luckily only minimal casualties were suffered..

So I finally got the chance to go to Budapest!! i love that city- its so beautiful and relaxing (except when struck with food poisoning, but it could have been worse) We went to the baths -of course- heaven on earth. i could have stood for it to be a bit chillier though. then we did the touristy thing and went up to castle hill and all around buda..and the next day was for pest, but unforunately my stomach wasn't so willing to follow along that day. Budapest teased me with over 60 TV channels (which, when lying around sick is fantastic!) The bastards dub everything though, and not just normal dub, dub where you can just barely hear the english spoken underneath. they had discovery channel and food network! i just about shit a brick- it was sort of like last time when i was in sweden and all i wanted to watch was the christmas story, and they played it on the plane back home!...for 15 minutes before the channel went out and didn't come on again. luckily- i've already watched it so far this year. yay for torrent. anyway, budapest was absolutely lovely.
as soon as we got back, martin (bless his soul), sara and I jumped a bus for willy's to make our thanksgiving shopping. (woot. make, faire, machen..i'm no longer a native english speaker). On the way back i was stupid and the bus driver was crazy and that resulted in us getting off at the wrong stop. oops. so we have 850kr worth of groceries...which is a lot- especially when you have to carry them all the way to spoletorp from the domkyrcka. sara and i cooked that evening until 3am and then all day the next day. but thanksgiving was a hit, everyone seemed to really enjoy it..possibly except sara and i's right index knuckles. both of which suffered injuries inflicted either by an oven or potato peeler.
so today is my birthday. its been really really nice so far. a group of us went to brunch this morning at Lunds Nation, and then we went off to the christmas market put on by the ID students. I got some cute gifts and fantastic ideas for a couple presents. i know i'm a bitch, but they were charging 500kr. I can't afford that shit. tonight i will indulge in black forrest cake, or something similar and hopefully a tasty meal as well.
18 days and i'm back in the arms of the United States. wish my luck on all the shit i have to do before then.

'tis the season.

its cold. as we speak its 23 degrees outside. thats very cold. so today i am going over to stadium to pick up some nice warm gloves, then to the second hand store on secret business, and then to the train station to make our reservations for KIRUNA!! woot. today i'm putting a couple hundred dollars on my credit card. woot. so when i get back, my parents and i are going to have a swedish-esque version of christmas dinner for christmas eve. -if any of you are in austin, please join! the more the merrier.

classes are crazy. this time the quarter is only 6 weeks, and we've got essentially four books to read, 45 pages to write, and seminars. that aparently isn't so much for my classmates, but when you come from a design background...eeep! i will have offically surpassed the amount of writing i did in the past four years..now. i'm pretty sure i've already written more. but i got better grades on the undergraduate stuff. remember, its not the quantity, its the quality, right? luckily in the huge paper, i've 'only' have 5 pages to write, but i'm supposed to write on theory. first off, i think i lot of the theory we learn in bullshit. not that its wrong or invalid, but more that none of them are totally applicable in the real world. like peter said- people fuck it up. they are irrational. i agree. we need to look at case studies- see where theories were used, and then fucked the company. favorite quote from class ever: "then people come into the equation and add upfuckedness". there is not much better than a non-english speaker cursing.

thanksgiving is coming! stephen was having his on the 22nd, so we are having ours on the 29th. now stephen is having his on the 20th, and no one is having it ON thanksgiving. i think i need to do something, even if it is celebrate by myself with a cute mini-feast. our big one will be awesome. if all goes as planned there will be a play, and we will have a delectable menu. and my favorite PUMPKIN PIE!

i'm off to budapest on the 24th, and i can honestly say this is possibly the think i am most excited about. i can't wait to lay in the baths of szychenyi, eat a nice dinner that doesn't cost an extremity, go out for a night for real. buy some tasty beverages to bring back...and some whiskey for our apple cider! i am so excited. budapest is definitely one of my favorite cities in the world. so we get back just in tme for our thanksgiving, and then..birthday time! the big 23. the other day i forgot how old i was turning, and was convinced that i was going to be 22. but i knew i was over 21. numbers are confusing. i shouldn't work in restaurants anymore, or else i will be serving 16 year olds liquor.

ok. now its time to read, i have procrastinated long enough.

a very spoletorp halloween

yay. so this week i have completely off. no work-nuthin. so tuesday martin, sara, and i decided to go to kristianstad (the town, not the nation) and do a little shopping. it was cute, lots of shops, but very predicatable. in sweden there are about 6 or 7 stores that are in EVERY town. and mostly thats it. its like going to new york city and shopping in GAP. not too much thats unique. i take that back- there are some unique stores, but the only currency they except are first born children. there are a couple stores in lund that are unique and except cash. i like those ones.
halloween was last night. we started in spoletorp, but there were three parties- on the 4th, 5th, and 6th floors. there was lots of confusion because the floors aren't numbered, and the parties kept shifting, so no one could find anyone. later we moved to st lars...the mental hospital turned largest halloween party every year (also places for students to live). the party was best characterized by my good friend pierce's words:

