Caroline

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.

It scares me that the following topic has to be discussed. It scares me that it exists, and that a lot of people don’t seem to care at all. I’m talking about the combination of drinking and driving.

In my world, drinking is fun and driving is fun. But they are two things that should never ever be combined. I’ve seen the result of drunk driving too many times – a 10-year old girl, living in the same street as I do back home, is forever an invalid. This, just because a person made the decision to drink and drive. There is never an excuse for doing this, ever.

I’ve seen too many people in Stillwater drink and drive. There is nothing that scares me more. But there is nothing I can do, except for expressing my opinions. Believe me, I’ve tried. Because why would they listen to me when themselves, and some of their friends, don’t see anything wrong about it?

Through different posts, I’ve been talking about different kinds of culture shocks that I’ve experienced. Mostly, it’s the small things – the big pickle at the movie theatre or the lack of knowledge about the whipping cream. Some things have had a bigger impact on me, for example the issue about drinking and driving. And I’m afraid its things like this that I will remember. That’s too bad, since I would rather see this problem not even being worth discussing.

This purpose of this blog is primarily to write about my feelings – in other words, it is a very egocentric blog. My plan was not to write about the cultural differences between our countries. But if you have read my prior posts, you know I have.

I have a theory about why this has happened: culture shock.

Culture shock describes the anxiety produced when a person moves to a completely new environment. This term expresses the lack of direction, the feeling of not knowing what to do or how to do things in a new environment, and not knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate.

There are several symptoms of culture shock. First of all, there are the symptoms we all know about, for example sadness, loneliness, longing for family, depression and loss of identity. But, and this is interesting, other symptoms of culture shock is for example developing stereotypes about the new culture, identifying with the old culture or idealizing the old country. Another symptom is trying too hard to absorb everything in the new culture or country.

This could be it. My weird obsession about comparing the culture I’m used to with yours, could be a simple symptom of culture shock. And this, my friends, really has to do with feelings!

One thing that clearly separates the Swedish student culture from the American, has to do with food. In Sweden, most students cook their dinner themselves. While cooking they use their stove, the microwave oven is used more rarely. Many students cook their dinner from scratch, but there are also those who use different kinds of mixes. When arriving in the U.S., it was my plan to continue cooking just like I did back home. Well… I haven’t.

The Americans that I know does not cook like the students in Sweden. First of all, I learned the hard way that when someone offers you food, they probably mean candy and cookies. Second of all, most of the time my friends eat at fast food restaurants. They hardly ever cook – when they are preparing food in their apartments, they eat frozen ready-cooked food which they heat up in their microwave ovens. Is this a healthy lifestyle?

Yesterday, I and another Swedish girl, cooked dinner for a few of our American friends. We made my favourite dish – chicken and vegetables in a sauce of cream and Dijon mustard, served with rice… Mmmm! But that’s not the point… The thing is that we had bought whipping cream, cream that you whip yourself. Some of our friends had never heard, or even seen this. They were just familiar with products like cool whip or already whipped “cream”. It is scary when these “fake” products are taking over the market, resulting in low awareness of the actual, natural product.

After a lot of trouble, I just bought a plane ticket for spring break. During the period of planning, I’ve had time to become quite angry with the (almost) non-existing transportation system in Oklahoma. How are people supposed to get to the airport, if they don’t have a car? But, as for everything, we have a tendency to forget about all the trouble ones everything works out okay. Fortunately for me, I have really nice friends. So now I’m just looking forward to spring break.

I’m going to spend my spring break in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, with my boyfriend. We are going to do all the things that you would expect a tourist to do, like visiting The Universal Studios and Disneyland. But, I think visiting Las Vegas is what I look forward to the most. During my time in school, I’ve been working as a dealer in one of our casinos in Sweden. I’ve been dealing Black Jack and Caribbean Stud Poker. Finally, it’s my turn to be a player at the table! If I’m willing to loose my money, that is…

For many people, today is a big day. It’s Valentine’s day – a day to express your feelings for the people you love. In one way, I don’t like the fact that this day exists. I think we should be able to show our love every day, not just today. In another way, I secretly like Valentine’s Day.

The fact that I like Valentine’s day is a bit depressing when the people I love are far, far away. It’s days like this, that makes me feel homesick.

I think my life as an adult will start on the 11th of May. That’s the day I’ll get back from the U.S. Finally, after six and a half year, I and my boyfriend are getting an apartment together. No one is happier about this then I am. Our relationship is finally evolving and I will be able to start using all that chinaware that my mother has collected during my life.

My boyfriend is out looking for an apartment. Even though I wish that I was there with him, I trust that he will pick us a great place to live. We are looking for an apartment to rent, and just being offered one in the city where we want to live is a big step in the right direction. My boyfriend has been offered two, so right now I’m just anxious to see what happens.

But, there will be no cat, I’m sorry to say. It is simple not allowed.

For a few weeks I’ve been walking around, looking forward to the future. Yesterday I could barely wait until I get home to Sweden and start my new life. I kind of feel like that today as well, but also, I’m starting to get a bit afraid. What if the future isn’t like I imagine?

I am a really positive person. Probably because I’ve never faced any obstacles I haven’t been able to handle. Great for me now, but not really an advantage for me in the future.

I’m afraid of going to a job interview. On the paper I’m supposed to know all this stuff… but do I? I’ve been taking a lot of courses during my four years in school, but how much of the things that I’ve learned do I actually remember? What if they ask me about a current event that I should know about and I don’t? A job interview feels like a test to see if I’m good enough. I’m afraid that someone will think that I’m not.

I’ve got about three month before I go back to Sweden. Tomorrow I’m going to start convincing myself that I’m good enough. If I believe so, I’m sure that it is going to rub of on the person interviewing me.

Either someone is kidding, or you have some weird laws in Oklahoma.

Violators can be fined, arrested or jailed for making ugly faces at a dog. Tattoos are banned. It is illegal to wear your boots to bed. Women may not gamble in the nude, in lingerie, or while wearing a towel.

I know I’m not supposed to believe everything I read, but I do…

Dumb laws in Oklahoma