I joined Kalmar Nation. We didn't really know much about it when we joined, but it seems to be the punk/alternative scene. We went to a concert (a cool swedish band) and I was really wishing I had some of my vintage clothes because it was sort of an "anything goes except boring" uniform. Next time we'll punk it up a little. We had just spent the day in Stockholm (see facebook for pictures) so we were pretty tired and not dressed for the occasion. Stockholm was really beautiful and trendy. We went in 2 hardcore vintage clothing stores- there was no mistake about these clothes being from another era. Still, there was a heavy emphasis on loud and bright clothes from the 70's and 80's, which doesn't really appeal to me so I didn't buy anything. There was another store that had very avant guard fashion, some of which didn't look wearable in every day life but I guess in Sweden it's different. It's almost like you have to try. And you have to wear predominantly black. Some people wear only black every day. At home we might call these people emo or morbid, but here it's very socially exceptable and almost expected. I hope when the weather gets warmer people will break out the color because I brought a lot of colorful clothes and plan to wear them.
Swedes are an interesting breed (though they consider themselves quite boring actually). They are so reserved that it often comes off to me as rudeness. We walk around cities and grocery stores looking totally confused and lost and not a soul would dare open their mouth to help us. When we ask for help people are willing to help, but they avert their eyes from you until you speak to them. Forget talking to the person next to you on the train. Everyone puts in their headphones. It's not really so different from home, just more extreme, and since I like chatty and meeting new, random people, it feels a bit stifling at times. The international students are the exception (obviously, they aren't swedish) and they love to chat and meet everyone. This weekend a whole bunch of internationals are going on a little cruise from friday evening to sunday morning to Tallinn, Estonia. We'll only be in Tallinn for 8 hours or so, but it's cheap and should be really fun as long as I'm not horribly seasick.
Kayla and I both want to do some serious traveling around Europe (and she wants to go to Morocco) so if anyone reading this has a suggestion for a city we "just can't miss" please comment :) We're planning to do Russia for sure.
Sometimes it's strange to come 'home' here since this is really the first time I've ever felt like I live alone. Freshman year I had Karen and ever since I've had my suitmates (love you guys) so even though I was very independent in my wanderings around campus, I always had people to come home to. My corridor mates here are a pretty weak substitute and often are not around anyway. Still I think aside from it feeling very strange and a bit bare, I'm dong well with it. This is such an independent culture- it takes my natural loner-ness and amplifies it into a society's way of life. Students don't even feel particularly tied to their families since the state pays for all their education (and even gives them a stipend to live off so they can go away to school) and so their parents desires have no economic bearing of the students' choices. The elderly are also taken care of by the state, so there's not a lot of intergenerational interaction as far as I can tell. The whole system makes for a very "me-centered" life (which is similar to America of course).
One glaring difference with Americans is the desire to distinguish ourselves from the pack through hard work, and then be recognized and rewarded for it- while in Sweden there is this unspoken rule that no one can think they are better than anyone else and thus shouldn't want to make a lot of money (though plenty of them do) or draw attention to themself. My swedish friend david told me this unbelievable antecdote, I don't know if it's an exaggeration but here it is: An elderly person gets on a bus that is already filled with people. No one gets up to offer their seat and the older person will have to tell someone to get up (I believe this so far because I witnessed the same situation, and unfortunately for me, the old lady barked at me in Swedish and asked for my seat even though I was carrying/holding a ton of heavy stuff from IKEA). He say's no one will move until told to do so for this motivation: they don't want to act charitably because people will think they're doing it so people will think "oh that person is so charitable" and thus they will draw (positive) attention and recognition that will put them on a higher moral plain than the others around them, which isn't acceptable because they must all be the same. Also John (another swede who spent time in America) told me that it's super taboo to talk about salaries, even vaguely and among friends and family. You can only talk about it if you make a pathetically low amount and want to complain. I guess it's similar in the US, but just more extreme here. John says people here aren't supposed to desire to be rich. There's no "Swedish dream" to go from rags to riches (of course, almost no one here would fall into the 'rags' category).
Okay that's enough rambling for this morning. I'm going to go eat some leftovers and be sad that during the time I was writing this, the snow changed to rain and thus the snow will probably be gone soon. Please send mail! My address is:
Sernanders väg 6-137
752 61 UPPSALA Sweden
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