week 34. exams, exams, exams.
This time, I have almost no photos and hardly anything else to fill it with! But I have a few interesting stories I'll share.
I just want to mention that the fresh sushi/sashimi from the Thai restaurant near my dorm is actually really good, and at an affordable price. Plus, the free make-your-own miso soup station is always worth it.
On Monday after class, I decided to go hunting for printer ink again. Someone recommended I check Kjell & Co., so I went to the one in Solna C. The bus I took was, of course, a bit caught in rush hour- and so, it took longer than it should have to arrive there.
I got off at a stop that definitely wasn't right where the shopping mall was, but I figured I could walk it. After a while of confusion in terms of whether I should take the underpass/overpass to head in the right direction, I followed what I thought was the correct path, and arrived. It's much larger than it looks from the outside, with a huge Clas Ohlson on the upper floor, and a toy store on the lower floor. Ground floor had everything from restaurants and food stands to bookstores and clothing shops.
Kjell & Co. had no printer ink, so I went to check Clas Ohlson, but also to no avail. They didn't have the type I was looking for. So I bought an alarm clock there, an air mattress and sleeping bag for my friend who would arrive later this week, stayed a while longer at the mall, and browsed around some of the other stores to see what they had.
I stopped for food at the Taco Bar there. One taco for 25 crowns, and it was actually a well-filled taco. All in all, pretty happy with it.
I lugged my cargo into the bookstore, picked up a Swedish dictionary, a planner book and some miscellaneous items, and was pleasantly surprised at the price when I went to the register to pay. It didn't seem as high as I thought it was, and so I paid and left (and the cashier went on leave after I had finished).
"Sexy Little Chick", anyone? Or perhaps "Hot Lips Beef"?
When I got home, I happened to check the receipt from the bookstore- and found that the cashier had forgotten entirely to charge me for a Swedish grammar book. I resolved to return later when I had time, and pay for the item.
The next day, I groggily arose from my bed and casually glanced at the time on my phone (since it turned out that the alarm clock was quite broken, and didn't even so much as turn on to show the time).
9:04, the cheery display greeted me.
And then, the panic set in. It was oral exam day, and class began at 9. I may never have overslept more than half an hour in my life, and certainly never enough to make me late for something. And this, of all days! I rushed through my morning routine and barged out the door, and eventually arrived to class at about 45 minutes past the hour. Nobody asked any questions, fortunately (likely because I'd never been late before), and the lesson drew to a close as we reached break. The oral exam groups were assembled after we got back from coffee break, and mine was the last to go (four of us total, while the other two groups were three and three). I think the oral exam may have gone much better than either the listening or the written exam later in the week, in fact. Då håller jag tummarna. ("So I'm holding my thumbs"... an expression that's the equivalent of the English, "I'm crossing my fingers" or "knock on wood".)
My lunch of the day was from the KTH library again, this time the vegetarian option with couscous, falafel and dolmas. I'm still so impressed by their (affordable) food selection.
Still have no idea what that pink worm-shaped thing is below- it's one of the departments within the KTH Student Union (Tekniska Högskolan Studentkår (THS)) that made it, but I can't tell what it's supposed to be...
They have been active throughout the past week and a half, for the arrival of the Swedish freshman. Everywhere I turned, there were groups from each department under THS with different coloured coveralls and signs directing each field of study. "Hej nollar!" was the typical greeting the newbies received, referring once again to their status as virtual 'zeroes' in the university.
On Wednesday, our teacher taught us to play a card game... in Swedish, of course. The problem was that four of the most crucial cards for the game were missing from the deck. The rules were already confusing enough, without the missing cards (I counted a total of 48).
Perhaps she was a bit tired, because she found some of the missing cards inside the deck box when we cleaned up at the end of class. But I promised to bring my full decks to class on Friday, after the listening exam.
This time, I have almost no photos and hardly anything else to fill it with! But I have a few interesting stories I'll share.
I just want to mention that the fresh sushi/sashimi from the Thai restaurant near my dorm is actually really good, and at an affordable price. Plus, the free make-your-own miso soup station is always worth it.
On Monday after class, I decided to go hunting for printer ink again. Someone recommended I check Kjell & Co., so I went to the one in Solna C. The bus I took was, of course, a bit caught in rush hour- and so, it took longer than it should have to arrive there.
