Thursday 11/4
On Thursday, I had clinical for a half day at Skiftinge Vardcentral. Sometimes, I only have a half day because the nurses have to spend a lot of time doing phone counseling. On Mondays especially, the central gets hundreds of calls from people wanting advice and appointments. The nurses must do a few shifts of phone counseling each week. I noticed this was similar to the United States, when I was at the Riverside community health clinic, the nurses had specific hours and times assigned to work the phone, call patients and give advice or make appointments.
In the morning, we had several patients there for blood pressure screenings. The nurses get a lot of cases like this, where the patient comes in to get their blood pressure taken three times. This is when their medication changes or perhaps they had been screened earlier and found to have high blood pressure. In these cases I take the blood pressures and pulses while the nurse talks to the patients. Maria, the nurse I was working with, does a lot of diabetes and nutrition counseling. The next patient was a lady who wanted to lose weight. One of the issues was that she was from Iraq and spoke Arabic. So a translator had to be there. Maria spoke directly to the patient instead of the translator. She did height and weight, BMI, daily intake, when she eats, how she exercises, and all of that. A plan was made for the patient to follow and she was to return in two weeks to check on the process. If no progress was made, Maria can prescribe a gym membership for the patient and she will be given exercise to do. Also, I gave a vitamin B12 injection to a lady. B12 injections are very common here. Patients get them every 3 months, 2 months, 1 month, or 2 weeks, depending on how low their B12 is.
Then I went to Berlin for the weekend, but I posted about that in case you are wondering about the gap in my blog. For those who care!
Monday 11/8
Today was another half day because on Mondays many of the nurses do counseling on the phone. I was following Lotta again. Her first patient was one I had had the week before. He was a man who had liver problems and got compression dressings on his legs because they often became quite edemas. Today, he finally got his special compression socks ordered from Germany. Now he will not have to come to the clinic as often for dressings, this will be very convenient for him. Lotta is a nurse that specializes in incontinence. The next patient was an older lady struggling with incontinence. Lotta gave her advice about training her bladder muscles and pamphlets to take home with her. She also gave her a variety of different adult diapers and incontinence pads. She instructed her to keep a log and measure her output. I also learned about just in case peeing. If you go to the bathroom before you are going somewhere just in case you have to go then it is no good for your bladder. Your bladder needs to fill up all the way in order to train it to stretch and work properly. The rest of the day consisted of B12 injections, vaccinations, and blood pressures.
Tuesday 11/9
In the morning I was following Lotta again. It was very similar to the day before. There were some interesting patients. Nurses have to give advice for everything. A girl thought she had a sinus infection but when the lab results came back it showed she didn’t. This lady was also a smoker, so she was counseled on smoking cessation. The rest of the morning consisted of injections and blood pressures.
In the afternoon, I followed Tess. She specializes in cardiac patients and is new to Skiftinge. She had worked in the hospital up until about a month ago. In the afternoon, we had all blood pressure cases. Tess is really cool and fun to work with though. She tells me all about Sweden and her cardiac care nursing experience.
Anna and I went shopping I finally got some good Swedish groceries! I love Anna she is so sweet and really cool. She misses here daughter so she was cool with going out into the snow with me. It snowed today like 4 inches and its absolutely freezing! But Sweden looks so pretty in the snow! Some places are just meant to have snow, I think Sweden is. And of course all day all the people complained about getting their snow tires on. I think you get a ticket if you don't have them on by Dec. 1st. I think people in columbus need to get some snow tires, at least I do! Also, I seemed to be catching a bit of a cold today, ewwwwww!
Wednesday 11/10
Today was my last day scheduling for classes at Capital! I can’t believe I am almost into my last semester of undergraduate nursing school! This morning I was with Maria. One of our first patients was a long time diabetic. He had recently switched from a private doctor to the community health center. Up until about a year ago, some private doctors were still getting paid by the Swedish healthcare and able to take patients. Unfortunately, there was little oversight for them and they took as many patients as possible, caring less about quality. Most of these private doctors are not used anymore or supported by the Swedish government health insurance. The man that came in was here for his first visit because he needed another insulin prescription. He brought in an ancient glucose monitor. This thing was seriously 10 years old. The battery in it had expired in March 2010 and his test strips (a canister of 25) were from 2007. Obviously, this man had not been taking his blood sugar. We got him a new monitor, one of the 5 the Swedish government provides free test strips for. It used to cost the taxpayers about 7 krns (1 dollar) for each test strip, but now that they only use 5 kinds of meters its on 2.30 krns for each strip. It’s discouraging that all of this healthcare is available to the people in Sweden and some still do not take advantage of it. I did a wound dressing on an elderly lady I knew from last week. She was very happy to see me again. It’s cool how after two weeks I am already starting to become familiar with some of the patients. Then, I took some more blood pressures and gave injections, Maria lets me do pretty everything except for actually counseling the patients. Some of them have a very difficult time with English. Also, if she talks to them in Swedish they will not miss anything.
In the afternoon, I was in the lab because all of the nurses had to do a CPR class. The lab is a very busy place. They are constantly drawing blood, and analyzing samples of blood and urine. The women working there are very efficient. Leyla, came to Sweden as a refugee from Africa. She was very nice and taught me about everything. She plans to go to Stockholm to work at a very special lab in January. It sounds pretty interesting. We were both feeling a little bit sick from the weather change so we swabbed our throats for strep. I’m happy to say we are both streptococcus bacteria free. I think that it’s just this cold weather that is getting to me. It snowed on Tuesday and Wednesday and it appears to be sticking around.
Thursday 11/11
In the morning, I was with the pediatric nurses. I loved seeing all of the babies. In Sweden, the children come to the community health clinic for well child check-ups and vaccinations until they are six years or starting school. In which case they receive all of their vaccinations and well child care from the school nurse. So, the school nurse can have as many as 500 or 600 patients they are responsible for. For the first month of life, the baby comes every week, then again at 2 months, 5 months, 8 months, 12 months, 18 months, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, and 5,5 years. They do not receive the Hep B vaccine at birth, but instead when they are 2 months old. Also, for the first 2 years children in Sweden receive Vitamin D oral drops because of the lack of sunlight. Another thing they have in Sweden for the babies is Vallerming, which translates to gruel. It’s like a formula vitamin supplement given to babies, but it is not the same as formula in the United States. Another thing that I thought was really awesome was the maternity and paternity leave in Sweden. Most mothers and fathers get about the first 9 months to year of their child’s life off. They really get to be involved in their child; I think that it is great. First I did an 18 month and 3 year old well child check up. They do tests similar to the Denver Developmental examine, a physical examination, and vaccinations. Then I went with the nurse Fia to a well child home visit. They like to do a home visit when the child is around 8 months because then they can give anticipatory guidance in the house. At this age, they are moving around and getting into a lot of new things. It was an interesting visit because they mom was from Iraq and only spoke Arabic. A translator was needed and the nurse was incredibly confused and kept accidently speaking English to the interpreter and Swedish to me. Then we can back and did more well child check-ups the rest of the morning.
In the afternoon, I followed the physical therapist, Frederick. We saw a patient with shoulder and back problems and followed patients during their workouts. It was interesting to learn about physical therapy but also to talk about the health care system. In Sweden, they receive a lot of refugees from Iraq and Iran. The government sees how much money they get from taxes, and based on that number they let more immigrants in. The immigrants can go to Swedish school and get paid for it, free healthcares, education, housing, and food. A lot of refuges seek help and want to move to Sweden because they know they will be well cared for here. It is very interesting.
Went to Vasteras at night and hung out with Natalie. We ate a ton of junk food and just hung out. I watched the Paul is dead documentary on Youtube, its pretty interesting to watch. I don’t think Paul is dead though, obviously. I think the Beatles were just a putting a joke on people.
Friday 11/12
Liz came today! So I met her at the train station and then we came back to my apartment and had some Swedish food for snacks! She didn’t sleep at all traveling all night and day! Crazy girl! Then of course we had to go shopping and get our train tickets for the next day! It was so fun to actually go shopping with a friend here! We got some dresses at Bik Bok, it’s like a European store, pretty cute stuff there. Then we had to rush over to the alcohol store because it closes so early we got some yummy ciders and wine. I got a cider in every flavor to try. It was really my first time buying alcohol at the store in Sweden. Then we came back to my apartment and unfortunately I could only offer Liz a delicious dinner of Ramen noodles, but we were both too hungry to care. I was starving by the time we ate. Then we showered and went to go hang out with Bella and Hanna. It was so fun. We played Kings (yes they have that game in Sweden) and had so much fun. Then we came back to my lovely apartment, that Liz helped me to clean, hehe.
Saturday 11/13
Ahhhh, Stockholm. The day began with a few mishaps, first we left about 10 minutes later than intended and walking very fast it takes twenty minutes to get to the train. So I was freaking out the whole way making us and run and everything… I know I am super annoying. But we got there with 7 minutes to spare. I really thought we might miss it, but Liz was cool and collected unlike me. Once we got to Stockholm, we went to Peter’s apartment where he was letting us stay for the weekend! Thanks, Peter! And he had left us the key in a secret hidden spot, but it had fallen out of reach and we couldn’t get in the apartment. Oh no, panic again! Luckily we called him and he had a secret way in. So good thing his neighbor was home and could let me climb over her balcony. It was like an 8 ft high wall with nothing to grip on to get from one balcony to the other. Plus I was on the fifth story, but I scaled that wall like a spider. Huge adrenaline rush! Then Liz and I went to explore the city.
Olde town in Stockholm is amazing. We decided to start at the Central station and walk from there. Thanks to the helpful little guide book I got at half priced books and Liz’s navigational skills we were set! It was so pretty in Stockholm and I took about a thousand pictures to prove it. (Soon to be posted, don’t worry) We just walked around looking at all the cool buildings and little shops. Then we got tickets to the royal palace! We saw the royal apartments and it was so cool. Plus just about every view in Stockholm is amazing. We kept walking around even in the pitch black and did a bit more shopping even! Then we went back and got ready for a night out. We went to a Rainbow party first. It was a girl from Columbus , Heather and her friend, Charlie, we met over the best and most useful website ever couchsurfing. So we went to the party and met a bunch of really fun and some lovely flamboyant Swedish people. The best part was the group picture of like 50 people that Liz volunteered to take (I think to get out of the pic, hehe) but I loved it. Then I went out again in Stureplan, it is so fun there. I love to dance and the bars stay open until like 5am!
