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Thanksgiving in Oxford (posted by Jimmy in England)

November 23, 2012

Ever since I can remember, Thanksgiving Day has always consisted of a series of repeated events. I would wake up, go into the kitchen and start eating with family. We would all watch the parade, maybe play a little football outside, listen to Christmas music, eat more, watch some football, eat more, sleep and then prepare for what is known as Black Friday. There would be endless amounts of different appetizers, stuffing, turkey, potatoes and of course pies. The feast would go on all day and it was all about enjoying the company of family. During college, Thanksgiving has also been a time to relax after 13 long weeks at school and prepare for that last haul before finals. Last year if someone had asked me where I would be during the next Thanksgiving, Oxford wouldn’t have even been a fathomable attempt at an answer. Yet even though I missed Thanksgiving this year, I will say that the day was pretty memorable.

I woke up early in the morning to prepare for my cancer tutorial at 11 o’clock. Yes, I had a tutorial on Thanksgiving. The previous three days had been marked by very little sleep. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but this summer my 3 friends and I started a non-profit organization called Chance To Play. We aim to use sports as an outlet for families dealing with a medical issue. We wanted to release our website on Thanksgiving as a way to show how thankful we are to the people who have helped us and for the opportunities that we have been given. Needless to say, that is where the lack of sleep came from. (If you would like to check out the website, please visit us at http://www.chancetoplay.org it’s awesome! ) Anyways I was very excited about the launch and it is what got me through the devastating idea of having a tutorial on Thanksgiving.

After the tutorial, I slept for a few hours; what’s Thanksgiving without the typical mid-day nap? After the nap, the true American festivities began. The people who run St. Catherine’s College, the college that I am affiliated with at the University of Oxford, are amazing people. They knew that the visiting students would be missing their normal festivities, so they planned an evening for us. It started at 18:30 when we all met at the college for champagne with the Headmaster and Deans. About 30 undergraduate visiting students, along with a few graduate students, attended. It was one of those full circle moments where you realize how far you’ve come along. The drinks were in the same room that our welcoming ceremonies were in and this was the first time that we had been back. A little bit less than two months ago, none of us knew each other and at the time we were all imagining what the next chapter of our lives would entail. After having been through 8 weeks I can say that we’ve come a long way.

Thanksgiving table at St. Catz

After the drinks, we went to a hall where all of the visiting students were given their own table to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal. I don’t want to betray the familial ties, but I will say that it came close (it wasn’t as good, but very close) to a typical Thanksgiving dinner. They went all out with potatoes (mashed and sweet), gravy, stuffing, breads, wines, green beans, turkey, bacon, sausages and of course pies. It was incredible!

‘ The menu for the evening

One big family to feed

Once the meal was over, two of my friends and I went to the University Club. Jordan is a visiting student from Oklahoma City who goes to William Jewell College in Missouri. We became friends over our mutual love of the NBA and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Sports connect us all. Jess is a visiting student from Oregon who goes to school outside of New York City at Sarah Lawrence College. She’s the visiting students representative and is helping produce a play in Oxford in the spring. There are so many amazing people at Oxford with different backgrounds and different interests. It has helped me realize how big of a place the world is. The University Club is a recreational hall for Oxford students…. it also was the only place that we could find the American tradition of Thanksgiving football! We showed up in time to see the Texans beat the Lions in overtime and then stayed to watch the Redskins beat the Cowboys! I couldn’t think of a more American way to celebrate Thanksgiving!

In looking back on it I can truly say that I will remember this one for a while. Although I wasn’t home I did have a great time enjoying the day with friends. Like every Thanksgiving, it gave me a time to realize how thankful I am for everybody in my life and all of the wonderful opportunities that I have been given. Who knows where I will be next Thanksgiving, only time will tell! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Stand up, on this Thanksgiving Day, stand upon your feet. Believe in man. Soberly and with clear eyes, believe in your own time and place. There is not, and there never has been a better time, or a better place to live in. -Phillips Brooks.

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Uppsala goes fancy: Norrlands Nation’s Höstgasque and Gasque 101 (posted by Indira in Sweden)

November 23, 2012

As I mentioned in some of my previous posts, Uppsala is a meeting point for many contrary and contrasting things. Last week it was new and old. I was a part of a tradition so specific for Uppsala University students and so deeply embedded in the history of the student organizations here known as the nations, and yet so modern that still it occurs every semester.

