my first real visitor (parents don't count)

Hey guys. Long time no see. I'm sad to say I haven't been doing anything terribly exciting here lately. I haven't been traveling anywhere, in an effort to save money and avoid going outside (its cold). So I go to class, I hang out with my floormates, I try new recipes...Very exciting stuff. Over the past 3 weekends I have gone to various erasmus parties (erasmus = what europeans call studying abroad) I went to an Irish pub and watched a rugby match. What an odd game. Being in a bar, watching sports on a big screen with lots of people really made me miss football (the american kind) That is one thing that people here definitely don't understand.

This past weekend things were a little more exciting than usual because I had a visitor! Lillian, a friend from high school, is studying in Vienna this semester, and decided to pay me a visit. She was here Thursday until today (Tuesday) and we did all the touristy stuff. We went shopping all over the place- Sodermalm (the trendy south island), Drottningsgatan (the main shopping street near the central station), and Gamla Stan (the old part of the city). We must have spotted at least 15 H&M's along the way. There is a big H&M on Drottningsgatan, with one across the street, and one 2 doors down... Not sure why that one street needs 3 H&M's, but whatever. I admit that I have gone to all 3 on a single shopping trip. For those that don't know what H&M is, shame on you! Its only the best store ever. And its Swedish. Lillian was very excited to shop in an authentic, Swedish H&M (although they really are no different than the ones back in the US)

Lillian on the south end of Kungsholmen (the island I live on)

On Sunday, we got lost on the way to a Christmas market and nearly froze to death. We wanted to get to this Steninge Slott market that we had read about in a guide. We checked out the website and the instructions seemed simple enough...take the train to Marsta, then the bus to a certain stop, and follow the signs to the market...So we took the train 30 km out of the city and found our bus. The bus stop we wanted was in the middle of a residential neighborhood, but there were signs, so we followed them. So we started walking, but somehow along the way we became lost. We ended up on a path in a forest, which didn't seem quite right. Eventually, we encountered a man walking his dog and I asked if he knew where the christmas market was. We had taken a wrong turn, so we backtracked, and finally found this place after about 45 minutes of walking...in the snow. Anyways the market was nice. I bought a julbocken....a christmas goat. I'm not sure what the significance of these are, but you see them everywhere now. It is this horse like thing made of straw and ribbon. It looks way cool on my table next to my new IKEA candle.

Julbocken är kul!

So I had a fun time with Lillian, but now I'm going to have to do all the tourist stuff all over again because my sister will be here tomorrow morning! But I'm a way good hostess, I think I convinced Lillian to move to Stockholm. I was nice to speak to an American again, at a normal speed without having to explain what different words mean. I think you will find when I return that my english has gotten worse. Oh well, I'm an engineer, I suppose it works.

No need to tell people I'm from Canada anymore

So, I hear there was some sort of election in the US on Tuesday. How'd that go for you? Actually I should know the answer to that...as its all anyone's been talking to me about for the past 2 days. The people in my hall start chanting O-BAM-A when they pass my room. I've been congratulated even. Well gosh that's nice, but I didn't do anything. I didn't even vote (I know, I'm a bad American) Since I haven't been doing anything too exciting this week, I figure I'd share with you some of the things I've noticed regarding people's attitudes towards America and the election.

First, on the subject of America in general, only two cities seem to matter to the students here. When I ask if they've been to the states, they've either been to New York or LA, or want to go to New York or LA. Most people have heard of Chicago, but believe it to be on the east coast, somewhere warm with no snow. People have heard the name Iowa before but don't know anything about it. Probably a good thing, as the few who do know are relentless with the comments on corn and barn dances (I swear, I've never been to one!) In one of my lectures last week, the professor was talking about genetically engineered corn. He said- Believe it or not, in America, there are entire states devoted to growing corn!- I think I may know a little something about those. No one seems to know how many states there are either. Sometimes I'll ask, usually the answer I get is 48. Then I correct them and go on to recite all of the states alphabetically in song form. Europeans are impressed by this.

Now onto the election, because I'm sure you haven't read enough about that on the internet already.... For the past 3 months, I have been asked time and time again what I think about the election. For the most part, the Europeans tend to be in support of Obama. And although I'm not that well informed, I managed to stay more informed than all of them. So I could answer most of their questions, like "So is McCain a Democrat or Republican?" After awhile, the constant talks about the election started to get on my nerves. I'd be at a party, having a good time, when someone would come up to me and say- You're American right? What do you think of Obama's plan to blah blah blah- and I'd answer, because I'm nice like that, but secretly I just wanted to get away. At one such party, I was talking to a student from Iran, who asked what I thought about Bush. I gave my standard answer of saying something he's not my favorite, a lot of Americans disagree with his policies, and so on, and then he responded telling me that he and a lot of people in Iran, especially young ones, like George Bush. I was surprised by this. He said it was because he puts a lot of pressure on the Iranian government so they can still have a few liberties. It was his dream to go study in America. It seems to be a lot of people's dream here. "Just to see what's so great about it."

So anyways the election is over now, so maybe all the questions will be over too, we'll see. Some of the Swiss boys on the floor stayed up until 4 am and watched the results on election night, while the American (me) slept. I wish I could have been back in Ames to watch with all my American friends. It would have been even cooler to be in Chicago. But its also an interesting perspective to see people's reactions here. And I've seen how excited people are about America, and even in the subjects I'm studying, the US seems to set the bar for everyone else. So I guess I'm lucky. Even if I have a lame accent or overweight friends, the US is pretty sweet. (Totally kidding about you being overweight btw, you look great!)

I read that newspapers announcing Obama's victory are selling out quickly all over the world. So here's a little something from Sweden. The newspaper I usually read (or attempt to read)

Wait? So George Bush was Obama all along? I knew it!