Castle on Campus?!

Hey everybody, its been over a week since my last post and SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED! I'll try not to bore you with all the details but here's the last 9 or so days in a nutshell:

This past Saturday night we had our official Welcome Dinner for the new international students. They served us traditional Swedish food (AGAIN!) and treated us to a night of Swedish entertainment. For those of you unaware, Swedish entertainment basically consists of eating lots of food, getting drunk, and singing Swedish drinking songs...yeah, it was rather awkward...lol! Each country was also given the opportunity to do a traditional song or dance and of course the Americans had to participate...we sang none other than "Take Me Out To The Ball Game". Even a few Canadians snuck in and sang with us. Later that night there was an official after party at one of the student pubs. So far, I'm thinking my friends Pepe, Elias, and Jose Antonio from Mexico are going to be well known by the bartenders...lol!

During the week a friend and I walked to the town center from campus and along the way we found out that there is a CASTLE ON CAMPUS! Its gorgeous and even though its only about 100 years old it feels so majestic. You can even book a night there so for any of you interested in visiting me here in Sweden I've got a castle lair with your name on it. We also gave ourselves a self-guided tour of the Lutheran Church on the edge of downtown. Its so beautiful inside and there is even a HUUUUUUUUUGE Pipe Organ....no dad, you can't play it...I already asked...lol!

I also made it to my first Ice Hockey game EVER! It was soooooo exciting seeing the Vaxjo Lakers play. I thought it was going to be boring and I just decided to go because some kids from my class invited me but I had the time of my life. I have to honestly say, their fans are up there with the ranks of the RaiderNation. At first everyone is reserved and is sitting quietly but once the lights are dimmed and the players prepare to enter the rink the crowd goes wild. There's a man with a huge bass drum that sets the tempo and the crowd chants along with the drum. My international friends and I have NO IDEA what they were saying so we made up our own cheers. Unfortunately we lost 1-2 but I have plans to go again so hopefully I'll get a chance to see their victory chants next time.

On Thursday evening it started to snow again! I was sooooo happy but this time there was approximately 3-4 inches of snow so the excitement faded fast. Something about tromping through the snow to class is not so much fun anymore...lol!

Once last thing folks! I inadvertently gave you all the wrong mailing address for me. This is my correct address and the exact phone number you should dial if you wish to reach me. Hej dä!

Rhianna Aaron
Stallvägen 24:87
SE-352 56
Växjö, Sweden

Cell Phone: 011 46 76 566 2119