Adapt(ing)

Gustav has arrived! I felt extremely proud renting a car and picking him up at the airport all by my self (automatic driving is confusing; I tend to try and use the gear which means "parking" and "reversing" in the middle of the highway). I felt less proud when we were driving back and I took the wrong exit two times, resulting in getting us BACK to the airport.

We eventually got to Baltimore and today I brought Gustav for show-and-tell in school.

And I got a present which will make adapting to life in the States so much easier. Tack älgsk.

A US adapter for my Macbook (left)! Now I can finally stop bringing my "universal" charger (a.k.a. universal lethal weapon) everywhere.

Yes, I am alive...

... although most of the time I feel like sleepwalking. Today one of my classmates said "Hey, Anna - today you look less stressed - almost relaxed". Should I take that as a compliment?

The last few weeks have been busy. At least the theme for my blog  - survival - lives up expectations.

A small selection of events:

Apartment hunt - check. I finally found my home and by this time have enough material to write at least 4 thick books (thrillers) about househunting in Baltimore. Only problem now is that I have more or less NO furniture. Since I got desperate for a place to stay I ended up renting a "bit" more expensive apartment than planned on. So now I'm trying to be thrifty and buy stuff out of craigslist (svenska; typ blocket) and after much consideration ended up purchasing my very first item.

A bed? No
A sofa? No
A... chair? No

A knifeset. (Before you freak out (mamma), it's for cooking. Still don't know if it is a good or a bad sign though)

My new crib - before the knifset. Now it's so much more crowded.

Thanks to my classmate Andrew, a.k.a the excel genious of all times, I also have a futon that I sleep, eat and study on while observing my knifeset. After all the time I spent househunting, now that I finally found a place I have no time for filling it up (this is where Gustav comes into the picture - that is, if he ever gets here...?).



Academic culture chock - check
Currently taking five parallell classes, study work is piling up. This week we have mid terms so quizzes, essays and lab write ups circle before my eyes. I'm learning everything from the avarage lead lead level in an american persons' blood to fancy acronymes (IPAT, PAR, RR, ADMES, ETC...), gun prevention and calculation of standardized age-adjusted mortality rates. Although I am stunned by the workload, the MPH program rocks.


Swedish --> English - check
I am starting to think, dream and talk to myself in English and forgetting the Swedish words. NOT a good sign. If this goes on, I will never be able to go back to Hivprevention i Västra Götaland since my colleagues made a bet this would happen (just to clarify though; the English vocabulary used in some of the classes here freaks me out. I d.o. n.o.t. g.e.t. i.t.)

1st baseball game ever - check
 

Do I need to say more? Apparently, I got to witness a rariety: Baltimore Orioles winning.

The MPH 2012 cohort taking up about half of the stand

Many new friends and birthdays - check
This might sound like a cliché, but the best thing about the program is really the people I meet every day. Everyone is like cooler, smarter and friendlier than the other. And since we have 268 people in the program, the probability of someone having a birthday more or less every day is quite high. At least according to the MPH Facbook group. So, I'm gonna finish this post with a big HURRAA for one of the 267 - Alex, who is now an old man.

An awesome 1,8 % of the class enjoying a night outside of campus.

Independence day vs frog dance

Today I am going to celebrate my very first 4th of July. Independence Day. I can't help it but think of aliens due to the 90's movie starring Will Smith & co (I think I saw it at least 17 times when I was 14). But so far, not a single alien in sight - just tons and tons of food, drinks and American flags.

On Friday it was Canada Day. We have a few Canadians and a few (about 150 or so) more Americans. I feel a patriot war going on.

Drawing made by Canadians and Americans in class, showing the simularities between their states. Somewhere inbetween Texas and British Colombia it got out of hand. (Oh, and the small triangle down in the left corner is Equador)

The American patriotism really fascinates me. Where else in the world is it possible to find people more frankly conviced that their country is actually THE greatest in the world? I guess the independence factor has something to do with it.

In Sweden it is almost a sin to celebrate our nation (unless it comes to sports and midsommar) in the open. But then again, we have no "real" reason to celebrate independence. We have a Sweden Day on June 6th, but no one seem to know why. Apparently it has something to do with the ancient king Gustav Vasa's coronation and a new governmental reform a few hundered years later.

The guy we "celebrate" on Sweden Day.

So, I guess it makes sense that Swedes don't jump up and down of exitement on June 6th. But hey, we have midsommar! Then at least we get to jump like frogs.

Rockstar professors

Everywhere you go at Hopkins, large paintings depicting former and current professors dress the walls. While it kind of reminds me of Harry Potter (waiting for the motives to move around witihin the frames) it's also a reminder of the H.U.G.E status that professors can achive in academica. And the amazing work that's been carried out.

On of our upcoming guest lectures is D.A Henderson (the guy that eradicated smallpox, inspiring the elimination of other diseases - yes, very very cool). We have been encouraged to buy his book and then stand in line to have him sign it. The queuing is quite a frequent phenomena after a lecture when 268 people (small, comfortable class size) try to either get out of the hall or get a few minutes with the professor - like a crowd approaching rockstars who just performed a concert. Most of the lectures are amazing so in a way, it makes sense.

D. A. Henderson back in the days, busy eliminating one of the largest public health issues in history.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine/issues/spring08/articles/spring08pg14-15.html

The other day we had a professor who made two statements:
1) He has no visual memory and therefore cannot remember or associate faces with people
2) He doesn't understand "accents" = no one unless they speak perfectly clear US English.

So, if I go up to him the chance that he's gonna understand what I'm saying is about 6,7845 %.  And even if he does, he won't reconize whom he just spoke to.

There are countless challenges with gradstudies.