The student life at Uppsala Uni is organized around 13 nations each representing a city or a region/county in Sweden. One can work in the nations, go for fika, study in nations’ libraries, meet friends, watch sport matches, go to the pub, attend concerts, participate in open mic and karaoke nights, go to the club there, take part in the gasque, as well as do many other things. But, let’s focus on the gasques (or gasks as they are called in Swedish). A gasque is basically a formal dinner with an after-party. During the gasque you eat, drink, make toasts, and most importantly – sing. Yes, sing. Quite a lot, actually. Singing is basically the most important part of the gasque: You sing before making toasts, when drinking snaps (a celebratory tradition), when starting the dinner, when the dinner is almost finished, and for any other reason you could possibly propose to sing. And singing during the gasque is rather fun. Most of the songs are in Swedish, but you get a Songbook so you can follow and sing along. It’s also very easy to get the rhythm. Some songs even have their own little choreographies: My favorite song so far is one for which you stand up on your chair and sing and once the song is finished you should not sit in the chair since it means bad luck and you will fail all your exams. All in all, gasques are fun events where you get amazing food and meet new people, as well as familiarize yourself with Uppsala University and the nations’ traditions.

Höstgasque is the most formal of all the gasques during the Fall semester (höst means Fall in Swedish). The dress code is tail coat for the guys and ball gown for the girls. Ever since I heard of this gasque I made the decision to attend one, and I did so last week. A friend of mine plays in Norrlands nation’s orchestra so she attended the gasque and I joined her. All the members of the orchestra had dinner in a special room, but they followed all the gasque traditions.

The dinner table before the gasque started

There was a lot of singing, toasts, speeches, and chatting. I got to meet the members of the orchestra who were all Swedes. It was great practicing my Swedish and learning more about Sweden. Apart from that I enjoyed the food a lot – I ate moose for the first time ever. That was a whole new experience. We also played a game: All of us had a “top secret mission” that we had to fulfill during that evening. My task was to be obnoxiously loud after every toast and speech, applaud as loud as possible, and compliment the speech or toast. It was so much fun doing that! Other people had to propose toasts on every possible occasion, or start a conversation about music etc. It was a good way to bond with the people sitting near you at the table.

Some of the members of the orchestra

After dinner, the orchestra played and other gasque guests danced waltz and polonaise – that is how formal Höstgasque is! The formal dance continued during the after-party as well since more classical and jazz music was played. This is the typical after-party for these formal gasques in all nations. Below is a video of the orchestra that played:

My friend and I decided to go for a full Höstgasque experience and went to the after-parties in two other nations – Värmlands and Östgöta. The whole atmosphere made me feel like I travelled back in time. It was definitely an experience I am happy I was able to have. Attending the Höstgasque is definitely going to be one of the highlights of my semester abroad in Uppsala.

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Posted by indirainsweden

Small World in Uppsala: Reunions, Cruise to Riga, and Northern Lights (posted by Indira in Sweden)

November 19, 2012

It always surprises me how small-yet big- the City of Uppsala is. One can easily walk or ride a bike everywhere, but if you are looking for something – you will most certainly find it in Uppsala. It sometimes reminds me of a small, cozy, convenience store where you can find anything; you know where to find everything you’re looking for, but you are also oftentimes surprised by the new things you unexpectedly find. Metaphorically that would be a summary of my last week in Uppsala. I met 4 people – 2 from my high school and 2 from the University of Richmond – who were visiting Uppsala. Yes, it’s a small world indeed!

On Tuesday morning I woke up to a message from my friend saying that he was in Uppsala and asking me where in Sweden I was studying since he might come and visit me. I sprung out of my bed and sprinted to the downtown to meet him. He was traveling with one more of my high school friends and they decided to visit Uppsala. I was so happy to see them since I haven’t seen them in years. We had so much to catch up on and we did so while I showed them the best of Uppsala. We spent the entire day walking around, touring the iconic pink castle of Uppsala, the Botanical Garden, museums, Carolina Rediviva, Domkyrkan and many other places in Uppsala. They had a great time and I enjoyed being around the people who brought back so much memories, but also made me think how far I have come since my high school days.

Next reunion surprise came even more unexpectedly on Thursday. Since Thursday evening has become a “Stockholms Nation evening” among my friends, we went there. Next thing I knew I saw CJ (Swedish student who was on exchange at UR last year) and he was telling me that he had 2 friends from Richmond visiting him. It was great meeting new people and talking about Richmond. Actually, it felt a bit odd to talk about D-Hall, B-School, Commons etc. and have the people know what I was talking about without me having to explain it to them. Both UR students I met were also studying abroad: one in Italy and the other one in the Netherlands. Even though it made me miss Richmond, it was great talking about it. It also made me feel kind of ‘home.’

But the fun of seeing new (and already familiar) faces didn’t stop there. My friends and I took a part in the International Students Cruise to Riga, Latvia. International students studying all over Sweden gathered in Stockholm harbor in order to go on a 3-day-cruise to the Latvian capital. It was really nice meeting other students studying in Stockholm, Lund, Gothenburg, and some other cities in Sweden and hearing about their abroad experiences. Seeing the city of Riga was also a great experience. I enjoyed the Old Town, as well as the more modern party of the city . And once again we were happy to have nice weather and no rain. It made our travel experience just so much better!

