Bella Italia!!!!

SOGUESSWHOJUSTBOOKEDAFLIGHTTOITALY!! yup, me :) I'm soooo excited I have never been so spontaneous in my life! So it turns out that there are 2 fridays on the program where I actually don't have any class. I definitely made up my mind then that I wanted to do some fun weekend excursions when I had the opportunity of a 3 day weekend. Of course, I had no plan in mind to go to italy. Many of my friends are studying abroad all over Europe currently, and I just thought how fun it would be to visit some/or one of them. I was sitting in class today, and asked my instructor "Hur lång är flyg från Köpenhamn till Rom?" to which he responded that it would probably be only like a 2 and half hour flight. Just beautiful. Everything in Europe is just so close it's amazing. Well, one of my best friends Kenzie from home (whom I haven't seen since like Spring break) is interning in Italy right now, and I facebook-messaged her asking her how crazy it would be if I came over for three days. She was so excited!! I can't believe it's actually happening though! I found a descent deal on a flight in I'll depart out of Copenhagen next Thursday night (I get out of class Thursday at noon) and come back to Copenhagen/Lund late that same Sunday evening. So surreal. Ahhhh I've never been to Italy before!! can't wait to explore Rome! <3

Til then I've got lots of other fun things planned.... I joined "Lund Nation" today (the equivalent of like a sorority/fraternity back home) and they host parties/events every Thursday/Fridays/Saturday nights. It's really my only shot of meeting other swedes here my age because Lund is pretty dead during the summer unfortunately. But I'm definitely making the best of it! Also, I'm headed back to Copenhagen with a few friends tomorrow (friday) night for the night again. Haha, I just had way to much fun the first time to not go back!

Köpenhamn

          The gist of this post: Basically, Copenhagen (Köpenhamn is what it's called in Swedish), is the best place ever. It's what I consider to be the Amsterdam of Scandinavia...overall just a real fun place to be:)

........

Getting to Copenhagen is simple and cheap. I hopped on the bus with Sarah just outside of my apartment in Östra Torn (didn't have to pay for that...every time I use the bus I scan the summer card I bought earlier which is unlimited), sat through a 10 min bus ride to the central station in Lund, bought a train ticket for Copenhagen (only about $15 one way), and sat on the train for an hour. That's all I had to do in order to arrive in the capital of Denmark, smack in the middle of  of all the action--central station across from the famous Tivoli amusement park. God public transportation in Europe is just so great...I guess that's what happens when you pay some of the highest taxes in the world. Anyways, Sarah had a map to find the hostel we were to be staying at; it was only about a 15 min walk from the central station, and right off the Strøget (The largest pedestrian shopping street in the world). Perfection. But from what I've heard, hostels can really be a hit or miss, you never really know what to expect. But let me just say, it was literally one of the best experiences ever. We really hit the jackpot. It was so nicely decorated, there were like bean bags to sit on, booths, long tables, a bar, and lots of young people from just all walks of life. Literally amazing (link to their website if interested: http://copenhagendowntown.com). The young danish girls who worked there were so cool and told us about all the good places to eat, sites to see, and local clubs/bars to go to later. Just great.

So obviously here I am in my happy place, enjoying the cool vibe and atmosphere, reading the specials for happy hour....just lovin' life ya know? Like at this point, what could go wrong, right? Ohhhhhh just wait for it.

We get the keys to our room, purchase a locker (to lock up our passports, etc), and walk up to our room with our assigned bed numbers (remember, 10 person room here). We open the door (keep in mind the time is about 5pm on Saturday) and what is the first thing I see?? Buttcrack. Literally just buttcrack. And what bed is this snoring, bare-ass naked, extremely overweight, 20-year-old-looking young man in? MY BED. To quote Sarah later, "dude, I literally heard your heart drop". Ya, that's a bit of an understatement. 

Well that was interesting. There was about a handful of guys our age staying in our room (yes, the naked man's friends), who I later learned (once they finally decided to wake up), were Swedish. But basically Sarah and I just quietly left and went downstairs to talk to the hostel staff about the confusion. The girls were so sweet. They apologized profusely and said they would go wake them up, tell them to move, and change our sheets for us. AND we got a free drinks on the house. Honestly I wasn't mad or anything. I just couldn't stop laughing.... just freaking hilarious. So basically I got a free beer out of a drunken man's mixup. I couldn't complain. I just sat there with my drink and met so many cool people who were staying there. People from Sweden, Germany, England, etc...really fun. We left our stuff, walked around the city, and later came back for happy hour and to get ready to go out. We had such a great time! Definitely going back soon.