Sunday 11/14
Early morning for us! We went to the National museum and I learned a lot about Napolean and the current royal family’s beginnings. They are actually French. I know, weird. But it was very cool to see and this neat photo gallery of the royal family. The crown princess Victoria is such a celebrity here! Then we met up with Liz’s friend Maria. She is an au pair in Stockholm and went to American Univ with Liz. They had to some much fun catching up and it made me think about how I am almost graduated and pretty soon the people I have been seeing for four years will be all off doing their own things. You keep in touch with some people but not everyone, its weird because I still live in the same town I grew up in so I still see so many people. I don’t know what will happen after graduation but now that I have seen what is out there I know I will have to move somewhere. Coming to Sweden has really showed me that I can do it and go somewhere new! Not that I don’t loooooove Columbus or anything. Anyways we had lunch in this old vault from the 1600’s. It was super cool and the food was so good. Walking around and shopping Maria educated us so much about Swedish Christmas traditions. Yes, they are already setting up for Christmas. It was a nice time and great to be able have such nice conversation. Thanks to Liz for answering all my questions. I know I asked her a ton of silly questions, but she had good answers. I swear, my goal is to travel like she does, I think it’s the coolest. She has been to so many places and now she is going to grad school in London. Saying good bye is the hardest part. I hated to say good bye to Liz, we had such a fun eventful weekend. It was good to have girl talk and constantly be so hungry we just grabbed the nearest food. Even weird diner food! But I get to see her in a few weeks, yay! By Sunday night I was passed out tired!
Love you all! I know this is last week, but Im a bit behind, this week is soon to come!
Holly
söndag 21 november 2010
tisdag 16 november 2010
I LOVE Berlin
Ah, Berlin! Where do I even begin? Berlin was an absolutely phenomenal time.
Well , the adventure begins the night before I went to Berlin. Thanks to Hanna, I had mapped out a cheap way to get to the Skavska airport using the public bus system here in Sweden. Unfortunately, the cheap way isn’t always the easiest and due to my early flight, I had to take the last bus out of Eskilstuna that night before my flight. It left around ten. I got to Nykoping at about 1145 and waiting for my midnight shuttle to Skavska in the freezing cold was not fun. There was a creepy looking dude nearby so I was texting people like if I don’t say anything in 5 minutes be worried about me. But I got to Skavska airport a little after midnight with no issues. I bought a crappy sandwich and then settled in for the night. Of course the only bench in the whole place was already taken. I would say about 30 other young travelers decided to forgo the cost of the nearby hotel and spend the night in the airport. So, I used the idea I had seen a few other people do of putting these incredibly uncomfortable wood chairs together to make a place to lay down. I think I may have been the most unprepared person ever. Some people had sleeping bags and pillows, I didn’t even have a towel to lay over me. So I used my scarf and a pair of leggings as a pillow. It was so cold I just had to keep my coat on. So I slept for like an hour in one place, but I woke up freezing and miserable, so I decided to hunt for a new place. Then I saw some people by the heaters. Best idea ever, it was much warmer there and I actually got like 2 hours of sleep until, the airport people started waxing the damn floor. Talk about loud. So I woke up at 4 and was one of the first people through security. Skavska is a very very small airport. I immediately fell asleep on one of the more comfortable benches just inside my gate. (So cruel, I saw them all night, but they were just out of reach) Slept on the plane and arrived in Berlin on time at 8:30. I got tourist information and some public transit passes, which turned out to be a waste because no one checks your passes anyway. I suppose if you are caught though you get a fee. But the public transit was really really good, you could get anywhere you wanted at anytime and quite quickly. Trains, trams, buses, and subways.
So I hurried to my hotel to store my luggage and try and make it to the walking tour by 10:30. I had checked the weather and knew this was going to be the nicest day so I had to make it. I was only a little bit late, but I caught the group. The walking tour was awesome. But 4 hours of walking in the rain and cold after sleeping in an airport isn’t the best on your back. I took about a million pictures on the tour and hardest part was not having anyone to talk to what I saw about. I guess that is a disadvantage of traveling alone. But I saw Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, Potsdamer place, Churches, the TV tower, squares, US embassy, and so much more. Check out the pics on facebook, I think I put explanations under most of them. It was really like walking through history, a city that has been torn down and repaired so many times. Also, a lot of the sites where in East Berlin, it was only really reopened to the world 20 years ago. Everything there has so much history, like this was bombed and rebuilt, Hitler used to speak here, etc. There are even still bombs underneath the city that could still go off. A lot of the construction workers have to be careful and when they find them, the bomb squad has to come in and defuse them. So after that I found my way back to the Hostel, when I went to get my room, I found out was in a mixed dorm and I was pissed. I had requested an all female room. Very annoying. But it was only 10 euros a night so I guess you get what you pay for. I got to my room and made two friends Ollie and Alex. Luckily there were only 5 of us in the room for the night, Me, Ollie, Alex, and some Swedish couple. Both Ollie and Alex were just traveling around Europe on a Eurotrip. Alex was a New Yorker and a chef who wanted to explore Europe and try new cuisine. Ollie from Australia, was only 18 and just wanted to see the world, I guess. So we all went out and found something to eat because I hadn’t really eaten since the day before, it’s easy to forget when you are so busy. Then we shopped and I bought some heels, hehe. I went back to the Hostel, the Generator, and got ready for a night out. Some people would wonder if I was going to sleep or nap… haha, not me I say. So I got ready and luckily found people with a hair straightener. Woo hoo, so I started at the Generator bar and then it was off to the clubs. I went to the Matrix around midnight and stayed until like 5:30! It was crazy! Thanks to all the redbulls I was drinking. I had so much fun dancing and meeting people. I even got on the clubs facebook page with a few pictures of me, mostly they were really bad though. It was really fun and it was in an old subway tunnel and underground, cool place to have a club. It sucked though when it was time to go back and all the people I had come with were gone. Boooooo. But luckily, I found people from my hostel, I know seriously insane luck, and took a taxi with them. FYI taxis in Berlin are so so cheap. So I crawled in and woke everyone up around 6am, who knew I would be the annoying one in the mixed dorm.
Sleep is for when you are dead, so I woke up at 10am to start a new day and go to a concentration camp. It’s a good thing I started so early because I spent 2 hours getting lost! I left the hostel around 1100 and didn’t get to the camp until 2, and it’s only an hour away. But I figured it out all on my own, I didn’t even ask for help. When I got there, I found out I had to walk like 2 miles to get to the camp, ahhh bugger. But I got there and started walking around with the handheld tourguide talking thing. It was so sad, but I always wondered what one of these camps looked like. I went on a day when it was rainy and crappy so I really think I got a good idea of it. A lot of the buildings were gone, but it was still huge and sad. So many people had suffered and died there. I was cold and miserable with my coat and umbrella; I can only imagine how it was for the prisoners. This is definitely not a part of their history Germans are proud of and it can be difficult for them to appropriately memorialize it. This camp was originally a part of East Berlin, so some of the monuments in it were not depicted quite accurately. I was really saddened by the mass graves by the entrance. It was 6 graves with 50 bodies each, all who had died after liberation. I listened to a nurse’s story that had come by the camp to help save the liberated prisoners and how it was awful to watch them die. It is important to remember and not let this happen again and stop it from where it is happening in the world now.
So I went back to the town center to shop, but I mostly just go frustrated. Some jerk should me German minutes for my Swedish SIM card phone, they obviously didn’t work! What a waste of money, so I got a hotdog and decided to go back to the hostel, it was getting late. I walked in and was told the pub crawl was starting in 5 minutes. So I rushed to get ready and made it in time. It was soooo fun! I made friends with a group of people from London out celebrating a few of their 21st birthdays. They were dressed like sailors and loved to party. They also loved the Jersey Shore, so right away we all had that in common. So we drank and danced and had a fabulous time! But I went back quite early this night, I was pretty tired probably due to extreme lack of sleep. I think I may have been at the first person back at like 230. When I woke up the entire room was full. We had gotten some more roommates. The couple checked out and now it was all boys and me. EWWWW. Sweaty, smelly boys that snored. Needless to say I woke up early, 8am showered and didn’t really return to that smelly room. I went out to explore on my own. Back to Potsdamer place, the Brandenburg gate, a cool park I saw in the movies, and to do some shopping. I got a Berlin t shirt. It was cool to just walk around and see things. But I went back to the hostel around 3 because I needed to rest and I was out of money. Did I sleep? Nooooo, of course not. Instead I found some people from Wales and starting watching soccer. It is so fun to meet new people. So I just hung out in the hostel and met a ton of people and then had happy hour. Then I met some more British people who were here for the techno music. Berlin is like the music techno capital of the world. Its famous. So I just had to go out with them to some Gay techno clubs that night! Well folks, I got shut out of Baninger or however its spelled. Apparently, its one of the hardest places to get into, me not getting in I am guess in du to the fact I wasn’t German or a gay man. O well, I went to Watergate instead. It’s a dirty underground, legit techno club. I just techno danced and had an awesome time. Really great music and DJ, its official I love techno. I am addicted now! Also, dancing in Europe is so different than USA, but I am embracing it. So I went back to the hostel and my new friends said there was an open bed in their room and I got out of the stinky boy room!!!!!! So I slept I couple hours and then got up for my early flight. I was on the metro to the airport by 5 am, ugh. Awesome, Sleepless, weekend in Berlin. I am now in love with traveling and traveling alone is not bad. Its quite scary to be a girl in your early twenties traveling alone. Everyone was impressed I was so brave to be doing it. Honestly, I didn’t really have a choice. I could go alone or not go. I had booked the ti,ckets with Sonja, and now I didn’t want to not go and eat the 100 dollar ticket. I am so glad I went too. It would be much better with a friend, but on your own you are forced to meet people and really experience the culture. I didn’t think I could travel alone, but now I have and I have slept in an airport. I am actually beginning to surprise myself with my bravery. Then, I met this girl Alex from England, she was 30 and traveling alone but in a wheelchair. She was born was spina bifida. She was so nice and cool, really impressed me with her courage.