A street in the Old Town of Riga, Latvia

The City of Riga

And just when I thought the week could not go any better … well, it did! I was lucky enough to enjoy sighting the Northern Lights once again. Cold night and clear skies made it possible for the green lights to be seen above Uppsala in the direction of the North. It made me really happy and now I can say I have already seen Aurora Borealis twice this year! I am hoping to see the Lights again. It is always stunning to see Mother Nature and her beauty. 🙂

Aurora Borealis

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Battling a Stomach Virus and a Trip to the Hospital (posted by Jimmy in England)

November 16, 2012

Mom and Dad take a breath, I wasn’t hospitalized. I do think that the choice of title is witty though. So what happened then? Let me take you back to last Friday. Why? Well Friday was obviously the best day of the year! It was November 9^th and that meant that college basketball season was officially starting. It had been 284 days since the final buzzer went off in the first round of the Atlantic-10 Playoffs. We had lost 80-72 to La Salle in Philadelphia and this buzzer signified the end of our season. So 284 days later I was the happiest person on Earth. That day I went to a talk in Oxford with two friends and since I was in a great mood I offered to host dinner in my apartment the next night. Had I not been in some euphoric state of happiness due to the upcoming Spider game, I do not know if I would have offered. Anyways, that is besides the point. The next night a bunch of people came over and we enjoyed Mexican style chalupas with many toppings ranging from avocados, to beans, tomatoes, sour cream, and even shrimp. The nurse that I saw on Wednesday believes that is where I caught the very infectious norovirus. It is easily transmittable and there are many ways that it can spread, especially through contact with undercooked food or contaminated objects. It wasn’t until Sunday night that I started to feel the ramifications of this little virus. I was starting a presentation on England’s NHS, the government provided health care system and had a horrible pain in my stomach. Oh the irony in being sick for the first time in over a year when you have to write a paper on the health system. I knew it couldn’t be appendicitis because I had my appendix removed when I was a kid, but I wanted to rest just in case it was anything serious. I went to bed and woke up the next morning with a horrible headache and a fever. I slept all day and tried to stay hydrated, but nothing seemed to work to combat my symptoms. The next day I felt very weak and went to the college nurse who told me I had a stomach virus. What have I learned from all of this?

I learned that nothing treats illness better than being at home and having your Mom cook soup and help you if you need anything. When you live by yourself being sick is horrible. You learn to appreciate the people who help you out when you can’t help yourself. I also learned Paracetamol is the British version of our Tylenol; both are made from the same compound. I learned that being sick slows you down, but that is sometimes a good thing. You realize what is important when you move a little bit slower and can only use so much energy. I can now say that the virus is gone and I am back to my healthy self. Well almost healthy. You have to subtract the fact that I pulled an all nighter to write a paper for my tutorial because I didn’t do any work when I was sick. I look forward to using this weekend to catch up on some more sleep and cheer on the Spiders as we play at Minnesota! By the way, just to clear up the reference to the hospital, I walked across town yesterday to listen to a lecture at John Radcliffe Hospital. Sir John Bell was disussing how new research is allowing doctors to redefine diseases. There have been recent breakthroughs that will allow doctors to easily define cancers based on their abundances in blood plasma. It looks fascinating!

Other than being sick, I had a great week. Last Saturday I visited the Botanic Gardens of Oxford. It is the oldest botanic garden in Britain and was founded in 1621 to grow plants for medicinal research. I probably cannot do justice to the history of these gardens because I was taken by the natural beauty when it was being explained.

Fall in Oxford at the Botanic Gardens

A winding stream in the Botanic Gardens

The gardens are right next to Christ Church, which I explained in an earlier blog. A fun fact that I learned: The story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland come from these gardens. The author of this story, Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, worked at Christ Church.

Queue Waiting for Entrance to Christ Church, at Oxford, the place where Lewis Carroll wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Queue Waiting for Entrance to Christ Church, the place where Lewis Carroll wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University at the time was Henry Liddell. He had a daughter named Alice and Reverend Dodgson used to tell her stories. She loved them and asked if he could write them down and the rest is history. People keep telling me (and I really am starting to believe it) that this place is magical. I look forward to experiencing some new things this weekend and I will report back in a few days!

