Sick :(

I knew it would happen eventually. Being in a new environment, staying up late, meeting new people, etc. I finally ended up getting sick. I woke up with a sore throat today and I could barely stay awake during class. It also doesn't help that my classroom is freezing! All of the student end up wearing their coats in class but the professors don't seem to be bothered by the cold. I thought that perhaps this was just my monthly cold that I usually get, but I think this is worse or maybe it's because I don't have all the same medicine at my disposal as I usually do. I have ibuprofen and I brought Mucinex-D but I don't have any chlorospetic throat spray. I tried to substitute with this antiseptic gargle rinse stuff but it triggered my gag reflex and I threw up. I going to go back to bed here soon, but first I'm going to try to do some reading so that I'm not falling behind and my sleep schedule doesn't get too out of wack (I've already slept for 1 1/2 hours this evening). But up until this point, I've been having a lot of fun. Also, more picture on Flickr now that it's Feburary.


Readers digest verison of my week since my last post:

-Thursday: went out to the pub with Solenn and his French friend Benjamin to help them celebrate passing their exams back in France last semester. Got to practice a little French :). I also got out class early so I was able to get into First Street Towers with no problem and go into town to pay rent/get money/get my bike fixed (the cable for the gear shifter was worn out) + I got new lights and a furry seat cover. Plus I went over to Kalmar, my nation, to see their rehearsal for the play they are doing in April. Turns out I'm the only one interested in doing the technical stuff so I'm basically in charge of it all. It'll be a fun but challenging project because I'll be working with a cast of Swedes and we are doing the show in the banquet hall of the nation-house (i.e. with no real theatre equipment). More on that project as it develops.

-Friday: Only had class for 2 hours so I met Nikky for lunch in town, then we went window shopping (everything is on sale right now) but I didn't have enough cash on me to buy stuff except for groceries. Then I went to Värmlands nation for a buffet dinner/international student welcome thing which included a short choir concert and was followed by a party...the Swedes really know how to party (see videos)! There's also a picture of us on the Nations main webpage (hover over the first picture and click on the right arrow, I'm in the 3rd picture).

-Saturday: Besides working on homework, I met up with Zaneta to go shopping, this time armed with kronors. I picked up a few things I had picked out the day before at New Yorker, a popular clothing store for young adults. I got a pair of jeans, a few shirts, a sweatshirt/pullover, a belt, some socks, and a new shoulderbag for doing grocery shopping and such. Zaneta got some shoes. We went to the Swedish equivalent of Starbucks, Wayne's Coffee, for tea while we waited for Jan to finish his laundry so we could all go back to my place to make dinner. We had lemon pepper/garlic chicken, brown rice, and honey glazed carrots (which took forever to cook!) but it all turned out yummy. Then we headed over to Kalmar for a party/concert featuring a Swedish electronica group, Knight Music. Cue one more video:

-Sunday: Finished my homework so I went back to Kalmar for fika with a bunch of my friends. Made plans to go Estonia with Natalee and Jenny in 2 weeks and to Kiruna (Lappland) with Zaneta the weekend after that. Had dinner with a bunch of people in my building and helped Maik get his internet set up. Good thing I brought my router- his network card is really weird so he can only access the internet via Wi-Fi, not ethernet.

I just need to get better before Saturday because I'm organizing a group of about 10 people to go to Stockholm for the day.