Excursion #3: Malmöhus castle.

The excursions hosted by the Folk Universitetet are great. They’re:

1. Free (they take care of transportation and entry fees).
2. Fun (a nice break from the classroom and time to socialize with my peers).
3. Almost all located in Skåne (which has given me a much better sense of the local culture and history).

This past Wednesday, we went to Malmöhus Castle in Malmö (about 20 minutes south of Lund.) Apparently, Malmöhus Castle is the oldest remaining Renaissance castle in Scandinavia. Since it was built in 1434, it has housed royalty, prisoners, the Danish mint, and today, the city of Malmö’s Art Museum, the City Museum and the Natural History Museum.

We went on a tour through the original buildings and some of the museum’s exhibits, including one that tells the story of Malmö as a city. My favorite exhibit was one called “Kaffe,” which, of course, recognizes coffee’s hugely significant role in Swedish culture. In my pictures you can see some of the exhibit: old coffee advertisements, a huge tower of coffee (I drink Zoega, the green package, every morning), a breakdown of coffee's magic in symbol form (the text says "coffee = friendship"), and, finally, Melissa and me drinking coffee in the café downstairs. Mmm!


The museum also had some cool natural history exhibits with a dinosaur cave, taxidermied Swedish animals (Moose!! Wild boars! Foxes!), and some live fish and reptiles as well.

Our plans for the weekend brewed while we sipped kaffe and explored the museum. The most popular ideas involved sleeping in and visiting Denmark on Sunday. Friday was the END of the first round of our Swedish classes so people were eager to use the weekend to relax!

I’ve decided to go to Denmark on Sunday to visit Hamlet’s castle with some of my Californian friends. It’s nice to really feel settled in a bit in terms of getting to know people. I’ve faced dual pressures, both from Swedes and from my American peers, to be accepted and to make friends. While I desperately want to be able to speak Swedish well and feel comfortable in Lund, I also want to connect with other Americans, who are (currently) my social circle.

The summer time is making it a little difficult to figure out where I belong. I am surrounding by awesome, English-speaking college students, and the dorms are a little quiet because many Swedes are home for the summer. I’m enjoying myself right now, but I think the fall term will be a nice change, when I will be able to get to know more Swedish students.

Lastly: thanks to everyone who has sent me a message so far. I am very appreciative of the comments left on my blog and the email messages I’ve received. My apologies if I am slow to respond – even in my third week here I am still busy getting settled and studying Swedish!

Hope everyone is well!
Linnea

Resisting the desire to blog...

I have a BIG Swedish test tomorrow, which means I don't have time to write about what I've been up to! I have some great stories and pictures that I'm ready to post, but it will have to wait until the weekend, after I've finished my exam. I want to blog, I really do, but studying must come first.

However, I got some BIG news from the U.S. today, which is why I am writing a quick blog post. Max won the under 23 National Men's Road Race! This is big! He beat other talented cyclists from around the U.S. and is now a NATIONAL champion! I'm so excited!!

Click on the picture -- it will link you to the article on his victory.



More on Sweden soon,
Linnea

The Island of Ven!
Usually, a summertime trip to this tiny island is a popular idea for an excursion, but as we stood in the rain at the bus stop this morning, everyone was grumbling. “I hope they cancel it,” said my friend without a waterproof coat. “I am really not looking forward to this,” said another girl wearing flip-flops. I grinned and said nothing, as I was feeling very happy in my new rubber boots, wool socks, and rain shell.

Good news: they did not cancel the trip, and I’m almost positive everyone had a great time, despite the weather.


The Island of Ven is a quick, hour-long trip from Lund. We took a bus ride up the coast to Landskrona and then rode a ferry across the Öresund. Before we docked on the island, people debated the feasibility of the day’s plan – to rent bicycles and ride around the island, which is only 4.5 km long and 2.4 km wide. Were we willing to do it in the rain? Most people decided that whether they walked or rode a bike they were going to get wet, so they might as well do it in style, on one of Ven's yellow, one-speed rental cruisers.

We literally dove in and were wet within minutes (my jeans got soaked, but my feet were dry!) as we sped along the main road which bisects the island. I don’t know who was leading the group, but we ended up arriving at the opposite end of the island (where there is another ferry that can take you to Denmark), climbing up a steep dirt path on foot, and then off-roading it along cliffs bordering the sea. It was a blast.


