Differences between America & Sweden
So, after spending a while in the US some differences has occured, obviously these doesn't apply to everything or everyone, just my personal opinion :)
Food - As expected, the fast food is very accessible here, even in school! Basically every food place at campus sells hamburger, pizza, fried chicken and fries. Obviously there are healthy options as well but being a student I know how hard it is to resist temptations sometimes and especially when they're so easily found... I do miss the Swedish food, especially salmon and also being able to make my own meals! Now I'm probably eating sugar every day since it's hidden in everything :( Kinda miss the fika culture as well...
People - To be honest I don't think Americans are very different compared to Swedes. They are friendly, helpful and very serviceminded. The biggest difference is probably that they are really loud and passioned about their country haha!
City around car - This is probably the thing I find the most annoying! Being from such a bike/pedestrian/public transport friendly country and continent as Sweden and Europe it is very hard to adjust being so dependent on the car, especially when you don't have one... The bus system here in Rochester is TERRIBLE! Once Nellie and Gustav waited for the bus 3 hours although the schedule said something else, so it can certainly not be trusted. Since the city is built around the car it's very vast and spread out. There is no real city center as we're use to in Sweden. We are currently working with a project in the studio course changing a suburban plaza into a pedestrian friendly town center!
University & school spirit - This school is sooo organized! Once we started getting replies to our questions before we came here, everything has run very smoothly and there is always someone to ask about everything. We even have a person on our floor who is responsible to make sure we're all okey. Living here is like living in a small community, we eat, sleep and study at the same place. This feeling of community is something I probably will miss a bit! The different organizations and clubs are always offering a range of activites during the week so there's always something going on! I really like the fact that there is a free gym and swimming pool as well! All the students have an academic advisor who helps you to find and change courses, giving advice and makes sure you succeed in your studies. In my program we also have the advantage of having mentors who are proffessionals in the area and can help and support us with our work. The workload here is as mentioned way higher than back home, it'll be like vacation when I get back ;)
Clothing - The most common outfit here is tshirt, shorts and flip flops... Even now!! The other day it was 3 degrees in the morning and I saw people wearing that while I was wearing several layers. The way people dress here is more casual than Sweden for sure... I kind of like it though to be honest, sometimes I'm just to lazy to put on something nice when going to the dining hall and yet I won't be the most casual person in there, some people even wear their pyjama going there!
Paying and money - It's probably no news that American shops never write the price including taxes so you always end up spending more than you thought you would.. Not much but I still don't get why it's so difficult to just write the whole thing? Prices here are very similiar to Sweden as well, things might be a few dollars cheaper but overall I don't think there is a big difference. Another thing when buying food is that they pack your items for you and usually you get like four bags for 5 items, such a waste!! I still have a hard time learning all the coins, there are 1 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent, 50 cent and the smallest ones are so unecessary, you can't really use them for anything haha
Here are some photos of my Nature Center project(all hand drawn!!) and the cat spoon(not finished) :)
Bye!
