My second weekend Jan 20th - 22nd 2012

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Friday Jan 20th

I had my new class the Biocomposites class at 10:15am. So i got to campus and actually while in the search for my classroom (see previous blog about lack of classroom organiation) i bumped into Charlen (Isabels roomate) and haha turns out she was also taking the same course. So we found the class ok and sat for a very boring lecture till 11:45. But the professor was very nice and of course gave us a 15 min coffee break which was again very nice. In general i think the class will be most beneficial and interesting but alot of work!

I would like to take some time to talk a little bit about the huge differences in class here. There are a few things that are just very different....

1) Student Attendance - so basically everyone attends all the time! I think this is because most classes (my micro class is an exception) only meet once a week for about two hours...sometimes twice a week for an hour and a half each time. But because students dont spend that much time on campus the few lectures they do have everyone attends. This is very different from the US where it is so common that maybe 30-50%!o(MISSING)f the class is absent every day.

2) Student Attention - Students in class are really paying attention! There is no texting, talking, or sleeping going on. THIS IS A SHOCK! I mean in the US 90%!o(MISSING)f the class is always texting, talking, sleeping, or not paying attention. So this student mentality is amazing to me! I LOVE IT ITS SOOOOOO REFRESHING!

3) Professor-Student Trust - In the US profs always give the "technology" talk, like no phones or turn them all the way off in class, dont bring laptops because i know you are on facebook, dont be on your ipad unless i can see the screen because i dont want you on facebook or IM. Here there is no talk....but this is because the students dont do that crap! Its awesome! I have been taking notes on my ipad every day and not one professor has questioned me....granted im really taking notes and not on facebook. But i asked my Mirco prof about this and he just looked at my quizickly....like well why would i doubt your intentions or question what you are doing on your ipad??? AWESOMENESS! I feel like a NORMAL student here! In the US i always felt like a super duper nerd because i acutally paid attention.....haha here its just what students do!

4) Coffee Breaks - I think i have mentioned this but coffee in sweden rocks! its real coffee first of all....its like straight black sludge with quadrouple the caf! And everyone drinks coffee like it was the source of life. So many times the professsors stop class and are like.... "i feel like a spot of coffee...whos up for a coffee break?" talk about awesome!



After class Charlen, Isabel, Santi, and I all went for lunch in the B building (where i have been eating the past two days). I had a very very yummy lunch! of course the salad but also tried this meatloaf type patty things with gravy and mashed potatoes...it was swedish food and i actually liked it quite well!

After lunch i met up with my Micro prof as he had asked for someone to help him inspect and move all of the plates we had prepared the day before in lab. So of course i volunteered....no one else wanted to help? So i met him in the lunch room and headd to his office. We moved the plates from the incubator to the fridge and he explained a little bit of each one to me. Then he began to work on his own research -- he took several (like 70) samles from the watewater plant of biosludge and is testing them to see how much methane it produces. So he told me more about his research and showed me the procedures he used. All very interesting! a bit smelly but interesting!!!!

I met up with Charlen, Isabel and Santi once again and we got materials for our costumes for the orientation dinner that would be held that night. The theme that the phosphare came up with was "dress like your from another country" so none of us liked this theme and decided to dress like animals from other countries....SUPER ANIMALS....with capes! We had alot of laughs about this! So we all made capes! I was SUPER TURTLE from Austrailia! Isabel was SUPER PANDA from Japan, Santi was SUPER PENGUIN from Greenland, and Charlen was SUPER COW from Switzerland! Sure we looked crazy but we had a great time make the costumes!

So the orientation dinner was at 6:30 and we all had assigned seats. There was a buffet dinner and some "acts" put on by various students. Overall the event was fun but a bit ....meh. The dinner cost 120 kron, the drinks were crazy pricey and tasted horrible, and the food was bleh. But we had fun talking and laughing. After dinner the orientation party moved to STUK - this is the student organized club held on campus. So we all went there and admitidly its was again bleh. Very over priced and for the most part its a mating ritual. So we left early and decided to have our own party back home! As we left to go to the bus stop (which after 11pm only comes once every hour) we realized we would probably just miss it! But Charlen who was very tired saw the bus and ran every bit of 200 meters to catch the bus....Isabel and I who are dying laughing and trying not to fall down watch as she gets on teh bus. The bus drives towards us and PICK US UP ON THE ROAD! We were all laughing so hard and of course thanked the bus driver profusefly! When we got home we played el durro which is a spanish drinking game and had some good laughs!

Saturday Jan 21st 2012

We all sletp in on Saturday and I woke up around noon. Slowly i got up and had some breakfast and decided to watch a movie and realx. This was the first time i have ever watched Dances with Wolves....ITS A GREAT MOVIE! Anyways, at 2pm there was supposet to be another orientation event, a winter BBQ at Vaderleden (so hey since i live there) so i decided to attend. Isabel, Santi, and Charlen all met me downstairs. We decided to grab a quick bite and then go to city center to FINALLY get a coat! I had one only a fleece jacket and a scarf because i thought it would be just outside the building.....boy was i wrong!

We started to walk and I wasnt really paying attention because I was talking to a nice german guy named Andrew, we were having a great political discussion so i was lost in that and not paying attention to the fact that we were trecking away from the builidng. I wasnt cold because i was walking and from about 11am-4pm the weather really isnt that cold, its after it gets really dark that it gets super cold. So as i am walking and walking and walking....i realize wow we have been walking for awhile....like an hour. HAHA turns out the winter BBQ is on top of a freaking ski hill! It is only suppose to be a 10-20min walk but the phosphare got lost.....awesome. When we FINALLY reach the top of the hill it was beautiful! i will upload pics soon! But as it turns out we took so long to get there that the hotdogs and buns were frozen. Also my fully charged Iphone and camera wouldnt even power on because the batteries were to cold to work! So its pretty dark, getting alot colder, im wearing one fleece jacket and a scarf. My hair literally has icesickles in it...seriously. So for all you complaining about the cold let me tell you something.....being far north as lulea sweden on top of a ski hill with only a fleece jacket and a scarf...THAT IS COLD. The temperature might be close to what say indiana/illinois is expierecing but the cold here is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! Cold is realizing that your jeans are frozen because you cant sit down right. Cold is realizing that the icesickles in your hair dont thaw when you go inside...but only after you are in the shower awhile. Cold is having a severe burning sensation in your legs for over an hour after coming inside. Cold is when you have taken a hot hot shower for 30 min, put on two pairs of polartec thermal pants, sweatpants, two pairs of thermal socks, three long sleeved shirts and a hoodie, being under a down comforter and still shivering....ladies and gentleman...that is COLD! This is coming from a girl who is always HOT and hardly EVER gets cold!

It was quite funny though...i mean seriously it makes you laugh when bread freezes outside and its only been outside for about 2 hours! Or realzing that the soda cans are frozen after being outside a few hours! So in conclusion the winter BBQ was a bit....chilly. Most peopel were exhausted and hungry....and of course a couple of small hotdogs and frozen coke wasnt much consolation haha. But we had fun running in place and rubbing each others hands trying to stay warm! So you can guess the end...after two hotdogs and being frozen to the point of pain (and i think i was lucky to be honest...i handle cold pretty well and run warm...poor charlen who had on three layers of pants and three shirts and a winter jacket, gloves, and two hats was more cold than i was!) we headed down teh hill and got back to the apartments and began the even more painful de-thawing process. To say the least it was not what we had planned for our saturday.

It was around 6pm when we got home, we ran to the coop and got some stuff to make dinner. Isabel made a really good spanish dish, rice covered in tomatoe sauce and an egg ---sounds odd but its good! We then took a much needed siesta and showers. At 8 we were suppose to meet up at STUK for more orientation parties...but we decided against it. The dresscode was formal and none of us felt like getting dressed up. So we made some calemocho (red wine and coke...again sounds gross but OMG try it!) and i taught isabel, santi, and charlen how to play kings. We had tons of fun doing this and around 10pm decided to go to All Stars. This is a local pub at city center. So Isabel and Santi and i went, Charlen was a bit to sleepy. We had a good time although again the drinks were to expensive for our tastes. Around 1am we went home and crashed out. It was a good ending to a long day!



Sunday Jan 22nd 2012

So again today i sletp in AHHHHH so nice! Truly i havent done that much...but i did make a few accomplishments! For instance i am officially caught up on my blog WHOOT! Perhpas i will run to the coop later, but mostly just doing homework and sleeping! A good day!

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