life: September 2007 Archives

We're now a month into the semester (yikes, already?) and the pace has definitely picked up at school. I feel sort of like how my last term was at UW, when I took an enormous number of math courses since I'd put many off, and wanted to graduate. My program's curriculum definitely starts us off with a hefty course load in the beginning. I think after this semester things might ease up a bit. Even the second half of this semester might be easier, because I'll be done with one hard course and one easier course, and pick up a new computer science course that looks to be mostly just C/C++ programming. Then after this semester I have less required courses and more chances for electives, so it's a little bit more up to me how hard it will be.

But enough of that. I wanted to talk about coffee. I'm not too picky about coffee. I will drink crummy coffee without too much complaint, because it does the job, but I definitely do appreciate getting good stuff, at least on occasion. I feel the same way about beer actually. I miss the fine coffees you can get on the west coast of the US. Blue Bottle, Stumptown, Lighthouse... yum. The best coffee I've had so far in Stockholm has been from 7-11 (Coffee For Real!). I'm serious. They do serve Lavazza there, so that's probably why it's pretty good.

I wish I could find some nice Italian coffee like that at the supermarket. I have seen Lavazza (and maybe Illy too) at the store, but only espresso blends/grinds. So far the other (not terribly good) coffees I have bought at the store are also ground too fine, so my french press made coffee ends up leaving a lot of sludge in the bottom of the cup. Yuck. It doesn't seem like whole bean coffee is sold commonly at all, so I can't easily grind it myself. Maybe I just need to buy one of those espresso percolator thingies and drink that every day?

Anyway, I must finish up some matematiska modeller (mathematical modelling) homework, and head to the airport. I'm going to Amsterdam for the weekend!

The other day I was at the small underground shopping mall at the Friedhemsplan Tunnelbana station, which is one stop away from where I live. I walked into a little book shop just to look around. I went over to a small shelf they had with English language books. Among the titles I noticed they had The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, the autobiography of Marilyn Manson, and The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey. That was a bit different than the collection of NY Times Bestseller novels I expected to see in a store with such a small selection.

This morning I got a cup of coffee from a vending machine during a class break. The following was printed on the cup:

Sun is pure and intense
Sun is enjoyable everytime again
Sun is warmth on your skin
Sun is gold and fire and party
Sun is a gift from heaven
Sun is luxury

Uh, what? This is like some kind of engrish you'd read on some knick-knack from a 100¥ store in Japan, but with a little better grammar. Is this supposed to cheer you up and get you excited about summer while enjoying your coffee on a winter day in Stockholm? It can be dark more than 18 hours of the day and typically down to -7°C in the winter here (though I've heard it can get substantially colder), so I think reading something like this while I'm frozen in the dark would just annoy me. Pretty bizarre.

P.S. I know free speech, and other constitutional rights, have been on the decline in America in recent years, but it would be really cool if that trend gets reversed soon. Like, before I come home. These videos make me sad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE76LQwT6qA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiradcejA6o

This evening I went with some other students to Vasamuseet, a museum in Stockholm built around a 17th century ship that was pulled up from the Baltic around 50 years ago. It's a really huge ship that saw very little action. It rolled over and sunk on its maiden voyage due to being top-heavy. Thanks to the low salinity of the Baltic, the ship was very well preserved. Apparently timbers in ships are typically eaten by this type of worm that only lives in saltier waters. If you're ever in Stockholm, it's a pretty rad museum to check out. Here are some photos I took inside the museum:

I made some new friends from China, France, Venezuela, and Peru. New friends make me happy. After the museum, some of us proceeded to walk around Djurgården and elsewhere in Stockholm snapping photos and chatting, then got some dinner. At McDonald's. The last time I ate at McDonald's was in Hiroshima last year, and I can't remember when I did before that. I guess I only eat McDonald's when I'm outside of the US. I got a quarter pounder with cheese, which is sadly not called a royale with cheese in Sweden. It was disturbing that it actually was kind of enjoyable to eat.

This is my favorite photo I took tonight:

I think I might live through this graduate school thing. I feel good about both of the classes I'll be in for the whole semester, but still a little shaky about my finite element method class, which only lasts about 8 weeks. I might need to study hard for that one I think. Tomorrow I'm planning to try to do as much homework and reading as I can.

I am very frustrated at not knowing Swedish. Most local web sites are in Swedish only, making it difficult to buy anything online. I have to pay bills using online banking, but my bank's web site is in Swedish only too. Luckily they provide a brochure in English saying what to click on to pay bills. When I tried calling the cable company to get some faster Internet access in my room I couldn't get through their automated call routing system because it was only speaking to me in Swedish, as well. I also can't read most of my mail. Unfortunately I did not get into any Swedish classes this semester due to fierce competition from the hordes of other foreign students, but I did get into an online course at least. Hopefully I can learn some from that. And hopefully I make a Swedish friend! I've started asking the international student office if there are any Swedish mentors left for people like me.

