Of Formula 1 racing and sermons

Well, I decided to check out a new church last week, or this week, depending on which week system you use (the Swedes put Sunday with Saturday and Monday starts the new week, not a big difference really, but interesting). The service was definitely like none other I had ever quite experienced. I noticed the first difference when I walked in and saw tires randomly lying around. When I walked in I noticed a tire set up in front of the podium, hmmm this is interesting I thought. Well one of the pastors (I presume) got up and gave the announcements and pre-sermon worship, in the middle of her talk, they showed a clip from a formula 1 race, a driver making a pit stop. I thought it was pretty random. Then the other pastor came up and began the sermon. And it quickly became clear that the sermon was constructed around the illustration of a formula 1 pitstop and other things about formula 1 cars. They showed a variety of pics of formula 1 cars and he talked about the pit crews working together and the gas line being thick and other things. Some people thought the sermon was good, but the main point was lost on me, perhaps because I think the translator was struggling a bit with the racing terminology. After that they had a singing time that lasted about 45 minutes or so, singing the regular variety of praise songs. The fika afterwards (a great Swedish tradition) was good, and I went to dinner with some other students at a Thai restaurant. That was a good time, a bit expensive, but it worked. That evening (after listening to a substantive sermon by Pastor Long) I attended a Chinese New Year dinner hosted by a friend from the international bible study (who is from Singapore). I had a lot of fun there, met some new people and ate great chinese soup. They talked about the different Chinese new year traditions like tossing a salad and giving oranges to the elderly etc. The food was outstanding. After the party I went to a meeting with my corridor where we established a schedule for cleaning, and afterward made the kitchen look much cleaner. It was also the first time we actually had seven people at the kitchen table all at once.

This week I started my Basic Swedish course. The teacher is great, and the class should be helpful but not too much work. We started with asking a variety of questions like where are you from and what are you studying etc. I think it will be a big help for me. I am not sure whether or not I will be able to gain fluency in Swedish, but I will definitely get better.

Well those were a couple of the main events of this week, I am working hard to get a paper done early because we will be returning after the deadline has past. I have a gasque for freshman on Saturday hosted by the Goteborg nation, so that will be interesting to see.

Of Ferries, Estonians, and Exchange students

Well, I have been keeping myself fairly busy, which is why I have not been able to post for over a week. It seems like every day I have some kind of dinner or event that I am going to. But I am enjoying it, because I am able to meet new people and feel like I am involved in things. I have met several new people in my Swedish history class, including a guy from England and a guy from Turkey. On Thursday of last week we went to a place called Gamla Uppsala where there are mounds from Viking times, at one point there were over 200 mounds in one place. Below is a picture of one of the mounds. The museum had a variety of interesting artifacts that they had pulled from the tomb as well.

There was also an old church right next to the burial mound area. It actually had been one of the main churches in Uppsala, built around the 12th century or so. But a fire destroyed much of the church. However the part that remains is preserved remarkably well and appeared to be only slightly changed from the 12th century. It was very interesting to go in. Below is a picture of the church

Last Wednesday there was a welcoming reception for the exchange students in the University Main building, which is a very nice building. We were able to go inside a big auditorium that was nicely decorated, and then we went to a reception room where there was a lot of paintings and things and we listened to a welcoming speech given by the Vice Chancellor. The reception was okay, but the most exciting part was what happened afterwards.

As I was going out of the building, I met the English guy who was with some students from Singapore. I started walking with them, and found out they were going to eat at this place called Pinnochio's Pizza. I also heard them talking about a trip they were going to take to Lapland and a place called Abisko mountain station. They were going to Pinnochio's Pizza to discuss what they were going to do for the trip. So I decided to go, and so within half an hour I had signed up for a trip to Lapland from February 21-25. It was quite interesting the way things worked out, but that is what I enjoy so much about being an international student. I have an immediate connection with every other international student. So the Lapland trip will be my next big adventure, and I am hoping to visit the Ice Hotel, go dogsledding, and do a variety of other things. It will be somewhat expensive, but I think that it will be worth it.

Well, now on to my trip to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It is a small town of approximately 400,000 people. But the old town had a nice medieval feel to it. So on Friday I and three other students took a train to Stockholm where we went on the ferry. There were a lot of other exchange students on the ferry as well. The ferry was a cruise ferry, so it had a pub, and a casino/stage, and a disco, and a restaurant where they charged ridiculous prices for food, and finally, a tax free store. In face a lot of people take this ferry because they are able to buy beer for significantly cheaper prices than in Sweden. Some people were a bit drunk, but it wasn't too bad. Fortunately my roommates were quiet.

The picture above shows the ferry I was on. The town was very nice. I wandered around with five other exchange students. The old town had a nice medieval feel to it. There were a variety of interesting shops and museums. Part of the old wall had been preserved. All the streets were cobblestone, some were narrow, so it was nice to walk around some.

