Thanksgiving, Dutch Christmas, & Classes.

Hey everyone!
So I've finally decided that approximately a month late I should update my blog. So I'm going to do it in two parts. This part will cover everything that happened since my last post up until my last trip to Kiruna, which will be discussed in another post. (Geez, this sounds like a syllabus.) Anywho, here goes:

1. Thanksgiving: We decided that since we couldn't have a traditional American Thanksgiving with our families that we would have a Swedish Thanksgiving instead. It was a lot of work organizing everything, but it came together better than I would have ever hoped. We ended up having approx. 25 people at our dinner (mostly friends but a few of my corridor mates as well), all of whom brought something to our incredible feast. It was amazing the amount of food we ended up with, as well as the amount of food that we didn't end up with by the end of the night. Everyone learned the true meaning of Thanksgiving - eating until you can't move, surrounded by everyone you love. It was a Thanksgiving that I will never forget, complete with Turkey meatballs (a little Swedish twist), Australian meat pie, & turkey hands (compliments of colorado Hannah & Tasmanian Ella). Even though I missed spending Thanksgiving at home with my family, I couldn't have asked for a better alternative - I spent the holiday I love with the people I love, and couldn't ask for more.

2. Amidst my "study abroad vacation," a bit of studying has taken place. I just finished my final course - "Media Analysis" - which ended up being quite interesting. Over about 4 weeks, I had about 4 lectures & 4 seminars...not too shabby. It was nice to take a course in something new, especially because media is predominant in all of our lives no matter whether we study it or not. We had to write a paper at the end of the course, delving deeper into the material we covered throughout the course, and I chose to write an essay on an episode of 'Sex and the City,' using various media analysis techniques to get the job done. I was quite pleased with my essay & the class as well, so my academic career in Uppsala ended well.

3. Sinterklass: I have found a new holiday that I plan on bringing back to the U.S. Sinterklass is a Dutch holiday, which is celebrated on December 5th. For the Dutch, it is a bigger deal than actual Christmas, and I can see why. It's more of a child's holiday - Sinterklass's arrival with his "black friends" (because of the chimney soot) in Holland has complete television coverage (I may have watched a bit of it) - but we celebrated in "adult" fashion. For our celebration (there were 8 of us, all girls, participating - myself, Hannah, Hannah, Karin & Hilde (Holland), Ellie (New Zealand), and Ella & Jodie (Australia)) we all picked secret sinterklass names and we had to write a poem and make a present for our gifts. It was one of the funniest nights I have had in Uppsala. Ellie picked my name, and along with a Sverige memory box that she put together, she wrote me the following poem:

I've never been that great a writing so I needed a little inspiration,
Yet after flicking through facebook all I found was consternation.
Amanda your list of interests is extensive, including reading, tea, and 'the cape.'
But looking further into the collection I found a multitude most wouldn't deem so great!
Little black dresses are all very well for a sexy young lady of twenty,
But add in plaid, napping, & greeting cards and you begin to seem in your seventies!
Your taste in music doesn't help, in fact it's disturbingly close to my nana's.
That could explain your flirting in Ireland, maybe you're just searching for vintage manners?
You're a lovely hostess Amanda, constantly welcoming us to your floor.
But with the amount of food you cook, one would think we numbered not six but twenty-four!
Joking aside, you're a lovely girl and a funny loyal friend.
I'm only sorry that in less than a month
our time in Sweden will be at an end.
So safe travels hun and good luck with love, work and life.
With a personality as sparkling as your's I'm sure the future will be bright!

haha. Everyone's poems were along these lines, which left all of our stomachs hurting as we ate Dutch "papternoten" and other treats that the Dutch girls brought back from home. I have now decided that Secret Santa + poetry writing is my calling, so everyone be ready for that to be instituted. (Hopefully you enjoyed my poem as much as I did.)

Well, those are the highlights from Thanksgiving to Kiruna, which I will write about in my next post, which will hopefully come up in the next few days. Hope all is well!

much love,
amanda.