Spring Time İn Sweden......

Norrlunds Guld med Korv.....(Swedish dessert)

Lounging it out on the trail to nowhere.....

Sunshine and mossy pants.

Birch and a bridge.....

Chinese hot pot, a raddish, and a hysterical classmate.

Untitled - Undeservedly So

There is something disgustingly inappropriate about the perverse curiosity of mankind. What rational specie would travel distant lengths to entertain itself with visits to locations of its own demise?

The camps at Auschwitz are hollow and forlorn. They sit in deep silence, aging with a heavy conscious. Their modern burden is to pose in stature as curious onlookers seek an answer to the question of how. The pointed barbs on the wire fence perimeters have started to oxidize and soften, making them more approachable than their prior form. The metal turnbuckles keeping taunt the wired strands are disjointed and unmovable. The wooden guard posts are losing slates and are weathered to a tint which matches the heaven sky on a gloomy day.

The large field camp of Birkenau sits even more silent than its brethren 3km away. The open field still littered with the remains of the crudely constructed cabin shacks which supplied refuge to inhabitants from the storm of the world around them. As if to mark graves of those who parished, the chimneys from the domiciles still stand. Inside the stacks are black and colored with soot that traps the souls of those who were fuel for its creation.

A set of parallel locomotive tracks runs the length of the camp. They start at hells gate and continue to the far fence line where scaling burms are built out of the remains of those piled beneath. The tracks pass a loading dock about halfway through where sorting and culling of the disposable cargo was off loaded. The well worn steel looks sleepy as if even it needs a break from the scrupulous work required by the generation past.

The grass is still green and the trees still grow; what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Life Is A Walk In The Park (beach park)

Back, but not for long.....

To my regular readers out there I post this post as an apology. I feel bad that I haven't posted in so long....I could come up with a ton of excuses, studies are too exhausting, project work is taking it's toll, etc, but what it really boils down to is that this blog no longer excites me. I have carried on my rambles on this forum for the parts of three years now.....same old gobbly goop with a different package. It has been a good run though, I will admit that. This blog was a learning experience for me....an excuse to write and share stories as I stumbled around my life. Things have changed for me though....big things, things like my direction in life, my attitude towards life, my view on the world, my aspirations for the future, and my next steps (whatever the hell those may be). So, I may dribble a tid bit here and there on this forum, but for the most part this blog is closed.....it's time to let go.

Now, with death comes life. Therefore I am planning to launch a new site in the month or so to come. It will have a different feel to it and a different moat from which I write. It will focus more on entrepreneurship and future trends as well as some huge topic areas that I have been uncovering like a 'participation society' and other behavioral and economic undertones that affect us all. It will be geared towards the future and less focused on telling stories of the past. Sure, I'll make sure to include the occasional over dramatization of a bout with food poisoning, or a minimalist travel tale, but the focus of the work will be different and more about the future and less about reporting the past. There is optimism in this next step.....stay tuned and keep checking back for the launch of the new blog. I promise not to disappoint.

Welcome To Lund - Lesson Four

Lund University was voted 'least likely university in Europe to be able to print something from a PC 2007 and 2008' by Forbes Magazine college edition (someone should check that reference). For such a technologically developed area such as the Skane region of Sweden you will soon learn that printers are an elusive appliance. The solutions to this mess are few. You can either purchase your own printer for your flat, you can make friends with someone that has a printer who you can bribe for your term papers, or you can find a printer in the city somewhere. The first option, printer purchase, is going to cost you a fortune and therefore I wouldn't recommend it (if you have been following this blog series this week you will soon get the jist of the various themes; Sweden is expensive). The second option, making friends with a printer buddy, is a good option for an every now and again print job. You will however, quickly come to learn that those with printers learn the value of such an asset and become less open about free riders using the device without coughing up some sort of return for their investment. The third option is a good one. Find a printer in the city. Now, most of us students have access to a printer through our program. You will most likely pay for each sheet you print and you may or may not be at the mercy of the IT guy who handles any misfeeds or paper jams. I have seen students backed up for a month in the econ department waiting to print a regression analysis. Therefore, it is in my opinion that the best solution for your printing needs is to visit Lundabocker. What is Lundabocker you say....well, it is a second hand book store that sells consignment books that students want to sell. The store is a great place to stop in to see if there are any books you need (or may simply want to buy), as well as to do any printing and copying you might have. Sergio is the friendly face that runs the place and he's a good guy to know in Lund. The shop just moved at the start of the new year from the AF building to its new address at Kiliansgatan 11. I hear he is thinking of a coffee machine as well....so, print up and Welcome to Lund.