Anyways it's Monday night now, and I had my first day of class today. Classes are held at Folksuniversitet (an extension of Lund University), and is located halfway between our apartment and the center of Lund (so I could prob get there in about 15 min if I walked, but why walk when I can take a 5 min bus ride right? haha). They split us up into 2 equal-sized groups with 2 different instructors and we jumped right into it. Today was basically a review for me...we went over simple phrases like how to say "Hi, my name is..." "where are you from?...." "When did you go here..." or "when did you do this..." etc. The instructor is a cool guy and knows that me (and one other girl in the class who is in the exact same situation as me--aka father born & raised in Skåne, mother is American) can speak some Swedish and understand it quite extensively. So he would speak quicker with us, and go a lot slower with the others which is nice that he can tackle different levels. I thought it went great, and I'm excited to keep learning. All the other students seemed very overwhelmed. None of them have any experience in the Swedish language. Well, I'm glad that I'm a step ahead (tack så mycket Pappa:] ). We have a little bit of homework a day, and class only goes from 9am-12:30pm weekdays so we've got lots of free time which is nice. I remember though that our UC EAP advisors warned us that it can be very easy to isolate yourself if you just stick with the group of americans and hang around the apartment area, because you really miss out on engaging with the locals...this is true. So (unlike almost everyone else), I'm really trying my best to avoid large English-speaking group settings. I'm really serious about improving my language skills and so I do little things to learn faster. Like right now, I knew I was going to be on my laptop a while (emails, this post, etc) so instead of sitting in my room alone, I took the bus into the center of town by myself, where I'm now sitting in a coffee shop enjoying 'fika' (term used by swedes for a coffee break) with a large latte and free wifi. Pretty sweet deal. This way, I'm multitasking by chilling on my computer all while listening to all the Swedish convos around me. My goal: to learn via osmosis.

Midsommar

          Today's Midsommar (aka the longest day of the year) and is an annual swedish tradition. For those unfamiliar (and because I want to quote Wikipedia), Midsummer consists of :

Raising and dancing around a maypole (majstång or midsommarstång) is an activity that attracts families and many others. Before the maypole is raised, greens and flowers are collected and used to cover the entire pole. People dancing around the pole listen to traditional music and sing songs such as Små grodorna associated with the holiday. Some wear traditional folk costumes or crowns made of wild springs and wildflowers on their heads. The year's first potatoes, soused herring and pickled herring, chives, sour cream, beer, snaps and the first strawberries of the season are on the menu. Drinking songs (snapsvisor) are also important at this feast, and many drink heavily.

          Of course, I have experienced this tradition before at home (minus the drinking part) with my adopted grandparents Lillian and Max, in which we make a small maypole and hair wreaths, all while picnicking and listening to swedish music. Similarly in Sweden, this event is a family affair. Many people typically host their own small family gatherings at their summer houses, and younger people have their own parties at night; thus, all the shops and stores close because it's basically a holiday. While I unfortunately had no invitation to any private gathering, I was lucky enough to learn that Lund had a public Midsommar celebration, in which I had to pay a small entrance fee to participate. The whole UC EAP group ended up going, but I hung out mainly with one of the girls, Jenna, who is also from Cal. Unlike my experience back at home, this maypole was GINORMOUS. like huge. It took tons of men to lift it up once it was all decorated, and eveyone gathered and danced around it while listening to the folk music they provided. It was fun to be able to experience something very traditional....

          After the celebration I met up with Sarah here on the program, who had also met up with a Swedish guy our age that she knew from when he studied abroad back in CA during high school. I met him and his younger brother who were both really nice, and walked around Lund for a while. It was through them that we learned that Båstad (the Swedish equivalent of Manhattan beach, also where my family and I rented a place for a week last time I was in Sweden...really pretty) is the place to be mid-July because they host the SkiStar Tennis Open.... [Translation: a bunch of young, hot, rich, swedish/danish/european/whatever, athletes are coming to one single location]. Bingo. Other than that, (and other fun weekend excursions I'm currently planning), I can't wait for the program to begin Monday so I can actually start class and improve my Swedish. Hopefully next week sometime I'll take the train to visit my grandma, and finally meet up with my cousins at some point.

