Read Casey’s Blog from Sweden

This is exciting! You should be excited! But seriously, how cool is it to be going to Sweden? So far I’ve traveled cross country in a van over an entire month going through nearly 40 states. I’ve been to Canada multiple times, Mexico twice and to top it off, Australia. But Sweden? I’ve always wanted to go to Sweden, and now it’s a reality. I love traveling because, having lived in a small town on an island up to this point in my life, I’m excited to see the big world for what it is. To me, familiarity is overrated. I get great joy out of going into a new environment and learning my way around. I’m also very fond of learning new languages and this will be a great opportunity to do so.

My Favorites:

Activites: DJing, Circuit Bending, Swimming, Hiking, DIY Tech Projects, Recycle Fabrication, Swimming, DDR, Hiking, Rock climbing, Dodgeball, Rollerblading, Luge

Interests: Electronics, Neuroscience, Theatre, Chemistry, Human/Data Interaction, Environmentalism, Life, Physics, Ergonomics, Humans

Music: Boards of Canada, Ballamy, Iain, Aphex Twin, Royksopp, Moby, Thievery Corporation, Sasha, Zero 7, Massive Attack, Portishead, Air, Coldplay, Beck, Goldfrapp, Daft Punk, Lamb, Jack Johnson, CocoRosie, Gorillaz, Shpongle, Telepopmusik, Kid Koala, Bjork, Emiliana Torrini, Eiffel 65, Feist, Kings of Convenience, Morcheeba, Cirque du Soleil, The Faint, Stereophonics, Fatboy Slim, Manu Chao, Architecture in Helsinki, Infected Mushroom, Deep Forest, Muse, Marilyn Manson, Smoke City, Ladytron, Paul Oakenfold, Mindless Self Indulgence, Mark Isham, Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton, Modest Mouse, Squarepusher, Black Eyed Peas, Snow Patrol, Benny Benassi, Jamiroquai

TV Shows: Family Guy, Robot Chicken, American Dad, South Park, Invader Zim, The Simpsons, How It’s Made, Planet Earth, Unwrapped, International Music Feed, Current.tv

Favorite Movies: 11:14.,300, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Amelie, American Beauty, An Inconvenient Truth, But I’m a Cheerleader, Chumscrubber, Crash, Death Proof, Dr. Strangelove, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Freaks, Hard Candy, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, I Heart Huckabees, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Into The Wild, Iron Man, Juno, King Kong, Kontroll, Kung Fu Hustle, The Last Mimsy, Mean Creek, Meet The Robinsons, Memento, Mirrormask, Napolean Dynamite, Pi, Planet Terror, Primer, Princess Mononoke, The Producers, Ratatouille, RENT, Saw I, II, III & IV, Shortbus, Silent Hill, The Simpsons Movie, Spirited Away, Stay, Thumbsucker, Transamerica, Velvet Goldmine, V for Vendetta, White Noise

Books: MAKE Magazine, Ishmael, Into the Wild, The Artemis Fowl Series,
The Darwin Awards Series, The Dragon’s Blood Series, Science-fiction, Non-fiction
Political Humour, Theoretical Science, Philosophy

Quotes: “It’s not WHAT you have, But what you DO with what you have that matters.” ~Daniel Reteng

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those you mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” ~Dr. Seuss

Questions from the field:

Why did you pick your host country? Simple. They are one of, if not, the most forward thinking country in the world. They are very socially progressive and intelligent.

What made you want to study abroad? I’ve found that I learn best in an environment that I’m not used to, it almost kick starts my thinking process. Not to mention it drives me to learn more, because being in an environment where I don’t know the culture or the language forces me to absorb as much as I can. It’s very intellectually stimulating and satisfying. But of course, it goes without saying that I’m interested in learning something new. What that new thing is, I certainly can’t say, but anything unknown is worth knowing.

What will you miss most while you are abroad? Friends and family. I try not to dwell on the unchangeable, so everything else I think I’ll be fine without. Unfortunately, emotions don’t work well with logic, so that rule doesn’t apply very well to emotional connections to the loved ones in my life.

What are your personal goals for your time abroad? My biggest overall goal is to learn as much as I possibly can while studying abroad, in any area. Specifically I hope to become fluent in Swedish