We toodled back onto the main road and found a café for lunch. I brought my own sandwich but dropped an astounding 40 kronor ($6!!) on a latte, though it was worth it.

After lunch was a tour of the Tycho Brahe Museum, and here is where the history begins.

Tycho Brahe lived in the latter half of the 16th century and was one of the best astronomers of his time. It was Tycho who made the Island of Ven famous – it was given to him as a gift by King Fredrik II for Tycho to do his research. We toured Tycho’s underground observatory and saw the site where the Uraniborg castle used to stand In Tycho’s time, Ven became the center of Europe’s advanced astronomical research..

Our tour guide was very good, and he asked us to remember three things about Tycho:

1. He was an incredibly skilled instrument-maker. He designed various instruments that allowed him and his students to make extremely accurate measurements of the astronomical movements.

2. He was a leader in introducing the concept of empirical research techniques. Tycho insisted on seeking out the facts, rather than theorizing. It was his research philosophy that helped spur the use empirical research techniques in Europe.

3. His research led to some of today’s most important theories. His most talented student, Johannes Kepler, used the data collected by Tycho to establish the laws of planetary motion (and served as the foundations for Newton’s theory of gravity). Basically, Tycho helped shape the modern view of the world – major stuff.

Anyway, enough history – but that’s what we learned! Very informative, especially since I’ve never been the science type…

It was still raining when we got back to Lund, but now it’s FINALLY stopped. I’m hoping it stays dry for at least a day! I would like to see some sun!

Trevlig helg! (Have a good weekend!)
Linnea

By the way...
Feel free to comment on my blog postings, even if it's just to say hello! It's nice to know who's reading my blog. :-) Just click the "comments" link at the end of each post.

We're getting lots of rain in southern Sweden. It's causing problems in areas like Småland, where dams are bursting, and generally making everyone in Sweden grumble -- you call this summer? Where's the sun??

The 4th of July was a bit rainy but cleared up just in time for an 8PM BBQ on the lawn outside my dorm, complete with beer, meat, apple crisp, and thirty rowdy American and Swedish students. Lots of fun! Today, it poured, and when I walked past yesterday's BBQ spot, it was flooded with five inches of water! (I keep telling the rain to move along to somewhere it's needed, like California, but it's not listening to me so far.)

Tomorrow: Island of Ven. In the rain. :-) I'll keep you posted!
Linnea

“Keep on truckin’”
Culture shock is something that I have experienced before. I've done a lot of traveling and Malawi, Mexico, and Thailand all have people, food, languages and customs that are overwhelmingly different from those I am used to in America.

When I chose to study in Sweden, I honestly didn’t expect it to be that much of a change from living at home. Usually when I travel my appearance gives away my foreign status. But here in Sweden, where red-haired Caucasians are not a rarity, the differences are a little more subtle. I can actually blend in most of the time (unless I open my mouth).

Now, I’m not kidding myself here. I know that the clothes I wear (flip-flops, boot cut jeans, sunglasses on overcast days) can be a dead giveaway that I am not a Swede. But for some reason, I did not rush to label my recent insecurities and struggles as culture shock.

But that’s what it is. My mom literally sent me a list of the “symptoms”: sadness, loneliness; feeling vulnerable or powerless; unwillingness to interact with others; trying too hard to absorb everything in the new culture or country; lack of confidence; feelings of being lost or overlooked…

Sounds about right. I hate to be a downer, but this is truly one of the most difficult experiences I’ve EVER endured. Every day is physically and mentally draining. The miserable and embarrassing moments in my day often outweigh the fun ones. I have to make new friends, try new foods, get settled in my dorm, and go to classes every day. As my friend put it, “it's like you're doing freshman year [of college] all over again, only in a different language and country.”

I’m lucky that three of my very good friends recently returned home from study abroad trips. I desperately wrote them last night, saying something along the lines of, “Help! This isn’t fun anymore!! I want to come home!” and they replied with some great nuggets of wisdom like the one above. Here are some more pieces of advice for surviving the transition (hope you girls don’t mind if I share these… ):

“Try not to give yourself time to sit around and think about all the things you miss about home or shun off the Swedish world for the comfort of the internet.”

“Keep working on the things that you need to do to feel settled and connected bit by bit, keep doing the things you need to for school, and make some time for yourself to reflect and do happy things, and eventually without you're even noticing it will feel like home to you.”