          Til then, Sarah and I booked a hostel for one night in Copenhagen tomorrow! We will spend the weekend there, explore, go out, etc....did i mention that I'm staying in a hostel? Yup Princess Emma [what I like to think of as a name of endearment given to me by my lovely sister] will be staying in a hostel. Like sharing a room with 8 total strangers....this will be interesting...

Orientation

          Moving into my apartment: So on Tuesday I used the map to find the LU accommodations center to pick up my keys to where I'll be staying for the next month and a half. I found the place with no problem, and met some of the other girls in the program while I was at the office. I then headed back to my hotel to pick up my luggage (and yes, yet again..) hauled it across the cobblestone streets back to the train station so I could take the bus to Östra Torn (the name of the place where our student housing was located). At the train station, there was a place called Skånetraffiken where I bought my bus pass for the whole summer (a really cheap deal, takes me all over southern Sweden, and parts of Denmark by bus AND train)...not a surprise because public transportation in Sweden is excellent. There I met one of the girls, Sarah (who's from Cal Berkeley) and her and I took the bus together. Course it was only like a ten minute bus ride from the center of Lund, but once we got off, finding our dorms was a whole different story. The map they provided us was a joke, and we literally found ourselves hauling our luggage through residential neighborhoods and whatnot until like, the 3rd or 4th person we asked was able to direct us to the right place. Once we got there we discovered that each apartment had 2 people assigned to it; 2 bedrooms (one for each person), 1 bathroom, a kitchen (with utensils), a table, and a couch. It all looked great! (Ikea furniture...nuff said). I didn't meet my apartment-mate until later that day, (Sarah and I weren't in the same one) and learned that her name was Kelsy and she was from UCSB. She was super nice, and it was her first time traveling outside of the US so she was really excited for the program.

          The next day, I met some more of the people in our program: we are all kinda living together in the same cluster of apartments, and some of us went to town together for the afternoon before the orientation started at 4pm. There are about 15 or so of us, most of whom are girls, for the summer program which is a pretty large group...and all of us are from the UC's. We met our coordinator, Linus, at the orientation who just gave us an overview of the program/class which doesn't begin until monday. It makes sense, given that Midsommar is tomorrow (Friday) which is basically a Swedish holiday here. Anyways, the orientation was brief...he didn't cover much new information--most of it was stuff like "how to get a local phone" or "culture shock" or "how to buy a bus pass". I started laughing cuz all of this was pretty much old news; most of us had figured everything out ourselves by this point. After the session, we headed back, and Kelsy and I decided we needed groceries...

Grocery Shopping: The thing about eating here in Sweden is:

(#1) I forget to eat: Shocking I know, but I've been so busy that the past several days all I've had is yogurt, coffee, and maybe half a sandwhich here or there.
(#2) Food here is EXPENSIVE; whether you eat out, or buy groceries, it costs a ton.
(#3) We have no microwave. Crap
(#4) I can't cook. Neither can Kelsy. Double Crap.

To sum it up, we are about to get real skinny.

          Anyways, we decided that we were gonna attempt to add some things to our fridge so that our daily diet consisted more than just yogurt, cheese, and crackers. A guy that came buy the day before who worked for Lund University had mentioned to me that there was a supermarket down the street from our dorms, so Kelsy and I decided to walk there. Course as we kept walking, I realized I didn't want to get lost again so we saw an elderly gentleman get into his car up ahead of us and Kelsy decided she would ask where we could get food. HAHA it was hilarious: taking the whole "swedes come off as reserved but are quite nice when approached" stereotype she read in our orientation pamphlet literally, she runs up to the driver side of the car and blurts out (quite loudly and without slowing down), "HI! DO YOU KNOW WHERE WE CAN BUY FOOD??" The older man stopped and opened his door slightly, and just gave her this look of blank bewilderment and slight fear. Trying not to laugh, I quickly walked up and gently said, "Hej, kan du prata engelska?" (translation: hi, can you speak english?) to which he quickly shook his head no. Shoot. But then without even having to think i just said, "Ja, vi måste köpa....(thinking)...mat" shrugging my shoulders up and down to show uncertainty. [translation: we need to buy...food] and then stepped back, just as surprised as Kelsy that those words came out of my mouth. "Ja,.....dahdkajfdkaljdka...200meters" He said in his fast swedish, pointing and then the last word "ICA"...quickly I nodded smiling "YES! ICA!" (the Swedish equivalent of Ralph's, literally my new favorite 3 letter word). I thanked him and we proceeded to keep walking. We managed to buy 2 meals worth of food: swedish meatballs, frozen sliced potatoes, and pasta. It's a start. Of course I also decided that I needed cream cheese, nutella, and all these other great condiments---yum right?? Ya, except i forgot to buy bread to put it on.

