Is that English we hear?

So after 2 weeks, it has become more than obvious to us that we need to learn Swedish.  Sure, Google Translate on our cell phones is extremely helpful in a grocery store or when we are out and about, but it would be nice to understand what the people around us are saying.

We have known many international students who always seemed to find other students linguistically similar to themselves in the university settings, and never really understood (until now) how they could find another person who speaks their language in a crowded room.  Now, we find ourselves straining to hear others speaking English and get super excited when we can make sense of what someone is saying.  While we don't feel isolated or alone because we don't know the language, we feel like we're missing a large part of what is going on around us because we can't understand or participate in conversations.

We're also very appreciative to engage in conversation with a well-spoken, English-speaking Swede.  The Swedes we have interacted with at stores or various venues have been very polite and switched to English when we stare blankly at them after they say something to us in Swedish, but several of them have also asked if we're planning on learning Swedish, to which we reply, "Yes, but we've only been here 2 weeks." 

We are going to start language courses as soon as we can.  The city of Uppsala offers a free course to immigrants who are going to be here over 6 months, so we will be signing up for the introductory course within the next few weeks.  We have also located a more advanced series of Swedish courses that we will continue with after the introductory course.