Mountains of Essays, Thanksgiving, and Scandinavia

TL;DR or Quick Summary

Sunrise in Stockholm

• I promise that I don't hate you, life has been super busy (but good) here over the past couple of weeks, so I have not been able to post as much as I would like
• Classes are going well. I have graded all of my classes in some shape or form and can confirm that they are not idiots actually pretty smart. 
• I went to Stockholm, Sweden with several of my Erasmus friends. Stockholm was great, but we were treated to authentic Swedish weather of rain and clouds.
• For Thanksgiving, I traveled back to Warsaw for a fancy Thanksgiving lunch with the Fulbright Fam.
• Finally, I went to Oslo with some Fulbright friends. The weather is Oslo was much more cooperative. 
• Then after two hectic weeks, I will happily be staying in Białystok for the following weekends.

I really do want to post more often. It is not only a good way to keep up with people back home (and the occasional Polish friend/stalker) but it helps me reflect on everything that I have done. So rest assured, I will do my best to continue posting regularly. 

Class Updates

Stockholm at night

Overall, I can feel the stress of the semester starting to affect my students (and me). There has not been an official day off since November 1st and classes do not officially end under December 22nd. Several students have written journal entries about looking forward to Christmas break and there have consistently been a couple of students absent every day. Hopefully we will all make it through until the break!

Once Christmas is over, the end of the semester will come very quickly. The last week of classes is the first week of February (at least if I have interpreted my schedule correctly). So, there will only be a few rapid-fire classes and then it’s all over. As the semester wraps up, I will need to nail down the final project/essays for students and talk to those who haven't been meeting expectations. 

Making friends in Stockholm

2^nd Year Writing

I had my bachelor’s students write their first essay in class. Students were supposed to write about the theme of “The Necklace” and use information from the story to support their claims. Many seemed pretty terrified by the prospect. Some were visibly dismayed when they entered the room and my usually great jokes only received pity laughs. However, once they started writing they seemed to calm down. Some students were very quick writers, going through page after page with ‘legible’ handwriting; others wrote slowly and deliberately, clearly trying to avoid any and all grammatical mistakes. One particularly ambitious student finished halfway through class, triumphantly walked out, and then emailed me one hour later saying he completely misinterpreted the essay.

Over the next week, I graded their essays using plenty of angry red ink. Despite the over use of red ink, most students wrote fairly strong essays. There were common grammatical errors, many misuses of articles, and lots of scratch outs, but everyone wrote coherently. The biggest mistake made was not following the required structure of the essay. Placing the thesis statement in the introduction was a requirement that several students stubbornly resisted, while others did not include enough of their personal commentary.

WWII Monument in Stockholm

Since these were only a draft, I had students peer review others essays, with several specific questions to guide them. Although the students were surprisingly thorough in filling out the comment sheet, very few wanted to give any type of criticism (constructive or otherwise).  

4^th Year Writing

Having graded essays from both my 2^nd year students and my 4^th year students, I can truly appreciate the difference in writing abilities between the classes. While students in the 4^th year class still make mistakes, their writing is noticeably more coherent and their ideas are more connected. 

Content wise, I finished up what is (hopefully) the last lecture on paragraph structure and organization. We discussed what makes a paragraph unified and coherent and how these factors can clarify your writing. While admittedly it was not the most riveting lecture, I think that the students will benefit from the formal discussion. After this, I introduced them to their next essay topic: the effects of a Trump Presidency.

Right after the election, students were eager to hear my thoughts on the election and what it might mean for America and the world. Unfortunately for them, I was more interested in hearing what they thought about the matter. I talked about which demographics voted for Clinton and which voted for Trump, the constitutional powers of the American President, and what Trump could (probably) realistically do as president. I then told them that their assignment was to analyze the Trump effect on a certain geographical area; that area could be the United States, Poland, or the world.