The prices were also cheap for the most part, the estonian currency was 10 to 1 against the American dollar, which made conversion nice and simple. We also went to the city museum and learned some about 20th century Estonian history and how hard it was for the people being occupied by the Germans and then the Soviets from a guy who was born in 1932. It was very interesting to hear him describe the events, the deportations and the propaganda. I was moved by the courage of the people of this small country. On the ferry ride back we ran into some rough waves and rough weather. Some people got seasick, but I actually enjoyed the storm as it reminded me of God's power (and of course being from Indiana, I never really experience storms on seas). The ship was rocking back and forth noticably, I went out on deck several times and enjoyed watching the sea and the waves. All in all it was exciting. Below is a video I took while I was standing on the exterior deck.

This week has seemed to just fly by with a variety of events. Sunday I watched the Super Bowl at this bar in Uppsala that stayed open. The game started at 12:45 in Sweden. It gave new meaning for me to hear the sports announcers say that they were broadcasting the game around the world. It was a very exciting game to watch, it didn't seem like there were many Americans, mostly people from around the world, but they were into the game. I left at the end of the third quarter because I had come back from Estonia that day and was tired and I knew I had class the next day at 9:00, perhaps I should have stayed, but oh well. I left around 2:45 in the morning. But I was definitely very happy when I turned on my computer the next morning and found out the Giants won. It was the next best thing to the Colts winning the Super Bowl.

On Monday I had class and learned about Gustav Vassa who formed the Swedish state, and about the period from 1520-1710 when Sweden went to war with just about everybody (the only time they went to war with just about everybody). I also stopped by an exhibition in the Carolina Redviva library where they have a lot of old books, the highlight of which is the Silver Bible, from the 6th century or so. Most of these manuscripts were stolen from German castles in the 17th century, when Sweden was a great military power. Next week I have to come up with a paper topic for a comparison between Sweden and the U.S. Monday night was the International Bible Study where we studied 2 Corinthians. Tuesday was another busy day as I had a session on how to use the Uppsala Library catalogue, then I sang in the gospel choir for an hour, then went to Goteborg nation to make Semla as Tuesday is known as Fat Tuesday or Semla day, (they were very good). Finally I went to the Norrlands nation Sports Club and played basketball. I have officially joined the Sports Club to play basketball and they meet every Tuesday night from 10-11. Today I met a guy for lunch, studied some LSAT prep, and went to a dinner sponsored by this organisation called CAMBIUS. The dinner was great, and I sang the Star Spangled Banner for everyone there, as the people from the different countries were singing their national anthems. I forgot some of the words, I can't believe I did that, but I didn't pause, so I don't think anyone noticed. So that is a bit of my life, keeping very busy and constantly meeting new people, which I am enjoying very much. Well, time for bed, and then a new day.

Stockholm

Well I had an adventurous day in Stockholm. We arrived at the train station at caught the train leaving at around 9:30. We arrived, and after a quick breakfast at McDonalds, I proceeded to the Greek embassy (eventually, after a lot of guessing and trying to find the tourist office). One of the members of our group will hopefully go to Athens in March and he needed to sort out some things. After the embassy trip, we walked down to the Vasa musuem. On the way I saw a Ferrari dealership and I looked at some of the ridiculously expensive cars they have there. They were cool to see at least. The Vasa museum holds a very large ship built in 1627 Gustavus Adolphus as a flagship in a war against Poland. The ship sank during its maiden voyage in Stockholm harbor because of a design flaw. In the 50's they were able to lift it up, which was quite a challenging process. They have done an incredible job preserving the ship and now it is in a fully enclosed musuem. The ship is very large and very ornately decorated. I have some more pictures on Picasa, but I think this gives you a good idea of the size of the ship. I enjoyed the museum. Then we took a ferry to another part of Stockholm, ate a bit, and then decided to head back to the train station.

Unfortunately our sense of direction failed us, we had landed on an island in close to land on the south and the north. We needed to go north, but we ended up heading south (thinking we were going north) When we arrived on the mainland we turned left (which is what we should have done had we turned north) and we wandered around for the next 45 minutes trying to figure out where we were (because of course, we could not find the streets on the map). Well we finally figured it out, much to our chagrin, but we survived. I have a new respect for the racers on the Amazing Race because it is so easy to get turned around. I think I would not fare very well. Stockholm as a whole was okay, but not too interesting, I think it will be better in the summer.

I also went to a meeting of the International Bible Study tonight, as they normally meet on Monday. I met a couple of other new people. But I am so thankful that I have found this study, because the leader and the people attending the study are all Christians who believe the Bible is true and that the gospel is true. I was very worried coming to Sweden that I wouldn't find any other Christians, but God has answered my prayers. It is also interesting to hear some of the challenges that Christians face here in Sweden. Well that is all for now, on Friday I will be going Estonia on a ferry, so we'll see how that goes.

