Finding my place...

It's been a little over one week since my first real post, and a lot has happened since.  Sorry it took so long to write again, I've been a busy boy, but I'm making good progress here! I feel like I'm finally settling in to my new "home" and finding my place here in Sweden.  At least I think (and hope) so.  So here's another recap of my adventures: Tuesday (1/15) was orientation day.  We sat in a classroom and heard a lot of the same information over and over, but its part of the program.  I went there with Will (Canada) but he studies in the Arts and Sciences, I'm in the Inst. of Technology, so we split up.  I met up with Jerrit from Germany (who I previously referred to as Alex, oops) and he introduced me to Arne from Germany.  Those two are my good friends now, and probably will be for the remainder of the semester.  Tuesday night at the student pub (called HG) in my housing area is international night, so it's a good night to meet and hang out with other exchange students.  And that's what I did.  I met with some Swedes (some I knew already, others were new) and other exchange students for a little pre-party party where I met two more guys from France, some German girls, and the Lithuanians.  Oh the Lithuanians.  Aurelius and Andreas are there names, and they called me Davidus.  As in, HEEEY!!! DAVIDUS!! Anyway, they had some Lithuanian vodka that they really wanted to share, and kept saying 'this one's for you, now you drink one for us!'.  Oh man.  We went to the pub around 10, it was packed upstairs and down (as usual) with foreigners and some local students.  There was some drinking and some dancing and laughing and all that good stuff.  I skyped with mom and dad (and Colleen and Betsy who just laughed at me) late that night, they said I was slurring my words a little :). Mom thinks I'm an alcoholic now cause I always go to the pub, but that's just what you do here, it's a way of life.  And it's fun.  And I'm three years legal here, so ha!  Anyway, I woke up just fine the next morning and headed to campus for my first class.  One problem: I had no idea where the classroom was.  Neither did the exchange coordinators, or two Swedish students.  Greeeeat. I ended up finding it but was 10 minutes late (not too bad huh?), and was helped by the fact that classes do not officially start until 15 after the hour, which I like.  And we get a 15 min break in the middle, so 2 hours is more like 1.5.  However, I have this class almost everyday for at least two hours, sometimes more, which means 8-12 hours of one class a week (as opposed to 3 or so hrs at Willamette U.) plus a LOT of reading.  So I'll be busy.  One good thing is that I feel at-home/secure/confident in the classroom, so I have no anxiety about the education part.  The class (Genomics and Bioinformatics) is pretty advanced, as it should be, and it will be my only one for the first 4 weeks (but, as mentioned, it is a big commitment and a lot of work).  Wednesday night there was an exchange student BBQ on campus...hot dogs and beer and cold weather, works for me. I'm hungry.  K, back on track...thursday I had class again, then bought a (cheap) bike when I got home.  Having a bike has been a huge help, except that my gears are now broken and I'm stuck in 2nd gear, and my seat is loose, but hey, it rolls straight and gets me off my feet (the wind chill sucks, or blows I guess, haha).  And I need two locks at night, and you get a $100+ fine if the cops catch you without lights in front and back.  Wow, it sounds like having a bike is terrible, but, I promise, it is a very good thing.  Friday was more class and nothing special really.  Then there was night time.  Fridays are good for going to another student pub called Flamman (I'm going tonight for exchange student burger and jazz night, woohoo!).  So Friday night I cracked open my bottle of Absolut with Arne and Jerrit before we rode our bikes to the pub.  We were not drunk on our ride there (back was a different story), but we could not find the place.  We finally did, and I hopped off my bike into a puddle of mud (I was wearing my white Adidas), and that was just fantastic.  That night was fun :).  The next day was not :(.  I was up pretty late, and on our ride back I got lost for about 30-45 minutes within 1 km of my room, but I was in the forest with lots of crossing paths, which was not a simple challenge.  I finally made it home and fell asleep till 2 pm the next day, and felt sick as a dog.  I had recovered by sunday (I did not go out on saturday night despite calls and texts from friends) and decided to ride the bike path where I got lost, and then almost got lost again, indicating my navigational difficulties were not solely due to the effects of my friends vodka and beer.  I also did laundry on sunday, and let me tell you, operating a washing machine when you can't read the specific instructions is not easy.  Actually, I just did another load of laundry, and still had trouble.  