Exams and All Saint's Day (SPOOOKY) 11/15

Hello All, Sven Here!

Events of the Week:

So it has been some time since the last Swedish Stories Edition- but don’t fret, this week we’re covered! The biggest reasons for other time allocation has been group presentations and a 5 hour final exam for the whole first semester.. ahh! Let me quickly point out that we received our grades this week and we’re in the clear with a solid 4.0!

Also, our program was proud in it's involvement in Mustache October!  Many of the guys (and some of the women) made a pact to grow mustaches and keep them until after the final exam.  Here is a picture to commemorate the glorious occasion.. (ladies, eat your hearts out!!!)

On another note, we have just started working with the BBC in London for a few months!  We are planning a trip to London on Dec 4 for a few days to work “on-site” to get a better feel for the situation, and see the city as well.  We are super excited!

Swedish Culture:

In other news, on November 1^st, Sweden celebrates “All Saint’s Day.” This is a day of reflection and remembrance. The custom is to light candles on family graves and it is very beautiful when the entire graveyard is lit with candles. A bunch of us took a walk through the graveyard at night to be apart of the tradition. Although it was a bit eerie walking through the graveyard, we managed to keep quiet and fit in until “somebody” threw a stick into the woods, which scared the girls, who screamed and made a commotion…. Woops!

Swedish Word:

Tack så mycket means thank you very much. Pretty much everyone in the program has adapted their “common” talk to include a few Swedish words- this is one of the most prevalent and fun to say! (Toc-sue-meeket)

Video of the Week:

The last few weeks have also been full with making a video to summarize our program’s involvement in “350 Day!” Spud and I spent a lot of time on the footage, editing, and creating music for it. So here is a link to it to check it out!

-Sven

Visitors, Copenhagen, 350 Day!

Hello All, Sven Here!

 

Events of the Week:

Though booked with work and projects the past week, we were still able to make time for some fun.  Last weekend, Spud and I had visitors from PA, our lovely ladies- Ali and Leah!  We only had about four days together, so we tried to make the most of our time by neglecting all work and skipping class!  We spent the first few days in Sweden exploring the town, checking out the shops, and eating the local food such as kebabs and egg pizza!

 

On Sunday, the four of us went to Copenhagen, Denmark.  We climbed the Christians Church in Christianshavn, saw a 100 places exhibit in the town’s center showing pictures of places being threatened by climate change, enjoyed the botanical gardens, and even stopped by a local blues club for some “everyday” musical pleasure!  Eventually the girls had to head off from Copenhagen and fly back to Philadelphia, as sad at it was.

 The City of Copenhagen

Christianshavn

Yesterday, our class organized an event for 350 Day- a day devoted to raising awareness on climate change and attempt to create hope for the Climate Conferences in Copenhagen in a few weeks.  350 is the scientifically based safe number of parts per million of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  This is the upper limit to keep the earth safe from “runaway” climate change.  Currently, we are at 389ppm.    http://www.350.org/

 

Swedish Culture: 

When Ali was here to visit, we thought it would be nice to go see a movie in the theater.  I explained to her that even though we are in Sweden, the movie was from America and so it would be in English, and have Swedish subtitles- as all the other movies I have seen here were.  Although not convinced, she agreed it would be fun.  We went to see the Disney animation “Up.”  We walked into the theater, had to ask if Up was playing, had to ask for popcorn and a drink, had to talk to the guy checking the tickets- all in English. They gave us funny looks- but I explained to Ali that they all spoke English and were probably just stunned by our beauty!  The previews were all in Swedish, and Ali would not drop it that the movie might be in Swedish- so again I explained to her the whole story of how there are Swedish movies that they advertise in the previews, but the main movie is in English.   Well a few minutes later, the main movie came on- finally!  And do you know what the first words that were said were?

 

Me neither- it was in Swedish!  So we ended up staying the rest of the movie, watching it in Swedish, not understanding any dialog, but following the plot pretty loosely.  So Ali and I have our next date already planned- to go see the movie “Up” in English!

Ali, Matt, Leah, and Spud in Copenhagen

-Sven (Matt)

Kalmar Castle and Glass Blowing

Hello All, Sven Here!

Events of the Week:

So this past week was not too busy with only 3 hours of class each day.  Beyond that, we just had to write an essay by the end of the week.  We had guest lectures from Dr. Mark Everard from the UK and Sophie Dunkerley, a former graduate of the program who is currently working for the European Union addressing environmental policy.

But the highlight of the week was the anticipation of some guests from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the Marshalls!  Spud’s parents arrived Thursday evening after visiting London for a few days and embraced us with their presence until Monday morning.  On Saturday we went out to an area called Kalmar, which has a very old castles.  Although not very elaborate, the castle was a strategic war position post.  There were many chambers for prisoners and dungeons that still had prisoners’ punishment devices, beds, and sketches on the walls from the 1500s.  After exploring the castle, complete with a taxidermy horse, Anita, a work horse at the castle, and interrupting a Christening, we proceeded a “city of glass.”

We were fortunate enough to arrive at Kosta Boda at a time when many workers were performing their art of glass blowing.  It is a very interesting activity to watch because each step along the way adds another dimension to the creation of some very artistic and creative glass creations.  We were not able to try it ourselves, though I’ve heard if you go before October, you may be able to.

Finally Sunday night we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving!  It is very similar to American Thanksgiving as far as food goes.  We had turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, bread, stuffing, beets, vegetables, and apple pie for dessert!  It was fantastic, and a great excuse to celebrate two thanksgivings while we’re here!

