So, I've been here long enough that I feel like a Swede (at least a Jonkoping Swede). I know when the bus comes, I found the cheap coffee, and I could probably be dropped off anywhere and find my way back to Raslatt (of course I'm not testing that out anytime soon). I'm not going to lie,I'm kind of ready to transition to the big city livin' of Stockholm. It sort of lake Fayetteville vs. New York City.
One thing I still cannot get used to it the doors. First of all, even if theres a handle that looks like you should pull it, most times you have to push, silly swedes. Then there's this whole twist the lock to open the door thing that tends to leave me banging around for a few minutes trying to figure out which way to turn it. Maybe by the end of the trip I'll master the art of door opening?
Today, we got to sleep in woooohoooooooo! We started off with a prosthetics and orthotics lecture from an Australian lady who is working at the university. She was freaking hilarious. She kept joking that it was nice she could actually talk at a normal (fast) speed in English for once! I didn't know a whole let about what she was talking about but she made it pretty easy to get the gist. She talked about the quality of good running shoes (using me and another girls shoes as examples, of course mine apparently stink hehe). It was nice because since she is originally from another country with a different healthcare system, she finally pointed out the flaws (that obviously exist) in Sweden. Everyone so far has been all "yada yada, the system rocks" but no one has a perfect system so it was nice to get a different perspective. So now for my favorite tidbits I learned: those vibram running feet/shoe things are terrible for you! Chacos are a pretty decent shoe as far as supporting feet goes. And shape-ups actually improve your balance (but not while wearing them so if you have sucky balance already stay away). It was by far my favorite lecture I've had to sit through so far.
After lunch in the oh so lovely school cafeteria, the next lecture was about Internationalism at the university...or so I thought. Yeah, the speaker talked about it a little bit, but mostly he talked about Swedish culture which was refreshing. SO MUCH ABOUT HEALTHCARE ON THE TRIP that we're starting to hear a lot of the same things so it was nice to learn about something more laid back. It was during my usual afternoon lull so I alm...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Now for my favorite part of today, the Midsummer party! The school of health held a goodbye dinner for all the international students (like the ones who have been here for the whole semester, and us hooligans who have been here all of .2 seconds) at this fancy historical building on campus. It was themed after the Midsummer party which is a big ol mondo Swedish holiday every summer with flowers and poles and food and dresses. Cute theme if ya ask me (even though it feels like anything but summer outside here). When the group arrived, we were seated randomly so we got to meet other international students and teachers. I even talked to a guest teacher from Tanzania (Dr. Ungar would have been proud, I told her all about my trip last summer!). I ended up sitting next to my advisor for back in Fayetteville which was nice because she definitely squashed some of my worries about Nursing school in the fall. I also met girls from Austrailia, Austria, the Netherlands, and Germany, so cool! The food was a little interesting (pickled herring, cured salmon anyone?) but the SUSHIs made sure I had some gluten free chicken and vegetables so thankfully I got to eat semi normal food hehe And that ice cream for dessert was stinkin' delicious. I still find it hilarious that we came just in time for the goodbye dinner which was more like halfway dinner for us hehe
I know I've been slacking on the pictures but trust me I have them!!! I'm just too sleepy to upload them!
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