VII

Hej everyone! Time for some new anecdotes from Stockholm!

Last week I had my first exam here in Sweden; The Swedish course level 1 exam. The exam was pretty long considering the fact that there were only 6 real lectures. It consisted of 12 assignments which all had 10 to 20 small assignments. I think it went well enough to pass it! However, I don´t really have the feeling that I´ve learned that much, so I´ll probably also take course in level 2. Of course I would be deeply ashamed if I can´t speak fluent Swedish when I leave here!

I also started a new course last week, namely International Marketing. The course has a very fascinating set-up during the lectures: The lecturer basically only asks questions about the material we need to prepare or about our experience with certain aspects of culture. With a class that has over 15 nationalities, the differences in culture are quite noticeable! The discussions that usually follow can be pretty intense, which always results in some pretty interesting views on the subject. It has definitely been a good choice to drop my first course and take this one!

In the weekend my parents and my brother decided to drop by. I showed them most of the city in 2 days, which is quite the walk! We also visited some nice restaurants, and me and my brother went out in the evenings. It was a good weekend! However, what I did not consider was the fact that I had to hand in a huge assignment on Monday for international marketing, my new course, and I had a big presentation on Tuesday for History of welfare state. Luckily, I finished both of them in time, and the presentation went pretty well considering the circumstances!

Near the university is a huge museum of natural history, including a big Imax theater. So Mark and I went there to check it out! The IMAX Theater was very impressive; it was spherical shaped and the screen was so big you almost had to turn your head to see everything! Convenience is not always important with the latest technological advancements, so it seems. However, it was fun to see an archeological movie in such an impressive setting. After that, we checked out the several exhibitions that were there. There was a big exhibition on the origins of mankind in the world, which was very fascinating. There was also a big exhibition on dinosaurs with skeletons and fossils, which made the child in me very enthusiastic haha! Another exhibition focused on wildlife in Sweden. There were several Whale skeletons, and it’s still unimaginable how gigantic these wonderful creations of nature are!

Stockholm also has a very big Beer and Whiskey Festival, which was also held in the last weeks. Under the assumption that we could try a lot of different types of beer, Mridul and I went there and we payed the entrance fee of 199 crones (say, 22 euro). However, when we entered the halls we discovered that you have to pay for every beer you want to try, in addition to the entrance price! And we’re not talking about a couple of cents, but the cheapest of samples were around 30 crones (3.30 euro), and that went up to more than 200 crones for just a bit of the beer! This was of course, a bit of a letdown, so we left pretty quickly after that. It was a good reminder that people here have slightly more to spend than some random exchange students!

Last week I also went to one of the bigger guitar shops here in Stockholm. It was an awesome shop, where they had a ridiculous amount of electric and acoustic guitars. The prices were relatively cheap, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for. On the other hand, it was very nice to play some guitar again, since it had been a while. Mark got himself a small guitar amp, and we agreed that we should jam one of these weeks. Because I couldn’t find a guitar that suited me and was in my price range, and my original plan to get a guitar here also failed, I decided to order one from the internet and get it delivered here. What I did not consider, is to get into this building the deliverance people would need a special key! Luckily, after numerous phone calls I was able to retrieve my package and finally able to play some guitar again.

The last big activity the senior buddy program organizes is the formal dinner. Guys were supposed to suit up, girls should also wear more fancy clothes, and the food was going to be more luxurious compared to the dinners before this one. The food was very nice indeed, and afterwards there was a little party again. Of course everyone from the senior buddy program got thanked. It is because of them that most exchange students, including me, have found some good friends to hang out with during the semester! The evening was a good conclusion to the senior buddy program!