Peace out y'all
Well , the adventure begins the night before I went to Berlin. Thanks to Hanna, I had mapped out a cheap way to get to the Skavska airport using the public bus system here in Sweden. Unfortunately, the cheap way isn’t always the easiest and due to my early flight, I had to take the last bus out of Eskilstuna that night before my flight. It left around ten. I got to Nykoping at about 1145 and waiting for my midnight shuttle to Skavska in the freezing cold was not fun. There was a creepy looking dude nearby so I was texting people like if I don’t say anything in 5 minutes be worried about me. But I got to Skavska airport a little after midnight with no issues. I bought a crappy sandwich and then settled in for the night. Of course the only bench in the whole place was already taken. I would say about 30 other young travelers decided to forgo the cost of the nearby hotel and spend the night in the airport. So, I used the idea I had seen a few other people do of putting these incredibly uncomfortable wood chairs together to make a place to lay down. I think I may have been the most unprepared person ever. Some people had sleeping bags and pillows, I didn’t even have a towel to lay over me. So I used my scarf and a pair of leggings as a pillow. It was so cold I just had to keep my coat on. So I slept for like an hour in one place, but I woke up freezing and miserable, so I decided to hunt for a new place. Then I saw some people by the heaters. Best idea ever, it was much warmer there and I actually got like 2 hours of sleep until, the airport people started waxing the damn floor. Talk about loud. So I woke up at 4 and was one of the first people through security. Skavska is a very very small airport. I immediately fell asleep on one of the more comfortable benches just inside my gate. (So cruel, I saw them all night, but they were just out of reach) Slept on the plane and arrived in Berlin on time at 8:30. I got tourist information and some public transit passes, which turned out to be a waste because no one checks your passes anyway. I suppose if you are caught though you get a fee. But the public transit was really really good, you could get anywhere you wanted at anytime and quite quickly. Trains, trams, buses, and subways.
So I hurried to my hotel to store my luggage and try and make it to the walking tour by 10:30. I had checked the weather and knew this was going to be the nicest day so I had to make it. I was only a little bit late, but I caught the group. The walking tour was awesome. But 4 hours of walking in the rain and cold after sleeping in an airport isn’t the best on your back. I took about a million pictures on the tour and hardest part was not having anyone to talk to what I saw about. I guess that is a disadvantage of traveling alone. But I saw Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, Potsdamer place, Churches, the TV tower, squares, US embassy, and so much more. Check out the pics on facebook, I think I put explanations under most of them. It was really like walking through history, a city that has been torn down and repaired so many times. Also, a lot of the sites where in East Berlin, it was only really reopened to the world 20 years ago. Everything there has so much history, like this was bombed and rebuilt, Hitler used to speak here, etc. There are even still bombs underneath the city that could still go off. A lot of the construction workers have to be careful and when they find them, the bomb squad has to come in and defuse them. So after that I found my way back to the Hostel, when I went to get my room, I found out was in a mixed dorm and I was pissed. I had requested an all female room. Very annoying. But it was only 10 euros a night so I guess you get what you pay for. I got to my room and made two friends Ollie and Alex. Luckily there were only 5 of us in the room for the night, Me, Ollie, Alex, and some Swedish couple. Both Ollie and Alex were just traveling around Europe on a Eurotrip. Alex was a New Yorker and a chef who wanted to explore Europe and try new cuisine. Ollie from Australia, was only 18 and just wanted to see the world, I guess. So we all went out and found something to eat because I hadn’t really eaten since the day before, it’s easy to forget when you are so busy. Then we shopped and I bought some heels, hehe. I went back to the Hostel, the Generator, and got ready for a night out. Some people would wonder if I was going to sleep or nap… haha, not me I say. So I got ready and luckily found people with a hair straightener. Woo hoo, so I started at the Generator bar and then it was off to the clubs. I went to the Matrix around midnight and stayed until like 5:30! It was crazy! Thanks to all the redbulls I was drinking. I had so much fun dancing and meeting people. I even got on the clubs facebook page with a few pictures of me, mostly they were really bad though. It was really fun and it was in an old subway tunnel and underground, cool place to have a club. It sucked though when it was time to go back and all the people I had come with were gone. Boooooo. But luckily, I found people from my hostel, I know seriously insane luck, and took a taxi with them. FYI taxis in Berlin are so so cheap. So I crawled in and woke everyone up around 6am, who knew I would be the annoying one in the mixed dorm.
Sleep is for when you are dead, so I woke up at 10am to start a new day and go to a concentration camp. It’s a good thing I started so early because I spent 2 hours getting lost! I left the hostel around 1100 and didn’t get to the camp until 2, and it’s only an hour away. But I figured it out all on my own, I didn’t even ask for help. When I got there, I found out I had to walk like 2 miles to get to the camp, ahhh bugger. But I got there and started walking around with the handheld tourguide talking thing. It was so sad, but I always wondered what one of these camps looked like. I went on a day when it was rainy and crappy so I really think I got a good idea of it. A lot of the buildings were gone, but it was still huge and sad. So many people had suffered and died there. I was cold and miserable with my coat and umbrella; I can only imagine how it was for the prisoners. This is definitely not a part of their history Germans are proud of and it can be difficult for them to appropriately memorialize it. This camp was originally a part of East Berlin, so some of the monuments in it were not depicted quite accurately. I was really saddened by the mass graves by the entrance. It was 6 graves with 50 bodies each, all who had died after liberation. I listened to a nurse’s story that had come by the camp to help save the liberated prisoners and how it was awful to watch them die. It is important to remember and not let this happen again and stop it from where it is happening in the world now.
So I went back to the town center to shop, but I mostly just go frustrated. Some jerk should me German minutes for my Swedish SIM card phone, they obviously didn’t work! What a waste of money, so I got a hotdog and decided to go back to the hostel, it was getting late. I walked in and was told the pub crawl was starting in 5 minutes. So I rushed to get ready and made it in time. It was soooo fun! I made friends with a group of people from London out celebrating a few of their 21st birthdays. They were dressed like sailors and loved to party. They also loved the Jersey Shore, so right away we all had that in common. So we drank and danced and had a fabulous time! But I went back quite early this night, I was pretty tired probably due to extreme lack of sleep. I think I may have been at the first person back at like 230. When I woke up the entire room was full. We had gotten some more roommates. The couple checked out and now it was all boys and me. EWWWW. Sweaty, smelly boys that snored. Needless to say I woke up early, 8am showered and didn’t really return to that smelly room. I went out to explore on my own. Back to Potsdamer place, the Brandenburg gate, a cool park I saw in the movies, and to do some shopping. I got a Berlin t shirt. It was cool to just walk around and see things. But I went back to the hostel around 3 because I needed to rest and I was out of money. Did I sleep? Nooooo, of course not. Instead I found some people from Wales and starting watching soccer. It is so fun to meet new people. So I just hung out in the hostel and met a ton of people and then had happy hour. Then I met some more British people who were here for the techno music. Berlin is like the music techno capital of the world. Its famous. So I just had to go out with them to some Gay techno clubs that night! Well folks, I got shut out of Baninger or however its spelled. Apparently, its one of the hardest places to get into, me not getting in I am guess in du to the fact I wasn’t German or a gay man. O well, I went to Watergate instead. It’s a dirty underground, legit techno club. I just techno danced and had an awesome time. Really great music and DJ, its official I love techno. I am addicted now! Also, dancing in Europe is so different than USA, but I am embracing it. So I went back to the hostel and my new friends said there was an open bed in their room and I got out of the stinky boy room!!!!!! So I slept I couple hours and then got up for my early flight. I was on the metro to the airport by 5 am, ugh. Awesome, Sleepless, weekend in Berlin. I am now in love with traveling and traveling alone is not bad. Its quite scary to be a girl in your early twenties traveling alone. Everyone was impressed I was so brave to be doing it. Honestly, I didn’t really have a choice. I could go alone or not go. I had booked the ti,ckets with Sonja, and now I didn’t want to not go and eat the 100 dollar ticket. I am so glad I went too. It would be much better with a friend, but on your own you are forced to meet people and really experience the culture. I didn’t think I could travel alone, but now I have and I have slept in an airport. I am actually beginning to surprise myself with my bravery. Then, I met this girl Alex from England, she was 30 and traveling alone but in a wheelchair. She was born was spina bifida. She was so nice and cool, really impressed me with her courage.
Peace out y'all
onsdag 3 november 2010
Heres another long one
Friday:
This was my last day at the dementia day care center. Today I really learned the difficulty of medication compliance in this population. It began when one of the guests came with the wrong medication for lunch, it was marked for a date in November, this could have been his fault or the fault of homecare, but he had the wrong medication. Then at breakfast, one of the guests took his medication that wasn’t due until noon. About an hour later, a few pills were found sitting on the table with no idea whose pills they were. It was a difficult day for compliance with drugs. One of the patients also became rather upset when some of the visitors were leaving. There was one lady who knew English quite well and was very nice to talk with. Also, Friday is a musical day and they bring out the piano and a few of the guests play the piano. It is quite nice. It was funny because a lot of the songs were familiar and I knew the English versions, especially the Christmas songs. Then we got comparing nursery rhymes and whatnot, it’s so funny how much is the same.
At night, I went to visit a new friend Natalie in Vasteras. I took the free bus there and was able to do my ethics homework on the way and while I waited for her at the train station, I felt pretty good about my work ethic. That night I finally got to curl my hair! Yay for styling objects. Then her friends came over and we listened to a lot of music on Spotify, mostly we had the same tastes and I was introduced to some music! All I can say is Swedish House Mafia is pretty sweet. I never knew who they were but I definitely recognized some of the songs, they are big here, obviously. There was a Halloween party at the student pub, we were going to go but the line was too long when we got there. That was the most Halloween costumes I had seen so far in Sweden. So instead we went to a place they knew the bartender and danced to hip hop music all night. It was so fun and I made a few friends.
Saturday:
This day I woke up and explored Vasteras. I walked all around and did a bit of shopping! Vasteras is really pretty, it feels like a big city because everyone is walking around on the streets going places and shopping. I went to a few stores that are pretty popular here in Sweden. Gina tricot and Vila…. I would compare them to our express and a little more expensive version of forever 21. At Gina, I got a cute dress. At Villa, I got black skinny pants, a lacy dress, a sweet peacock feather belt, and a gray blouse. I can’t wait to wear all my new Swedish clothes; I will feel so European hehehe! So then I took the bus back to Eskilstuna.
