Caroline

I leave the U.S. in 42 days. That means that the reality, and the real world, is coming closer.

I can’t stop thinking about the new chapter of my life that will start as soon as I leave the U.S. After four years in school, this is my last two months. When I get back to Sweden, I will present my paper and get my master’s degree. There will be no more school, it’s time to grow up and start working.

In one way, I miss home. In another way, I don’t think I will be ready to leave the U.S. in 42 days. There are so many things left for me to do - places to visit, people to meet, adventures waiting to be explored. You might think I’m exaggerating; 42 days are a lot of days. But you all know that time flies. I had a lot of plans coming to this country; what to do and how to spend my time. I’ve done a lot of things, I shouldn’t complain. But in the end, there are so many things to do in so little time.

I was way wrong about the weather; there’s no snow in sight. Based on the common opinion about snow among Oklahomans, I’m sure you are all very disappointed…

To make up for me misleading you, I decided to teach you guys some Swedish. In that case, if you ever long for snow and decides to go to Sweden to make your snow angels, you can say a few words in Swedish. That would really impress the Swedes you are talking to. Here are a few phrases that are good to know:

• Hej! Jag héter …… och kómmer från Amérika. Vad héter du?
  Hello! My name is …… and I’m from America. What’s your name?
• Hur mår du?
  How are you?
• Tack, bára bra!
  Just fine, thanks!

We have three letters that you don’t have: å, ä, and ö. The å, as shown above in the phrase “Hur mår du?” is kind of pronounced like the o in the word “more”. I’m probably not making it very easy for you, I know, but the main thing is that you are trying and that you are having fun.

Swedish - a brief presentation

I like the snow; it makes me feel like home. But don’t you think the weather should make up its mind, once and for all? I mean – snow and winter jacket one day, sun and t-shirt the other? That’s just crazy! If I were to decide there will be a lot of snow next week, so much that school will be cancelled and you can be out playing all day long.

Making snow angels, diving into the snow (without hitting the ground…), building a snowman and having snowball fights. Just as I did every winter when I was growing up – and still do.By the way… You probably know that it really hurt if you get hit by a snowball, so don’t forget to practice your skills!

The Agency.com snowball fight

The concept Spring Break is just soooo cool! It makes me feel like I’m back in high school all over again. You know, I haven’t had any break from school (except for the summers) since I started at the university 3, 5 years ago. That’s just the way things work at my university.

But… you shouldn’t really feel sorry for me. Actually, I probably deserve it. You guys have to drag yourselves out of bed every morning, every day of the week. On top of that you actually have to stay in school a major part of your day (I agree with you, it sucks not having time to do the stuff you want to do). I, on the other hand, am use to having one or two classes per week, approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes at the time. That makes me lazy. The thing is that when you go to school that rarely, it actually becomes hard to separate the Saturdays and Sundays from the rest of the days of the week – you study just as much, you sleep in just as often and you plan most of your day depending on the things you feel like doing that day.

That’s one thing I like about OSU and having to drag myself out of bed every day – when the weekend come, the weekend come.

This Monday the governor of South Dakota signed a law that practically bans abortion. The law makes it a felony to perform an abortion unless the pregnancy is jeopardising the life of the woman. This means that it will be illegal to perform an abortion even if the pregnancy is a result of incest or rape.

According to the Times this is “an intentional provocation meant to set up a direct legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 United States Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal”. The law is scheduled to go into effect in July.

I’ve been thinking about this new law for a few days now. Even though, I can’t seem to figure it out or understand why you would like to have a law like this. I just can’t get in into my head.

I think I know why. Just as many of the things I’ve discussed here, this is a desicion that conflicts with the mental maps I have. So, once again, culture shock!

In an attempt to make time before spring break go faster and of course also to have fun, I and two of my friends decided to go on a road trip. Saturday morning we left Stillwater, headed for Six Flags over Texas. This was the opening weekend, so I was a bit worried that we would spend most of our time doing what you mainly do at fun parks – waiting in line. But since the weather wasn’t all that great, we didn’t have to queue to get on a ride a single time.

So, let me tell you about one of the rides that I and my friends explored. It all started with me saying:

- This looks like a fun house. Let’s go inside. Even if it is a roller coaster, it can’t be higher then the house and it is not that high.

Let’s just say that I fooled myself and my friends. After walking around and around in the house, we finally ended up at the ride. We sat down, without a clue of what was going to happen. Suddenly the train slid to the left. In front of us, two doors opened and exposed Mr. Freeze – the highest and fastest roller coaster in Texas. In 3, 7 seconds we went from 0 to 70 mph. I leaned forward, closed my eyes, and hoped that I would survive.

You’ve probably figured out that this ride scared the *pip* out of me. I am afraid of heights. I am afraid of high speed. Mr. Freeze was not meant for me.