Swedish Fun Fact: 

Many women in Swedish times were punished just as harshly as men.  “Strong” women were forced to carry very heavy stones around their neck.  If you got into a fight with another girl, you were locked together with that person with a plank of wood.  Other punishments included whipping, the “float or drown” test for witchcraft, buried alive for adultery, and tying the woman’s hair to the ceiling by a spinning wheel to force her to work.

Swedish Dish: 

This week we had the opportunity to try Swedish Fondue.  You pick your sauces (we tried red wine, garlic, a seafood sauce, and a vegetable sauce) and they bring out a large pot of the sauce and keep it over a flame.  They also bring out unlimited supplied of raw fish, beef, chicken, vegetables, etc.  You just create your meal on a stick and put it in the pot to cook.  You’re in charge of your own, so keep track of where all your skewers are at all times and how long they’ve been in, or you’ll end up with leather.

Stockholm Pictures

Stockholm pictures are finally edited and posted! Check them out... I'll write back soon with more updates and specifics from the trip. Parents are on their way over tomorrow though to visit so it will take a little bit to write something up.
-Spud

A Weekend in Stockholm

Hello All, Sven Here!

This weekend we travelled to Stockholm with a few people from the program!  We stayed in a hostel and got a chance to explore the capital of Sweden a bit, despite some inclement weather.  We did quite a bit of sightseeing because the city was much bigger than Karlskrona and yet very clean for a larger city.  The buildings had a very European look to them as well.  We did see a few people sitting on the streets asking for money for the first time since arriving.

Stockholm is also a huge shopping town.  There are malls everywhere including under the streets, with H&M stores as frequent as Starbucks is in the states.  Stockholm also is on the water and is surrounded by many islands that have various attractions including large parks, museums, and fishing. 

 

One of the places we visited was the Museum of Modern Art which happened to have the travelling Salvador Dali exhibit this month.  It was very impressive seeing how diverse this man was- from writing, to fashion design, artist, worked with Walt Disney, etc.  I happened to be walking in the museum past a huge ball, that I thought was some sort of artsy chair (you know those artsy people), it looked kind of fuzzy so as I walked by, I stuck out my hand to touch it.  Suddenly, a museum security representative wearing earphones and full gear confronted me.  Turns out this “ball” was one of the art pieces on display, had “Do not Touch” signs all around it, a black box on the floor of “Do not Enter,” and was painted with poison paint!  After a Swedish lecture on manners and how to act in a museum, I was escorted to the restroom to wash off any poison.

 

Finally, on Sunday, we visited a large park on a nearby island which was home to the Vasa Museum.  The Vasa was a Viking ship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628.  It was salvaged in 1961 and reconstructed in the museum as 95% the original materials.  It was splendidly adorned with hundreds of carved sculptures.  It was very impressive to see the craftsmanship that went into these vessels.  The ship was huge and they had exhibits all around telling of how the made the ship, about the Vikings, life on board, etc.  One scary piece of information was that punishment on the ship was performed by tying a person to a rope and throwing them into the water, then they would drag the person under the ship to the other side, if the person survived, they surely did not misbehave again. http://www.vasamuseet.se/InEnglish/about.aspx

 

Swedish Fun Fact: 

The hostel we stayed at in Stockholm was split into two parts.  The one part was a normal hostel building, the other half of the hostel was on a ship in the sea anchored right outside the building.  It is a bit more expensive to stay on the ship, and we did not book it in time, however, it is quite a neat idea for a hostel.

 

Swedish Dish:  Tunnebrod Rulleor

Tunnebrod Rulleor is a Swedish fast food cuisine that can be found in pizzerias or street stands.  It is a sausage wrapped in a flatbread along with mashed potatoes, lettuce, fried onions, ketchup, and mustard.  I think it is fantastic! However I typically get two, because it is not the most filling of entrées.

 

Swedish Culture: 

So I found out that if you want to go out to a nice restaurant, bar, or club for an evening, Sweden has a dress code.  This dress code is primarily based on footwear.  You cannot wear sneakers out because they will not let you in.  They want you to wear nice leather shoes/boots.  So I took the opportunity to get the cheapest, stylish boots I could find.  The “style” here is a looong tipped boot, so after your foot stops, there is still a few inches of boot until it forms a point.  This is fine and looks natural unless you have a size 13 US shoe, 47 European.  Adding a few inches makes my feet look like, as Spud stated, “Ronald McDonald.”

 

Picture of the Week:

- Matt (Sven)

Club Zebra Safari

The first party of the year at Club Zebra took place this past weekend. The theme was safari and everyone was required to dress as some sort of animal - well we sure got quite the variety of animals, everything from zebras (somewhat expected), ducks, polar bears, spiders, and even a dung beetle (and yes, accompanied by a dung ball).

Matt and I were finally able to play with speakers and lighting again, so that was welcomed. Check out a bunch of the pictures from the party on our picasa site.

All of at Club Zebra dressed up as zebras by using painters tape, face paint, and spiking our hair into zebra-like mohawks.

New Member of the Matt Guitar Family!

This morning marks the birth of the newest member of the Matt Guitar Family, this one with Swedish Heritage! Since I was not able to fit a guitar into my suitcase to bring to Sweden, I decided to order a kit from Carvin that had all the parts needed to construct your own guitar. Everything is custom picked from shape to neck size to inlays, colors, pickups etc. So the guitar finally arrived Thursday after much back and forth with the postman and the nights since have been occupied by applying coats of finish. Finally Sunday the last bit of wiring, piecing together, and tickering was completed! I am still trying to think of a good name for it, so any ideas you may have are welcome to be submitted! From here, I'd just let some pictures take you through the journey in a piece I'm calling "Me and My Guitar!"






-Sven