PARIS!!!

Alright I have a small little snapshot of time here so I'm just going to check in as fast as possible!! I'll start to recap the last 48 hours for you and if I run out of time then it'll be a great little saga to follow. :) I should preface this update, too, with a description of our hostel. We definitely got what we paid for, I'll tell you that. (We're really trying to watch our money!) It took me about two hours the first day when I was wandering alone through Paris to finally arrive at the front desk of hotel Balladins. It's located 20 minutes outside the city and requires a tram to get to, and was basic to say the least. I didn't even bother to take of picture of it haha. But we didn't care because we wouldn't be spending much time there anyway! Paris in two days is a feat! So. Stacey walked in to the lobby five minutes after I got there. After resting our tired and weathered bones, we set off for a look at that respectable pile of tin that every seems to make such a fuss over, none other than the Eiffel Tower. :) 

Chatting while stepping off the metro at the Tour Eiffel stop, I completely cut Stacey off when I saw us approaching an alley to the left of us, saying, "I feel like we're going to look down that alley and see something that takes our breath away." Sure enough, peering around the corner, we were met with the heart-stopping sight of the Eiffel Tower glowing bright blue and towering powerfully over us. My reaction was completely unexpected. I truly did not expect to enjoy the sight nearly as much as I did. Our jaws dropped and we were literally frozen in place. 

Okay I have to wrap this up but I'm not even done with night one yet so...more to come!! Thinking of you alL!

kt

Here!!

Hey all! Okay its really tough to type on french keyboards (I cant even seem to be able to find the apostrophe!!) so Ill keep this short and concise, but I just wanted you all to know that I made it to Paris safe and sound.

Thinking of you all! (Sort of...Paris is pretty exciting... :))

love katie

Off to see the country

Well hello! Long time no blog. Welcome back. I hope that as you all are reading this you are well and good. :)

Quick! The name of the game is, "What’s Your Favorite Item from Patty Mraz’s Care Package to Katie?" (everyone’s a winner!) In a bright green package covered in poker chips, my mother sent me a few days ago:
-Two chapsticks (considered one item)
-A Sports Illustrated magazine dedicated entirely to Michael Phelps (whom she appropriately refers to as "Katie’s Michael")
-A Barnes and Noble tote bag for groceries and whatnot
-A single American Dollar
-A Jayson Schmelzer Coe College postcard advertisement addressed to Matthew Mraz
-A love note
-A 5-pack of Bic mechanical pencils
So what’s it gonna be?? Currently there’s a strong pull for the postcard and the dollar, but the competition is still hot.

Isn’t that an awesome package to get from home??! Haha everyone should be so lucky.

So. Since I’ve written last, I have been to another country, taken a test, and arrived at the train station from where I will be embarking on a two-week Europefest. Just another week abroad!

Alright first things first. Norway. Sweden is located right next-door to Norway and so it’s really just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Östersund. So on Saturday morning, I hopped out of bed, skipped a shower (I took one the night before, I promise), and jumped on a train with Ellen to meet three of our other friends in Trondheim. Four hours later we found ourselves in the third largest city in Norway, complete with canals, tiny streets, colorful houses, and lots of hills. Oh and of course, fjords. (Really, I know it may be getting old but just say fjord out loud once and you’ll never want to stop either!) We hiked up the longest hill in the world (or probably what just seemed like the longest hill in the world after going on three hours of sleep the night before, but hey you weren’t there so you don’t know) to our hostel where we met Candace, Anna, and Eva, who had arrived the day before. After getting settled in, Candace wasn’t feeling well so she stayed back at the hostel while the rest of us set out on an exploration of the fjords. We walked through town to the edge of the ocean and just went at it. Great trails accompanied by awesome views and a tantalizing rock face here and there that I just couldn’t pass without climbing caused my camera batteries to die disappointingly early. I didn’t get the chance, then, to capture how cool the bunkers and cave that we found were. We learned that when the Germans invaded Norway during WWII, they built a whole sleiu (someone please tell me how to spell this) of structures for the purposes of hiding out, storage, whatever people need when they’re at war. It was eerie to walk through them. I felt engulfed in history in a way I hadn’t been for a while.

