ok...Time for a new post.

I finally did something recently that I just had to write about on here.  I went to my nations Reccegasque, which is basically a welcome dinner for new students.  I have to admit, at first I wasn't sure if I was going to attend the dinner.  Out of all my close friends that are in Varmlands nations, I was the only one able to get tickets.Overall I thought it was a really enjoyable experience.

Well to start the evening off I got all suited up in my blue pin stripe suite...lookin smooth as usual haha.  Then I met up with my roommate Isabell and 2 friends Julie and Johana.  All three are German so I call them my German girls.  We all took the bus to town and then we split up, they had to go to the Reccegasque at there nation.

Showing up the Gasque not knowing any one was a lil intimidating at first, but when I walked in I recognized a guy from my Swedish Language class and I ended up chillin with him and the group he was with.  Really nice group of people, almost all were exchange students.

Shortly after arriving everyone in attendance to the Varmlands Reccegasque walked down to the Main University building.  Each nation then showed up individually and lined.  Here I saw a few of my other friends waiting in line that joined other Nations.  After getting rained on and what seemed like an hour wait they finally let us in.

German girls(Johanna, Isabell, and Julie), Canadian Paul, and me waiting outside the Main University Building.

This building was really amazing on the inside.  Nice huge dome and great ark work. 

Well the whole ceremony pretty much was in Swedish, however that did not stop us non Swedish from enjoying it.  The Ceremony started off with some talking and then the orchestra played.  I think this was the first time I've seen a full orchestra play in person like this, it was actually pretty awesome.  I'm def a fan now!

Then after a couple orchestra songs and speeches, Stockholm Nations choir team came out and sang.  They came out and introduced themselves in Swedish.  My first though was, "Oh great, here comes a Swedish song."  And then BAM, they started singing Billy Jean by Micheal Jackson.  I found this so surprising that I chuckled a lil bit and the Swedish guy looked over at me like I was rude.  They were actually pretty good, even got me to rock in my chair a little bit.

The rest of the ceremony was a bunch of Swedish speeches and then after it was over all the members of each nations walked back to there buildings for the dinner reception.  The seating was random but I some how got sat next to 3 people who all knew each other.  Two of them were Aussies and the other one was a So Cal kid who grew up in San Diego.  For the most part I got sat next to chill peeps, well except for one of the Aussie girls was a lil to negative for my taste but I made the best of it.

The grouchy one to the left (Julia..I think) and the nice one to the right (Lily)

I food was pretty decent as well.  The menu was: Starter-Tomato Bruschetta with prosciutto and herb dressing.  Main Course-Beef tenderloin with potato gratin and port wine Sauce. Dessert: Cherry compote with creme anglais and almond sprinkles.  Other than my meet being well done (instead of medium-rare) I had no complaints.  Also there was a bunch of alcohol mixed in with dinner, so def can't go wrong with that :p

Mixed in with food we had the Varmlands Dance team and Choir team perform with us.  The dance team was horrible but the Choir team was pretty legit.  Then after a bunch of Swedish dances and songs we finished up the dinner reception and started the after party.

The rest of the night was like any other night in Uppsala.  Bunch of drinking, bullshitting with some friends that showed up after the recptions, more drinking, and then of course some dancing.  After they closed the place down I then met back up with my German girls and we went in on a taxi.  We thought it was still way to early to just go home and pass out, so went over to a friends house and chilled for a while.  

Then for whatever reason, on our walk home my roommate Isabell and I thought it would be a good idea to go play in the playground in front of our building.  Here's a couple pics from that:

Overall it was a really great night.  It was filled with a lot of Swedish tradition and good people, can't go wrong there right?  I here that they have some more Gasque's later in the year, def looking forward to the next one.  

Just to give you a heads up, I just got back from Oktoberfest today!!  So that's what my next blog will be about.  I know I'm kinda slow when it comes to posting on here but oh man Oktoberfest was a great time!!  So hopefully I'll get that one out ASAP. :D

Bad Blogger

Yes I know, I'm a very bad at blogger.  I'm new to this though, it's gonna take a while to get in the rhythm of things.  Also I've noticed my writing can be pretty sloppy on here, it's not a term paper people, so chill.