That night I met up with Hanna at Bella’s place and we just chilled and hung out with some of her friends, Robin and Johan. Then we met Bella and her friends Michaela and Johanna. They went to a concert Moneybrother and we were going with them to the aftershow. I would recommend listening to Moneybrother, I have been listening to a few of his songs and they are pretty good. Kind of have an OAR feel to them. It was a great time that night, but only one person had dressed up for Halloween. He was a smurf, and I thought I saw a Snookie, but Bella informed me she always dresses like that. I’m sorry, but don’t wear a leopard print dress and super high poof on Halloween night unless you are trying to be a snookie. I was in a bit of a culture shook there because the music was crazy with all of the strobe lights, smoke, and tambourines! It was interesting and fun. Bella and I danced the whole night!
Sunday
Nothing happened, I was lazy and chilled in the ghetto. I think it was the first Sunday in ages I haven’t gone and done something. It was nice to relax, but super depressing, really made me miss good ol Sunday funday with all of my friends. Also, there was a time change, I thought I changed my clock at night which I did but now it’s like I am only 5 hours ahead of the US. So then I got confused and changed my clock again the next day after I almost missed skyping with my mom.
Monday
I showed up one hour early to clinical. I really messed up the time change. At least I was an hour early instead of an hour late. I was a Vardcentral, a community health clinic in Skiftinge. Skiftinge is very hard to pronounce, it is like no word you would ever hear in the English language. I really am not sure which is more ghetto, Årby or Skiftinge. All I can say is the walk from Årby to Skiftinge is quite scary. Its about a mile long and you have to walk thru Årby, under the freeway, up a big hill, through the woods, into the creepiest tunnel in the whole world, though a truck stop area, past a grocery store, into a broken down shopping center and then finally you are there. I have taken pictures to document this entire journey which I will soon post on facebook. It is most certainly interesting.
Clinical itself was wonderful once it got started. The whole staff there is awesome! Lotta and Maria are my preceptors, but I will get to follow a few different people. First, Maria gave me a tour. The clinic has a lot to offer. There is a family center that takes care of babies, children, and pregnant women. Then there is a lab and pharmacy. They have occupational and physical therapists with a big workroom. The is an asthma specialist, nurses that specialize in heart care, diabetes, and incontinence. There is a psychologist, as well as nurses and doctors. A lot of district nurses work there. They are similar to nurse practitioners in the United States. They see patients, diagnose them, treat them, and prescribe medication. They work together with the doctors sometimes, but a lot of the time they are their own separate entity and do their own thing.
On Monday, I did office hours with Lotta. Lotta specializes in incontinence nursing in addition to being a district nurse. We did some wound dressings at first. Some were for people with edema in the legs or for diabetics with foot sores that wouldn’t heal. She gave a lot of vitamin B12 injections; B12 is a common deficiency here in Sweden. I even got to take some staples out of a young man who had gotten a hip replacement after falling off a balcony. That was my first time taking out staples. It was fun and I learned a lot even though many of the patients spoke little or no English. That can be the most frustrating part.
Tuesday
This was a very long day at the clinic. In the morning I did office hours with Lotta again. There were many patients who needed injections, dressings, and blood pressure readings. Lotta even gave a patient IV iron. She is a really good nurse who has a lot of respect from here patients. She also has her own Yoga studio in Eskilstuna and spends a lot of time there as well. She is currently doing a study with an American doctor on the effects of Yoga in asthma patients. She has a test group that meets in her studio. I thought this kind of research was really cool and interesting. I love how she combines her two interests together.
In the afternoon, I helped with the flu vaccination clinic. For four weeks during October and November, every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, the nurses run an influenza vaccine clinic. Between two rooms, we gave 149 vaccines in two and a half hours. It is really busy and fast paced. One nurse documents and the other administers the injections. After a little while, they let me give the shots. I probably gave about 30 or 40 flu shots today. It was good practice. The time went by really fast.
I met up with Hanna and Cath this evening to get dinner and go bowling. It was really fun aside from the fact I am a terrible bowler. I think I got the lowest score in both games. Cath is pretty awesome at bowling. So when we went to leave I totally thought I lost my bank card and dumped out my whole purse and pockets and everything. I could not find it I went through everything like 10 times. So I called my parents and had them cancel it. Later on that night I was rechecking my wallet again and remembered the little cell phone slot. Of course it was in there, so now I have to go through all the trouble of getting a new card. I am such an idiot. At least Hanna and her friend Pontus could laugh with me about it. Hanna and Pontus came to visit Årby and found out just how glamorous my lifestyle is. I truly think they were horrified with my apartment. They thought it looked like a hospital room, which it does. I mean my toilet is for the disabled and there is no shower curtain. Hanna wants me to put up a big poster of Jake from twilight. Haha, I definitely think that would make this room much better.
Wednesday
Today was another long day at the clinic. In the morning I did office hours with Maria. We took a lot of blood pressures, dressed wounds, and she educated clients with diabetes. Maria is a really good teacher. She explains things really well and is patient. She wants me to do a lot of patient interaction and to be involved in treatment. I really learned the issues diabetics face with their feet over the last few days. One man had a sore on his foot that had been there for 4 years. Because of the poor circulation, it takes forever to heal and they come into the clinic maybe once or twice a week to have their dressings changed. I can only stress to all the diabetics the importance of proper foot care. I love when the patients try to talk to me even when they have almost no English. It makes their visit much better. Sometimes, when the nurses are doing a lot of education I get really bored because I can only understand a few words of what they are saying. I guess I hadn’t expected such a big language barrier when I came here. It really has been quite the learning process.
This evening, Hanna was a huge help. She helped me figure out all of my buses and getting to Berlin. I am really excited to be going there this weekend. I want to see the Berlin wall, this huge palace Charolotte (sp?), a few museums, some bunkers from the war, and maybe a walking or bus tour. Berlin is one of those cities that everyone has heard about and I can’t wait to see it. Just think, not too long ago, I think like 20 some years, Berlin was divided by a huge wall, now it is a one city. I wonder if there will still be a definite divide between the East and West. So heres to German food!
Random thoughts:
1. I am in love with Sweden’s healthcare system. We need to change healthcare in America and have equal treatment for everyone. I think everyone deserves to be healthy regardless of their financial status. I am becoming a nurse to help people and that shouldn’t be restricted because they can’t pay. Hopefully, I will see this change in a lifetime.
2. Because of the high Swedish taxes, something like 32%, they get to go to college for free! This I am extremely jealous of.
3. Recycling is so big here. They recycle so much and are really leaving less of an impact globally. It makes me want to focus more on recycling. My family recycles at home, but outside of my house I don’t really recycle much.
4. I have already been here for a week and a half and I can’t believe it. I haven’t had a TV this entire time and it really hasn’t even bothered me. I feel like I had been watching less and less TV anyways. I have also been away from my cell phone and constantly texting. It’s amazing what you can live without and what you become so dependent on.
5. I can’t believe I am actually keeping up with my schoolwork online. It’s probably because of the lack of distractions previously mentioned.
6. Checked out the Ohio governor election and see that Kaisch won, I will be interested to see what changes happen in Ohio. Hopefully for the better for the citizens, especially jobs and economy.
7. We need Spotify in the US pronto!
8. Can’t wait for Berlin!
9. Yay for Liz coming next week!
10. Yay for Åland cruise in two weeks!
To my friends and family, love and miss you all but I am making a ton of friends here. Being here has really opened my eyes and to draw from some Capital nursing content, has made me more culturally competent.
Cheers!
Holly
This was my last day at the dementia day care center. Today I really learned the difficulty of medication compliance in this population. It began when one of the guests came with the wrong medication for lunch, it was marked for a date in November, this could have been his fault or the fault of homecare, but he had the wrong medication. Then at breakfast, one of the guests took his medication that wasn’t due until noon. About an hour later, a few pills were found sitting on the table with no idea whose pills they were. It was a difficult day for compliance with drugs. One of the patients also became rather upset when some of the visitors were leaving. There was one lady who knew English quite well and was very nice to talk with. Also, Friday is a musical day and they bring out the piano and a few of the guests play the piano. It is quite nice. It was funny because a lot of the songs were familiar and I knew the English versions, especially the Christmas songs. Then we got comparing nursery rhymes and whatnot, it’s so funny how much is the same.
At night, I went to visit a new friend Natalie in Vasteras. I took the free bus there and was able to do my ethics homework on the way and while I waited for her at the train station, I felt pretty good about my work ethic. That night I finally got to curl my hair! Yay for styling objects. Then her friends came over and we listened to a lot of music on Spotify, mostly we had the same tastes and I was introduced to some music! All I can say is Swedish House Mafia is pretty sweet. I never knew who they were but I definitely recognized some of the songs, they are big here, obviously. There was a Halloween party at the student pub, we were going to go but the line was too long when we got there. That was the most Halloween costumes I had seen so far in Sweden. So instead we went to a place they knew the bartender and danced to hip hop music all night. It was so fun and I made a few friends.
Saturday:
This day I woke up and explored Vasteras. I walked all around and did a bit of shopping! Vasteras is really pretty, it feels like a big city because everyone is walking around on the streets going places and shopping. I went to a few stores that are pretty popular here in Sweden. Gina tricot and Vila…. I would compare them to our express and a little more expensive version of forever 21. At Gina, I got a cute dress. At Villa, I got black skinny pants, a lacy dress, a sweet peacock feather belt, and a gray blouse. I can’t wait to wear all my new Swedish clothes; I will feel so European hehehe! So then I took the bus back to Eskilstuna.
That night I met up with Hanna at Bella’s place and we just chilled and hung out with some of her friends, Robin and Johan. Then we met Bella and her friends Michaela and Johanna. They went to a concert Moneybrother and we were going with them to the aftershow. I would recommend listening to Moneybrother, I have been listening to a few of his songs and they are pretty good. Kind of have an OAR feel to them. It was a great time that night, but only one person had dressed up for Halloween. He was a smurf, and I thought I saw a Snookie, but Bella informed me she always dresses like that. I’m sorry, but don’t wear a leopard print dress and super high poof on Halloween night unless you are trying to be a snookie. I was in a bit of a culture shook there because the music was crazy with all of the strobe lights, smoke, and tambourines! It was interesting and fun. Bella and I danced the whole night!
Sunday
Nothing happened, I was lazy and chilled in the ghetto. I think it was the first Sunday in ages I haven’t gone and done something. It was nice to relax, but super depressing, really made me miss good ol Sunday funday with all of my friends. Also, there was a time change, I thought I changed my clock at night which I did but now it’s like I am only 5 hours ahead of the US. So then I got confused and changed my clock again the next day after I almost missed skyping with my mom.
