Starting School

I'm enrolled in Corporate Finance and Project Management (woohoo). My opinions are divided: on one hand, I'm not exactly thrilled that I'll be back in class; on the other, the last week of nonstop social activities have taken their toll, and I'm looking forward to feeling productive again.

Unfortunately, my wallet disappeared over the weekend. I lost my driver's license, debit card, bus card, student ID, and some number of Krona (about $50.00, I think). I'm feeling the missing bus card the most, though--bus fare is about $4.00 each way, and I generally dislike paying $8.00 just to get to school every day.

I called Wells Fargo to replace my debit card, and had an amusing exchange about how to spell the name of the building I live in--Karrhoksgatan, approximately pronounced "Kerr-hokes-gott-an." The replacement process was easy, though, and they didn't make a fuss about shipping my new card across the Atlantic.

On a happier note, my apartment is quite spacious. As I mentioned before, the same flat would probably fit twice as many Colorado College students. I'm sharing an apartment with three roommates, two of whom attend engineering school (I'm not sure about the third, as he doesn't leave his room). Altogether, the apartment is 25% American, 25% Polish,  18.75% Swedish, and 6.25% Bolivian. I'm happy to report no troubles so far.

The student apartments are just a small part of the whole Raslatt complex: there are about 30 large apartment buildings, only 3 of which are for students. Fortunately, the real estate company--Vatterhem--has constructed a common room, which is in the middle of the three student buildings. Called Sockertoppen, which is Swedish for sugar top, it's got foosball, a TV, and--you guessed it--the sauna. I'll take this small opportunity to brag about how nice it is to wake up in the cold Swedish winter and hop in the sauna before breakfast.

Pictured: The building that has the sauna in it. Ahhh.

This is the first week I have consistent internet access--activation required the apartment rental agreement plus a passport, and for three straight days I managed to neglect one, the other, or both. $15.00 for the whole semester was a palatable price, though, despite the lack of Wi-Fi. Sadly, my ethernet cable is a mere meter in length (that's right, look at this American use the metric system!) so I'm bound to the foot of my bed. On the flip side, my roommate (the Swedish/Bolivian one) said he was getting a wireless router, and I remain optimistic.

A couple of days ago, the university sent us on a short bus tour around Jonkoping (which is pronounced Yon-schir-ping, by the way), which really helped me get a feel for the city. Population-wise, it's hovering around 120,000, although sometimes it feels substantially larger or smaller. Over the past 30 years, urban sprawl has linked it with the neighboring Huskvarna, and the tour took us by the chainsaw factory (they're still churning out 1,150 chainsaws per day!).

Jonkoping University. Picture unrelated.

The best part of the tour, though, was at the peak of a nearby hill, with the city lights reaching around the lake as the sun set. I wish I had a picture to share, but by then it was too dark for the limited capabilities of my point-and-shoot. Here's an unrelated picture of the university instead.

I took today to run around the city by myself and explore a bit. There's an incredible cathedral in the center of town called Sofiakyrken, or the Sofia Church. It's been around since the late 1800's, and it's absolutely incredible.

The rest of the afternoon was spent finding the highest point I could reach on foot--an adventure that took me through a 300 year old graveyard overlooking Lake Visingo and to the foot of an awesome clock tower. Next time I go explore, I'll remember to put my SD card back in my camera so I can take pictures. Yeah.


A couple of new friends came over last night and we prepared our own Swedish meatballs and pasta. It was, needless to say, a delicious meal.

Cheers,
Daniel