November 2009
2 posts
Forgive me for not posting over here!
I’ve kind of abandoned posting this month, but I promise to pick it up come December when more things are going on. Talk to you all then!
Stockholm & Röyksopp
I went to Stockholm and to a concert for the Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp this past Friday, so I’ll try to relay as much as I can about it as I can remember.
So Sarah and I met up with her older sister Marie and we took the commuter train down to Stockholm. I can’t remember exactly what her job entails, but we were talking about languages and I think she works with children with...
October 2009
12 posts
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Massive Random Update
Now for updates about everything that isn’t school.
Choir has been going well and we have a concert on the 7th of November. It’s been a bit more tricky preparing songs for this time around, but those of us in the 1st altos have been doing some extra practice time to prepare. I’m hoping to be well enough to go to practice Thursday because I skipped two weeks ago, went last week,...
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Massive School Update
Things have been really rough for me over the past week, so it’s hopefully understandable why I didn’t blog.
I can’t remember if I said in the last post that Shakeb made a really terrible powerpoint (complete with a yellow background and blue type!) for our project, but he did. I just tossed it out and made a new one without asking because anyone beyond middle school should know...
Blah blah blah.
I haven’t really felt like updating. I hope you guys understand.
We finally turned in our project for school and Shekeb was being lame about the whole thing. We’ve got our presentation about it on Wednesday, but otherwise we’re done with it and the class is almost over. Just a final on the 30th!
I went over to Sarah’s Friday night for her birthday along with Anna, Linda,...
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Snow?! What?
Yes, yes. Today, October 13th, was the first snow fall of the year. Mind you, it was very minor and wasn’t sticking but hey, it was snow nonetheless. I didn’t really notice until someone pointed it out on facebook and I actually opened my blinds haha.
Yesterday wasn’t too interesting so I’m not going to bother with that. I worked on my economics paper and went grocery...
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Körhelgen!
My choir weekend retreat was amazing! I had such a good time and it was a really nice way to get to know everyone in my choir so that now I actually feel welcome to sit and talk with anyone during rehearsal rather than just the few people I normally sit by. This weekend was also an excellent opportunity to practice Swedish. I spoke it the entire time (save for a few instances where I’d trip...
Totally forgot to write!
Wow. I totally forgot to write at all this week…my groupmates and I have been so occupied with working on our economics paper that it’s making me forget about other responsibilities. Sorry ‘bout that.
Not much has happened, I don’t think. Like I said, we’ve been hard at work on our paper on rent controls. Super boring blah blah. It’s due next Wednesday and then...
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Routine Sunday
I’m starting to think all my Sundays are going to end up being the same, so I might not even write about them.
Basically I wake up, go grocery shopping (I accidentally went over budget today, whoops…), make lunch, clean the apartment, then mess around online and study until dinner and study some more with a cup of tea. Nothing special.
As for random notes, I’m on a bit of an...
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Soaked
Yesterday was pretty boring for the most part. I woke up and people back home were having a party so I chatted with all of them over Skype for a few hours before I really got up and got on with my day. After this, I just relaxed and tried to study my macroeconomics book, but because it’s in Swedish, I didn’t get as far as I would have liked, whoops.
After dinner, I started getting...
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Another day, another headache
I woke up again Friday morning with a headache, so I had to miss lecture. Ugh. I really really need to be well next week so I can catch up. I laid in bed the extra two hours and then rode my bike to the ekonomikum to meet with Jonas and GWNIF to begin our project. GWNIF was actually there this time (but without his computer…okay…), so we talked about the articles we had found and how...
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Sick Day
What a crappy day. From the moment I woke up this morning at 7am, I’ve had an awful headache. It’s just past 8 now and it still hasn’t gone away despite me taking pain medication twice.
Obviously, this means I didn’t go to class, meet up with my groupmates, nor go to choir. I feel bad for bailing out but if I have my headaches, there’s not really anything I can do...
