I'm not a snake...and you are not an ocelot

Good morning. 

Or wait, did i even sleep? No i didn't because i slept during the day. It was a rather peculiar day too. I had a computer lab that went just fine. But i misbehaved and i am very embarrassed by that. Me and Shahar had an assignment from the same course that was due in half a day. It was not really going great as it was hard an a completely unknown topic for both of us. I let my frustration and stress get to me and i almost lashed out completely. Shahar told me to calm down. I wonder how he can keep his calm so well. He is a good guy. I apologized to him multiple times.

I had also a Skype call with Jasper from the Netherlands. He is a newly admitted student in our master program and i have volunteered to greet them all. We had a lengthy chat and i tried to answered all his questions. It is really good to see how people are excited about coming here.

After that i headed to the train station to meet Silvia, a good friend from my economics class to catch up. We sat down and had ice cream, made fun of the lioness, the general public and the creepy guy drinking his milkshake gazing us every few minutes with a strange look on his face. I then had to return back to my cave and sleep because another nocturnal night was approaching. The day was so beautiful. The spring here is absolutely astonishing. How can this country be so beautiful and manage to surprise me pleasantly every single day...

I picked up the worlds biggest-calorie-infused teriyaki sandwich and headed back home. I had another Skype call with a greek girl looking for a place to stay next semester. Dimitra is migrating too and i felt for her. It would also be nice to have someone to speak your own language in the same house. We talked for an hour and i tried once more to answer any possible question. She is also super excited to be heading here. She will not disappointed. I am not sure i would pick any other place right now in the world for my permanent residence. After that i slept like a baby. A heavy docile baby.

Which brings me to the topic at hand once more. I get this question a lot.

"Why did you move to Sweden? Don't you miss home? Isn't it so cold and the weather is shit? Don't they have 5 hours of daylight?"

My god what the media or friends and people that have "heard something" can do to you. Let's try and answer these once and for all.

I have traveled in many many countries. I have had the good fortune of seeing every possible culture and immersing myself in them from a young age. I always said that i was either born in the wrong country or i was born to live in another. Saying that when i looked outside the window during my flight to Sweden for the first time i knew something unique was coming. I saw first hand that the swedish society is something different. Everything is moulded on the image that every person here is the perfect role-model citizen. Justice and living by the rules is important to them, as well as equality and freedom. And this is mostly true.

I frequently see my fellow students or acquaintances travel in the far ends of the earth. I saw a woman i used to like climbing the highest mountains in Uruguay and visiting Brazil. Another just went to California for a month. They work, but not without reward, luxuries and a nice life. A start contrast from my childhood. Freedom of speech is important. Every document of the country are publicly available, a cornerstone of their public life. They grow up to rely in teamwork, promoting recycling and environmental concerns and they work efficiently and effectively.

They will always form a sacred line and will not complain. Privacy is important so i guess that explains how introverted or reserved they are. I don't think you will see anywhere in the world such respect and patience in a line. We grew up in Greece trying to skip the line, being frustrated by the tons of bureaucracy and how to take advantage of situations. Here they do not think that someone will disturb their perfect society. You can see that in places where you have to weight your own fruits or food, nobody would expect you to do it.

What about justice? There is no back alley or windows here. I want to see  you try to complain to that officer that wrote you a ticket for not having lights on your bicycle. I remember once waiting in line of a nightclub and the officers were outside. A guy was drinking beer in the street and that is illegal. The officer grabs his beer and spurs it to the ground. Guy says "why give it back!" and the officer replies: "This is Sweden now. You will comply to the rules". I think this sums it up well. Of course there are incidents, of course there are back doors, of course there is corruption in some places, but it represents the minority. What a contrast.

My friend Holger, who is an ignorant baboon with the attention span and the memory of an Alzheimer guy squared, managed to lose his wallet 3 times in a month. Every single time someone turned it in the police station untouched. Nothing was tampered, nothing was missing. How many of you can put your hand on your heart and say that you would not touch any money at all? I also grew up with the perception that "I" is more powerful than "we". Collective strength is important here.

Time to wrap up this monologue now as i need to get ready for another day in the office.

Good day Sweden, Good day world.

Welcome to my city.

ι η σουηδική κοινωνία είναι διαφορετική από όσες έχω δει και προσπαθήσει να καταλάβω. Η κοινωνία έχει φτιαχτεί πάνω στη στιβαρή παραδοχή ότι κάθε μέλος της είναι και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέλειος πολίτης. Καθένας προσωπικά νιώθει και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέτοιος. Είναι τρομερά σημαντικό γι’ αυτούς να υπάρχει ισότητα και δικαιοσύνη σε όλα.

Πηγή : Andro.gr [ http://www.andro.gr/apopsi/orismos-tou-eimai-politis/ ]

ι η σουηδική κοινωνία είναι διαφορετική από όσες έχω δει και προσπαθήσει να καταλάβω. Η κοινωνία έχει φτιαχτεί πάνω στη στιβαρή παραδοχή ότι κάθε μέλος της είναι και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέλειος πολίτης. Καθένας προσωπικά νιώθει και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέτοιος. Είναι τρομερά σημαντικό γι’ αυτούς να υπάρχει ισότητα και δικαιοσύνη σε όλα.

Πηγή : Andro.gr [ http://www.andro.gr/apopsi/orismos-tou-eimai-politis/ ]

Η κοινωνία έχει φτιαχτεί πάνω στη στιβαρή παραδοχή ότι κάθε μέλος της είναι και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέλειος πολίτης. Καθένας προσωπικά νιώθει και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέτοιος. Είναι τρομερά σημαντικό γι’ αυτούς να υπάρχει ισότητα και δικαιοσύνη σε όλα.

Πηγή : Andro.gr [ http://www.andro.gr/apopsi/orismos-tou-eimai-politis/ ]

30 minutes in the rain

Tuesday 26 August 2014

Waking up from last night, i checked out if i was at the right place or the right bed. I expected to be in a worse shape but i picked up my pieces quite fast. I'm impressed with my self. I would regain my composure and be a good boy tonight.

Yea right.

But let cut to the chase and start over. New day, new plans, new party.

So. It's like 11pm and i need to be at the Geocentrum. I take my trusty number 7 bus and stop at the Blasenhus, which is pretty much the Uppsala University main science/engineering campus. I see a map sign that shows the location of the centrum, trying to decode it because i'm slow in the morning.

Oh wait, two people are coming my way. Let's stop them because it's raining and i like to get wet.

"Do you know where the geocentrum is?"

"No! Do you know where is the department for nordic languages?"

"No, bye!"

So i keep moving and i ask some worker with a bald head like a globe, he points me to the wrong direction. Tack. I then see and older man that tells me where the correct building is but sends me to the wrong entrance. Tack. So i do a 200 meter walk around until i finally get to the correct way.

Oh wait! I see someone. He is with 2 others. He wears a checkered shirt, jeans and has a beard. He is Greek so i say "Geia sou!" and i met Yannis, a PhD student that takes me to the entrance.

Speechless.

So i enter the premises with some automatic doors opening while i walk. I felt like David Coperfield. I enter the room Norrlands 1 and meet my new colleagues. We are two greeks, spreading like a virus. I met the program helper Aby and the program coordinator Susanne. We did the basic stuff, i registered for my program, asked all the questions i had and received my welcome package.

I ate a nice sandwich with something that resembled greek feta. We were briefed on the campus's training facilities 1477 and the student mental support group. There was also a brief intro about Grus and Unt.

Then we divided in 4 groups or so and we had a short tour of the facilities, which are frankly, amazing. Massive library, clean places, microwaves and kitchen, study rooms that you can book to study quietly, 3 computer room and a biology lab, as well as 5-6 lecture rooms.

We have some students from Sweden following up from their batchelor's, one with a scholarship from Ethiopia, Ezre, Kate from the Netherlands, Kostas and Yannis from Greece, Lena from Germany, Stephanie from the USA, etc.

During our first meet.

We set up a meeting in Thursday @ 8:50 outside the faculty building for a bus tour/excursion and we went to the printing shop to get our student access. It was me, Alex and one more from Iceland. He got is access and then i went home like a sad panda because i am stupid and i did not have my driver's license with me so we could not complete, more or less start the register. Tack.

So i'm going back home, it's raining slightly and i am listening to some soothing drums and bass. I get on the bus with a weird granpa holding eggs like it's the precious one ring.

Oh i am so relaxed on my bed, talking to my buddy Kelly from Stockholm. I tell her dirty and stupid jokes and she laughs maniacally.

I get a message from Vita, my russian angel. The time is 5:44 and we set up a meeting at 6:15. The bus is leaving at 5:50 and i want to be there fast so i see her more...I forgot my umbrella, my ipad, my phone, my mind. I was not even sure of the nation i had to be at...So i found the Gotlands Nation where they had a crash course about sweden. It sucked because it lasted 10 minutes and they only asked 5 questions. I am outside speaking to some random dude and Maria from Ukraine.

She is nowhere to be seen. The time is 6:35. I see Roland and Anoud (A-nude. muahahaha). He sends a message for me to Vita in hope she sees it. I am off to the Gotlands pub which has a massive queue and i talk to James, a tall dude that works in the nation. And then Vita enters with Jose from Spain/USA. Everytime i look at her my heart stands still and so does time and space. I greet her warmly. She smells so nice and is so sweet. I play the sad panda face because she is late and we pretty much met by luck there.

Time to go to Norrlands pub. We sit there inside and we see Dimitris with his buddy program. We have some fun and i keep teasing Vita because i love her laugh and beaming smile. She makes me want to smile too. So we need some action and we talk to two random guys next to us. One is called Henrick (me thinks) and his half-swedish, half-greek (!) friend Andreas. We had the best of times, they actually bought us beers and we stayed there for 3-4 hours. It was amazing. I loved the part where they said that we make a nice couple ("blush mode on").

Dimitris, Jose, Henrich, Andreas and Vita.

So that was it, a fairly quieter night that the previous one, but get ready, because the storm is coming. Tomorrow is the Welcome Ceremony!

Welcome in Uppsala.