Getting to know Swedes

Since I last posted, I have been getting to know some Swedes a little better. I think it just takes some time for them to warm up or something like that. I have gotten to know a Greek guy named Antony pretty well, he is definitely the friendliest. Also the nation I joined, Goteborg, has had a couple of events, like a little pub crawl last night in which I have been able to meet some more Swedes. (By the way, I was able to go on the pub crawl without drinking a drop of beer, I just get some water, it's free, or coffee and enjoy talking, they are actually really fun to go on, because everyone is friendly and likes to talk. I have noticed that Swedes are more open to talking about politics and things like that, the conversations naturally flow into discussions around political issues, which I enjoy, because I like talking about politics. So I am glad that I am able to get to know other Swedes a little better. The other thing I like about the pubs here is they are places to go and talk or play board games, you don't have to get drunk. I think Swedes are into board games, because at one of the pubs I saw some people at a table playing Settlers of Catan.

On Wednesday I had my first class, Swedish history, and it is going to be pretty easy, just read 1 600 page book and write an 8 page paper in 4 weeks. So I have a lot of free time, hopefully I will be able to use some of that in studying my LSAT prep book and traveling. There is a group of four other people and I who will be going to Stockholm on Monday. I am looking forward to that, and I hope that it will be the start of more travels. There is so much to see, and so little time to see it.

Even though my corridor is a bit quiet, at least they don't blare music like a couple of the other corridors in my building. Last night at about 2:20 in the morning, the guy in the room below me was blaring his stereo really loud, (of course it had the exact same electric guitar line). I was able to get to sleep because I had earplugs, but I was thinking how frustrated I would be if I actually lived in that corridor. So after that experience, I was thankful that I am in a more peaceful corridor, even if most people hide in their rooms. Well, that is all, today is Australia Day, so all the Australians are having a big party (I think they could get a degree in partying), so I might go check it out, or I might not.

pictures!

I just want everyone to know that I have posted pictures on Picasa and they can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/doerr.adam.

New Twists and Turns

Today was an interesting day for a number of reasons. First of all, I bought a bike, which is an important thing to have in Uppsala. The bike shop was a bit out of the way, but it was worth the trip. The bike is a single speed cruiser style bike, old, but sturdy and in relatively good condition. It came with a light that is powered by the turning of the wheel, which is also good, because the police here can give a fine of up to 1500 SEK for not having a light. I also purchased a coffeemaker today, because my corridor does not have one, and now I can make the Starbucks coffee that I brought with me from home. I joined a nation, one of Uppsala's 13 nations. It is called the Goteborg nation, a small nation with only 600 members or so (nations average around 3000). But I wanted a small nation that didn't have such a large proportion of international students. We'll see how this one turns out. Hopefully I will be able to get to know other Swedes better through the nation. Finally, I went to a meeting of a gospel choir run by the chaplain's office. It is open to anyone, and they sing negro spiritual style. So it was kind of interesting to watch all these Swedes swinging and singing a style that has no roots in their past. They conducted the whole thing in Swedish, but I was able to follow along via hand motions, and doing what everyone else did. I think I'm the only international student there, but the other guys (it was mostly girls, but there were about 10 guys) were friendly, so I'll think I'll keep going to practice Swedish, and to meet some Swedes. I had never really planned on doing something like joining a gospel song, but I think it will be a good experience, I think that it is good to do these things to get connected with other Swedes. Well, tomorrow is my first day of class, so it will be another interesting day, and we'll see how things go, but I am becoming more and more encouraged as time progresses.

Getting connected to Christians

Things have happened quickly, and I am slowly starting to feel like this is my home as I get to know more and more people and get accustomed to different ways of doing things. On Sunday I was able to attend a Baptist church that had a Swedish service, but had headphones through which a translator translated what the preacher was saying. The preacher said he was an ecumenical preacher, but he did have some interesting things to say about the church being a good influence in the world, an interesting contrast. The service was fairly traditional, with a guitar, piano, and organ being the sole instruments used. Tonight I went to an international student Bible Study, led by a priest from the Church of Sweden. He actually grew up in California and decided to come to Sweden based on a call of God (as he put it). Most of the other students are graduate students, but they were all friendly and it at least puts me in contact with some other Christians. The priest had actually just come from the United States from a Young Life conference and so he was talking about his experience there. I think that I will have plenty of doctrinal differences with the leader, but I think that they uphold the gospel and will be a good group to meet with.


The other big thing I did today was to go to a reception where I learned more about the thirteen student nations at Uppsala. The student nations have a deep history at Uppsala University, most of them are at least 300 years old. They represent a geographical region of Sweden and range in size from 600 members to 7000 members. Each nation has a pub, a cafe in a building and provides activities from sports to choirs. There are some things that members of one nation can do with a member of another nation, but it is important to choose a nation that fits one's style. I have to sign up at a particular nation tomorrow. I think I have one in mind. We'll see how things go. So I am becoming more encouraged as I stay for a longer time. My room and building are starting to feel a little like home. Well I probably should go to bed, and get up for a busy day tomorrow.