“It might help you to know that a) it’s REALLY REALLY hard at the beginning, b) I went through it too, and c) you don't have to feel horrible if this isn't the most amazing experience of your life. If you aren't absolutely in love with everything you do all the time there, don't beat yourself up about it.”

“Read Harry Potter, drink tea, listen to happy music.”

“Also I'm thinking there is tons of chocolate... I would eat that.”

I have some really brilliant friends. I wish they were here.

P.S. Happy 4th!!

Family Reunion!
Okay, so they aren’t really my family. But they are amazing people!

More than 30 years ago, when my mom was a teenager, she came to Sweden and lived here for a year. She lucked out and lived with a great host family, people with whom we are still connected today. Lina and Magnus, whom I mentioned earlier, are part of this family and have been amazingly supportive since the day I arrived in Sweden (thank you, thank you, and thank you again!). They have housed me, fed me, taken me shopping, given me hugs, and answered millions of questions. They also took me along to Midsummer celebrations and, most recently, a family reunion!

Last time I was in Sweden, I was only eight years old. Needless to say, I remember very silly things from my first stay in Sweden (paper-wrapped sugar cubes were exciting, as was the snow and the lingonberry jam). But I also vaguely remember the people – my mom’s wonderful host family whom I was reacquainted with this past weekend.






On Friday night, we drove out to Ekestad, a small town about 20 minutes outside of the Kristianstad area. Our hosts, Tomas and Elisabeth, live in a beautiful Swedish house (very traditional) on a small lake. Unlike our Midsummer celebrations, the weather was mostly sunny and beautiful. About 30 people were there, and we took a ride in a replica Viking boat and ate in a replica Viking lodge that our host built 15 years ago (Elisabeth is a historian, can you tell?).

I was a little bit skeptical about eating dinner in a lodge with 30 people, but we built a fire, sat on handmade benches at handmade tables, and had a delicious meal! Lina and Magnus kept saying, “I’m so glad you came – this is so Swedish!!” It was a lot of fun and I got to meet a lot of wonderful people.








On Sunday, we left the house and drove to Wanås, an outdoor art exhibition. I couldn’t really picture it until we arrived and then I realized the sheer scale and beauty of this park. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s been around for 20 years and there are sculptures and art pieces throughout the forest, lawns, and buildings surrounding a medieval castle. The landscape was stunning and, for me, easily bested the wonderful nature areas we have in the Bay Area (sorry, California… Sweden’s got you on this one!).

Some of the cool art included a giant metal spider, a mod little bridge over a creek, eight swings hanging from a tree, a crazy see-through glass mirror (hard to explain), and a four story building with a portion of the art piece on each level (including a part of the floor that spun... see pictures!)


That was the weekend. More soon on my first bike ride in Sweden and a trip to the Island of Ven on Friday!

Linnea

Excursion #1: The Zoo!

But first, here’s a quiz for you:
What time was the picture below taken?

a) 7PM
b) 9PM
c) 11PM


















Yes, that would be: 11 PM!! Even here in southern Sweden, we are VERY far north.

Today our Swedish language program (the Folk Universitetet of Lund, kind of like UC Extension) took us to the zoo!

It’s called Skånes Djurpark and is full of animals native to Sweden. It was, hands down, the most beautiful zoo I have ever seen – no hulking concrete structures or anything like that, but lots of beautiful fenced enclosures with some awesome animals. We also lucked out with the weather. It was a beautiful day!

Right before we explored the animal park, we went to see some replicas of some Stone Age villages and buildings, located right next to the Djurpark.




Here is our group, checking out a hunter-gatherer hut.







This picture is from inside a larger house, a replica of where Swedish farmers in the late stone age would have lived.

















Some of my new friends in the program, who also go to UC campuses: Eva (from UCD), Karen (from UCLA), me, and Melissa (from UCI).





Walking down a hill towards the farmhouse.





Group picture! The group includes about 30 UC students as well as various other people from around the world who have chosen the Lund Folk Universitetet to learn Swedish (I'm on the left edge.)



Now on to the zoo! A bunch of animals, including one of the many species of birds they had in the park, an ox, a lake in the middle of the park, a lynx mama and cub, little wild piglets (napping in their trough?), a moose, and deer. Not pictured: the bears, wolves, and reindeer!







I’m leaving in a few hours for the weekend and will report more on Monday!
Til then, hej då!
Linnea

Sweden to phase out Å, Ä and Ö
Published: 1st April 2007 00:12 CET

A parliamentary working group has proposed scrapping Sweden's 'complex letters' Å, Ä and Ö, citing globalization and technological competitiveness as the main factors.

