Teleborg Castle

In one of my earlier blog posts I began by talking about my visit to Teleborg Castle before going off on a rant about green policies.  This post will be less of a soap box and more of a personal narrative about several of my experiences here.

View from across the lake.  Photo credit to Ryan Lin, a student photographer

At night, when we visited

To recap, the castle was built in 1900 as a wedding gift from some Duke to his wife.  Students were invited in to watch a presentation about Vaxjo's history and their title of Greenest City in Europe.  After the presentation there was a reception in another room where we had fika (fee-kuh).  Germans in particular can't help giggling at the word; get your mind out of the gutter.  Fika is the Swedish word for coffee break and man, let me tell you, they love their Fika.  Sweden is second only to Finland in coffee consumption; I guess because it's always so dark so they need to stay awake? One of my teachers has a coffee break in the middle of  class after he's finished his lecture.  It's just the norm.

Twice as much as America

Anyways, they served us coffee with cream, "Swedish" cheesecake, and these wraps with salmon and cream cheese.  The wraps were delicious, but it shouldn't surprise that the cheesecake was the worst I've ever had.  How do you mess up cheesecake!?  I digress.  The castle itself was absolutely gorgeous with beautiful, polished mahogany (or some kind of dark wood) furniture, portraits of distinguished military leaders, and busts and bookcases everywhere.  They even hired a harp player!

The cheesecake was unworthy of a photo

My buddy Sven

Oh, hello there.  Welcome to my study...

We explored the rest of the castle which, it turns out, is now serving as a hotel.  The upstairs weren't quite as grandiose as the bottom floor but... I mean, I guess I could see myself living here.  Maybe after I've made my fortune and found my Swedish wife I'll buy it and we can live out the rest of our days in royalty.

On second thought, I think its more likely that I'll be stuck in South Carolina for the rest of my life instead.

Sweden: from the limited perspective of an American

I've been in Sweden for one month now and think I've observed the culture enough to make some generalizations that may be at least somewhat accurate.  On the whole, Sweden is very easy to adjust to and there isn't much of a culture shock, although I have a somewhat biased perspective having lived in Germany for a year and a half.  For Americans, there is no language barrier; everybody except for the very elderly speak English fluently.  The Swedes begin learning English in primary school at age 10 and, unlike the majority of suburban Americans who took Spanish classes in high school, they actually learn the language.  The majority of products you can find in an American supermarket, you can find here.  If you've no interest in trying new food and want to confirm negative stereotypes about Americans, you can easily live off of french fries and frozen hamburgers for your entire stay (which is what I'm told an American who lived here last semester did).  That being said, Swedish food culture leaves much to be desired.  The only thing they're really known for is Swedish meatballs, but its not like I can live off of meatballs like I could live off of bread and beer if I were in Germany.  I think the dearth of delicate cuisine leaves the Swedes craving for something sweeter, which may be why you can find an entire wall of candy like this in literally every grocery store, even the smallest corner stores:

Swedish fish are nowhere to be found

It's also possible the Swedes turned to candy to fill the cavity left by their inability to fulfill another innate desire: alcohol. At the risk of sounding like a typical college student (or an alcoholic, if you're feeling particularly judgmental), the price of alcohol has been one of the hardest thing to adjust to.  Grocery stores can sell beer or cider up to 3.5% alcohol, but anything of higher percentage can only be bought in a governmental monopoly store called System Bolaget.   Prices are usually two to three times more expensive than at home depending on what you buy; you can buy god awful beer and box wine for pretty cheap, but even the most vile vodka will be no cheaper than 180 kronor, which is about $30.  And this is for a 700 ml bottle (for comparison, a handle is 1750 ml).  Being the cheap college student that I am, I spent an hour in the store writing down the prices, volumes, and percent alcohol of half of the store's contents.  The absolute cheapest thing I could find was this unholy creation:

Hangover guaranteed with every box!

I assume "Il Barone" means The Baron, but I think the only Baron who could whip up such a horrific concoction belongs to the Doom franchise.

God I hope at least one of you gets this

Anyways, I bought it, of course.  Aside from tasting absolutely awful and being the first drink to give me a hangover while I was still drunk, it dyed my lips and mouth black.  Even after all of the maladies, Il Barone came out to be about 2.79 ml of alcohol per kronor.  For reference, a $12 case of Busch Lite is about 4.5.

