Hey peeps. You wanna know the different between high school graduation in Sweden compared to that in the states? Well, I'm gonna write about how they do it here. So today is grad day. What I've heard is that first there's a bunch of pics taken by the family in the nice clothes that you get for graduation then you have a small meeting with your classmates and teachers, think. No family in there. Just something small. Then you're let out to the school grounds where your family is waiting. Lots of people there, so the way you find your family is that they are holding a sign up with your name and picture and possible other info. Usually an embarrassing photo. The sign is like what you would see on a picket line. with your family you get presents I think. I've only been apart of this thing once and it was a few years back cause Sara had some cousins graduating. We gave some candy leis. Some people give them alcohol, money I think is given? Not sure. After that, well, in this town, they gather with the group they studied the same program together and pile onto a trailer being pulled by a big ass tracker and get pulled around downtown and everyone lines the streets and watch. The students decorate these trailers with banners that say with program they are, some have pics, but most of them have huge sound systems blasting techno. And they're all drunk. It's still illegal for those kids to drink, but this day its okay. So it's a parade of drunk teens on trailers and it's fun. Then after that's done, they all get into comfy clothes, gather again, and visit everyones homes in turn, drinking and partying the whole time. And that's how it's done.
Today was I saw the tractors go by downtown. Just thought I'd mention it.
Otherwize, we got more bike gear in the mail today. Still planning on leaving the first of next month to be on our bikes for the next few months, or even longer. If we can get jobs and stuff on the road we may stay out longer. Sara's been playing around with the idea of getting winter jobs in the Alps. I'd have to learn to like the cold, I guess, but its still sounds fun. We're obviously not ready to settle down. And it's awesome that we have each other to do this kind of shit.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Hey internet. So Sara didn't get that job in Stockholm. Sucks. So we've been helping Sara's mom move her ELON store to the other side of town. Good thing that town takes 30 minutes to walk through. Isn't that how crocodile dundee measured distance? I digress. So by car it's a sub 5 minute ride. But moving a store is hard. Especially one that's been there for decades with a bunch of old stuff everywhere that no one has any idea why it's there. So it was a lot of work, no days off for a month, and the store finally opened. On to the next adventures then. NOW we're planning a trip. Not just any trip. A bike trip. Around Europe! Yeah, so for this special adventure we're setting up another special blog. A big apology to all those faithfully reading this stuff. I'll be diverting my time and effort towards that story. You can follow it here: http://theericandsaraadventures.blogspot.se/
Monday, March 17, 2014
First one in Sweden
Okay. Not really sure what happened the last time I wrote something here and I'm too lazy to look up the last thing. So I'm gonna just get going with this and update stuff a little and hopefully they don't overlap too much.
So I'm happily married to Sara Anna Fransson. She's awesome. She's my best friend and we have shit loads of fun together. We lived in the States for a few years and helped with my family while my went through the process of having cancer and eventually dying from it. It was a sad time. Got to see my family though. My older brother, Nick, was down in Salt Lake City for a month. Which is super cool cause he hardly ever gets down there. My Mother died on September 11. And if was aweful. The night before was one of the most tramatic in my life. Not going to talk about it but it was hard and life changing.
Any way, not long after that we decided to move back to Sweden and start a family and take advantage of what Sweden has to offer. Sara moved sometime during the fall. I moved back to parents place where Aled and Blair still live. It was cool to be with family a little bit before I move across the ocean. It gave me time to save up some money and get things ready. After I quite my job I went to Vegas with Greg, Seb, Nick, and Wade for 5 days. Best Vegas trip yet. Those guys know how to have a great time. So not long after that I moved to Sweden. I've been here for a little over a month now, living in Lidkoping, and so far I really like it. I now have time to really ride my bike with is great cause I gained a bunch of pounds around my body. Rode my bike only like 6 miles a day and ate microwaveable food for four months in a row. Not quite the picture of health that we were living before. I'm also meeting Sara's family again, which is fun. Although they all have their own ways of talking. Sara's dad has a hard time hearing and talks really loud. Jacob talks really fast and mumbles. Berto is by the far the worst. I should say hardest to understand. Telephones scare me to death. It's not easy to get going with a new language. I have to think of everything twice, if not more times to make sure I understand. Sometimes it doesn't go at all. Anyways, it can be hard.
