Hej SWEDEN!

Here are some photos from Paris day one (the day after I arrived- the 13th). Chu so kindly took me around Paris and let me be a major tourist. We first went to the louvre and saw the Mona Lisa. It was basically the same as I remembered it from when I saw it as a child. Not as impressive as you’d imagine yet still very cool to see.

After, we walked to the arc de triomphe, which was a 30minute walk from the museum. It was just as magnificent as I thought it would be.

Our final destination was of course le tour effiel. We were lucky enough to see it at night when it lit up and sparkled. I had never seen that before so I was very happy!!

I’m currently sitting in the Frankfurt airport thinking about my past few days of travelling.

The more I think, the more proud of myself I am. Prior to last Friday I had never flown alone before. Now here I am … I flew to Paris by myself then found my way to a small town outside of Paris called jouy-en-josas. I did this all without my phone or help from anyone else. I simply had a screenshot of some directions I had found online. Over this past week I also navigated around Paris using the metro system - I took trains, the metro, and buses!

All in all, I think I am a quite sufficient traveller. But I would still 100% prefer to travel with someone else. I’ll admit that I didn’t always feel safe- especially when j had to take the metro in Paris alone late at night. It was also much more difficult to manage my stuff alone. There was no one to watch your bag while you went to the bathroom, or hold your passport while you found your boarding pass etc….

Last night I went to my first real "spex". These spex are a tradition at Uppsala University. They are essentially short plays with singing and dancing. I was participating in the "spex" with my nollning (orientation) group - Madagascar. We met before to practice our skit then all groups went to V-Dala Nation to perform.

Most groups' spexs were really funny, and everyone got really into it. This is probably what impressed me the most. The majority of the guys had full-on costumes with face paint, and were totally fine with dancing and singing on stage! I could be wrong but I don't think many Canadian or American guys would be super game for doing that. 

Here's a collection of pictures from last night. I will also post a video of one spex in another post!

Laura, Finish friend, and me!

This weekend I went to Stockholm with a bunch of exchange friends- Hugh, Thomas (burger), Laura, Nick, Chris x2, Sarah, Rachel, and Tiff. The boys stayed with a friend of Hugh’s from Queens who is going to the Stockholm School of Economics and us girls bunked up in a hostel.

This was my first hostel experience and it was definitely very interesting.. Location was great…We were staying in Gamla Stan, which is the old part of Stockholm. I loved the area; there were tons of old shops, cafés, and really beautiful old buildings. But the people in our hostel were a little different.. we slept in a ten person room so we didn’t know six of them. I found this really difficult when trying to sleep .. And we had some loud snorers in our room.

But the weekend was fabulous anyway!!!

On the first day we went to a bunch of bars around the city. We went to a “medieval bar”, a “Viking bar”, and a Scottish pub. I had to carry my giant backpacking bag to each one since we hadn’t checked into our hostel yet. This was a big conversation starter. I got asked by at least three men “where I was from?!??” Did I walk from the Arctic?” and “where were my skis??” (I was also wearing my huge fur parka and my Sorels so I literally looked like a giant snow, mountain beast)

The Viking bar was probably my favourite place of the night. They had a group singing and playing the fiddle/violin and served traditional Nordic “mead” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead)

The next day we went to the Royal Palace in the morning. The palace was in Gamla Stan so it was a short walk from our hostel. We toured through the guest apartments, the treasury, and went to a special exhibit on the current King, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. 2013 was his 40th year of being King so the exhibit commemorated his leadership. I learned that he was also forced into the position when he was a young man- his father unexpectedly died. So, Sweden essentially saw Carl "grow up"- get married, have kids etc... 

In the afternoon, we walked around central Stockholm; poking into little shops, walking around the park etc.. It was nice but unfortunately the weather was reaaally bad (it was raining, cold, and grey). Later that night we went to Tom's residence, met some of his floormates, and went out to a nightclub in Stockholm called the Marquise. The "entertainment" experience in Stockholm was really different than in Canada (or even in Uppsala!!). First of all, the club opened at midnight! You also had to sign up on the guest list to get in, and each guy had to bring a "plus one" (a girl) to be guaranteed entrance. One of the guys in our group also got initially turned down because he wasn't wearing dress shoes! 

Overall the night was really fun! We danced to Avicii (very famous Swedish DJ), and lounged in the 'bar'/lounge area, feeling very posh amongst the stylish Swedes. 

