Something hillarious...

The site called It's Learning (it's like WebCT) is down. I just google translated the message. This is what the last line said: "Technicians in Norway working on a solution." Thanks Sweden.

If you were Swedish, you would know.

Me again. This past week has been full of tons of things, so I'll try to sum it all up for you!

I had Monday and Wednesday off this week which was great as I was able to finally get some things done - like getting supplies for class, doing laundry, and cleaning my room top to bottom. I've finally really nested in my room which feels great and rather homey. Pictures to come soon, I promise. Oh, and the bring a dish party on Sunday was delicious. So many things to try and so many desserts! Yum.

This past week also marked the last of the Swedish classes. We had one lecture on Monday and our exam on Tuesday. The exam went pretty well as I got a VG (which means very good), the grading system is very strange here. Oh, another weird thing about the Swedish academic system...if you fail, you have three chances to redo work or an exam. My international coordinator told me that and I was like PARDON? I guess that's a titch of socialism for you. I will miss our Swedish class as our teacher was awesome and provided us with a pretty sweet introduction to not only the language, but also the city. She also was hilarious (like when we asked how we know which form of "one" we should use in a sentence and she just said "Well, if you were Swedish, you would know") and put up with my sass. I can extended my Swedish classes (10 more 2 hour lessons), but I'm not too sure yet. Thoughts?

I also had class this week. I had Image Making again (only for 2 hours!) on Thursday and my first class of Sketching and Drawing. It seems like its going to be very interesting - we already started to learn how to draw people that actually look like people. Exciting, I know. Once I produce some quality work, maybe I'll get up the courage to post it, but for now, my stick people will stay nice in protected in the safety of my sketchbooks. A great thing about classes, which I think I've already mentioned but will again, is that we meet Swedish people who are typically reserved and hard to get to know, although very friendly. The best is when someone Swedish tries to speak to you in Swedish in class...and then they realize you have no idea what's going on. It's the small things in life really. One can only hope that I will make outside of school Swedish friends who can show me around and teach me the ropes of true Swedish Viking-ness.

Some exciting things: my mom and aunt have booked their flights to come and visit me over Easter and my birthday. I really can't wait. I know my mom will just love it here. (Ps. I think you would too Dad, hint). Also, I am going to London on Tuesday to visit Katie, Rob, and Daina which I cannot wait for! We're going to see Wicked and be British. Pip. Friday, I went to Copenhagen with my friend Katharina to meet my friend from grade 8 Youth Combating Intolerance (YCI) club. It was a lot of fun as we met people from all over the world (including Estonia and Iceland) as well as some other people from Victoria. This simultaneously emphasized a weird big-world/small-world thought. We also explored the city (it's gorgeous, pictures of that also to come). I also bought the nicest boots in the entire world for $90 CDN. Amazing. I almost wore them to bed last night. Oh also, Copenhagen is kind of crazy expensive. I had a 6 dollar 12oz. latte. INSANITY I tell you. Oh and a small bottle of coke was about 4 dollars. Considering Danes appeared to be the happiest people on the planet, I don't know how they live like this. Ha.

Other activities this week included: watching handball (the world championship is on now in Malmo!), going for walks through the park (as there have been some nice sunny days, like today), cooking lots of food, drinking tea, biking, Australia day, and other bits and bobs.

Coming up next: planning a trip to Lappland - details to come. Homework until forever - drawing takes longer than you expected. Planning all the things for me to show people when they come visit! Exploring the city to find cute restaurants and cafes (apparently there's an all you can eat sushi place for about 11 dollars...we shall see how it compares to the delicious fish of the west coast.

Some tidbits from this week:

1. Swedish folk have the equivalent of "John Doe" or "Joe Schmoe" here. It's Sven Svensson. I almost died when I heard this.
2. My most commonly used Swedish besides "hej" and "tack" is "jag talar inte svenska" (I don't speak Swedish). This is generally helpful unless the mailman subsequently asks you "what language do you speak" in Swedish. I though saying I didn't speak any would be a good clue. BUT, you can basically say the same thing to a Danish person and they'll understand. Awesome.
3. The train ride from Malmo to Copenhagen is amazing when it's clear out. This rarely happens. We saw dozens of windmills in the sea at sunset. Amazing.
4. The people who work on the train (and collect tickets) here are the friendlies people of all time. I now know why Scandinavia is considered one of the happiest places on earth. I have never seen so many smiling people in my life - from 7-11 employees to strangers, it's pretty unreal.
5. People's party stamina here is unbelievable. I am not able to stay up until noon the next day. I am not a robot. I need sleep, food, and love.
6. Graffiti is legal here. It is every where. But same as in Vancouver, some is awesome and some just sucks.
7. More people still need to skype me.

Next time you hear from me I may have an accent. Be warned.

xx

Being locked in a room/ Sparkling wine

So it's noon on Sunday and I just woke up. I guess that's what happens when you are up until 3am and everyone around you is still sleeping. I could never sleep in like this at home...but maybe it's still the jetlag catching up with me.