“I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night. Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is ‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle!” -Lewis Carroll

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November in Uppsala: New Course, Uppsala Light Festival, and Endless Fikas (posted by Indira in Sweden)

November 12, 2012

As it is getting colder and colder (it gets as cold as 17 degrees Farenheit), I find myself drinking more tea and spending more time at fika enjoying the warm atmosphere of the Swedish kafferummet (cafes). The fika and coffee drinking traditions are a big deal in Sweden. I have a feeling that Swedes can manage without some things, but if you take away their fika time – well, that would not be tolerated. In between our lectures we get 15 minute fika breaks, and professors bring in fika (coffee/tea and cookies) to class so you can have fika during their seminar. If you want to meet with someone, you meet for fika. Everyone fika (yes, you can use the word ‘fika’ as both a noun and a verb)! The peak hour is at 3pm. It becomes really hard to find a kafferummet that is not full. Luckily, there are cafes all over Uppsala and all the student nations serve fika as well.

One could spend an eternity at fika – especially when you find that one cafe you really like – but we also have classes to attend. Last week my new course started: (En)Gendering International Development. So far we have had 3 lectures and a seminar, and the class seems really good. The professor is amazing! I also know most of the people who are in class with me since we already took one class together back in September. The class is organized in more or less the same way as my other courses. There are lectures which consist of a professor lecturing (I have a feeling that the lectures for this course are a bit more interactive than for the other course I took earlier, which I like), and there are seminars. In seminars we mainly discuss the course literature and prepare presentations. I will have to present on anti-colonial movements in India next week. And this is the first time there are Americans in my class. I kind of got used to being surrounded by mainly Swedes and other European students. Uppsala University is highly international and it is really easy to find yourself to be the only representative of your country in your class or group of friends. I actually quite like this since it gives me the opportunity to meet so many new people. Basically, everyday I meet someone new. I guess that is what makes study abroad so exciting and worthwhile – the experiences one gains are hard to gain in any other way.

And Uppsala is full of surprises. Taking a simple walk before the sunset can show the best of this place. If you’re blessed and it is not raining, the Fall in Sweden can be magical. There are so many places one can go wandering or hiking. The nature here is just breathtaking. Luckily (kind of), it is pretty cold now and it doesn’t rain, so we get clear skies and can enjoy the most amazing sunsets (here, the sun sets very early. By 4pm it is already super dark outside).

Sunset in Uppsala, near Flogsta, my housing area

The City of Uppsala has its own beauty display whether it rains or not. Namely, in the month of November there is the Uppsala Light Festival (Allt ljus på Uppsala) and some buildings (this year it is 15 buildings and even two University buildings are part of the Festival: Museum Gustavianum and the Munken block on Trädgårdsgatan) are selected to be part of the Festival so they are lit. It all looks really beautiful, especially the light installations on the river in the City Center. It is somewhat magical to take a walk through the city and follow the ‘light trail’ and enjoy the Festival.

Light Installations in Stora Torget, the City Center

Light Installations at the Fyrisån River

Even if it does get really cold, Uppsala has its way of keeping people warm. November in Uppsala can’t possibly be boring or eventless!

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Posted by indirainsweden

TedxOxford (posted by Jimmy in England)

November 6, 2012

“We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we’re building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.” The preceding excerpt is the mission statement of TED. What is TED? Well, since it is a name in the English language, there are probably many Teds. The TED that I am talking about is neither a person nor an inappropriate comedy with Mark Wahlberg and his fuzzy grown up stuffed animal. TED is an acronym for Technology Entertainment and Design and it is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1984. Originally TED was an annual conference in Silicon Valley that brought together brilliant minds to discuss various research ideas. Since then, TED has absolutely exploded. There are now two major conferences each year, one in Long Beach California and the other in Edinburgh. They cost $ 6,000 to attend and thousands of people listen to 50 speakers over 4 days. Past TED speakers include Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Richard Dawkins, Google Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and many Nobel Prize winners. 1 million dollars is given to one speaker to help fund his/her idea. In 2012, TED became so valuable that videos started being streamed on Netflix. TED also holds what are known as TEDx conferences which allow the same speakers to reach a broader crowd in various different cities. And that is why I mention it.

On Saturday night, after a long week of tutorials and presentations, I was doing what every normal 20-year-old college student does; I sat anxiously next to my computer by myself in my room and listened to the greatest event occurring that night. The Richmond Spiders Men’s Basketball team had an exhibition game against Randolph Macon so I tuned in from across the Atlantic and couldn’t have been happier. Earlier in the day, I was talking to a student about theatres in Oxford and she told me to visit the Oxford Playhouse website. During the game I checked it out and saw that in less than 10 hours, they would be hosting TEDxOxford. Due to my impulsive nature, I immediately bought one of the remaining tickets and went to bed. I had seen many TED talks online and had always wanted to attend an event. The concept of seeing ‘ideas worth spreading’ was thrilling to me and I couldn’t have been more excited.

The next morning I went to the Oxford playhouse and prepared for the 6 hour event that would host 11 speakers, 3 videos and a few hundred people. I have been able to do so many wonderful things during my time at Oxford, but TED was by far the best event that I have attended.

