And you thought Iowa's windmills were awesome (or maybe you didn't)

Hej hej-

I did something touristy this week! And you'll be happy to hear I only went to one party since I last 'blogged'. Wednesday was my last day of Swedish class and the exam was Saturday morning. I think it went alright. I had to write a 200 page essay on my family. I wish there were more Bergeruds to write about. All I need is a 60% to pass....I think I can manage. I also started my first real class on Friday (weird day to start right?) Its biomedical materials. It seems that everyone in the class is a polymers expert but knows nothing about metals. I'm the other way around. And again, the only native english speaker. It doesn't look like it'll be too hard. I can pretend to know polymers I think. You polymers people make it look so easy.

After the test, me and 3 girls from my floor (Titia from Holland, Rose from Australia, and Natalie from England) took a trip to an island called Utö in the Stockholm archipelago. I really had no idea what it would be like. I called the tourism office on the island and asked if there were any open rooms, and there was only one 4 bed cabin available. So we booked that. It ended up being really nice. We weren't expecting that. It was one of the classic little red Swedish cabins you see so often (well, maybe you don't see them as often as I do) We took the train, followed by bus, then ferry, then we rented bikes and rode them to the cottage (3 km out of town) We had dinner at a restaurant in town. There was a buffet. Unfortunately for me, this buffet featured a lot of shellfish. Not exactly my favorite. Crayfish are really big here during the month of August. People have crayfish parties I guess (I haven't been invited to any yet...) But thats ok, because I don't like crayfish. Too much work for a not so good taste. The desserts at the buffet were really good though. So don't worry guys, I'm eating really healthy here. After the buffet we rode home, stopping every few minutes to take pictures of the sunset and let the mosquitoes eat us alive.

Our little red cabin on Utö

The next morning after a good 12 hours of sleep we got up and made swedish pancakes. We biked back into town and visited the old windmill. Its the big tourist attraction on the island. And what a windmill it was! We had lunch and then visited the old iron mines, which date back to the 12th century! I figured that would be the proper mat e thing to do. We spent the rest of our time there roaming around the island and taking pictures. I feel so Swedish now. The islands on the archipelago are a popular weekend destination for the Swedes. Many own summer homes there. What a life. When I grow up, I want to be Swedish too! Or at least have a summer home on the Baltic Sea and a sailboat. I suppose that would do.

Utö's 200 year old windmill