A Year in Sweden: Ich bin ein Münchener

Wow, I have not updated my blog in a while but I have been rather busy! There is much to do and see in Lund, and I am well adapted to Swedish life now. I am taking classes that keep me pretty busy, plus there are logistical issues that I have been resolving as time goes on, such as setting up a bank account, fixing my bike, and paying bills. People here in Sweden have to deal with the same hassles that we have to deal with in the United States. On top of that, I have been trying to get my classes in order for next semster and I am trying to start the process of extending for the year because I love it here in Sweden. I have already learned a lot of Swedish, and at this rate, I should be able to have a normal conversation in Swedish at the end of the year.

As far as my spending rate, it has been pretty wild this past month because of bills, items for school, a couple items of clothing to fight the cold weather, and miscellaneous items that I have to buy or things I have to pay for. I also had to pay for train tickets to Germany and I think that Oktoberfest will be somewhat expensive, although I am camping there so I should save some money that way. I will have a more normal spending rate in October since I should have finished with all of my initial expenses by then. I will have a Swedish bank account (hopefully with money in it), I am now cooking for myself, I am walking or taking my bike to class, and I am learning how to be more frugal as time goes on, so I think October will be a much cheaper month, and from then on as well.

One of my friends said she uses a program called Quicken to manage her budget back home at UC Berkely, so perhaps I could start using that here. She is also staying for the year and is also going to Oktoberfest, so maybe I can get some tips from her about how she is planning on saving money.

I am planning on doing some travelling while here in Europe, so I will want to save money for those trips. One of my friends is from Helsinki, Finland, and he is planning on taking a fairy there some time and invited me to come. I'm sure I could stay at his house to save some money. I also have friends in Helsingborg, Stockholm, and miscellaneous countries around Europe such as Spain and the Netherlands, so I think travelling around Europe will not be too expensive. I can also go in a group and split any necesssary group expenses like hotel rooms if we need one. I found out that flights in Europe can be very cheap if you do some research online... there are many airlines similar to Jetblu that offer low quality but cheap flights. That is how many of my friends have travelled. I may go to some cheaper countries like in Eastern Europe. Although it is not the cheapest, I think I will visit Prague some time, and I have a friend from there so perhaps I can stay with him if he goes back home some time. Oktoberfest should be one of the most expensive trips I take, but I think it will be worth it.

In other news, I have chosen some prospective classes for next semester and they are basically all engineering courses, so I do not think I will get too far behind for my degree. I may take a class on Nanoelectronics, which I am pretty sure is not offered at Davis. There is also a class where I could be involved with research groups at MAX-lab... I think it is one of the largest particle accelerators in Europe and the largest in Scandinavia. I am trying to choose classes that I would be taking right now back at Davis, but many of them may only be taught in Swedish so I am trying to pick a lot of different options for courses so I will really cover my bases.

I am hagning out with a lot of Swedish people now and have many Swedish friends. I spend more time with Swedish people that American people theses days, which is good for my cultural immersion. I know my Swedish corridor mates really well now, and I am even friends with some of their friends, so I am really starting to feel like a Swede. It is good to be an exchange student though, aparrently Swedish girls like guys from California, and many of them dream of going to California since a lot of the movies and music they have is from there. I thought it would be wise to remain single while I am in Sweden, at least initially, since I will posssibly be here for a year. It would not make that much sense to start a relationship so early, but we will see what happens. By the way, in case there are some of you who do not know, the women in Sweden are incredibly beautiful.

Any way, I am loving life here in Sweden, and look forward to staying for the year. I am committed to taking financial responsibility for myself so I can have this experience, and I will try my best to conserve money. I am learning more and more strategies over time. I can't really talk about all that I have done since my last blog entry because I am leaving for Germany in about an hour. In less that 24 hours I should be celebrating at Oktoberfest with people from all over the world. It will be a cool cultural experience, and I studied German for 4 years in highschool, so I am very excited to finally get to visit the country. I will try to take lots of pictures and post some of them so that you can see what it was like, and I will also post some more recent pictures taken here in Sweden.

Hej då! (goodbye)