I did want to mention some things that I've noticed that are a bit different than the great United States of America. At least I wanted to try to remember what I had been thinking of. I've been wanted to write this shit down but just haven't. Lazy I guess. So here in Sweden the humidity is very high. Okay, so went for my first ride outside on my bike out to a small castle that was 25 kilometers away. It wasn't rainy out there but it was cloudy and the roads were wet. I figured that they would dry up. It was fucking day time. But Sweden was a different beast. I didn't put my rain pants on. So I go out to ride and the wind is pushing me away from home. Nice and fast ride out there. On my way back the wind was pushing hard and my ass got soaked with the freezing water off the road. This ride was goes up on the wall as one of the most miserable rides that I have ever done. It was so so hard. I was wishing I was home at the 2/3 part of the ride and the rest of the way was fucking hell. I was cold, tired, not sure how far to go against a relentless wind that did not want me to get home. Eventually I got there, which felt like an eternity. and stipped off all my clothes. while I was riding my bike my ass hurt but I thought that it was because it was cold and wet. It turned out that somehow it broke the skin. Not really sure how that happend. Maybe it was a small case of frostbite or something. When I was showering my ass hurt really bad. The hot water stung like a bee in the sape of a the saddle on the bike. After the shower I got to see in the mirror and I could see there was a white mark on my ass in the shape of the saddle and on the lower left and right sides there was some scabs on the outline. The white marks cleared up the day after, but the scabs took a week or so to go away. So my point to all this is that the humidity in this country sucks when you want to ride your bike and it'll bit you in the ass.
I've also noticed that I have yet to find a bar to hang out at. Here they like to have nice places were you can feel a bit of luxory. So the places that I have been to so far aren't that expensive, have been nice places, but not the type that you would sit with your friends and really laugh. It's sort of hard to explain. I guess one way to explain it is that you would feel the need to dress sort of nice to go to these places. Where at a normal bar you could just go cause you wanted a drink with your friends and relax. So here you have to choose between a fancy bar which I feel is for adults of all ages, or a dance club if you wanted to pick up on people. No place in between.
So if you don't want to do those two things then there are dinner parties. I got to cook for one of these not long after I had arrived. I made some kick-ass general tso's chicken and noodles. But these seem formal in a way. I'm at my own place (our own place) and I have to put on a nicer shirt and serve people. What the hell happened to just relaxing with people. I feel things here are a little too formal. We'll see how I deal with this or how crazy I'll become. Who knows. An update might be written here. Who knows indeed.
I can't think of anything else at the moment. I had lists in my head, but now it's too late. Laziness strikes again. You may be wondering how I finally took the time to start writing these things now. That is a great question. the answer to this is because I'm sitting in a cafe at the moment waiting for Sara who is now undergoing an interview for a job a little ways down the street. I'm here in Stockholm now and it's March now. And no one told this place that it can stop snowing. For reals. Come on. Winter sucks, and I know I moved to a nordic country, but really? Back in Lidkoping it's about spring now. No snow and the weather gets up to 10 degrees Celcius. I was going to walk around Stockholm a little but all that damn snow pushed me into this nice little cafe with internet access.
So yeah. If Sara gets this job we'll be moving to Stockholm, which I am over the moon over if she gets it. Firts of all, it's a bit more international here so I would hopefully find some North Americans. Also I would have a better chance of finding a job. And there's just more shit we could do. There's also the public transportation here that rocks. We wouldn't have to buy a car for the foreseeable future. I hate taking care of cars. They cost soo much and the expenses never seem to end. I love bikes. They're simple, I can fix them, great exercise, you can never take life fast and strenuous, and life seems more fun and enjoyable on a bike. Unless it bites you in the ass, which it very well can do. Be careful.