Obviously, the high price isn't without reason.  I'm sure it's closely related to one of the other elements of Swedish life that has been difficult to adjust to: the lack of sunlight.  Alcoholism was a substantial problem in the past, as the Swedes could drink the darkness away; now, though, it simply isn't financially feasible for the average person to be an alcoholic.  The increased difficulty of acquiring alcohol has visible positive impacts on all aspects of society: alcoholism, drunk driving, crime, and domestic violence are all lower because of it (if you're really interested, you can learn more here: http://www.systembolagetkampanj.se/forskarrapport_en/)

I haven't even been here through the darkest days of Winter and I can confidently say that my perspective and motivation have been impacted by having only 7-8 hours of overcast sunlight every day.  The lack of sun, however, is made up for with exposure to all of the radiant Swedish women.  No but seriously, the stereotype of beautiful Scandinavian women isn't a "grass is always greener on the other side" kind of thing nor was it made up as an attempt to lure more tourists here.  People here are gorgeous.  The running joke is that the Vikings never took back any ugly women.  I'm stupid enough to think there may be an ounce of truth to it.  Making it even more unfair, they seem to have an innate 6th sense for fashion.  So they're naturally more beautiful and more fashionable than me.  Not fair.

To me, though, the most attractive quality of all is that it doesn't go to their heads.  One generalization I am confident in making is that Swedes are very naturally reserved and introverted.  American culture reveres qualities like leadership and the entrepreneurial spirit, which are much more prevalent in extroverts.  As a result, we feel that in order to be successful we need to be the center of attention and earn the approval of others.  Essentially, we want to be the life of the party (This video explains the bias American culture has against introverts much better than I ever could: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar1kEN_ZPNM).  In Sweden, modesty and humility are valued much more, which is something I truly admire.

I had intended on just making one post about my impression of Swedish culture but I can see this is dragging on to be much longer than I intended so I'm going to leave it on this thought.  For some reason I feel the need to make some witty or clever conclusion to this post to wrap everything together but I'm not feeling particularly witty or clever tonight, so this is all you get. 

Sweden, Clemson, and the Environment

Last night we went to a reception at a castle that is right by campus (literally 200m from the nearest dorm).  Several school officials, tourist department officials, and the mayor's office put together a few presentations as an introduction to Vaxjo, explaining some of its history, culture, and why it is called the Greenest City in Europe.

Teleborg Castle

The city was first founded in the 13th Century, but none of the buildings in downtown are that old because they've been repeatedly burnt down by the Danes.  The castle itself is actually the youngest in Sweden; it was completed in 1900 as a wedding gift from some obscenely rich King to his wife, because rings are for peasants.

The title "Greenest City in Europe" isn't just some self-acclaimed tourist hook fashioned by the same people behind all of those world famous hotdogs; these people take the environment seriously.  The local power plant, which provides practically all of the heating and hot water for the city, runs entirely on wood chips left over from the Sweden's logging industry.  There are storm drains all over the place that naturally clean rain water to preserve equilibrium in the city's lakes, which are completely healthy as a result of a cleaning initiative in the 1970's.  The city is highly pedestrian friendly with sidewalks and paths everywhere, making the bicycle the main method of transportation.  Even now in the dead of winter with snow covering the streets, Bikes are how I and much of the population get everywhere.  I haven't had to use the bus or get in a car once yet. 

The local parking garage

In 1996 the community set forth the goal of eliminating  fossil fuel usage by 2030.  Yes, I said eliminating, as in a 100% reduction in the usage of fossil fuels.  I can't help but draw comparisons between our environmental policy back in America (and Clemson):

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"We've redefined success and still failed!"

In Sweden, this isn't some environmentalists wet dream that keeps getting postponed and redefined decade after decade by politicians pandering to an audience.  Since 1993, carbon emissions have been reduced by 41% in Vaxjo, and they are on track to have 55% reduced by 2015.  Not only that, but in the same time period, the city's GDP has increased by 63%.  They've said they're going to eliminate fossil fuels by 2030 and they are going to do it.

