My first day in Uppsala was less than ideal. Throughout that first day, I had to keep repeating to myself that first impressions are not always correct. Over half the things that have happened to me in Uppsala are the type of situations where if I didn’t laugh about it, I think I would have started crying.
Taylor, Ryan and I had figured out a cheap train to Uppsala and we got to town with complete success. Then we were standing on the corner trying to figure out where to catch a taxi. We had used google maps and figured out that it was a 7 minute walk to where we needed to go... since the sidewalks are nearly impossible to pull the suitcases across... we had decided in advance that a taxi would be best. Just as we were doing this, two American women had overheard us and intervened.
“Don’t take a taxi!” they tell us. “It’s less than 3 blocks away!” they say. They gave us directions and walked away.
It took the three of us nearly one hour to walk the three blocks. They were long blocks on sidewalks that, again, were not shoveled. Poor Taylor weighs about just as much as her bags do. Needless to say, we took a lot of breaks. Walking was the worst advice ever.
We found the check-in place... but it was wrong check-in place. Luckily, one of the students had access to a university van and she took us to get our keys and then to our rooms.
I live in Flogsta. Flogsta is to Uppsala as the 6-pack is to Champaign. It is a huge area that consists of 16 different buildings. Each building has 8 floors full of college students. Each floor is split in half and each side has 12 students. Those 12 students share a living room with a TV, a balcony, 4 refrigerators, 2 stoves and a kitchen area. My room is the biggest room I’ve ever lived in during college. My room has two bookshelves, a desk and a bed (all from IKEA). I also get my own bathroom and and spacious closet. Everything would be perfect if only my radiator would actually heat the room and if my bed didn’t have springs coming out of the mattress.
There is one piece of interesting information about Flogsta that I feel obligated to share. Flogsta has a tradition called Flogstavrålet. Flogstavrålet is Swedish for Flogsta scream. Every single night at 10 PM, all the students open their windows or go out on the balconies and scream. They say it’s because school is so stressful and every student should get to de-stress by screaming their heads off for 1 minute. It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. I’ll try to take a video of it tonight. I really truly believe that you could only find something like the Flogstavrålet in Sweden.
We also hear that there is always a party in Flogsta somewhere. So of course, we found that party. It wasn’t hard to find because the music was so loud. The party was nothing like the parties in Champaign. Mostly because there were like 300 people in one corridor meant for only 12. Also because they was a real live DJ with ridiculous speakers in the corner. It was interesting. It reminded me of a frat party in a dorm (which is really funny to picture if you think about it). We left early and went to bed early. It was a long day.
The next day we got up early and had to go meet with our advisor at the International Office. The three of us met with her for about an hour. We were hit with the crushing news that we weren’t actually registered for classes yet. Then we found out that we didn’t have a log-in ID, which meant we couldn’t use the internet in our rooms. It was frustrating to hear so much bad news all at once. The rest of the day, we spent looking for banks, phone companies and grocery stores.
Monday was a great day. We woke up early again and the sun was out for the first time since we arrived. We got our bus passes, got cell phones, tried to open bank accounts, made another IKEA trip and went to an international student meeting. It was a really productive day. It was also the first day that I wasn’t so frustrated and I started to notice how beautiful Uppsala is. Downtown Uppsala reminds me of downtown Geneva except its a lot larger. There are tons of little unique stores and restaurants but also all of the big store names you would expect to see.
Because it was so sunny on Monday, it was painful to see the sun start to set at 3:30 PM. Uppsala is so far North, that the sun starts to set earlier than most places. I absolutely cannot wait until we get 18 hours of daylight though!!
Today, Tuesday, was a big fail for me.
We finally had a class. Taylor, Ryan and I are all taking Swedish Culture. A class that I’m not too thrilled to be taking because obviously, the class consists of mostly exchange students. I want to go to Sweden to meet Swedes and speak Swedish...might be semi-hard in a class full of international students.
Due to lack of communication and me missing the bus, I didn’t make it to class. Then, I tried to meet up with Taylor and Ryan at the Nation’s Fair, but according to our friend, Sofia, I missed them by only 10 minutes. (I promise to explain Nations when I join one.) I also received an email today stating that I can’t get into the health classes I wanted to take. So I might really be stuck taking Swedish culture, instead of getting to take classes with the actual students at Uppsala. I have to meet with my advisor again tomorrow morning and see what I can do.
I did manage to update my blog today though :-)
Hope you got everything figured out, honeybuns!!! Can't wait to Skype soonnn!!! <3
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