My first week as an international student.

Omg. I think my tongue just had an orgasm. I woke up extra early this morning and as quietly as possible, got ready and walked downtown in search of breakfast. Oh did I find it. Everything is so fresh, moist, and flavorful. It is 8 am and the sun hasn’t even set yet. It gets light late and dark early. The thought of a cold, dark place seemed so depressing but it’s not in the slightest. The scenery is beautiful despite the gloomy weather. I keep in mind I’ve been here all of 5 days. We’ll see if I’m singing the same tune in a couple of months. I have never felt so safe in my life. Those of you who know me understand what a big deal that is. I’m the girl who keeps a hammer and pepper spray by her bed and plans a get away if someone was to break in. Another thing I love about here is that I can drink straight from the tap!! I can’t tell you how much money I spend on water bottles in the US. They don’t even sell water bottles in the supermarket because there is no demand for them. Awesome! The streets are clean and buildings well kept and picturesque. The people are kind and well dressed. It is as quaint as you’d imagine. I love it.

After my hectic travels, I slept like a baby. I didn’t have Internet, my phone, an alarm clock, or even a watch with me. I woke up when I wanted and got ready for the day. I was supposed to be up at the University for a meeting at 1:30, or should I say 13:30. When I finally crawled out of my dorm I asked a man on the street what time it was. 1:45. Nice, right on time. The Sweds are known for their organization and timeliness. This is something I am going to have to work on. I have learned this week, being on time for any occasion is the biggest form of respect for Swedish people, and being on time means arriving 5 minutes early. When I got to campus, of course I couldn’t find a soul who knew where I was supposed to go. I was pointed to a room and walked in on someone auditioning for drama. I waved and retracted quickly. I decided to leave and do what I wanted. I walked around, went to the supermarket, cleaned my room and put my things away. It was nice. Around 6pm I was leaving to get food and noticed a girl going into her room on my floor. She stopped and looked faint as she introduced herself. “Oh my gosh, I’ve been so lonely! Where are all the people? I’m so glad your here!”  She had arrived on Saturday and was in this big building practically by herself poor girl. She’s from Slavonia, by Italy. Different from Slovakia, by Hungary. My pitiful geography. I am going to memorize Europe’s map. The guy in the room next to me is from Bulgaria. Say what?? It’s above Greece if you didn’t know either.  I’ve decided not to ask many questions when it comes to where the people I meet come from. I’ll do the research on my own and not look like a dumbass thank you. I have a standard I must set for Americans, and myself, because I’ve already been pinned as an arrogant, self righteous, lazy, corrupt, unhealthy, bully, piece of shit just for being a citizen of the USA. He was German, and had no problem capitalizing on my weaknesses and pinning typical American stereotypes on my character.  When he found out I was from the home of Wal-mart, I was truly a dead man. Filled with hate and completely untactful, horrible combination by the way, he gave it to me. You will all be proud to know I kept myself together and handled his rant with utmost respect and poise. For I felt he was the only one missing out on an opportunity to get to know an American, by acting as if he was genius for watching a couple Michael Moore documentaries. Anyway, I have my speech planned if that asshole chews in again.

With the exception of one, everyone is very kind and eager to get to know you. People from every walk of life. It is interesting at how easy it is to connect with other Americans and Canadians quickly and converse so casually and effortlessly. I find it a bit more difficult to connect as easily with the others from around Europe and such. The humor, word choice, and personalities vary so much from culture to culture.  For example, a Russian girl started singing twinkle, twinkle, little star when we were walking, I guess to be funny, and I didn’t know what the hell to say. Is that something funny back home? A guy the other day asked if I had been drinking because I was laughing so much when we were talking. I wasn’t, I guess I just laugh more than most. I will say something I think is funny and I’ll just get a straight face. Our last meeting for orientation this week was about culture integration and he mentioned just that. He said, “Have any of you told a joke this week and it landed on flat silence?” Everyone laughed as if they knew exactly what he was talking about. Phew, I’m not the only idiot babbling, grasping for even a slight smile. It’s just that what we find funny varies from culture to culture. Anyway, it has been really fun getting to meet all kinds of new people. They motivate me to work hard here, as they are all very ambitious, intelligent individuals.

The one thing that I’ll admit is very “American,” is the fact that I only know English. I think I am literally the only international student who knows only one language. I am diffidently taking it upon myself to learn Swedish while here because that is just pathetic. A guy in my dorm went to language school for two years and knows over a dozen languages fluently. How the hell am I going to compete in the job market with these bastards! I guess it wont be much of a problem if I work in the US, but how limiting is that?! Come on’ guys, we need to step it up!

We went out last night and I left money on the counter for the bartender as a tip. A guy comes running up to me with it and says, “You left your money on the counter!” Apparently they don’t tip here… even ice cream stores have a tip jar for the minimum wage employee in the US these days.

Whelp.. fun stuff and I’m sure the excitement and learning will only continue. I’ll write again after school has started and let you know how classes go. Xo

L