The next day we were all a little tired from our club adventure (we got home around 4:30am), so we slept in until noon then decided to head to the Vasa Museum. This museum is the home of a giant Viking ship that was recovered from the base of the Baltic Sea. It was really amazing to think that this ship we were seeing was so old. To read more about it, go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship) !

Overall, I had a great time in Stockholm. Some key take-aways for me are:

It is very, very expensive. Even though we walked EVERYWHERE and ate out of grocery stores we had to spend a lot of money. To give you an idea of the costs, the subway costs about $6 Canadian per ride, a black coffee is $5, and entrance to museums/exhibits started at about $18 for students.

The people dress very nicely. Even though it was raining and cold, most Swedes were wearing very nice clothes still. No rainboots, or even snow boots were to be seen. I did see quite a few fur coats and hats though!

The nightlife is a ton of fun. There is a vibrant, youthful energy at night in Stockholm. Young women can be seen walking around in heeled boots and skirts with beautiful blonde curls, ready to take on the evening. Young men stroll about heading for the lounges and upscale nightclubs around town.

I love the restaurants. Sadly I could not eat in many (we only had one sit-down meal), but I loved watching the Swedes eating dinner. Most restaurants were very classy-  essentially all had tablecloths, candles, and big windows to look onto the street. Groups of Swedes would sit, sipping champagne and wine while the waiters gracefully walked by serving. I would love to come back once I can afford it and eat dinner among the wealthy.

On Tuesday night I had the opportunity to experience my first Nation event. Stockholms Nation held a “reccemottagning” for the new inductees into the Nation (both Swedish and foreign). I don’t think there is a direct English translation for “reccemottagning” but essentially we were told it was a reception to introduce all new members to the workings of the Nation, followed by a dinner. It sounded more like a presentation or slightly dull event to me… but that was definitely totally wrong. 

We were told that women could wear anything at this event, so I chose to wear a black skirt with a blue top and heels. The boys were instructed to wear an “odd jacket” - which we deciphered as a jacket that was not the same colour as your pants.

When we arrived everyone was very “posh” looking. Gorgeous girls, well-dressed guys etc… very country club meets yacht club. I was honestly quite terrified at first. 

We were then put into groups and given two “fadders” (older Stockholms Nation members) to lead us around to different stations. At each station we were introduced to one part of the Nation, and had to play a game. Stations included lunch, breakfast, newspaper, theatre club, pub guys, special events, jazz band, along with about 5 others. All the food related ones had their members tell us about their work preparing lunches (or breakfasts, dinners etc..) for students in the Nation, and tried to get us to sign up to assist them.

This is an aspect of the Nation that I find so cool. Students sign up voluntarily to help with all the operations of the Nation. This means that literally everything is run by the students!! The daily breakfast, for example, is organized by five head students, who then recruit other members to help serve/prepare it each day. Students do not get paid for their work, but they get a free meal and free drinks when working, and get free breakfast and lunch coupons for other days. They also get a line skip pass after working for three shifts. This pass is the biggg incentive - it allows you to skip the GIANT LINE (2 hour wait) that forms every Thursday at Stockholms Nation for their club night.. and when it’s SO COLD it is definitely worth gold.

I signed up for pub night, breakfast, lunch, special events and possibly a few others… I think it would be a great opportunity to get to meet more people and it actually sounded very fun! I also would LOVE to get the free food passes. Budgeting is becoming harder and harder.

Anyways, after the station members told us about their operations, we got to play a game/activity. Some of them were reallyyy interesting and so much fun. I’ll tell you about a few..

At the FIKA station, we had to spin around a bat 10 times (I was in heels), then run with a chokladboll (a very popular Swedish dessert) balanced on a spoon, and throw the ball into a bin without using any hands... and take a shot. Another station (‘the pub guys’) had us each drink an entire beer (or cider) after one another while they timed us. The group who did this the fastest won. That was a big shocker, but I’m proud to say we won (thanks to some great guys on our team)! 

Another really cool station was where they ‘inducted’ us into the Nation. At Stockholms there are five (ish) head counsellors who are in charge of the whole nation (similar to a president). So, we had to be put through a little induction ceremony to prove our worthiness to them. We had to wait in a dark foggy hallway, and then were led two at a time into a room. Once inside we were met by five very blonde, very “Swedish” guys dressed in army-like attire. They proceeded to sit us down (slightly aggressively) and demand our names/nationalities. After declaring that we were both Canadian (I was with another Canadian friend here named Laura) they started chanting “MATS SUNDIN! the most noblest of all hockey players!” and told us we were going to do shots to Mats Sundin. They also decided to give us “Swedish names” - mine was “saw-rah”. We then had to sing a traditional Nation song with them- basically singing about getting drunk and having a good time, and take more snaps shots. Btw- the "schnapps" is not the delicious syrup-y stuff that we drink at home.. we were drinking SNAPS which is a very dark, bitter horrid alcohol. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snaps 

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience. The night was so different than anything I could experience in Canada. We were served a two-course meal, drank champagne and wine, had shots of "snaps" throughout the evening, and concluded the night with dancing. It felt very classy and timeless- like I'd been transported back to the 1950s. 