I haven't even had to mention the fact that everything is recycled here; that's a given.  Paper, plastics, glass, aluminum; they all have their respective bins and it isn't a question or a choice of whether or not you will recycle.  Meanwhile, Tillman Place Apartments (my former apartment complex in Clemson) is struggling to get enough signatures for recycling bins to be introduced to the parking lot so that maybe a third of its inhabitants can use them.  In fact, I don't know of any apartment complexes in Clemson that automatically have recycling bins.  There are some around the dorms on campus and that's about it.  Unlike Vaxjo, Clemson is a self-acclaimed "green" community.  The environmentally friendly identity the University has fabricated for itself is laughable at best from the perspective of a Swede, or anybody who takes environmental issues seriously.

Fueled almost entirely by coal!

I don't want to downplay the hard work and effort that the people behind campaigns like Solid Green give because they're the ones that actually care and are trying to make a difference.  I know there is research going on in many different departments related to the environment and sustainable energy and I am actually surprised and proud that somebody in Tillman Place started the petition to get recycling bins.  Supposedly, there's even a plan to ditch the coal power plant by 2030. But to say that the Clemson community as a whole is "Solid Green" is, pardon the pun, complete garbage.  It took less than a year to build the new Academic Success Center behind the library, but it's going to take 19 years to take the coal power plant offline?  If reducing carbon emissions were as important to President Barker as becoming a Top 10 Public University,
we'd have renewable energy in a decade sooner at least.  The environment isn't a priority; acting like it is, is.

I hate pointing fingers, but that's exactly what I'm doing.  Barker's simply not going to prioritize the environment when the majority of the student population and alumni are Republicans who either don't believe in Global Warming or are too arrogant and lazy to care.  Hell, you don't even have to believe in Global Warming to know that it probably isn't good for the environment if our main method of waste disposal is to throw it into a big pile and fence it off (or, even worse, burn it).

This faction simply doesn't exist in Sweden.  You'll be hard pressed to find somebody off the street who denies global warming, much less every presidential candidate for one the country's leading political parties.  Environmental initiatives get unanimous support from Swedish politicians, and, as a result, they get done without hesitation.  It's almost comical how one of the most shocking things I've encountered in Sweden is a government that is actually capable of agreeing and accomplishing a task.  And it shows: the dirtiest thing you'll find in the streets is muddied snow.

Maybe when I get back to Clemson I'll be foolish enough to start the same petition for recycling bins in Crawford Falls, but I think it's more likely they'll be vandalized than actually used.  The students there are too used to using the pool, the volleyball court, and the parking lot as the trash bin.

Crawford Falls' broken glass pit.  I mean,Volleyball Court.

Regardless, it'll be hard to be wasteful again.

Intro to Awesome

So I finally stopped being lazy and have made a blog.  Here shall be recorded all of my adventures in Sweden and anything else I would imagine you all would be interested in.

Hi, uh, welcome to my blog.  

So yeah.  I arrived in Sweden on the 17th of January.  I'm staying in Växjö (pronounced Ve-kwuh), a relatively small city in the south which was given the title of "Greenest City in Europe" after being awarded the EU's first award for Sustainable Development in 2007 (Pick up the pace, Germany.  Seriously). Växjö literally translates to "where the road meets the lake"; it is surrounded on most sides by independent lakes with roads leading in and out of town on the anorexic land bridges between them.

For you visual learners

While here I'll be studying at Linneaus University, which is located about two miles southeast from the city's  center.  Most students live on campus, but I live in an apartment complex very close to the city, meaning I have quick access to the downtown area but a two mile bike ride to campus.  Naturally, the Greenest City in Europe is very pedestrian and biker friendly; the ride to campus is on a beautiful path that hugs Växjö s central lake's shore.

It's cold here.  The average temperature has been around 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit and the snow falls frequently.  There's an uncanny beauty to the pristine white blanket that covers everything, though, and by staying this cold it isn't ruined by rain or melting.  The lake is frozen through enough to walk across. At the bottom of this post are a few photos I took the other day on my ride home from school.  It was an ominously foggy day; usually you can see the opposite shore.  And sorry, my photography skills are limited to "place tree or item in foreground of landscape."

Life has been fairly mundane so far, as I've just been settling in and haven't gone on any adventures yet (or gotten any good pictures).  Look forward to future posts that will be more entertaining and awesome.  BAM