And So It Begins

Patrick from Germany and I (on the left) having soup in a Gøteborg coffeeshop

Today 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

Alley 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!

Landing in Sweden

Church in the center of Jonkoping

7:30 a.m., Stockholm (12:30 a.m., Brookings)

After landing in Stockholm, I found myself in a near empty airport with snow falling outside and no sunlight to be found. I stand next to a glass door as a man in a booth asks me where I'm from and what I'll be doing in Sweden for the next six months. After having a very brief chat about Jonkoping and teaching, I'm officially allowed into the country.

I get my bags and make my way to to train station to buy a ticket to Jonkoping. After originally buying a ticket for 858 Swedish Krowns, or Kroners (114 US dollars), I sit down next to a kid from Canada who is also studying abroad, but in a different town. This kid reminds me that students get a discount on transportation. Keeping this in mind, I ask the man selling tickets if it would be possible to give him back my ticket and purchase another at the student price.

"Yes of course, here you are. 329 Krowns"

That's about 45 dollars. This is my first sample of Swedish kindness. After taking a tram from the airport to Stockholm Central Station, I ask (in broken Swedish) if he can give me directions (make that very broken Swedish). In English, which the uber majority of Swedes speak fluently, theman tells me where I need to go, and what to do when I get there. I thank him--maybe too many times--and go on my way.

It's a three (ish)-hour train ride from Stockholm to Jonkoping, and the Swedish landscape is more beautiful than the pictures. I get to Jonkoping at about 3 p.m. Swedish time (I need to find out what the timezone is called) and meet other students who are just arriving as well. I'm basically delirious at this point from lack of sleep, but so were most of the other students, so already we had something in common. There's quite a crew here from Texas A&M, and in the last few days I've been hanging out a lot with some students from Holland and Australia. Classes don't even start until Monday, but already I've learned more than a book could ever teach me.

A view of the lake from campus

Education and Communication Building

Introductions

My name is Aaron Merchen, and I'm a junior history education major at South Dakota State University. At SDSU I've been involved in many great organizations, like the Admissions Ambassadors, State University Theatre, Capers, and the unofficial chapter of Superfan Body-Painters.

Originally I'm from Spearfish, SD, where my mom, dad, younger sister, and older brother still live. For the 2007 Spring Semester, I'm studying International Education and Multicultural Teaching at Jonkoping University in Jonkoping, Sweden. I decided to make this journey for a number of reasons. I truly want to be the best teacher I'm capable of being. I feel that studying an educational system on the other side of the world will help not only with my scope of the American education system, but will give me a wealth of worldly experience to pass onto my students one day. Ultimately, I would like to teach at an economically disadvantaged school and maybe, one day, be an educational administrator.