Hey Everyone,
So I've been getting some requests from my fan club to add another post to my blog. I wasn't really planning on posting much unless I went somewhere in particular, however there is much to say about Sweden so far, so I guess I'll start there.
Some interesting facts about Sweden.
Everyone here is blonde. The rumors are true, there is an overwhelming majority of blonde men and women here.
Everyone rides their bikes everywhere. The city is not very large, but things are spread out a little bit more than Kingston and because of that, bike riding is a necessity. The city does a great job promoting it as well as making it safe. The city encourages bike riding for environmental reasons, they even have a TV competition for the stupidest driving trip of the week or something. The winner wins a bike. Its also well planned, the sidewalks are always broken up into sides to bike on and sides to walk on, and when There's no room on the sidewalk then the bikers have a small lane on the road. Bikers also have their own crossing signal separate from pedestrians.
Doors that in Canada would be a push are now a pull (and vice versa). This is a HUGE problem, as I find it extremely frustrated an embarrassing when I run at speed into a door that doesn't open. (light switches are also upside down)
Everything is written in Swedish. This is only really a problem at the supermarket when I need to purchase food. The first week here I bought what I thought was tomato soup, after cooking it I learned that it wasn't tomato soup, it was some sort of lobster broth and it was awful. I finished it, but it will forever serve as a reminder to ask a local if I'm really unsure what I'm buying. Its not worth the risk. As well the cooking instructions are in Swedish, and as I'm sure most of you know, I am not the most competent cook. Those instructions are important. That has also led to some confusion.
The clubs are similar here, but the dancing is not. In Sweden (and the rest of Europe to a certain degree) it seems that girls are not allowed to dance with boys unless they planning on going home with those boys later in the night. Dancing with a boy is a big deal here and therefore it does not happen a lot, Which kinda makes the clubs here strangely like a grade 8 dance...
So those are really most of the differences that I've noticed so far. There are more I'm sure, but I don't really feel like racking my brain for them right now.
SCHOOL
School is good! I'm already a week and a half into classes, and they seem pretty manageable. I think I calculated around 17 hours of class each week, which is a walk in the park compared to what I'm used to. The classes are also smaller here, one of my classes has 8 people and on Thursday were hopping in the Prof's car and driving to Louisiana, Denmark to see an exhibit at a modern art museum. One problem with school is that in one course my professor seems to be under the strange illusion that it's alright for the handouts and reading material to be in Swedish, so long as he lectures in English. This is a false reality he is living in, and I will wake him out of it soon.
Because my course load is quite light, I find myself with plenty of free time and so I now go the gym. An great habit to get myself into, especially in preparation for the new PEC. So by the time I get back, I should look like the governator!
It sounds like everyone in Kingston is having a great time. Its kinda making me a little jealous that I'm not around to enjoy what sounds like a promising frosh week. A source has told me that 'Celebrity Goat Cheese' has made the FREC primer, and I believe that this is the beginning to a new type of cheer based marketing for frosh week funds. Or atleast beer funds.
I think that's all I really have to say for now. Feel free to call me whenever, my number from overseas (so if your calling from canada) is 011 46 70 466 5543, but remember that I'm 6 hours ahead of you, so no drunk dials before 4 am. You can usually talk to me on Skype as well, I'm on that all the time (if you dont have me, im 'andrewjbaron89'). Or you can also email my gmail account, I check it often.
Thanks for reading,
A.J.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Day 1: Cueing
Hey Everyone,
So my four month adventure began with airports. I got to Toronto Pearson airport at around 2:00 Sunday afternoon. After some waterworks from my mother, I was on my way. I bumped into Justin Logan, Katheryn and Jen from Mech at the airport and sat with them on the plane to Dusseldorf, Germany. They are all heading over to Barcelona for a 10 day trip before school starts. The flight was alright, the lights were only off for about 2 hours and they just happened to be the only two hours that this giant sized baby felt like crying though. I got to Dusseldorf for a four hour stopover and met some people who were also going to Lund on exchange from Canada, Pooja and Nick. After four excruciatingly long hours in the airport, we were finally on our way to Copenhagen, Denmark. From Copenhagen four of us (we picked up a girl from holland) took the train to Lund and were welcomed at the train station by exchange mentors. They threw us into a small van with all of our stuff, let us off at a building on campus and the cueing began.
