corridor crawl

Kate failed at describing her November adventures. This is my attempt to catch everyone up on them.

Awhile ago, like a month ago, I had an essay due that Monday so I blocked off a whole weekend to get it done. Naturally, on that Friday, my corridor decided to have a night of bonding and alcohol that is known as a "corridor crawl".

The trepidation

A corridor crawl is an event where you go around as a group to everyone's room. In each room there is a different drink. It is a brutal test of stamina because I live in a corridor with 12 people, 11 of whom were participating (plus two extras who did not bring alcohol because frankly that would be overkill).

no idea why i insist on showing people this

We began all civilly in Gina's room with wine and normal conversation. We followed it with Sylvia's room and hot wine in the kitchen. Things were going fine until we hit the middle which consisted of Aureille's room with vodka shots, my room with Fisher's shots, and Louis's room with tequila shots and hot sauce. In my room, I showed people awkward pictures of my adolescence because they were on the wall and I thought they were funny:

oh wait, I do

Then in Louis' room some people had a swordfight because he does fencing. I remember being terrified because Max should not be allowed near pointy objects. I wish I had a picture of this.







In Wendy's room, the karaoke began. Luckily it wasn't real karaoke where only one person humiliates themselves, it was group karaoke where the floor collectively humiliates itself and simultaneously pisses off anyone below us (we live on the 7th floor).

It concluded in Brian's room with absinthe. Absinthe was a brave choice considering that at this point we had all had at a minimum ten drinks, and a few brave souls had drank considerably more. So naturally passing around sugar and a lighter, burning the sugar, and dropping it into a shot glass was a good plan. I managed to avoid severe burns, or any burns, through what was either an act of god, or the wonders of chemistry. I spilled some sugar on my thumb, but it burned itself out, and on my knee, but it too burned itself out without setting fire to me or my clothing.

Upon completing all of this, many people went to bed. The rest of us stayed up causing bodily harm to others by dancing. I am proud to say I stuck it out the whole time and ended it in a four-way slow dance with Sylvia, Aureille, and Max because girls are apparently better partiers than boys.

my alcohol contribution

My storytelling contribution

Russia

"I bet 50 years ago the Russians did not expect an American and a German to be walking around their museum" Stefan, my German friend as we were walking around the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

For those of you unfamiliar with Russia: this building

Anyway, that quote kind of completely sums up my experience. Unexpected. I never thought I would go to Russia. I never even really thought about Russia (are they still Communists there?). I don't know if I know anyone who has been to Russia (other than the people on this trip. Southeast Asia is really more of the "unique" destination of my generation). Yet when I heard about it, I realized it was an experience I wanted to have.

So I went to Russia, armed with nothing more than a map and my visa, I set out all alone into the wilderness to face what would come. But friendless, and skill-less, I survived, even flourished. This is my story.

Breakfast

Okay not exactly. I went on a trip that is organized by the exchange student network, and gathers 120 exchange students studying in Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark) to go on a trip. It was still harrowing. The journey included 5 am wake-up calls, two nights on a ferry, two nights of sleeping on a bus (which included a 45 minute "rest break" for the driver in which you were woken up around 2 am to stand bleary-eyed in a Russian convenience store waiting for a bathroom and buying hot dogs), and at the end of all of this, the most harrowing sight of all:





I wish I could explain everything that happened, but I know that you as the reader would lose interest very quickly, so I will show you some pictures instead because everyone likes pictures, right?

Waking up and being at the Red Square in Moscow was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. I mean, this place is famous. But so is Disney's castle and I don't think that is a very surreal experience. I guess it was just the combination of being disoriented from lack of sleep and the fact that the architecture looks like that IN REAL LIFE that was just weirding me out. Plus, Lenin's body is on display there for free. You can go in and look at it and it is all preserved and looks like a wax model. Maybe it was one. But regardless of the actual contents, I saw what claimed to be Lenin's body in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia. If I had a bucket list, and if I ever thought about Russia before, I would be crossing that one off it!

I also saw it at night

The first night in St. Petersburg, Sylvia, Milena, Camille, Stefan, Martin, and I were walking around the river in a really unattractive industrial part of the city where our hotel was, and this guy started yelling at us about something. But he didn't speak English and we couldn't tell what he meant. We just left quickly. When we get about 100 yards away, we hear what I think are gunshots. It turns out it was a fireworks show at a hotel. So we got a front row view welcoming us to Russia!