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Yesterday was a waste.
I woke up at 7:15am so I could head over to the doctor before class to get my headaches and eyesight checked out, but seeing as how it was only 37 degrees outside, I opted to stay in bed and talk to people back home.
I finally drug myself to class at 10:15 and I made the mistake of grabbing my winter coat. I was sweating by the time I got to lecture, whoops. Guess my friend was right about...
September 2009
14 posts
3 tags
Way to go, self!
I’m so proud of myself today. After an intense weekend and then a very lazy Monday, I was actually productive! Who knew I had such motivation? Not to mention, I’m actually writing this blog entry the day of.
I had economics from 12:15 to 2pm today and we began our unit on macro economy that will only last 3 weeks and yet it gives the same amount of credit back at UO as a full term...
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Oops.
I just realized I hadn’t updated since last week. I hope you all understand!
This weekend was study central for me as I had to prepare for my economics midterm (in Swedish, no less) that happened this morning. I had been planning on going to a party and brunch but after some neighbor of mine blasted music for 12 hours straight, that went out the window AND I’m starting to feel ill. So...
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Jag hoppas att mitt svenska kommer inte att bli...
Nothing terribly exciting happened yesterday. I went to class to get divided up in our small groups for our large economics project and I was feeling incredibly nervous. For some reason, I was even nervous as the TA was calling roll in our 20-person small group for fear that everyone would figure out I wasn’t Swedish so I kept repeating “ja” in my head so when I finally heard him...
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Sunday to Monday to Tuesday
Blah. The days run together.
I honestly haven’t done much these past few days. I was kind of tired on Sunday cause I went out with Sarah and her friend Elena and Linda the night before, but I spent a lot of time studying and cleaning.
Monday and today were filled with more studying and class. Yesterday, I went to IKEA to replace some plants and when I came back and opened the containers...
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All about the gasque
Ack, I really need to get back into the habit of writing properly everyday. I always mean to but then I get caught up with other things…you know how it gets.
But yes, all about the gasque! I took the bus over to town around 3pm because I didn’t want to risk sweating or messing up my hair and makeup…oh well if it was 30kr. The price you gotta pay to look nice. I wore a black...
Swedes = Ultimate Bike Riders
Something I forgot to mention in my post last night:
I saw a girl biking yesterday with a heavy gym bag over her shoulders while texting without any hands on the handlebars! Talk about skills. I can’t even ride my bike no-handed without anything else going on.
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New Study Strategy
I’ve decided to opt for a more independent study strategy for myself this week and let me tell you - it’s been going well! I don’t attend the lecture (I know, I shouldn’t skip but when the professor speaks in a monotone in Swedish for two hours and repeats the same thing with 34589 examples I don’t need to understand, it gets boring) and instead take my ENGLISH...
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Just livin'
Nothing much to report about yesterday or today. I spent almost all day inside yesterday and cleaned and relaxed. Sadly, I had to deal with someone blasting music on their bass for 4 hours so that was fairly unpleasant…
Today I had economics and then I went and bought my ticket for the reccegasque this Friday. It’s for new members only and it begins at 3:30pm and goes until 1am or...
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From bad to great!
So yesterday started off majorly boring and depressing. I didn’t feel like doing a single thing and I had nothing to do so I stayed in my room for the majority of the day and rested after my long week. I did a bit of cleaning, which is good I suppose. But overall, I just wasn’t feeling my best.
But then Sarah and invited me to meet up with her and Julia for the annual Culture Night in...
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A Loooong Week
Ugh. I never meant to wait this long to write (4 days!?) but I became so busy with everything else and then by night I was too tired so I hope you’ll forgive this belated post.
Monday
I can’t remember much of what we did that day, shoot. Sorry. I had class in the morning and then went and met Nick and our friend from Swedish class at home, Leif-Erik/Dylan (I’m not sure which he...
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It's the weekend!
