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September 18, 2004
Weekend
Hmm, where did I leave off? Oh yes, exams.
I spend the remainder of the afternoon in a group exam—which went surprisingly well. We were asked to analyze the sustainability problems associated with a hypothetical tourism company. We were pre-assigned into groups of three and given an hour and half to complete our analysis. By the end, we were all drained. Having been through group presentations on Thursday, individual exams on Friday morning, and another group exam on Friday afternoon, we were definitely ready for some non-sustainability fun.
But first, there was the matter of the used bikes to attend to—the "Ronneby Man" came by campus at 4 p.m. and unloaded 8-10 bikes in front of the International Office. As luck would have it, I was a couple of minutes late, and by the time I arrived, all the bikes had been claimed by bike-hungry SLS students. Which wasn't so terrible as they were all in pretty shoddy shape (rusty, worn-out tires, etc.), but I was a little sad that there wasn't one for me.
Disappointed that I was still ambulatory only by the mercy of my own two feet, I stopped by the International Office and was cheered to discover that one of my boxes from Amazon.com had arrived—and with it the majority of my course books. So I lugged the box on the bus and went back to the apartment for a quick cleaning and a quesadilla (I was famished) before heading back out to town. Some of the students had organized a group dinner at the Bredgartan apartments, so I swung by the Spar and picked up ice cream to contribute. The dinner was a casual affair, with about 20 students from the program and an eclectic mix of dishes. I tried pickled herring for the first (and LAST) time, and was quite displeased with the spongy texture. But, hey, I'm a trooper. Dessert was a success, with Amity's delicious chocolate cake and my ice cream.
Feeling quite stuffed, at 9 p.m. we trooped off to Buddha Bar, a delightful venue with cushy sofas, a well-stocked bar (2-1 drinks from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m.), and a lively dance floor. We "decompressed" from our exams, did a little dancing to bad American music (80s, mostly), and generally had a good time. I had an "orgasm" (imagine having to ask the bartenders for "two orgasms, please" to get the 2-1 deal) made of Baileys, Kalhua, and milk—yum, yum, yum. Later I had a secret concoction that tasted something like pink lemonade, but that packed an extremely potent punch. It was the first alcohol I'd had since arriving in Sweden, so I was feeling quite cheerful by the time we all decided to try out the dance floor. There was also an incident involving a poorly marked men's room, but I'll leave the details to your imagination.
At any rate, by the time midnight rolled around, I found myself wandering the streets of Karlskrona with Siti. Not wandering the streets because I was intoxicated, mind you, but because we had missed the last normal bus and had 40 minutes until the "midnight" bus came around. Rather than sit around and wait with the drunk Swedish youth, we decided to walk through the town center towards the campus, and just wait at a quieter bus stop. It was a crisp, clear night, and we enjoyed a delightful walk along the water's edge, discussing crime statistics in our respective cities (D.C. and Kuala Lumpur). We managed to find the right bus stop after only one major mistake (we missed the turnoff for the underpass and ended up halfway to the highway) and were back in Kungsmarksvägen around 1 a.m.
I did a little reading—I'm now engrossed in The Remains of the Day—before falling asleep. Apparently, Roya and Jess got home some time after 3 a.m. (the bars stay open quite late), but I was dead to the world, and didn't get up until just after 10 a.m. this morning.
I spent a leisurely morning reading my book, having breakfast (an odd combination of egg noodles and vegetable broth—a little like Ramen), and taking a shower in the oh-so-lovely curtained bathtub. By noon I was out at the bus stop, catching a bus to Amiralen. Well, not so much Amiralen as the sports store down the street from Amiralen (which I could have gone directly to, but I took the wrong bus). Long story short, I am the proud owner of a new bike!
I decided yesterday that it would be worth purchasing a new bike, since I don't own one back in America. When I'm done here, I'll just bring it with me to my new place (which I'm starting to think might be Europe, rather than the US). Anyway, it's wicked cool (oh, too much time spent with Boston people!) and cost me more than I can reasonably justify. But I don't care, because now I have a bike!
The guy at the bike shop was really funny, and very helpful. He let me take out several bikes to try out on the road. I rode each of them on one of the trails behind the shop, back and forth past a tiny pasture with cows and sheep that looked at my askance every time I passed by. I think perhaps they were thrown off by all the tags attached to the bike (warranty information, price tag, features list, etc.) blowing frantically in the wind.
After a couple of tries, I found the bike for me. It's a mountain bike, with 7 gears, a back-wheel lock, and front and back lights. I also got a pannier to attach to the side, so that I can carry books and my laptop back and forth to school. All in all, I was quite satisfied. I rode the bike back to Amiralen, stopping in at Coop Forum (I believe it's actually Co-op Forum, but everyone here pronounces it "coop") for some groceries. Realizing that I would have to ride back home with my backpack (carrying a not insubstantial load in itself) and the groceries, I only got a bunch of apples, oranges, a loaf of bread, a bottle of water, a soda, and a chocolate bar. Still, it was quite the unexpected shock to realize how heavy the bike was once everything was loaded.
I rode the bike back home, only having to stop once to check my map (the trails, which are everywhere, don't really follow the main roads). I ended up walking the bike up the final hill, which was just too steep. Unfortunately, I accidentally caught the back of my calf on one of the pedals as I walked, scraping all the skin off my ankle and leaving a huge bruise. Just biting my lip and suffering through the hill would definitely have been less of an ordeal.
Getting in the apartment was an exercise in creativity, as I had to prop the bike vertically in the elevator to make it fit. I brought it in my room, where it currently resides in the area between my bed and the bookshelf. It is quite fancy, and I've stopped at the entrance to the door several times just to look at it in awe.
Feeling quite exhausted from my trek back home (which actually only took about a half hour, but used previously ignored muscle groups), I laid down on my bed and read for a but, and even managed to squeeze in a brief nap before going downstairs to Tomomi and Birte's apartment (directly below us) for a sushi dinner. They did a great job of compiling all the sushi ingredients, and they arranged it for make-your-own sushi. They even managed to find a tube of wasabi, which created a pleasant burning sensation in my sinuses for most of the evening.
There were nearly a dozen of us for dinner, so Tomomi and Birte converted their empty living room into a picnic area, complete with blow-up mattresses and rugs for us to sit on. And so we spent the night making sushi (ingredients included salmon, tuna, cucumbers, avocado, asparagus, egg, carrots, etc.) and discussing our weekend plans.
Nearly everyone is planning on going to Aspö tomorrow for the arts show, so we've made plans to meet at the ferry tomorrow at 1:15 p.m. I've been told that the ferry is quite gentle and only 20 minutes in length, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there won't be any unpleasant seasickness incidents. I'll be bringing my bike, as several of us want to ride around the island after the arts tour. I'm not sure that my poor legs are up to an extended ride (after all, I'll still have to bike back home afterwards!), but I thought I would try it out.
Now it's almost eleven and I'm back at home, ready for bed. I'll probably finish The Remains of the Day (winner of the 1989 Booker Prize, and quite excellent) tonight, leaving only Women in Love left. And, of course, now I also have 10 sustainability-related books to read in my spare time.
Also exciting, I received a notice in the mail yesterday to the effect that I have a package waiting for me at the local post office. I didn't manage to get there today, so I'll have to wait until Monday to pick it up. I think it must be goodies from my mom…I can't remember exactly what she said she was sending, but I remember being quite enthusiastic.