Stage of TedxOxford- Ideas Worth Spreading

The diverse ideas carried so much momentum and truth that it was truly inspiring. Here are a few of the highlights:

Frank Warren is the founder of postsecret.com, which up until Sunday, I had never heard of. If you get a chance, watch his Ted Talk online. He started by having people mail him secrets and he puts them on his website. It has gone viral and has over 568 million visitors. The secrets vary from hilarious to deeply serious, but all share a common thread- they deserve to be heard.

Arthur Benjamin is a visiting professor from Harvey Mudd college and he calls himself the ‘Math Magician’. He rattles off complex multiplications in his head like it is simple arithmetic. He invited three students on stage to perform calculations on the calculators from their iPhones and he raced the calculator. He squared 576, 9604, and 676 faster than the students could type the digits into the calculator. Needless to say, he’s a genius.

Michael Tobin, the CEO of Telecity group was named the UK’s Service Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young in 2010. He spoke about specific adventures of his various management teams. A few years ago, he wanted to show his team that fear is a mindset and that if they wanted to succeed they had to sit with their fears and overcome them. “When you are scared, move through it,” he said. So he took his team to a shark tank in the UK and made them sit in the tank next to these huge sharks for a few minutes. Prior to being forced in, many of the team members were ready to quit instead of jumping into a shark tank. He said that after the experience they had the most successful year of business in his career. Mr. Tobin explained another time he had to merge two rival companies together and associates from both companies would have to work with each other. Many of the people were reluctant to work together so Mr. Tobin took them to an ice hotel in Sweden where temperatures are below freezing. It is mandatory to sleep two people in a bed to generate extra body heat, so he took all of the people who did not want to work together and made them sleep in the same bed together. He said that by the end of the trip, the rival companies were in the past and the merger was a success. His last story was in regards to a specific year when most of his associates were complaining that they wouldn’t fill their quotas. He took his team to the Auschwitz concentration camps and told them to stop moaning because their lives were easy in comparison.

The best talk of the day was by James Rhodes. Unfortunately, his TED talk probably won’t be put on the website because he cursed a little bit too much and referenced a few inappropriate things. Anyways, he is an English classical pianist and he is the man. If you have the chance, check him out on YouTube because his work is unbelievable. He argued that people get stuck in their beliefs and can never see the world with a diverse point of view. He urged us that, “whenever you are absolutely convinced of something, do the reverse of it for one week and see what happens.” He said that we live in a world that is filled with unconscious distraction and that it has become acceptable to wander off when we are interacting with people. His main point, and the main point of the conference was, “People need to stop apologizing for who they are and classical music needs to stop apologizing for what it is. Go do what you love and be who you want to be.”

“The chance for greatness, for progress and for change dies the moment we try to be like someone else.”-Faith Jegede

Leave a Comment » | Fall 2012, Jimmy in England | Tagged: Academics, Adventure, Culture, England | Permalink
Posted by JimmyinEngland

Halloween in Uppsala: Scary Costumes, Flogsta Scream, and Deadly Cold (posted by Indira in Sweden)

November 2, 2012

Whoever thought that Halloween is not that big of a deal in Europe, was absolutely wrong! Everywhere in Uppsala one can feel Halloween (if you open you eyes wide enough,though). Of course, there are no carved pumpkins everywhere, pumpkin spice is not added into everything, there are no children trick or treating, and finding a costume is a relatively hard quest. Ok, where is the Halloween spirit then, you might ask? Well, in every student nation, accommodation area, and in almost every conversation Uppsala University students are discussing costumes, parties, and Halloween themed fikas.

Last week my corridor decided to host a Halloween party (we sort of opened the Halloween season in Uppsala). We decorated our corridor, came up with some spooky snacks, put on our costumes and started welcoming our guests. It was a really fun night and everyone came dressed up and in the spirit of Halloween. Parties like this (about 30 people in total) are really good because you get to know people better and have nice conversations with them. I met a whole lot of Swedes, as well as other international students at our Corridor Halloween Party. Of course, it was an amazing opportunity to bond with my corridor-mates. I already know that I will miss every single one of them. It is hard to think about leaving this place in December – sometimes it feels like I just got here, but when I think back and go all the way to the end of July, I realize how much time I’ve spent in this place I now call home. It was funny that when we came back from our Tallinn trip, the moment I stepped out of our ship, I felt that I actually came back home; oh well, Sweden’s growing on me. That’s why I push thoughts of leaving Sweden out of my mind.