This past week has been full of Swedish, sparkling wine, my first class, and biking. Monday and Tuesday were our last early morning Swedish classes as regular classes started on Wednesday. Swedish is going pretty well, but it's hard to pick up as people from different areas have different dialects almost - Malmo Swedish is much closer to Danish, weird. Our Swedish class is pretty awesome especially because our teacher is amazing. She has brough us candy and told us about good places to shop, eat, and drink. It's great to have a Malmo native on our side. Sadly, our class ends in two days, one of which is an exam.

Pauuuuseeeee I have been beckoned for coffee.

Alright, so we just cleaned up the after math of the party in our building last night. We have this creepy room in our basement that doubles as a party lair - complete with a bar and streamers taped up to spell "AY CARUMBA!". Needless to say, I bet you wish you partied there every second weekend.

Oh so I guess you want to hear about my classes. Well I have only had one so far. It's called "Image Making" and is focused on graphic design, digital photography, and website design. Basically, it is everything I love rolled into one. Also, it's really neat because there are only 4 exchange students in my 40 person class which means I get to meet real Swedes! In fact, me and Ingrid (from Guelph) ate lunch with some Swedish people!! None were named Sven, sadly. Basically the first class, we played pictionary with beautiful Swedes, did some drawing, and longed to be outside as Thursday was the first clear, blue day since I've been here. Anyways, I think this class will be pretty good, especially because by the end I will have an online portfolio (which may help me snag a job come July ;)).

(I can't believe I just did a winky face, ps.)

I start "Sketching and Drawing" on Tuesday, so that should be interesting as well. I will update you on lovely Swedish people and that class soon. The Swedish academic system is slightly strange, mostly in the fact that I have a class that runs for 6 weeks in the middle of the semester. It's called "Globalisation, Culture, and Identity." Just taking it to keep up my academic skills. The syllabus makes it look pretty interesting (and easy!) so that shall be grand.

This Friday I also had my first experience at the System Bolaget aka Swedish BC Liquor Store. All the alcohol is regulated here and can only be bought at this store (unless it's alcohol content is under 3.5%). Wine and beer are fairly cheap compared to Canada but liquor is just as expensive. One thing that was strange was the Veuve Cliquot was waaayyy less expensive. I guess this means I need to find some things to celebrate.

Yesterday, a group of us went for a bike ride to a market and then the sea. The market was pretty scary as there were people yelling at us in Swedish to buy food. But we did find a nice cheese and meat shop (you would love it mom!). Our time by the sea was short lived as it was freezing, so logically, we went shopping, where we could stay warm inside. I bought a nice knitted ear warmer which will be great for biking! Then we had dinner and a little party in our basement.

That brings me to today. We're having a bring a dish party tonight and trying some foods from different countries. What's typically Canadian you ask? I'm bringing cookies. So I've got to get to baking those as well as putting together a project and studying for my Swedish exam.

Some facts:

1. People it Europe find it appropriate to smoke inside. I do not. Ahhh well.
2. Swedish people have the equivalent of "your mom". Highly amusing.
3. Drinking 5 bottles of wine between 3 people is just as bad of an idea in Sweden as it is in Canada.
4. Not having Megabite sucks.
5. More people should skype me.
6. I'm going through "meow" withdrawl. People just don't recieve it in the same way here.
7. Oh and the title. The doors all have locks on the inside to get out. Like you can't just push the door. You have to turn the lock. Panic is induced the first time when you're trying to get out of your room and can't.

xx

Cycling Queen

Although I have to catch you all up on the past few days I have some breaking news: today I bought a bike! It's a red road bike and unlike a lot of bikes here in Sweden, it has hand brakes, which is a nice comfort. I never did like sports where you had to go back in order to stop (ex. roller blading, cruiser biking). So this is definitely a great addition to my Swedish life as everyone rides bikes here. Most sidewalks have a bike path to it so it's fairly easy to get around the city - and way way quicker than walking. Should be getting a basket and bell soon - how very European.

My jetlag is finally subsiding and it's been great to have the weekend to cathc up on a bit of sleep though both Friday and Saturday nights were late ones. Friday we went on a pub crawl and got to see some of the drinking establishments in the city. It wasn't crazy expensive (to a Canadian at least, whereas the Germans and Americans were up in arms about drink prices), I'd compare it to going out to like a nice lounge - that sort of pricing. The pubcrawl was pretty good but I was soo tired so went home at about 12:30am instead of the party animals that stayed out til 3 or so. Though, I am happy to say, that across the world, people eat McDonalds late at night. How very comforting. McDonalds here has donuts though! And a weird Mexican-ish menu.

Saturday we rode bikes into the city - kind of a scary experience for my first time riding a bike on the streets really. And of course, our activity of choice was shopping. Most stores are having sales (or reas) so that was nice - Zara and H&M are so much better here too. Also Nudie jeans are cheaper...just have to find my size! It was nice to be in the city on a weekend though, to see lots of Swedes puttering about and seeing what Swedish life is like a bit. We then went home and made some dins and headed to a party in another student accomodation. It was pretty fun to meet lots of people from all over the world and be comforted by the fact that even if people speak hardly any english, they know all the lyrics to all the poplular (and not so popular songs). Very funny.

