I just learned how to format in Microsoft word. Thrilling. IT 544 is perhaps the easiest class I have ever taken.

Hey everyone,
Tonight is my last night in Sweden. I fly out in the morning to Copenhagen and after a five hour layover and ten hour flight will arrive in Seattle around five in the evening. I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday! I can't wait to show off pictures and see all of your smiling faces after a restful holiday, but now I must return to my beloved so that we may spend our final night together (National Lampoons European Vacation is on TV and we're going to watch it!). See you soon.

Karl

Hi Everybody! Thanks for the birthday wishes. Hanna is sitting here with me and we thought we would drop you all a line and let you know what is going on over here. So...its really cold. and um...(help me out here Hanna)... We've decided to do a quick synopsis of the trip and our activities thus far:

We've been spending a lot of time in Uppsala, Sigtuna (where hanna's parents live), and Stockholm doing lots of shopping, coffee drinking, and general faffing about. We went to a great exhibition at the stockholm natural history museum about homosexuality in the animal kingdom as well as a really cool exhibition of tromp l'oiele (sp?) at the national museum. We've gotten fat (probably my influence) because of all of the candy and x-mas related food. Hanna's brother, his wife, and her sister were all in Sigtuna for christmas, so we had a packed house but luckily for once i wasn't the one stuck on the fold out cot. Hanna got me a really nice dress shirt for christmas and an amazing set of cuff links with maps of Seattle and Uppsala inlaid to remind me of us (she had them custom made). And for my birthday she got me a print of the original metropolis poster, which I will have framed as soon as I get home. We're celebrating new years with her corridor, unless we decide to do a nice quiet celebration with her parents. We're getting old people, we would rather sit together on the couch with some champagne watching the swedish equivalent of the ball drop rather than hang out with a bunch of drunk people that we don't know. But some promises have been made so we'll see if we can get out of it...

Other than that there isn't much to report as we have mostly been spending time together watching movies, holding hands, and doing all of that stuff that none of you have any business with. We wanted to wish all of you a wonderful holiday and happy new year!

Puss och Kram!

Karl och Hanna

I remembered my password! I think my new years rez is to use this thing!

I'm out! GOODBYE SWEDEN, HELLO EUROPE! We're off this morning for Berlin to begin our invasion. All my bags are packed, I'm a ready to go. I'm standing here...at my door. Okay that's enough. Peace!!!

The Waiting is KILLING ME. One week till we leave Sweden, four till I get home.

Wow, I can't believe it. Only sixteen days left until I leave Sweden. I shipped off a suitcase yesterday full of stuff that I need to have at home (including my formal wear for the wedding I'm attending the day I get back, a street sign I stole, and some other miscellaneous stuff) because I don't really want to haul that around with my backpack. I weighed 18 kilos and cost...are you ready for this?...$196.37 to ship home!!! I just about shit my pants. Anyway, you should see the room now. There is a definite echo when you speak and I'm worried because I still have to ship my computer home and it could cost me around $100 by the look of things. Ah well, such is the price of a whirlwind european backpack trip.

My friend Matt left last week and it was the first of many goodbyes. I didn't think it would be that hard to leave Sweden but I have made some incredible friends here. Caley is leaving in two days for Canada, Anders is moving out on Saturday, the list goes on. *Sigh* Oh well, such is life I suppose. Oh! I just remembered I bought a really good bottle of wine yesterday. Talk to you later.

Caley went in to get his tests back today and the good news is that his is one hundred percent not diabetic, but this is how they told him:

Idiot doctor: Well we've got your tests back and you don't have diabetes! So you can go.
Caley: Yeah but uh, there is still something definitely wrong with me.
Idiot doctor: But you don't have diabetes.
Caley: Yeah I get that, and good work on the previous diagnosis by the way, but I am still sick because of (insert a private list of symptoms)
Idiot doctor: Well, if you aren't in too much pain you should just go home and get looked at by your physician at home.
Caley: I don't leave for another three weeks.
Idiot doctor: well, lets hope that whatever this is isn't too serious.

sigh....socialism.