The company that she's applying for is called Fritiden, which is one of those places that provide labor for companies. The place people in jobs for companies. I can't for the life of me remember what they're called right now. But what she would be doing is to get companies on board with them. Say a company needs an architect to architect stuff or a butler to butle. They could go to this company and say what they need, get the peronel that they wanted for the project, pay the Fritiden for what they got, and Fritiden would pay the wages, the benefits and all that paperwork to the proper authorities. Which replaces some of the stuff that HR would do, including the interviewing time and advertising the empty slot, etcetera. So she's in a unique position where she's a swede who hs some good selling experience. Hard selling experience. Sweden doesn't really push stuff on customers so much. So whe n they are asked to, I don't think many swedes would be comfortable in such a position. Sara's good on the phone and knows how to get to people, on a personal level where she can convince people of stuff. Anyways, she'll be great at this job if she gets it. I'm really hoping she does. It'd be nice to get going with life a little bit. Things would be going a little faster here.
Here at this cafe Total Eclipse of the Heart is playing and it's the second time I've heard it today. I havenb't hear that song in years. Just wanted to mention it. Also I'm seeing some spelling errors on here and that's partly due to the thing in the corner that where I can't see what I'm typing. It just covers it up and sometimes I make mistakes and I can't see them when I'm writing and when I get passed it I don't want to go back and fix it, although it does piss me off a bit.
So I think that may be good for now. I feel that you are a bit caught up now. Ask away if you have any questions.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Low Down on Delta House
Hi internet! I got an email from someone today asking about life in Delta House while I was doing my masters at JIBS or Jonkoping University. So I was more than happy to give him the story:
Hello Dave,
Thanks for reading my blog. I didn't know other people read it other than my friends. I don't mind the questions at all.
About Delta House: I loved being down the street from the University. It's also in the middle of downtown where the most interesting things happen. You've got a grocery store around the corner, lots of places to eat out, it's near the lake and the train station (depending on how often you want to take the train anywhere makes life very easy), the night life is...a little too close. There's a club called The Velvet Lounge in the same building on the ground floor. In fact the same entrance to Delta House is used for bringing the kegs of alcohol in for storage. Anyway, that club can blast out some solid bass that can be felt in the floors above. I knew some to of the kids who were on the next floor up and when the club starts up their things would shake. It was pretty annoying, especially if needed to study. Bring some noise canceling headphones. I was on the third floor, and we could still hear it. I don't think the fifth floor, the top floor, was affected (which only houses three people with the nicest bathroom, btw). But we used to use the top floor as a party floor because they have the most open space out of all the floors.
The other four floors open up to a long corridor connecting the 14 student rooms, kitchen, bathrooms, and common area. The kitchen size is dependent on which floor you're on, and they got bigger the high the floor was, although the top floor doen't have an oven, so they use the fourth floor's. And the kitchens are set up pretty much the same with the same stuff: sink, three microwaves, three fridges, etc. The common area is a room that used to be a student room. I know cause they kicked out (relocated) the students who lived in those rooms. They had to set these up cause kids that used to live in another dorm adjacent to the Delta House, called the Alpha House (now nonexistent) complained about the living conditions to the news agencies. The story was picked up nationally, and was a huge embarrassment to the school. So building code people came in and helped get the living conditions up to code. The main reason for the common areas was to have a place to eat. People usually ate in their rooms or wherever. Not really a problem. Most common rooms were used more or less for drinking. They had tv's but they didn't work very well. We demolished the couch in our common room.
About the rooms. They're okay furnished: bed, closet, desk, the all powerful lamp (containing all the electrical outlets, internet jacks, and the only light source in the rooms). Not so bad, but the walls are super thin. If the guy in the next room snores, you're out of luck. And the sizes are mostly the same. This was a telecommunications office building before it was converted to a dormitory. On the third floor in the middle of the corridor was the bigest room of them all. This was a shared room, one that I was staying in, and we rocked delta from there. I had speakers, TV, PS3, a couch, and lots of room to party. Our room simply kicked ass. It was the common room on our floor.
They have clothes washers and dryers in the basement, which I think they've set up a reservations system now. Now when I was there. And you get in and out of the main door and the doors to the corridor floors with an electronic key, individual rooms with a standard metal, pointy on one side, key.
