Totally free with all of my classes. I now have one month of free time in Sweden and I plan to make the most of it. Plans include exploring Uppsala a bit more (I've been here almost a year and there are still important places I haven't seen), Stockholm, Göteborg, and Visby. Visby is this old walled city on an island off of Sweden that hosts this SCA/Ren Faire thing in late summer. I won't be there to see it but I have a feeling it's a lot more authentic than the Tucson ones. And in less than a month I'll be back in the excruciating Tucson sun. Where does the time go?
Last Saturday was the Spring Ball in Uppsala. Every nation had their own ball so there were plenty to choose from. We chose to go to Östgöta Nation instead of V-Dala cuz, well, this is the only ball I'm probably going to go to in Uppsala so we picked the nicest building (and not V-Dala, arguably the ugliest). It started out quite similar to a normal gasque except that the food was good and it arrived promptly, whether this is because it's a ball and not a gasque or because it's Östgöta and not V-Dala I could not say. It was fun seeing how another nation had formal dinners, complete with different songs. After the dinner tables were moved out the main hall became the ballroom. There was a live band playing waltzes and foxtrots for hours. Feifei and I had taken a couple of crash courses in dancing before the ball so we managed to hold our own. After Östgöta calmed down in the wee hours of the morning we made our way to V-Dala to say hi to our friends there. There's definitely a magic to Uppsala: 2AM and the sky is already brightening, the streets filled with young ladies and gentlemen dressed their finest, gazing up at the majestic Domkyrkan while funky dance music blares from the nearby Värmlands Nation. V-Dala didn't have a live band but the dancing went on until 4AM.
The Spring Ball was equated by some to the prom. Even though it's quite different in many ways, it also serves the same function. And in that regard it vastly surpasses prom.
My only gripe is the formal attire required for the occasion. It's a white tie event, which is more formal than a tuxedo. Even though a tuxedo looks fifty times better than tails. I now know that the fictional profanity "frack" on Battlestar Galactica is actually a reference to the difficulty of putting on, the discomfort of wearing and the silly appearance of the formal suit of the same name.

And I find most of these to be quite true. Mormons in Sweden, there's an exercise in futility.

Also, new month, new Flickr pics.