Swedish Academia

So I've been doing a pretty terrible job of writing updates in this blog (and also in my own personal journal, to be perfectly honest!) The problem is, I think, that so many things are happening and it's all going so fast that my brain can't keep up -- or slow down long enough to thoughtfully represent my experiences abroad to all my dear family and friends.

I've finally started classes at Lund University. I haven't actually attended all of them yet, one doesn't start until Wednesday, and another on Thursday, so I've only had one of my four classes so far. Lund has an odd system of scheduling. My "Gender, Social Change, and Modernity" class, for example, meets mostly on Tuesdays from 2-4 or 2-5pm. But sometimes it meets on Wednesdays, and at least once it's going to meet on Thursday at 9am! And these classes alternate between the Gender Studies Dept. and the "Yellow Villa" -- which is literally a house in the Botanical Gardens which is painted yellow. Thank God, or I would have never found it. Also, most classes don't span the entire semester. "Gender, Social Change ..." began last week and will end in late October. My "New Europe" class begins this Wednesday and ends in December (this one does actually span the semester). "Swedish Social Policy" doesn't begin until early October and will end mid-November! As for my Swedish class, I don't know how long it will be. But I'm guessing that I'll have Swedish 3 for the first half of the semester, and then bump up to Swedish 4 in the second half. It's quite an interesting system.

There is also an ancient and proud tradition of "akademiska kvart" here in Sweden. It's actually only practiced at the older universities, and by that I mean, only Lund and Uppsala do it. It translates to the "academic quarter-hour." Broken down, it pretty much means that if a class is scheduled to begin at 2:00pm, nobody expects you to show up until 2:15pm. That's when the professor will come and if you come earlier (i.e. on time) you're going to be sitting around and waiting. So far I keep forgetting about it. It's an interesting system in a land which is so concerned with timeliness. Honestly, if you invite a Swede over to your house for dinner at 7pm. He will not arrive at 6:59pm nor will he arrive at 7:01pm. He will be there at 7 on the dot, barring catastrophe and even then ... it's questionable as to whether he still might be on time. So this policy of constantly be 15-minutes late is a bit questionable to me, but so far I've experienced it twice (I arrived on time, only to wait for 15 minutes for everyone else). I should explain to my Swedish friends how it works in California -- if a professor is 15 minutes late in California, you just leave -- expect class to be cancelled, the prof. is not showing up. What an interesting difference.

I've also learned the secret to attaining Swedish friends -- drinking. You don't have to get rip-roaring drunk with them and share your darkest secrets to be friends. But I've found that Swedes are very shy and reserved -- until they have a beer in their hands, and then you are instant friends. They don't even have to have drunk any of that beer. But I think the feeling of the glass (or metal can) in their hands that makes them instantly confidant and friendly.

In these same situations, I've learned that Swedes are not very good dancers. Lund has a system of "nations" which are student social groups. The closest thing in comparison in America would be the Greek system of fraternities and sororities. But the nations aren't tied up in homo-erotic paddling and hazing. They're just groups of students, both male and female, who like to get together and organize events. They serve cheap dinners made by student volunteers each night, they have "clubs" where there's good music and cheap beer (and bad Swedish dancers), they have "sittnings" which are 3-course meals where you dress up in a theme and have a lot of fun singing and eating and drinking. (I've also noticed that Swedes sing a LOT!) I haven't joined a nation yet, I'm still weighing my options, but I wish that UCLA would adopt the same system and get rid of fraternities and sororities altogether.

Well, as I continue with my classes and learn new things about Sweden, I will certainly slow down long enough to share what I've learned. Wish me luck!

Here's some Swedish for you to learn:
dansa -- dance
köns -- gender
öl -- beer
klubb -- night club
måndag, tisdag, onsdag, torsdag, fredag, lördag, sonndag -- the days of the week (MTWTFSS)