Some of my corridor-mates and I at our Halloween party

Back to the happy topic – there are more Halloween parties coming up this week and next week! 🙂 My nation, Värmlands Nation, hosted the Halloween themed pub night on 10/31 in honor of this amazing time of the year. Wermlandskäller’n- my Nation’s pub that dates back to the medieval times, was all decorated with spider webs and served food and snacks that celebrated Halloween. In moments like those nothing could make me feel like I wasn’t in the States (well, the Swedish language and a high number of blonde people kind of sets me back into reality, but still…).

Wermlandskäller’n – The pub at Värmlands Nation that hosted Halloween themed pub night

Speaking of spooky and scary things, I have never mentioned this amazing tradition that exists in Flogsta (student accomodation area where I live). Every night at 10pm students go out onto the balconies, open their windows, or go up on the rooftops and scream as loud as they can. Usually this Flogsta scream turns into a competition between the buildings (in Flogsta there are multiple buildings, but students usually live in buildings 1-10): I, for example, live in building 8 and we usually have scream offs against the people living in buildings 7 and 9. It is really fun! And a great way to release stress. There is actually controversy over how this rather interesting tradition started. Some say it was simply a stress reliever, which started during exam times and then became a daily occurrence. The story goes that there was a student who had an important exam and he was studying quite a lot, which made him very stressed out so he opened his window and screamed at the top of his lungs. Others say it started in remembrance of a student who committed suicide in the 1970s. Either way, the tradition is there and it is respected. Below is a video I took of the Flogsta scream one night in August.

A cruel winter seems to be another Swedish tradition. It is getting colder and colder every day. The worst thing is that the bike and pedestrian paths get really slippery (especially in the morning and after the sunset) because of the icy surface and walking and cycling become really hard. I have witnessed people fall in front of the supermarket, and I’ve heard stories of my friends who fell off their bikes. Luckily, during the real winter (it’s already cold enough, I don’t even want to know what a ‘real Swedish winter’ is like) the city makes it possible to walk/cycle, and there are busses, so getting to classes and to the city won’t be a problem.

Now, I’m off to figure out my Halloween costumes and enjoy the joys of the Halloween season (meaning Swedish chocolate and other godis (sweets and candies in Swedish)). 😀

Leave a Comment » | Fall 2012, Indira in Sweden | Tagged: Culture, Food, Friends, Sweden | Permalink
Posted by indirainsweden

Vintern kommer till Uppsala: First Snow, Tallinn, and a New Bike (posted by Indira in Sweden)

October 26, 2012

It has arrived! I have feared it for so long, and it has finally reached the region of Uppsala. Yeah, it’s winter and the cold that I’m talking about. Temperatures below 30 degrees (Fahrenheit, of course), morning frost, and the very first snow of the season caught me by surprise.

Morning frost in Uppsala

As I was leaving Blåsenhus, the place where I have my Sustainable Development class, I was hit by unexpected cold and small white particles flying in the air. It took me a moment to realize that it was actually SNOWING! The weather forecast said that we might get some snow next week, but not now. It snowed for about half an hour or so and right after that one could see some snow sticking to the ground. Luckily it melted quickly. When choosing Sweden as my study abroad destination I decided to simply ignore the weather since I liked everything else so much. I am not a fan of snow and winter, but I will have to deal with it here, I guess. With a warm pair of winter boots and a good winter jacket it shouldn’t be too hard (or at least I hope so)! 🙂

First snow in Uppsala, though it melted quite quickly!

My German friend, Nadine, after the first snow in Uppsala!

Another thing I am concerned with is the fact that once we switch to daylight savings time (and this will happen in a week or so) by the time I have to go to my class, it’ll be completely dark outside (my class starts at 5pm). My next class will start on November 5th and it will be mainly during the afternoon so that will be fine. Speaking of classes, I have to say that it’s getting really busy now. For my Sustainable Development class we are working within our study groups on the case studies (which in my case is the Urban Resilience and Sustainable Urbanization in Stockholm), but we also have other things due at the same time. This is the only class where I don’t have a final exam that is 100% of the final grade: Here, we have to write 3 smaller papers, one big case study, and hold a presentation, which all count for the final grade (it is more similar to the system at UR). For my Government class, there is only one thing that decides the final grade – a final exam that lasts 4 hours. I really like having more papers and assignments contribute to the grade than only one exam. One exam only creates so much more pressure and requires students to do the entire course work load at once. But, it is doable! 🙂

Before it got really busy I managed to go on a trip to Tallinn, Estonia, with some of my friends. First we took a train to Stockholm (40 mins away from Uppsala) in the morning and spent the entire day there just sightseeing and enjoying the city (I am pretty sure that Stockholm is becoming my favorite city. I fell in love with it from the very first time I visited it. I really love the multiple islands and the sea that make Stockholm to “Venice of the North”). After that we boarded the ship and got ready for our cruise to Tallinn (Stockholm being a harbor, it is really easy to go on a cruise to Helsinki, Riga, Tallinn etc. from here). I enjoyed spending time in Tallinn. It was my first time ever in this Baltic country. Luckily we had a friend, Gretta, who is an Estonian on exchange at Uppsala University, to help us navigate the city. She was an excellent tour guide and made the best out of our stay in her city. Tallinn is beautiful. We were lucky it didn’t rain so we saw Estonian capital in its fall colors at their best! It was interesting to see the Soviet and more modern, EU if I can say so, influence fight and yet coexist in this city. Definitely worth a visit on so many levels!

