Our Apartment

Just in case you are wondering what a 1 bedroom apartment in Lund looks like (Not as much IKEA as I had assumed, but still enough to not be disappointed):

(Blake was like, "so embarrassed" by the above photo). Check it out- we have a cat tree!!:


Our adorable balcony:

Kitchen (obviously):

Bathroom (at least there is a tub and not one of those crazy bathroom/shower combos):

Island of Ven

So, as I mentioned in previous blogs, my summer program is not just classes (although sometimes it feels that way), but also we have feildtrips, swedish films, and guest lectures to learn about Swedish culture and hertiage, etc. Some of the stuff is great, while some of the activies are terribly dull and boring. The trip to Ven Island, was pretty awesome though.

It was on a Saturday, and they had said that Blake could come along. As I mentioned before, I like a lot of people in my class and program, but most are young and I cant see myself becomming best friends with anyone, so it was nice to be able to bring Blake. So we hopped on our tour bus, drove to Landskrona, hopped on a fairy, and landed in Ven about an hour and a half later. The price of everything is included in the program fee, which was expensive, but I didnt have to pay for it because of my scholarship, so it was free for me, and they didnt charge Blake!

Ven Island:

The big thing to do in Ven, which is a fairly small island, is to rent a bike and enjoy the countryside. So we biked around the adorable island for a few hours before meeting up with my class for a tour of Tycho Brahe's castle. I somehow have never heard of Tycho Brahe (have you?), and since we are the "advanced" class, the program had aranged for our tour to be in Swedish. Again, pointing out that I am not advanced, and even those in my class that are more advanced are not familiar with astorology words, which most of the tour was about, we all sat around for about an hour or so not understanding a single word that the tour guide said. On top of that, the tour guide decided that it would be a good idea to sit in the shade, and it was freezing cold. So I gave up trying to understand what she was saying and could only think about how cold I was for a good 45 minutes, which was the longest 45 minutes of my life. Once that was over though, we cold get back to bike riding and enjoying the Island, in English.

My class after surviving the hour of gibberish:

Tycho Brahe Castle (taken by Blake):

Blake being the badass that he normally is:

Trying to ride and take a pic of both of us (not too shabby, if I do say so myself):

I also decided that my new favorite thing to do is to take video of myself bike riding so that you can see me (hooray! haha- jk) and so that you can get a feel for the island better than with pictures alone.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28113775@N02/2667711418/in/set-72157606161056523/

Also, if you want to see the more extended picture album, check it out:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28113775@N02/sets/72157606161056523/

In Transit (June 19th)

So all was going well, me and my 2 ridiculously heavy carry on bags made it to Chicago where I had a 2 hour layover and had to transfer terminals and therefore go through security check. Well I get through that with no problem, wait my turn to board the plane, get to my seat near the back of the plane, fit both of my heavy heavy bags in the overhead bin (my smaller bag was not small enough to go under my seat), when i realize that one of my carry on bags isn't as heavy as it used to be. The first thought that goes through my head, "Wow- I am already getting stronger from carrying these bags." Second thought, "Holy crap! I left my laptop at the security check point!"

So i left my bags and started pushing my way to the front of the plane (note: getting off the plane while everyone else is trying to get on does not make people happy). Frantically I yell at the flight attendants, "Ahhhh!!!!! I left my laptop at security! I have to get this! My thesis is on there! My life is on there!" So they gently escort me off the plane and find their most out of shape employee who was just hanging out to run with me to security. Which is easily over 1/4 mile away. I start running, he is running with me, and keeps being like- Can we stop running? I cant run anymore. Me, freaked out, tells him no way, and I keep on booking it.

So we get there, and while i look for my laptop, he looks for a golf-cart for the way back, and I run up to the security guard and tell him my situation. He smiles and asks me if i had a sticker on this alleged lap-top. " I do!!!!" I answered excitedly. "It says Sverige/Sweden with a Moose on it!" He pulls out my laptop and tells me that normally they send this stuff up to the front desk, which I would have had no chance of getting to in the 20 minutes before my plane leaves, but he figured the person who left this was probably on a SAS flight and was going to wait until it left. Thank goodness for that silly sticker! So I got my laptop, hoped on the golf-cart with the sweaty SAS crew guy and boarded the plane in the nick of time. Whew. Crises averted.

So then we are waiting for the plane to take off and I notice that the 2 seats next to me are empty. Score! But then this mother of a 10 month old baby asked me if I could switch with her, and even though she was sitting next to an obviously crazy Danish lady, I couldn't say no, and I told her if she keeps her baby quiet then she has a deal. (OK- I didn't say that, but I did give up my seat.) Good news is that it kept that baby silent the entire 8 hour flight! She thanked my like 10 times, and I was like- no problem, anything to keep a baby from screaming on a long crowded flight!

So at this point, I was thinking I had scored some pretty good karma points, when the flight attendant awakes me in the middle of the flight and asks, "Are you Ms. Neil?" (They never say the O here I have noticed) "One of your bags is not on this flight." Great. Some of you may have heard that the last time I flew into Copenhagen they lost both of my bags and it took 3 days to get my luggage. So that would suck, but most importantly, my whole life is in those bags!!! (Flashback to previous post where I got rid of all my stuff!) so I had that to think about the next 4 hours of the flight. Good times.

So the good news is that I arrived in Copenhagen, filed a missing bag report, and they delievered my bag within about 24 hours. Again, whew. And Blake was there to greet me and whisk me away to Sweden (aka- Sverige)! Huzzah! And they all lived happily ever after....

Let the games begin...

So my life has pretty much changed completely in the last 2 weeks. I defended my thesis, passed (still working on the actual thesis though), and then had to pack up my entire life and move halfway across the world. (I never understood that phrase- I really almost moved completely around the world, because if you moved all the way across the world, I would be back where I started, so halfway in that sense is only a quarter of the way, so really when i say across the world, I mean about 180 degrees. Give or take a few. Ok? ok. ) I now am proud to say that all of my life's possessions are in 4 suitcases which nearly broke my back carrying through the airport, and a few boxes that Byron is graciously transporting to Spokane. For those of you who know the amount of stuff that I used to own, you probably cant believe this!

Sorry if I didnt get a chance to write, talk, or hang out with everyone I wanted to before i left, I mean, things were really really crazy. I want to give a special shout out to Lisa who not only was an awesome roomie for almost 2 years, but who did the brunt of the moving out cleaning. Three cheers for Lisa! Hip hip hooray! (x3) (And many more jeers for our stupid landlord...)

Special thanks also to Julie and Kirsten. Hooray for wine, free clothes, wall hole filling, and waiting for crazy cement pourers from Tacoma to come pick up my bed!

And thank you to all my friends that helped with all the fun send offs! I will miss you all!!!!

OK- well now we can get on to the fun randomness that is my life.....