Hej Hej,

So today is my birthday and a major on! At 16, you can get a drivers license, at 18, you can vote, at 21, you can drink. But at 25, now I can rent a car and allowed access to cheaper car insurance. I used to think that the car insurance thing was stupid to only pick an arbitrary age to give me a discount, or not jack up the price as it may be. But now I understand it. I feel so much more responsible, careful, and "grown up" than I did yesterday. Now I don't have a car, but if I did, I am certain I would be a much better driver today than I was on August 21st, the last day I drove a car.

Well, a month ago (here defined as a period of 4 weeks and not the 31 days that would normally constitute a month between August x and September y) tomorrow I got in (not on) a plane to come to Sweden. Time flies by really fast. I am done with ethics now and just have the take home test and in class test on Tuedsay. Ousch!!

But it has been a good time here so far. I have made some good friends including Nils, Petrus (pictured in this posting), Simon, Anton, Sophia, Malin, and many more. My Swedish has gotten better, I hope, and om (See Malin) one month it will be even more. Though the same cannot be said for my Englilsh. I am at a point where when I try to talk, I forget the word I am trying to say, in two languages. So in reality, I am forgetting twice as much as I used to. I hope that is not exponential.

Well on Sunday, there was the big election where the Social Democrats slightly increased their percentage from what they had before. But I am not talking about any government elections here. I am talking about the Swedish Church governing body. Here in Sweden, the leaders of the church are elected in polling booths on ballots (see pictures). And in the election, the candidates run as members of political parties, the Swedish equivalent of Democrats and Republicans. It is a rather odd concept for an American.

Well, I am going to go join a soccer team which should be fun and painful. But I need to get my football fix some how.

Vi hörs,

Antonio

Long time...

So it has been a little while since I wrote. Sorry!!!

Things have been going well here. I have 2 more weeks of ethics (gulp) so I am trying to get the Norwegian done. I have also started an online class at Luther: Gospel and Global Media. It should be a good course.

I have some great news.

1. I will be here the whole school year because

2. I get to do my CPE my 4th year after

3. I go on internship next year. Those were all three iffy questions when I left and they are now resolved. Woot woot.

As many of you know, I love Sweden. The culture, the people, and the food. But, I do have another part of me too. Antonio Lorenzo Spargo, lover of spicy foods. Well, I finally decided that I had eaten enough meatballs and falukorv. So I decided to make cajun style red beans and rice. I went to the ICA grocery store that is 300 feet from school and tried to find the ingredients. Because this ICA is not very big, I had to punt on some spices. It ended up being weak in my opinion, even with fresh peppers, but almost too spicy for the Swedes I shared it with. But it was good. So good that I ate it for four days straight. mmmmm

When I am not making cajun food or baking banana bread (yes, I did that too), I have been getting very good at bureaucratic Swedish interactions. SInce I got here, I have been trying to open a bank account. The first time I went to the bank, they said I had to study in Sweden for 10 months. But since I am able to work in Sweden with my visa, that did not make sense. I went back a second time and to which I was informed I could have a bank account, but that I needed a letter of admission from the school. I had one that I sent to the Swedish Government to get my visa so I thought I would use that.

On my 3rd visit, I was told that it wasn't signed and stamped by the school so I needed a new one. So after returning to school, requesting a letter that was signed and stamped I went a 4th time. Finally we started the process of opening an account until they said my person number (SSN) was not active and that I needed to go to the Skateverket office to get that taken care of. When I walked there, they were closed. So I went in to town for a 5th time and was told there that I would be entered into the system in 4 weeks. Eish.

Then yesterday, I was trying to get my insurance figured out here in Sweden. After talking to the American Embasy, Swedish INS, some office I don't remember in Uppsala, and försäkrings kassan (insurance) I found I needed to go to the Försäkrings Kassan office in Uppsala to fill out some papers. I did that today! Finally done with my running. Except when she copies my residence permit, she asked for my other INS papers, which I never received. So now I have to go to that office to request them. Yipee.

But I now have a bike (Thanks Wes!!!) that makes getting around Uppsala a lot easier. And very soon I will be joining Norrlands Nation, which is one of the student organizations at the University, that will get me discounts and various things around town.

That is about it and I have class in 7.5 hours. So I am going to turn in. I hope you are doing well!!! As I said before, please do add me on skype or send emails or chocolate chip cookies. Well that probably won't work but I would love to hear from you.