Monday
I showed up one hour early to clinical. I really messed up the time change. At least I was an hour early instead of an hour late. I was a Vardcentral, a community health clinic in Skiftinge. Skiftinge is very hard to pronounce, it is like no word you would ever hear in the English language. I really am not sure which is more ghetto, Årby or Skiftinge. All I can say is the walk from Årby to Skiftinge is quite scary. Its about a mile long and you have to walk thru Årby, under the freeway, up a big hill, through the woods, into the creepiest tunnel in the whole world, though a truck stop area, past a grocery store, into a broken down shopping center and then finally you are there. I have taken pictures to document this entire journey which I will soon post on facebook. It is most certainly interesting.
Clinical itself was wonderful once it got started. The whole staff there is awesome! Lotta and Maria are my preceptors, but I will get to follow a few different people. First, Maria gave me a tour. The clinic has a lot to offer. There is a family center that takes care of babies, children, and pregnant women. Then there is a lab and pharmacy. They have occupational and physical therapists with a big workroom. The is an asthma specialist, nurses that specialize in heart care, diabetes, and incontinence. There is a psychologist, as well as nurses and doctors. A lot of district nurses work there. They are similar to nurse practitioners in the United States. They see patients, diagnose them, treat them, and prescribe medication. They work together with the doctors sometimes, but a lot of the time they are their own separate entity and do their own thing.
On Monday, I did office hours with Lotta. Lotta specializes in incontinence nursing in addition to being a district nurse. We did some wound dressings at first. Some were for people with edema in the legs or for diabetics with foot sores that wouldn’t heal. She gave a lot of vitamin B12 injections; B12 is a common deficiency here in Sweden. I even got to take some staples out of a young man who had gotten a hip replacement after falling off a balcony. That was my first time taking out staples. It was fun and I learned a lot even though many of the patients spoke little or no English. That can be the most frustrating part.
Tuesday
This was a very long day at the clinic. In the morning I did office hours with Lotta again. There were many patients who needed injections, dressings, and blood pressure readings. Lotta even gave a patient IV iron. She is a really good nurse who has a lot of respect from here patients. She also has her own Yoga studio in Eskilstuna and spends a lot of time there as well. She is currently doing a study with an American doctor on the effects of Yoga in asthma patients. She has a test group that meets in her studio. I thought this kind of research was really cool and interesting. I love how she combines her two interests together.
In the afternoon, I helped with the flu vaccination clinic. For four weeks during October and November, every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, the nurses run an influenza vaccine clinic. Between two rooms, we gave 149 vaccines in two and a half hours. It is really busy and fast paced. One nurse documents and the other administers the injections. After a little while, they let me give the shots. I probably gave about 30 or 40 flu shots today. It was good practice. The time went by really fast.
I met up with Hanna and Cath this evening to get dinner and go bowling. It was really fun aside from the fact I am a terrible bowler. I think I got the lowest score in both games. Cath is pretty awesome at bowling. So when we went to leave I totally thought I lost my bank card and dumped out my whole purse and pockets and everything. I could not find it I went through everything like 10 times. So I called my parents and had them cancel it. Later on that night I was rechecking my wallet again and remembered the little cell phone slot. Of course it was in there, so now I have to go through all the trouble of getting a new card. I am such an idiot. At least Hanna and her friend Pontus could laugh with me about it. Hanna and Pontus came to visit Årby and found out just how glamorous my lifestyle is. I truly think they were horrified with my apartment. They thought it looked like a hospital room, which it does. I mean my toilet is for the disabled and there is no shower curtain. Hanna wants me to put up a big poster of Jake from twilight. Haha, I definitely think that would make this room much better.
Wednesday
Today was another long day at the clinic. In the morning I did office hours with Maria. We took a lot of blood pressures, dressed wounds, and she educated clients with diabetes. Maria is a really good teacher. She explains things really well and is patient. She wants me to do a lot of patient interaction and to be involved in treatment. I really learned the issues diabetics face with their feet over the last few days. One man had a sore on his foot that had been there for 4 years. Because of the poor circulation, it takes forever to heal and they come into the clinic maybe once or twice a week to have their dressings changed. I can only stress to all the diabetics the importance of proper foot care. I love when the patients try to talk to me even when they have almost no English. It makes their visit much better. Sometimes, when the nurses are doing a lot of education I get really bored because I can only understand a few words of what they are saying. I guess I hadn’t expected such a big language barrier when I came here. It really has been quite the learning process.
This evening, Hanna was a huge help. She helped me figure out all of my buses and getting to Berlin. I am really excited to be going there this weekend. I want to see the Berlin wall, this huge palace Charolotte (sp?), a few museums, some bunkers from the war, and maybe a walking or bus tour. Berlin is one of those cities that everyone has heard about and I can’t wait to see it. Just think, not too long ago, I think like 20 some years, Berlin was divided by a huge wall, now it is a one city. I wonder if there will still be a definite divide between the East and West. So heres to German food!
Random thoughts:
1. I am in love with Sweden’s healthcare system. We need to change healthcare in America and have equal treatment for everyone. I think everyone deserves to be healthy regardless of their financial status. I am becoming a nurse to help people and that shouldn’t be restricted because they can’t pay. Hopefully, I will see this change in a lifetime.
2. Because of the high Swedish taxes, something like 32%, they get to go to college for free! This I am extremely jealous of.
3. Recycling is so big here. They recycle so much and are really leaving less of an impact globally. It makes me want to focus more on recycling. My family recycles at home, but outside of my house I don’t really recycle much.
4. I have already been here for a week and a half and I can’t believe it. I haven’t had a TV this entire time and it really hasn’t even bothered me. I feel like I had been watching less and less TV anyways. I have also been away from my cell phone and constantly texting. It’s amazing what you can live without and what you become so dependent on.
5. I can’t believe I am actually keeping up with my schoolwork online. It’s probably because of the lack of distractions previously mentioned.
6. Checked out the Ohio governor election and see that Kaisch won, I will be interested to see what changes happen in Ohio. Hopefully for the better for the citizens, especially jobs and economy.
7. We need Spotify in the US pronto!
8. Can’t wait for Berlin!
9. Yay for Liz coming next week!
10. Yay for Åland cruise in two weeks!
To my friends and family, love and miss you all but I am making a ton of friends here. Being here has really opened my eyes and to draw from some Capital nursing content, has made me more culturally competent.
Cheers!
Holly
torsdag 28 oktober 2010
Hej!
Welp, I live in the ghetto of Eskilstuna. At first I could not pronounce the name of my apartment area, so I kept calling it Arby’s because it is spelled Årby, which is actually pronounced Orr-bee. When I finally got the pronunciation right and told some of the nursing students they were kind of shocked saying it wasn’t the greatest area. I guess there are a lot of international people and immigrants here. So then I decided to ask some of the other students in my hallway. One guy, Joe, said that he was walking to school at seven am about two weeks and some drunk or on drugs guy was yelling “Help me.” So he went over to see and the guy took off his jacket and there was a knife sticking out of his back. Someone had stabbed him. So Joe called the ambulance. This story definitely freaked me out so I will not be walking home alone in the dark hopefully. I feel safe in my apartment because I always lock my door, you need a key to get in the elevator for two of the floors (mine is one of them) and a key to get in the building. I also have the nicest apartment on my floor; I have seen some of the other rooms. Life goal number one achieved: Nicest apartment in the ghetto, woo hoo! (Sorry if this story worries you mom)
Wednesday 10/27
I was placed in a daycare center for the elderly people with dementia. I got there at 8am and we prepared breakfast for the guests. They call the patients guests at the center. There were three preceptors, Kristina, Annika, and Gabriella. They were all very nice but Kristina did most of the talking because she was the best at English. She talked to me about the patients saying they usually stay in the day center for 6 months to a year and a half, depending on how quickly their dementia progresses and how long they can live alone. The day centers are for those with dementia living independently. They have been 4 and 10 guests a day. Some of the guests know why they are there and others do not know why they are a part of the group. One of the ladies was a former nurse and thinks she works there. They are assigned seats that have their namecard at them. One of the nurses goes and picks up all the guests from their homes and brings them back in van. Then they all sit down to a big breakfast with the nurses included. They socialize and eat. This is good, because they may not be getting the necessary nutrition at home. It is a big Swedish breakfast with bread, meat, cheese, coffee, yogurt, filmjolk, eggs, and lots of other food. It was interesting to experience this. Since all of the guests are over 65 most of them do not know English. Two of them spoke English, the man who spoke it the best kept forgetting what he had already asked me and repeated the same questions. Where are you from? How long have you been in Eskilstuna? Do you like Sweden? On this day, the center had another group visit them. There are 7 day centers in Eskilstuna for people with dementia. The one that visited was the only one where the guests were under the age of 65. In this group everyone knew English. I spoke with one lady for a while, but halfway through the conversation she started asking me the same questions again. It was pretty sad, especially because the people are so young. Dementia is becoming more of a problem in Sweden because of their ever increasing gerian population. Then we took the guests for a walk and the other group left. Then we had lunch with the guests, a delivery service brings the food for lunch. Then we played games and did activities with the guests. By this time almost all of them had forgotten I was American and could only speak English and kept trying to talk to me in Swedish. Then Gabriella, one of the nurses told me about how she does massages and tactile stimulation to calm the guests when they get angry. Many patients with Dementia can get really worked up and upset. She offered to give me a hand massage and I said okay. It was really relaxing and I think this is a great tool for nurses to use in calming patients. It also has other benefits and she showed me the research on it. Two of the leading nurses in this theory are Gunilla Birkestad and Siu Ardeby, it is becoming popular in Sweden with many different types of patients. Then around 2pm, everyone has coffee and pastries. After that, almost all of the guests are yawning and getting tired. Between 245 and 3 all of the guests are driven home and the day is over. They showed me a book of Swedish healthcare initiatives in Eskilstuna, and a lot of it talked about providing transportation and equality of care and keeping people living independently in their homes for as long as possible. It was a really view of the Swedish healthcare system.