Oslo Fjord ferry 

So far, the essays that I have read have done a good job of remaining fairly objective. Several discussed a potential change in global geopolitics (although they did not use that specific word), some discussed the effects on immigration in US, and a couple discussed the effects on LGTB people. There were more essays that tended towards a negative view of Trump, but several cast his future presidency in a more positive light. I am looking forward to reading about what they think. 

Integrated Skills

You know...just regular things

Two weeks ago, I gave my integrated skills class their first quiz; they all passed with flying colors (clearly I am not being difficult enough). This past week we discussed holiday traditions and vocabulary. Since my students already knew the basic holiday words, I decided to spice things up by going with more fun terms including food comas, stocking stuffers, carving the turkey, and others.

After visually demonstrating what it looks like to fall into a food coma, I asked my students to describe their own holiday traditions. I learned a lot that Christmas traditions run very deep in Poland. The traditional Polish Christmas meal consists of 12 meatless (not counting fish) dishes and often times a plate set aside in case a stranger comes to dinner. I also learned that some of the traditional dishes are rather controversial; some students got into serious discussions about whether some dishes were great or terrible.  

Travel Updates: Becoming Part Scandinavian

Statue park in Oslo

Over these two past weeks, I visited two Scandinavian countries, Sweden and Norway. After spending two weekends outside of Białystok, I am definitely looking forward to some rest this upcoming weekend.

Two weekends ago, I visited Stockholm, Sweden with some of my Erasmus friends and this past weekend, I went to Oslo, Norway with Fulbright people. In between there was a really nice Thanksgiving dinner in Warsaw.

Stockholm and the Authentic Swedish Experience

The Stockholm crew: An American, two Greeks and a Serbian

Getting to Stockholm was an adventure in itself. From Białystok, I took a 4 hour bus to the Warsaw budge airport shack, flew to Stockholm, and then had to take another 1.5 hour bus into the city. Our hostel was on the Stockholm Old Town island (which was great for pictures, but not for wallets). Once we got to our hostel, we took a short power nap/WiFi recharge and then headed out in search of some dinner. Although it was only around 7pm, it felt much later because of the high latitude; the sun usually sets around 3:30 in the afternoon. 

The Vasa, a Swedish warship that didn't survive its maiden
voyage

Since we were only in Stockholm for two nights, we needed to make the most of the one full day; unfortunately, the weather was not on our side. It was rainy, cloudy, and cold for most of the day. Our tour guide told us that we were lucky, we were getting the authentic Swedish winter weather experience! 

Not quite convinced that we were lucky, we still went on a walking tour of the city center. Stockholm is made up of multiple islands and was surprisingly walk-able. We saw the parliament building, royal palace, and several monuments. After the tour, we visited the Vasa Museum; a museum built around the Vasa, a Swedish ship that spectacularly sunk on its maiden voyage. In the 1960's, Sweden resurfaced the ship using massive airbags and lots of hard work. They build the museum around the ship and included information about Swedish naval life during the time period. Although I thought it might be too specific, I ended up really enjoying the museum. 

After the museum, we retreated to the safety of our hostel to escape the weather for a bit. Once it stopped raining, we explored at night and saw the city in a different light (pun somewhat intended). Although we were out on a Friday, there were surprisingly few people out. The vibe of Stockholm was distinctly different than any Polish city. After being in Poland for about two months straight, I was surprised how accustomed to Polish culture I had become. The next morning, we had to get off to an early start to make it back to our bus to the airport. 

Fulbright Thanksgiving: Turkey, Applesauce, and Good Company 

Thanksgiving Dinner in Warsaw

Thanksgiving was the first major (American) holiday that I would be missing. Luckily, Fulbright made Thanksgiving dinner a required event. They rented about a large party room at a fancy restaurant. There was plenty of food, drinks, and desserts (probably too many, but let's be honest, is it even Thanksgiving if there isn't too much food?) It was all delicious and certainly helped ease the homesickness during the holiday. 

The turkey was great!