The Swedish government will now launch an inquiry into the matter, with a full recommendation anticipated in the autumn.

"Language is constantly changing and we must be prepared to meet the linguistic challenges of the modern world," said the Centre Party's Åsa Bäckström, who chaired the working group.

"Communication barriers are a hindrance to competitiveness, so we should do whatever we can - within reason - to eliminate them," said Bäckström in a press statement.

The change will not be addressed by legislation, but the government is expected to attempt to phase out the use of the three letters over a period of five years with a series of economic incentives.

These will target the technology, media and publishing industries with reduced VAT for computer hardware and software, newspapers and books which stop using Å, Ä and Ö.

Instead, advised the working group, Å should be replaced by AA, Ä by AE and Ö by OE. Many international media already use these letter combinations when reporting on Swedish affairs, Bäckström pointed out.

The plan is supported by the Swedish Association of Technology Employers.

"When you look at the cost to Sweden of keeping these letters, you can see the benefit of scrapping them," said the association's chairman, Torbjörn Nilsson.

"To a large extent this process has already begun for individuals or companies that use the internet in their communication. Email addresses and web site addresses simply ignore these letters - and people simply just that."

However, the move has not been welcomed by all. The Swedish Institute for Language and Learning in Ystad noted that other countries seem to be more inclined to stand up for their cultural and linguistic heritage.

"What we see in Germany and France, for example, is the complete opposite of this. Like them, we should be guarding our language, not giving it up," said press officer Göran Åklund.

Båstad council was also quick to reject the move.

"We already have enough trouble with English-speakers who think the name of our town is amusing. If the Å becomes a regular A it will just make things worse," said Social Democrat councillor Pär Öberg.

"We might as well go the whole hog and include an R."

The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

My first week.

Hej! I’m back! The internet in my dorm room does not work, which is why the blogging suddenly came to a halt! (I’m paying for a $3/day for a WiFi service right now.)

I’ve now been here for exactly one week. (One week? It feels like a MONTH.) I have endured a thousand different moments since I arrived – many of them full of elation, excitement and adventure, but also beset with frustration, shyness, and loneliness. I thought suffering through the jet lag was painful, but it was when I arrived in Lund that the truly upsetting experiences began; I have never felt more stranded and alone.

The train ride from Göteborg (Gothenburg) to Lund was a piece of cake, as was the taxi ride to my dorm. But that’s when the trouble started.

First, I had to carry my 50 pound duffel bag three flights up a spiral staircase. Then I paid over $30 in taxi fare to get to the local mall half an hour before it closed to ensure that I had sheets, a pillow, toilet paper, and towels for my room. Then I found out my internet connection did not work. Then my cell phone stopped working, and my connection to the world was severed for a terrifying four hours, and by the evening I realized I had gone for 10 hours without eating anything (couldn’t find any food to buy!). On top of that, just the fact that there were so many new and different things was overwhelming! Really tough.

Honestly, it is probably good that I have been internet deprived since Sunday. It has allowed me to digest all of the things that have happened so far. Things have improved considerably since my arrival on Sunday and I am feeling pretty optimistic about my six month stay here. Here are a few “snapshots” of what I’ve been doing so far:

Learning Swedish
I just finished my third day of Swedish lessons! While I can still hardly understand what my teacher is saying, I have already learned lots of vocabulary. I can count (ett, två, tre…), say the days of the week (måndag, tisdag, onsdag…), months of the year (januari, februari, mars), recite the alphabet, and so on. I can introduce myself, name different modes of transportation, and today we started conjugating verbs into five different tenses!! All this in THREE days! I think I covered most of those items in ONE YEAR of middle school Spanish.

Shopping…
…is a challenge in a different language and currency. This goes for food (ten different kinds of milk) and clothes (sizing and figuring out what is cool). Today I found “Tiger,” the Swedish equivalent of the Dollar Tree – it’s amazing. CDs, housewares, books, toiletries, clothes, baskets, office supplies and more for 10 kronor each! ($1.50). I wish that I had found it days ago! And the currency, of course: 7 kronor to the dollar. Try coverting that in your head! (I’m actually getting very good at it.)

Laundry
I had to throw in a couple of pictures of the amazing dryers they have here. They are, essentially, closets/giant blow dryers. You hang your clothes on the bars, close the doors, and presto -- in an hour they're dry.

