"Är du tjej från Texas?"

Trip Start Aug 18, 2009

Trip End Jun 06, 2012

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Where I stayed

Alidhem - Historiegrand

(Umeå hotels)

Flag of Sweden Umeå, Vasterbottens Lan, Sweden
Friday, September 4, 2009

Before arriving in Sweden, I had the idea that I was somehow moving to an alien planet. Everything would be different in Sweden. Animals would talk, trees grew upside down, people would speak in a strange language that would sometimes make me giggle. Fortunately, I was only 1/3 correct. Umeå has deemed itself a fairly normal place to live (as far as I can tell), but at the same time, more than anything I could have dreamed for myself.

I don't know how it's happened, or why, but it seems that I have found a country full of people just like me. Doing the exact same things that I enjoy doing, wearing clothes that I would wear, eating foods that I approve of. I can't even count the number of times I have seen people rollerblading to class... what the heck? I LOVE rollerblading. No one would ever rollerblade with me at home.

I started class on Tuesday

Umeå River on a rainy day

. The deal is, students take only one class at a time. Classes last for 5 weeks each, but we go for 3 hours a day, and about 4 days a week. At the end of the 5 weeks, we start a new class. Each semester I will take 4 classes total. This system keeps students from studying many different subjects at once, and focuses our attention to tiny details that could be overlooked by taking 4-5 classes at once. Right now I am taking a class called "International Business Environment." It's fantastic.

I've been hanging out a lot with the kids from my program (same kids that will be in all my classes for the next 3 years) and we're getting along really well. Saturday we had a party, watched futbol, danced to music, and then all left together to go to the bar on campus (reserved especially for the business students) called E-Puben. It was great. Everyone keeps approaching me saying "You are the girl from Texas?" followed by a million and a half questions, or stories of their holidays in America. I 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

Biking trails along the Umeå River

! Then Sunday I am going to my new friend Evelinn's house (Swedish girl) and she's going to teach me how to make some famous Swedish desserts. Then in the afternoon my neighbors and I will have a corridor meeting, and start getting to know one another.

Also, if anyone would like to send me a letter, here is my postal address:

Stephanie Mikneus
Historiegränd 10 A: 121
907 34 Umeå

Oh, and by the way - Happy birthday to my Aunt Cathy, Uncle Alan and Stacey. I hope it was wonderful.

Time to get to bed, need to wake up in time to put my game face on!

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