When orientation hits the middle of the second week...

There hasn't been much to report on over here this week. Ryan and I got sick of the orientation activities rather quickly and stopped attending most of the events. The thing is, orientation can be really helpful for new students. It really can. It allows them time to make some friends before starting classes, find their way around campus, and get acclimated to their surroundings. Unfortunately, I don't think it takes a full two weeks to accomplish these things. I also don't think that having a party every night for two straight weeks helps get you in the mood to start school. Don't get me wrong, I love a good party more than the average person. I really do. But I get burnt out quickly. I can't do the same exact thing every single night. And besides, my love of sleep usually outweighs my love of parties. Lesson learned this week: orientation should NEVER be more than a full week.

So... instead of participating in an over-priced ($15/person) and underrated (cold ribs) dinner for our group yesterday, Ryan and I took the bus downtown. We had to go down at some point this week to pay our rent at the bank, and since it was the first sunny day in a while we took advantage of the nice weather.

After the rent was paid we decided to explore two of the malls in Lulea. We didn't buy anything, but we did have a good time laughing at some of the crazy fashion and outrageous prices. Here are a few snapshots of our adventure:

This is what the inside of the mall looked like:




They are very similar to American malls, but the weird thing is that you can't tell at all from the outside. They look just like all the other regular buildings downtown. They're not extraordinarily large and they don't have a huge expanse of parking lot surrounding them.

But they do have moving sidewalks that connect the floors!


And stores with really unique names! Haha


And interesting display cases for shoes!


But.. probably the most shocking thing we discovered that the malls in Lulea have is outrageously priced merchandise.


This same video game in the US would cost somewhere between $50-$60. But here it is 599 SEK. Or, equivalently, about $90! Crazy, right?!

Also, I found this really cute rain jacket in a store that was just my color. So of course Ryan had to model it for me...


And I considered buying it. Until I took a closer look at the price tag....


That's almost $620!!! For a rain jacket!!! Needless to say, I didn't end up buying it.

All in all, it was a good day. We got our rent paid, we had a good time walking around the mall, and we ate dinner at Maxx's. (It's like a more expensive, better tasting version of McDonalds. It's Ryan's favorite place to eat so far.)

Now it's off to study for my first exam in Sweden. Tomorrow I have the listening portion of the exam for my Swedish class. Ryan doesn't have his until Friday. Just one more reason I wish that I had his professor instead of mine...

Happy Hump Day Everyone!