AIM conversation with Amanda

The following took place on Friday June 22nd from about midnight til 1am. I have deleted the nonsweden parts, noted with *** breaks, and I clenaed up the spelling (I'm a notoriously bad speller on AIM). I have consent from Amanda. I am kaiamdance.
kaiamdance: hi
kaiamdance: i'm in sweden.
kaiamdance: i got your wall post
kaiamdance: thx
kaiamdance: i love you
kaiamdance: !
Pearl AIC Jam: hey! aweomee
Pearl AIC Jam: I love you too
kaiamdance: thunder storm! at midnight... cool
Pearl AIC Jam: oh yeah! it's 6 hours ahead, derrr
Pearl AIC Jam: and it's still light out
kaiamdance: it's dark here because of cloud cover, but it should be twilight now
Pearl AIC Jam: kapeesh
*****
kaiamdance: one of my professors is about 80
Pearl AIC Jam: hahaha
kaiamdance: and he's spry!
Pearl AIC Jam: spry?
kaiamdance: he can go and go
kaiamdance: but he probably hasn't been staying up late like us, so maybe that's why
Pearl AIC Jam: hahaha, you have professors who drink with you?
kaiamdance: no, unfortunately
kaiamdance: he'd be funny
kaiamdance: but one of our guides was awesome and we want to meet up w him
kaiamdance: he showed us around this really awesome cathedral that started getting built in 1066!!!!
kaiamdance: wowzeers
kaiamdance: he's so funny, he works as an archeologist at the museum in town
Pearl AIC Jam: i would probably like him - he's blond though, right?
kaiamdance: actually no
kaiamdance: like, light brown? and wispy. he's like 40
kaiamdance: hilarious though
kaiamdance: his inflection and his stories
*****
Pearl AIC Jam: so what are you doing there? you'll only be gone 10 weeks - not 6 months, you'll be fine when you get back
kaiamdance: i know! someone asked me if i was homesick and i laughed at them
kaiamdance: and felt bad about it
Pearl AIC Jam: haha, yeah
kaiamdance: it's too western and too short of a trip to be homesick
Pearl AIC Jam: yeah
kaiamdance: plus my dad is coming at the end so ... neato
Pearl AIC Jam: is he going to let them know he's latvian?
kaiamdance: oh well, he's american
Pearl AIC Jam: i mean, i know he's American, but those roots... he could try to take over Sweden
kaiamdance: this week we're just doing history, politics and culture of sweden as an orientation
Pearl AIC Jam: i think i would really be interested in that
kaiamdance: but we're going to latvija afterwards so i can meet cousins
kaiamdance: and then to prague
kaiamdance: yay!
Pearl AIC Jam: woohoo!
Pearl AIC Jam: i would love to meet family overseas
kaiamdance: and swedish classes for this week and next week.
kaiamdance: but next week the real classes start
kaiamdance: i have one class only for one month
kaiamdance: then a different class for the next month
Pearl AIC Jam: oooh, is this a UC thing similar to India?
kaiamdance: yeah, it's UC
Pearl AIC Jam: gotcha
*******
kaiamdance: omg you should see the birds here! so weird
Pearl AIC Jam: really?!
Pearl AIC Jam: like the squirrels in india?
kaiamdance: well, they do normal bird things, but they look funny! the small ones are cute, but the crows here aren't crows- they're a bit smaller and have grey wings instead. then the water birds are crazy- i'll search a picture of them. also i went on a tour today of Malmo, a city thats bigger but only 10min away
kaiamdance: and there are SO many geese there! they were going crazy and we were all impressed.
Pearl AIC Jam: weird
Pearl AIC Jam: how's the temperature?
kaiamdance: pretty nice usually but its changeable
kaiamdance: like, its sunny and warmish in the low 70s- ideal
kaiamdance: but then windy and its cold from the wind, then its warm again. then it gets cloudy (the clouds move fast here- they're really low)
kaiamdance: and maybe a few drops of rain, then clears up
Pearl AIC Jam: ehh... sounds like cleveland
Pearl AIC Jam: cloudy?
kaiamdance: so you always have to bring a light sweater
kaiamdance: but its beautiful usually. it should be warmer then it is right now
Pearl AIC Jam: you said it was green... are the swedes tall? I want to study the people
kaiamdance: yes
kaiamdance: the swedes are tall
kaiamdance: the people are fascinating- you WOULD love this orientation course... there's a lot of interesting stuff happening due to immigration
kaiamdance: its hard to get into the country unless you're a refugee
Pearl AIC Jam: hmm... archaeology would be super cool. Vikings are not affiliated with Sweden, right?
kaiamdance: and all the immigrants aren't assimilating- they all live in the same part of the city- Rose Block.
kaiamdance: yes vikings were here- all of scandinavia
Pearl AIC Jam: they drive on the right, correct? I heard at one time they drove on the left but then decided to change it to the right, and banned driving for 24 hours
Pearl AIC Jam: ooooh, all of scand.
kaiamdance: and the teachers are swedes but they're teaching classes of 80-90% immigrants
kaiamdance: craziness
kaiamdance: i hadn't heard of the driving thing, but yes, they drive on our side, the right side.