After a few hours we basically called it a day. All day it had gotten progressively rainier, and by the time we headed back to the hostel we were legitimately freezing. (It’s going to snow up here soon….) Exhausted, the five of us just sat around drinking tea in the living room all night before heading to bed.

The next day we were greeted with a fantastic free breakfast to start the day off right. What started off as an inquisitive comment about my Minnesota Twins Territory t-shirt turned into an hour-long question/answer session about baseball. We cleared up pitcher vs. batter confusion, outs, strikes, home runs, balls, grand slams, fouls, you know, basically the extent of what I know about the game. It was so pleasantly peculiar to try to describe this game to two German girls and a Swede. Being a purely American sport they had absolutely no groundwork laid to begin to understand the game, and so describing the basics of a concept that is so common to me (and to you other Americans) to a captive and intrigued audience gave baseball a sparkle I had never seen before. It was really quite endearing. Despite my insistence that I really know nothing about the game, I was promoted to Baseball Expert by the end of the conversation. I’ll savor that status for all of eternity.

After breakfast, Ellen and I went out to explore the fortress that the other girls had checked out the day before. It was quaint but interesting nonetheless. I couldn’t help but chuckle when I discovered that the tiny little fortress I was running around in was all it took to ward off the Swedes 200 years ago. Another moment for me to think, "Oh bless Sweden’s little heart." Love it. The rest of the day was then spent exploring the town until our train left to take us back to Östersund that evening. I actually saw two really interesting little art galleries in my wanderings, along with a cathedral that I swear was the topic of one of my lectures last semester in Medieval Art History class. If not, it definitely could compete with the churches I learned about. It was a perfect example of Gothic architecture with its hundreds of arches and long nave and side aisles. And I couldn’t stop my need to feel everything in it: the details chiseled into the walls and arches looked like they could have been fake if I didn’t touch them to validate their intricacies. It turns out it’s the northernmost Gothic church in Europe, too, so that’s pretty cool to see.

A full day of wandering helped me sleep pretty well on the train, which ended up being detrimental to my test preparedness. While I should have studied on the train and gotten to bed early, I slept on the train and thus couldn’t sleep when I got back, contributing to my 2:30am bedtime before my 8am Swedish Language test today. (I also talked to Patty and Mark for a while…we have a Sunday Skype call every week that I’ve grown to need. I’m lucky. ;)) Kind of hurting right now, but I’m also about ready to hop on the train for my next adventure so nap time is only a few minutes away….

…my train will be taking me to the south of Sweden, from where I’ll fly to Paris tomorrow to meet Stacey. Then I’m off to make Europe my you-know-what again.
Here’s my itinerary:
October 7-9: Paris
October 10-12: Amsterdam
October 12-15: Vienna
October 15-18: Berlin
October 18-20: Copenhagen
Then a train back to Östersund so I don’t have to fly. I proclaim my undying love, yet again, to Charlie the sassy Eurail Pass. :)
Alright well I’ll be in touch throughout the trip! Thinking of you all!
kt

My blog is happy when I can't sleep.

...because that means it gets attention when it usually would not. I'm not sure why but I've really had a tough time sleeping since I've been here! Maybe I just miss the fan I got used to this summer. I'm not sure. But either way it's 2:15am here and I can't seem to fall asleep. In that case I guess I'll try to be a little productive here and update you all on the life here in Östersund.

As expected, having a bike has really set my world in place. It's great to only take ten minutes to get to campus now (with the bus it was at least 20...). I've decided on a name, too. My new bike's name is Gump, but I'll most likely be calling him Gumpy. Getting to this name took some careful thinking but it's a perfect fit. First of all, he clearly has seen a lot in his day: Not only did I buy him from a secondhand shop, which already screams culture, but he also boasts a weathered rust and a flashy Sweden bumper sticker. If he could speak better I know he'd have lots of great stories to tell. Kind of like Forrest Gump. He also squeaks more the faster he goes. Kind of like Forrest Gump in the leg braces. By the looks of him, one would definitely underestimate his merit. Again, kind of like Forrest Gump. Taking a look at it from another angle, he's so incredibly ugly that it takes a lot of gumption for him to be so proud and brave and show his face everyday. You get the picture. Gumpy and I will be having plenty of adventures to share with you all. 