So I was too stressed out to write anything the entire weekend. I’m feeling better now so I’ll get to writing I suppose.
Friday
Like I mentioned before, Manda and I went to IKEA. I know this is probably the 4th time I went there since arriving, but I only buy a few things at a time. Of course, we had lunch and I had some delicious meatballs and a princessbakelse. Then Manda and I...
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I'm a quitter.
I did it. I’ve decided to drop my economics course. I went to class at 9:15am and stayed for an hour and in that time I realized there is no possible way I can pass this course with a decent mark. Especially on days like yesterday when my head was aching and I couldn’t focus well enough to understand most of what was going on -sigh-. At least I tried, right? I promtly left during break...
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Bicycles for the win!
Sorry this post is a bit after the last…I’ve been trying to get laundry done for the first time and these washers are half the size of ones back home, so it’s taking me longer than usual.
Despite not having class today (yay!), I got up way earlier than I would have liked…I ended up doing a whole lotta nothin’ until around 2pm when Amanda and I went to town. We walked...
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Of school and dinners
Sorry for not writing yesterday…I got home much later than I anticipated and was much too tired to even think about writing. Hope you all don’t mind too much!
So I actually had to get up early (8am!) to go to class yesterday and I was definitely not looking forward to it. I won’t bore you with what happened during my school day but I did find out a few things:
1. Yes, it was a...
August 2009
23 posts
3 tags
School?! Whoops.
Today was rather uneventful except for ah! SCHOOL. Yes I was finally beginning my new university with new people in a new country and yes, with a whole new language to make things even more difficult. To say I was nervous would be an understatement.
But first, I will start with my new nation - Gästrike-Hälsinge (yest-ree-keh hell-sing-eh), or GH for short. I finally got to register there and upon...
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We're lazy, lazy, lazy.
Last night wasn’t terribly exciting but around 10pm, some neighbors of mine started blasting music ugh. It wasn’t awful because I wasn’t going asleep yet, but something about a booming bass is just distracting. They stopped after about 10 minutes, only to pick up again around 2am and continue for 40 minutes…I figured out they were in the building next to me so I...
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Ugh.
Yesterday was an okay day, I suppose. I won’t go into great detail because I’m not really feeling up to it, so forgive me.
I woke up early and Elin took me to a cheap grocery store farther away from where we live. It was definitely worth it though as I got a lot of things for around 40 bucks. I have a feeling it won’t be enough for Manda and I, however. Oh well. Then I went into...
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Two for One
(Again, for yesterday…but my internet cutout last night when I was writing ahhh)
I didn’t feel like writing a post for Wednesday. Overall, I was really lazy and feeling anti-social. Plus it was raining…I went to brunch and while it was delicious, I didn’t talk to anyone for the first 20 minutes before I met Liao from France and then he introduced me ‘round, so this...
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This is actually for Tuesday, August 25th
(My internet was broken this morning so I didn’t get a chance to post after my long night)
I was pretty lazy today for the most part of the day. I tried to clean up my room some since I’ll be living here for good, but my back hurt and I’m still pretty physically exhausted so I gave up and just rested. After awhile I finally got ready and biked off to pay my rent and then went to town for...
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I feel accomplished!
I actually feel like I got out and did things today - maybe it’s because I DID. Orientation tends to have that effect on people.
I accidentally woke up at 6:30am and couldn’t fall back asleep (still haven’t properly adjusted my sleeping schedule), but I just spent time catching up on a tv show. At breakfast I met another one of my neighbors, Elin, who is from Austria. So there...
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Waiting on Normalcy
There are so many things I need to get done before I can feel normal with a good routine here.
First, I can’t unpack/set anything up because I’m hoping to move out of here. So I’m waiting on a reply back from the housing office. While it’ll be positive for me to move, it’ll be awful because I’ve since bought more things since moving in, taking it all to a knew...
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...but now I want to move out.