There is also an immensely complicated laundry booking system involving electronic key chain tags, where you reserve a time using a digitized Swedish-language menu and then you must “activate” the laundry machines before you can access the laundry room… a long story short: I now have clean clothes. Hooray!

Lund!
A gorgeous city! Lund is home to over 100,000 people. Lund University is the largest university in Scandinavia and has over 40,000 students (about 10,000 bigger than UC Davis). The weirdest part of Lund is that, unlike the UC campuses, the university’s buildings are spread out through the city rather than being contained in one specific area. The city was founded in the year 990 (!) and the University has been around since 1668, so given the city’s loooooong history, I guess that’s just how things ended up.

More later… on the bus system (it rocks), my peers (lots of UC students), and a Swedish “family” reunion!

I’ll leave you with some pictures.

On Tuesday, we took a tour of the Lundgården, an area in the middle of Lund with gorgeous gardens, a giant cathedral (domkyrkan) that was built 1,000 years ago, and several university buildings. (Click the pictures to enlarge!)

Clockwise from upper left: Our very entertaining tour guide, Lars, telling us all about Lund's history; a traffic sign; a mini maypole in the window of a small museum/store; a poster -- sorry for the profanity -- reading "Femton Fuckin' Hundra." We all got excited because we just learned to count (the first word is fifteen, and the last is hundred).

Clockwise from upper left: The domkyrka from the outside; the crypts in the basement -- lots of dead bishops; a candlestick inside the sanctuary; our tour guide Lars.

Lastly, below, is the Universitetshuset, where Lund University's chancellor lives. Nice digs, huh?












P.S. I now have a Swedish mailing address! (and I love getting mail!) Contact me or my mom and we will email it to you.

No internet!

I'm currently without internet service in my dorm. Lame!

I will post a new blog as soon as I have a reliable connection again! (Hopefully that will be SOON.)

More soon, I promise!
Linnea

Midsummer!

The skies in Sweden have just been itching to rain. Magnus and I watched the clouds very closely on Thursday and we were waiting for the rain to begin falling any minute. Well, the weather held out – until Midsummer, of course. Apparently, Swedish midsummers are often blemished by the rain, but it did not stop us from celebrating!

We celebrated with friends of Lina and Magnus, outside of Gothenburg at a house on Aspen Lake. The morning of the celebrations, I was attacked by jet lag once again: I woke up at 4:30AM and could not fall back asleep. It’s exhausting enough to function with only four hours of sleep, but doing it in a foreign country where you cannot understand anyone or anything is even more difficult.

Lunch was my first taste of PICKLED HERRING. I honestly did not know what to expect, but I am proud to say that I tried three kinds of pickled herring. The first one was your standard pickled herring: bitter, cold, and squishy. You spear the fish and a piece of potato, dip it in sour cream, sprinkle it with chives, and stick it in your mouth. It’s like I said: cold, squishy, and pickled, and that about sums it up. I also tried another type – sweeter, and pickled with onions – which was somewhat similar, as well as herring in a crayfish marinade, which was a lot smoother, softer, and creamier going down. It was not bad, just not my thing.

After lunch, we (eight adults and seven little kiddos) trundled 20 minutes down the road, in the rain, to the community midsummer celebration. A beautiful giant maypole stood in the middle of a grassy clearing and many other families stood around in raincoats, armed with umbrellas.


The rain wasn’t too bad, and as soon as the music started Lina, Maja, and I danced around the maypole to music, singing songs in Swedish about dancing like frogs and pigs, ladies going to town, and crazy old drivers. I think there is a reason that people drink schnapps at lunch.


By the end, it was truly pouring. Many of the Swedes – the smart, weather conscious people that they are – were clothed in rain pants, raincoats, and Gortex. I was in my sneakers and jeans, which steadily became wetter and muddier. Everyone got very wet. When we returned, everyone remarked that it was probably the rainiest midsummer they had ever spent outdoors. Lucky me! Instead of picnicking at the maypole, we enjoyed fresh strawberries and whipped cream back in the warm and dry shelter of the host’s house.