Thursday 10/28
Today, I arrived at the care center at 8am again, but this time I was going with the nurse to pick up all the patients and load them in the van. It can be quite a challenge especially with those in walkers or wheelchairs. Many elderly people in Sweden have rolling walkers because we went back to the center and had breakfast. Then since there were only 4 people and less nurses, we took the group to an activities arena and art museum. In the arena they could do mini golf, bocce ball, or ping pong. The guests mostly chose to watch though. The museum and arena were in old factory buildings were one of the guest’s dad had actually worked. It was a popular tractor building factory, Munkhell, a long time ago. They all really liked the art museum and most of the pieces were from local artists. The patients made me sign the guest book and I was the first American to this year! After that we drove around Eskilstuna and to the nearby town Torshalla. The guests loved being able to share with me that this is where they went to school as child or I got married in that church. Most of them have lived in Eskilstuna their whole lives. They are on the higher functioning side of Dementia, but you can tell they often have trouble finding a word or remembering what they were saying. Then we went back for lunch, did activities and had coffee. The Swedish healthcare system really treats the elderly well and does a good job taking care of them, especially with providing transportation. Then, we drove them all home.
Yay I finally have friends!
Tuesday night I had tea with the Finnish girls, Cath and Anna. They are really nice. They live on a small island between Finland and Sweden. It is called Årland, their nursing class is only 18 people! They speak Swedish and English, read some Finnish. I am their first friend here too, they only arrived a few days before me and live two doors down the hall from me. They are exchange students in the same program I am.
Wednesday night I had after work drinks with Cath and two Swedish girls who go to Malardalen Hogskolas, the school I am an exchange student at. Bella and Hanna are super cool. Bella is really good at English because she was an au pair in Florida for a year. A lot of people here take between 1 and 3 years off after high school before going to college. Hanna and Cath are good at English as well. We all had a really great time together and laughed about everything. They say I have to go the toilet, I say ew that’s gross in America we say bathroom or restroom. They are all so nice and funny! Bella and Hanna are going to Bangkok in the spring to study nursing for 3 months, I think that is so cool. People there don’t even speak Swedish or English so I can’t imagine how crazy that would be. They are going to be doing some crazy stuff and told m about how they plan to go to a ping pong show just to witness it. (if you don’t know what that is, look it up…. Or don’t ;) hehe) We also decided to go on a cruise in a few weeks and I am super excited about that. It is kind like a party cruise just for a night or two and the drinks are pretty cheap. They are really fun and popular here. Today, we met for coffee and looked up cruise stuff, I can’t wait. We will probably go to Årland, it is going to be really fun! I am also going out with them here in Eskilstuna on Saturday night.
Random Thoughts:
1. A lot of people here understand English better than they speak it. They watch a lot of American television with Swedish subtitles. Many of them are shy to speak it.
2. My Swedish is getting so much better, it is crazy how much I am learning and picking up. But hearing and thinking and trying to focus is really difficult with two languages and the whole language thing makes my brain hurt. It makes you so tired!
3. Everything here is so little. I have barely seen a single house as big as mine in America.
4. A lot of people live in apartments, it is not abnormal to raise a family in an apartment here.
5. Everything is closer together and many people walk and ride bikes, there are a lot less obese people. Also, you can’t ride your bike at night without a light or you get a ticket.
6. They love their bread, meat, cheese, and milk products. Also, chicken is more expensive and less popular. People drink so much coffee here, its like the British and their tea.
7. Mass transit is huge here, trains, buses, and subways.
8. People here in Eskilstuna have a lot of pride for their town.
9. All the buildings are colorful and cute. They are yellow, pink, red, blue, green, etc. Everything is really clean here too.
10. I never thought I would say this but thank god for the 10 degree weather today, it was pretty nice out! (That’s just under 50 degrees farenheit)
I am going to included Rachel’s instructions for how to comment, just in case you would like to comment (hint,hint).
1. you have to choose a "kommentara som" in the dropdown like i chose google
2. then press "forhandsgranska"
3. then review your comment,
4. type the word that's in the box
5. press sticka commentar
I love and miss you all. Things here are definitely getting better here, although I might be coming down with a bit of a cold, fingers crossed its only allergies. Happy birthday to my father, I have been thinking about you all day. I love you very much Daddy!
Hej do!
Holly
Wednesday 10/27
I was placed in a daycare center for the elderly people with dementia. I got there at 8am and we prepared breakfast for the guests. They call the patients guests at the center. There were three preceptors, Kristina, Annika, and Gabriella. They were all very nice but Kristina did most of the talking because she was the best at English. She talked to me about the patients saying they usually stay in the day center for 6 months to a year and a half, depending on how quickly their dementia progresses and how long they can live alone. The day centers are for those with dementia living independently. They have been 4 and 10 guests a day. Some of the guests know why they are there and others do not know why they are a part of the group. One of the ladies was a former nurse and thinks she works there. They are assigned seats that have their namecard at them. One of the nurses goes and picks up all the guests from their homes and brings them back in van. Then they all sit down to a big breakfast with the nurses included. They socialize and eat. This is good, because they may not be getting the necessary nutrition at home. It is a big Swedish breakfast with bread, meat, cheese, coffee, yogurt, filmjolk, eggs, and lots of other food. It was interesting to experience this. Since all of the guests are over 65 most of them do not know English. Two of them spoke English, the man who spoke it the best kept forgetting what he had already asked me and repeated the same questions. Where are you from? How long have you been in Eskilstuna? Do you like Sweden? On this day, the center had another group visit them. There are 7 day centers in Eskilstuna for people with dementia. The one that visited was the only one where the guests were under the age of 65. In this group everyone knew English. I spoke with one lady for a while, but halfway through the conversation she started asking me the same questions again. It was pretty sad, especially because the people are so young. Dementia is becoming more of a problem in Sweden because of their ever increasing gerian population. Then we took the guests for a walk and the other group left. Then we had lunch with the guests, a delivery service brings the food for lunch. Then we played games and did activities with the guests. By this time almost all of them had forgotten I was American and could only speak English and kept trying to talk to me in Swedish. Then Gabriella, one of the nurses told me about how she does massages and tactile stimulation to calm the guests when they get angry. Many patients with Dementia can get really worked up and upset. She offered to give me a hand massage and I said okay. It was really relaxing and I think this is a great tool for nurses to use in calming patients. It also has other benefits and she showed me the research on it. Two of the leading nurses in this theory are Gunilla Birkestad and Siu Ardeby, it is becoming popular in Sweden with many different types of patients. Then around 2pm, everyone has coffee and pastries. After that, almost all of the guests are yawning and getting tired. Between 245 and 3 all of the guests are driven home and the day is over. They showed me a book of Swedish healthcare initiatives in Eskilstuna, and a lot of it talked about providing transportation and equality of care and keeping people living independently in their homes for as long as possible. It was a really view of the Swedish healthcare system.
Thursday 10/28
Today, I arrived at the care center at 8am again, but this time I was going with the nurse to pick up all the patients and load them in the van. It can be quite a challenge especially with those in walkers or wheelchairs. Many elderly people in Sweden have rolling walkers because we went back to the center and had breakfast. Then since there were only 4 people and less nurses, we took the group to an activities arena and art museum. In the arena they could do mini golf, bocce ball, or ping pong. The guests mostly chose to watch though. The museum and arena were in old factory buildings were one of the guest’s dad had actually worked. It was a popular tractor building factory, Munkhell, a long time ago. They all really liked the art museum and most of the pieces were from local artists. The patients made me sign the guest book and I was the first American to this year! After that we drove around Eskilstuna and to the nearby town Torshalla. The guests loved being able to share with me that this is where they went to school as child or I got married in that church. Most of them have lived in Eskilstuna their whole lives. They are on the higher functioning side of Dementia, but you can tell they often have trouble finding a word or remembering what they were saying. Then we went back for lunch, did activities and had coffee. The Swedish healthcare system really treats the elderly well and does a good job taking care of them, especially with providing transportation. Then, we drove them all home.
Yay I finally have friends!
Tuesday night I had tea with the Finnish girls, Cath and Anna. They are really nice. They live on a small island between Finland and Sweden. It is called Årland, their nursing class is only 18 people! They speak Swedish and English, read some Finnish. I am their first friend here too, they only arrived a few days before me and live two doors down the hall from me. They are exchange students in the same program I am.
Wednesday night I had after work drinks with Cath and two Swedish girls who go to Malardalen Hogskolas, the school I am an exchange student at. Bella and Hanna are super cool. Bella is really good at English because she was an au pair in Florida for a year. A lot of people here take between 1 and 3 years off after high school before going to college. Hanna and Cath are good at English as well. We all had a really great time together and laughed about everything. They say I have to go the toilet, I say ew that’s gross in America we say bathroom or restroom. They are all so nice and funny! Bella and Hanna are going to Bangkok in the spring to study nursing for 3 months, I think that is so cool. People there don’t even speak Swedish or English so I can’t imagine how crazy that would be. They are going to be doing some crazy stuff and told m about how they plan to go to a ping pong show just to witness it. (if you don’t know what that is, look it up…. Or don’t ;) hehe) We also decided to go on a cruise in a few weeks and I am super excited about that. It is kind like a party cruise just for a night or two and the drinks are pretty cheap. They are really fun and popular here. Today, we met for coffee and looked up cruise stuff, I can’t wait. We will probably go to Årland, it is going to be really fun! I am also going out with them here in Eskilstuna on Saturday night.
Random Thoughts:
1. A lot of people here understand English better than they speak it. They watch a lot of American television with Swedish subtitles. Many of them are shy to speak it.
2. My Swedish is getting so much better, it is crazy how much I am learning and picking up. But hearing and thinking and trying to focus is really difficult with two languages and the whole language thing makes my brain hurt. It makes you so tired!
3. Everything here is so little. I have barely seen a single house as big as mine in America.
4. A lot of people live in apartments, it is not abnormal to raise a family in an apartment here.
5. Everything is closer together and many people walk and ride bikes, there are a lot less obese people. Also, you can’t ride your bike at night without a light or you get a ticket.
6. They love their bread, meat, cheese, and milk products. Also, chicken is more expensive and less popular. People drink so much coffee here, its like the British and their tea.
7. Mass transit is huge here, trains, buses, and subways.
8. People here in Eskilstuna have a lot of pride for their town.
9. All the buildings are colorful and cute. They are yellow, pink, red, blue, green, etc. Everything is really clean here too.
10. I never thought I would say this but thank god for the 10 degree weather today, it was pretty nice out! (That’s just under 50 degrees farenheit)
I am going to included Rachel’s instructions for how to comment, just in case you would like to comment (hint,hint).
