Ugh

God, I'm not feeling well. I wanted to finish up my proposal, but somewhere around ten I just started feeling really car-sick, without the being in a car. It's been coming and going in waves.

And I hate not feeling well in an unfamiliar place. And while I'm getting more and more comfortable in Sweden, I'm not that comfortable.

So I'm going to bed at an early hour and hoping it's gone by tomorrow.

Small things make me happy

Like getting to sleep late in the morning.

Or wandering around until noon in your pj's.

Or getting almost my whole proposal done (except for part of the thesis, which I'm stuck at but not totally helpless on)

Getting my laundry done (which I have to take out of the washer- remember that Jen before you go to bed!)

Making dinner tonight (real dinner, not just boiled eggs for myself) for myself and Gabe... and having it be edible! And rather tasty too! I made stir fry, (with fake chicken and lots of veggies) and put it over grits (because I wanted to be adventurous and prove to Gabe that I could at least cook SOMETHING)

Just as proof, I took a video of it, but I'll have to put it up at a later point.

My connection is shaky right now.

I'm feeling rather off, and I had a grand intention of writing a witty and funny post, but now I'm just feeling tired.

Later

Feeling like a fish in a fishbowl

So today in International Relations we were debating World Poverty, and our obligations as moral citizens on what we have to do about it. We were looking at two arguments, and one of them argued that we should give as much time and money as we can give, and keep on giving, until we come to a moral consequence that is of equal or greater value to the moral consequence of world hunger. Aka: give until it adversely affects your life.

This argument is oversimplified, but for the purposes of this post it works.

Anyway, we started talking about moral obligation, and somehow we got into Slavery and reparations. The funny thing is, we have one black guy (we're all from the US, by the way) and he was against Slavery reparations, yet there were several whites who were for it. And well, the discussion got heated, with one of the people saying "What, are you calling me a slave driver?" *Blinks* To be fair, he stopped after he said it he stopped and said, "That came out totally wrong." And the whole class laughed.

But the whole time our teacher just watched us, and he had a slightly quizzical expression on his face, as if he didn't quite "get" us Americans (he's Swedish). Now this happens more often than I'm always comfortable with. There are times I swear he just sets us up for these discussions just so he can see how those "crazy ignorant Americans" act. Now, I'm sure that isn't entirely true, but it felt that way.

In other news, both of my papers are in. Now I must begin Studying for my Swedish test coming up soon, and back to working on my proposal.

First Day in Sweden

So today was my first day in Sweden. Already I’ve learned some important phrases.

Talk- thank you.

God morgon- good morning

God dag- good day

God middag- good afternoon

God afton- good evening

God natt- good night

My host family seems nice. Chill. The apartment is decorated in a very modern, simplistic manner. It feels spacious even though it is rather cramped, still, there are four bedrooms, a bath tub, a shower, two toilets and three sinks. There’s a small kitchen and a dining/sitting room.

I haven’t figured out the money system yet. I exchanged my money, but I still don’t know what to do with it… I figure that will come with time. Right now I’m looking out over the city of Stockholm, and there is a hot air balloon floating over the horizon. I’ll have to get some pictures of the skyline uploaded.

Right now I’m struck by similarities and differences. The plants Anita and Magnus (my home stay mother and father, though I’m not sure if they are married and I’m not brave enough to ask… yet) have in the apartment are similar to the ones in our house, they have a Christmas cactus, a peace lilly, a tree that I often see in people’s houses back home and other cactuses. They drive on the same side of the road, Samuel listens to English-speaking music which is similar to the music we listen to.

However, the roads are paved in a red type of tar- the edges outside of the lines are the normal type of tar. I wonder if it is a type of paint. The subway is much cleaner. Tonight for dinner we had Tai-esque food, similar to the food I’ve seen some of my really liberal families eat. They use tofu. I don’t know if it is because any of them are vegetarian, or just because.

I feel exhausted. I slept for most of my journey, still, I’m several hours short of my normal amount that I sleep. I’m trying to stay up at least until nine, which is 45 minutes from now. I have to get up around seven.

Tomorrow and the next day I’m going to the archipelago to one of the islands and staying there overnight with the program. Then when I come back I turn right around and go visit some family of Magnus. It’ll be interesting… I’ll be surprised if I’m not falling over after that. I’ll have to make up some flashcards to practice while I’m gone. I really really really want to make an effort to learn as much Swedish as possible, especially before classes start. At least then I’ll have some type of grounding to base everything on. Pratice, pratice, do it again… over and over until you get it!

I mean, what else do I have to do with my time?

Oh yeah, work on my proposal. *rolls eyes* Well, I’ll get to that. Right now I need to talk to Magnus about where I’m going to meet him on Friday to go visit his family.