Posts Tagged ‘Birthday’

The past week has been one for the books. Thursday was my 21^st Birthday, and it was a good one. I had dinner with my boyfriend at my favourite restaurant in Kingston so far: Little Italy. Then, we met up with some friends at the King’s Tun pub. After that, we went just down the road to a club called Barcadia. Tip: Entrance to the club is free, but it’s not your typical club. It’s more of a bar and it’s very small. But, if you’re looking to go dancing for free, Barcadia’s your place.

Friday, I went to class as usual. Then, around 6, Eric and I headed for Victoria station where we met the tour group. Our means of transportation was the same as the Amsterdam/Bruges trip – overnight on a train, then a coach bus. We arrived in Paris at 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning. The day started off pretty cold, but it warmed up a little when the sun came out and we started walking. I got to see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Champs Elysees, and everything in between. Tip: An underground rail pass for the day is only €4. So if you want to see a lot that is spread across the city, an underground pass is a cheap way to make it happen. Eric and I opted not to get the pass so that we could get some exercise and see more. We didn’t have a specific plan, just a few things we wanted to see throughout the day, which weren’t too spread out. I also got my crêpes. Yummy!

Sunday, we spent a few hours wandering the gardens and town of Versailles. The gardens were pretty, but I feel they would have been better earlier in the season – none of the fountains were running and quite a few of the statues were covered. But, it was fun walking around the gardens and the nearby food market. After Versailles, we spent a few hours in Montmartre – home of the Montmartre Palace and Moulin Rouge… and lots of pick-pocketers. No one I knew had any run-ins with them, but we did see a girl get roped into having a bracelet made for her. I’m happy to say I’d been warned ahead of time about them. After Montmartre, our group headed back to the UK.

So, the Wimbledon tennis courts (Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Courts and Museum) were relatively unexciting, since Eric and I were broke. It would have cost us £11 to enter the museum and £20 to tour the courts and enter the museum. All we really wanted to do was see/touch the courts, so we did not think it was worth it. But, we were allowed through the main gate and were able to wander around the shop. So, that was cool. At least we can say we’ve been there!

Classes were also relatively uneventful. The only exciting thing was that Wednesday’s morning classes were cancelled because of a scheduled faculty protest, which took place in front of the main building of the main campus. From what I gathered, the faculty was protesting the UK’s planned rise in tuition, which will happen next year. The max students may be charged will be a whole £9,000… PER YEAR! I am sure you think that’s a little ridiculous to be complaining about, as I did when I first heard. But, when you put it into prospective (just a few years ago, higher education was FREE), then £9,000 sounds like a lot.

Friday was fun. I have to admit that I went to see Breaking Dawn with my housemates. I am sure many are reading this thinking I am crazy, but I don’t care.  :)

Saturday was a lot of fun. Eric’s mother bought us tickets to go see a live football game. The game we went to see was Queens Park Rangers vs. West Bromwich Albion. It ended up being a tied game, but I was impartial. All that mattered to me was that it was a good game, which it was! It was great, in fact! I’ve never been an overtly passionate football fan, but I really enjoyed it. And, it was the first professional sports game I’d seen, which added to the excitement for me. I was pleasantly surprised by the crowd, too. They weren’t really rowdy, like I’d been led to believe, but they did get really into the game. Tip: If you’re afraid to see a European football match, don’t be. I’ve heard since I’ve been here that they have made large efforts to keep the crowds calm. Eric was even wearing the wrong color (he was wearing red; our side was cheering for a team wearing blue playing a team wearing red) and no one said a thing.

To keep the merriment going, I spent Sunday with a typical British family. My friend Laura’s parents made a English Sunday roast – roast pork, roasted potatoes,Yorkshire puddings, steamed vegetables, and something reminiscent of applesauce. Then, for dessert, they served cherry crumble with warm custard on top. It was delicious! Probably the best meal I have had all semester. Then, our friend Ellie and I watched Friends and helped Laura attempt to decorate Laura’s house for Christmas. It was a lot of fun.

