May 14th, 2011

Today was the Nations Party... Nations are what they call the "dorms". It was a day to honor all the people that have worked for free for the Nation. All the people we have been hanging out with, with Tove have been working for the nation. Tove invited us to join so we did. The theme, ironically, was "The American Dream" so we were supposed to wear a costume, we were going to play games all day, have a three course meal, listen to live music, and go to another Nations club. Being an American I struggled to think of a costume idea, not having access to my costume closet or a thrift store like the Montana Rescue Mission, I didn't really want to spend a lot of money. When I think of the "American Dream" I think a family with a nice house, with a white picket fence, the husband, a working man, a stay at home mom, with perfect little children (not my dream, but my thought of "the American Dream"). Harald was my business man and wore a suit, I was the stay at home mom, so I wore a white dress and an apron, Henning was our child so he just looked pretty normal, and then Martin was our butler/driver so he wore a suit and driving gloves and a hat (unfortunately I did not get a picture of us :(). Tove and Anna's idea of the "American Dream" was to dress up like donuts (which I'll have to say was pretty creative) They painted their skin brown wore brown shirts, pink tights, and wore pink and blue striped inter-tubes around their waist. They actually won the prize for best costume.

Tove and Anna as Donuts :)

After getting our costumes on we gathered in the basement of the Nation. There were many other people there that I had not met so I was a little intimidated because not many people spoke English. We got separated into groups to play the games and unfortunately the Carlsson's and I had gotten split up. Harald and I were in a group, Tove was in another, and Henning was in another. Harald and I did not know anyone in our group and when we asked if they could speak English for me they said that they couldn't do that so I felt pretty uncomfortable. I didn't think the games were very fun if I didn't even know how to play the game. We played one game and Harald and I decided to leave because they were not being very welcoming. This was a little hard for me because I already felt out of place and after this even more so. When we told Tove this afterwards she was very upset with her people that they would not make me feel welcome and speak English. I know if we were in a group with her it would have been better because she was very good about telling people that they should speak English around me and make me feel welcome but since we didn't know anyone in the group it was hard to convince them.

Harald and his newspaper cover

Harald and I decided to take some alone time and walked back into Lund. We got some really good Italian ice cream, went into a drug store, but all the other shops were closed because everything there closes early on Saturdays and most stores are closed on Sundays. The sky didn't look so good so we thought that we should head back but we were too slow. It started POURING down rain. We thought that maybe we could wait it out by going into a cafe and having a cup of coffee and then maybe it would be gone but it was still raining by the time we needed to get back for dinner. So we enjoyed our warm cup of coffee, grabbed 2 newspapers and headed out into the rainstorm. It was not a short walk back, but we made it with a smile on our face and a good memory in our brain. We only had 10 minutes before the dinner started so I blow dried my dress, blow dried my hair and freshened up my makeup and we were on our way.

Harald and I trying to hide from the rain

Apparently Swedish people think we eat a lot of chicken because the appetizer was chicken wings, the main course was chicken legs, and the dessert was chicken pie.... Just Kidding! but we did have chicken for the appetizer and the main course and then we had a barbecued banana which was actually pretty good. They peeled off only on side of the banana and put chocolate and marshmallow sauce in there and heated it on the barbecue wrapped in foil. We also got a lot of alcohol with our meal. Harald and I shared a bottle of wine, we each had a beer, and a shot of Skane Akvavit, which is very traditional in Swedish... but I must say it is DISGUSTING. During dinner there were many Swedish songs sung, drinking songs chanted. Here are the lyrics and translation that I kind of know because Harald taught us our freshmen year at Rocky:

"LAMBO"

Set nu glaset til den moon
shoo fadderittan lambo
oh drich ur, deen figh-le hoond
shoo fadderittan lambo!

Se hur dropparna ee glasset
rinner ner ee figh-le aset
lambo hey, lambo hey
shoo fadderittan lambo!

(Translation)
Take the glass to your lips,
{chorus} We all drink like herrings!
and empty it, you drunken dog
{chorus} We all drink like herrings!

See how the drops in the glass
trickle down into the drunken vixen
{chorus} Like herrings! Like herrings!
We all drink like herrings!

:P :P :P

After dinner there was a live band that sang American songs so that was fun but they only played for about an hour and then we left to go to another Nation's club to party there. That club was really cool with many different rooms and a lounge area and more choices at the bar. We stayed there until 1:30 and then walked back. Same story different day, right around 2:15, after the club closed, everyone came back and started partying in the kitchen. This is when I first really noticed how early the sun rises in Sweden, it rises at about 4AM... so I guess that is when they realize that maybe they should get some sleep since the sun is starting to come up. It was a good last night in Lund.