And today, I went with Kat (from Germany) to get my bike. Now I'm soon off to go ice skating then a group dinner (savoury pancakes!).

Have more Swedish tomorrow as well as a tour of the city. Then off to my department to meet the international coordinator and figure out my schedule. Classes start Wednesday so that will be a whole new experience!

Some more facts:

1. The Swedes are actually pretty nice and polite. Unless 50 students barge into their intimate pub.
2. The liquor store closes at 2pm on Saturday. If that isn't blasphemous, I don't know what is.
3. People from all over the world have such different slang and terms. It can be a fun little game to figure out what one another are talking about. And of course, I had to educate everyone about the word "toque". Beanie is just a silly word.
4. I've really noted how things are all a matter of perspective. Maybe a beer costs 1 euro in France...so alcohol here is expensive. Not so amigos. Not so.

Ta.

xx

To the land of swedish berries!!

So I just decided to rekindle my old blog rather than create a new one...so here goes my 5 month adventure in Sweden/Svergie. This may be a long one.

I arrived two days ago and really meant to start blogging in Iceland, on a layover, but the layover was much shorter than expected as I had to go through passport control. I had enough time to snag a blow dryer with the right voltage and plug but not much more. My flights weren't bad as I manged to sleep for a lot of both of my long ones (Seattle to Iceland - 7 hours and Iceland to Copenhagen - 2.5 hours).

Once in Copenhagen, after collecting my bags and mistakenly telling a man I spoke Danish, I was off on the train to Malmo. This may seem like a simple task, but unfortunately, everything in Denmark is in Danish. Luckily, I found another Canadian girl and her mom that were heading to Lund, which is past Malmo. I rode the train with them (while they fed me delicious snacks) for about 20 minutes.

I arrived in Malmo Central Station weighed down with a large suitcase, a hiking backpack, a carry-on and was met by students called 'fadders'. These students are part of a club called Interact that help with exchange students. They brought me up from the train for my first glimpse of Malmo - very much at sea level with a mix of old building and industrial. Also very windy!

I then arrived at a building at the university that houses the library. It all looks verrryyy much like Ikea. Suspicious, I know. I signed my rental agreement, got heaps of information, my Swedish course book (scary), and a duvet and pillow. We then were driven to our accomodation...a cute little brick building that has been renovated. Pictures to come soon.

I started to upack, but decided to take a trip with Katreace (a girl from Aus) to the grocery store and to look for a pay phone. We went to a shop called Willy's which is quite big and apparently cheap which is good in Scandanavia. It was also probably the most overwhelming shopping experience ever. Not only was this store huge is also had about 400 types of milk a self-weigh and label produce system and a set-up like no other shop I've seen. Barring those factors, we got some essentials for breakfast and snacking and moved along. After our trip (where we discovered that half of the side walk is for cycling and half for walking) I unpacked my room and got settled. Katharina lent me some sheets kindly and I had my first sleep in Sweden.

My jet lag hasn't been terrible but I have woken up a few times a night. The next day a group of us walked to school in stead of paying 18 kr which is about 3 dollars. We got to explore the city and experience a bit of cold. We arrived a few moments late (which the Swedes don't generally appreciate) but got an introduction to the school. The rest of the day consisted of our first Swedish class (Jag heter Emily. Jag talar bara engelska och lite svenska), a dairy tasting (Sweden has a lot of types of cheese, milk and even yogurt milk - think YOP but common and without weird commercials) and a trip to IKEA! I had never been so excited. It also seemed to be cheaper and hotdogs were 5 kr which is less than a dollars Canadian. Yum.

Today we had our second Swedish lesson as well as an introduction to the computer systems at Malmo University (or Hogskola, in Swedish). There systems (computers, library cards, etc.) are similar to that at SFU except you also get a card to access all the buildings 24 hours a day. It's called a multi-card, but I like to call it a magic-card.

Our day ended with a trip to the mall, Entre, to buy a cell phone, which thankfully, I just figured out how to swtich to English and some more groceries, which was much easier this time. We then had a huge group meal with 12 people consisting of those from Australia, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and me, the lone Canadian. It was delicious and quite precious as how often is it that you eat with 12 people?! Very cute.

So far it's been great. I am buying a bike soon to fit in with the crowd and hopefully will not die as I'm not used to road bikes.

To sum up my first few days:

1. Swedish people are very stylish. Like I want to be them stylish. Hipster to the extreme-stylish.
2. Everyone stands in line-ups. They are better at queuing than we are. Most shops and even the school has a take-a-number system.
3. Cheese is way less expensive here. 1 kilo of swiss for 3 dollars? Yes please.
4. All swedes have a personal number which allows them to get gym memberships, wireless internet, etc. Us exchange students can't get them, sigh.
5. Aussie slang starts creeping into your vocabulary very easily. I now say heaps and shop (instead of store).

That is all for now.

xx