Class Report!!!!

This is place is REALLY wonderful so far! I know I sound absurdly excited and lame, but it is all genuine I promise! I am glad I decided to do this blog so I can tell you all about it!!  Maybe I will try to use less exclamation marks in the future also... I look like I have tourette's syndrome or something!

Yesterday at 1pm was the first official day of class.  Not much happened, we got a tour of the school building, where we do cold working, and the glass factory where we will blow hot glass.  We met all of the teachers we will have and met our advisors, mine is this really nice lady named Rebecca from New Zealand. Then, we had to go have a drug test done (apparently it is factory rules) and sat around and chatted with one of the hot glass teachers.   I am curious what will happen if some people don't pass the drug test... I have a feeling there are a few pot heads here that won't.  I will be a class with 2 other people but we will intermingle in the other classes depending on our skills and interests.  We discussed our class hours (8:50-3:30 M-Th, 7:30-1:55 Fri) and how the semester is supposed to be laid out.  We didn't do much exciting, just got to know each other and where everything is in the school.

After class the weather was so wonderful I went for a run/walk through the woods.  It was really nice but kind of weird since there was some bug that sounds just like a rattlesnake and I thought I smelled cucumbers (which are a sign of a rattlesnake I think) but it may have just been my breath from lunch).  Then I hungout in my room some with my roommates (one is a real wanker and refuses to even speak a little english and I think may be making fun of me a little, but the rest are very nice and sweet) and watched crap Swedish game shows and some crap American TV that they are addicted to.  Then I rode a bike (felt very Swedish) to the grocery store, bought my groceries in Swedish (ok, I didn't say much but still no English!) and made some dinner for myself! This is my first real dinner: 

It is curly noodles, jar tomato sauce with Gorgonzola and some ground red meat (I think it is beef but I am not 100% sure).  It was very tasty and I had left overs for the next night!

This morning we met with Tove and Rebecca (both female teachers who teach the cold techniques) and found out that the crucible (large bowl that holds molten glass) in the big furnace had a whole in it and we won't be able to use it for about a week! So, this week we focus mainly on cold techniques such as engraving, sandblasting, shaping of tops of glasses and deep cutting.  It is not the most exciting but fun all the same.  Here are the pieces I worked on today: 

I popped off the mold tops and shaped the edges of the 2 plain cups, did some free hand sandblasting in a plaid pattern on one cup, drew stripes on another to do engraving tomorrow.  And, one cup half of it has random shapes I cut out of tape and sandblasted around and the other side of the cup has some stripes on it.  I tried to make the stripes with some completely clean (no blasting) some light blasting and some really blasted.  But I did it backwards and ended up with mostly really blasted and the others clean.  But... now I know the right way to do it!

I went to lunch at this hotel in town with some people who have class at the same time as me.  The hotel serves Thai food and traditional Swedish food.  The Thai was sooo good! It was nice to have something other than cheese sandwiches.  It was also fun to talk to some people and get to know them when the teachers aren't around and we can laugh and be more boisterous!  The meal was great, but kind of expensive, so maybe will be a once a week or two treat.  If anyone comes to visit me I will definitely take them there :)

After class and a quick video chat (gotta love gmail chat) with Sam I went on another run/walk.  I went down some new paths today and ended up by the old train station in town.  It was really nice and more pleasant this time when this weird bug made noises I didn't startle and think it was a rattlesnake at first! I am getting used to this place! I ran past some horses and it really made me miss Justin (my horse) even more! It is amazing to think I haven't ridden a horse in over a month now. I am going crazy! I need to find a barn here to ride and fill my time with something more than just glass and people.  It is weird, for the first time in YEARS I have idle time on my hands... I don't have anything I have to do after 3:30 PM... I guess this is why I am so willing to run/walk when usually I am so lazy!  Here are the cutey-pies that made me miss my horse:

Tonight, the goth girl (she has a really odd name that is kind of Norwegian and I don't know how to spell it, I can barely say it aloud) mentioned trying to get some people together to hangout.  Apparently, she lives alone and is kind of bored at night I think.  But it will be good to talk to some more people.  All of the students will be here by Monday, the people who are returning students come later then us newbies. Rebecca said they will be more my age and very friendly. 

Tomorrow I will work on some more sandblasting.  You (well I can, not you so much since you are not here, sorry) can paint on the cups with glue and then blast around that and make cool patterns and shapes! Also, I will do some engraving and have an appointment with my advisor to discuss what I really want to study and how we should organize my semester!!!  It will be great to have a plan and a system set up.

Also, I will try to do better about posting now that I have the internet up again! Let me know if there is anything you want to know about in particular or is confusing... I know I kind of ramble... but it is my blog and I am allowed I think :)