Welcome To Lund - Lesson Three

To complement yesterday's piece on food, I thought I would tackle the other staple of academic life...booze. Sweden is not the place to be if you enjoy cheap hooch and lots of it. A lush life can easily cost you twice your monthly rent....the government has to pay for the public systems someway right? Anyways, there are ways to cut costs and still indulge every so often. The best tip...avoid the bars. At almost all the bars in Lund a beer will run you as much as a pizza. Add to that a hefty cover charge for the privilege to buy such novelty and you will wake up with an empty wallet surely every time.

So, what is a lad to do if he needs to itch that thirst. Well, there are two options....the first option is to use your mandatory membership into the university nation society to attend 'pub' nights at the hosting nations as they come about through the week. A beer at the nation (Swedish equivalent to a fraternity) will still run you 25sek ($3 USD) per pint, but it's half or less the price than at a bar. The second option, and my personal favorite, is to simply buy booze from the Systembologet (state run liquor store) and consume it at your leisure wherever you desire. Now, for 10sek ($1.25 USD) you can buy a half liter of cheap Swedish or Danish beer in a can. The brew doesn't win any sort of awards for its tastiness, but it's tolerable and a good option for the price....don't forget to save the can when you're done....each can has a deposit of 0.5sek on it....that adds up to be big bucks if you clean up a corridor party the night after a big bash. One unique feature of Lund is that you can have an open container in the city and it is completely legal. This is a unique feature in Lund and not something that is tolerated elsewhere in the country. The reason for this is that the student union of Lund fought to keep the law this way. So, while it's cold now and a few chilly one's with your favorite blokes in a corridor room might get a bit monotonous, spring will be here soon and then a cold one on one of the many green spaces in the city will be just the ticket. So drink up and Welcome to Lund.

Welcome To Lund - Lesson Two

By now you have undoubtedly noticed the cost of everything in Sweden. For anyone from the states the sticker shock is extra shocking as our homeland has spoiled us with cheap goods that we import with low tariffs and huge economies of scale. Sorry fellow statesman, there's no super Wal-Mart up here. So, presented in my second lesson is a cost survival guide for food. At least this way you can eat (which is about all you can afford to do up here). Most of the living arrangements in Lund have a kitchen of some sort...either it's a corridor where you share the kitchen with flat mates (like me), or you have a small kitchen in your room that consists of basic microwave, sink, etc. In either case you need to learn how to cook and take advantage of such luxuries.

When you just can't stand your own culinary concoctions anymore and decide to venture out for a meal here are some tips. Sit down meals are very expensive....a big burger at a nice place (Hercules Bar) can easily run 140sek ($20 USD) and a salad most 'nice' places are 60 sek. Thus why I have yet to step foot inside a sit down restaurant for a meal....I say, if you want to eat a proper meal, buy a ticket to the Baltic states and spend a weekend there. You'll come out ahead. So, if nice sit down places are out what is a person to do? Simple, falafel and pizza!!

There are numerous falafel and kebab stands throughout Lund. These are the equivalent to the American fast food dining experience (except there is limited variety and it is way healthier). My favorite falafel is a place I refer to as Kebab Huset Centrum which is located at the corner of Kyrkogaten and Paradisgatan (adjacent to the central library Stadsbiblioteket). These guys run a good place. The oil in the fryer is changed regularly and thus makes the falafel taste true to form. In each wrap there is a load of vegetables jammed in and you can pick between several sauces for toppings (I recommend spicy). A wrap will set you back 25sek ($3.50 USD). If you want to upgrade throw on an order of pommes (fries) and you are set for the rest of the day for under $5 USD. If you get tired of falafel the other option in the city is pizza.

There are several pizza options around and I haven't tried enough of the different places to comment on a 'favorite'. That being said, since it is Sweden, everything is more of less the same so the pizza experience won't differ much from shop to shop. You have two options when you go to a pizza place...take away or dine in. This is tricky business.....if you are solo, take it to go. The reason for this is that the pies are huge. They run around 60sek so you need to stretch it into at least two meals if not three (I've even heard tales of petite women splitting one 4 ways....oh to be thin again) and the only way to do that without insulting the place is to take it to go. The whole 'doggy bag' concept is elusive in Scandinavia. If you are with someone else you can usually maximize your money by dining in as most of the shops have a cabbage salad that they serve along with their pies that you can load up on (unlimited self serve refills) and thus have plenty of food even for two hungry lads. The tricky part about dining in is that the shop owners assume that if there are two people there will be two pies being ordered. They will be astounded when you order one pie and there are two of you....I don't really understand this, but you'll see what I mean when you try to do it. My favorite pie is a ‘kebap pizzor’ with garlic sauce. You will find these everywhere. They are basically a thin crust Italian margarita pizza with kebab shavings loaded on the top and drenched in garlic sauce. A few hot (mild) peppers on top and you are set. Bon appetit and welcome to Lund.