1. you have to choose a "kommentara som" in the dropdown like i chose google
2. then press "forhandsgranska"
3. then review your comment,
4. type the word that's in the box
5. press sticka commentar
I love and miss you all. Things here are definitely getting better here, although I might be coming down with a bit of a cold, fingers crossed its only allergies. Happy birthday to my father, I have been thinking about you all day. I love you very much Daddy!
Hej do!
Holly
tisdag 26 oktober 2010
Welcome to Sweden
These last few days have been an absolute whirlwind! I’ll provide a day by day update.
Saturday:
We landed in London at about 8:00, the air traffic was pretty full so we spent a long time circling around before we actually landed. The London Heathrow Airport is enormous and there is tons of shopping in there. My friend Monet would have been in heaven, all of her favorite stores were there. (Gucci, Chanel, Prada, tons of show stores, Harrods) We waited there for about two hours and then caught our flight to Stockholm. Unfortunately, Sonja was pretty uncomfortable during this time and experienced some panic attacks. I slept the whole way to Stockholm, so that went well, but Sonja was still having anxiety. At the airport I switched my money and got a sim card for my phone, finally I could communicate with the outside world. Currently, 4 people have my phone number and I can't even remember it. I know, I'm cool. Then we caught the Arlanda express to Stockholm's central station. From there we took the subway to Peter's house where we were staying for the night before going on to Eskilstuna. I am pretty sure we made a lot of peoples days because you would have to laugh upon seeing us dragging 3 suitcases each. I dropped my laptop like 5 times and now the speakers are a little messed up. By the time we got to Peter's, I was sweating so much I had taken off my coat was wearing a t-shirt in 0 degrees Celsius weather (32 degrees Fahrenheit). I am trying to switch into using European measurements like Celsius, military time, kilometers, and Swedish kroners. It’s not really working out to well, haha.
After we got to Peters, we had to shower. I mean after that sweat and 10 hours of flying and an 8 hour car ride, I was ready for one. But being the idiot I am, I couldn't figure it out so my first shower in Sweden was ice cold. Then, I went to blow dry my hair and about 30 seconds into it, there was a pop, some lights went out, and a burning smell. But after much debate I plugged my blow dryer in again and used it for 5 second increments, turning it on then off and so on, it was pretty annoying. But I did end up getting my hair dry. Then, I plugged in my straightener. The light went on for 1 second and then came off and it never worked. Hopefully it will work back in the US. So I didn't even try the curling iron. So the first night in Sweden my hair looked terrible, pictures to come soon. Then I plugged in Sonja's power surge protector super outlet plug and the entire apartment went black instantly. Needless to say, plugging things in is quite the challenge. Luckily, Peter took it well that we blew his fuse a few times. Wow, this was a pretty pointless paragraph but I know my mom will appreciate all the little details.
Peter got some Thai food and we chowed down, took a shot of absinthe, and went out. First, we went to this cute little trendy bar and I had a peach cherry martini thing which honestly tasted exactly like the Welch's white grape peach juice. Just in case you were wondering. Then we met up with some of his friends and walked to his friend Martin's house. It was a totally cute little loft place. We hung out and talked about Swedish stuff, music, and everything. It was real chill. Then we went to the Swedish clubs! I was so nervous about getting in because usually the minimum age is 23 and they denied the people right in front of us. But luckily our group got in and I didn’t even have show my id! Well, we only went to one but it cost like 160 SEK to get in which is like $25 in us dollars. It was called Sturecompaignet, and it’s on that Swedish social website, but I think I must have missed the photographer. But it was awesome, really fun and huge. There were all these private rooms and stuff. Everyone thought I was Swedish and would just come up to me speaking in Swedish, which I could not understand. So mostly I just stared blankly at them. People also asked me if I was French? I don’t know where that came from. I wish that I could just wear a sign around my neck that says ENGLISH PLEASE! All in all it was an awesome first night in Sweden!
Sunday:
We woke up with extreme jet lag and began our journey to Eskilstuna. So, once again we packed all of our bags and headed to the subway. The elevator was by far the funniest part. I kept trying to open the door and but then my bag would fall over and the door would close. Then the process would repeat itself, I am very comical. Then we took the subway back to the central station and got a quick train to Eskilstuna, which once again was an adventure with all of the baggage. The ride to Eskilstuna was only one hour. Once we got here Margarethe, our professor and program coordinator, picked us up. She was so nice and hooked us up with blankets and pillows. I found out my clinical schedule as well. At capital we only have to do 12 hours of clinical a week, but in Sweden they have to do 32 hours! My first week, I will be at a care center for people with Dementia. I will have clinicals at 8am on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 8am. They are about 1.5 km away (roughly 1 mile). So that means a cold morning! I will probably get about 24 hours done in my first week! I will only have clinicals for 5 weeks since I will finish my hours so quickly. I will also do 2 weeks in the clinic and 2 weeks doing home visits. She even said I could spend a day riding in the ambulance here! We saw the nursing lab and whereas everything is mostly the same they only go to school for 3 years. They count everything by terms so I am in my 7th term or semester. The nursing lab was a lot like ours and next week everyone has return demonstrations which they are all getting nervous for. I laughed when I heard that, yep nursing is stressful and hard everywhere! Sonja was still having issues with panic and anxiety and expressed interest in going home, she decided to sleep on it and decide in the morning.
Then, Margarethe took us to our apartment! It was in a tall building and we are on the fourth floor. It is very tiny but cute at the same time. We are on an international students hallway. The other students are mostly chinese and very nice. There are two finnish girls and a german guy. Our apartment is pretty much a studio. There is a bed and a cot. There are 2 tables. No microwave, no television, and crappy internet. No wonder this is so long, right? But, I'm here and I am going to be reading a lot of books! Wooo Hooo! After that we were dropped off at Lidl's, which is the Swedish version of Aldi's. The food was really weird there. Couldn't read the labels so I think I bought salt, butter, rice, noodles, pringles, bananas, kiwis, tomatos, yogurt, bologna stuff, potatoes, American pizza, cheese, tortilla chips, bacon, eggs, spinach tortillas, and avocado. Wow, yum. We walked back in the miserable cold and I unpacked. Sonja being unsure about staying chose not to. Then we cooked the American pizza, haha joke, ew it was nasty. There was no oven so the community microwave did the job. Around 820 or 2020 we decided to go looking for a restaurant since we already hated our food and I couldn't figure out how to work the burners on the stove. (Side note: I have since figured it out, trickier than you would think though.) We walked around, but it was Sunday and everything closes super early here so there wasn't much going on. We happened upon a movie theater. So we had popcorn for dinner and watched The Social Network. Lucky for me I didn’t fall asleep during the movie this time. (haha Sarah and Dan) Sonja did though. There were Swedish subtitles on the movie and we had assigned seats at the theater. It was weird and small and all the people were staring at us because we were obviously not from this very small town of Eskilstuna. Still I enjoyed myself. then we walked back and I decided to cook some potatoes in butter and make fried bologna. It was really really nasty, but I was just hungry enough to eat it. Then I tried to skype and crap and found out firsthand how bad the internet here sucks. So after a few dropped calls and stuff I gave up and went to bed, it was like 1am here anyways. Thanks Rach for the Chelsea Handler book which I read before bed.
Monday:
So we slept in for a bit and then met up with Margarethe. Sonja made the decision that she wanted to go home. She has been dealing with panic and anxiety since we have been here. Based on her health, she decided it would be better for her to leave. I was obviously crushed. So, while she booked a flight home I got my student ID card and computer access code. Yay, now I can use the fast internet at the library. Sadly, it closes at 10 here which is only 4pm in the US. So if you want to skype me you better be on early in the day! Then I signed my contract and bought more minutes for the bat phone. Can you believe I used them all up with only 4 contacts? I guess I called my mom a bit haha. Then I went and ate by myself while Sonja went back to the apartment. It was an Italian place but the food tasted kind of like curry, still one of the best meals here yet. Whatever, it’s hard to order food because some people really are not that good at English. Then I came back and hung out with Sonja. We went back met up with Margarethe and finished final details for Sonja's departure. I’ll be on the train taking her to the Arlanda station at 545 in the morning. Which in the US will only be 11 at night!
We ate her final meal here at McDonalds, ew I know, but seriously needed some American food. Then we came back to the apartment showered and I wrote this instead of doing homework, yeah good choices. I am doing fine myself, except for being sad Sonja is leaving. It’s harder than I thought to make friends here but a few nursing students have already reached out and emailed me I hope to meet up with them soon. I think this will be a great experience but lonely all by myself. I plan on staying positive and making the most this opportunity. Love and miss all of my friends and family. Sorry this was super long and at times boring but now you know everything I am doing!
Tuesday
My internet sucks that bad that I am unable to access the internet to post this blog in time to begin another day. Right now I just dropped Sonja off at the airport and I think it’s safe to say that I am the loneliest girl in Sweden. Neither of us could sleep last night knowing that she was leaving and I had some very strange vivid dreams when I did. My dreams have been so real lately. When I took a nap yesterday I had the weirdest dream but I was in America in the dream and I knew I was in Sweden. So I kept telling myself this is a dream Holly, wake up! It was the weirdest thing ever. I am waiting for a bus to take me to Vasteras where I will catch another bus to Eskilstuna. This was a very lucky morning for Sonja, our cab driver to the train station was very nice and understanding and gave her back the tip. Then we caught our train and got on the wrong one to the Arlanda airport! But the ticket checker lady was super nice and let us ride for free, when it would have originally cost us around $100. Then they didn’t charge her extra for her overweight bag and she had an additional bag that wasn’t checked but still had the original receipt from her first flight and didn’t have to pay extra. She departs from here at 910 to London and then to JFK in NYC and finally she will arrive back in Ohio at 2200 tonight. Her journey will be close to 17 hours long! I am very sad to see her go, but in the end it was her decision and she felt comfortable with it. I am not the most familiar with anxiety and panic attacks, but I did witness many of hers firsthand. She was very unhappy here in Sweden. She finally started to become her old self when she booked he flight home. I am really going to miss her and I don’t have a single friend yet. I really hope that changes soon, I never realized how hard it was to be in a different country where you don’t know anyone until now. I can’t speak the language or read any of the signs. Everyone says the first week is the hardest and I hope they are right. Here I am sitting in this stupid airport crying about being alone, but I know the future is bright and things can only get better. If only this cappuccino I am drinking didn’t taste like absolute crap, I got it from a convenience store inside the airport. My bus will be here soon and I will get a nice view of the countryside, so until then I am going to people watch and read.
