Tjugoett (Twenty one!)

 Hej hej!

This week was a pretty quiet one. Unfortunately we waited too long before booking to St. Petersburg, so it didn't work out. Possibly in November... we shall see. So, I ended up with a lot of spare time, considering I didn't have classes! But, since most others DID have class, I didn't do a whole lot except enjoy the sun and gorgeous fall colours, cooking some new things, fika with friends, and watching a season of How I Met Your Mother that I borrowed from Marine. Oh, and went to see the new Three Musketeers movie! I must say I prefer the one with Kiefer Sutherland... it's less like Oceans 11 meets Pirates of the Caribbean in 3D.

Saturday morning, since it was another beautiful day, a few of us went on an exploratory hike from Jälla to Stovreta, about 7-8km. I just can't get over those red and white spotted mushrooms! It felt a bit like an old fairytale, ancient-looking blankets of moss, huge forests of paper birch, brightly coloured mushrooms, and I even saw some lipstick lichen ! It's so neat to have learned about these things and see them in real life by accident! Of course, my companions being animal science majors, they just think I'm a bit crazy playing with lichens...

My birthday was really great. I had class for the first time in two weeks, and finally got some readings to do! It might seem weird that I'm excited to get a big stack of readings on my birthday... but it's time to get to work now. After class some girls and I went out for dinner at the Thai restaurant in town. We had a lot of discussions about different rules about using cutlery, and we all had a good laugh when Angeliek's food came wit h chopsticks (she's the only one who had never eaten Thai food) and Ningchen's food only came with a fork (she's from Taiwan). After dinner, I finally visited my nations' club! It seems to close at random hours and their events are always sold out really early, so I haven't been very involved in it so far :( but it was a lot of fun with everybody there. And, I was given a really awesome plant for my room! No clue what it is (if you know, send me an email?) but it looks really great! Also, apparently October 4 is cinnamon bun day in Sweden (hahahaha) so of course I was given a big bag of cinnamon buns which my roommates are now eating. All in all a super day.

Two weeks from now, the Ultuna Student Union is planning a Älgmiddag (literally: Moose dinner). Apparently it is a formal dinner in which they serve moose. I am buying a ticket tomorrow, no way I'm going to miss that!


Then, this weekend it's off to Helsinki!
 Hope you are all doing great!

Link to photos: here!