August 30, 2009

It’s now Sunday evening and I’ve been in Sweden for almost a week. I’m starting to adjust to Swedish culture and getting better at navigating around campus. I got a bike last week! That was exciting. So now I can get everywhere a little bit faster. It takes about 15 minutes or so to bike to downtown Växjö so that’s not too bad.
On Friday and Saturday I had an orientation for exchange students. Friday night a few of us decided to go check out one of the pubs on campus, Sivans. Reaallly fun. I met a Swedish girl named Marie who was introducing me and a couple other Americans to some Swedes. It’s somewhat hard to meet and become friends with Swedish people because they will not approach you and talk to you. Some will, but most do not. Marie says it’s partly because of the culture and partly because if they hear us speaking English, they are intimidated or not comfortable asking us questions in English. That’s one thing that will be hard to get used to. Even if you are walking through campus, people don’t look up to say hello to you if they don’t know you. There are a few exceptions though… standing in line to get into the pub we met a Swedish guy who was really excited to talk to Americans. I told him I was from Minnesota and he started talking to me about Brett Favre and the Vikings and Packers! Pretty funny. Apparently they have an ESPN America and it’s fairly popular here.
Here on campus there is something called VIS- Växjö International Students. It’s a popular student club that provides pretty cheap trips and travel opportunities to students. Earlier today I signed up for 3 trips later in September that I’m really excited about. One to the very first Ikea store, one is a moose hunt and tour of the glassworks and crystal companies, and the other to Göteborg, an island off the coast of Sweden. It’s also pronounced Gothenberg, and used to be one of the main points of the Gothic period in Europe. Lots of old castles! So there’s a lot to look forward to. I will also be taking a trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia later on in the semester. Should make for some good pictures and stories!
Start expecting some postcards soon!
Hej då!
~Sara