I got off at a stop that definitely wasn't right where the shopping mall was, but I figured I could walk it. After a while of confusion in terms of whether I should take the underpass/overpass to head in the right direction, I followed what I thought was the correct path, and arrived. It's much larger than it looks from the outside, with a huge Clas Ohlson on the upper floor, and a toy store on the lower floor. Ground floor had everything from restaurants and food stands to bookstores and clothing shops.
Kjell & Co. had no printer ink, so I went to check Clas Ohlson, but also to no avail. They didn't have the type I was looking for. So I bought an alarm clock there, an air mattress and sleeping bag for my friend who would arrive later this week, stayed a while longer at the mall, and browsed around some of the other stores to see what they had.
I stopped for food at the Taco Bar there. One taco for 25 crowns, and it was actually a well-filled taco. All in all, pretty happy with it.
I lugged my cargo into the bookstore, picked up a Swedish dictionary, a planner book and some miscellaneous items, and was pleasantly surprised at the price when I went to the register to pay. It didn't seem as high as I thought it was, and so I paid and left (and the cashier went on leave after I had finished).
On the other end of the mall, I saw an Asian restaurant, and gravitated toward it. Upon closer inspection of the menu items, I snapped a quick photo and hastened away, since I couldn't stop laughing.
"Sexy Little Chick", anyone? Or perhaps "Hot Lips Beef"?
When I got home, I happened to check the receipt from the bookstore- and found that the cashier had forgotten entirely to charge me for a Swedish grammar book. I resolved to return later when I had time, and pay for the item.
The next day, I groggily arose from my bed and casually glanced at the time on my phone (since it turned out that the alarm clock was quite broken, and didn't even so much as turn on to show the time).
9:04, the cheery display greeted me.
And then, the panic set in. It was oral exam day, and class began at 9. I may never have overslept more than half an hour in my life, and certainly never enough to make me late for something. And this, of all days! I rushed through my morning routine and barged out the door, and eventually arrived to class at about 45 minutes past the hour. Nobody asked any questions, fortunately (likely because I'd never been late before), and the lesson drew to a close as we reached break. The oral exam groups were assembled after we got back from coffee break, and mine was the last to go (four of us total, while the other two groups were three and three). I think the oral exam may have gone much better than either the listening or the written exam later in the week, in fact. Då håller jag tummarna. ("So I'm holding my thumbs"... an expression that's the equivalent of the English, "I'm crossing my fingers" or "knock on wood".)
My lunch of the day was from the KTH library again, this time the vegetarian option with couscous, falafel and dolmas. I'm still so impressed by their (affordable) food selection.
Still have no idea what that pink worm-shaped thing is below- it's one of the departments within the KTH Student Union (Tekniska Högskolan Studentkår (THS)) that made it, but I can't tell what it's supposed to be...
They have been active throughout the past week and a half, for the arrival of the Swedish freshman. Everywhere I turned, there were groups from each department under THS with different coloured coveralls and signs directing each field of study. "Hej nollar!" was the typical greeting the newbies received, referring once again to their status as virtual 'zeroes' in the university.
On Wednesday, our teacher taught us to play a card game... in Swedish, of course. The problem was that four of the most crucial cards for the game were missing from the deck. The rules were already confusing enough, without the missing cards (I counted a total of 48).
Perhaps she was a bit tired, because she found some of the missing cards inside the deck box when we cleaned up at the end of class. But I promised to bring my full decks to class on Friday, after the listening exam.
We also got locked out of the classroom during break, and had to wait for an administrator to open the door.
After class, I headed back to Solna C to pay for the book (they were very appreciative that I'd returned to pay), and also to exchange the alarm clock for a functional one. The cashier who processed the item exchange was nice enough to put a new set of batteries in the new clock, and set the time as well to ensure it worked.
I also tried the Asian restaurant to see what the racy dishes were all about. Not top-notch food, but if you're after inexpensive curry, the restaurant does nicely. Staff were friendly, too, and a good number of customers seem to usually sit there.
A lot of political advertisement is continuing, with some ten or so parties all advertising and campaigning outside of Solna C, between the tunnelbana station and the mall.
Found a bicycle seat warmer with a humorous sticker on it. It's actually a practical idea.