Last night was a lot of fun though!  Me and a bunch of my new international friends went on a pub crawl to all the nations...well to almost all of them.  There's 12 or 13 nations all together, I'll explain what those are in a min, but my goal was to have beer at each one.  To say the least I didn't make it.  I only made it to like 8 of the nations and by the end of the night I made it to 11 beers. But me and my new German friends (one of which is my roommate) got tired of walking so we went back to the Norrlands nation to meet up with some Swedish friends. After I stole everyones fries and drank a few more beers we walked to the bus stop.  Very fun night over all.

Alright, now to explain what a nation is.  A nation is a social gathering place for students only, closest thing we have in the states are fraternities and sororities, but these are waaaaay better. As far as I know, everyone that attends the university joins a nation.  In Sweden there are 12 or 13 "nations" in Sweden, is the U.S. we would call them states, regions, or even counties.  Back in the day when a student would attend college, they would join the nation they come from to be with people of similar backgrounds or whatever.  Now you can join whichever one you want, but I think it's cool how they have hundreds of years of history behind them.

Each nation has different styles, depending on what kind of music or atmosphere you like will determine what nation you join.  Since I like to dance and listen to club music, I joined the Varmlands nation. Every Friday they have there club night and as far as I know its the most popular place to be friday nights.  I went last Friday night, it was pretty much amazing.  Also during the week they have there Pub and Cafe open.

This is Varmlands entrance.  It's a pretty huge building!

The reason I say they're way better than the American greek system is because everyone is welcome.  For the most part there's no negative stereotypes with nations as there are in the greek system.  A nation is somewhere you can go to eat, drink, and on the right night party.  It also doesn't matter what nation you join, you can still go to other nation events.  Only difference is you get into your nation for free.  I don't think I'm doing a very good job at explaining what a nation is, but just take my word for it. They're awesome!

Alright that's all you guys are getting from me right now.  I have so many other things to say about how this place is different from back home, but I'm still just way tired from last nights pub crawl so you're gonna have to wait.  I also have been horrible about taking my camera with me when I go out, so I'll work on that as well.  Till next time, peace out people.

First Day!

Wow so much to absorb my first couple days.  I guess I'll just start from the top.

 Had trouble from the very start.  I got to the airport and found out my big bag was around 15 pounds over weight.  Lady at the desk told me it was either 200 dollars to check one over sized bag or 35 to check to normal bags.  I was like, uhh I'll go with that second option.  So I did a mad scramble to move things around in my bag, long story short I did it.  In the commotion of things I left my two baseball caps on the counter at the airport, pretty big bummer but whatever I'll live.

Nothing to exciting happen on the flight other than me getting barely any sleep.  Had a middle seat on my over seas flight...hated it.  So hard to comfortable!

However, I did have a pretty sweet surprise waiting for me at the airport.  My friend Erica picked me up at the airport and took me to my apartment.  She saved me from having to find the right train and bus system to my place, which after 17 hour commute would of been a pretty big pain!

After I dropped my bags off Erica took me into town to help me find a plug in converter so I could use my laptop.  After about the 3rd store we finally found one.

Well I actually started this blog 2 days ago but haven't been able to finish it.  I have a bunch of other things I want to say about how Sweden is different from the states but I'll leave that to my next couple blogs to lay it out for you guys.

Popping my blog cherry!

Alright, well here it goes. This is my very first time blogging.  I dunno if this is for me, but after talking with a few people, I've decided that it would be a good idea to keep track of my life in Sweden for the year.  I think it would be good to have something to look back on to help me remember everything I did, but also so all my family and friends back home can see what I'm up too.

Alright, well for those of you who don't know, I'm doing a foreign exchange program from California State University, Sacramento to Uppsala University in Sweden.  And NO, I will not be living with someones parents! :P I'll be staying in college dorms.

Here's a few things Sweden is known for:

The Flag!

For those who don't know where Sweden is.

My School

 Some brands.

And of course what everyone thinks of when they think of Sweden....well at least guys do.

Alright well this is enough for my first time,  I'll start writing more when I actually get to Sweden.  Which will be Monday, August 23 at 7:45 a.m.  CAN'T WAIT!!

Oh yeah 2 more quick notes.  If any of my American friends want to come out and visit me in the next year, just hit me up on here or on my Facebook and we'll make some thin happen.

And last but definitely not least, I would like to thank all my family, friends, and mentors who supported my crazy idea to study abroad.  A year ago if someone would of told me I was going to live in Sweden for the year I would of said that sounds pretty awesome but pretty unlikely. Without you guys this would not have been possible, and I thank you for that.