Here in the Stockholm airport

I am sitting in the Stockholm airport editing my blog post from the plane ride from Chicago to Sweden. I'm more sleep deprived than when I wrote it, so quality editing will occur back in the states. Our next stop is Uppsala.

While sitting in the airport we saw a great scooter that carries luggage. We also saw a wonderful Russian couple with huge hats, boots, and wonderfully long hair and beards to match. They were too quick for a picture.

Chicago to Stockholm notes:
It's about 5am Stockholm time.
My mind is constantly running.
Already I am sensing a renewed interest in people watching. Four years of life guarding resulted in complete people-watching disinterest. again There is so much to hear, to smell, to touch, to see! In the Last Lecture, the speaker advises the listeners to never loose the child-like sense of wonder. I can feel my child-like sense of wonder renewed.

As I wrote this we completely passed over Iceland. It is amazing how quickly we travel. It makes the distance traveled feel very unreal. We have been traveling at about 570mph, cruzing altitude of 37000 ft. I did not expect the exterior air temperature to be so cold even though I feel silly for being surprised. -60F! I can't imagine the incredible amount of energy it takes to run this aircraft. The material the wings are made out of is also intreaguing! As the previous small plane and my current large plane took off and hit turbulence, the wings flexed and rippled. What an astonishingly strong material! I am curious about the properties of this material and how it works. This is the materials science enthusiast coming out in me once again.

Below is a photo of the currency: Swedish krona. The coin is worth about $1.50. We've also been lucky enough to run into one of our fellow IAASers, Sylvia from Poland. Meeting her is making me all the more excited to get to Uppsala!

My first flight- Des Moines to Chicago

As a preface: all posts from Sweden will be written on my ipod touch. please excuse my lack of editing and typos. also, excuse the rambling.

Getting through the security checkpoint was the most nerve wreaking part of journey today, and only because I was worried I would hold up the line or make some horrible mistake while no one experienced was there to tell me what to do. No such thing occurred! The TSA officers were surprisingly nice. One more cheerful faced man asked me where I was headed. He was surprised to hear me say Sweden, and we chatted while I put my things together. I got to the gate and waited. I was thrilled when Kerri arrived. The trepidation that mingled with excitement was eschewed! I felt more prepared with experienced Kerri next to me. Kerri and I watched our plane pull put to the gate and quickly enough we were boarding. I never knew little walkways connected the cabin to the terminal.

The plane is significantly smaller than I imagined it to be. It reminds me of the charter buses we would take to track meets. this plane is smaller on the inside than a charter bus though. And I can't help from thinking: it has wings! The flight attendant smells wears my grandfather's cologne and has a pleasant manner. The seat belts are the same style of lap belt as my father's bygone grey Oldsmobile. They are exactly like the seat belts of an old amusement park ride.

Take off was incredibly exciting! As the plane turned onto the runway, I knew that if I would have flown when I was younger, I definitely would have told my mom I wanted to drive the planes someday. I'd still tell my mom that. I was invigorated by how fast we drove before leaving the ground. I felt like my open mouthed grin would have lept off my face if it could have. I felt slightly sheepish that someone might see my wonder struck smile; I wasn't sheepish enough to have the power to wipe it off my face though.

For a brief while, I was able to see the Iowa landscape right after takeoff. First I saw the blocks of suburban houses, but soon I was able to see the Iowa landscape from above. The snow covered fields easily revealed where fields ended and where waterways began. It was odd to see trees confined to neat squares, just like the fields. i wondered what the landscape looked like to the first fliers, or at the time the pioneers were first settling the land. The landscape was crossed with much more blue than I expected. I couldn't tell if it was the reflection of the sky on the snow or if it was all water. Cloud cover insured the view. It bore almost complete resemblance to the snow on the ground below the clouds. I could see a sun dog out my window for most of the trip. When we landed in Chicago it was so gloomy below the clouds! I wish I could show you pictures of descending through the clouds.