Pearl AIC Jam: haha, our side
Pearl AIC Jam: where do they immi's come from?
kaiamdance: over 40,000 from iraq
kaiamdance: also many from balkans, israel
Pearl AIC Jam: do people think you're swedish, or are you too short?
kaiamdance: people do think i'm swedish but they quickly find out i'm not. at one store they talked to me in swedish only an i pulled it off b/c they don't talk much here (in terms of the serivce industry)
Pearl AIC Jam: yeah, i would love it there. Do the iraqi's and the jews (hahahaha) get along?
kaiamdance: not really. most of the immigrant tensions are between immigrants, not with swedes.
Pearl AIC Jam: outsiders fighting over land... that's not theirs...
kaiamdance: plus
kaiamdance: this is interesting
kaiamdance: plus the incidence of petty theft has skyrocketed
kaiamdance: and you know who does the stealing?
Pearl AIC Jam: oh my! are they racist then?
kaiamdance: the immigrants abuse the trust of the swedes and steal from them. but the media never covers that part of the story b/c they don't want to cause a problem with the people they're giving asylum to.
kaiamdance: but everyone knows it anyway
Pearl AIC Jam: mmmm
Pearl AIC Jam: i know someone who's proud to be swedish - she's a few generations into America but she's 100%
Pearl AIC Jam: i find that rare
kaiamdance: yeah
kaiamdance: sweden is really homogenous so its weird that all these immigrants are totally flooding in
Pearl AIC Jam: i like homogenity... not like hitler or anything, but you know
Pearl AIC Jam: let me clarify: i like homogenity of outsiders
Pearl AIC Jam: hahahaha
kaiamdance: you know how americans look like anyone... well swedes look like swedes. so when the third generation of a croatian guy is at a bar or something, and grew up in sweden and only know sweden and swedish life, its hard when the bar people ask "Where are you from" or "what do you eat for christmas?"
Pearl AIC Jam: yeah, understandable
kaiamdance: really strange.
Pearl AIC Jam: that's how parts of america are, though
kaiamdance: *coughthesouth*
kaiamdance: racist
kaiamdance: KKK
Pearl AIC Jam: probably not california, haha, some part of ohio...
Pearl AIC Jam: yes, yes indeed
kaiamdance: kansas

So I hope that answered some questions you might have had for me. I've been learning so much! The Mamlo tour today was wonderful; we had a tour of a museum in an old fortress/castle/tool booth, a lecture from the Croatian man I was describing, and a boat tour in the canal that runs through the city where we could see one of the old churches, a wind turbine manufacturing plant, the police station, and awesome replicas of Medieval boats. It rained a bit, though, at the end, but it didn't dampen our spirits.