I arrived in Sweden, which oscillates between the wonderful and the ridiculous, on the 21st and pretty much settled in right away. The plane touched down at just past 8 in the morning, giving me the whole day to fix small matters of business that I had to take care of. Frolicking commenced immediately on the train from Arlanda airport but ended abruptly when a gaggle of Swedish highschoolers entered the previously empty car and pressed me into a subdued although no less mirthful silence.














Sweden at last! This has, for a long time, been the light at the end of many dark tunnels and although I don't actually intend to hold to it any improbable idealistic visions I was still extremely, extremely happy to arrive. The train pulled past farm fields for about fifteen minutes and then finally stopped in the Centralstation. Anyways, it wasn't long before I got to my room on the third floor of a student housing building near the center of town.


Uppsala is very small. But I'm glad to be in a smaller area. I think this will alleviate any pressure to be a tourist and allow me to patiently go about exploring and getting to know the city. In any event, to get to the real point: it's gorgeous.














One of my plans is to explore the area surrounding the city on bike, but I've got to move fast because the summer weather has already peaced out as far as I can tell. About a week ago, I headed out into the farmlands and spent an hour or so sitting, reading, drawing, what have you under a tree between some wheat fields. A nice break from the orientation activities.





































I got here in the middle of orientation week, which, as far as I can tell, involves offering international kids free entrance to student pubs in the hopes that they get wasted and...make...meaningful friendships. Hmm. No matter. The week and some of the activities have been effective. Many have also been avoided. A friend from Austria and I were planning a trip to a lake in the south of Uppsala, but unfortunately the trip was thwarted because of some untimely food poisoning on my part. This may have been off set by my decision to smoke a hookah with my hallmates while fully conscious of the fact that I was feeling a wee bit queasy.

One final note on Sweden: I am in the only country in the world that demands higher security measures to buy groceries than American airports do for customs. Today I had to get food and as I was paying with my visa the man at the register asked for my passport. Uhh. Qua? Good thing I had my drivers license instead - he grudgingly accepted this as second best. So I handed this to him and he then examined it for a very substantial amount of time (upwards of 30 seconds). And then let me sign and go. It is also true that in Sweden you have to have your passport with you...to pay your bills.

Anyways, to sum up quickly, I've visited Gamla Uppsala, the old viking graves (beautiful!), met a butt-ton of Spaniards, enjoyed sampling some local beers, explored the woods around Uppsala with a friend (many deer and mushrooms were found!), drunk home made plum schnapps from the Serbian village where his grandparents live annndd oh, yeah: started classes. Thhbt.

All right, that's it for now.

End thoughts: