the multicultural classroom

Since I arrived, just over 3 weeks ago, I have shared so many differences with people from different cultures. I love hearing the different words other english speakers use for things and also everyones attitudes towards their education and their lives in general. In this short time I've spent a lot of time reflecting on my own views and my approach to life. In general I would say I get on with everyone and I would normally go out of my way to ensure this. I think people maybe think I'm a little naive about the world but I hope this post will make my views a bit clearer.

Today has been one of the strangest days I think I've ever experienced. There wasn't a particular incident that has made me feel like this but rather my feelings throughout the day.

Yesterday I started watching 'Breaking Bad'. The series which follows a terminally-ill science teacher cooking and selling crystal meth is one of the biggest TV hits in recent years. I'm constantly hearing great things about it and now that I'm a Netflix user I decided to check it out. Unfortunately I felt physically sick after the second episode. Despite its interesting storyline, I couldn't get past the gore and brutally. However, I did decide to watch three more episodes. This was obviously a bad idea as I woke up at 5:30am having a nightmare about a murder. People always say that scary films aren't real and are just for entertainment purposes. HOW IS GORY VIOLENCE ENTERTAINING. 

After thinking about it a lot this morning I continued to think about it as I went to my first class. One of the topics I am studying here in Uppsala is how children from different countries settle into their new environment and the Swedish education system. An issue constantly discussed in Sweden right now is the number of refugees coming from Syria and also children just appearing at train stations with nothing. The lecturer I had this morning is a 'preparatory classroom' teacher. Meaning she takes a class of 20 children who are not from Sweden and tries to teach them Swedish before they join the mainstream classroom. Although this isn't the case for all the children, many of them have had violent and unsettling experiences which led to them moving. She told us that when the children are in the playground, the sound of an airplane over head sends them running into the forests because they think a bomb is going to land. Also of one Syrian boy who cannot physically sit still because he is screaming to himself "don't kill us". Moving to Sweden is obviously a cry for help but unfortunately many children can't receive treatment and help because their parents don't agree with it. My lecturer told us that on one occassion she told a child's parents that their child needed treatment. Their reply was that she was wrong and she didn't understand. While she was only being helpful, of course this is correct, we don't understand. Growing up has been easy for me. I haven't experienced mass murder and the smell of blood all around myself and my belongings, nothing even close. At this point I felt physically sick. A child of 6 years old who is being told to forget everything that has happened, and just be grateful that they survived. 

At this point we took a short break in the class to let everyone digest what they had heard and think about their own feelings towards it. As the class continued my lecturer showed us pictures that her students had drawn. Among them was murder, soldiers, shootings and bloodshed. It seems disrespectful not to explain these pictures further but all I can is that no one should have to experience what these children have already experienced in their short lives.

Most days I remember the words, "be helpful, be righteous, be grateful" and particularly today. I heard these words from an Auschwitz survivor when I visited Krakow in September 2011. I'm not in denial of the wrong doings that happen in the world. Furthermore I think it is important to recognise them and be sure we don't repeat history. I have learnt that the Holocaust of WWII is introduced into the Swedish education system in a very matter of fact way. I was shown a book that students are given, a book that makes me at the age of 20 feel uncomfortable. Either way, I do believe it's important to let children know. 

If someone asked me what has been my worst experience? Or my worst memory? I honestly couldn't come up with an answer. I am not a strict Catholic but I do go to church and I do appreciate the morals and values I've been taught. Today I met with a group of girls who introduced the possibility of attending Bible Study. They were absolutely lovely and couldn't have been more welcoming. After an hour or so I did have my feelings tested. There was a concentration on scripture and its importance. For me, how you approach society is key. Although it's fair to describe me as a drama queen, I am aware of how lucky I am.

"It's not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It's our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless." 

- L. R. Knost

P.S. Sorry for the emotional post. This hasn't really been about the events of my time in Uppsala but as I've spend the last year of University reflecting, I find it hard not too. X

fancy footwear

Although I took 45kg of luggage with me, I still didn't do a very good job of packing. Almost everyday I have gone to find something I was so sure I'd packed and it isn't there. BUT I thought I had done pretty good on the footwear front. I took three pairs of pumps, trainers, wellies and two pairs of boots. For the first two weeks I think I only wore the snowboots Sarah gave me (they are like walking on pillows!!) Buut anyway I got a little cocky and decided I didn't need them 24/7. Instead I started wearing my trusty, heeled boots from Primark. I have been here less than three weeks and this is the heels now...

The boot on the left side of the picture sounds like a maraca because there are soo many stones in it. On the right, the empty heel is obviously much louder as it is now hollow.. Also if I'm walking for more than 5 minutes, it fills up with an ice cube... But nevertheless they're still perfectly fine and I'm wearing them out tonight :). 

TIP: Think about footwear when packing

a student's weekend in Uppsala

This week my weekend started early as I didn't have any classes on Friday (or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday...) 

After spending most of Thursday at waffle buffet (one of the best ideas I've ever heard of) I decided I'd better get back to the gym on Friday. Insert major fitness differences. I skyped my family on Monday and one of the first things I told them was how proud I was that I'd managed to run up 7 flights of stairs earlier that day. 5 minutes in the gym and I was just embarrassed.

This gym has everything you'd expect and more. If anyone is considering doing an exchange in Uppsala, I would definitely recommend thinking about your fitness. Not only because everyday you will walk around for hours, but also because the people here are unreal. I think training is major part of their lifestyle. Although it seems the whole country has time for cake and coffee every day, you certainly wouldn't know it to look at them. I think the girls here are fitter than most guys I've ever seen in the sports village. As I tried to attempt a sit up I was next to a girl who was hanging from the ceiling doing sit ups as easily as I drink water. It's kind of an incentive to get fit but also an excuse to give up as they all look so naturally lean. 

I'M GOING TO LAPLAND

I'm not sure how likely it is that I will get to meet Santa Clause at this time of year, but in two weeks I will be able to tick 'go to Lapland' off my bucket list. On Friday night I faced the snow blizzard to walk across to the next building and book a trip with my friends. Seven of us have arranged an overnight sleeper train to Kiruna (one of the most northern towns in Sweden - a 16 hour train ride away AND home of the Ice Hotel) and booked flights back for 4 nights later. 

At the moment we have nowhere to stay... Everyone has said that wherever you go while you're in Sweden, you should make the effort to see the Northern Lights. And so as I tend to get over excited about things I thought it would be okay to book our travel without our accommodation. I also thought everything would work out well as I have been in contact with a lady who owns cabins in the little town. However negotiations have gone out the window when my friend called and the woman shouted at her and proceeded to hang up on her for calling on the weekend... Ooops. Sunday is definitely a day of rest here. Either way, I am going to Lapland and I feel like things couldn't really be much better right now!!! 

beginning my travels - a dull day and pretty buildings in Stockholm

Since I arrived in Uppsala, just over two weeks ago, I have realised I have probably never had this amount of free time since my summer holidays in 3rd year. It's actually kind of weird how the days fill up when I'm not reallyy doing anything. Also I'm having long lies nearly every day! As I planned to go to Stockholm on Saturday I made the wise decision not to go out on Friday night as I would never have gotten out of bed. By 11am my three friends and I had arrived in the capital. My friend Selena decided to go check out the Modern Art Museum (which she loved!) I'm happy just being a tourist and so the rest of us went sightseeing. 

I think I took photos of every single building in the old town, Gamla stan. Everything is beautiful! Although the fog and mist didn't do much for my photos, the city beautiful. Every street has something different to offer and there are people all over. One of the main differences I noticed was the number of prams in the city. I don't think I walked 20 metres without passing a cute baby in a pram. I did notice that people would go into shops and leave the prams, sometimes with a baby, waiting outside. Very trusting or very strange, I can't decide. We met Selena at lunch time in a cute deli-style cafe called, "Bröd & Salt". After a lovely meal that cost about £6, (cheap from what I've seen) the lady at the counter gave us a free cake. She wasn't able to sell it as it was damaged, lucky us!! These cakes, called Semla, are in most of the bakeries so I felt pretty lucky getting to enjoy it for free. 

 

We stayed in Stockholm until about 6pm after eating cakes, shopping and I even managed to pick up a fancy dress costume. My corridor have organised a Super heroes vs Super villains party on Friday night... Pictures to follow. 

Katushka!
 Back in Uppsala, I had a quick turn around before going to Kalmar nation. Described as the 'alternative, vegan' society I wasn't sure how I would fit in but it was sooo fun. Once a month the nation holds a club night based on 'baltic beats'. It was described to me as a "sweaty, eastern European, gypsy punk festival in a hall" - and that's exactly what it felt like. I couldn't imagine listening to the music on my ipod but it was actually one of, if not the best, night out I've had here. I waited in the queue for about an hour but for once it didn't feel that long. I will definitely be going back for Katushka!

an introduction to the nations... Timber

The student nations are a huge part of the student community at Uppsala and are described by the student union as,

"...a place where you can feel at home with hundreds of other students – you will work there, you will party there, you will definitely make friends there! It is much more like a family than a pub or a restaurant or anything like that, and as such you should treat your nation with respect."

In the first week of the semester every student is given a temporary student nation card to try out each of the 13 nations. I've been told that you get a feel for one that suits you but I'm still undecided on which one to join! It costs roughly £30 to join a nation - you want to choose one that you'll reap the most benefits from. For example I fancy joining Stockholm meaning I would get free entry to their club on a Thursday night and save £6 every week. However, one of the other nations, Smalands, has a flea market and a craft & fika night which I think sounds perfect. I'll hopefully make a decision by Sunday!

As I said I have been given a temporary nation card. During this week, orientation week, my friends and I have tried to attend events at as many nations as we can. So on Monday night we went along to a pub quiz. Although we didn't exactly score high, it gave me the chance to see what the pub was like and also to try the apple cider - it's delicious! It might even be better than peach lambrini... After the pub quiz we headed to another nation for 'traditional swedish dancing'. We were told that these dances would be useful for attending gasques (basically a fancy party) but what I saw didn't really add up. We arrived a little late and so just kind of joined in. After teaching a couple of dance moves the girl organising the event started playing Timber by Pitbull and Kesha... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHUbLv4ThOo) 

I think the organisers were just trying to get a laugh out of a hundred international students making fools of themselves. The moves included pretending to ski and pointing at my bingo wing guns ..not exactly traditional. Either way I have to admit I did bring out the Timber moves when we went to the club. Cringey I know but luckily I wasn't the only one.

Although we left early we weren't exactly ready to go home. About an hour later we had wormed our way into an initiation party for the Swedish Law students. I wish I had my camera! There were heaps of them running about, dressed as Ash for Pokemon, Princess Peach, Ghostbusters, Vikings and some costumes I couldn't work out. Being in the club was kind of surreal. They played all the songs you'd expect to hear in a club in Aberdeen but then I'd look out the window and see everything covered in snow, or look up at the wall and see giant portraits of who I'm assuming are pretty important students from the past. It one of the strangest and funniest nights I've ever had. From what I've seen I would definitely recommend an exchange trip to anyone!!!!

Instagram

Some of you might be aware that I have broken the camera on my phone and so can only take 'selfie' photos. One of my friends took a picture which I uploaded on Instagram and my instagram username is "clairejm13". However you can look at professional photos of Uppsala through the account "meetjulian". The account is from an local man who uploads beautiful photos of this snow covered city! 

when in Rome

Saturday was a stereotypical tourist day. My buddy, Julia, arranged for me to meet some other new students and we did a walking tour of the city and she showed me where I will be studying (Bläusenhus). We had our first fika (an excuse to eat cake every afternoon) and went to the wonder that is IKEA. Although it was pretty much identical to every other IKEA store it was pretty exciting to be sitting in Sweden having Swedish meatballs. I didn’t need to buy much as my HUMUNGOUS suitcases held nearly everything I could need. I did, however, spend about half an hour deciding which pillow to buy. At this point I thought I had broken the family camera, but according to Sarah and dad I hadn't taken the photography course... basically the battery is too small for the charger. I'm sure I'll be back to IKEA photos soon though!

After traipsing back to my accommodation we went to the local shop intending to cook a meal for dinner… salad and cookies. The plan was to go to a party afterwards but we spent so long speaking and chucking hot water into the cold air that it was too late to go anywhere but bed. Although I've barely been here I am still amazed at the cultural differences. Also no one seems to believe that I'm scottish. So far everything seems to think I'm american, one brazilian guy asked if I was estonian and a girl from Australia asked if english was my second language... Slightly worrying when I spent so much of last semester studying communication

catching up

Although I haven't posted anything since I arrived here, I have been keeping a note of everything. It's actually hard to not write everything because so much seems to happen in one day!

Anyway, this was my first day...

First impressions

My journey to Uppsala was pretty smooth and everyone I spoke to was so friendly and helpful. When I arrived in Copenhagen I could tell the temperature was below freezing and I was slightly disappointed to see what looked like left over snow. However as I sat down at the gate, waiting for my flight to Stockholm, it began to snow!!! Flying into Stockholm was like a movie. Beneath the clouds all I could see was trees and land covered in snow, they looked like Christmas trees! I decided that if this is what to expect in Uppsala, I had definitely chosen the right place. I made it Uppsala no bother but obviously screamed newbie as the taxi driver charged me the equivalent of £15 for a 2 minute taxi ride… #muggedoff

My first stop was the Vastgota Nation, which I still can’t pronounce correctly. Here I picked up my welcome pack and the keys to my room. At this point I realised that losing my earmuffs on the way and packing my gloves in my case was verrry stupid. I was waiting for the transport to Flogsta (my accommodation) for almost an hour. Although this was a great time to meet people I thought my toes were going to fall off. NOTE:- currently -7c.

P.S. I'm not sure how to change the time stamp on my posts but it is 16:10 just now so 15:10 at home J