After missing meeting everyone at Domkyrkan (I’m not sure how..poor positioning on my part during the massive rain storm), I went over to Jysk (bed/bath store) and got a few more things for my room. I also stopped at a store called ONOFF to buy my hair dryer and straightener. Those things do not run cheap anywhere in Sweden…I got the cheapest one I could at around 70 bucks :/
I came...
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Just moved in...and I've got a long way to go.
So I checked out of the hotel this morning after waking up at 3am and not getting back to sleep. I also was afraid I had lost my cell phone charger as my battery was dead and it’s my only alarm clock. However, after emptying all my bags, I found it in the back pocket of my laptop case. Typical.
Once I got to my apartment complex, I had to carry my 5 bags (ranging from laptop size to well...
5 tags
Wait...what?
I got back early from my trip and I guess my internet doesn’t run out for another hour or so. But WHAT THE HECK. I went to my apartment (easy enough to get to after buying my 12-trip card) and I live in the boy’s coridoor? No one was awake yet so I couldn’t ask anything and I guess I can go over to the housing office again but really, what will they tell me? I don’t think...
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And I'm out!
I won’t have internet after I return from my massive trip around town today (at least, I think not…) so it’ll be awhile before I update again.
I didn’t sleep too well but I forced myself to sleep until 8am so I could readjust. I had the most delicious and necessary breakfast I’ve had in awhile and now I’m going to head over to my apartment, check it out, then...
3 tags
Hotel Lady
Why do you think when I ask for a light dinner I want Burger King or Subway? Or even pre-wrapped sandwiches from the mini-mart?
I found dinner on my own and had pasta with chicken. It’ll do for tonight. I need to get everything situated and head out to IKEA tomorrow (bus?) so I can buy my things. I should probably check out my apartment first but that’s more money and an extra trip I...
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11 hours of flying later...
I am officially in Uppsala! I planned on writing sooner but I only just took my first two hour nap in a span of a 26 hour period. I wasn’t feeling too great before.
So the flying. I got to the airport WAY too early (we’re talking three hours here) so I wasted a lot of time doing nothing after saying goodbye to Jordan, Mom, and Manda. Once we were allowed to board, it was time for the...
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Still so much to do...
I leave tomorrow. Yes. The day is finally here! It doesn’t even feel as if tomorrow will be any different than today…it’s a surreal feeling, really.
I’m just waiting for Jordan to come over so he can help me finish some packing up. I still need to put in all my makeup/hair/personal care items in plastic bags, account for what shoes and scarves I’m taking, and put...
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2 Going-Away Parties - 1 Weekend
I had both of my going-away parties this weekend - one for my friends and one for my family. I had a really great time at both and now I’m ready to relax for a day or so and get all my things packed up.
My friend party was down in Lake Oswego at Jordan’s house so that everyone wouldn’t have to make the long drive from Portland to Longview. I’m grateful that his parents...
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Packing is probably important...
I leave in seven days (YIKES!) and I haven’t started packing. At all. I’ve made a list of things I need to pack with very specific details down to every single pair of tights I’m bringing (you know, in case things get lost), but that doesn’t help too much. I’m sure I’ll fall victim to overpacking. Do I need 5 different hats? Possibily. How many dresses is too...
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I should learn to proof read.
I was writing to my “student buddy” at Uppsala and she had claimed in her last e-mail that her English is poor because she’s been studying German for the past few years. I meant to write “I doubt your English is bad. I’m sure it’s totally fine!” but I ended up forgetting a few words and wrote “I doubt your English is totally fine!”
I just...
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Stress Level: 10
I leave in just a few more days; nine to be exact. It feels surreal that time has gone by so quickly for me in the past few weeks. I feel as if it was only last week I made this tumblr for my 1.5 month mark. I have nearly everything settled surprisingly, but I somehow still find things to freak out about. I spend far too much time every night thinking about my trip and how I might forget...