Pierce William-Toal Madden
is wondering why there are people trying to knock in our doors, why st lars looks like the aftermath of hiroshima and why theres a couch burnt to cinders outside.

what i remember (which is everything- lite drinking for me that evening) was john pushing a couch out the window, a little indian (or pakastani, or somewhere in that region) guy grabbing my ass, and rubbing my leg, a guy is a crazy ass mask, and john unwittingly turning down a night with a girl. yaaaaay being sober.

-i was the badminton champion of the world...from 1980-something.
-felix's costume wasn't real.
-jason takes the best scary pictures...even when he doesn't know it
-stephen makes a good lindsey
-lindsey makes a better lindsey- and should always stay away from red wine.
-norwegian people are talkative
-at least michael wears boxers.

sticks and stones may break my bones, but gympa will always squash me

i made eclairs tonight. the pastry is perfect, but i totally fucked up the mousse. Here is why:
"Vispa ner påsens innehåll i 2 dl kylskåpskall mjölk, gärna i en hög, smal skål. Vispa med elvisp ca 3 min. Fördela chokladmoussen i coupeglas eller liknande och låt stå kallt 20-30 min."
so i improvised and it turned out to be the best chocolate pudding EVER...mmm...with a little ice cream in the middle....delicious.
So the tacksittning was last friday. extremely fun as usual, though once again, my vegetarian options were a little limited. good company, good drinks, good food, good dancing. oh man- i started this entry, and now i'm far too tired to finish it. perhaps i will continue tomorrow. sov gott.

if its not the carbs, then its the butter, sugar, and fat...

so i've been having these really fucked up dreams lately. there has been a lot on my mind and school has been slightly stressful (nothing like tech stressful, but its easy to lose a comparison point when you aren't faced with that shit.) anyway- berdine and i analyzed the dreams and found the sources of the stress, and i fixed all of them- starting two days ago, and now i am sleeping soundly again. i am taking a beating from swedish food again, but this time a little different- i'm working out so much that the fat is equally distributed, so it was like a sneak attack- i was doing great, and then all of a sudden i get on a scale only to find i am a sturdy 8 pounds heavier...then when i came! and i was definitely overweight when i came..anyway- that is the next demon to conquer on my list- besides can you help it if the only really good food in sweden is sweet and baked?
i've written a lot of papers. more than i think i did for my entire undergrad degree, but i suppose thats grad school. weekends are still awesome though- the weekend before last was another tacksittning- i think i wrote about that, then last friday i worked again (so another tacksittning tomorrow!!)..and then saturday night berdine, sara and i had a wine a cheese night and watched cute movies. so now i'm off to dreamland- good dreams!!

vecka 40..and still twitching

life here has been going on. i have contracted possibly the strangest cold i've ever had. all the symptoms- just one at a time, today and yesterday have been coughing- before that sneezing, and before that congestion. its sort of like....a box of chocolates. (ok i apologize for that). otherwise life has been a non-stop flow of reading, writing and quizzing. but its ok- i'm turning in my mega-starbucks quiz on wednesday whether i feel like i'm done with it or not.
so, last week was very exciting for the second half...on thursday my (almost) entire class went to a sittning at Malmo Nation- let me tell you- i was EXTREMELY pleasantly surprised. i think maybe this week we will have our contest there! there will be lots of stars.!! Then on friday night we had a giant ring of fire night in our hallway- i was thinking about nine people would show up- but it turned out to be more like 30, and the aussies and robert just haaad to add about ten extra rules- but the grenade master was a fun one- maybe berdine didn't appreciate it as much after the entire beer was spilt all over her. i also stole sam's sweatband, and never thought that i would get such a reaction. haha now all of my upper arms are bruised. saturday night was another tack sittning for those of us that worked at the Novishefest- the food was pretty tasty-even if they weren't expecting vegetarians (second time that week). and the drinks wooooo...i don't think there was any catagory was missed, and i am completely shocked that the mixing didn't kill me- in the end that night we never actaully made it into any of the nations, but thats ok- i needed to get early and work yesterday- quiz tomorrow, starbucks wednesday, and then scramble to write a 6000 word paper.
..my new bike is fantastic.

if only i had a lock cutter..

