Still in Sweden, Still Breathing

I finally have a moment of down-time so I thought I would give everyone a little update.

This country is fucking amazing. Everyone here has gotten really close really fast and it feels like I have known these people much longer than just two weeks! On top of that I swear this country has magical properties on the human body. I don’t exercise, eat loads of candy and drink way too much, yet my pants are actually becoming too big. This may be related to why all the people here are so fucking pretty… it’s not fair! The good news for all you jealous folks out there, though, is that while Swedes are frighteningly pretty, they suck at flirting. I mean they are terrible! It’s almost a joke to watch people interact at clubs because either the people straight up ask you to come home with them or they wander about creepily (prettily, but still creepily). They don’t even make eye contact with each other half the time! I think it would be a fun game to see how long you can hold a Swede’s gaze. One person here has a theory that this is all because the people look so good that they have completely lost the art of flirting and just jump straight to the sack. Kind of sad because there’s no fun to it. The other fun thing to note the way they dance at clubs. I haven’t seen any grinding at all. Hell, most of the time they don’t even pair off. They mostly dance in groups without any touching of any kind. Of course there are exceptions, and nobody is offended or weirded out, but generally they wait until the end of the night to pair off. The Americans broke out some American style dancing and the others were totally lost. Their reaction to grinding and pseudo-swing wasn’t so much, “ewe, that’s gross,” but more like, “oh, you can do that?” It’s also pretty fun when American top 40 comes on. It’s done maybe every 4^th or 5^th song and when it hits a lot of people kind of tone down their moves because they aren’t used to dancing to AT40 style music. Meanwhile the Americans in the group are going crazy and generally making fools of ourselves. It’s lots of fun.

As for the time spent outside of clubs and house parties (a.k.a. classes), we are learning at an awesome pace. My friend Door from Holland came here not knowing any Swedish, and now she can hold her own in our Swedish conversations. My Swedish has become substantially better in every aspect too. My conversation skills have shot way up! The other day I had to recharge my cell phone minutes and I was able to do the entire process on my own (with a little help for the word for #, which is “fyrkant”). I’m pretty excited to see where my Swedish will be at the end of the program. One of the biggest problems I will have back in the States is finding a place where I can converse in Swedish on a regular basis. Watching Swedish tv and listening to music can only do so much for me. I need something more interactive. Maybe I can find a conversation group in Ann Arbor.

Two people in the program have their birthdays today so we are celebrating tonight. We make lots of poor life choices like partying on Sundays but, hell, we are only here for a couple more weeks!

Hej då!