Alright, so here goes nothing. My first official journal entry. My hope is that these entries will help show you guys a glimpse into what my study abroad experience is like. I will probably write a little more, since this is my first entry.
I arrived Sunday, Jan. 15th to Copenhagen, after an 8 hour flight from Chicago where I got MAYBE an hour and a half of sleep. Tired, disoriented, and hungry we (I travelled with 5 other people from KU: Blair, Nick, Brian, Kevin, and Marc) made our way to the train station and bought tickets to Halmstad. After a brief culture shock of the lack of english writing in any of our surroundings, we found out when and where to catch our train (I should have gotten a picture of it, but it was a highspeed, electric train). The train ride was around 2 hours to Halmstad, yet it was quite interesting to see this completely new countryside wizzing by right outside our windows. Our arrival at Halmstad trainstation was priceless, we were so focused on getting to this point we forgot to think about what to do once we arrived. We pooled together our, what was at this point, a dismal collective intellect and after 30 minutes or so figured out the pay phone (which was gasp, actually styled quite nicely). Some student mentors picked us up (in turbo Audi's...) and drove us to Patrickshill, my residence for the next 5 months or so. Needless to say, falling asleep was prety easy, even though my bed is an inch or so wider than my shoulders and only a couple inches thick (pictures to come).
Monday, we made our first trek to Halmstad University. I thought I was about to die becuase of the cold and wind, yet now I wish it was as warm as it was then. I registered and went to my first class. The universities design is VERY modern. With metal being used often, in addition with the popular local colors of an marigold yellow and deep red. The centerpiece of the campus is a skyscraper. I will add pictures as soon as I can, to help you guys see what it looks like a little better.
Tues, we spent buying food and exploring Halmstad. I found out about a local gym called Nautalis, that I think I will end up subscribing to. It is huge with a pool, a couple saunas, a full room of nautalis equipment, a free weight room, and perched way up top with windows down to the pool, a cardio room. Hans and Lars, my teachers also took us to a local hotspot in the summer, the Tysoland Beach. I wasn't to impressed when we got out of the car, as we were just confronted with a big coastal style building and some large boulders that blocked our view. That is, until we walked up and over the boulders, and I saw what could have easily been straight out of a surrealistic painting. Overwhelmed by the sun setting, casting its light and reflections on the water and the long stretch of horseshoe shaped coastline. It was simply amazing.
Wed, we had our all-out encounter with the swedes in all their glory at the university's student pub. Don't let the name fool you though, it is a huge club, with I think at least 3 huge rooms, each with it's own DJ. Only, the music is like a sad rewind to my middle school years. It was hilarious to see the swedes dancing to old rap songs like sir-mix-a lot, but even better yet was when the DJ (perched two stories up in a booth complete with his own painted-on, black eye mask) played a song, dubbed over in Swedish, from Grease, everyone was singing along just like we do in America, it was hilarious. Overall, it was a great night, and I got a chance to dance and talk with quite a few people.
Thursday, we met Hans and Lars for an early (13:00) excursion to Laholm where they introduced our first project: to design a new interior, signage, and furniture for an Art Musuem just being rebuilt. We got a chance to walk around and check it all out. One thing that kind of caught me by surprise was that I saw more women working on the construction site then men. I think it is funny to say this, yet I don't think I have seen that to often in America. Anyway, back to the museum. It is nestled into the city center, admist old buildings and coblestone roads just wide enough for one car to fit through. Laholm in general is a town that unlike Halmstad, is very quite and compact. Mom, you'd love it with all the shops and buildings having little flower boxes that I can only imagine to be full of flowers in the spring. The buildings all look similar with big old, dark solid wood doors, textured yellow or deep red walls, and red ceramic, tiled roof. It is a neat place, and I think it will be interesting to figure out the demographic for the design project.
Friday, I did some shopping for some shoes. Unfortunently, size 44-45 is the largest they have here... I have a size 47, yeah, having big feet stinks. So, I will probably be reduced to buying the one pair of running shoes I found in my size, they almost deserve a picture themselves for how ugly they are, yet I can't work out in my boots or birks, so... ugly shoes it is!
Saturday, I went to the local gym, Nautalis and set up a workout date with an 'Instructor' for tomorrow, where they'll set up a workout routine (whether I follow it or not is to be seen). It is a free chance to see if the gym will work out for me or not, so wish me luck! We had our first party at Patrickshill Sat night. It wasn't that big compared to the parties at the Fraternity, yet it was still a lot of fun.
Sunday, well... I recouped. The swedes, and practically everyone else from anywhere in europe are party machines. We stayed up until at least 5 or later. So after waking up after 14:00 (2pm), I rallyed everyone together to walk out to the beach closest to us. While it is nothing compared to the first beach we went to, it is still pretty darn cool. We walked all 10 minutes out to the beach around 16:15 or so just in time to catch the sun setting. I tried to take some pictures, yet I regret not taking Mckaela's camera because this one, as I am finding out, just didn't capture the beauty of last night's sunset.
Today, I woke up kind of early (9) and walked to campus this morning because my bike's back tire popped, but it's warmer today (-6 C) so it wasn't too unbearable. I took the walk as a chance to take some pictures of Halmstad, so look foward to a photo dump here pretty soon. I have officially been overseas now for a week and one day, and all I can say is 'Wow.' Between the 10 minute walks out to the beach to take pictures of the sunset, to the interesting people that live with me at Patrickshill, it has been an awesome time.
-Reed
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