Saturday 1/29/2011

I've done a lot the last two days. Yesterday I had class in the morning and at 4 I went to afterwork at a bar called Svea with some of my Canadian friends. Svea wasn't as good as the place I went last week but it cost a little less and I did like it. After that I had been invited to a dinner party. I had already eaten but I went to be social and I ended up having a very nice time.

 This Is Nordstan, Gothenburg's largest shopping mall.

 This is statue of king Charles IX in Kungsportsplatsen.

 Systembolaget is the only store in Sweden that sells alcohol.

 This is the statue of Posieden in Götaplatsen, it is one of the symbols of the city.

I took a picture of a tram. They're a really great way to get around the city.

Scandanavium is Sweden's largest sports facility. Right now the world championship of handball is being held there.

I walked by Liseberg. It doesn't open until April but I'm really excited.

Today I didn't really have anything to do so I went for a walk around the city. Here are some pictures of some of the things I saw.

Some notes for Thursday

I had a ton of reading to do for class tomorrow so that's what I've been doing today. Last night I went to karaoke at Kafé Haga. Nobody was any good. The highlight of the evening came when three Chinese students sang the only song in English that they knew: Yankee Doodle. It was outrageously funny. Yesterday was also Austrailia day so after Karaoke some people walked across town to the Dancing Dingo: Gothenburg's Ausie bar.
Once we got there, there was a very slow moving line going around the corner. Being the patient individual that I am, I waited a good 4 minutes until myself and 20 or so like minded people walked across the street to
Rock Bar.
Rock Bar is a heavy metal bar and was not at all any of our scene, however we got indoors a good 40 minutes before the Australians. Everyone hung out for a while, and a good time was had by all. I met some new people, and everyone took the tram back to olofshojd together. *Fun Fact* In Sweden it is common for bars to have blackjack tables.
That's all for now, I'm going to go find some dinner.

Regarding the news updates from the Gothenburg Daily

Despite what you may have read it is actually quite pleasant here. I read about but did not experience the fould odor in the air and have not been kidnapped, shot, or robbed. The headlines from Gothenburg's only English news source may be extremely grim, but I assure you that I am doing well.

Tuesday

Not much has happened over the last two days. I went to class, went food shopping, and went to a bar. Sunday I went food shopping; I bought milk, eggs, salami, cereal, and what I thought was butter. One of the perils of food shopping in a foreign country is that I can't read the labels of anything. In order to pick out milk, I stood in the dairy aisle for 15 minutes to see what the other people in the store were buying and made an educated guess. I have a carton of what tastes like milk so I'm gonna count that as a win. The same can't be said for butter. I picked up a stick in the dairy aisle of what I thought was butter, but when I went to make eggs later in the evening, the contents were an ugly gray and it was one of the most vile things I've ever smelt. I later learned that it was yeast. WHY WOULD THEY PUT THAT NEXT TO THE MILK!?!
Last night I went to a bar called pustervik. It was an ordinary bar except for the ping pong table in the middle where everyone plays at the same time in a circle. There were no winners and it went on for hours. I didn't play because I was talking with some people, but I had a good time.

Thats all for now, more updates later in the week.

Victory!!!

Yesterday was the city challenge. Participants split up into teams, given an egg, and sent out into the city to find certain locations, answer trivia questions, and trade the egg into an interesting item. All of my friends went together so I split up from them; I know them already and I wanted to meet new people. My team was very creative and we called ourselves team egg. We finished the challenge with the most points and had traded our egg to an orange then an apple then a beer and a mug. Here is a photo of team egg.

Friday

I've done a lot the last two days. I'm finally getting used to the tram system and I can get around town very easily. Remembering the name of places is difficult though because all of the words sound so unnatural. Yesterday I took the tram into town and got lunch. I had a kebab, which is similar to gyro but it was pork in stead of lamb. After that I had a welcome meeting at the University's main building. It was mostly a waste of time, but I did get a sim card for my phone there. I tried it on the phone that Alex gave me but it isn't working so I think I need to get  different phone. After that I went to Nordstan, the largest mall in Gothenburg. It was just a mall so I'm not sure what the big deal is.

Last night was the international dinner. I didn't know what to bring so I made popcorn because there are so few American foods. Most of the food was ok, but it was a lot of junk (cookies and cakes). I had this awesome Swedish cheese called västerbotten, that tasted like manchego. 

Today I went to my fist class, Swedish politics, which was located at Sprängkullsgatan 19 room a110. It was kind of boring but I met some cool people. Afterwords I took the tram to Stigbergstorget, and went to a record store but I thought everything was too expensive and I didn't see anything I wanted anyway.

On Fridays in Gothenburg, many restaurants have what is called "after work", where between 4 and 6, for the price of one beer you are entitled to a whole dinner buffet. This is a great deal because food is typically very expensive here. A few of my friends and I ate at a resturaunt called rumpen bar which translates to butt bar. I don't get it. The food was pretty good and I won't have to eat again today. 

That's all that I have to say for now but here are some pictures from the international dinner.

The first two days

Well I'm here and I'm in one piece. Getting here was a real hassle: I almost missed my connnecting flight to Gothenburg, and my luggage did miss the flight. My apartment is a decent size and is in the complex olofshojd. I met a few Americans but there aren't a lot of us here. Last night I went on a pub crawl. By my estimation it was poorly run: there were too many people and the bars were expensive and not conducive to holding large groups, but I met some nice people (a lot of Finns and Germans) so I guess I had a good time. I took the tram back to olofshojd by myself so I think I'm getting to know the city well.

Arrival

Well I'm here but it has been a very exhausting day, so I will tell you all about it tomorrow.

Friday Night

I'm getting ready to leave on Sunday; almost done packing.