Beautiful colors of changing leaves in Tallinn, Estonia

Beautiful colors of Fall in Tallin, Estonia

Another big news of the week is that I bought a new bike! I was using my friend’s bike for some time, but since it was too big for me, I decided to get a new one. I also made sure to get a safe lock to avoid my bike being stolen again. 🙂 Having a bike in Uppsala is truly a necessity. Even thought there are busses (public transportation in Uppsala is super effective and well developed), it is so much easier to have a bike and ‘free will’ when deciding when to leave to go somewhere.

Now, I need to get ready for the Swedish winter by buying warmer clothes and bike lights (new bike = new lights)!

Leave a Comment » | Fall 2012, Indira in Sweden | Tagged: Academics, Adventure, Host University, Nature, Public Transportation, Sightseeing, Sweden, Travel | Permalink
Posted by indirainsweden

Challenges as Opportunities

October 26, 2012

When I applied to be a foreign correspondent for this semester I did so to offer a different perspective on the whole study abroad experience. I felt that my main purpose would be to inform potential study abroad applicants at the University of Richmond about the benefits of spending a semester (or year) away from campus. My first 5 posts have mainly highlighted the wonderful intricacies that exist in an Oxford lifestyle. I believe, however, that I would be doing an injustice to all those applying for a study abroad position if I did not discuss some of the challenges that also are present when a student goes overseas. Many tasks in life have challenges, but we have the benefit of using them as opportunities to better ourselves. As George Patton once said, “Accept challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”

When the visiting students were sitting in one of our orientation meetings we were told that by the 5^th week of the term Oxford students begin feeling “it.” Whatever “it” meant, we didn’t know for sure, but we could imagine. At the time, we thought that it probably meant the typical stress and anxiety that college students feel during the middle of the semester when they are piled with work. We usually fail to realize how blessed we are to actually be in that position in the first place, but we can talk about that another time. What we failed to realize at the time was that if normal Oxford students felt this way at week 5, then we would probably feel it sooner since not only were we new to the workload, but we were also new to the country. So what is “it”? Well “it” is the combination of many different factors that begin to wear you down as a student and this reflects in your personal life.

The biggest factor obviously is academic work. By the third week, you’ve already written three to five 2000 word research papers, which may not seem like a lot, but it can get to you. That may be why I have yet to travel out of the area; I apologize to any readers if my lack of traveling has hindered your understanding of studying abroad. Most students travel throughout their time, but this specific situation is atypical. Being here for a year, I have less of an incentive to see the world in the cold weather when the beautiful European springtime awaits.

Outside of all the work, the Oxford system celebrates independent learning. There is no mandatory class and individual study is encouraged. I was thinking about it earlier today and realized that I met many of my best friends at UR through our experiences in a classroom (Shout out to Alyson, Lindsay, Meredith, and John). How do you deal with the lack of social interaction at the academic level? You handle it like everything else in life and make it an opportunity. Because most of the visiting students are in their 3^rd year of university, many of us celebrate our 21^st birthday abroad. There is a lack of significance in turning 21 in England when compared with the ‘right of passage’ as seen in the US. But on Wednesday we went out to a local Indian restaurant to celebrate one of the students birthdays and it was a great time. It’s the little things in life that matter.

Another big challenge is the lack of social interaction with the community. At UR, there are endless opportunities to volunteer in the community and help better the city that we live in. Most students at Oxford do not have the time to volunteer since their workload is so great. Maybe it is being away from home, or the inability to volunteer weekly in Richmond, but I was going through a little bit of withdrawal this week. Again, how do you change that? You make something happen. I decided to email the director of KEEN, a non-profit organization that provides social, sporting and recreational activities for children and young adults with special needs in the Oxford area. They allowed me to volunteer last Friday and so in the afternoon I was able to draw, sing, and play Duck-Duck-Goose with a bunch of kids. It was big time!

Drawing with children during my KEEN non-profit volunteer experience

Drawing with children during my KEEN volunteer experience

99.9% of my experience here as been incredible. But it would be foolish to say that challenges do not occur. I am sure that there have been many more challenges this past month, but like everything else in life, we must make them opportunities. While writing this I realized how blessed I am to not only study at Oxford, but to also study at UR. All of my challenges at Oxford are mere common activities at UR. So for those who are considering study abroad, I encourage it, even though we are all already lucky to be studying at an amazing place like Richmond.