Antonio

p.s. Enjoy this link of a Ukranian band. If you recognize the song, it is funny. If you don't, then lace up your polka shoes. (Note there is a swear word) Heather C., this should be added to your list.

Photos

I thought I would post just a few photos. The last two are of me in Uppsala with the Domkyrkan behind (two spires) and then in front of the University's main hall. The rest are of my beautiful and spacious room. Enjoy!

Hey everyone,

So I started my first class today. I will now be taking ethics for the next month. Students here only have one class at a time (plus pastoral courses that don't count for academic credit) and so it feels weird to not have schlep around four or five different notebooks and what not.

God does some amazing things for us to keep things in perspective. My first class is of course ethics and there was definitely times when I was struggling to keep up with the class when the teacher, Tomas who is the Rektor, was talking philosophically. After class, I was feeling a little down about how the first class went. But then I took the bus into town to get a sim card for my phone (which I have now, yay) and met Iris. Iris is a student here in Uppsala studying at the University in sociology, I think. While I was at the bus stop, Iris came up and after standing at the stop for a few minutes asked me a question about how to get to someplace in town. But there was a slight problem in that she can't speak Swedish or English. Iris is from Spain here studying for five months, again I think. So I talked with her at the bus stop and on the bus. She said she came to Sweden to study hoping to learn English. I believe she also said is is taking a Swedish course too, I think. So I had a nice conversation with Iris and sent her on her way to her destination.

But when I had parted ways with Iris, I realized that my struggles and extra effort that I had put into my class that morning paled in comparison to what Iris was experiencing. While we were talking, she continually stopped and asked if I understood her. And most of the time I did. But I could see that after her 8 days of being in a country where she really struggles to communicate, she was overloaded and exhausted. As I walked away, I knew my worst day language wise here will not even compare to what Iris has already survived. So I said a prayer for Iris and thanked God for the reality check.

Anyway, that is the update for my first day of class. So I realized that my contact info is not here.

My skype account name is Antonio.Spargo

My email is versk84@gmail.com (or if you have another that works to. Though do not use augsburg.edu)

My address is

Heidenstamsgatan 75: 5

754 27 Uppsala, Sweden

I hope you all are enjoying the fair. Eat some cheese curds and Sweet Martha's for me!

That's all for now,

Antonio

First Post

Hej alla,

This is the blog that I will be posting updates from my year of studies in Sweden. Feel free to read as much or little as you want. Though you are here by notified that this will be the most exciting blog you have ever read and should check back often. Sort of.

So I arrived in Sweden last Saturday and was met at the airport by Tomas Nygren, the rector (President) of the school, and his wife. Tomas brought me to the school and showed me my room and a quick tour of the school. It is only one building and a dorm so it did not take very long.

I then proceeded to ride with my cousin, Ola, (som kan kallas Olala) for his girlfriend, Emma's birthday. Then after being in Transtrand for less then 20 hours I turned around to come back to Uppsala.

On Monday I began my first day at Johannelund Teoligiska Högskola. I participated in the informational activities for the first year students (Ettan). We played a lot of name games and such in order to get to know each other. It was a good time and very helpful since just about all of the people who I live with are in Ettan.

On Tuesday, I left Ettan to be with the second year students (Tvåan) who I will actually be in class with. Starting Tuesday we began Temaveckan which is actually a course for them about music in services. During this time, we had a variety of different components including a hymn (pslam in Swedish) analysis, a visit from a cantor, and a Swedish gospel singer.

Last night was Ettan´s (and mine) welcome night where Tvåan took us out for a classic dagis (daycare) or elementary class trip to grill and play games. It was fun walking through Uppsala all two by two holding a string in the middle and our "teachers" yelling at us the whole way to stay in line.

Today I had probably my most meaningful experience so far. This morning when the gospel singer (which is not quite the same as an American gospel singer) came to our class there was also a black woman who was also there. When the presenter started to talk, they asked if anyone was good in English to translate for Rhonda. Someone else volunteered to do it and started to do it for the first 15 minutes or so. I noticed that it was difficult for him since he was translating out of his native tounge. So I offered to help out to which he gladly asked me to take over. So then for the rest of the morning, I was able to be with Rhonda who is a pastor in Zimbabwe and came with a group to see how Swedish Lutheran churches work. It was a great experience for me and was a pleasure to get to know Rhonda. I hope she will be at church on Sunday.

Well, that is about all I have to say right now. Please feel free to comment and ask questions about anything I post. I am always glad to hear from you!

Med vänliga hälsningar

Antonio