I planned on spending this afternoon walking around Richmond Park with Eric – we haven’t been back since our second week here. But, it was fairly cold and Eric got last-minute notice that he had to be on campus at 4:00, so we stayed inside where it was warm.  :)  When he went to campus, I attempted to go shopping. My 21^st Birthday is this Thursday and I am supposed to be going out with some of my friends, so I went looking for a “going out” dress. Sadly, I couldn’t find anything that suited my style, but oh well.

This week should be a lot of fun. Thursday is my Birthday! Then, Eric and I will be spending our weekend in Paris! I am VERY excited! Au revoir pour l’instant!

Local Jazz Jam

This past Monday Dr. Andrew Storer visited the Alnarp campus to give a guest lecture and meet with an ATLANTIS student he is supervising. Dr. Storer is not only a prestigious professor at MTU, but is also the Director of Graduate Student Programs. His guest lecture dealt with forest insect ecology. That evening the MTU ATLANTIS students were invited to join him for dinner to discuss the program and our current experiences. To add to the evening, another ATLANTIS student from NCSU plays professional trumpet and invited us to come watch him play with a local Swedish jazz ensemble!

This week I finally got a Jojo card, (which gives me discounts on transportation), and also rode the train for my first time in Sweden! The train system here is convenient and easy, if you know what you’re doing. All of the train lines are color coded, right down to the interiors, and all of the ticketing is done via machine – conveniently with an English option, unlike Finland. The schedules can get a litte confusing as trains of the same color do not always stop at the same stops every time, so carrying a train schedule is essential.

This Thursday (February 1st) was the Chinese New Year, the most important traditional holiday in China. Two of my  fellow classmates are from China, and they brought candy to class as well as inviting us to their house over the lunch break to celebrate. We enjoyed jasmine green tea, coffee, chocolate, and gingerbread along with our lunches. This year is the year of the Rabbit (or Hare), which holds special meaning to me, as I am a Rabbit – the luckiest of all of the signs. Other famous ‘Rabbits’ include: Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro, King Olav V of Norway, Queen Victoria, Michelangelo, Albert Einstein, David Rockefeller and David Frost. 

This past weekend was very busy! On Friday we had yet another infamous ‘quiz’ on this week’s material: economics. Not exactly my favorite subject… On a brighter note, it was one of my fellow ATLANTIS student’s birthdays and she brought candy to class yum! To celebrate her birthday some of the students went to a local sauna (or bastu) called Bjerreds Saltsjöbad. It is located in a neighboring town called Lomma, right on/in the Sea! There was also a birthday party on Saturday to celebrate not only her  birthday, but the birthday of Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-1877), as well. Runeberg is widely regarded as Finland’s greatest poet; although he was Finnish, he wrote in Swedish and exerted a great influence on Swedish literature as well. Runeberg’s birthday is recognized as a Finnish holiday: ‘J.L. Runebergin päivä’ in which “Runeberg’s tart”, a delicacy named after the poet, is served. My research dug up that in the 1800′s it was very common to name cakes after celebrity persons – “However it is said that the Runerberg Tart was created by a cafe in Porvoo, where Runeberg had a liking for a little dry bun which he ate together with a glass of punch. Later on the café keeper created Runeberg’s tart from that…(called Runebergin tortut), traditionally eaten on Runeberg’s Day“. What better place to be than in Sweden, with a great Finnish friend, eating homemade Runebergs tarts!

Homemade Pizza!

The party was especially fun because people were asked to bring a ‘traditional’ appetizer from their country of origin. I decided to bring deviled eggs, though I joked about making mini-hotdogs and bite-sized apple pies. I really enjoy that all of the other students are very open about different cultures, and that we can all joke about the stereotypes of our countries – it makes things very entertaining!  In addition, I made my house mates homemade pizza this week – it was daring of me since one of my house mates is Italian and naturally a pizza critic, but  the pizza ended up being a huge success. To my surprise, this was the first time my Italian house mate had had pineapple on pizza before!

