festivals, schnapps and the sun bidding farewell

I can't believe it, but I've almost been here for two months. That is 20% of my entire stay here... I can't believe how quickly that went by. This last month has been glorious. There have been some big events, but I'm getting into more of a routine here as well which is nice. My room feels more and morel like a home everyday as it slowly fills with pictures, posters, ikea doo-dads and dozens of swedish flashcards. The weather is getting progressively worse and my Swedish friends keep reminding  me that the first snow might be just a month away. We're still having some good days of weather and no one wants to be inside on those days now that we know how rare the sun is getting! Class is going well, I only have one more week of this course (media culture and society) and then next month I start Media Policy and Regulation.

you can barely see the pirates but I was having too much fun to be bothered with taking pictures

Last Saturday was a big event in Uppsala called Kulturnatten (Culture Night). It happens every year and we were told on the first day of Swedish class that we should do everything in our power to attend and I'm so glad that I did! It was such a fantastic day! My friend Ryan and I were there from 1 pm to 1 am... 12 hours of culture! Our feet hurt by the time we got back to Flogsta. :P At Kulturnatten, the streets are all closed off and there are food vendors everywere and maybe 6 full size stages in different parts of the city. There were events going on all day: african drumming, street performers, belly dancing, parcore (how do you spell it?)(it's like free running and jumping all over the place. people are pretty into it here and all i think when i see it is that episode of the office...), choirs singing in the cathedrial and bands playing all day. The best part was a band people dressed like pirates and singing sea shanties! It was so good!

The next weekend we had the Reccegasque which is a big formal dinner for all the newbies in Uppsala. These are hosted by each nation and have traditions that go back who knows how many years. I'm a member of Södermanlands-Nerikes nation, but they sold out of gasque tickets before I could get one, so my friend Chris and I got tickets for Uplands gasque which was just as good! The evening started with drinks and mingling at the nation. We had redwine mixed with orange juice... so tasty. After that, we lined up two by two and followed our flag bearer to the main University building in the center of town. It was so incredible... All 13 nations were there and had everyone dressed up all fancy following the flags and then lining up in a specific order in front of the building (i'm sure there are reasons behind each little thing, like how Uplands got to go inside and sit first etc). Then we listened to some speeches in Swedish and I could maybe pick out about 20% of the words. The university band played and an Acapella girls choir sang (soooo good!), and then we all lined up again to go back to the nation building. We got our seating assignment and filed into the great hall where there was chilled tomato soup and cornbread (haven't had cornbread in ages! so yummmm!!) waiting for us. The servers came around with the Schnapps and then we sang songs and toasted in the very specific swedish way, which is to look at the guy on your left, then right, then across from you, then you drink your Schnapps, then look back at the guy across from you, to your right and then to your left and then you can put your glass down. Phew. Before we could eat, the international officers tied all of our wrists together to "prove our inner strength and sense of community" and we had to eat our appetizers by taking turns with our hands. It was so funny and a really good ice breaker! After that, more songs, more schnapps, more speeches. The main course was chicken with sweet potatoes and veggies with this amazing spicy sauce that was sort of like bbq but made with chocolate... believe me it was incredible. I was nearly licking the plate by the end. During dinner, the Uplands band came in for a performance. "Came in" is an understatement. They barged and paraded is more like it. While we were eating, the main doors flew open and the band, carrying the director came whooping inside wearing crazy hats and uniforms and yelling and banging their drums. So cool! They played a few songs, made a beer bong out of a saxophone, and then they were gone as quickly as they appeared. Apparently it's tradtion for the people in the band to never wash their uniforms, and they get medals for doing goofy things like walking on their heads and being able to shotgun a beer. They would have made Kelsey wet herself. After that, Uplands improv group performed in Swedish which I'm sure was hilarous but I didn't understand what was going on. Finally, we had dessert which was icecream with custardy sauce and strawberry jam type stuff on top. Once again, amazing. More songs. More schnapps. Swedes love their drinking songs. One guy told me that they sing before they drink so that they don't feel so guilty about drinking all the time. The very last song is a huge tradtion at Uppsala where everyone sings a different verse depending on what they study, and then they all stand on their chairs and sing the last verse and hold hands together, and after the song if you sit back down in your chair you will have bad luck and will fail all your exams. After dinner was the afterparty! All the nations had their clubs open and we cruized back "home" to Snerikes to party with our fellow Snerks there and see how everyone else's night was. We all had such a good time! That was another loooong night which ended with Ryan and I cooking kötbullar and onions at 3 am... as if we didn't have enough to eat that night. I'm so excited for the next gasque... the International gasque on the 14 of October!

Some other things that I have been up to... We tried the Swedish "delicacy" surströmming which is basically rotten fish in a can which is notorious in sweden. The smell is of "dead cat covered in fermented semen" (Ryan Arathimos, 2011) and although the taste isn't as bad as the smell, it was horrible. Surströmming is illegal on a plane because it is classified as a weapon! So bad. I'm glad that I can now say that I've tried it, but never again. I also got to go to a crayfish party which is another swedish tradition (MORE singing and Scnapps!) which was really fun. Eating crayfish is so goofy because you have to sit there and pull bits apart and crack stuff open and dissect like mad for a good five minutes and all you get to eat is this tiiiny bit from the tail and maybe some tastes from the claws if they're big. A swedish girl said that you shouldn't show up hungry to a crayfish party because you're not really there to eat much but to drink Schnapps and to be with friends. Luckily I was invited last minute and wasn't so hungry! Also also also.. our class had a Mexican food dinner party together last night... It was so so fun! My friend Gio is from LA and is Mexican, so he took charge, but all of us from Cali helped. It was amazing to have some tacos and burritos which were about as close as we could get to the real thing. I haven't uploaded pictures from the gasque or the mexican party yet, but I will soon and post them here!

Last thing before I head off to class. I'm going to the Czech Republic for Christmas! My friend Ivana "adopted" me for Christmas with her family and I'm so excited! Another one of our friends, Ayana from Japan might come as well. I hope so! And during my Christmas break, Kelsey is coming to visit! Oh and I"m going to Berlin with my class the last week of October! I have so much to look forward to!


I'm missing Grass Valley despite myself, but still loving it here! I hope everyone is doing well and APPRECIATING THE CALIFORNIA SUN. and reeces. and avocados.

Miss you all! Please send me updates on your life if you can!
xxxx