Linköping University and Norrköping

We go to breakfast as usual. We write postcards for Christmas to American friends and family.

At 11:30 we meet Peter Anderson at LiU. We start our tour at "A" bldg. where his office is. It is a very modern building built in the 70's. The floor looks like turquoise marbled linoleum and the window frames and stair rails are bright red. Peter says that they must preserve the original look as it was when it was built. There are kids in hallways with tables with students with laptops and studying in groups. There are also study rooms with windows and we see other students engaged in discussions. It is very open and very bright and very consumed with students on task. Amazing.

In Peter's office, he gets on his computer and finds out about the webcam I have been watching since Karli's arrival in August. I want to see the image I see at home. We walk for about 15 minutes to get there. It is by the administration building. We even see the web camera up on the 4th floor in a corner window! It is foggy but I can see the scene from this new perspective.

We go to the building where the students and faculty eat. It is vibrant and alive with people. The architecture makes it look like a big boat. Again, it has many windows and is very bright. We all get the dagens rätt which is strömming. It is self-serve and I am surprised to see most Swedes actually FILL their plate with mashed potatoes, then put the fish on top. Arvid and I break the tradition and serve up the mashed potatoes as a side-dish. There is a salad bar too. Usually they don't have dressing for their salads but always have cucumbers, shredded carrots and corn. Peter treats us to the meal.

He needs to get back to his classes. It is a 1:00 class but he says that Swedish classes all start 15 minutes later in reality. Karli has mentioned this too. We take in the scene of this dining area. It is really, really big with different levels. We are on an upper level. Amazing. Great food too!

We go back and finish all the postcards. We pick up Karli and mail all of them. We go to the Tobac Shop. This is something we have learned. Tobac means you can buy lottery tickets and other gambling things, buy bottles of soda and small snacks and pay for your bills. Karli pays for her rent here too. I think you can do other things here with payments too. It looks real unofficial, with all the gambling things and the soda machines but holds an important job!

We decide to take off to Norrköping which is 40 minutes away, we think. There are LiU classes here too. It also is a fairly large city. The Göta Canal goes through it. Too bad it is dark or we could see more of the canal.

We finally see the shopping center after driving around the city. The shopping center is actually made up of 4 different buildings all inter-connected by sky bridges or lower walkways. All major stores are here and many littler shops too. We go to a shop called the New Yorker while Arvid is parking. Karli tries on a coat and she likes it! Ooooops, it has a button missing. Wait, they give extra buttons. We buy it after getting a slight discount. Hoooray!

We go to eat at this cute Asian place. We are all happy with our meal. When Chinese food is served here, the noodles all taste like spaghetti noodles. One other unique thing about shopping in Sweden, There are always many flower shops. People buy flowers a lot. We bring flowers when we are invited anywhere. But the flower shops are always busy. Even in the winter, there are many rolling shelves outside a shop for people to buy.

Back to Linköping. In the dark. Of course.