Svenska Hollywoodfruar

Svenska Hollywoodfruar is the best show ever! It is the Swedish housewives of Hollywood. Swedish women moved to America and married rich Americans and just live the dream. It is a Swedish program, but my Swedish is good enough now to understand the majority of it. My favorite fru ("wife" in English) is Maria (2nd from the left). She talks really slow so I understand her the best. She is so OCD when it comes to how her house looks. The best part of the show is seeing how America has changed the typical Swede into an American. The wives are outgoing and open. Something you don't find here so often. I mean Swedes are outgoing, but not until you really know them. And it takes SO long to get to know them. I don't know if it is a cultural thing, but they are so reserved. I am patiently waiting for Dexter to start next week! Breaking bad, Parks and Recreation, and workaholics are also awesome shows that I have been watching here. I heard rumors that Netflix will be allowing Scandinavia to use it. Looking forward to that.

I've decided that one of my favorite things about Sweden is the loose candy ("lösgodis" in Swedish) that is sold everywhere. You will find it in every grocery store, gas station, corner store. The selection is incredible. Chocolate, gummies, sour candy, sweet candy, licorice, etc. Swedes are crazy for black licorice. Not my thang. My favorite are these chocolate candies that are similar to Rolos, but so much better. And a close second is a sugar covered candy in the shape of a skull. You just fill a bag up with whatever and how much you want. It is dangerous! Side note: the Coca Cola here tastes better and I don't know why. Probably because it isn't filled with so much high fructose corn syrup. Side note #2: I will admit that the Swedish fish taste better in America. Ironic.

Hockey: so awesome. I love the new team (LHC-dam) Dam is "women" in English. We had our first season games this past weekend. We didn't fare so well (5-2 and 5-3 loss), but we will get our shit together fast. I was unable to play because my work permit was not ready yet. But my papers are all fixed now and I'm ready to play. We play each team 4 times. Twice home and twice away. 28 games total, then playoffs. The top 6 out of 8 teams go to the playoffs. Our team has been predicted to do really well. We are stacked. A bunch of national players from around Europe. Austria, Denmark, Norway, Czech, and of course Sweden. There is another American on my team. It's nice to have that familiarity. We are playing on the same line and it seems to be working out really well. We work hard and have a lot of fun. The wins will come now.

Thesis: UGH. I really need to bare down and get shit done. I just think about how much it sucked to write my thesis in college and now one year later I am writing another one. It is interesting and fun, but I need to find the motivation to power through it. I have finished going through all of my insect traps that I set up/took down over the summer and identifying the species I caught. That little guy in the picture is what I caught. The yellow-legged clearing. Now I need to use ArcGIS to incorporate oak tree data and run my statistical analyses. I will be relating oak density data to species abundance data and figuring out the habitat characteristic of the species. From there I can create prediction maps on where the species most likely exists as well as can estimate the number of trees that is suitable for the endangered species. Conservation biology at its best. I have a Mac which isn't compatible with most softwares that I want to use, so I am using a PC on campus that has everything I need. My goal is to finish my analyses by the time I go home for winter break. I am so excited to go home for the holiday. It will be a year and a half since I've been home. Last year was the first time I wasn't home for the holidays. I am looking forward to baking cookies with G-ma and decorating the Christmas tree. Of course I am also looking forward to my mom's bitchin Hannukah dinner party. Latkas and matoz ball soup! I'm most looking forward to celebrating the New Year up in the mountains with my family and friends. It is always a blast. Drinking, eating, and snowshoeing. I have a feeling I will experience major culture shock when I return. I have gotten really used to the Swedish lifestyle. Chill and independent. I am going to be so annoyed by all the strangers wanting to have conversations with me in America. Here we have "fika". It translates to sitting with friends and having a coffee and a treat. I drink coffee now. I fika all the time. It is like a hobby now. It is rare in America to just take a break and relax. Here we do it like every two hours if we are working or studying.

I had a great time with my two friends (Elsa and Gentile) from college who came to visit me for like 3 days. We went to the ice bar which was pretty cool. It was damn cold though. And expensive. But definitely a worthwhile experience. This is a photo of us being legit in Stockholm.

I'll start to write more frequently again. I am also blogging for Women's Hockey Life and my University. I have started my 2nd level of Swedish. I am really getting good. It is so awesome to be able to understand conversation. I am using Swedish when I am out in town and at the rink with my teammates. I am hoping by January I will be speaking mostly Swedish all the time. It is definitely fall now. Colder and darker. And it is just going to keep getting colder and darker. Bring it on.