Our group ^

The dinner table ^ 

Heads of Stockholms Nation ^

If you want to read more about the social events or history of the Nation you can read here:

Here’s a collection of some “daily life” photos . A lot of you have been asking what I’ve been doing here and it’s been really hard to fully communicate what I’ve ACTUAlly been doing. Each day is so unique and filled with random fun, strange events so here’s a little collection of my life here in pictures…

The top 3 are some funny food encounters.. American dressing is mayo, the little “milda” container was my attempt to buy coffee cream (it’s actually buttery thickener for sauces), and the two “tetra pack containers” represent my daily struggle to decipher between dairy products - one is plain nonfat yogurt and the other is skim milk.. And YES I did actually put yogurt in my coffee one morning.

Beneath those pics are: a picture of the field beside my residence (flogsta)- there’s a ton of snow & that pic was taken midday (the sun was out!!!), me in my room, and my friend Thomas “burger” cooking us all dinner in my kitchen (we often eat as a group even though I modify what I eat).

Next is my daily diet- rice cakes and cottage cheese w banana. The food here is so expensive that I literally cannot afford to be fat. Only eating for nourishment here.

Lastly we have my struggle with the Swedish language. The pic is my rent bill from the housing company. It is all in Swedish even though they know 90% of us living in their buildings are foreign. I struggle to decipher any of it :( but I know they are very strict and charge is a HEFTY price!!!

Hey everyone!

I've been having too much fun to write!! But, I am trying my best to keep up with posting my activities :) 

Today was another great day in Uppsala because I joined a Nation! At Uppsala University there are 12 Nations, each representing a different region of Sweden. For example, there is "Stockholms", Norrlands, Uplands etc… Traditionally, students would join the nation that they came from since most students who study at Uppsala are Swedish (i.e. if you are from Stockholm you would join Stockholms Nation)

Each nation is essentially a student club. Most nations 'reside' in gorgeous, old buildings where they have their own cafes/pubs that students can go to for FIKA (basically brunch/lunch/tea time) or to have lunch/dinner. They also host events for students! It is a little tricky to explain, but a nation could be almost compared to a 'country club' or 'recreational club' back in Canada. They have a somewhat exclusive feel to them, and the members often feel great pride in their nation.

Each day of the week here is a different 'nation night'. Stockholms is Thursday night; they turn their building into a club (they bring in DJs, strobe lights, stages etc..) and they serve food & drinks into the evening. Tuesdays is Snerkies night. So, similar to Stockholm's nation, they turn their building into a nightclub environment. 

After some debate, I decided to join Stockholms Nation! It is very common among the business students and it is also known for being "Swedish", and since I'm in Sweden I figured I should probably get to know more Swedes! Tomorrow they are having a welcome reception for the new students. It's a two-course meal with singing! They have some traditions as well that they want to "teach us". I honestly have NO CLUE what to expect.. but I am sure it'll be a good time and I will learn a lot! (I honestly do each day)

I have also been having a great time here with the exchange friends I have made. If I truly take the time to reflect on the past few days, it is somewhat mind boggling. I have met people from New Zealand, Australia, Holland, Texas, Finland, Mexico, Russia, Italy, Spain, and many more!! It's really quite amazing how so many individuals with such different backgrounds can come together and find commonalities. When it all boils down.. most young people simply like to laugh, listen to music and just generally explore & engage with their surroundings. 

I think that so far this has been one of the best parts of exchange for me. I'm starting to understand why people say you "find out about yourself". You may even realize that you are slightly more crazy or introverted or bubbly that you thought previously… Personally, I think I have realized that I need some structure in my days. I need to plan time to go to the gym as well because I start to feel a little trapped. For example, today I ran up and down the staircases in my building !! I felt slightly crazy.. but oh well!! 

I have also been having some 'funny' fails since I've been here. This morning for instance, I put plain yogurt in my coffee instead of milk! Im sure this sounds totally idiotic, but when you're tired and both bottles look SO SIMILAR it is really easy to do! I also accidentally bought some butter/margarine spread instead of coffee cream! 