I have my next trip planned! I'm heading off on October 6th to meet Stacey in Paris on the morning of the 7th, spending a few days there, then taking the train with her to Amsterdam for another few days. So far so awesome! That was planned a few days ago. And then tonight, I got to looking at my wish list and schedule, and I realized I'd only be missing one lecture if I continued to travel until the next week! So at the moment I have a blueprint plan to continue on by myself from Amsterdam to Vienna to meet up with Luke Viertel again, then after a few days meet Stacey in Berlin, then continue to make our way back to Östersund, stopping in Copenhagen for a few days on our way up. (To take a step back and listen to myself speak at moments like this is dumbfounding, by the way.)

Also this weekend, tentatively, I'll be shooting over to Norway with Eva and Anna to see the fjords! I'm not sure I'm all that confident in my understanding of what these even are, but I know they will be breathtaking to see. I hope it all works out; the trip is contingent on a couch surfer being available for us. Did that jog anyone's interest? Because it should...couchsurfer.com is amazing. It's this global network of people who love to travel and meet new people from new cultures, but who don't have a wealth of cash to do so. Basically you can review different "couch surfers"' profiles in the areas you wish to visit, and with a few detailed messages you can potentially set up a free place to stay for a few days! And literally there are couch surfers everywhere in the world. You can read reviews from everyone who has stayed with these people previously, but even so, a certain number of negative reviews will discontinue their affiliation with couchsurfer.com. There's a common understanding of trust and good will in every interaction....it's really humanity at its best. There are a handful of students in the exchange program here who swear by it. So I hope it all works out for this weekend!

Alright well I've caught way too many typos in this posting so I'm going to have another go at sleep again. Missing you all!

kt

ps--Whoever likes Jack's Mannequin MUST and I mean MUST invest in the Glass Passenger...I just got it yesterday and really haven't stopped listening to it since then!!

I want to ride my BICYCLE!

At long last I got my hands on a bike today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know that 14 exclamation points may seem a tad gratuitous, but if you feel that way then you clearly don't grasp my excitement about this big step in my life! This bike and I are going to be able to cover so much more ground than my feet and I ever could. Not to mention I'm going to be able to explore all the places the bus can't go! Ahhh I'm so happy. He doesn't have a name yet (and I'm not even positive he's actually a he...), but he's mainly silver with a beautiful splash of blue on his chain protector, and he's very very rusty and squeaky. So my immediate instincts are to call him either Rusty, Squeaks, or Bullet, but the jury's still out. I really have to get to know him first. He's just so ugly and I love him with all my heart. :)

For you non-facebookers, I have added some pictures to my Östersund photo album in which I've attempted to capture the outstanding colors I'm surrounded by right now. As always, the pictures don't come close to what I'm seeing here. But I hope you enjoy them nonetheless. It may not be evident to you all either, but I definitely feel like I'm becoming a much better photographer. A combination of always taking pictures and picking up tidbits of advice from friends here and there has given me a new attitude on photography. It's really exciting for me to find just the right setting to give each sight the most justice; maybe a hobby is in the making? We'll see. 

Well besides the excitement of getting my new bike today I can't say there has been all that much going on here since Saturday. A group of us has been consistently getting together on Sundays for brunch, which always lasts hours, so that was a big chunk of my day yesterday. I really really enjoy those brunches; we have such a nice time just unwinding and enjoying each others' company. It's so great. And then every day here I have been doing my best to try to cook something new. It's still up in the air, but I may be so bold to say that I've gone from being a  "Not Allowed Anywhere Near the Kitchen" Cook to a "Crappy" Cook. Moving on up in the world. 

Well I hope everyone's doing well! Keep me posted!

Katie

Östersund matches the autumn :)

This town was built to be enjoyed in the Fall. It is seriously breathtaking be here as the leaves are changing. It's the strangest thing, but today on my run through the woods I felt like I was part of the colors, they were so vivid. And I know that the midwest probably gets the exact same way in the fall, but this is the first time in my life I have ever appreciated it so much. Instead of the waterfall trip, I ended up spending practically the entire day today outside on the island of Frösön right by town. Sandra, Eva, Cornelia, and I embarked on a hiking trip at 3:30ish that was only supposed to last an hour or so, but didn't get back until at least 7. We just wanted to keep going and going because the forest is so gorgeous right now. The whole day would have been perfect for you Patty-Mraz, Greg-Griffin, Tom-Hicks types. :)

So since I've been here I've become more and more aware of the words and phrases I choose to communicate with. Being here has totally opened my eyes to how much I actually use slang in my everyday conversations. And I never realized it before! Perfect examples:

Adrian from Polland wanted to know if my neighbor, Stefan, was home last night. A group of us girls were heading out on bikes into town for a night out, so as we were leaving, I yelled, "Yes he's home, peace out home skillet!" 