Clubbing in Russia was not a whole lot of fun, because I am not a very big clubber, and by the time we were going out it was Sunday and Monday night. However, this is an awesome picture and I did have some good nights out. Besides, after walking for thirty minutes in what I personally believe was a snowstorm, but is actually just normal Moscow weather, being inside anywhere is pretty sweet.


Sadly I must interrupt this post to go eat waffles. I will post more of Russia stuff, as well as catch up with everything else I did in November very soon.
Or maybe not soon.
Guess we'll just have to see

Sigtuna Christmas markets

Yesterday was my first really holiday-ish day. I went to the Sigtuna Christmas markets. I went to Sigtuna once before in August because it is a really wellknown place in Upplands, which is the part of Sweden that Uppsala is in, but it looks SO different covered in snow. I remember walking around in August going, wow, this is just a normal town. But when it's all snowy and filled with people you can really see how small and cute it is. And the lake that I thought was so gross? Completely different when it's frozen over and your friends convince you to try walking on it! 

Soon, some nearby skiiers came over to see what we were doing and pointed out that they were prepared for this activity (with skis and ice picks and these weird orange things that they claimed would help them breathe) and that we were not. We heeded their warning and went back to the market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some idiot standing on a frozen lake

 

 

Her equally dumb friends

Non dangerous things that we did included looking around and buying sugared almonds. I also tried a nonalcoholic version of Glögg, which is this hot wine with cinnamon, sugar, and some other spices, and sometimes with a stronger spirit. It was good, but way too sweet for me.

We also had lunch in this adorable cafe. I got to have kladdkaka, which is something that I have been neglecting with my recent traveling and not being in Uppsala long enough to hang out in cafes. Plus, the nations have terrible kladdkaka. 

The funniest part of the day was when Shereen and I were walking around and we came across two little kids selling candied apples. We were just like "oh, sorry, we don't speak Swedish," and this kid who could not have been more than 8 says "oh, no Swedish, that's okay!" in a perfect American accent and then proceeds to try to sell us the apples. He even remembered us because later he spoke English as we were passing again. Living in Sweden is really making me aware of my own lack of language abilities.

The clouds are attacking

The view from my window

So there is this white stuff falling from the sky... and it's covering the ground... and it seems really cold... I'm not really sure what it is, but this might be snow


Or maybe I'm crazy.


Glad I finally bought a winter coat last week! And on that note, people who live in cold places are lucky, there is no item of clothing that makes you feel as glamorous as a fur-lined coat. Seriously, try putting one on and not feeling like a movie star.  I'm sorry people who believe in animal rights... this is just a fact of life.

UPDATE: Yes, that was definitely snow. To celebrate, I had a snowball fight and built a snowman. And it was an epic snowman. Not because it resembled a snowman in any real way, but because it had boobs and a tail. And it was almost three feet tall! 

Pictured: talent

And then I was going to go home and be all lazy, but I ran into Alice and Ellinor and we decided to go sledding. But we didn't have sleds. So we bought trash bags. And then I remembered that my roommate has a sled, so we borrowed his. And then we sledded down the hill to the grocery store using our plastic bags and sled. And then I fell off the sled many times. And life was awesome.


Until I got home and realized the internet was dead. Stupid snow!

I couldn't have made this snowman without them

Uppsala Kortfilmfestival

I volunteered at the Kortfilmfestival (short film festival) last weekend. I got to meet some cool people while I was doing it, and all I had to do was sell tickets and drink coffee and in return I got to see as many short films as I wanted. They were set up in 2-hour blocks and over the course of that week I saw five.

At first some of the films seemed way too intense and I wondered why they would make them so hard to watch, but then I realized that when you only have 5-20 minutes to show something, you have to make it make an impact. You don't have a few hours of buildup to make your point.

Even though I understand why they had to be so intense, I have to admit that my favorite was the animated one that was just insanely beautiful.

The Silence Beneath The Bark

Two curious little creatures discover snow and other mysterious things in a dreamy winter landscape.

balloon gasque

A few weeks ago was the International Student Gasque. A gasque is a big party, much like a prom or formal, where you get dressed up and have a nice dinner, listen to a lot of speeches that you toast with snaps, and dance once you are suitably drunk.

