mokudekiru

So here’s some more background scenery to help get oriented to what it’s like in Lund.

It’s a small town, so think Chambana, but where the entire town is oriented at a 45 degree angle, all the streets curve, and they all have the same names except for a couple of letters -> hours of being lost.

Everything is covered in a layer of snow and ice, yet it’s not very cold out. I wore shorts and tights today with sneakers and was comfy. Still haven’t used my hat, or my heavy coat. The high today in Lund was 46°F (8°C) and at home it was 24°F (-4°C).

Every day the sky gets grey and it’s very foggy, so I have a hard time distinguishing when it’s daytime. I assumed that because there is very little sunlight, it would be easy to adjust my body clock to just be awake for all of the sunlight. Not true, because when I wake up and it is anywhere between 9 AM and 2 PM, the color of the sky signals to my body that it is probably around 6 or 7 AM, because the sky at home is that color during that time. Also, since it never gets very bright, I can sleep without the curtains drawn, and still never get woken up because my room is too bright.

Somewhere on my walk through LTH (Lund Technical University). Note the fog and sky color. So cheerful!

Every fourth car (at least) is a Volvo. RIDICULOUSLY SWEDISH.

SOL (Languages & Literature Building) where I have my intro Swedish class.

The classroom itself. Sorry no students, I was sitting towards the front.

Beware of icicles.

One of the intersections where I actually know where I am. Cute graffiti too.

International Building. Pretty epic building – makes me feel special.

Most of the roads I walk on to get to class look like this. Luckily, there don’t ever seem to be cars, except for Volvos parked on the side of the road.

The cathedral – the main landmark on campus, and it’s right where the base of campus meets downtown. If it weren’t so foggy all the time, it’d actually be pretty helpful as far as navigation is concerned!

AF Building where we checked in on arrival day.

I always like this building, but I don’t know what it is.

So Sweden has the reputation of being really clean. I can’t speak for the rest of the country, but on Sunday morning, the ground of this campus has about as many empty alcohol containers as UIUC does. The difference is that here, there’s a larger variety of what drinks end up as trash on the street (it’s not JUST keystone cans), and that sometimes they are almost… artfully arranged, as if someone actually PLACED them there. How…thoughtful? The only thing more disgusting than walking through slush, is the thought that I’m walking through alcoholic slush.

Most importantly, they have dump trucks full of snow (these trucks are NOT, I repeat, NOT, the internet.)

If you want more photos, or to find out what swedish crosswalk signs look like, here’s the rest of the pics.

Stay tuned for nations, korridors, fests, Swedish snackage, and more!

As you may know, I did manage to arrive in Sweden on Tuesday! I have many things to say about my new home, but we’ll get to Dumle, Swedish clubbing, and getting lost in downtown later.

First, my room. I was told I’d be on a corridor with a shared kitchen and bathroom. But surprise! I actually get my own bathroom. The kitchen is shared among roughly 10 people in the corridor, and I’ve met 3 of them so far – a Canadian, a Chilean, an a Swede.

Big, empty room that is surprisingly well lit.

From the other side:

What should I do with all this shelf space? Amount of room in luggage << amount of room in room.

Obligatory toilet shot:

Blanket they sold exchange students on arrival day. IKEA, of course.

See the rest of the set here

I don’t have internet in my room yet (I guess I should work on that) because I suspect the ethernet cable that was left to me in my room doesn’t work (either that or the connection is just broken, or my computer is broken). Aside from not sharing a bathroom, my living place has two other major perks:
– A grocery store is physically attached to it. This means I can buy a warm croissant / other pastry for breakfast on my way out.
– A pizza place/cafe is next to the grocery store.
Also, eating out (at least at the places I’ve gone so far) is not nearly as expensive as people claimed. Around the equivalent of $6 for lunch in various cafes around campus, and paid $10 for a pizza yesterday at the pizza cafe, but shared between two people.

Now, to address the other questions you are surely asking:

How cold is it outside?
Every day so far it’s been exactly freezing, rising slightly over freezing during the day (the snow on the ground gets a bit slushier). There is also zero wind, so walking around for hours outside is completely fine.

How dark is it?
Very. It gets dark around the same time as home (between 4 and 5 PM), but mornings are very different. It starts getting light around 8:30 or so, but gets light so incredibly slowly that it doesn’t really get fully bright out until 11:00. At noon, the sun is only up about a quarter of the way in the sky. Along with jet lag, this means I never have any idea what time it is. But since I don’t REALLY have anything to do yet, does it matter what time it is?

So as much you might love jdramas and nerdy movie reviews done venn diagram style, be warned that for the next six months or so this blog is going to be totally Swedish. I am studying abroad in Sweden from January until May, and before you ask, here is why Sweden:
1) Never lived in Europe –> want to do so
2) Only speak English –> options were narrowed to Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden
3) It was rumored to be the most fun.
And last, but definitely not least…Maja Ivarsson:

My love for The Sounds goes back about three years (and a couple of awesome live performances). They are one of the best bands ever.

I was also aware of a trifecta of Gothenburg-based ambient music, including Air France, Boat Club, and jj. Air France and Boat Club could seriously be the same band, and I can never remember which songs are whose. They are the twins separated at birth of Gothenburg ambient electronic.

And the Teddybears album Soft Machine has been one of my primary workout albums for at least a year or two.

Of course, now that I KNOW I’m going to Sweden, the Swedish music research has begun. Recent discoveries include:
Slagsmålsklubben (they win the award for most Swedish-sounding name)
Le Sport
Robyn (who I knew of, but didn’t bother to listen to until I found out she’s performing here next semester while I am in her home country),
Those Dancing Days (cute indie gals)
Hello Saferide

Anyway, here’s the playlist, the fruits of my labor. You’re pretty much required to watch at least the first three videos:

Oh and pro tip: watch video 1 of the playlist at 3:24 for pronunciation of “Slagsmålsklubben” and “whoa” in Swedish.