Yesterday was one of the sunniest days here so far! It was such a nice change from the dreary, grey that has been persisting here for days.

Tiffany (another Queen's girl here on exchange!) and I went to town to get some costumes for a party we went to (I will explain more below!). There was a much different vibe in town with the sun.. People were walking around, going for lunch etc...everyone just seemed so much happier!

I snapped a picture near the river. The sun was just behind the cathedral, about midway in the sky. This is one of the oddest things about the sun here.. It won't ever get high.. If it's out, it stays mid-way around eye-level. For reference, the picture was taken at noon!!! 

While in town, TIff and I went to Wayne's Coffee. I ordered a glutenfrit (glutenfree) bagel and was giving this strange hamburger bun thing with some chicken/tomatoes/lettuce on the side of the plate. They also brought me "American dressing" (aka mayo) since they knew I was a foreigner. They told me they thought "I would like it". 

Fast forward to the evening..

Some exchange friends and I decided to join this thing called "nollning". It is somewhat similar to a frosh week orientation back home. Basically we pay money, then join a group - we could choose between several "movies".. we decided to join Madagascar since animals are fun/warm/ and the people running the group seemed really fun & nice!

The first event was last night. It was a dance-type thing.. each group had a song and little cheer/dance. We missed the first meeting (where they learned the dance), so we just watched the performances then partook in the fun 'dancing' after.

I dressed up as a cat/leopard. I wore a fuzzy, black sweater that I brought with the ears/tail I bought in town, and put on a ton of eye makeup to make me look "feline like". It was actually a ton of fun. I did notice that the music/dancing here is quite different. Lots of high energy club music, and fist/arm punching. The guys basically lift up both arms and beat the air -- not like Jersey Shore-- they make their arm fully straight and punch straight up. Hard to describe.

I am going to try to get video evidence. 

But after a few trips to IKEA and a lot of list making , bus riding (asking bus drivers for directions often ), and eating pre-made Ikea food for the majority of my meals… I have finally settled down.

In good time too, because tomorrow is officially the start of the semester!! My classes don't start until Tuesday but I figure I should probably get on a somewhat regular sleep schedule. In terms of my actual courses, I will be taking international marketing and entrepreneurship to start off the semester. Both sound quite interesting, but I don't know what the Swedish schooling system will be like yet. I've heard that it's not as organized as my schooling is in Canada.. for example we have to sign ourselves up to take our own exams.

Since I don’t have class tomorrow I am heading to check out the gym. The lack of sunlight is starting to get me a bit .. It’s quite grey/gloomy during the day. The sun rises around 9:30 AM and starts to set around 230/3 PM. I think that I'm in need of one of those sunrooms after a good week and a half of greyness. I think that the lack of sunlight may be starting to seriously affect my sleep.. It’s 3:20 AM right now and I’m not one bit tired.

God morgon!

Today is a very exciting day. I will be moving into my room in Flogsta. I received my room assignment a couple days ago, and I have been given a room on the seventh floor, which is the top floor. Hopefully I will have a view! To give you an idea of my living arrangement, I will be staying in one of several apartments that are about a 10-15 minute bus ride from town/the University. Each building houses several hundred students, both local and exchange students. There are twelve students on each floor, each with their own room/bathroom. There is also a shared common room and kitchen. Hopefully I am put with friendly, fun floormates!

To backtrack a little.. I have been struggling to keep up with my posts, so here are a few pictures from the past two days. They are some more shots of the centre of Uppsala. Overall I have been having a really great time here.

I found a juice bar yesterday called Moe Joe's. It serves fresh-pressed juices and smoothies-, offering a wide range of supplements (spirulina, spinach, omega 3s etc..). For those of you who aren't aware I have a lot of allergies and intolerances- I am not actually an obsessive, crazy juice fanatic. These food allergies often make me really nervous when travelling given the language barriers and unfamiliar ingredients. I have had some pretty severe reactions in the past ranging from extreme pain (lying on a couch for multiple days) to anaphylactic-like tongue/mouth swelling so I always like to keep it safe when it comes to eating out abroad!

HEJ AGAIN FROM SWEDEN! I am now in Uppsala :) my home for the next five months!!

It is absolutely beautiful. My mom and I walked into the town today, which is super cute. Below is a picture of all the bikes; people really do ride around on bikes here in the middle of winter!

There is also a river that runs right through the town. 

.. but after this walking I started to get SUPER freezing.. :( My feet were numb and my hands had turned to little icicles. This was not good news for future Sarah.. who will have to galavant around the town in this weather often!!!!! and wearing less clothing (if going out at night). OH NO.

