Christian in Alnarp

If I’ve been slow or boring with the blogs recently, I apologize! I’ve been super busy these last few days/weeks/months working away at my thesis and successfully presented it this Tuesday! Just in time for the holidays, which I will spend doing absolutely nothing – guilt free!

What a relief it was to finally present…I’ve been working on this since February 2012 and I’m very much looking forward to read/study/dream about different things topics!

Make sure to take some time and recharge your batteries!

God Jul! Christian

Don’t forget to go to Alnarpsgården tomorrow a little before 12:30 for the Lucia procession! This is what the Alnarp choir has been rehearsing for!…singing us nice songs while we (hopefully) drink hot wine

If you’re by the radio tomorrow morning, you’ll surely be surprised by the absence of Pop and finally some better songs…OK, if you like choirs…

Most importantly, don’t work so hard tomorrow and take the time to Fika and enjoy the cultural events around Alnarp/Malmö/Lund.

From the balcony in the kitchen, I hear the Swedish people going to school from the bus stop say “what’s that building” or “who’se living in that house”…

On the other hand, we’ve had a bunch of Swedes show up to our parties telling us that they’d know the international students would throw a great party because we’re here on a year-long vacation…

The truth is, at this point there is NO integration between international students and Swedish students…which is very bizarre. At SLU i Uppsala, housing was housing and there was no segregation. In Alnarp most of my international flatmates don’t have any Swedish friends.

Well, starting next year all of the different houses managed by SLU will become mixed students from the two different student unions (ASK and LMK) as well as international students! Good news for those arriving in Fall 2013, but not soon enough for those arriving in January. All I can say is It’s about time!

A lot of people have asked me why I’ve had this stupid moustache during the past month…fair enough question I don’t usually wear one. Well, besides being incredibly busy with my thesis these past few days, and not wanting to spend so much time shaving, it was also the month of Movember. That’s right  November no longer exists and has been replaced by a (very similar) month where men everywhere grow a ‘stache to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer and other men’s health issues.

I think that this was all invented following the pink ribbons of breast cancer awareness…men quickly realized that most months of the year were perpetually breast cancer awareness months (and that’s great!). But two things worried us, and we weren’t too sure how fix this problem.

The first was that we needed to “claim” a month before there were none left. The second was that a cancer which one in three men will get throughout their lifetime (that’s right, 1 in 3!!!) was not at all discussed in the wider population, which means that less funding and research were being done, with very little public awareness of this cancer. The problem is that men don’t like to admit their weaknesses, so it was imperative that our symbol for our month be very manly…This is when the moustache and November got together, and became Movember.

So besides fitting in with all the trendy ‘stache wearing men on Sweden, I also hope I helped raise a little awareness for this cause. But secretly I’m glad I don’t have to wear this goophy thing anymore!

Hej everyone!

I hope you’re all as stoked for Glitterfest as I am. Make sure you come out in costume, as some of the Swedes really go all out for this one! The dinner starts at 6:30 and the afterparty starts at 11:30, easy right? Wrong! It’s a little tricky to get the whole ticket thing right, so let me break it down!

You’re going to the dinner

• If you’re a member of ASK, that’s it! The afterparty is included in the cost and you have everything you need
• If you’re not a member of ASK, you need to purchase an ASK guestcard (50kr) BEFORE the party

You’re not going to the dinner

• If you’re a member of ASK, you pay 50kr to enter purchased at the door on Saturday night
• If you’re not a member of ASK, you need to purchase an ASK guestcard (50kr) BEFORE the party and another 50kr to enter at the door on Saturday night

Guestcards!

Non-ASK members have to purchase a guestcard before Saturday – or they can’t come in! The ASK office will be open (in the PABB) from 12:10 – 13:00 on Thursday and Friday. Don’t forget and see you there!!

Mmmmm…meatballs (or veggieballs?)!

Don’t forget to register for the Swedish dinner, organized by the international committee. It’s this Thursday. Starts at 8. Rumour has it there might be games, if Pia has her way! And best of all, we get delicious, homemade Swedish food for only 20kr. What a steal!

Register by the Student Cafe (Ok…it’s just a lunchroom) ASAP! See you there. And yes, there will be a PABB afterwards!

I hope everyone went outside to play this weekend! Yesterday was so nice! Someone wool-bombed the mulberry tree outside my house, so she can be warm all winter Also, the sky was doing very nice things with the colours and the clouds at sunset!

Have a good week and I hope you like your new course and meet new cool new coursemates

Colours!!

Mulberry woolbomb

The Alnarp student choir is resurrected! The first practice will be tomorrow afternoon. Absolutely no singing experience required. There will be Swedish songs, but you don’t need to know more than “fika” or “hej hej” to participate!

There will mostly be Christmas songs, and the choir will have a final Lucia concert, before hiding in the shadows for another year. Hope you can all join!!

• Time: 16:30 – 18
• Place: Loftet in Alnarpsgården

It’s been two Saturdays in a row where right around dinnertime, to power has gone out on campus and surrounding areas. Two weeks ago, we were just about to put the scallop potatoes in the oven. And by “just about to put them in”, I intend to say that I was opening the oven door, the casserole in my other hand. 2 hours and three very hungry boys later, it came back on just before we starved to death. Luckily, it was almost a full moon and a very starry night! It was amazing to go for a walk and see just how much light comes from the moon  This Saturday, we had a pizza party and right as we were preparing the first pizza, the power goes out again. This time we played cards and had a few beers around the candlelit kitchen table.

Other than the food situation, the two hours without electricity have been great. Getting outside or just hanging out without the radio blaring bad pop music in your ears. I wouldn’t be too sad if this starts to be a regular thing. With the energy challenges of the future (and depending on where you live, it might already be) this might become a very common thing.

Here’s a few songs by The Rolling Blackouts, a rock band from California. The name is very fitting to the past two Saturdays.

Have you ever wanted to feel like you were in this video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_fCqg92qks

 Well…maybe not exactly, but…hear me out!

You can get a free one-month gym pass at the Sportlife in Lomma, and they have a lot of cheesy classes that will make you sweat, or laugh, or both! Sh’Bam is my personal favourite..mostly dancing to old disco tunes!

There is no catch. You just need to go and register before the 31st of October. Beware, I might be wearing tights the next time you see me! Christian