so it finally happened. i was the victim of a crime. i suppose the time has come since i made it four in atlanta without anything getting stolen. someone thought my bike would suit them much more than it did me, and alas, i am without wheels. but thats ok, karl-magnus and i are going 'bike shopping' soon, and i've picked a couple that are cute and quite possibly abandoned. (now see, i am such a nice person to make sure that these bikes don't have owners). otherwise all is good. classes are insane, and i've reached a new sort of...nevermind. i'm just not reading everything that i'm supposed to, its not worth it. i think i will pass, maybe not with the grades i had at tech, but oh well. we went to lunds nation last night- to the basement party, and it was sooooo fun! the music was mixed and really good. haha and i got a number. still winning the contest. OH! sara, berdine and i bartended the other night at the novischefest, we made a bet to see who could get the most phone numbers. i won! with the oh-so slightly pathetic amount of one (1).haha but the bet continues, soon it will be ON. no holds bar. fortunately for sara, she has the most...uhh....'going out clothes'- her words.

was that ice!?

So this week has definitely been like no other. i'm still dealing with my somewhat masochistic ways (not literally), but hopefully by the end of week I can put everything to rest or at least make something of it. I joined Gerdahallen last week (the biggest gym in sweden!!!- in other words, a normal size gym from the states). I went to a gympa class- sort of like aerobics on steroids- and an african dance class. let me tell you, there is not much thats more satisfying than watching 100 swedish women cramped into a gym doing 'african dance' simultaneously (almost). The result of the class? I feel really good, but i am sooooo sore. sore in places i've never been before. the swedes are on to something, i think i must have burned 1000 calories in those classes.
Last night i went to a thank you sittning at Krishansta, it was super fun, we started at effy's and had a couple drinks and snacks, then over to the dinner. ooooooh i was extremely tipsy- so i didn't have anything more to drink after the dinner. after that we went back to sparta to let our feet rest (sara and i always make very poor shoe decisions) and biked home to spoletorp. i made it the whole way with sara on the back of my bike! she's such a good passenger.
I got home and slept really well for about and hour and half before i started having really terrible dreams, so needless to say, i didn't sleep very well last night, but today i will rest- sort of. i have a lot of work still to do. boooo.
oh- did i mention there was ICE (not the craftshow kind) on the rode when i biked to class yesterday morning. das ist alles.

an apple a day

so last night i worked in my first nation. wooo. it was super duper fun! i got to work behind the bar most of the night- which definitely puts you in an advantage (especially as a female!). a whole bunch of swedish guys struck up conversations with me- and 6 of them were EXTREMELY attractive. This has got to be some sort of record- never in the states has this happened to me. no phone numbers- but i think i'm going to have a lot of repeat customers...
the best part of the evening was after 2- my stomach started getting uspet, and by the time i got home, i was doubled over in severe abdominal pain. after writhing for a couple hours, i called john (bless his soul), to come by and help me. I think he saw me at my worst- so we hopped (painfully collapsed) into a taxi and went to the emergency room. I got to spend the entire night in the ER getting blood tests and drinking gavison 'cocktails'. John and i got to chat for several hours-which was really nice- but he took off around 6 (i practically pushed him out- he needed sleep). So this morning at 8- i was released and made my way back to spoletorp for an hour sleep before i went to my..HAIR CUT this morning. i love haircuts.
so my current condition: unstable, but hopefully getting better.

Someone stole summer from Sweden

So September has started and the weather is still getting chillier- even though outside- the day is beautiful- I can't let the sun trick me again. Somehow, I always end up with half the clothes I should be wearing. I'm not sure where i left off in my last entry- but classes have started, and I feel like i may be in shit for a while- as long as it takes for me to: A. learn how to study like a real person again, and B: start picking up the fundamentals of marketing. My first quiz will be tomorrow- so we'll see how that goes...though I must say- i did very well on the online silly quizzes. Otherwise, this weekend was fairly quieter than the last two weeks. Friday we went to Krischanska nation- where a good friend of mine had a bit of a melt-down and has left me feeling a bit stressed about. Then saturday- off to IKEA where john had to buy furniture to outfit an entire room. i got a plant. its cute...even if it is homeless.

My disposition here is so much better than it is at home. The stresses that I have encountered here seem like nothing. Even when I really think about all the burdens (relatively not so many) that I am under, I still feel this light airyness to it all, and problems just sort of melt away....especially when i am riding my bike- except to Ulrikidel when i inevitably get lost. I would like to add that this week has been quite a challange so far. Since friday I have been living off of about 120:kr. This is slightly less than $20. In other words, I've just been eating the food I have left over, and not going out or doing this or that. Since its unknown how long my money is going to be sitting over the Atlantic Ocean- I may have to break down and withdrawl or borrow some. I need to- i've literally got a couple pieces of bread, a small serving of yogurt and no credits left on my phone. hahah i must seem so pathetic to everyone right now....

