Adjo

I'm just about packed. Tomorrow, bright and early, I'm out the door. Goteborg to Frankfurt to Paris to Fez, Morocco. Certainly no chance for difficulty there. I had a great last day in Goteborg. After a blustery start the day gave way to more glorious sunshine. I had two great meetings, first with the Department of Gender Studies and then with the Department of Sociology, so the professional side of the trip was much more successful than I had any reason to expect.

After the second set of meeting ended I stopped at a restaurant called Brasserie Lipp, which is right on the main avenue (Kungsportsavenyen), and had some sort of crayfish, shrimp, mussel and spinach pasta dish. It was wonderful. After that I took advantage of the late day for the art museum (Goteborgs Konstmuseum) and spent a few hours wondering around. Nice collection, featuring a lot of Nordic artists I had never heard of, but which were pretty good. The painting above is from someone more famous, Edward Munch, although I had never seen this particular painting before. It's called Vampyren - OK, so he had issues with women. I also saw a couple paintings from an artist named Julius Paulsen which I really liked, including a painting entitled Modellerne holder hvil which I kept coming back to because there was something about the look on the model's face that I found interesting/sad/unfathomable. I even bought the postcard, but it doesn't do it justice. There was also a really interesting sculpture I kept coming back to, but, of course, I've forgotten the specifics and haven't figured it out on the net yet. Anyway, I'm just about packed and ready for a new adventure. This time tomorrow, inshallah, I'll be at the Riad Pacha in Fez. Adjo!

The Last Day

I'll be taking off in a few minutes for my last full day in Sweden. I have meetings today with the departments of Gender Studies and Sociology, both of which should be wonderful fits for our Global Modules project. I'm hoping to get the opportunity to do some more sight-seeing late in the day, although I also have to get packed to take off early tomorrow for the next leg of the journey. I know the art museum, the Gotesborgs Konstmuseum, is open late on Wednesdays so that is good news. Whenever I visit a new place I inevitably find myself spending hours in the local art museum. It's like when I teach my history classes and my students grumble about how much time we spend studying literature and art - I try and express to them that in the end that is all that matters - it's what really expresses the greatest dreams of humankind. Maybe I spend so much time in art museums to try and discover the national character of each country. It's funny, when I was planning this trip I was fairly excited about visiting Sweden, but it paled in comparison for my enthusiasm for Morocco - and now I find myself pretty depressed over the thought of leaving Sweden.

Sjobaren's

OK, I've finally managed to get my Swedish meal. I had a second round of meetings at Goteborg University, this time with the History of Ideas department, which also went embarrassingly well. I'm feeling better about this project all the time. The support has been enthusiastic and really encouraging. After the meeting a couple of the professors took me for a walk through a really charming section of Goteborg - lots of shops and winding cobblestone streets - to a traditional Swedish fish restaurant called Sjobaren's. I had their fish au gratin with cod filet, shrimps and mushrooms served with white wine sauce. Oh my good god. It was so good I actually took a picture of it in the restaurant, and then quickly hid the camera under the table and looked around to see where the flash had come from (I was thinking that some sort of Harry Potter inspired apparition might fool people, but Swedes are too crafty). After that I went for a long walk and took some great pictures of the canals and a good picture of an Gustavus Adolphus statue (it's hard to think of a time when the peace-loving, liberal Swedes were the most feared military machine in Europe, but it hasn't been that long since the early 17th century - at least not for a historian). I finally managed to track down a place to work out and made a mad dash for Sportlife, although after that amazing meal I don't know why I bothered. Oh, and since when did I become that person who cuts short his sight-seeing to go pay to work out - there's something wrong there.

Geopolitics

Not much to report today, mainly because the day is full of meetings - which is great for expanding the Global Modules network, but not so great for sight-seeing (or producing something worth reading on a blog). What strikes me about Sweden is that it's much more multicultural than I thought, which is just a reflection of my own ignorance. I had a great conversation this morning with an Iranian taxi driver about American-Iranian relations - we had just about solved that impasse, but unfortunately we reached out destination and the two countries were left to fend for themselves. He told me that there were something like 100,000 Iranians in Sweden. He's been here for seven years himself, and said he came for reasons of freedom as compared to economic opportunity. Like a lot of Iranian ex-pats he complained about the present regime. He made an interesting point in that he thought that Iranians were actually less religious now than they were before the revolution because the religion was being forced on them now, as compared to it being a choice before. Obviously, just one man's opinion, but potentially an insightful one.

For lunch I fought the urge to go to the mall next to the hotel to McDonald's (I only eat at McDonald's when I'm overseas) and instead went to an Indian place across the street. It was wonderful and left me thinking how many Indians are now living in Sweden.