We've boarded and already everyone is speaking in Swedish.

Another post will follow! We are in the airport waiting for Brian to arrive from London.

Pre-Departure

I am completely prepared to embark. Now is the waiting period. Tomorrow I depart! I feel like Sam-wise in the Fellowship of the Ring when he and Frodo are leaving the Shire. Sam stops in the middle of a indistinct cornfield and says some variation of, "Frodo, one step more and this will be the farthest I've ever been away from home." Like this moment, I feel this solemness and this excitement.

Merry Christmas! It is traditional for me to host a New Years gathering. Since I'll be away in Sweden, I threw a Christmas Party featuring a semi-traditional Swedish dinner. Unlike a traditional Swedish dinner, no meat or fish was featured. The meal consisted of Ärtsoppa (split pea soup sans the traditional ham), Hasselbackspotatis (Swedish baked potatoes), and Swedish sweet potato Tarta for the main course. Desert consisted of Chokladbollar (chocolate-oatmeal no-bake cookies), Swedish anise brownies, and Swedish rice pudding. The pictures are below! My friends enjoyed the meal, or were at least polite enough to convince me they enjoyed it. I certainly enjoyed the meal! The anise brownies weren't my favorite, but I devoured everything else quite happily. We all decided the sweet potato Tarta tasted like apple pie. I am still eating the leftovers. The Swedish food was surprisingly simple to fix. I took pictures of the dinner for you all to enjoy. All you Swedes will have to tell me if it looks like it's supposed to look. Most of all, you will have to tell me how to pronounce the names of the dishes.

Ärtsoppa

Hasselbackspotatis

Chokladbollar and Swedish Anise Brownies

Swedish Sweet Potato Tarta

Even after rechecking my bags for their dimensions, I pray my bags are the right size. Iväg till Sverige! Off to Sweden!

Stockholm: Vienna of the North

Today, after running many errands and packing my suitcase, I began to educate myself a bit about Stockholm. From the library I obtained two travel guides to Sweden and a traveler's DVD. I watched the Stockholm segment, and I'll tell you what I learned. The impending trip is becoming more and more exciting! I am almost ready to depart. The picture below shows the items given to the International Agriculture Club by the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to share at the conference. We will give items away at the Trade Fair, where we will have a table set up to represent the United States. Larger items will be auctioned off to provide financial support for developing countries to attend future IAAS conferences.

My bag is completely packed! Don't worry, it all closes easily. I don't even have to sit on it.

The video is an American Public television Smart Travels production with tour guide Rudy Maxa. Opening scenes of the video emphasized the cohabitation of nature and civilization in Sweden. I found some images accompanying the narration a bit ironic. For instance, it was ironic to hear of "the natural beauty of Sweden" while showing an image of a hybrid rose. The film may be misleading in some respects, so it will be interesting to see how my impressions of Stockholm and how the Swedes describe Stockholm will be different from the travel video and the travel books. However, perception is also based on previous experience.

Stockholm is known as " the city that floats on water," and for good reason. Stockholm spans 14 islands, and over a third of the city is built over water. From this description, I would be inclined to call it "Vienna of the North." I'd like to ask my fellow travelers if this is an apt description. Having never visited Vienna, I wouldn't be able to fairly assess the accuracy of the statement.

Stockholm is actually the second capital of Sweden. The first capital was Sigtuna (pronounced Sig-toon-AH). When Sigtuna was looted, the people placed the city's silver inside a hollowed log and sent the log out to sea. Where the log landed was where the people would establish their new capital. The name Stockholm traces back to this origin. Stock translates to "log"; holm translates to "island." I need to do further research on the origins of Stockholm. Why was Sigtuna looted?