By this point, the lack of sleep was catching up to me and I was not feeling good: I felt stupid because I didn’t know any Swedish. I felt like I was exuding awkwardness. There was no one my age at the party (everyone was either over 35 or under 6 years of age). I was feeling so tired and so overwhelmed! Lina keenly noticed that I looked dead on my feet and I was SO grateful when she suggested that I take a nap. I went downstairs and took some time out to rest. It was a hard moment -- and I've realized that living abroad is already proving to be a huge challenge. I miss home and my family and friends a lot…

ANYWAY, I felt much better after a few hours of rest. Our hosts were great and prepared generous servings of ribs, potatoes, corn, relishes, compotes, and wine for dinner. The midsummer celebration centers around spending time with family and friends, singing, dancing, drinking, and eating – and doing a lot of it!


Last night I had my first interrupted night of rest! 8 blissful hours! I’m starting to overcome the jetlag. I am also ready to venture down to Lund and get started learning Swedish. It is incredibly frustrating not to be able to speak Swedish, even to 3-year-old Adam!!

Thanks to Magnus for the midsummer pictures.
Hej då!
Linnea

Blogging while still jet lagged is hard work…

…but here is another day in Sweden.

My plan was to get up at 8AM or so to go with Magnus to their kids’ daycare. I did wake up, but my head was swimming with fatigue, so I fell back asleep for another SIX hours. I was stunned to awake at 1:30PM.

Magnus was kind enough to drive me into downtown Gothenburg, and while he was in a meeting, I wandered through the city’s Kungsgatan shopping district.


Thoughts for the day:

1. Swedes speak English, but Sweden is not an English-speaking country. At all. I can’t wait to begin learning the language. Everyone can understand me when I speak English, but I can’t understand Swedish at all. Lina and Magnus’s little son, Adam, loves asking me questions (who painted your toes? When are you coming back?) but I can’t understand unless someone translates. A bookstore called “Akademibokhandlen” is straight forward enough, but who would have known that a cucumber is called a “gurka?”

2. Swedes are very fashionable. (See Mom? I told you so.)


3. Flip-flops are not fashionable. (Woe is me!!) Flats and trainers are. Magnus informs me that flip-flops are common in Sweden, but I guess it was not the right weather or location to be the dominant shoe of choice.

4. H&M is not terribly fashionable in this part of the world. I think it’s the equivalent to “Old Navy” or something similar. Magnus says it’s on the “cheap” side of things. I tell him it’s all the rage in America. I remember H&M being an extremely coveted brand in high school, especially before they opened stores in the U.S., and before its introduction on the west coast as well. Here in Sweden it’s just ho-hum. Probably because H&M is one of many fashion stores for young people (see pictures).


That said, I saw five H&M stores within eight blocks of each other, along with six McDonald’s, a chain which seems to be more popular than H&M, especially among young people.

5. Unlike spring in California, a 75+ degree day is no excuse to bring out your cutest skirt (and flip flops). It was a warm, muggy day, and most people walking around still had long sleeves or jackets on.

6. I packed way too many clothes. Why didn’t I listen to my mom?? There are a billion places to shop, and my clothes are all very “California.” Before I left, someone at church told me, “Why pack? Just buy everything there!!” I like that idea. Mom – can I somehow send home my 44-lb. bag for a redo?

After exploring for a bit and after dinner, Magnus and I headed to the grocery store. We drove through Gothenburg, which is a beautiful city, and Magnus pointed out lots of neat places, including a big pharmaceutical company (one of the big industries in Sweden), a theme park, and the fishing docks.

The day before Midsummer’s Eve is a big food shopping day. It’s kind of like rushing out to the store on the day before Thanksgiving to buy a can of cranberry sauce. We went to the larger ICA store, which is the size of a small K-Mart and wasn’t quite as busy, to get some food.

ICA has a BRILLIANT system for shopping. With an ICA card, you can self-scan and bag your groceries as you shop. After swiping your ICA card, you are automatically issued a scanner (see picture of Magnus), which you use to scan each product as you put it into your cart. It also automatically subtotals your groceries as you go. You also weigh all of your produce on scales and print out price tags to stick on your food and scan as well. When you’re done, you head up to the counter, hand the clerk your scanner, pay, and you’re on your way.

They also have wheels attached to their small grocery baskets, which I found amusing (and dually brilliant). Here I am pulling the basket on wheels:


Tomorrow are the big Midsummer celebrations (get the lowdown here). After shopping we picked up FIVE (!) kinds of pickled herring from Magnus’s friend who sells fish. I will give you the reviews tomorrow. ;-)

Glad Midsommar!
Linnea

I'M ZONKED.

The transatlantic slog is never much fun.

I left my house in Berkeley at 4AM on Tuesday. It took three planes and over 24 hours of traveling to end up where I am now:
Fiskebäck (Gothenburg), Sweden.

