The Mid-Point

Hej Hej everyone!

Sorry about the big break between posts but it's been very quiet around lately. Which is how the Swedish like it. The university here is on a quarter system and we're at the very end of the first one. It's hard to believe that the adventure is half way done. I've been busy with exams and papers; our grades are essentially determined by one and only one of those. I'm not a fan of that. What happens if you have a bad day or are a bad test taker? I am looking forward to my classes next quarter though. They seem more interesting.

The weather has improved markedly over the past few weeks. The daily high has been consistently above freezing and the snow is almost completely gone. I finally know what Scandinavian soil looks like! The leaves have yet to come out but when they do it's going glorious. We live on the edge of town around large yards and woods. I've even managed to go outside a few days without my heavy arctic jacket.

I haven't done any traveling lately but I have few trips in the works. The student union has organized an Easter weekend getaway with canoeing, horse back riding, and other fun things like that. A friend on my hall can't on the school cruise to Tallinn, Estonia so I'm going to buy his ticket. It's a little more expensive but the weather will be much nicer and they arrange everything for us. My cousin in London was kind enough to invite me for a weekend but we're having trouble finding convenient and cheap flights. RyanAir the amazingly cheap airline here in Europe flies out of the most out of the way airports often at odd times. He works and has a family so we're working around that.

Last weekend my contact family invited us over for a meal. One of the other students, who is from Romania but ethnically Hungarian, labored hard to make us a goulash. It was too spicy for my weak stomach but the little I had delicious! Her grandfather also sent some homemade vodka called polinka and was flavored with plum and peaches. It's quite strong, one of the other students fell asleep while we watched TV and talked. We watched a Swedish show along the lines of 'Idol' or 'America's Got Talent.' The host would read a word or a phrase and a group of talented singers would have to sing a song on the spot that had that word or phrase. Another American was there and mu some fantastic chocolate chip cookies that we snacked on while we watched.

There have been parties and the usual dorm wackiness too, of course. Tomorrow brings a new quarter and more adventures!

Brussels & Back

Sorry for the delay. I don't really have an excuse so let's jump right in.

The check out time at the Bruges hostel was 10:00AM, like it is in most, and we made to the desk right on the hour. We threw our bags on our backs and walked through the old city one more on our way to the train station. Again we made the hour long trip connection the two cities and crossed the blurry language and cultural boundary. When we arrived in Brussels it was beautiful sunny day. It was almost warm enough to walk around in a t-shirt! We got off at the central station and decided to walk to our next hostel which look easy enough to find on the map. You can probably tell where this is heading. We walk through the tourist trap squares and gorgeous buildings for a while without much luck finding our way. One of the other guys asked someone where our hostel, royotel, was and followed them. Then we made it to the corner they said and there was no hostel. A kind older women could tell we were lost tourist and gave us directions to the she thought we were staying. As we approached the front door the sign Royal Hotel. We decided to check with the front and see if the name had changed. It hadn't, we were at the wrong place. So we got directions form the young who worked at the front desk and strode determined down the street which was Royal Way or something. Everything on that street was had royal in the name, hence the confusion. In French the two words are very similar and a non-speaker can barely discern the difference. Royotel is a place somewhere between a hostel and a hotel and kind of a rip-off. We decided to do some exploring and find somewhere to eat.

We were there for such a short time and saw so much that the days blend together but I'll share my impressions and a few stories. We saw a pompous but gorgeous plaza and garden with sculpture surrounded by impressive architecture. There is a impressive Church at one end of the plaza although it looks more like a city hall. (Not pictured)

We also found our way to the Royal Palace which are at opposite end of park that is undoubtedly beautiful in the warmer seasons. The path between the buildings is lined with tall and old trees. The buildings appear to be of the same style and period.

Royal Palace

Connecting Park

Belgian Parliament

We continued to walk around the city center and ended at the very large and impressive cathedral. We went inside for a moment but were in a rush to see as much as possible as we walked away the clock hit the hour mark and we heard the lovely bells.

We bought some delicious Belgian fries and sat on the stops of the commerce and wwatched the city go by.

That concludes what we did on the first day... I think. The next morning we checked out of that hostel and explored the famous big market that the city has. It was basically a giant flee market with all the usual junk and stuff that was probably stolen. We visited the surprisingly large and impressive home of the European Parliament. It was closed that day so we couldn't take a tour. We didn't really have time and tho other guys would've been bored out of their minds. European integration fascinates because all those willingly give a part of their sovereignty to a cross-national institution. Can anyone see proud America doing that?

Next up was the Belgian war museum which has a large collection of planes, tanks, and other war related things. The museum was free for a change. I'd grown used to paying for museums since coming to Europe and this was a nice surprise. I've been spoiled in D.C. with the Smithsonian.