But I'm having a good time. I like it here and this not-knowing-Swedish problem will eventually be resolved. The weather was really nice the other day (I guess summer may not be completely over) so I road my bike around Gamla Stan, the old town, and took a ton of photos. Here are a few of those:

Some observations about Stockholm:

* Drivers of cars are nice to cyclists. They seem to generally give plenty of room, slow down if you're in front of them, almost never honk, and generally not be assholes. I also don't fear for my life as a ped.
* Swedish girls like mascara. Either that or it just stands out more because there are so many blondes.
* I am short.
* There are a whole lot of sushi restaurants. I have not tried any yet.
* There doesn't seem to be any crazy, ranting, screaming homeless people. Hardly any homeless people at all, actually.
* French hot dogs rule!
* Lagom, a very Swedish word meaning roughly "moderation" and suggesting that that is a very good thing, does not seem to apply to drinking. I know I just got back to college and all, but seriously there is a lot of binge drinking here.
* It rains a lot.
* People here love New York. Lots of clothing around with New York related stuff on it.
* There are a whole lot of white people. There are quite a few Middle Eastern people, and more Asian and black people than I was expecting, but the vast majority are white.
* People dress pretty nicely. I think I'll buy some more button up shirts and a nice looking jacket (I need a jacket anyway).
* Snus seems kind of gross. Reminds me of all the people who chewed tobacco in high school, but I suppose it's not as nasty and way less likely to kill you than cigarettes.
* Anything that can be considered a luxury type of item is expensive. Rent is really cheap, as is buying an apartment, at least compared to cities I've lived in--Seattle and San Francisco. Food from the grocery store is probably a little more than in the US, but not bad. Eating at restaurants is expensive, though not so bad from kebab/pizza places that often also sell hot dogs and burgers. Alcohol is expensive. Electronics like computers and iPods are very expensive. Annoying as it is that gadgets and booze cost a lot, this is a nice tradeoff for the cost of living to be low.
* There are a lot of attractive people.
* Despite my fears to the contrary, there is some semblance of Mexican food! I can get stuff like corn chips, taco shells, and salsa at the grocery store easily. Not a lot of spicy stuff, but there is some. I even found a couple of Tex-Mex looking restaurants called Taco Bar, but I haven't tried their food yet.

At my university. Really. Tonight there is "N0llepubrunda," which is a pub crawl on campus. Apparently every year this happens, where you can wander through the various campus chapter pubs and parts of the campus drinking and having a good time. There was beer, music, bbq, and some really loud singing by students. And of course the mechanical bull in front of the library. I wish I had not forgotten my camera.

I was not aware there were all these pubs on campus. I also do not yet fully understand this chapter system. But I am enjoying all of these fun student events!

Now I need to get some sleep though, as I have class at 8 tomorrow morning. God natt.

Biked to school today for the first time. It's a really quick ride, only about 4km. I need some warmer clothes though. I don't even have a real coat. I thought I could get one in a month or so, but summer seems to be all done. It was about 11°C and raining really hard on the way home. There was also a lot of traffic on the way back, so I think I might try to find a more optimal route on the bike map I got at the bike shop. The girl working there told me she rides 10km every day all year round. She suggested ski pants and a balaclava when it gets snowy, and they apparently sell snow tires at that shop.

I took photos of my new bike and put them on Flickr today. Starts here:

So, I made it through the first day. Here's what I'm taking this semester:

* DD2325 Applied Programming and Computer Science
* DN2251 Applied Numerical Methods
* DN2260 The Finite Element Method
* DN2266 Mathematical Models, Analysis, and Simulation

Today I had lectures just in the mathematical models and finite element method courses. Applied programming doesn't begin until the second half of the semester, and I have the first lecture of applied numerical methods tomorrow. The FEM lecture was pretty brutal. I was really not following what the professor was talking about very well at all, but he was just covering a problem from the book. I bought the book before heading home, and read part way through the problem on the T-bana and think I can figure it out from the text. In the mathematical modeling class we just discussed some basics about matrix algebra that I already know. Looking at the outlines of the courses, a good deal of what's going to be covered in in the mathematical modeling course will be review for me, but probably just about everything in the FEM course will be new.

Hello. I've decided to start posting about my life again now that I've gone and moved 5000 miles away from most of my friends and family. For those that don't know, I just moved to Stockholm to work on a master's degree in Scientific Computing at Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (the Royal Institute of Technology). We had some review classes last week, but my real courses start tomorrow. I am very excited to be here.

Stockholm so far seems really great. Geographically, it reminds me of Seattle in a lot of ways, but is colder and flatter. I don't know any Swedish (my program is taught in English), which causes problems with reading my mail, some signs, and a lot of web sites. Fortunately just about everyone in Sweden speaks English very well. I hope to learn the language as soon as possible though.

So far I've met several other new international students via some parties and other events organized by the university. There are people from something like 100 countries coming into my school this year, which is very cool! I've met folks from France, Greece, Moldova, The Netherlands, Pakistan, Australia, a whole bunch from Iran, and some other countries. So far I've only seen three Americans. And, amusingly enough, I haven't really met many Swedes yet.

This weekend I managed to get some items that I've been sorely missing, namely reliable Internet access, a phone, and a bicycle. My Internet connection is novel in that it uses the mobile phone network, and thus works everywhere in Sweden, but is quite cheap at 199 crowns a month (just under 30USD). I might be replacing it with DSL due to it being a little slow and very laggy, but it's a nice interim solution for getting online. The bicycle I just got today. It's a nice used steel touring bike outfitted with racks, fenders, and other handy gizmos. I will take some pics and post those soon, but in the mean time there's a photo on the ad where my friend Kalen found it.

Well that's enough for tonight. I bought a new camera just before I got here, so you can see some of my photos here on flickr.