The second leg of my trip (New Jersey to Stockholm) involved a lovely one and half hour interlude on the tarmac, first while we waited for the crew to re-secure the airplane’s cargo door (it was ajar… very confidence inspiring), and then to wait alongside other Continental flights (click on photos to enlarge) for other planes to land, thanks to the thunderstorms holding up the air traffic flying into NJ.

It’s nice to finally sit down in a chair that isn’t 30,000 feet above the ground nor sandwiched in between a plastic wall, a seatback, and other people’s knees. Though the midnight sun was beautiful. As we flew north it never got completely dark.


I’m staying with Swedish friends for several days – and my very gracious hosts, Lina and Magnus, are bringing me along to Midsummer celebrations on Friday.

Rumor has it that there will be SIX different kinds of pickled herring to sample on Friday (I promise to try at least one) along with lots of other Swedish food. Apparently, Midsummer is as big in Sweden as Thanksgiving is in America – lots of food, family, partying. Can’t wait.

On Sunday, I head to Lund by train for check-in and orientation for my program.

**three hours later**

I literally almost fell asleep onto my keyboard while writing this, but I somehow managed to move my laptop to the table before I crashed on the couch. I’ve been fighting the jet lag as hard as I can but I could not keep my eyes open. The nine hour time difference is brutal!

So you know: even at 9PM the sun is still way up there in the sky. By 11PM it will still only look like it's dusk.

Well, everything has gone well so far, but I can tell this is going to be an enormous adjustment. More later!

HERE I GOOOOOO!!!!

Six and half hours til my plane leaves
and I'm still using my laptop...

Just a few quick snapshots of my last day in America:

Bear reading my new webcam instructions and munching on my plane food: HobNobs cookies.


Max eating my HobNobs.


Last ride in sunny California!!
(Note my good ol' bike, Felty, recently built up and ready to fly to Lund! I'm leaving my newer bike behind for safe keeping...)

Countin' down...

Ten days til I leave and I can't stop thinking (worrying?) about it. I get that nervous-excited-adrenaline-pumped feeling every time it crosses my mind.

Plus, with school almost over, everybody is asking what I'll be up to this summer.

Um, living abroad?
Learning a new language?
Learning a new culture?
Gaining a new perspective?
Riding over cobblestones?
Celebrating midsummer?
Eating pickled herring?
Visiting Malmö? Stockholm? Mölle? Helsingborg? Skåne?

Yup.

Just gotta pack first!

Racing in Lund!

Thanks to my mom's Swedish-Google skills, I found some great info on the local bike club, CK Lunedi, in Lund! They race, they train, they ride -- I am so stoked. It's the DBC of Sweden! (Actually, not quite, as there are only 100 members, but still...)

Link to CK Lunedi here.

Pre-Trip Syndrome

Let's begin freaking out, shall we?

In the next 18 days, I need to:

• Write two 15-page research papers (one on rural development, the other on spacial-economic development).
• Write two 10-page papers (one on health sociology, the other on urban and regional planning).
• Take three final exams.
• Pack up my entire room and move my stuff back to Berkeley.
• Decide which stuff I will need in Sweden for six months and cram it all into two smallish bags.
• Figure out how I am going to get my financial aid/loan money while I'm abroad.
• Get a new ATM card.
• Figure out my new international cell phone.
• Haircut. I need a haircut.
  

Then there's the stuff I don't have to do, but in my pre-trip panic (in which I realize there is a minuscule, foreboding possibility that I might never return) feel that I must do anyway. This list includes:

• Return that shirt to Shoshi that I've been hoarding in my closet though haven't really worn, but she's in Australia so CRAP, how on earth should I get it to her?
• Clean my room. Not pack, just CLEAN. And the bathroom and the kitchen, too! Don't the batteries in the smoke detector need to be replaced? And the stairs really need a good vacuum, too.
  
• Are all my tour guiding pay stubs in one place? Did I get my tax return yet? Where did it go? My bank charged me another one of those silly one dollar fees, I should really call them about that.
  
• Write an email to that person who I've been meaning to email about meeting up for lunch, because I haven't seen them in FOREVER.
• Buy new dish towels.
• Sell some of my books online.
  

And the list continues to grow...

Sure, I could do this all when I return. IF I return.

Darn PTS. It's going to be a crazy 18 days...

How to tell a good travel story.

Jon Carroll writes a great column. I really liked today's...