Water is a large part of the art of the city. Outdoor sculptures by prominent Swedish sculptor Carl Milles feature water and human figures. Although Milles was born in Sweden in 1875, he lived in the United States,  maintaining only a summer home in Sweden. His later work is astonishingly humorous! The video showed a sculpture of an angel wearing a very secular wrist watch, scratching an all too human mosquito bite. I cannot find a picture of this angel, so we'll have to visit the sculpture park if we have a chance so I can take a picture. Below is a picture of one of Milles' more famous works, The Hand of God. Rather like Albrect Durer's Self Portrait emulating Jesus, Milles used his own hand for a model. Like many of his works, the figure is placed high on a column. I am interested to see his artwork and learn more and especially how his Swedish roots influenced his work. I am also curious to know if this work was controversial at the time. The images seem like they could have been similar to Andrew Lancaster's artwork in the Molecular Biology building or his Cincinnati work Porkopolis.

As one might guess, the navy is an integral part of Sweden's history. In the 30 Years War, Sweden established itself as the primary European naval power. The Vasa Meuseum showcases the Vasa warship. I was surprised to learn how the Vasa does not show Sweden's naval prowess. On her maiden voyage, the top heavy vessel toppled and ingloriously sank to the bottom of the harbor, where she remained for 300 years. The briny waters of the harbor prevented worms from eating the hull, so the ship was able to be recovered from the harbor and restored. Many personal belongings of the crew were also recovered and are on display in the museum. The artwork on the hull of the ship looks elaborate and astounding. I hope we have the chance to see the ship while we are in Stockholm. There is too much to see!

Please feel free to fact check me and comment! Especially you Swedes. Next on my agenda is to make a Swedish dinner. It looks to difficult to accomplish vegetarian style, but I'm going to give it a go.


Sources Cited:
Video: 
Sweden and Stockholm by Rudy Maxa, American Public Television- Smart Travels

Photos (in order of use):
virtualtourist.com
redbubble.com
en.infoglobe.cz

The Begining

Greetings to my family, friends, and colleagues who might take the time to read my weblog! After planning three international trips for the next year, I decided it is an excellent exercise in communication and reflection to write a blog outlining discoveries in my travels. My perspective has the chance to be unique to a small degree because I've never traveled outside the country, nor traveled by airplane. My week-long trip to Sweden this winter break will be my first trip abroad and my first travel by airplane. I cannot fully describe how excited I am to travel in the upcoming year. I always believed international adventures were reserved for the eccentric uncles for the world. It is unthinkable to believe I will have the opportunity to learn about others, to make small but positive change in the world, and to have undreamable international adventures. I believed I was not bold enough. I always believed I was not rich enough!

My purpose for traveling to Sweden is to attend the European Director's Meeting for International Agriculture And biology Students conference (EDM IAAS Sweden). I am very excited to depart on the 26th, but have many preparations before that time. I will delineate all the points of the preparations here. The schedule for EDM Sweden can be seen below. As you can see, we will tour Stockholm, Uppsala, and various farms in the area.

My next international adventure will be to Costa Rica in March to tour Costa Rican soils, water, and crop production. This trip is via Agronomy 496A: Costa Rican Soils and Crops. I am looking forward to meeting Dr. Burras; I am told he is a wonderful instructor.

My final international sojourn of the year will take me to either Peru or India thanks to the Plant Sciences Institute Borlaug Intern program. While abroad, I will study the plant sciences and crop production. Of course, I will also experience the rich cultures of the locations. If you would like to learn more about the Plant Sciences Institute, I have provided a link to their page. http://www.plantsciences.iastate.edu/

Finally, I presume a brief explanation of the title I have chosen for my weblog is in order. Nomenclature for Souvarian is a two part name. "Nomenclature" expresses a desire for development for the ability to describe new objects, feelings, people, and locations. "Souvarian" when spoken aloud sounds like "so-very-young." Thus, this is an outlet for expression for the wide-eyed traveler. Thank you to musical artist Andrew Bird and his Nobel Beast album for inspiration for the title. Thank you for taking the time to read my first post. Your consideration and feedback is greatly appreciated.