Regierungswechsel

Schwedens neuer Staatsminister heißt Fredrik Reinfeldt. Obwohl die Sozialdemokraten weiterhin die stärkste Partei im Riksdag bleiben, wird Göran Persson als Staatsminister vom Moderaten Reinfeldt abgelöst. Dieser ist Chef der bürgerlichen Allianz, die nun mit 48,1 Prozent die stärkste Fraktion im Parlament sind.

Weitere Infos auf Deutsch gibt es bei tagesschau.de.

En jobbig tid

Hej ni alla i hela världen! Is everyone feeling fine? This week was the first fulltime week for me because all of my classes have started now. The next few weeks seem to become a very busy time (en jobbig tid - på svenska). My courses are very interesting but quite a lot of work especially if I have to read in Swedish. It takes such a lot of time...

However, I should not complain. The Swedish students in my courses are very kind and patient, and they help me a lot (also to learn Swedish :-). After signing my final learning agreement yesterday I had some time to sit in the park on Djurgården which is one of the fabulous islands of Stockholm. I had a fine time enjoying some icecream (what a luxury!) and preparing for my class today.

Tonight there will be the first big Solna party but I don't know yet whether I will join in. I have a nice guest :-), and maybe we will rather discover the nightlife of Stockholm. Apropos nightlife: there are so many free concerts here. Last weekend for example I saw Mando Diao at a radio festival at Kungsträdgården. That's fine: "there's no such a thing as a free lunch" but culture is what you get for free (e.g. entrance is free in most of the museums).

And: the Swedish keyboard sucks!

Wahlinformationen auf Englisch!?

Nur ne ganz kurze Beobachtung heute abend (und ausnahmsweise auf Deutsch). In Schweden sind am 17. September Riksdagswahlen. Und jetzt gerade läuft im Fernsehen eine Wahlsendung auf Englisch mit Untertiteln in verschiedenen Sprachen. Wie der Sprecher sagte, ist dies das erste Mal, dass eine solche Sendung im schwedischen Fernsehen angeboten wird. Ich finde das total klasse und interessant. In den Zeitungen wurde schon vor zwei Wochen in verschiedenen Sprachen erklärt, wer wählen kann und wie das funktioniert. Ausländer mit Hauptwohnsitz in Schweden dürfen übrigens auch wählen.

Fishing for credit points

I'm going to continue writing in English now and I hope everyone can deal with that. My last post is almost two weeks old now. Of course, some things have changed and new ones happened. First worse experience in Swedish was the placement test because it reminded me of how bad my Swedish still is. However, today I got to know that I am on niveau 2 which is actually quite good after half a year. Last week I got to know Thomas Elsaesser. I am reading his master course "European Cinema" and I like to listen to him. His popularity is obviously qualified (I hope I won't have to change my mind). I also got to know John Fullerton, Jan Olsson, Lynn Spigel, and Jeffrey Sconce - just for those who have eventually heard of them. The conditions at the Filmhuset are really great - not just the (quite well known) professors but also the cinemas and the library which are situated in the same building. The social anthropologists are also going to welcome me in their "Media and the World" course. That's really kind because my Swedish is definitely too bad. It's mostly a pleasure to study here! Apart from my studies, I still have time to discover the beautiful surroundings of Stockholm. On friday, we went to Vaxholm. This small town outside of Stockholm is the starting point for boat trips to the archipelago ("Skärgården" på svenska). We decided just to go back to Stockholm by boat because the weather was becoming worse (rainstorm). However, I really like the water and I'll surely have some more boattrips during my stay here. Hope to hear from you soon!