Ok- keep in touch.

News of the first week..

This week has been quite an expensive one. I found myself living in the most swank student housing ($$$$$) in the city with a sweet view of some roofs out of my big window, and a touch of the trainstation out of my porthole- this is the perk of having a corner room. The building is nice, i'm on the 5th floor and there are 10 people living on my half- all of which are staying a full year (at least). There is Felix (Germany), Fulya (Turkey), Robert (Scotland), Jihane (France), Martin (Holland), Mari (Japan), Jason (South Africa/Englad), Sara (United States), Berge?? (Turkey), and last but not least the mystery man in one of the rooms...and me...in the corner office.

I also aquired a bike this week, and I am in love with it. I want to take it everywhere i go forever and ever. Its a monark single gear oh-so-cute, and super fun to ride bike. I think stylewise Stephen probably has the best bike.. He chose a women's style (because of the size) but the frame fades from an upper shade of 80's purple into a nice florida turquoise...cream handle bars as well. a gem.

I went to Wermlands and Lunds nations this week. I had been to neither when i was here in the past. I actually really like Lunds nation- last time i was afraid it was going to be a little stuck up, but i was completely wrong- lots of fun, even if two of the strangest Swedes i have ever laid eyes upon hit on me. very much too young and/or not my type...and probably very drunk.
This afternoon I finally have my registration meetings, then one more week off. Poor Nils and Sara start school on monday. booo.

i Malmo

I made it to Sweden in practically one piece. I was sick before getting on the plane, then I was really really sick when I got off the plane. I made very good friends with two toilets in the Arlanda airport. I finally made it to Copenhagen, and had no luck finding a pay phone to call Karl-Magnus. So I caught a train to Lund, and after about 15 minutes found a pay phone (did i mention i only got half of my luggage?) and none of the numbers K-mag gave me worked. I went crazy, and decided to hop a bus and try to find where he lives. I was extremely lucky. The first day here I was completely dead. The second day I went to the doctor to fix me. I had to go three times before someone would actually see me. and since i'm lucky enough to be from the United States, I got charged an arm and a leg for the service. But- I think this time I might actually be cured. So- this morning I got up early and went to the doctor for one last time, and relaxed until i went to malmo fest this evening. Karl-Magnus went to Ahus, so I went with one of his friends, and found myself playing the 7th wheel with a bunch of swedes that i didn't know or barely met. It was still fun though, I saw a swedish american idol guy as well as a girl group called the sahara hotnights. ok night night.

I'm going to say it again. Its down to the wire. Three more days of american bliss before i have to pack my bags and lug my ass to the land of the vikings. Its a good thing that i have contracted a certain cold. it should make my 25 hour trip extra delightful. but I am so excited!! My ipod is packed with hours of my favorite movies to help me cope with the 7 hour layover in chicago that i am facing. Fredo suggested i try not to leave the airport due to construction on the blue line. we'll see if i heed that. I saw sicko again this evening, and am once again more than ecstatic to get the fuck out of here. If the system stays the same, then i think i am facing a future without life insurance mainly due to the heredity that i have been blessed with. who knows....just a little speculation. The stoli vanil and coke was tasty though. take that regal entertainment.

movies

movies i want to see, but can't. for now:

1. Dedication
2. The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson lives!)
3. Rocket Science
4. Get Smart
5. The Heartbreak Kid
6. This is England (too indie for Austin)
7. The Ten

in austin.

Time is coming down to the wire. I've been in austin for five days and will be on a plane to sweden in less than two weeks. The summer in Atlanta was definitely awesome. I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends. I don't think Allison and I spent more than 24 hours without contact. We got to be free of school and just have fun. This summer was the first time I ever swam in Campanile. Too bad Devin had to move to Boston.

So far in Austin hasn't been nearly as exciting. I did visit Josh at Fort Hood. I have never seen so many shaved heads in my life. From the minute i crossed the Killeen city limit, I felt like I was in a whole other world. One that felt oppressed. Josh definitely has a new take on life. Same personality, whole different person. I felt like i got a new insight into the military in the United States, and it makes me unhappy. There are so many minds that have been altered to think as Iraqis as non-humans. Sure. there are the bad guys- but didn't we create them. and what about the thousands that aren't, the ones that just want to live their lives. ok. i'm done.

I saw Larry and Michelle as well! Its good that there are familiar faces here. Otherwise, I think i would go crazy. Oh did i mention the 28 hour trip from Atlanta to Lexington KY to Austin. I have definitely cultivated quite a disliking towards Kentucky and Arkansas. Please don't make me go back...The plus side: I got to see Arthur on our way through Dallas.