Smart Phone, TGR, and Swedish Dinner

After getting lost yesterday on the bus, I realized how important it was to get a phone, especially a smart phone with a map. I bought the cheapest one, an Android, has a good map, camera (so I can post pictures now!), alarm, and lots of other features. The place I went to is called Telia and it is the major phone service provider in Sweden. The university gave all the exchange students a SIM card. I also have a Swedish phone number (+46 area code). I have never had a smart phone before, so I am going to be very careful not to lose of break it.

Then I went to TGR and bought a few things for school, such as notebooks, pencils, and a pocket calculator. I am always trying to convert currency in my head, but I think it will be nice to have a calculator. 1 USD roughly equals 7.84 Swedish crowns. 700 crowns is about 100 USD. Shopping is a little weird, because the number is always higher, but it's about the same price or less. Jasmine told me the only really expensive things are alcohol and clothes. Also, in Sweden you don't get shopping bags for free; you have to buy them. I bought an IKEA bag, but it's a little big for grocery shopping, I brought a smaller reusable bag from home. 

After that, I walked around Uppsala a lot. TGR is close to stora torget (the main shopping square). I walked from there back to where the Upplands and other nations are. I went inside the large cathedral building and on top of the pink castle. Both are gorgeous. Then I found the building my classes are in, the English Park campus, and walked around a large cemetery called St. Angars kyrka. I took a different way back to my dorm from there through a residential neighborhood. 

Back in my dorm, I took a nap and then went to one of the nations, Gotlands, for pub night. I met up with Amanda and we hung out with a bunch of Asians. There is a large group here on exchange from South Korea. The meal was mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries, and Swedish meatballs. I didn't really care for it, but Amanda and I shared a blackberry cider, which was sweet like a jolly rancher. All of the nations have their own pubs/restaurants and some type of fika during the week. I will keep going to more events for the exchange students, and then choose which nation I want to join on Sunday. 

I walked around. Jag gick runt.