I went home afterward to study for the listening exam. I wasn't exactly sure what I should do to prepare, so I went through some of the audio files that came with the textbook. I also stopped at the grocery to return some empty bottles and redeem them for cash. It's not much (1 kr), but it's more than what we get for them in the US. There's even an option to donate the refunds to African trees.
And so, the girl in line before me managed to fill the machine until it refused to take more. So we waited for the grocery worker to clear it, and then the girl finished, and it was my turn after that. I got 3 kr in refunds, and printed out the receipt with the barcode to redeem the amount.
It occurred to me that it would be a nice idea to buy a full deck of cards for the Swedish teacher, to replace her faulty one, and so I picked one up. Then, I decided to find a cleaning product to unclog my skitäckligt shower drain, and managed to spill something like organic kitchen spray onto myself, the deck of cards, and the bottle receipt. Which, of course, entirely wiped the barcode off the refund receipt, and I took it as a sign that I should donate to Africa next time.
The listening exam on Friday turned out to be a radio broadcast on the views of various Swedish political parties on EU energy policy and the view of the Christian Democrats on non-EU farmers' selling their goods in the EU. I don't know if any of us understood the småländsk dialect that the one politician spoke, which is definitely something I need to work on. That, and skånska, because I don't do particularly well with either dialect (although I've listened to Skåne's radio broadcasts a number of times).
We were all too wiped out by coffee break to particularly want to play cards. Everyone wanted to go home instead, but we were too polite (or timid) to say anything to the teacher (who had forgotten the prize that she was going to give to the winner- she'd left it at home). So we played cards anyhow, and it was fun once we fully understood the rules, and then we took some group photos and parted. I also gave the teacher the new deck of cards for her to use with her students in the future, and she was very appreciative.
I wasn't motivated in the least to study for the written exam directly after having taken the listening exam, so I went out to Östermalmstorg and walked between the tunnelbana station there, and the Stadion station for an hour or two. It was lovely weather for being outdoors.
There's an Asian restaurant there, called Rice as I recall. They served a tasty miso soup and some well-prepared dumplings, so I think it's on my list of places to return to. The servers were friendly, but spoke Swenglish to me and Cantonese to each other (from what I understood).
I was confused about where to pay the bill, as I hadn't gotten it yet, so I went to talk to them once I had finished (they were, by then, sitting down and taking their late lunch break to chat and eat). So they directed me to the counter, where they found they didn't have change to give me, and had to rummage around a bit before producing the right amount.
But I won't hold it against them, since the food was good, and at least the service was friendly.
Above: the inside of Rice, where the bar stood near to the entrance. I didn't check to see what specifically they served there, but they had a decently extensive list on their menu, from what I saw.
I went home, met one of the new residents of my corridor, and studied for a while into the night until I decided sleep was the best option.
The last exam fell on Saturday morning, when I walked with some of the other students and my corridor mates to the group examination room. We were split into rows according to our classes, and so we spread ourselves out in the auditorium (it was one of several testing rooms in use). The exam, to me, felt like a blowout. The fill-in-the-blanks at least had a word bank, although there were only around 20 blanks and 40 word choices. I was completely stumped on some of them, and so I took guesses. Prepositional phrases have never been my thing. (Stumped on them? Stumped for answers? Stumped with the questions? -See what I mean?)
Not to mention, the articles in the exam- much like on the listening exam- were on practical and useful matters that we hadn't studied much at all in class. In fact, at least we'd studied politics in class, but we had never learnt anything on sustainable energy or technological innovations. The true/false/not enough information section on the exam wasn't as bad as the fill-in-the-blanks section, but it still wasn't great. And then came the essay portion, where I managed to formulate my arguments well enough, but couldn't always find the right words I sought. In addition, I realise I made quite a number of mistakes on it, in grammatical syntax or agreement. Worst of all was that I'd made the same error multiple times down the two pages I wrote, so I can only hope the points aren't taken off more than once.
But it was over after two hours (I finished an hour early and looked it over once before deciding that changing my answers was a terrible idea), and so I headed early to the train station to wait for my friend from Denmark. :)
I bought a train ticket there to Sala for my next nyckelharpa lesson, since the online system was rejecting any and every method of payment I tried. Then, I wandered around between the shops out of curiosity, since I hadn't gone into any of them before. Found some interesting things...
Above: This keyring quote made me laugh. There was an interesting assortment that was offered there.
I also went to the bookstore there and found an affordable book in Swedish to read, which I wanted for practice purposes. Oddly enough, I had problems finding Swedish crime fiction in Swedish at a cheap price, so I settled for the Norwegian author Jo Nesbø's latest book in the Harry Hole series, Polis. (And no, that's not pronounced "hole" as in English. It's two syllables. :P)
The toilets, of course, charge 10 kr for entrance. The one where the airport train arrived was pretty strange, since there was a bright blue light inside that made one wonder if they'd wandered into a nightclub bathroom by mistake. (Yes, I had to take a photo.)
Once my friend arrived, it was a happy reunion. I hadn't seen him since last year, when he studied at my home university for a semester abroad, and so it's been about a year since I first met him there. We had a not-so-fancy meal at the McDonalds in the station and then proceeded to my dorm, where he dropped off his things and set up the air mattress (which turned out to be an actual camping mattress, about a centimetre and a half thick at the most) and sleeping bag.
My (prescription) sunglasses fell on the floor and broke today, so I had to buy a new pair to at least suffice for the rest of my stay here. I don't actually need a prescription in them unless I'm driving, which I'm not doing here.
I finally got an actual air mattress from someone moving out of the complex today, so my friend should be happy now :P We went out to buy a pump to inflate it, as well, but stopped for food first at a café around Östermalmstorg. Food took an abnormally long time to be delivered, however, and despite the small number of servers/staff, I wasn't impressed with the speed of the service.
Still a nice café, however. But the nachos that I'd ordered were of mixed quality- the mango smoothie was good, and the meat/vegetables in the nacho dish were fine. The salsa was all right, but the avocado lacked some flavour, and the cheese was nowhere near acceptable.
When we arrived back at my dorm, I met another newcomer who had just moved in. Seems the corridor might actually be filling up now. And now, we have a week of vacation before classes resume next Monday :)
Anyhow, I shall end the post for now. Hejdå!
Mvh
/The Swedish Fish
I also tried the Asian restaurant to see what the racy dishes were all about. Not top-notch food, but if you're after inexpensive curry, the restaurant does nicely. Staff were friendly, too, and a good number of customers seem to usually sit there.
A lot of political advertisement is continuing, with some ten or so parties all advertising and campaigning outside of Solna C, between the tunnelbana station and the mall.
Found a bicycle seat warmer with a humorous sticker on it. It's actually a practical idea.
I went home afterward to study for the listening exam. I wasn't exactly sure what I should do to prepare, so I went through some of the audio files that came with the textbook. I also stopped at the grocery to return some empty bottles and redeem them for cash. It's not much (1 kr), but it's more than what we get for them in the US. There's even an option to donate the refunds to African trees.
And so, the girl in line before me managed to fill the machine until it refused to take more. So we waited for the grocery worker to clear it, and then the girl finished, and it was my turn after that. I got 3 kr in refunds, and printed out the receipt with the barcode to redeem the amount.
It occurred to me that it would be a nice idea to buy a full deck of cards for the Swedish teacher, to replace her faulty one, and so I picked one up. Then, I decided to find a cleaning product to unclog my skitäckligt shower drain, and managed to spill something like organic kitchen spray onto myself, the deck of cards, and the bottle receipt. Which, of course, entirely wiped the barcode off the refund receipt, and I took it as a sign that I should donate to Africa next time.
The listening exam on Friday turned out to be a radio broadcast on the views of various Swedish political parties on EU energy policy and the view of the Christian Democrats on non-EU farmers' selling their goods in the EU. I don't know if any of us understood the småländsk dialect that the one politician spoke, which is definitely something I need to work on. That, and skånska, because I don't do particularly well with either dialect (although I've listened to Skåne's radio broadcasts a number of times).
We were all too wiped out by coffee break to particularly want to play cards. Everyone wanted to go home instead, but we were too polite (or timid) to say anything to the teacher (who had forgotten the prize that she was going to give to the winner- she'd left it at home). So we played cards anyhow, and it was fun once we fully understood the rules, and then we took some group photos and parted. I also gave the teacher the new deck of cards for her to use with her students in the future, and she was very appreciative.
I wasn't motivated in the least to study for the written exam directly after having taken the listening exam, so I went out to Östermalmstorg and walked between the tunnelbana station there, and the Stadion station for an hour or two. It was lovely weather for being outdoors.
There's an Asian restaurant there, called Rice as I recall. They served a tasty miso soup and some well-prepared dumplings, so I think it's on my list of places to return to. The servers were friendly, but spoke Swenglish to me and Cantonese to each other (from what I understood).
I was confused about where to pay the bill, as I hadn't gotten it yet, so I went to talk to them once I had finished (they were, by then, sitting down and taking their late lunch break to chat and eat). So they directed me to the counter, where they found they didn't have change to give me, and had to rummage around a bit before producing the right amount.
But I won't hold it against them, since the food was good, and at least the service was friendly.
Above: the inside of Rice, where the bar stood near to the entrance. I didn't check to see what specifically they served there, but they had a decently extensive list on their menu, from what I saw.
I went home, met one of the new residents of my corridor, and studied for a while into the night until I decided sleep was the best option.
The last exam fell on Saturday morning, when I walked with some of the other students and my corridor mates to the group examination room. We were split into rows according to our classes, and so we spread ourselves out in the auditorium (it was one of several testing rooms in use). The exam, to me, felt like a blowout. The fill-in-the-blanks at least had a word bank, although there were only around 20 blanks and 40 word choices. I was completely stumped on some of them, and so I took guesses. Prepositional phrases have never been my thing. (Stumped on them? Stumped for answers? Stumped with the questions? -See what I mean?)
Not to mention, the articles in the exam- much like on the listening exam- were on practical and useful matters that we hadn't studied much at all in class. In fact, at least we'd studied politics in class, but we had never learnt anything on sustainable energy or technological innovations. The true/false/not enough information section on the exam wasn't as bad as the fill-in-the-blanks section, but it still wasn't great. And then came the essay portion, where I managed to formulate my arguments well enough, but couldn't always find the right words I sought. In addition, I realise I made quite a number of mistakes on it, in grammatical syntax or agreement. Worst of all was that I'd made the same error multiple times down the two pages I wrote, so I can only hope the points aren't taken off more than once.
But it was over after two hours (I finished an hour early and looked it over once before deciding that changing my answers was a terrible idea), and so I headed early to the train station to wait for my friend from Denmark. :)
I bought a train ticket there to Sala for my next nyckelharpa lesson, since the online system was rejecting any and every method of payment I tried. Then, I wandered around between the shops out of curiosity, since I hadn't gone into any of them before. Found some interesting things...
Above: This keyring quote made me laugh. There was an interesting assortment that was offered there.
I also went to the bookstore there and found an affordable book in Swedish to read, which I wanted for practice purposes. Oddly enough, I had problems finding Swedish crime fiction in Swedish at a cheap price, so I settled for the Norwegian author Jo Nesbø's latest book in the Harry Hole series, Polis. (And no, that's not pronounced "hole" as in English. It's two syllables. :P)
The toilets, of course, charge 10 kr for entrance. The one where the airport train arrived was pretty strange, since there was a bright blue light inside that made one wonder if they'd wandered into a nightclub bathroom by mistake. (Yes, I had to take a photo.)
Once my friend arrived, it was a happy reunion. I hadn't seen him since last year, when he studied at my home university for a semester abroad, and so it's been about a year since I first met him there. We had a not-so-fancy meal at the McDonalds in the station and then proceeded to my dorm, where he dropped off his things and set up the air mattress (which turned out to be an actual camping mattress, about a centimetre and a half thick at the most) and sleeping bag.
My (prescription) sunglasses fell on the floor and broke today, so I had to buy a new pair to at least suffice for the rest of my stay here. I don't actually need a prescription in them unless I'm driving, which I'm not doing here.
I finally got an actual air mattress from someone moving out of the complex today, so my friend should be happy now :P We went out to buy a pump to inflate it, as well, but stopped for food first at a café around Östermalmstorg. Food took an abnormally long time to be delivered, however, and despite the small number of servers/staff, I wasn't impressed with the speed of the service.
Still a nice café, however. But the nachos that I'd ordered were of mixed quality- the mango smoothie was good, and the meat/vegetables in the nacho dish were fine. The salsa was all right, but the avocado lacked some flavour, and the cheese was nowhere near acceptable.
When we arrived back at my dorm, I met another newcomer who had just moved in. Seems the corridor might actually be filling up now. And now, we have a week of vacation before classes resume next Monday :)
Anyhow, I shall end the post for now. Hejdå!
Mvh
/The Swedish Fish
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