Ahhh…. Finally got a decent internet connection at Malardalen Hogskolas in Vasteras! Posting finally!
Love and Cheers!
Holly
Saturday:
We landed in London at about 8:00, the air traffic was pretty full so we spent a long time circling around before we actually landed. The London Heathrow Airport is enormous and there is tons of shopping in there. My friend Monet would have been in heaven, all of her favorite stores were there. (Gucci, Chanel, Prada, tons of show stores, Harrods) We waited there for about two hours and then caught our flight to Stockholm. Unfortunately, Sonja was pretty uncomfortable during this time and experienced some panic attacks. I slept the whole way to Stockholm, so that went well, but Sonja was still having anxiety. At the airport I switched my money and got a sim card for my phone, finally I could communicate with the outside world. Currently, 4 people have my phone number and I can't even remember it. I know, I'm cool. Then we caught the Arlanda express to Stockholm's central station. From there we took the subway to Peter's house where we were staying for the night before going on to Eskilstuna. I am pretty sure we made a lot of peoples days because you would have to laugh upon seeing us dragging 3 suitcases each. I dropped my laptop like 5 times and now the speakers are a little messed up. By the time we got to Peter's, I was sweating so much I had taken off my coat was wearing a t-shirt in 0 degrees Celsius weather (32 degrees Fahrenheit). I am trying to switch into using European measurements like Celsius, military time, kilometers, and Swedish kroners. It’s not really working out to well, haha.
After we got to Peters, we had to shower. I mean after that sweat and 10 hours of flying and an 8 hour car ride, I was ready for one. But being the idiot I am, I couldn't figure it out so my first shower in Sweden was ice cold. Then, I went to blow dry my hair and about 30 seconds into it, there was a pop, some lights went out, and a burning smell. But after much debate I plugged my blow dryer in again and used it for 5 second increments, turning it on then off and so on, it was pretty annoying. But I did end up getting my hair dry. Then, I plugged in my straightener. The light went on for 1 second and then came off and it never worked. Hopefully it will work back in the US. So I didn't even try the curling iron. So the first night in Sweden my hair looked terrible, pictures to come soon. Then I plugged in Sonja's power surge protector super outlet plug and the entire apartment went black instantly. Needless to say, plugging things in is quite the challenge. Luckily, Peter took it well that we blew his fuse a few times. Wow, this was a pretty pointless paragraph but I know my mom will appreciate all the little details.
Peter got some Thai food and we chowed down, took a shot of absinthe, and went out. First, we went to this cute little trendy bar and I had a peach cherry martini thing which honestly tasted exactly like the Welch's white grape peach juice. Just in case you were wondering. Then we met up with some of his friends and walked to his friend Martin's house. It was a totally cute little loft place. We hung out and talked about Swedish stuff, music, and everything. It was real chill. Then we went to the Swedish clubs! I was so nervous about getting in because usually the minimum age is 23 and they denied the people right in front of us. But luckily our group got in and I didn’t even have show my id! Well, we only went to one but it cost like 160 SEK to get in which is like $25 in us dollars. It was called Sturecompaignet, and it’s on that Swedish social website, but I think I must have missed the photographer. But it was awesome, really fun and huge. There were all these private rooms and stuff. Everyone thought I was Swedish and would just come up to me speaking in Swedish, which I could not understand. So mostly I just stared blankly at them. People also asked me if I was French? I don’t know where that came from. I wish that I could just wear a sign around my neck that says ENGLISH PLEASE! All in all it was an awesome first night in Sweden!
Sunday:
We woke up with extreme jet lag and began our journey to Eskilstuna. So, once again we packed all of our bags and headed to the subway. The elevator was by far the funniest part. I kept trying to open the door and but then my bag would fall over and the door would close. Then the process would repeat itself, I am very comical. Then we took the subway back to the central station and got a quick train to Eskilstuna, which once again was an adventure with all of the baggage. The ride to Eskilstuna was only one hour. Once we got here Margarethe, our professor and program coordinator, picked us up. She was so nice and hooked us up with blankets and pillows. I found out my clinical schedule as well. At capital we only have to do 12 hours of clinical a week, but in Sweden they have to do 32 hours! My first week, I will be at a care center for people with Dementia. I will have clinicals at 8am on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 8am. They are about 1.5 km away (roughly 1 mile). So that means a cold morning! I will probably get about 24 hours done in my first week! I will only have clinicals for 5 weeks since I will finish my hours so quickly. I will also do 2 weeks in the clinic and 2 weeks doing home visits. She even said I could spend a day riding in the ambulance here! We saw the nursing lab and whereas everything is mostly the same they only go to school for 3 years. They count everything by terms so I am in my 7th term or semester. The nursing lab was a lot like ours and next week everyone has return demonstrations which they are all getting nervous for. I laughed when I heard that, yep nursing is stressful and hard everywhere! Sonja was still having issues with panic and anxiety and expressed interest in going home, she decided to sleep on it and decide in the morning.
Then, Margarethe took us to our apartment! It was in a tall building and we are on the fourth floor. It is very tiny but cute at the same time. We are on an international students hallway. The other students are mostly chinese and very nice. There are two finnish girls and a german guy. Our apartment is pretty much a studio. There is a bed and a cot. There are 2 tables. No microwave, no television, and crappy internet. No wonder this is so long, right? But, I'm here and I am going to be reading a lot of books! Wooo Hooo! After that we were dropped off at Lidl's, which is the Swedish version of Aldi's. The food was really weird there. Couldn't read the labels so I think I bought salt, butter, rice, noodles, pringles, bananas, kiwis, tomatos, yogurt, bologna stuff, potatoes, American pizza, cheese, tortilla chips, bacon, eggs, spinach tortillas, and avocado. Wow, yum. We walked back in the miserable cold and I unpacked. Sonja being unsure about staying chose not to. Then we cooked the American pizza, haha joke, ew it was nasty. There was no oven so the community microwave did the job. Around 820 or 2020 we decided to go looking for a restaurant since we already hated our food and I couldn't figure out how to work the burners on the stove. (Side note: I have since figured it out, trickier than you would think though.) We walked around, but it was Sunday and everything closes super early here so there wasn't much going on. We happened upon a movie theater. So we had popcorn for dinner and watched The Social Network. Lucky for me I didn’t fall asleep during the movie this time. (haha Sarah and Dan) Sonja did though. There were Swedish subtitles on the movie and we had assigned seats at the theater. It was weird and small and all the people were staring at us because we were obviously not from this very small town of Eskilstuna. Still I enjoyed myself. then we walked back and I decided to cook some potatoes in butter and make fried bologna. It was really really nasty, but I was just hungry enough to eat it. Then I tried to skype and crap and found out firsthand how bad the internet here sucks. So after a few dropped calls and stuff I gave up and went to bed, it was like 1am here anyways. Thanks Rach for the Chelsea Handler book which I read before bed.
Monday:
So we slept in for a bit and then met up with Margarethe. Sonja made the decision that she wanted to go home. She has been dealing with panic and anxiety since we have been here. Based on her health, she decided it would be better for her to leave. I was obviously crushed. So, while she booked a flight home I got my student ID card and computer access code. Yay, now I can use the fast internet at the library. Sadly, it closes at 10 here which is only 4pm in the US. So if you want to skype me you better be on early in the day! Then I signed my contract and bought more minutes for the bat phone. Can you believe I used them all up with only 4 contacts? I guess I called my mom a bit haha. Then I went and ate by myself while Sonja went back to the apartment. It was an Italian place but the food tasted kind of like curry, still one of the best meals here yet. Whatever, it’s hard to order food because some people really are not that good at English. Then I came back and hung out with Sonja. We went back met up with Margarethe and finished final details for Sonja's departure. I’ll be on the train taking her to the Arlanda station at 545 in the morning. Which in the US will only be 11 at night!
We ate her final meal here at McDonalds, ew I know, but seriously needed some American food. Then we came back to the apartment showered and I wrote this instead of doing homework, yeah good choices. I am doing fine myself, except for being sad Sonja is leaving. It’s harder than I thought to make friends here but a few nursing students have already reached out and emailed me I hope to meet up with them soon. I think this will be a great experience but lonely all by myself. I plan on staying positive and making the most this opportunity. Love and miss all of my friends and family. Sorry this was super long and at times boring but now you know everything I am doing!
Tuesday
My internet sucks that bad that I am unable to access the internet to post this blog in time to begin another day. Right now I just dropped Sonja off at the airport and I think it’s safe to say that I am the loneliest girl in Sweden. Neither of us could sleep last night knowing that she was leaving and I had some very strange vivid dreams when I did. My dreams have been so real lately. When I took a nap yesterday I had the weirdest dream but I was in America in the dream and I knew I was in Sweden. So I kept telling myself this is a dream Holly, wake up! It was the weirdest thing ever. I am waiting for a bus to take me to Vasteras where I will catch another bus to Eskilstuna. This was a very lucky morning for Sonja, our cab driver to the train station was very nice and understanding and gave her back the tip. Then we caught our train and got on the wrong one to the Arlanda airport! But the ticket checker lady was super nice and let us ride for free, when it would have originally cost us around $100. Then they didn’t charge her extra for her overweight bag and she had an additional bag that wasn’t checked but still had the original receipt from her first flight and didn’t have to pay extra. She departs from here at 910 to London and then to JFK in NYC and finally she will arrive back in Ohio at 2200 tonight. Her journey will be close to 17 hours long! I am very sad to see her go, but in the end it was her decision and she felt comfortable with it. I am not the most familiar with anxiety and panic attacks, but I did witness many of hers firsthand. She was very unhappy here in Sweden. She finally started to become her old self when she booked he flight home. I am really going to miss her and I don’t have a single friend yet. I really hope that changes soon, I never realized how hard it was to be in a different country where you don’t know anyone until now. I can’t speak the language or read any of the signs. Everyone says the first week is the hardest and I hope they are right. Here I am sitting in this stupid airport crying about being alone, but I know the future is bright and things can only get better. If only this cappuccino I am drinking didn’t taste like absolute crap, I got it from a convenience store inside the airport. My bus will be here soon and I will get a nice view of the countryside, so until then I am going to people watch and read.
Ahhh…. Finally got a decent internet connection at Malardalen Hogskolas in Vasteras! Posting finally!
Love and Cheers!
Holly
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