Here's the lowdown. Is it worth it? Well, it depends. I loved living there. The people on my floor became my family, my best friends. We were all international students, cause they only allowed internationals in there, but we all had to figure it out with each other. We had a great time together. There was drama, and lots of other stuff with people who didn't get along, and we were living very close to each other. You could have privacy if you wanted, probably not silence on command, and you'd have to deal with a bunch of drunk people every weekend. I did notice that some floors were quieter than others. It all depends on the mixture of people on each floor. If you're a social person and want to hang our with lots of people all the time from the moment you arrive, this is the place. You can always study at the library a few minutes away, or any coffee shop (lots of coffee shops [Sweden is up there on the countries that drink the most coffee per capa]) and most offer free wifi. I think internet is extra in the dorms.
If this doesn't sound like your brand of tea, then there's Raslatt. It's a good bus ride away and where many immigrants live. There you'll have a normal apartment with a couple other people. You'll only have to deal with them, it's very quiet. Not quite as social, people there tend to become much better friends with their program students. It is harder to find friends with like interests there, but it's more like normal life where you're in control. There are parties there that are fun and they even have sockertoppen which is an activities center of sorts where there's a pool table, kitchen, and some other stuff, but they usually throw some parties there that can be pretty crazy; but living in town I usually stayed in town. No bus ride there and back.
Well, there's my one sided view. I lived in Delta for a year, then moved to an apartment across the street from Delta and continued the same type of show with a better room where I could write my thesis.
My mom's cancer is in remission. Thanks for asking. She's doing very well; getting into cycling. She did a 50 mile charity ride about a month back and is now looking for a better road bike. She has all her hair back and doing very well. She has to go to the hospital every week to get a chemo shot, but otherwise doing very very well.
Sara and I got engaged on new year's 1/1/11. and we're going through the immigrations process for her to come to the United States of America. Hopefully she'll arrive in September. She's that amazing.
Well, I've been ranting cause this was an amazing part of my life. I hope that this was enlightening to you, and if you have any other questions or need any help, please let me know. And if you do decided to live at Delta, let me know how it is now. I was in the first wave of people who got the bugs out of the poor system. If you want to really focus on your studies, go to Raslatt and ride the bus everyday, but in this school I find that unnecessary. I was a masters student, and I know of other masters students in Delta who loved being there. Others who didn't as well. But I also know of a PHD student who love it as well. It all depends on what you want.
I think I'll post this on my blog in case there are others who are googling the Delta House in Jonkoping.
Later,
Eric
Hello Dave,
Thanks for reading my blog. I didn't know other people read it other than my friends. I don't mind the questions at all.
About Delta House: I loved being down the street from the University. It's also in the middle of downtown where the most interesting things happen. You've got a grocery store around the corner, lots of places to eat out, it's near the lake and the train station (depending on how often you want to take the train anywhere makes life very easy), the night life is...a little too close. There's a club called The Velvet Lounge in the same building on the ground floor. In fact the same entrance to Delta House is used for bringing the kegs of alcohol in for storage. Anyway, that club can blast out some solid bass that can be felt in the floors above. I knew some to of the kids who were on the next floor up and when the club starts up their things would shake. It was pretty annoying, especially if needed to study. Bring some noise canceling headphones. I was on the third floor, and we could still hear it. I don't think the fifth floor, the top floor, was affected (which only houses three people with the nicest bathroom, btw). But we used to use the top floor as a party floor because they have the most open space out of all the floors.
The other four floors open up to a long corridor connecting the 14 student rooms, kitchen, bathrooms, and common area. The kitchen size is dependent on which floor you're on, and they got bigger the high the floor was, although the top floor doen't have an oven, so they use the fourth floor's. And the kitchens are set up pretty much the same with the same stuff: sink, three microwaves, three fridges, etc. The common area is a room that used to be a student room. I know cause they kicked out (relocated) the students who lived in those rooms. They had to set these up cause kids that used to live in another dorm adjacent to the Delta House, called the Alpha House (now nonexistent) complained about the living conditions to the news agencies. The story was picked up nationally, and was a huge embarrassment to the school. So building code people came in and helped get the living conditions up to code. The main reason for the common areas was to have a place to eat. People usually ate in their rooms or wherever. Not really a problem. Most common rooms were used more or less for drinking. They had tv's but they didn't work very well. We demolished the couch in our common room.
