Greetings from Kathy in Sweden…..with pictures! February 21, 2006

hey guys and gals,

Not much going on this weekend...cold, snowy, and olympics are big right now. Met our swedish nursing student friends for "fika" or coffee and chat. On saturdays..pretty much the stores close at 4pm. literally they roll up the sidewalks. if you want to go shopping..plan accordingly. That means get up and get to your destination. there are a few stores they stay open until 6pm like the grocery stores.

The restaurants may stay open until 10pm. Visited a few sites aroung Kalmar like the castle that is downtown..very cool. Since it is winter it is only open the 2nd weekend of the month. There is a cemetary next to the castle that has alot of sea captains buried there. The buildings are beautiful and looking out on the baltic sea..the inlets are covered in snow and ice which Sara says stays that way most of the winter.

I've been to alot of different types of stores here..very interesting. Beautiful scarves, coats, etc obviously. The chocolate stores here are YUUUMMMY. It is absolutely a cheese lovers paradise. Thank goodness we walk everywhere. There are pizza and gyros on every street corner it seems like. It has been a great experience trying to make out the ingredients on the menus and at the grocery stores.

The grocery stores are an adventure in itself. The best fish and they have alot of sauces and different flavors of cream cheese in large tubes. I might have to bring some home. The prices are pretty comparable here in Sweden so far..if not cheaper on some things.

Kathy and I are set to do a presentation this week to the nursing students here at Kalmar University. The nursing students with us SARA and MINNA went to Australia as a nursing exchange and are presenting and then Kathy and I are doing a presentation on our nursing school ETSU. Should be interesting. They may or may not have a clue what we are talking about.

The swedes are playing the US today in hockey so it is a big deal here today. Everyone is watching.

Will keep you posted..drop me a line. Miss everyone.

Lisa
 

hey guys and gals,

made it to sweden...if this is a repeat email for some...sorry..just trying to group email and will be better on not duplicating. Sweden is beautiful..very clean..wonderful foods..people are very nice...have to walk everywhere in the snow unless you take the bus or train..the snow is unusual for them right now but it is been very cold and snowy since december. the 2 bedroom flat we are staying is very nice and on the 3rd floor...getting lots of exercise. alot of things are in close proximity so the swedes walk or bicycle alot which is very cool.

not jet lagged too bad but i slept like a rock last night. some nursing students that will show us around met us at the airport last night...sara and minna..are very nice and took us to the store and local dining.

today...we got computer access and passcards to enter buildings at kalmar university...got schedules, etc.
the nursing/health science building is very nice with cool scandinavian furniture and very serene settings.
lots of cool snow boots here because you need them.
sat with one of the instructors here and went over the schedule and learned alot today just about the elderly population, the nursing building, and the relationships between instructors and students.

got swabbed for mrsa at the health clinic...sweden has virtually no patients with mrsa..only a few cases.
they are more concerned with bird flu and one of the professors is doing some well known research and is very knowledgeable about it here in kalmar and apparently is being called from all over the world.

spent the day in stockholm yesterday and kathy and i have spent alot of time people watching. the architecture is beautiful, very cool shops, lots of coffee-sandwich shops. \fika\ is the swedish word for coffee and chats which is extremely popular here. will give some other words as we learn more.

hope all is well with everyone and will keep you posted.

lisa