The lines were enormous. First we had to 'check in' which took about two hours of twisting and turning through the rows of a lecture hall, only to be given a package with our name on it and our internet codes. Then we had to wait in another line to get our residence keys which also took about two hours. At this point the three of us from Canada hadn't slept in about 30 hours, hadn't eaten in probably 10 hours, we were just miserable. But when all the cueing was done with we decided to wander around and find something to eat. We came across this very small greek place that turned out to be pretty good and the food really hit the spot. We went back to the building to try to shuttle to our residences when we came across another 45 minute wait. It was tough. I finally made it to my residence and then through the labryinth into my room and I passed out.
It was a long day, but I met TONS of people (most of which call line ups 'cues', hence the name of the post) and they were all very nice and from all over the world. I got to residence and my floor is pretty much all swedish, so they might be able to help me figure out phones and teach me some swedish and stuff like that.
I woke up today at around 5am, which is pretty bad, so today might also have to be a long day where I try to stay up as late as possible (hopefully to midnight or something) in order to help me sleep in later tomorrow morning. In a couple hours I'm off to an orientation meeting thats probably going to be completely useless, but apparently they are talking about cell phones so I must attend. After which I should be meeting up with Pooja and Nick to go wander the city and pick up things we need for the school year and our residence rooms. Tonight there is a mentor program thing, which is kind of like frosh week cept for exchange students. It should be interesting, and I'll meet more new people.
So from what I've seen so far of Sweden and Lund they are both extremely beautiful. The weather so far has been great, nothing but sunshine. The streets here are all cobblestone and the buildings are old and brick. Everyone rides bicycles and is very friendly. So, not such a bad place afterall.
Thats really it for my first post. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE comment or send me an email at andrew.j.baron@gmail.com. I want to hear from EVERYONE. I'll let you know how the week goes a little bit later.
Cheers,
AJ
So my four month adventure began with airports. I got to Toronto Pearson airport at around 2:00 Sunday afternoon. After some waterworks from my mother, I was on my way. I bumped into Justin Logan, Katheryn and Jen from Mech at the airport and sat with them on the plane to Dusseldorf, Germany. They are all heading over to Barcelona for a 10 day trip before school starts. The flight was alright, the lights were only off for about 2 hours and they just happened to be the only two hours that this giant sized baby felt like crying though. I got to Dusseldorf for a four hour stopover and met some people who were also going to Lund on exchange from Canada, Pooja and Nick. After four excruciatingly long hours in the airport, we were finally on our way to Copenhagen, Denmark. From Copenhagen four of us (we picked up a girl from holland) took the train to Lund and were welcomed at the train station by exchange mentors. They threw us into a small van with all of our stuff, let us off at a building on campus and the cueing began.
The lines were enormous. First we had to 'check in' which took about two hours of twisting and turning through the rows of a lecture hall, only to be given a package with our name on it and our internet codes. Then we had to wait in another line to get our residence keys which also took about two hours. At this point the three of us from Canada hadn't slept in about 30 hours, hadn't eaten in probably 10 hours, we were just miserable. But when all the cueing was done with we decided to wander around and find something to eat. We came across this very small greek place that turned out to be pretty good and the food really hit the spot. We went back to the building to try to shuttle to our residences when we came across another 45 minute wait. It was tough. I finally made it to my residence and then through the labryinth into my room and I passed out.
It was a long day, but I met TONS of people (most of which call line ups 'cues', hence the name of the post) and they were all very nice and from all over the world. I got to residence and my floor is pretty much all swedish, so they might be able to help me figure out phones and teach me some swedish and stuff like that.
I woke up today at around 5am, which is pretty bad, so today might also have to be a long day where I try to stay up as late as possible (hopefully to midnight or something) in order to help me sleep in later tomorrow morning. In a couple hours I'm off to an orientation meeting thats probably going to be completely useless, but apparently they are talking about cell phones so I must attend. After which I should be meeting up with Pooja and Nick to go wander the city and pick up things we need for the school year and our residence rooms. Tonight there is a mentor program thing, which is kind of like frosh week cept for exchange students. It should be interesting, and I'll meet more new people.
So from what I've seen so far of Sweden and Lund they are both extremely beautiful. The weather so far has been great, nothing but sunshine. The streets here are all cobblestone and the buildings are old and brick. Everyone rides bicycles and is very friendly. So, not such a bad place afterall.
Thats really it for my first post. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE comment or send me an email at andrew.j.baron@gmail.com. I want to hear from EVERYONE. I'll let you know how the week goes a little bit later.
Cheers,
AJ
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