also the largest it seems of the three). Malls here are a lot different than back home as they have several levels (like 4 floors). For a city with less than 50,000 people or so, the shopping is more than adequate. Needless to say it is a huge challenge for me not to go nuts and blow all my money on things I don't need!
Food: I thought I would really miss food back home but you can basically eat all of it here. This past Thursday my roommate as well as my other friend and her mom (who was visiting)
went to the only authentic
Mexican restaurant in Lulea. The food was AWESOME although the restaurant was completely empty except for us. We all ordered margaritas (about $15 for one) and were surprised when we realized all that was in them was strictly tequila and blue curacao. I had to buy a bottle of Sprite to dilute it so it was drinkable! There is also a Chinese buffet on campus that a few of us ate at this week (very comparable to Canada's, everything saucy and fried to bits... Even brutal pizza!) as well as a sushi place in the shopping area and many burger/sausage joints (except only one McDonalds as Max Hamburgare basically has a monopoly here). As for authentic Swedish food, there are a few restaurants here that serve Reindeer meat that I hope to try before I leave. I noticed that a lot of people eat caviar from a tube here (holding back nausea) that I think I have to force myself to try before I leave. My roommate and I made oven pancakes yesterday which is quite common in Finland/Sweden. Although my roomie speaks Swedish, she accidently bought oatmeal instead of flour from the grocery store, so
we will have to try again to get the real pancake! Sweds also eat a lot of sausage and meatballs and what not which is not too different from Canada.
OK enough about food, more about what else I have been up to. This past weekend was the end of orientation period with a big Welcome Dinner. The food was pretty good with three courses and a lot of entertainment through the course of the meal. The theme of the dinner was Circus, so I dressed up as a tiger. Another exchange student and I even did a performance for the Nobles (Phosare) and each received a badge as a prize, which is apparently a pretty big deal. There was other performances as well, such as a French student singing Love Today by Mika acapella...
I only have my Swedish History class on Mondays and Fridays until October (it appears like it will not be very difficult) so I signed up for a gym membership at
Mit Livs StiL . It is a pretty elaborate gym and has all the fitness classes that I liked to go to back home so it will help kill some time. My roommate also
enjoys working out so that is good motivation for me. I never watched TV back home but I have started while I am here (currently watching Game of Thrones Season 1, other suggestions welcome!) and reading books. Anyone who knows me knows I like my personal space from time to time so I go on lots of little explorations myself around town as well.
This past Thursday some of the North American exchange students made a quick day trip to a nearby town Boden by bus to validate our residence permits at the embassy office. It was about a half hour bus ride that cost around $12 round trip. This Saturday, a large number of exchange students went on a bus trip to
Storforsen, where there is some of the biggest rapids in Europe about 100 km from Lulea. The Northern scenery was so beautiful and it was nice to enjoy the last of the nice weather exploring and barbequing as Fall has definitely arrived. On a side note, the Northern Lights here are EPIC and so much more vivid than in Southern Saskatchewan. Apparently they pick up more hues of orange when winter hits so I will make
sure to get more pictures in the coming months.
Things I am missing (besides family and friends!): TIMS (so, so much), David's Tea (iced Lucious Watermelon to be exact), perogies, my car and being able to drive, good Canadian beer (they drink
Falcon here, which is 7.2%!a(MISSING)nd GROSS. Side note: a Swedish guy I met who is half Canadian said he thinks Bud Light tastes like water ha ha!) country music and places that play it, and weekends out back home. I have already asked my mom and Meg to send me a care package with some things that you can't have here so that I don't feel deprived.
My next blog should be while I am in Paris or shortly after so stay tuned!
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Phyllis
non-member comment
hi!
i am going to sharecyour blog with a friend of mine who is Swedish and went to Sweden 2 yrs ago. Enjoyed reading this.