While all the food was good, it was just a little bit off from my typical Thanksgiving food. The stuffing had more veggies than bread, their 'gravy' was actually applesauce, and there was an appalling lack pumpkin pie. However, the turkey was on point and went very well with the cranberry sauce. 

Bastille concert in Warsaw 

Overall, it was a fantastic dinner and a great way to catch up with people that I had not seen in several weeks. The next official Fulbright gathering is not until February, so it will be a while before the entire program is back together. 

That evening, I went to a Bastille concert (the band, not the French building). Although I had only heard a few songs by them, the timing worked out very well and the tickets were on sale. The concert actually took place in an ice rink and had a good number of people. The band was great and really energized the crowd. Afterwards, we met up with other Fulbrighters for some drinks. The next morning I was off to Oslo. 

Oslo featuring Naked Statues, the Opera, and Margaritas   

View of Norway from the plane

Getting to Oslo proved a little rocky, or rather foggy. Upon arrival to the airport, I was greeted with a screen full of canceled and delayed flights. The fog at the airport was so bad that I could only see about 30 feet (~10 meters). Our flight was delayed by about 2 hours (luckily it wasn't canceled!) so we got to play the classic game of stay occupied in the airport. Once we finally landed in Oslo, we were treated to a 2 hour bus ride into the city (these budget airport may not always be the best idea), but it was a beautiful drive. 

Drinks with friends

I think the weather gods were apologizing for the awful weather in Stockholm the week before, because the Oslo weather was absolutely perfect. It was sunny the entire weekend and temperatures were in the low 40's (actually warmer than Poland). Arriving in the city, we walked to our AirBnb and discovered how lucky we were in booking that apartment. Not only did our host have snacks and lit candles waiting for us, there was also a heated floor, fast WiFi, and two (that's right two) Mexican restaurants within walking distance. 

The fabled Margarita

Of course, we had to experience Norwegian Mexican (NorMex?) food for ourselves. The first thing to taste was a margarita, and it passed with flying colors. The chips and guac were good, while the burrito was a solid okay. Overall, it was definitely a good taste of home. 

Like Stockholm, I only had one full day in Oslo; however, the weather was much more cooperative. To start off, we ventured into the Vigeland Sculpture Park, known for its plethora of naked statues in interesting poses. Most statues focused on families (or at least I think they did). There were bears juggling babies, a man fighting off 4 babies, columns of naked bodies, and probably anything else you could imagine. 

After the garden, we quickly toured the Nobel Peace Prize museum while waiting for our ferry to tour the Oslo Fjord. The Peace Prize museum was good and had blurbs on every winner. Out on the ferry, the winds picked up, but because of the sun, it never got too cold. The ferry went around to different islands and let people on and off. It made for some great pictures of the water and city. 

Boat ride around Oslo

On the last island, I ventured off with a friend. We hiked around, found some replica cannons, made a fox friend, and took some pretty epic pictures along the rocky cliff. It was really nice to be able to get in a little bit of nature during this trip. After we got back to land, we were off to the Christmas market. 

Once at the market, we discovered just how many Norwegians were taking advantage of the wonderful weather: the market was packed. Wall to wall people. The atmosphere was very festive, with Christmas music and scents everywhere. Christmas punch, Frankfurt sausages, churros, and other nameless foods were sold out of every other stall. Kids and parents lines up for the merry-go-round and Ferris wheel while leaving poor Santa Claus without any attention. I was fortunate to make it out of the market without buying any of the super warm (and super expensive) socks, sweaters, or hats. 

Oslo Christmas market 

The last event of the evening was a performance a the Oslo Opera. The building was very modern and very open. There was a Christmas forest in the lobby and the bathrooms were practically a work of art. We saw Così fan tutte, which was not my favorite opera, but I still enjoyed the show. Overall it was a fantastic experience. 

I think that I will have to do another trip to Norway. There is definitely more to see than just Oslo!

So that's all for this update. I know it was a long read! I hope to post more regularly from here on out!

Bonus Pictures