Adrian stops for a second, and yells, "Wait...he's OUT?" 

And I reply, "Nope he's there! PEACE out...not HE'S out!" 

"Wait is he IN or is he OUT???"

"He's THERE! I said PEACE OUT home skillet!"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT HE'S IN OR HE'S OUT??"

Haha it was great. 

And then naturally this encounter lead into a 30-minutes discussion with Anna and Sandra about phrases to use if you're a "gangsta," and what it actually meant to "be a gangsta." Right before running in to a gas station for a quick stop I showed them how to position their hands when they said, "Peace out." When I rejoined them a few minutes later, Anna asks me, "So what about 'Cut,'" (cuts the air with finger scissors) "'it,'" (points to me) "'out'?" (points her thumb behind her). "Is that gangsta?"  I can't help but chuckle, and tell her that it's not so much gangster as it is Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson from Full House. Not skipping a beat, she replies, "Okay then I don't need to know it." Haha it was priceless.

And then today on my walk into town, I come across smiley Yazdan from Iran. 

"Hey Yazdan!! What are you up to?"

"Haha um, What does this this mean, 'What are you up to'?"

"Oh, well, what are you doing?"

"Oh! Well, I am walking--no. I am stopping," (points to his feet, still huge grin on his face), "and talking. To you."

"Haha well where are you off to?" 

"I'm sorry?"

And then it just sort of went on like that. 

And every day it's like this. The everyday phrases I'm used to applying to communication are totally new to a lot my friends here. Like today when I said, "You know the drill," and Eva clearly didn't even know what I was talking about. Or when I tried the, "MARCO!" technique to try to elicit the matching "POLO!" to meet up with the straggling hikers, only to be answered with silence and then disinterest when I explained the game. (Haha and that's another thing all to itself---when I do explain concepts to them, sometimes I realized how dumb they actually are. Haha.) Later, when Sandra and I were talking about how sweet cats are, I said, "Yeah cat ladies get a bad rap but I really don't blame them at all." Her blank stare told me that there is no concept of "Cat Ladies" in Germany, so I had to pick it apart and try to paint the picture in terms that would make sense without losing the meaning. Anyway, I could go on, but you get the idea. They way I communicate here is becoming almost more honest in a way. I mean, granted every one of my friends here is at a different level with English-speaking, but in general my peers here don't know English well enough to really be sarcastic that often, or to lie, or to sugar coat things, or anything all that funky. It's just straightforward communication; few frills. It's a pretty sweet environment. 

Well that's all I have for now I think. Thinking of you all! :)

kt

Random story. Today I walked out of my academic building and was greeted by hundreds of kids yelling and cheering around the soccer field on the quad. Obviously intrigued, I made my way over and got a good spot to watch. The guys playing all had crazy outfits on (ski suits, sweat bands, no shirts at all, etc.) and some of them had even painted their faces. On the sidelines each team looked like they had cheerleaders: one group dressed up in what looked like old school Britney gear, and the other group was army-style. Beer cans were sporadically littered all around the field, coming from the players, the cheerleaders, and the enthusiastic crowd. It was really a fun sight to see and I was so delighted to have caught it! But then my tired brain (which was already sort of missing Coe during its Homecoming Week right now...) turned it a little sour. This whole scene could have easily been at Coe this week. Where I would have recognized people. Where I would have been able to socialize. Where I would have been able to meet the new people without a language barrier. It didn't make me emotional or upset at all, but that realization definitely called for a deep breath in and long release out. Fortunately, on a third attempt I found a really smiley nice girl who was confident enough in her English to try to explain the whole tradition to me, and it ended up just being some crazy boys who get together twice a year and compete for status! Which made a lot of sense because the game was brutal...I saw at least three guys get punched in the face! So yes, I guess this is my way of saying I'm a little more curious about what people at Coe are up to this week than usual. :)

Thinking of everyone!

Katie