About the rooms. They're okay furnished: bed, closet, desk, the all powerful lamp (containing all the electrical outlets, internet jacks, and the only light source in the rooms). Not so bad, but the walls are super thin. If the guy in the next room snores, you're out of luck. And the sizes are mostly the same. This was a telecommunications office building before it was converted to a dormitory. On the third floor in the middle of the corridor was the bigest room of them all. This was a shared room, one that I was staying in, and we rocked delta from there. I had speakers, TV, PS3, a couch, and lots of room to party. Our room simply kicked ass. It was the common room on our floor.
They have clothes washers and dryers in the basement, which I think they've set up a reservations system now. Now when I was there. And you get in and out of the main door and the doors to the corridor floors with an electronic key, individual rooms with a standard metal, pointy on one side, key.
Here's the lowdown. Is it worth it? Well, it depends. I loved living there. The people on my floor became my family, my best friends. We were all international students, cause they only allowed internationals in there, but we all had to figure it out with each other. We had a great time together. There was drama, and lots of other stuff with people who didn't get along, and we were living very close to each other. You could have privacy if you wanted, probably not silence on command, and you'd have to deal with a bunch of drunk people every weekend. I did notice that some floors were quieter than others. It all depends on the mixture of people on each floor. If you're a social person and want to hang our with lots of people all the time from the moment you arrive, this is the place. You can always study at the library a few minutes away, or any coffee shop (lots of coffee shops [Sweden is up there on the countries that drink the most coffee per capa]) and most offer free wifi. I think internet is extra in the dorms.
If this doesn't sound like your brand of tea, then there's Raslatt. It's a good bus ride away and where many immigrants live. There you'll have a normal apartment with a couple other people. You'll only have to deal with them, it's very quiet. Not quite as social, people there tend to become much better friends with their program students. It is harder to find friends with like interests there, but it's more like normal life where you're in control. There are parties there that are fun and they even have sockertoppen which is an activities center of sorts where there's a pool table, kitchen, and some other stuff, but they usually throw some parties there that can be pretty crazy; but living in town I usually stayed in town. No bus ride there and back.
Well, there's my one sided view. I lived in Delta for a year, then moved to an apartment across the street from Delta and continued the same type of show with a better room where I could write my thesis.
My mom's cancer is in remission. Thanks for asking. She's doing very well; getting into cycling. She did a 50 mile charity ride about a month back and is now looking for a better road bike. She has all her hair back and doing very well. She has to go to the hospital every week to get a chemo shot, but otherwise doing very very well.
Sara and I got engaged on new year's 1/1/11. and we're going through the immigrations process for her to come to the United States of America. Hopefully she'll arrive in September. She's that amazing.
Well, I've been ranting cause this was an amazing part of my life. I hope that this was enlightening to you, and if you have any other questions or need any help, please let me know. And if you do decided to live at Delta, let me know how it is now. I was in the first wave of people who got the bugs out of the poor system. If you want to really focus on your studies, go to Raslatt and ride the bus everyday, but in this school I find that unnecessary. I was a masters student, and I know of other masters students in Delta who loved being there. Others who didn't as well. But I also know of a PHD student who love it as well. It all depends on what you want.
I think I'll post this on my blog in case there are others who are googling the Delta House in Jonkoping.
Later,
Eric
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Here it comes: The Weight Challenge
Good afternoon Internet family,
I'm sitting at school, JIBS 3rd floor in one of the study rooms, basically bored. I'm not studying for an exam like the other kids in the room are but waiting for my friend, Mike, to end his study session so we can walk around the lake for some exercise (the smaller lake, mjunkshon). The walk is like 5 kilometers, or 3.5 miles, and is great for the little challenge that I've accepted from Sara. Shat challenge you ask? Ready? Here I go: we've challenged each other to loose 5 kilograms in 4 weeks. And if we accomplish our goal then we do something nice or get something nice the other desires. So if she looses the weight then she gets to choose something that she would like me to do for her, whether that be buy her something nice, or give her a nice back rub, whatever. And it's not a competition cause we can both come out of this winners. So walking around the lake has been something that I've been doing to better my chances of getting her to do something that I want. I still haven't come up with anything yet, but I'll think of something good. Suggestions are welcome.
I've also been riding my back for about an hour a day (indoors cause this country still hasn't gotten the idea that spring should be warmer by this time of year) as well as getting into some pilates (I'm not gay, if that' what you're thinking) which really strengthen your core which makes everything in life a little easier, physically, including cycling.
Eating reasonably is the only is the only thing that'll hold me back from the goal. I'm into cooking for myself but I'm finding out that I do that I tend to make more that what I'm supposed to. I always start with the intention of saving the other half for another time, but it never seems to work out that way cause what I make usually turns out really good and I know that if I make it cold it'll never be the same again. Got to eat that stuff in it's prime. I've got to start sharing my meals I think. I was talking to one of my room mates about how I sort of want french toast tonight but then I have to buy a whole loaf of bread, which I don't do very often mostly because I feel obligated to eat all that bread before it goes bad, which is a lot shorter here in Europe then in the United States of America, and so I eat more than I want to. And the work for french toast isn't that much different whether I'm cooking for the whole building or just for myself. But breakfast for dinner sounds amazing right now, right?
I noticed I haven't been putting up any pics in a while and I want to fix that. If I remember to do that stuff tonight it'll happen that soon, but for now let's wish that I was better at contributing to this thing.
Later internet family.
I'm sitting at school, JIBS 3rd floor in one of the study rooms, basically bored. I'm not studying for an exam like the other kids in the room are but waiting for my friend, Mike, to end his study session so we can walk around the lake for some exercise (the smaller lake, mjunkshon). The walk is like 5 kilometers, or 3.5 miles, and is great for the little challenge that I've accepted from Sara. Shat challenge you ask? Ready? Here I go: we've challenged each other to loose 5 kilograms in 4 weeks. And if we accomplish our goal then we do something nice or get something nice the other desires. So if she looses the weight then she gets to choose something that she would like me to do for her, whether that be buy her something nice, or give her a nice back rub, whatever. And it's not a competition cause we can both come out of this winners. So walking around the lake has been something that I've been doing to better my chances of getting her to do something that I want. I still haven't come up with anything yet, but I'll think of something good. Suggestions are welcome.
I've also been riding my back for about an hour a day (indoors cause this country still hasn't gotten the idea that spring should be warmer by this time of year) as well as getting into some pilates (I'm not gay, if that' what you're thinking) which really strengthen your core which makes everything in life a little easier, physically, including cycling.
Eating reasonably is the only is the only thing that'll hold me back from the goal. I'm into cooking for myself but I'm finding out that I do that I tend to make more that what I'm supposed to. I always start with the intention of saving the other half for another time, but it never seems to work out that way cause what I make usually turns out really good and I know that if I make it cold it'll never be the same again. Got to eat that stuff in it's prime. I've got to start sharing my meals I think. I was talking to one of my room mates about how I sort of want french toast tonight but then I have to buy a whole loaf of bread, which I don't do very often mostly because I feel obligated to eat all that bread before it goes bad, which is a lot shorter here in Europe then in the United States of America, and so I eat more than I want to. And the work for french toast isn't that much different whether I'm cooking for the whole building or just for myself. But breakfast for dinner sounds amazing right now, right?
I noticed I haven't been putting up any pics in a while and I want to fix that. If I remember to do that stuff tonight it'll happen that soon, but for now let's wish that I was better at contributing to this thing.
Later internet family.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Hello Internet,
No idea when I posted something last so here's a quick update on what's up now: thesis work is going on with Amin, a Moroccan guy, who is assigned as my thesis partner cause JIBS is too cheap to let me write it by myself (probably a good thing, though), I'm dating a very lovely Swedish girl, Sara, with whom I'm madly in love with, and I found out my mother is in the hospital with a blood infection and double pneumonia. I think my mom will be okay though. It was really bad; she almost died cause her oxygen levels were dangerously low. She's been in the hospital since friday (now tuesday) and hopefully she was being released today if some of her test's results turned out the way they are supposed to. These types of disorders usually happen to really old or really young people, or people with cancer or aids or some other immune system bad thing. I found out that she was there yesterday from my brother, greg, while he was driving from SLC to Colorado. A little upset that the news didn't come to me sooner, but I'll live with it.