So far the trip has been wonderful and very productive. My biggest problem has been getting to meetings at various departments at Goteborg University. It has 60,000 students and the various departments are spread all over Goteborg, so it's pretty chaotic. Beyond that my great quest is to find someplace to work out - I hate to miss work-outs. I did manage to get in a swim at the Scandic Hotel Europa pool, but it was the coldest indoor pool I've ever been in - these Swedes are tough. I think I've located a place, but I'll probably only be able to work out once before I leave for Morocco. Over the last several years I've worked out in all sorts of odd places - from memberships in health clubs in India and Jordan to working out in the fitness center in the central park in Madrid. I remember asking a series of Indians where I could work out and they were so amused by the concept, which they viewed as a particularly odd American mania.

Skovde

Monday, 20 August 2007

All in all a wonderful day. I managed to not have any jet lag this morning, or at least not enough to leave me exhausted. I caught the train from Goteborg to Skovde. While standing in the Goteborg train station I was once again feeling bad about the pathetic state of the rail system in the US and envying the Europeans (of course, this led to the train starting out a half-hour late). I rode in the second class compartment, which was utterly clean and pleasant – and slightly different than the second class compartment on an Indian train (on this train, for instance, when you looked down into the toilet you didn’t even see the tracks beneath you).

Everyone I met at the University of Skovde was very nice and they were really excited about my Global Module system – and since this is the first stop in this semester long quest for partners it did a lot to cheer me up. It was move-in day at Skovde and they were doing the very same goofy get to know you trust-building games we do at Champlain (and every other university in the US) – someone must hold the international rights to them and is making a lot of money by making first year students stand in circles and connect with their peers in a really meaningful way.

After the meeting Kassie Sundin from the international program took me for a short drive around Skovde and then back to her house for a home-cooked meal. We had hand-picked mushrooms and crayfish (apparently August is a huge month for crayfish parties in Sweden). Her husband Patrick made some delicious salmon. Their two daughters, Amanda (6) and Caitlin (4), kept me busy as they ran around like monkeys. At first they brought me nuts and raisins from inside the house (along with specific orders on how many I was to eat each time) and then they started bringing me gooseberries that they were picking in the park next to the house.

Apparently, according to Kassie, if you get Swedes away from other Swedes they really open up. Some combination of their socialist philosophy and/or their traditional worldview makes them sometimes hesitant to call attention to themselves. For example, they might not automatically answer in English if they are in a crowd – not because they are unfriendly and not because they don’t speak wonderful English and not because they are afraid that you might laugh at their English, but because they are nervous about speaking up and seeming to call attention to themselves in front of other Swedes.

Sweden really is a lovely place. When I was on the train ride back and forth to Skovde I kept thinking how much it looked like Vermont – a lot of trees and farmland. Like I suspected, Sweden is definitely a place I could live. Everyone’s English is impeccable because all students learn it as a second language. Kassie was telling me that that many people in Sweden are lamenting the fact that fewer students are learning a third language. Patrick told me that when the girls were born he and Kassie both received six months paid leave. Plus, a university education is essentially free here, even for visiting Americans. I knew these facts and what an enlightened place Sweden is, but seeing it first-hand really brings it home.

Sweden really is much like Vermont, except a Vermont populated by pleasant, sane people who speak excellent English.

Goteborg, Sweden

Sunday, 19 August - I've made it to Goteborg, Sweden. It took forever, partially because it's impossible to get anyplace from Burlington (including Vermont). Burlington to Frankfurt to Goteborg. For some reason the security was really tight today - unusual for Burlington, although not unusual for Frankfurt. Say what you want about the Germans, they're damn serious about this whole terrorism thing. I don't think I've ever passed through Frankfurt where I didn't wait through two or three security checkpoints.

Goteborg, so far, is cool. Sort of an odd combination of Vienna and Amsterdam. It feels heavy architectually, which is a description for Vienna that I borrowed from my friend David Kite. There are also canals, which reminds me of Amsterdam - which is not surprising because there were apparently Dutch planners involved in laying out the city. I guess it's sort of a "nice" Amsterdam. I had this feeling on the way here that my response to Sweden would be much the same as my response to Australia - that is, I didn't think I would be blown away by it like someplace like India or Jordan, but it'd be a place that I automatically knew that I could live there. It's early, but I suspect I will feel the same way about it as Australia. Sweden has surprised me so far because 1) it's much more multicultural than I thought, and 2) the Swedes seem a lot warmer than I thought they would be - both pleasant surprises. I guess I've watched too many Ingmar Bergman films. I did see someone taking a streetcar with death, but they weren't playing chess.

I arrived late in the afternoon so I haven't done too much other than walk around and try to figure out where Goteborg University is (I have meetings scheduled there on Tuesday and Wednesday). I did spend a while walking through the Tradgardsforeningen (Horticultural Gardens) which was very nice. There were beautiful walking trails and rides for the kids and live performances - the places was pretty lively. Since I can't make up my mind whether or not Goteborg is more like Vienna or Amsterdam, I guess the confusion of purpose impacted on dinner as well. I ended up eating at a Spanish restaurant called E Corazon and had the mixed tapas, along with a Carlsberg beer (which is Danish). I guess I'll sort this whole Swedish thing out tomorrow.



Speaking of which, tomorrow I have to catch a train to Skovde for meetings at the university there. It's supposed to be easy, which means I'll end up in Oslo.