After the museum we walked to the nearest metro station passing the European Commission on the way. We needed to get to the outskirts of the city to see and climb some strange giant sculpture and find our new hostel. Our friend from Mexico was leaving that night because of test he had to take so he had to leave early. My Canadian friend checked into the new hostel and had a pretty quiet evening. My legs felt as though they were going to fall so I rested he did a little exploring and bought us dinner. He also was also typically Canadian and had to watch the USA vs. Canada gold medal game. We had to get up and make our way to the airport, which was rather uneventful. They actually check to see if my bag was of the right size this time and it was barely I had to do some creative repacking and squashing. Like any good college student studying in alcohol strict Sweden we bought duty free liquor in the airport. The flight was nice and uneventful. We welcomed back to Sweden by a fresh snow storm. My friend remarked how impressed his was with the pilot because you can only really see the ground from a few hundred feet in the air. I hadn't noticed but he was very right it is impressive. We had a bit scare with out bus tickets but made it home safely. On the bus ride I listened to a student from Italy talk an American who'd met and married a Swede and now lived in J-town. She mentioned a lot of things that I had already noticed and some that I didn't. There is an endless amount of fascinating stories that you here while traveling and I love it.

The weather back here was about the same as when we left, cold and snowy. But the last week or so the temperatures have been above freezing and the snow is beginning to melt. I might actally see what the Swedish ground looks like in a few days if the weather holds! We coming up on the end of the first quarter which means exams and post exam parties. One last story that I find interesting and hilarious. I was catching the bus back to the house with two big bags of groceries when I heard something you almost never hear in Sweden, strangers talking to each other. The bus driver said "hej hej" to every person as they got on the bus and poor Swedes were a little startled and confused by this. People never say "hej" to people they don't know. It was funny to watch them take a second to figure what they were supposed to do. Aren't cultural differences fu?

In Bruges

I'm dividing my Belgium trip into two posts with the first today Bruges and the second later this week about Brussels.

Three of us went to Belgium from Thursday morning to Monday afternoon. We were a North American invasion because each us was from Canada, the US, and Mexico. Originally we had an Australian friend coming but he had too much school work to catch up on. Our trip from the house to Bruges took almost exactly twelve hours! Our flight was in the six o'clock hour so we had to take a bus to the airport around 1:30. Since it was late on a Wednesday we there were no buses running and we had to walk to the central station. It was a typically frigid night as we past the frozen over lake. We had left late because of last minute packing so we made it to the bus barely on time. I slept most of the trip but was woken up by a person coughing. It sounded like he or she had the plague because his or her cough sounded a lot like vomiting. We dropped at Nykoeping's central bus stop where we had to take the city bus to the airport. The bus only accepted cards and no cash which seems really strange to me. My debt-it card doesn't always work in Sweden and this way one of those times so I tried my credit card. In Sweden and apparently the rest of the world credit cards have PIN numbers and are used instead of signatures. I didn't know mine because I've never been asked for it in the States. In town I explain that I don't have and hey let me sign but the driver didn't speak English and was very rude, the Swedes on the bus apologized for his behavior. So I friend bought my ticket. We made it to the airport, the smaller of Stockholm's, on time and checked in with the famously cheap RyanAir. The flights are extremely cheap and you get what you pay for. They charge if you have checked luggage and if you carry is a little too big. My bag was close because of its awkward shape. The plane had free seating so you can wherever you want. We all managed to stay together. We slept again during the flight which was only about two hours. We landed at one of Brussels smaller airports and rode a bus to Brussels. The bus cost a pretty penny but the driver didn't even check if we had tickets. The bus ride was an hour and a half because of traffic. Once more we slept.

We were deposited at the massive southern train station where we wondered around confused trying to find the train ticket counter. After a few false starts and rude people we found the domestic ticket and bought tickets for Bruges. The train ride was only hour but a world away. Soon as we left the Brussels region the language immediately switched to the Flemish dialect of Dutch from French. I had knew the country was bilingual so I expected everything to be in both. I was very wrong. It turns the two major groups, the Flemish and the Walloons, are very proud of their regions and share little in common other than a flag. Brussels is a large modern city with skyscrapers and all the other trappings one would expects. Bruges on the other hand is almost completely comprised of old building and cobblestone streets. In was really the other town in the region to survive both World Wars intact which is way it has become a tourist mecca.

After the train arrived in town we took a local bus to our hostel where checked in and left our luggage while our room was cleaned. We walked across the town, which isn't very big actually,

and saw the old buildings and streets. After getting lost we made it back to our hostel and found our rooms. It seems like all hostels are labyrinth constructions in ancient buildings. They have lots of narrow hallways, split levels, and often spread out of several unconnected properties. This place was very nice but no exception. The days have already blended together because they were all similar; they were filled with lots of walking and old buildings. i'll tell you a few of the stand out moments.

There's is a very famous and old tower on the main square of the town and we climber to the top, up spiraling and even ever narrowing staircases. On the say up one can stop and look at some of the equipment used to run the large handmade clock. At the top the winds are ferocious but the few is spectacular. One of the nights we discovered a hole-in-the-wall bar thankfully void of other tourists and started talking to a local young man. He was very drunk and very strange but a lot of fun to spend a couple of hours with. I got to ask about the very complicated nature of the Belgian Kingdom and its politics and he told us about local life. We toured the beautiful city palace and several churches, one of which is connected to the palace. So local royalty or nobility wouldn't have to walk I presume. Once afternoon after touring we decided to try some famous Belgian Fries, not FRENCH, and they were quite good. Though the truly unique part of them are the sauces that you get on them. Later on we tried some Belgian Waffles which are to die for! Mine was dipped in sugar and very delicious. One of the other guys had ice cream on his. The number of chocolate shops in such a small area is astounding! Bruges is a fun little tourist town that I'd recomend going to if you're ever in Belgium!

Brussels in a few days!