As you know Easter is coming up soon and I'll be celebrating it with Sara and her family up in Lidkoping. Her dad will be back from Afghanistan with his girlfriend, Suzanne. I'm trying to get Mike to come up with us but he's needing time to decompress so he might not come even though there will not be many people left in this town that know him. It would be a nice relaxing vacation away from people though. And he could walk the lake to his hearts content and hopefully earn back a few belt holes. Which reminds me that I'm on a challenge to loose 5 kgs in 4 weeks. It seems like a lot to me now but I think I may pull through it. Sara and I are doing it together and if we succeed then we both will get one wish fulfilled. I still don't know what I want but it's gonna be good.
I started writing a song today, not sure if it'll go anywhere but I like it so far and the music is just about written. I hope the subject I chose will stick. I need to start writing again. That outlet needs to be re-opened. Too bad my guitar sucks here. This summer I'm trying to stay here in Sweden with Sara and maybe start a life here. If that happens then maybe I'll have my stuff shipped out here, at least my guitars. My other stuff can stay put at moms and dads, like the tv and speakers, although I would really like them here, but there that whole electricity thing that's not compatible. Stooopid voltage change.
That's that update, hopefully it was filling. I'm about to start another episode of weeds after I take my contacts out and brush my teeth.
Good night internet.
No idea when I posted something last so here's a quick update on what's up now: thesis work is going on with Amin, a Moroccan guy, who is assigned as my thesis partner cause JIBS is too cheap to let me write it by myself (probably a good thing, though), I'm dating a very lovely Swedish girl, Sara, with whom I'm madly in love with, and I found out my mother is in the hospital with a blood infection and double pneumonia. I think my mom will be okay though. It was really bad; she almost died cause her oxygen levels were dangerously low. She's been in the hospital since friday (now tuesday) and hopefully she was being released today if some of her test's results turned out the way they are supposed to. These types of disorders usually happen to really old or really young people, or people with cancer or aids or some other immune system bad thing. I found out that she was there yesterday from my brother, greg, while he was driving from SLC to Colorado. A little upset that the news didn't come to me sooner, but I'll live with it.
As you know Easter is coming up soon and I'll be celebrating it with Sara and her family up in Lidkoping. Her dad will be back from Afghanistan with his girlfriend, Suzanne. I'm trying to get Mike to come up with us but he's needing time to decompress so he might not come even though there will not be many people left in this town that know him. It would be a nice relaxing vacation away from people though. And he could walk the lake to his hearts content and hopefully earn back a few belt holes. Which reminds me that I'm on a challenge to loose 5 kgs in 4 weeks. It seems like a lot to me now but I think I may pull through it. Sara and I are doing it together and if we succeed then we both will get one wish fulfilled. I still don't know what I want but it's gonna be good.
I started writing a song today, not sure if it'll go anywhere but I like it so far and the music is just about written. I hope the subject I chose will stick. I need to start writing again. That outlet needs to be re-opened. Too bad my guitar sucks here. This summer I'm trying to stay here in Sweden with Sara and maybe start a life here. If that happens then maybe I'll have my stuff shipped out here, at least my guitars. My other stuff can stay put at moms and dads, like the tv and speakers, although I would really like them here, but there that whole electricity thing that's not compatible. Stooopid voltage change.
That's that update, hopefully it was filling. I'm about to start another episode of weeds after I take my contacts out and brush my teeth.
Good night internet.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
From Christmas Eve
Alright, so it's Christmas eve right now and I chose not to go home mostly due to financial reasons even though, now that I look back, I could've been back for like a month, which would've been cool, but anyway, I like it here in Sweden and I never really have any time by myself. So now I've been writing songs, cleaning the apartment, and doing what I will here. It's nice. And I'm not that lonely. I still have friends here. I'm dethawing a turkey right now for a Christmas party tomorrow. People drop by and we hang for a little while, plan trips and things. But this is the day that everyone celebrates Christmas in Sweden, meaning the Swedes. So those friends of mine that are Swedes or have Swedish boy or girl friends are out of town celebrating. I received such an invitation as well, but I chose to stay behind cause I don't want to be the guy in the corner, if you know what I mean. But I'm realizing that I miss my family, and I want to wish them a Merry Christmas! I'll call them tomorrow and see how everything's going. I hope they upload or at least share some pictures for me. Chatting with Blair now. Merry Christmas everyone!
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