Go figure.  Sunday night I did some homework and then met up with Arne and another guy from his hall (oh yea, Arne lives in a much nicer building than mine, sorta like a honda to a BMW) to watch 'I am Legend', which was a lonely, weird movie that caused me to feel, well, lonely and weird, for the rest of the night.  Monday morning I had class 11-12 and 1-3, and right before my 1-3 it started to snow (as indicated in the previous post).  I did not want to go to class, but forced myself.  Arne invited me on a bike ride (yes, in the snow) when I got out of class.  I dropped off my computer and put on a beanie and my Gore-Tex boots, and we headed to Tornby; that is where IKEA and some other stores are; he needed to check the price of a printer and we didn't want to pay for the bus.  So it was a snowy bike ride that was lots of fun.  The bike paths are great around here. I got soaked from the shins down (Thank you Nick, my boots kept my feet completely dry and warm despite being wet on the outside) and pretty much all over, but stayed warm cause we were riding and I really didn't care.  We bought some good German beer on the ride home to drink that night after homework.  It was called Erdinger I think, and it is the best beer I have ever had.  I will buy more.  Oh, and at the government controlled liquor store (all of them are), a 3/4 liter bottle of Absolut was about $40, whereas in Chicago my 1 liter bottle was $18; this means I will be drinking very very little liquor . . . but plenty of beer.  Anyway, yesterday I had class as usual, then went downtown with my two German amigos (oh yea, cross-cultural lingo) to, of all things, shop.  I bought some new jeans and a pair of shoes, my first splurge-cause-I'm-in-Europe items, but I promise, they were needed, cause all my jeans are too baggy for here and I have no casual/nice shoes, so I bought some.  We had some coffee in the main square and rode back to our rooms for some rest, homework, and dinner.  Arne and I watched a swedish movie with english subtitles on campus at 7, then we went to the pub for international night again.  I knew more people this time, and met even more, including two Americans (thats three now, the two girls last night were from Seattle and Longview, WA; the Northwest is well represented!).  I had a great time.  Good conversations, good drinks (and cheap too!), good laughs and more good memories with students from Australia, Germany, USA, Spain, Lithuania, and all over.  I stayed until it closed at 2 (everyone did), and headed home to sleep! (Okay, now I know why mom thinks I'm an alcoholic, I've mentioned alcohol like 10 times in one post, but I'm not, really (is this denial? kidding)) (<- look, two parentheses, I love them!) Then I woke up this morning at 8:30 to say hi to Colleen on skype.  I really wanted a sausage-McMuffin from McDonalds, but, unfortunately, they do not have them.  I was crushed.  And the coffee was terrible, I had one sip and threw it away.  But, on campus, there is one little cafe where a cup of coffee is 4 SEK (thats like 60 cents), so I get that almost every day.  Class today was INCREDIBLY BORING.  I doodled running, jumping, flying, miscellaneous stick-figures for a while, drew a house made of bricks (yep, I drew every brick), a clock that did not move, and some perspective drawings that my stick figures played on. Wow, what a great use of my education, but really, I was tired, hungry, and simply very bored.  I rode back in 2nd gear, stopped by the market for orange juice, milk, avocados (4 for 20 SEK today, YES!) and laundry detergent.  Lunch was an avocado, milk, sunflower seeds, and a bunch of cookies, very random, which is why I'm still hungry (don't worry mom and dad, I will eat, I have food, I'm just too lazy to cook it right now).  I'm waiting to put my clothes in the drier, but someone has a monopoly on all of them right now.  So anyway, everything is going pretty well.  I've been eating more and sleeping well, I know my way around, I have some friends and a bike, and I don't feel so anxious and alone anymore.  Nonetheless, I still miss home, my family and friends, and my bed! And Oh man, I really want some café yumm.  To everyone who has said 'hi' on my wall, commented on the blog, skyped with me, etc., and those friends here and at home who are forming my support network, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!  I would not be okay without all of you.  It's great to have this experience for me, but it would not be the same if I could not share my stories with people I care about.  For those that I love, well, I love you (and a great big moonbeam!), and for everyone else, I sorta love you too, but in a thank you way, you get it. Alright, I need to check on my clothes.  I'll try to post sooner so its not so long next time.  Please comment, I like reading them, and ask questions if you want to know more cause I don't remember everything but will explain more if prompted.  Thanks for reading.  

-Davidus