so far, I haven't found the fish paste

it's been a while since I've written but not too much has gone on. It's actually been pretty nice weather-wise staying dry all night and then only starting to rain today. Luckily I was only biking when it was misting, not actually raining.

That's right, folks, I have a bike now! it cost me 500 sek, which is super cheap in this town, since everyone bikes. If you go to a used bike shop, the cheapest you'll be able to get one for is 1400 sek, and that was within the first few days of arriving. Now I'm sure you could only find things for above 2000sek, if you find anything at all. so I have a slightly-too-big-but-definitely-manageable silver bike with small bits of rust. and two lights, and a basket and a platform on the back that I can strap things to. With all 3 gears and foot breaks, this bike is a machine sent from the gods. It's amazing how fast I can get to class when it used to be a 40 minute walk! Almost all bikes here have a max of 3 gears and none of them have the double handbrake. I have footbrakes and one handbrake, but I haven't determined the purpose of having a single handbrake. At first I felt like I was back in elementary school with my foot brakes, but now I've gotten used to them and they work just fine. There are so many bikes in this town, that outside of our dorm we have bike shelters with a bike rack and a space marked with a metal plate, designating a spot for each dormroom. Someone has parked their bike in my spot, so I have kindly taken my neighbor's for the time being.

Swedish lessons have been going well, and I will soon put up a post in Swedish. Mostly I can say things to introduce myself - where I'm from, what languages I speak, how many brothers and sisters I have...the basics. My vocabulary is small, but I hope to pick up a lot more over the course of the semester.

One big part of the social life at Lund are the Nations. They're student organizations that you must join and they offer cheap lunches and dinners, as well as pubs and night clubs on certain nights of the week. I'm thinking of trying to help out with the cooking and baking in the nation I will be joining, the Kristianstad Nation. I'm not sure if I'll have time to, though.

I just got the course schedule for my first class, biochemical methods. It's pretty scary. I'm either in class or lab from 8:15-17:00(aka 5:00pm) every day of the week. If I'm reading the schedule right, though, I should be able to get off for the week that Tyler comes over his spring break if I plan it right. We'll see how that falls into place!

mmm other than that, I've just been settling in and eating lots of cookies. They have some very tasty cookies over here. I also hope to get myself back into running so that I don't become too squishy from the cookies. I cooked my first non-pasta meal tonight of chicken and vegetables and it was delicious. I haven't had swedish meatballs yet over here. I also got super motivated and decided to sweep and mop all the floors in my room because the guy who lived here before me was a mess. I feel so much better for it!

Tomorrow I get to have my first laundry experience in Sweden! It should be appropriately exciting. You have to book the washing machines ahead of time, and I hear that they don't cost anything! oh the excitement. (you should also see the looks on peoples faces when I tell them that in America, you almost always have at least one roommate in the same sized room that we have over here. And you have to share a bathroom with either a hall or suite of people. They are astonished.)

That's enough for now, I'll let you know how the laundry goes ;-)