Last Day of Class

Last Thursday I had my last day with everyone from the Human Ecology program. This week we all started different classes and went our separate ways. I was actually kind of emotional about it since I may never see some of these people again. But we and the rest of the members of "the best group ever" celebrated our hard work and months of research with a final, slightly more formal, family photo after our presentation, and I have a feeling I will definitely being see more of them in the future.

We also attempted a class photo but it didn't go so well...

Best Group Ever

Commemorating our last group meeting together ever the afternoon before our presentation...

3/10--3/17

Wednesday night I played hostess to Gunnhild (from the Faroe Islands), her sister, mom, daughter and Jerome (the Netherlands). I wanted to try out a recipe for pumpkin risotto but I really needed a whole family to serve for the size of the recipe, so I made a temporary one for the night. Also on the menu was caprese salad and Jerome's grandpa's homemade berry wine. Little Fia Ly and I preferred our apple juice juiceboxes though.

Tulips from Gunnhild's sister Sanna...

My favorite 2 year old! Gunnhild's daughter Fia Ly...

The aftermath...

This week I also decided to have a backup plan in case I can't find an internship in Europe next fall semester, so I applied for exchange at the University of Helsinki and the University of Oslo. Although I was much more interested in the classes at Helsinki, I decided that I'd rather live in Oslo so I made it my first choice. I have to wait seven weeks to find out if I get nominated.

University of Oslo

University of Helsinki

Saturday night I went to Inga's housewarming party...

Ricarda, Inga, Jerome, and Liene enjoying organic Danish carrots, and me with a See's butterscotch sucker

Today was my first day meeting Leo to start our English tutoring lessons. Leo's dad, Mikael, was one of my professors and says that the family will be spending next year abroad in an English speaking country so he wants to supplement his school's English lessons with some one-on-one tutoring. 

This is seriously an over-achieving family. Leo is only ten and he is performing with the Malmö Opera next week, he plays the string bass, and before I got there for our meeting he had already had a piano lesson that morning. I think it is going to be a lot of fun teaching him. The cutest part was when I was trying to teach him something and I said, "Is it A or B?" and he said, "Yes." So I actually did use my limited knowledge of Swedish to clarify some of the terms and concepts for him so he could finally answer that is was A, not B.

Just when I thought winter was over...

...I woke up to this.

Malmö's Western Harbor

Today I went on a tour of Malmö's Western Harbor which has been deemed Sweden's sustainable urban showcase. It was a beautiful neighborhood and I had an amazing afternoon walking along the Baltic Sea in the sun. Perhaps the best part of the day though was getting to play with Gunnhild's adorable daughter, Fia Ly.

Here are some pictures Idil took today...

Perhaps the cutest kid in the world

Fia Ly deciding if she trusts me or not

One of the homes in the Western Harbor

Me and Idil celebrating the sunlight at the Baltic Sea

My arms got quite a workout today

We ended the tour with a fancy fika at a super cute cafe near Malmö's central station.

Super fresh focaccia sandwich with ham, tomato, Dijon, and cheese with a cappuccino cake shared by me and Idil

Cottage Trip

Our cottage in Bjäre

Me and Inga (from Finland)

Hiking at Hovs Hallar. There was a long discussion by the Finns about what Hovs Hallar could mean, but they remained undecided. 

The snow had frozen over much of the hiking trail which the whole walk very precarious. I fell and landed on my butt. Still have a black and purple bruise a week later.

View from above...with Jerome (The Netherlands), Inga and Tuomo (from Finland), and Signe (USA)

Frozen seawater at the rocky shore

Frozen waterfall

The beach

Mom and baby goat checking out the view

Our location at Hovs Hallar

Exploring the nature reserve near Båstad

Gray sky and tall trees at the reserve

Tuesday Night Dinner

Wednesday night was Idil's boyfriend's last night in Sweden, so since I couldn't NOT make him (and the other new members of the enchilada fan club) enchiladas one more time Tuesday night I invited some friends over for a repeat. These are the results...

Enchiladaaaaaas with homemade (super spicy) enchilada sauce

Meryem and Gokhan

Dinner is served

Very romantic

The beginning of their practical joke on me

Plotting...

After dinner we started talking about Gokhan's fortune telling ability and some Turkish superstitions and Idil mentions that there is this one website she knows that somehow just knows everything about you. Obviously skeptical, I ask them to show me. The website works by submitting a question and then  receiving an answer. So they start asking questions on the site and everything is coming up correct. I start freaking out but say, "No, it must somehow be going through my search history or using my Facebook account--something--this cannot be real!" Then really strange things start to happen.

When I get an answer basically telling me that a Jinn, a sort of Islamic spirit, is now intervening, I start to get super nervous. I'm having this existential crisis where I begin to doubt my belief in science and consider the possibility of a spiritual world. Then Mehreen takes the computer, and as I'm yelling over her shoulder that this is a horrible idea, she writes that the spirit should prove it's existence. The response is that a cup will fall in the kitchen. And not five seconds later a cup falls. I am losing it at this point, yelling at them for bringing a Jinn into my house. Everyone else is acting very scared and nervous too.

After almost two hours of this, Mehreen finally tells me that is was all a joke! Idil walks in the room and I tackle her on the bed screaming, "I hate you guys!" over and over again. So apparently everyone was in on this whole joke and terrified me into believing in these Islamic spirits. While I don't know if I have ever felt so much anxiety in my whole life, I have to admit they did a pretty good job.

The cup falling is really what got me...sneaky Idil.

Most important lesson learned:

• My friends are really good liars