August 22
We finally got around to the Swedish verbs in the language class. Quite strange…there are no conjugations. Afterward the class I went and got my internet form and did some grocery shopping for the general corridor. Everyone chipped in 20 kr and I got essentials like flour, oils, spices, aluminum foil, etc. The International Housing Office, which has to stamp my internet form before I can enter the long queue of people waiting to get internet, has irritatingly short office hours. They are open on three days a week, and only from 10am to 2pm. When you consider that on August 17 over 1,000 international students arrived in Lund (and who all have to complete this paperwork), having office hours like these is borderline insanity if the end goal is to run an efficient timely program. Last Friday some people waited in line at the housing office for two hours waiting to get their form stamped. It will be late September before I get internet access in my dorm room.
Except for this internet hassle, everything else is going great. I have found hotspots that are only a five minute bike ride from my dorm. The weather has been unusually wonderful – everyone says that it should be rainy and stormy but for the past 6 days we have had clear skies, warm temperatures, and a breeze. We might get some rain on Thursday, but only temporary.
The vice chancellor of Lund gave a welcome talk to the international students today. The Lund male choir performed at the talk and were very nice, singing songs in German, Swedish, and Finnish. Afterward I met the vice chancellor and talked with him for a while.
Corridor life continues to be extremely pleasurable. On Sunday and today, when I went in to cook dinner, I did not leave the kitchen/lounge area until 12:30 or 1am, but people sit and they talk for hours about all sorts of things. One funny thing that happened was that Lishuang heard some Chinese that drifted up through the open window while cooking and went to the window and started talking to two Chinese students below. She came back five minutes later noticeably more excited, because she must have been quite pleased to finally hear a familiar tongue!
Tomorrow does not look to be very eventful. I will go to Vodaphone or Telia and buy a phonecard so I can call home. I received two calls from home but did not answer them because my phone was silent during the chancellor’s talk. I called collect but they were not home. As the conversation tonight shifted to credit cards, I suddenly realized like a slap in the face that I really need to check my credit card bill. All the commotion and the lack of handy internet access has taken it’s toll. I will check it first thing tomorrow. The wireless router at the AF building had its DHCP shot, so hopefully they have fixed it now.