Long story short.. we got kind of lost.. went into a giant building that we thought was a museum to warm up.. turns out it was the University Library (but we didnt find this out until later.... embarassing). 

After we were semi-thawed we decided a trip to IKEA on a warm bus would be good so we headed towards the centre of town to catch a bus.. ended up asking multiple bus drivers, and running across the city to attempt to get on the right one... (it was a challenge). But, in doing so we met a local Uppsallan who asked me "WHY I WOULD EVER CHOOSE TO COME TO UPPSALA OUT OF ALL OF THE PLACES IN THE WORLD?!??!!" ... my response was "I actually have no idea" because at this point I DID NOT HAVE A CLUE. I was wishing that I was in Australia or on a beach in Singapore (like some of my friends). 

The rest of day was a fairly uneventful. We tried to do some grocery shopping at the local coop (pronounced like chicken coop, not co-op... I learnt this after asking a local where the "co-op" was... he looked at me with a very confused expression, so I spelled it out, and he said "AHHHH THE COOP"). 

Here are some fun shot of our shopping: (note that they did not have grocery carts, at least at this particular store- only baskets!)

After shopping we went to IKEA. We ate some local "IKEA food", which for me was salad and for mom chicken/fries/veggies. The place was so packed though!! I swear the locals came just to eat! It was by far the best deal in town for lunch.. we paid about 55 SEK each for lunch.. equivalent to $10 Canadian, which is the cheapest we have yet to pay.

Anyways, off to bed! I seem to spend way too long writing these posts.

Overall thoughts:

- Uppsala seems fun

- I am going to need to be REAAAALLY CAREFUL EATING. labels are no-go (they are normally only in Swedish/German). nutritional info non-existent. Basically i can only eat foods that I can see. OR get a nice swedish boy to read me labels when I grocery shop ;) 

- Lots of tall people here, seem quite athletic. People are biking around, pushing strollers, going for coffees and into shops. I do not feel tall for once.

Today was a day of liquids..

Went to get some "drug store" items this morning.. I have absolutely no shampoo/conditioner/face wash etc.. etc.. so I went to the APOTEK, which is Sweden's drugstore chain. It was very cute, but MUCH different.

First of all, they have very little variety in terms of brands.. You don't see any Neutrogena, or Aussie, Pantene pro-v etc.. for shampoos.. You have Sweden's own "Apotek" domestic brand, and then a couple European ones.. I had to ask the pharmacist/cashier (they are the same person) for help.

Thank goodness she was super patient with me as I asked her about a million questions about face washes and shampoos (all the labels were in Swedish). We then popped into a housewares store to look for a blender. Once again, we only saw domestic, Swedish brands... which translated into one blender... which was $200 canadian (OH NO). 

The rest of day consisted of.. packing up, leaving our cute Stockholm hotel.. going to BLUEBERRY-  a Swedish health food store. They have awesome smoothies/juices (right up my alley since I am allergic to the universe), and they also make some fresh food (wraps, soup, 'healthy, raw' muffins/bars) - most free from dairy/gluten. I am seriously viewing this store as a potential business model for my own Canadian entrepreneurial business! It was somewhat similar to juice bars in Canada, but they had their own granolas, dried fruits, nuts, protein powders, and 'superfood additives' sold directly in their store. I think this is a brilliant concept, since those willing to trek to a juice bar are likely to purchase some healthy, locally-produced 'take-home' items. This is their website http://www.blueberrylifestyle.se/ and their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/blueberrylifestyle if any of you are curious!

We then took the train to Uppsala. This was a little bit tricky. I accidentally bought a ticket for a train that was leaving basically right at the time I bought it... oops... so we missed the train. But, we hopped on the next one hopping the Swedish authorities would forgive my idiocy. 

The day also consisted of some FIKA time- this time at Wayne's Coffee, a Swedish "Starbucks"-like coffee chain. I managed to order a sugarfree, nonfat vanilla caffe latte. I was very impressed with myself. I also figured out a nougat was made of almonds/egg whites.. aka I can eat it :) so I got one. YUMMAY.

The day finished off with WINEEEE. BECAUSE WHO DOESNT LOVEEEE SOME WINE AFTER EPIC TRAVELS. We also ate some absolutely amazing Artic Char, parsnip puree, and beets at a nearby Brasserie. They cooked it special for me without any glutenous tings/moo (moo = dairy.. they seem to use that term here .. I thought it was funny). 

Night for now, 

Day Two: