Alright, so I guess I'll start by telling you a little about the course that I've been taking. This first course I took was called: "The Development of Scandinavia in a European context". Today (surprisingly) ended up being the last day of lectures for the first part of my four part course in Scandinavian Studies. It was supposed to be an extra lecture day because the professor forgot to come to class one of the days on the schedule. Instead, he just handed out the three exam questions and told us they are due in a week. I felt a little cheated in terms of hours of learning in lecture because we only have four hours a week, but the lectures weren't all that engaging anyway... which is too bad, but I trust that it will get better. My biggest beef with the class was that it progressed way too quickly, skipping a lot of the important points in Swedish history... like reasons Sweden broke away from the Kalmar Union. I guess for me, I've already taken a Scandinavian Language History class so I have a huge advantage and background already, but I feel bad for the other people in class who wanted to learn about the early foundations of Sweden, but only really received information about the ice age and the 19th and 20th centuries. Honestly, most of what is between the Bronze Age ("1800-400BC") and the 1800s (AD) was completely glossed over. A few things were touched on in between these eras, but the professor couldn't even describe the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520 for the class when I asked about it. That was an indication to me that maybe I should just sit and learn what the professor had to offer without embarrassing him.
The thing that I did get out of this course, was a general idea about the Swedish welfare state. I learned a few names like Raoul Wallenberg... and well, oh yeah -- Joe Hill! But, I think Raoul Wallenberg actually stuck in my head because of the connection his name had to something I saw on a history tour. Joe Hill stuck in my head because of a play I saw at Stadsteatern called Hunger! that talked about him... and the bread riots of 1917. Yup. So, other things that I've been doing...
I've been to a few fun little dinner parties and watched a few more movies lately. One movie I saw was Slum Dog Millionaire. This was an excellent movie about a totally normal guy that wins 'Who wants to be a millionaire' but has a great explanation for how he knew each answer. (This is important because he is tortured and interrogated for supposedly cheating). I'd give this movie a 9.4/10.
Another movie I saw recently is called Belle Epoque. It was an okay movie. Not great, but I'd give it maybe a 6.0/10. It was really interesting for me though because the audio track of the movie was in Spanish and the subtitles were in Swedish. It was making my brain work it a way it never has before. It was quite amazing.
I guess I also watched Offside, which is a Swedish comedy about a soccer team in Stenfors. It was funny at times, but was lacking in some way... I can't exactly figure out what it was lacking though. Score = 6.2/10.
Hmmm, I also watched Den Tredje Vågen, which is the sequel to Noll Tolerans. I didn't like it as much as Noll Tolerans. 7.0/10.
Okay, so enough with movie rating. Here's some dinner party pictures.
Okay, so right. What else have I done lately?... Have I told you yet that I played innebandy? Yeah, I went to Fysiken the other day and met up with Akane and played innebandy with a bunch of Swedish guys. For those of you that don't know, innebandy is like floor hockey with a wiffle-ball. It was a lot of fun and wore me out more than I thought it would. My whole body is sore and that's a good thing, I think.
Oh yeah, and I have I said anything about my Swedish massage yet? I don't know that I have! Well, I went to get a Swedish massage a few weeks ago, but I couldn't find the place for a while. I was running around these two blocks in Vasastan searching for Erik Dahlbergsgatan 19 for a while when I got a call from my masseur asking why I wasn't there on time. I told him I couldn't find the place. I was standing right between number 18 and 20 wondering why there was no number 19. Then I turned to the other side of the street and it was just a parking lot, so I walked up and down the street and the streetr on the other side of the parking lot for a while. Then it was like a Swedish exam because my masseur didn't speak very much English and we were trying to figure out where I was and where he was and how I was supposed to get to where his massage parlor is. By the time I got there it was 15 minutes past, but I was able to get nearly a full hour and also got a student discount (one that he says he doesn't give). I told him it looked like he had student discounts on the website.
I guess it's kinda cool. I can say I had a real Swedish massage from a real Swedish boy. But, I don't think I would go again. It was pretty expensive.
Okay, well I can't think of anything else right now. I should be working on an essay for Swedish class.
No comments:
Post a Comment