Lets catchup!

Hey guys!

I am sorry for the long delay between posts. It has been a busy week and I've had little free time on my hands since the last post. During the last couple of posts, I have been talking about the crazy events of kick off week and what we did during that time. Well, let me wrap up that story today. On Friday, the day started off with more lectures and hanging out with Army group. We also went to the hocky arena to hear a lecture on Swedish culture and social standards within the area. The last speaker was excellent and it was great hearing him speak about the Swedes from a Englishman's perspective. That night was suppose to be the party at the local swimming pool- I decided to skip this party just because I was so exhausted from all of the other events that occured during that week and I ended up going to bed early- which was one of the best decisions I had made that week. After random fun and events during the weekend, Monday arrived and we got ready to take part in the "Night Mission."

Classes began on Monday and I had only one class that day: Swedish 1. Despite being an undergrad class, I decided that I would take this class for a few reasons. For starters, I would like to say that I am tri-lingual on my professional resume- despite very few people speak Swedish outside of Sweden. Secondly, sense I am living in Sweden for a decent amount of time (4 months) I believe that it is my responsibility to at least attempt to learn the language while I am here (and I believe this applies to all study abroad/relocating individuals). That night, I met up with Army group in the JIBS courtyard and recieved a briefing on what we were going to do that evening. The night mission is essentially a massive scavanger hunt that involved getting a bunch of random its and performing random tasks. Much to my dismay- one of these tasks was to have all of the guys' legs shaved. As of today, that was the last night I wore shorts- the hair is still growing back. We all split up to gather random things; from an umbrella to fishnet stockings, from counting the windows on the Engineering building (I stopped counting at 500 and I took a guess of around 2,500 windows on the building) to having a one of the guys pose naked on a parkbench, to having one of the fadders give one of the sexkreators a lap dance. Oh- I also had to send a "sexy text message" to some random number- from what I wrote on there I sure hope the individual who received it was a female....... Anyways.....

So the next day was the end of kick off week and Army met up at Klubb Centrium after an award ceremony (I didn't go- I chose a cheaper party package at the beginning of the week). Turns out, our group received two awards (and the only group to recieve two awards!) with one for earning the most points during the night mission (and destroying the previous record that was set) and for having the best fadder: Fredrik, which he clearly deserved. After having a round of shots in celebration, the rest of the night was spent dancing away.

The rest of the week was spent learning Swedish and starting "Basics to Supply Chain Management" but the tradition of going to Akademein on Wednesday nights began this week as well. I find it to be a fun thing to do, since this is usually the only time I get to see the majority of Army group in one spot at one time. This one of the events that I look forward to each week- hanging out with friends and having a good time. I've met multiple people through Wednesday nights and continue to look forward to going to "AKA" and seeing friends. One of the best things that we like to do as an activity is pre-partying, something that Swedes love to do. This also a great way to meet people; and I have met many friends from pre-partying also.

Changing the tone of the story here, I want to tell you about my trip to Stockholm that I just came back from. Sitting at my computer last Thursday evening, I made a split second decision to go to Stockholm over the course of a day trip. Going to the bus website, I bought a ticket to Stockholm that left Jonkoping at 1.30 the following evening and a return ticket for that evening. Going to class on Friday, I got invited to hangout with a group of my German friends and have dinner with them. Being in Sweden, I have met some many Germans and learned so much about them as a people and their culture. I must say it is such a blessing to know them and hold friendships with them.

After hangout with them, I went back to the apartment and started packing- and then received a phone call from another friend asking if I wanted to hangout that night. Lets see, be responsible and stay and pack, or go have fun? Fun it is. I got to hangout with my friends Alfredo, Karin, Simone, and Liuli at a celtic bar for a couple hours and then I was responsible, and went back and finished packing. Ready to go, I went to the bus station and hopped on the bus that would show up in Stockholm at 6.30 in the morning. Much to my surprise, I was able to sleep during some of the ride. Waking up, I found us pulling into the bus station in downtown Stockholm. I must say, I had the weirdest experience in the bus station: I watched three seperate people get hauled away by security with a matter of 3 minutes- needless to say: I was impressed.

Going outside, I began my journey in the capital of Sweden with the first stop being the Palace.

Making my way to the palace, I quickly took notice of all of the canals and old buildings that made up this city. I stumbled upon a large building that quickly caught my interest: the Swedish Parlament building. I was absolutely amazed; you could literally walk right up to the doors of the building and knock on them if you wanted to. Try doing that in the US to a major government building. The building was beautiful, from the stone columns, to the decorated walls, to the manicured gardens outside on the NW corner of the building. Across another bridge from Paralment is the massive Royal Palace- home of "His Majesty the King" and "Her Majesty the Queen." Oh and on a side note to all American friends; the Princess Victoria (the daughter who will inherit the throne) was recently married and is now expecting and she'll eventually move there when the old man passes on. And on another note, I have yet to meet a Swede who likes the Royal family and thinks that they should remain a part of Swedish society. Yeah.

So, after looking around the outside of the palace I went to the shopping area right outside of the palace where the oldest square in Stockholm (oh- the square is older than the US). Looking around, I stopped at a cafe for a "kupp kaffe och bakelse." At noon, I went to the palace again and watched the "Changing of the Guard." It was a very cool event to watch. From there, I went to get a couple presents for my family then I began my journey to the other side of Stockholm to go visit the Vasa Museum. The walk there was beautiful- waterfront walk with many beautiful buildings and sites to see. Stockholm is a beautiful city- a sight that everyone should see. The Vasa Museum is amazing- you should go see it if ever given an opportunity. The Vasa was a warship that sank 15 minutes after being launched due to being under ballasted- not enough weight to hold her steady and it wasn't wide enough. She was built to help the Swedes maintain control over the Baltic Sea and help ferry troops to battle against the Polish Empire. After being underwater for 333 years, she was raised up again in the 70s and got it's own place in the early 80s.

After the Vasa, I walked all over Stockholm and just took in the sights. After stopping by Hard Rock Cafe Stockholm (yeah yeah yeah, I know- I just wanted to take a picture is all) I was taking some pictures when my camera battery died. My solution: go to a kaffehus and recharge my camera battery over a kupp kaffe. It was a fun time- I got to talk to the barista and had a nice conversation with her and then I read my book (1775) with a kaffe and waited for my battery to charge. After getting it charged, I walked over to the Stockholm Ice Bar and took my picture outside of it (I wasn't going to pay 200 SEK for entry) then I continued to look around Stockholm. Then I got to see something amazing after the sun went down: the Northern Lights.

Walking on the bridge between the palace and parlament building, I looked over the city and noticed an amazing brilliant green light stretching over the city. After making sure it wasn't the moon, I stood there in amazement, the Northen Lights. I wasn't the only one enjoying them, many people ended up stopping and taking pictures of it as well- enjoying the beauty of the North. Shortly thereafter, I went back to the bus station and caught the last bus back to Jonkoping- and stumbled back into my apartment at 4.30 in the morning. Needless to say, I was tired. Anyways, I should go. But until next time. Later!

Jonesy