Blondes everywhere

          So I arrived to Lund just fine! I took a flight to DC, had a 2 hour layover, and then boarded the next one to Copenhagen. Hah, I think the title of this post goes without saying. Literally, it was SO easy to point out which passengers were Danish/Swedish when I boarded the international flight. There was no confusion there that every tall, tan, and blonde superhuman within the close vicinity of our gate was indeed Scandinavian. I think I read somewhere that (to paraphrase) 'it is such a stereotype that most swedes are tall and blonde, when in fact the majority are actually brunettes'. While they may have some statistical data to support their claim, all I have to say to that is 'bullshiiitttt'. Every single blonde, well-above-averaged height person I saw was either carrying their red EU passports that read "Danmark" or "Sverige" on them. And all of them were beautiful. Like i mean both the men and women. BEAUTIFUL. I might as well have been an oompa loompa compared to them. Yet because of my blonde and tall characteristics all the flight attendants (all of whom were danish) went on to speak danish to me the entire flight...[Danish looks similar to Swedish on paper, and many swedes from Lund or other parts of Skåne can understand danish as well. Though swedes from other regions sometimes have trouble]. Anyways, I just went along with it. I understood the gist of what they were asking in terms of "did I want something to drink?" or "which meal would I like to have?" or "do you want to sleep or be woken up for breakfast?" To all of which I responded with simple swedish phrases that I know. It was probably good practice for me because upon arriving bright and early in Lund, there was nothing but hundreds of blondes, to which I fit in quite nicely.
          Yet because of that, everyone assumes I'm from there and spin off in their quick swedish to which sometimes I got by, but many times gave a look of bewilderment and nicely said "Förlåt, jag kan bara prata lite svenska. Kan du prata engelska?" (translation: 'sorry, I can only speak a little swedish, can you speak english?") Of course, everybody in sweden I've ever met has always been so friendly, and they smile and help me out. (Though they are very modest and always say "a little", when in fact their english is FAR better than my swedish. Oh well, after the program I should be set).
          Anyways upon arriving to Copenhagen airport I went to the kiosk at the airport and bought a train ticket to Lund. I had done it before when my cousins had picked me up from the airport there once so it wasn't a problem. Figuring out which train to take was a different story--I bought a ticket to Lund central station, but none of the monitors said that they were going to Lund. Thankfully the lady next to me was super nice and said I needed to get on the one that said "Helsingborg-->Göteborg". Like I was supposed to know that Lund was a stop in between all that?? I got to the city fine at like 8am in to morning and asked anyone I saw how to get to my hotel. Course it wasn't far, but I still had to haul my suitcase for about 4 blocks across cobblestone streets...lets just say the noise wasn't subtle. haha. The hotel let me check in early which was great and I took a shower and then walked around town. The location of the hotel is great, literally right above the town square, yet like all typical european hotels everything is very space conscious. By that i mean freaking TINY. like my room might as well be harry potter's cupboard under that stairs haha but honestly it is perfect for one night and I don't mind. The bathroom is shared with the floor (which is to be expected, since they are usually shared in europe). I walked around, took money out of the ATM, and went to local cell phone store where a girl helped me out. She was so sweet and had just gotten back from studying in san diego! Her english was great, and it was comforting to talk to someone who understood me well. I got myself a local phone number and then walked around grabbed something to eat and sat in the front of the university center for a while to read. By 3pm I was exhausted and went back to my hotel to take a nap. When I woke up it was still light out, I couldn't believe it was Tuesday morning already. Nope. It was only 10 pm the same night. Figures, it's almost midsummer so it stays light out super late. Now the time is like 11:30pm, and I'm wide awake. Shoot.