Aveny Umeå

... love that part.

I joined a club called the Buddy Program, and it's basically just a program where international students can hang out and learn about each other. Tomorrow my group will have a team building/game day, then at night I can either head to a bar with them, or go to my friend Justine's house for a girls night with some of my classmates! Then Sunday I am going to my new friend Evelinn's house (Swedish girl) and she's going to teach me how to make ...

Has it already been 7 days in Umea? I cannot believe it. I must confess, I have spent a majority of this past week catching up on lost sleep and getting unpacked. Horribly unexciting tasks - definitely not considered "blog-worthy." But here's a taste of what IS:

I finally got a chance to get some grocery shopping done - and acquired a pillow, which really didn't make a difference, since I could barely notice on ...

... the day - traveling in my pajamas with no make up. I forgot how gorgeous the people of this country are! Very well put together and model-ish looking. Not all of them are blond hair, blue eyed, but a great majority of them are. Glad to be here and up the brunette percentage.

As soon as I arrived in Historiegrand (our building complex) a student approached me and asked me if I needed help (I was carrying 4 bags ...

... gehabt. die fahrt mit dem zug entwickelte sich als unbequem, laut und stinkend. damit meine ich we***** den zug selbst als die 6 hunde, 2 katzen, unzählige mäuse und eine ratte. (wobei die mäuse und die ratte natürlich in einem käfig waren. =) ) guillaume hat es sich dann in **mangelung von stizplätzen auf dem boden bequem gemacht. mir ist imm**noch nicht ganz klar wie man mit den ...

... MODERN ODDYSEUS' TOP 5!!! I've been carrying this one under my upper lip. The Top 5 Worst Things About Sweden! will begin and make us all dizzy with delight: 1. SCARED PEOPLE - In a land as safe as Sweden, it's a shame that strangers aren't friendlier to strangers. People living in the same building don't greet each other. One satirical Swedish movie had a scene where immigrants got taught to be Swedish. The immigrants were taught to look through ...

... institutions. Based upon the Christian idea that followers ought to be caring and unselfish, Anders found it strange that so many Christians are sly, upper-class businessmen. I told Anders that mainstream American Christians - well, the white ones - are also often well-off and wealth-seeking people. I told Anders I had no idea why this was. It had always seemed strange to me. We went on conversing, trading ideas and learning from each other. At one point ...

... made $38,000 a year during the war. Vietnamese, South Koreans, Thais, and Filipinos recruited by the U.S. military were paid twenty cents a day. One tribe in Laos had virtually no men remaining because the males left to fight for America when they were only ten years old. The U.S. said then that South Korea had been "pacified." This meant that South Korean workers earned $15 to $20 a month, a twentieth of what Americans earned. The U.S. wanted to do the same ...

... managed to lose at it. But, this time, I vow revenge! Once again, I think I'll create an imaginary competitor. We'll call him P.W.Herman, in homage to one of the greatest hitchhikers of all. I'm going to give P.W.Herman 100 Hitchhiking Scavenger Hunt points a day. If I'm out for three days, that means I must score 301 points to avoid losing to nobody. I hate losing to fricken' nobody. Let the games begin! May the best man win ... - Modern Oddyseus

... beat Oumar the oth** night, I grabbed one of his African bongo drums and started beating on it and doing a little celebratory dance. My best word in that game was "TICKA" ("to tick," as in a clock), which was taught to me by Pippy Longstalking. Howev**, Oumar still holds a two-games-to-one lead. When Oumar and I aren't playing Scrabble, we're often working. We work in a cafe. The cafe is on a tiny, wooden ship, which is p**manently anchored in central Umeå on the sunny ...

... increased brotherhood, gentleness, and a heightened social conscience. All these things would indicate speedy hitchhiking there, wouldn't they? You see, I'm a thumb-selling businessman. I walked out of capital city Stockholm's airport. I inhaled the cool air's northern cleanness. Hitchhiking Step 1 (the only step there is) says, "Present Thumb." And, then, guess what!? A huge bus stopped. And, I got a ride from Elrina (the chauffeur and team captain) and ...