The first week in Sweden can only be described as fun and busy. The school set-up an introduction week for the international and first year Swedish students. They split us up into groups led by English-speaking Swedish men and women that had already been at Jönköping a couple of years. They were called the "fadders" (fathers). Our group was the Firefighters and throughout the whole week, we had this as our song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBPqiMfDQ2g ...haha.
As you can tell, our group was pretty wild, but everyone was nice and everyone got along just fine. It was a great way to meet new people and make some friendships right away.
The school also had (what seemed) every minute planned for us throughout the week. Information lectures during the day and activities at night as well.
A couple days ago, I was walking around town when I noticed some of the guys from the Firefighter group eating outside. I said hello and after a few mintues, they invited me to a traditional Swedish dinner the next night!
The name of the dinner is Kräftskiva, which basically entails eating crayfish, singing songs and drinking. They have this type of dinner in the summer, more specifically, August because that's the prime of the season for crayfish. The tables were decorated with crayfish-filled plates, paper party hats and bids...I can't remember the last time I wore a hat and bib while at a dinner table....4 maybe? haha it was a very fun dinner though. I even sang the National Anthem (US) for everyone to hear the lyrics! Of the 30-something people invited, I was the only exchange student from the Firefighters group, and there was another guy from Russia there who didn't know Swedish...so I felt pretty honored to be included in the festivities :)
During the singing, I could tell I was able to read most of the words with the rest of the group. I have been working on the Rosetta Stone still, and I have been impressing the Swedes with my counting and small talk. They offer Swedish as a course here, but I didn't sign up back in May. I would maybe try to get in it now, but the course is full and I would only be on a waiting list.
Speaking of courses...they started on Monday. The semester is split up into quarters, so I have two this quarter and two next quarter. Leadership and Marketing Management. Both intro lectures were just once this week for 3 hours...not bad now that I have a nice long weekend! One thing I miss about Whitewater is the renting of books, which would have come in handy, but at least now I know how most of the other college students feel when they mutter about the purchasing of books...oh well!
I finally got some laundry done today. It will be interesting to see how two washers and dryers for 50 people will work. Luckily, I was able to get mine done during the day while some people had classes going on.
Alright, I wrote a lot more than I thought I would, so I will leave you with this info. for now!!
No comments:
Post a Comment