Highlights of the evening

This is the flower balloon that I became irrationally attached to. My "date", or the person I was assigned to sit next to, tried to throw it into the crowd for reasons that I still do not understand. Luckily I rescued it and left him, because he had listened to me talk about how much I loved that balloon for about three hours. There was no excuse for what he did and needless to say, there will not be a second.

 The rules of the gasque. I like the "eaten meal will not be refunded" rule.

 The meal of elk and potatoes... I would have preferred a nice steak, but you've gotta branch out sometime
*side note: I recently tried foie gras... gotta say the French know what they're doing about weird foods

Overall, a great night. I got to eat weird stuff, dance, and wear a pretty dress. And the most important thing is that my flower balloon survived the whole night!

Another awesome trip

Let me start out by saying something: Tallinn, Estonia is fucking cool. It will one day be very popular with budget conscious college students because the nightlife is great, the food is cheap, and the architecture is beautiful. The same goes to a lesser extent for Riga, Latvia. So to all the future college students who go there on their trips through Europe (because who can honestly afford Paris anymore), I say: Haha I went there before it was cool.

I also went there 2 weeks ago. I have been waiting to get around to developing pictures, but I guess I'm just going to have to steal Valentina's instead. I had to use a disposable camera anyway, so hers are better quality. 

Disposable Camera Quality

Digital Camera Quality

Dancing before the clubs opened

Anyway, our first stop was Riga. We got in pretty late on Saturday night, so we checked out the nightlife. It was weird to have to wait until 11 for the clubs to open, because in Uppsala all the nations open at about 8, and it is only free to get in until 9, and they close at 1:30. Unlike most people, I am not complaining about that schedule because I am an old person at heart and don't mind going to bed early. However, it was a nice change of pace to act like an actual 21 year old for once. 

When we did get to the club, no one was dancing, though, which kind of sucked. But then Valentina and I saw one guy really trying to get people to start dancing, so we joined him and proceeded to be the weird people dancing while everyone else stayed seated. It's okay, I know you're all secretly jealous that you have too much pride to look that silly, because we both know I'm having more fun than you.

The three brothers (buildings) with the 5 sisters

The next morning we checked out the sights of Riga:
















But we couldn't stay long because we had a bus to catch to Tallinn!
 That night we decided to save money by cooking at home because our hostel included a kitchen. Now I realize it is probably a stereotype that Italians are good cooks, but trust me, it's true. I was on a trip with four of them, and even though we just ate pasta it was somehow better than I would be able to make with the exact same ingredients. What I am trying to say, is if you ever get an invitation to a homecooked meal by someone from Italy, rearrange your schedule.  It is going to be embarrassing when I repay them in fajitas. Also, why do I always wind up rambling about food in this thing?

Anyway, once again we visited a club, where for some reason they were playing "Cotton-eyed Joe", which is a song that should never have been made, yet is inexplicably popular. I was the only American in my group, but everyone knew the song. Luckily it gave me a chance to put my old 3rd grade square dancing skills to good use.

Castle thoughtfully named "Fat Margaret"

Symbol of Freedom from Russia

Then once again there were sights to see:

note the wine

Tallinn is great because it has this very medieval feel to it. Walking around the weather was only a few degrees above freezing, but it wasn't windy and the sun made it warmer, and I like the cold (to that extent) so it was really nice. We bought sugared almonds and hot wine, and it kind of made me think of the holidays. I would actually really like to go back there closer to Christmas, even though it will be snowing, because it was a nice feeling. But more importantly, I need that recipe for hot wine, because it was just like hot cider, but grape-y and alcoholic! 

We also ate at a really cheap Estonian place, where we were told that traditional Estonian food is pancakes filled with stuff. Mine had cheese and bacon, so I was pretty much in love with it, and it was only $3! I have no picture to show you though.

Then we hopped an overnight ferry back to Stockholm and the the weekend ended with everyone a bit poorer, but having been to totally awesome places a full 5 or 10 years before they get cool.

I didn't want to share her with Paulo

Motorboating the mannequin

The group minus Angeline. I'm the alcoholic one.