St. Catz (St. Catherines), one of the constituent colleges at Oxford

St. Catz, one of the constituent colleges at Oxford: my abroad university

The University of Richmond: my home university

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company…. A church…. A home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.

-Charles R. Swindoll

Leave a Comment » | Fall 2012, Jimmy in England | Tagged: Academics, Culture, England, Food, Friends, Host University | Permalink
Posted by JimmyinEngland

The Smartest Man in the Room (posted by Jimmy in England)

October 22, 2012

I woke up this morning and couldn’t exactly remember what had happened last night. I tried to piece together the bits of information that were coming back to me but there was just so much missing. Good thing that I wrote everything down. Let me take you back to when it all started. During orientation week, thousands of college societies set up in a big auditorium so that every student has an opportunity to explore their interests. Various societies include Sports Clubs, A capella, Harry Potter Society, Philosophy Society, and my personal favorite, the Scientific Society. I signed up for a few different societies and on Monday I received an email about different lectures that the Scientific Society holds throughout the year. This week’s seminar was to be given by Ian Fleming. There are probably many Ian Flemings in the world, but two of them particularly ring a bell in my mind. The first is the English author that wrote the James Bond novels and the second is the man who appears in all of my organic chemistry textbooks. Since this email was from the Scientific Society, I presumed that the organic chemist was coming to Oxford. For those of you that have never heard of Ian Fleming, he is one of the most important organic chemists of the 20^th century. He was the first person to determine the full structure of chlorophyll in 1967, he helped synthesize vitamin B12 during a one year postdoc at Harvard, and he created a mechanism (Silyl-Hydroxy Conversion, also called the Tamao-Fleming reaction) that is used in many organic chemistry research labs today. He also did all of this at a time when there were not accurate ways of determining chemical products based on computers. Dr. Fleming is included in the panel that nominates Nobel Laureates for Chemistry as well. Simply put, he’s big time.

I jumped at the idea of going to hear this man speak and so I emailed the Scientific Society and told them that I would definitely be attending. An amazing woman, Aimee, who is from Oklahoma and doing her postdoc with her husband at Oxford, responded and asked if I would like to attend dinner with Dr. Fleming before his speech! The simplicity at which you can make things happen via email astonishes me. Within a few hours I went from potentially listening Dr. Fleming speak, to walking to a little dinner with an extreme sense of anticipation as I prepared to meet him. The dinner was at an Italian restaurant off of Banbury road. I have yet to mention the fact that it has been a few weeks and I still can’t get used to people driving on the left side of the road.

Banbury Road

I expected that I would be one of about 30 or 40 people at dinner and I would probably introduce myself and eat with some graduate students. When I got there, I couldn’t have been more surprised. Dr. Fleming was sitting with one graduate student having a conversation. I ended up joining them, along with another undergraduate and Aimee and her husband. There were 6 of us in total, including Dr. Fleming, and I can’t even begin to explain how incredible it was. If you want to talk about brilliance, look no further.

I want to share some of the advice that Dr. Fleming gave us throughout the night. First off, he knew he was brilliant, but he didn’t act better than anybody. He is 78, but still quick as a whip. He told us to understand that we are smart, to be thankful for it, and to get better. He also absolutely loves what he does. He simply loves being in a lab, synthesizing organic compounds. “It’s all about the chemistry” he would say. At the time that he was doing all of his research, he couldn’t connect the dots, but random things would come to him later in life that ended up helping him in all of his work. He was asked what makes him see the answers to problems that others have questioned for years and he responded, “My group of colleagues have the ability to think about a problem longer than anybody else. We didn’t know what we were doing, but something would eventually work. We would stare at a problem for weeks and something would click.”

During the lecture, I sat in front of two Ph.D students, one was from Canada and another from France. Before Dr. Fleming started, these students were reciting the periodic table from memory. They knew every element in order, all they way through. At the end of the lecture, the French man said, “Wow, I feel like a schmuck compared to him!” His answers to problems are so simple, but they always work. He says that most answers stare at you, and if you just think a little bit harder, they appear. I ended the night by simply walking home and going to bed. There was so much information that my mind was trying to wrap itself around so I made sure that throughout the night I wrote everything down. My mind had been blown, and it clicked that I was in such a special place with the opportunity to meet one of the most important chemists of the last hundred years.

“All the greatest men are maniacs. They are possessed by a mania which drives them forward towards their goal. The great scientists, the philosophers, the religious leaders – all maniacs. What else but a blind singleness of purpose could have given focus to their genius, would have kept them in the groove of purpose. Mania … is as priceless as genius.”
-Ian Fleming, Doctor No