Also as a side note to this wonderful story it does in fact mean that one of my best friends here is leaving on the 25th of this month which kind of freaks me out.

Countdown to "operation: piss off the whole of western europe": 29 days.

My faith in socialized medicine took a hit this week when two swedish doctors told my good friend Caley that he was diabetic. We found out today that he isn't...from a lab tech. Evidently the doctor was so embarrassed that he couldn't tell Caley himself. Perhaps our system of undergraduate degree, followed bymedical school, followed by an internship, followed by a training residency, does make good doctors!?! Evidently the three year undergraduate degree in Sweden to become a doctor DOES NOT. Our nurses and teachers got through more school than that. And are grossly underpaid. I'm going to stop before i start off on a tangent. If I get sick in the last month of being here I'm coming home for a visit to hall health before going to the hospital here.

Today I was hanging out with the fellows and I moved my thumb on my left hand. Suddenly a terrible cracking sound came from my hand and there was a blinding pain that shot from my hand, up my arm directly to that spot behind your eyeballs. Its been about 8 hours and it still really hurts. All I did was move my thumb.

YES YES YES

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/residentevilextinction/

just when i thought they couldn't ruin it any more for me.

I just lost fifteen minutes staring at the snow fall while listening to sufjan stevens. I have never felt so...*sigh*. Its the cool fluffy snow that kind of falls but also goes up and down, left and right. This snow doesn't believe in gravity. I admire that.

Happy super bowl sunday everybody. I'm sitting here waiting for it to be 12:30 in the morning so that I can watch it. I made the TB house picture on Facebook the background on my laptop. I miss you guys.

Why? Who sits down and says, "I'll watch requiem for a dream. That's a good idea." NO. ITS NOT.

ugh. It snowed. Normally the reaction would be "Yay! It snowed." but when you live 5 miles outside of town and your primary method of transportation is a bike it just isn't as spectacular. I know, I know, stop bitching. Sorry.

Karl

P.S. 11 days until my glorious return.

So this cute German girl has been giving me the eyes for the last couple of weeks and I've been way too afraid to talk to her. I told my friend Duncan, which was a mistake, and he said that if I didn't talk to her that he would. So as I'm leaving class on tuesday I walk out the door and he's standing there with his arms crossed and just points back at the classroom. I turned right around and walked up to her, probably with a psycho killer look on my face or something and asked her to coffee. She actually said yes so we're meeting on Saturday...which means I'm going to sit here for 4 days worrying about what to say to her. She's very quiet so this could be very...awkward. *sigh*.....hopefully this won't end with an international incident.

I'm addicted to coupling......shit.

As some of you have probably heard from me or another source my grandma passed away this last week and I wanted to write you all a note to thank you for the support. I got several emails and even a few phone calls and it really warms my heart to know that I have such good friends. I know that grandma is in a much better place, and to tell you the truth, the worst thing that concerns me is that now she knows all of that stuff that my parents told me not to tell her about. Anyway, this is really impersonal way to send sentiments of this nature but I figured most of you would see it. 24 days and counting, not that anyone is counting.

Your friend Karl

Hey guys, how's it going? Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving! We couldn't do it last week because we had class, but we're buying a turkey at a special meat store in town and we're going to have a big dinner on wednesday night. It won't be the same without mom's green jello salad, but hey what'r you gonna do? Just so everyone knows I have another blog that is very grandparent friendly that I update a lot more than this one if you ever want to see it. Did I already put that is a previous entry? I don't remember, well it's http://www.thewanderingswede.blogspot.com if you want to check it out.

Is it sad that I'm counting the days until my family arrives? Its 25 by the way. Ah well. I have a final exam every tuesday for the next three weeks AND one on saturday morning the 8th, should be fun to get up that early.

I've been to the gym four times in the last week and I feel really good about myself:) Endorphins are fun! This is the most random entry ever. Oh, right congrats on the win for those of you that care and I really hope the Hawks can beat green bay. If they lose I'm throwing in the towel for the season.

Okay, bed time. I love you all!