the personal is political?

Hello!

Well, it's been an interesting couple of days, as usual.

The day before yesterday, I forgot to post about the fire drill we had. Well, actually it wasn't a drill per se. Anyway, someone left toast in the toaster a little too long down where they serve breakfast. It set off the fire alarms and we had to evacuate the building! A fire truck came and everything. It was really funny (although the firemen probably didn't think it was too funny).

Yesterday, our lectures were about cosmetic surgery (both the positive and negative implications) and about how homosexuality is treated in certain african cultures. Both lectures were interesting, but I was really fascinated by the second one. It's hard to explain, but people aren't labeled by sexual titles like they are in the US, i.e. "lesbian," "queer," "bisexual," whatever. Instead of the use of "i am" (as in I am a lesbian) they say "i am doing the matie work." In other words, instead of being defined by what particular person they are attracted to, they treat sexuality as a very fluid thing. Also, age is not as big an issue as it is here. There are many couples that include and old and young person. I have not done it justice, but it was quite interesting. Today's lecture was about Turkish women and the veil, but I was having a really hard time paying attention because I was tired.

We visited the campus bookstore today, which was fun. I got some Swedish-style school supplies and some fun postcards.

This afternoon we went to old Linkoping. Basically, when the city began to be modernized, they moved the older houses (they literally moved a lot of houses on trailers, although they did rebuild some) out from the town's center. They tried to recreate what the old town looked like, and people actually live there. It's so beautiful, and there are all kinds of shops like a woodcarver's shop and a pottery shop. I really enjoyed.

Then my friend Julie and I went to this cemetary that we kept passing on the bus. I have a strange fascination with cemetaries. Anyway, it was a really nice cemetary. They treat their dead better than we do! But it was also very peaceful.

Hmmmm . . . I think that is about it for now. Eventually, i will post some pics, when I have the time to upload them. Bye for now, though.