Patrick from Germany and I (on the left) having soup in a Gøteborg coffeeshopToday was the first day of school here at Jonkoping University. Last week was orientation week, which is basically a blur of learning essential phrases in broken Swedish, meeting people from all over the globe, getting a feel for the lay of the land, and feeling victorious for doing everday things (e.g., grocery shopping, buying a bus ticket, and find out what time church starts).
In 10 days I have befriended people from Germany, France, Canada, the Czech Republic, Holland, and Australia. My roommates from Turkey, Mexico, and Tanzania have all cooked something from their homeland, and I may be addicted to coffee, as it is Swedish culture to have, minimum, two coffee breaks during the day.
On Saturday (1/20), as we had no homework yet, a group of us decided to take a trip to Gothenburg (or Gøteborg), the second largest city in Sweden at just over half a million. We left at about a quarter to eight in the morning, and as the sun doesn't rise until at least 8:30, I decided to take a nap on the bus. When I awoke, I was greeted by something of a blizzard outside my window, as in two short hours the landscape went from spring to winter, and me without a stocking cap.
Luckily, a kid from Quebec had an extra hat.
After a "ficka", which is Swedish for "coffee break" (history being that back in the day, during one of the wars I believe, coffee was rationed to the point of being outlawed, and thusly "ficka" became code for coffee), we intrepid tourists walked around Gothenburg, taking pictures and experiencing the Haga, or "old town."
After lunch, some more sight seeing, and another ficka, we decided to call it a day and head home.
Boulevard in Gøteborg 
Monday rolled around, and I prepared for my first day of international education.
I am enrolled in a 12-credit course called "The Intercultural Teacher." Some students would take two classes for a five-week period, and then the next period take a different class, and then for another five weeks take two different classes. I, however, am in a relatively new curriculum. The Intercultural Teacher course has only been offered once before in the Education program's short history (Jonkoping University as a whole was founded in 1996). We twenty students will, on Monday Wednesday and Friday, take part in various lectures from one of the four different teachers that provide input for the class. Tuesdays and Thursdays the class may not even meet, but we are still given projects and assignments to complete by the next official class day. There will be a fair amount of reading involved, but being a history major, that's nothing new. My class is small, but diverse. There are 20 of us, four being male. There is a strong representation from the Ukraine and Russia, and of course, Sweden. Other classmates hail from Holland, Somaila, Macedonia, and this guy, from the US.
Our education professors have a strong belief in unity and intercultural understanding. To "bring the group together" we are taking an exclusive class trip, funded by the university, to Copenhagen. During our three-day Copenhagen trip, we will stay in a YouthHostel and visit museums, as well as various institutes of education. For instance, on Monday (1/29) we will visit the finest teacher university in Denmark, and on Tuesday we will visit a private Muslim academy. I continue to be amazed by the beauty around me, though daily find things that remind me of my friends back home.
That's it for now. Go Jackrabbits!