Bad things happen in good travel stories. A good trip makes a bad story. "Oh, we had a wonderful time and we ate and we slept and we enjoyed the tropical breezes and saw big blue birds." Not a great tale, although the elaboration would be even worse: "We went to a luau one night that was sort of touristy, but we had a great time. They roasted a whole pig in the sand, and we met this great couple from New Jersey, Andrew and Ann, and it turned out ..."

You ought to read the rest. Bad things happened, and it's a great story.

I'm hoping not TOO many bad things happen while I'm in Sweden. This blog is partially for my benefit (being able to look back and think "wow, that was awesome") and also for the benefit of people who know me and want to know what it's like.

John Flinn, who writes a travel column in the Chronicle says, "Spare your friends the description of the Taj Mahal. Yes, it’s beautiful. And, yes, of course, the Great Barrier Reef is awesome. Everybody knows this. And we don’t need to hear about the seventh hole at Pebble Beach. What we want to hear are stories.”

Well, people who read my blog may have to put up with my occasional description of a castle or a natural Swedish wonder. I'll try to keep it brief. Or post pictures.

"Travelers should be able to tell a good bus story, bathroom story, airplane story, animal story, hotel story, food story and guide story." Got it. So the key is that travel isn't about WHERE you went as much as it is about what you EXPERIENCE along the way.

Here are some travel stories you can read, in case mine start to get uninteresting, though I hope some of my stories over the next six months will be good reads.

21 days til takeoff! Ha en trevlig resa!

The View from 40,000 Feet...

I used to love flying. Back in the day, I was a spunky little kid who flew, by myself, ALL OVER the country to visit family and friends.

I loved everything about airports:

• the security machine (to this day, I have never set off the walk-through metal detector. This was a huge bragging point when I was 9 or 10)
• the little airport stores where you could buy a pack of pre-flight gum to keep your ears from popping
• the roaring rush of the jet engines on takeoff

And once you're in the air:

• the unlimited soda and OJ
• Super Mario Gameboy sessions
• turbulence! woohoo!
  

I don’t know when I crossed over to the “I don't like flying” side of things. I started getting nervous way before Mr. Shoe Bomber and 9/11 – it has nothing to do with that. I just can’t escape the possibility of my plane plummeting out of the sky and crash landing into the ground.

Not that it's stopped me. I fly all the time. I just don't like it.

Maybe five years ago, my godfather was taking a transpacific flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco. Almost halfway through the flight, he heard a huge CLUNK – not really the kind of sound you want to hear while you’re cruising at 35,000 feet. He rang the call button and told the flight attendant what he’d heard. She assured him she’d let the captain know.

Meanwhile, my godfather flipped through the channels in the on flight TV system. The plane he was on had those little TV screens installed in the back of every headrest, and he ended up on the channel with the flight map: a little airplane symbol soaring over a big ‘ol blue ocean, steadily heading towards the west coast.

While he was watching, the little plane symbol starting turning, and kept turning. As the plane did a 180, the captain informed the passengers over the PA system that they had lost an engine. I’m not sure whether I would be more upset that after 10 hours of flying I’d be right back where I'd started or that my crappy plane had LOST an engine. I think I would have stayed in Asia a little while longer.

Max’s parents once recounted a miserable story about a flight to New Orleans where their plane got struck by lightning, the turbulence was out of control, and the cabin got unpressurized, so people actually had to use those masks that pop out of the ceiling! I would have fainted, I think.

Anyway, I came across an SFgate blog the other day that addresses this flying anxiety. Apparently, I’m not alone. While my main strategy is to sleep through as much of the flight as possible, here are two ideas that I really like:

"Sometimes statistics help: Your odds of being in a plane that crashes is 1 in 1.5 million. And even then, you might be one of the survivors. If you live to be 80, that's about 26,000 days. If you got on a plane every day for four thousand years, that's about 1.5 million flights. And even then, on the day of your 1.5 millionth flight in the year 6007, you know what your odds would be of getting into a crash that day? 1 in 1.5 million."

I knew your odds of surviving a plane flight were very good, but THIS good? Heck yeah.

"Sometimes ideas help. For example, stop thinking you should do it because it's safe. Tell yourself the opposite. Tell yourself you're doing it BECAUSE it's dangerous, that you're going to do something dangerous for once, that you owe it to yourself."

That’s right. Linnea the risk taker!!! Here I come, Sweden, here I come.