As mentioned in my previous blog, my hometown team, the Green Bay Packers made it to the Super Bowl this year! Despite the time zone difference and lack of enthusiasm for American football in Sweden, I managed to stay up late on Sunday evening/Monday morning and watch the game on my computer. If I did not partake in this ‘holy’ day, I am sure that upon my return to the United Sates my Wisconsin residency would be rejected, and my family would disown me. While the first half looked too good to be true, the second half was almost as bad as the halftime show…

In addition, Sunday was one of my roommate’s birthdays, but she went out of town to celebrate, so we decided to decorate her room with balloons, streamers, signs and other delights for when she returns next week. We are also planning a homemade-sushi birthday dinner for her upon her return, with a homemade cake!

Exhausted and weary after a long week of economics, and an even longer weekend of balancing schoolwork and socializing, I am looking forward to writing about my winter travels through the infamous, Mother Russia!

Thinking of you Dad, Go Pack Go!

Kassidy

Private Forest Field Trip

The first week of class is officially finished, and I am exhausted! The first day of class was a field trip to a private forest owner’s property. The owners were a married couple from Sweden, both with forestry backgrounds. Interestingly enough, the husband worked for the timber sector of IKEA. They had a large property that they use for firewood, mushrooming, hunting, an ornamental tree nursery, and rent out some of the land for  farming. We spent the afternoon wandering their property learning about Swedish forestry practices, policy, and private ownership. As a challenge the students were split into groups and told to come up with future forestry and land management options for the couple. It was a fun challenge, and the winning group had even suggested converting part of the property into a paintball field! The long day ended with a much needed bonfire and warm food.

SLU Campus

Juggling class time and homework, it was a challenge to sneak in an ‘official’ campus tour or even welcome for that matter. Luckily I was able to make it to a brief afternoon session to get my networking, computer, and library accounts in order. The system here is very different from anything I have ever had to use before; printers que documents and require double passwords, I also have to put money in an electronic account to pay for copies, faxes, and printing, and if I do not have enough money in my account, I cannot print – no exceptions! Hopefully I will not be printing much this semester. The campus itself is gorgeous, with whimsical looking buildings and a large park. There might have been a few Harry Potter Hogwarts jokes mentioned throughout the tour…

As for classes, it has been intense. The long days remind me of being in high school again, or at the ‘Fall Camp’ that I had to go through for Michigan Tech. I really enjoyed my schedule in Helsinki – I had long days, but they did not start at seven in the morning. I am definitely a night owl.

After a long week, I was invited out with the other new SLU students to go bowling. I have not been bowling in a very long time, and for good reason – I am not very good. I was excited to go out with my new friends, and was even more excited to be meeting more new people. I had to take the bus into Malmö, which costs 22 krona (about $3.40) one way! Not only is Sweden expensive (like Finland), but they use the “Swedish crown” or Krona as their currency. It has been quite the conversion adjustment for me. I miss using the Euro  1 Euro equals 8.87 Krona, which is currently equal to $1.36. Luckily, I kept my NORDEA bank account active in Finland so I do not have to pay common currency conversion fees like most people.

Tastes like home!

To finish the first week myself and a few other ATLANTIS students got together for a hearty brunch. Each person contributed a dish; there was sausage, scrambled eggs, traditional Finnish crepes, fresh bread, lingonberry jam, and someone even bought real Canadian maple syrup! I mad a warm winter citrus salad of grapefruit, blood oranges, and pineapple with a brown sugar glaze. After our spectacular brunch, reality woke us from our mid-morning food-comas and reminded us why we had really gathered, that pesky group homework assignment. It was nice to distract ourselves for an hour or so with brunch though. In short, the weekend and evenings after class have been filled with group assignments, personal homework, and enough take-home reading to kindle fires for a month. This will definitely be a challenging semester!

Next week is the Superbowl! Yes, my hometown team, The Green Bay Packers, have made it to the Super Bowl. It is also one of my Finnish ATLANTIS colleague’s birthdays, as well as Runeberg’s Birthday (a Finnish holiday for the famous Finnish poet). I look forward to writing about the upcoming fun, but busy week.

Kassidy