Classes, or lack of...

Uppsala University has a very different system than UVic. At UVic, you have a fixed set of classes for three months and then an exam period. Week to week is exactly the same and your four or five courses last for the duration of this period. At Uppsala, you generally take one or two courses at a time and then they finish after five or so weeks.

In August I took a five week Swedish language course. I had class for three hours Mon-Fri. This was very similar to UVic; however, it appears to have been an exception at Uppsala.

At the beginning of September I started a Swedish history class after finishing the language course. Each lecture was two hours long. The first two weeks I had two lectures, the third week I had three lectures, and then I had two weeks to write a 12-page paper. That was all there was for the class. And it was a full course load. Also, every lecture was in a different classroom, had a different teacher, and was at a different time. (Luckily, the day that I showed up at the wrong time, I was an hour early.) We were supposed to also have a final exam but our teacher decided against that because he didn't want to mark that many exams. (Apparently we had a large class at 25 students.) This structure of changing time and a lot of independent study seems to be the norm.

I've started a new course called What Happened to the Novel? We're comparing the movie adaptions of the books "Frankenstein" and "The Scarlet Letter". Last week we had one class. It was a two hour introduction were we talked (7 students and 2 teachers) about our thoughts on movie adaptions. We have a bunch of small writing assignments (one to two pages each) and then a final presentation. This week, I have two small writing assignments (900 words total). As well, I need to read "Frankenstein" and get together with three other students and talk about the book. We got together in a coffee shop and discussed the book while having fika. Next week we're watching the movie on Mon and then discussing it on Wed. This isn't quite a full course load because I couldn't get my schedule to work out so in a few weeks I'll have several weeks of over 100% course load (I don't expect this to be much of a problem.)

As mentioned, I'm started more courses in a few weeks. They're both physics courses and one of them conflicts with my English course. Apparently conflicting schedules are quite common, partially because you don't get your course schedule until a couple of weeks before class starts. When you sign up, you just hope everything works out. Luckily, the two conflicting lectures are both days where we'll be watching movies so I'm just going to rent them and watch them on my own.

Physics appears to have much more lecture time but they still change time, place, and teacher. I'll let you know how they go.

Day Two in Oslo

On our second and last day in Oslo we went to Vigelandsparken - Sculpture Park.



There are some very... interesting sculptures. Almost all are naked.

The monster eating the woman.



The far end of the park.; the entire park was filled with tourists.



The only sculpture I saw with clothing.



The fountain which was turned off due to construction.



Babies in a tree.



And the ground was a maze.



One of the more bizarre sculptures. There was also one of a man kicking a baby.



A pile of babies.



I guess this could be considered the main sculpture. It was very tall.



Looking back at the park.



Some hugging girls.



Past the main sculpture was a sundial.



With the zodiac carved around its base.



And the sculpture at the end of the park.



Where, again, you could see the ski-slope. It looks really steep to me.



Afterwards we went to the National Museum of Art where we saw The Scream by Edward Munch. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures of The Scream but we were allowed to take pictures of other paintings.

Spring by the Seine - Claude Monet (1875)



Self-Portrait - Vincent van Gogh (1889)



Guitar - Pablo Picasso (1912)



A Picasso piece that I can actually tell what it is. From 1903 Man and Women by Pablo Picasso.



And my favourite artist there. Larvik by Moonlight - Johan Christian Dahl (1839)



 

And that was my weekend in Oslo.

A Weekend Trip to Oslo

Back in August I went with three other exchange students to Oslo, Norway for the weekend. The train ride their is beautiful.



We spent two days in Oslo. This post covers the first day.

Slottet - The royal palace



The guards have entertaining hats.

The tram system. They go everywhere and are a very good way to get around. You do have to buy your ticket before getting on the tram.



There was some interesting art near the harbour.



The harbour.



Interesting building near the harbour.



More from the harbour.



Looking out.



The Eternal Peace Flame.



More interesting art in a restaurant.



Some ice. I saw two of these in the city. They were melting.



Part of the Akershus Fortress. Originally built around 1300.

The view from the fortress.



The castle in the fortress.



From the fortress you could see one of Oslo's many churches as well as the ski-slope - Holmenkollen.



Gamle Oslo - Old Town. There were many brightly painted houses.



Elsewhere there was interesting architecture including some very interesting windows.



And more interesting architecture.



Out in the bay.



The Opera and Ballet House. We walked to the top and got another nice view of the city and water.



From the top of the Opera House.



Day two coming soon.

 

 

Good company, biofuel, and heated roads

Yesterday I went out for dinner with three Swedes and another exchange student. After dinner we said we didn't want dessert and the waiter left. I fully expected him to return with our check. However, we were allowed to sit there for probably two hours without ordering any more food. (Grant it, the restaurant wasn't busy.) Eventually the waiter came back around 11:30 to tell us the restaurant was closing. Eating and chatting with friends seems to be a big thing here and part of the idea behind fika where you get together and hang out with friends while enjoying coffee and cake.

I also learned a couple of interesting facts during the evening.

First, I've seen the biofuel buses around the city. Apparently, the biofuel comes from in-sink garbage disposals.



Also, Sweden is too cool for shovelling snow. There is major construction happening on one of the main streets in centrum Uppsala. When I saw it, it reminded me of in-floor heating. Turns out that's what it is. They heat the roads so they don't have to do as much snow ploughing.

Happy Kanelbullens Dag!

Today, October 4, is Cinnamon Day.



 

Cinnamon bun day has been celebrated since 1999 to celebrate the traditional pastry. (http://www.kanelbullensdag.se/)

So grab yourself a cinnamon bun and don't forget to mark your calendar for Fettisdagen on Feb. 12, last day before lent, when Swedes enjoy semla, and Våffeldagen on March 25 when Swedes enjoy waffles.