Sunday, February 20, 2011

Emily Ross, Swedish Translator

So apparently I'm actually okay at Swedish. We were on our way by car to Gothenburg for a day trip and I could translate at the gas station. Cool right? I thought so. Something that is not cool? How I went on a bike ride for a few hours this afternoon, have been home for about and hour and am still freezing. But hey, I was the one who chose to come to Sweden. At least it was sunny.

This week was pretty low key as I'm going to Berlin on Thursday. I wanted to get ahead with homework so that was super fun. I drew my first portraits in class this week, maybe I'll post some photos of those. No self-portraits yet though...those will come! I had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off this week and most of that was spent doing homework, exercise and being a decent human being. On Thursday, I went for my first fika (Swedish for having coffee). Sarah and I went to Solde, a kaffebar. It was pretty good coffee, nice and simple like Cafe Fantastico at home. One small difference. As we were sitting inside sipping our lattes, we noticed a strange and slightly disturbing trend pertaining to Swedish mothers. This just proves how safe Sweden is. Every time a mom would come in to grab a coffee or loaf of bread, she would just leave her stroller outside. With the baby inside. INSIDE. OUTSIDE. Baby alone outside in stroller. Negative 5 degrees. Madness. And this didn't hapen just once, but like three times. Only in Sweden I tell you. Then we had a delightful Swedish class. I don't even know how I can sum up these classes for you. We are so ridiculous and usually end up making someone cry or spit out their drink. Yep. Still a class clown in Sweden.

Friday was highlighted by my locking my phone and keys in my room. I guess I was really tired. Luckily, Ingrid and I had to draw several portraits so that kept me busy while I located a master key. After said portraiture fest, we went to Willys, the grocey shop, and I finally fulfilled my wish of going down every aisle. It is so big. So this was quite the feat. I got some delicious foods including a Billy's Pan Pizza. Like in Steig Larsson's novels. I felt very Swedish. Speaking of very Swedish, I don't know how many times I say this, but the Swedes eat a lot of crap food (re: Billy's Pan Pizza's and cola) and are so skinny. I just don't understand. In fact, I saw the first actually fat person today and he was like 6. It wasn't even his choice to be fat. His mom better get him to lay off pizza and semlor. Friday night consisted of one of the weirdest parties I've ever been to. First it started with people sharing a 5L of 59% rum. Then taking shots of said rum straight from the box. That's right. Rum. In. A. Box. Then people were on other people's shoulders. Then people were lighting shots on fire in their mouths. Then a slip and slide was made in a hallway. Then someone had to get five stitches. I guess that characterizes a good party. Thanks boys from Mont Pellier.

Saturday morning came mighty quick as I had to get up at 6am to road trip to Gothenburg. Five of us piled into a car and made the 3 hours trek to the second largest city in Sweden. We roamed around for the day. Saw some sights and the sun (yay!). We also got cinnamon buns bigger then my head and that's saying something as my head is quite large. Then for the main event, we went and saw a hockey game. It's the best league in Sweden but is probably below the skill level of the Juniors. I scoffed when a Dutch guy asked if the league was better than the NHL. Said scoffing continued when I spotted a gentleman, wait I take that back, a jerk, wearing a Maple Leafs jersey. In Sweden. Maple Leafs. I wanted to go slap him. Anyways, I proudly explained the sport to all those less informed around me and felt very Canadian. One perk of the game you may ask? There was fire. Fire shows. Like rockets went off when the home team scored. Amazing. We then got some Max Burger, the slowest Swedish fast food and headed back home to the musical delights of Pop FM, playing the pop hits of years past. Amazing again.

Today I went on a little bike tour to Rosengard - the ghetto of Malmo. And let me tell you, this place makes Burnaby look like a dump. It is hardly a ghetto. There is nice student housing, parks, outdoor sports fields, public arts, murals. You name it, Rosengard has it (except for bullet proof vets). It just gets a bad rap because it's where a lot of immigrants live. There's this cool thing they have though where there are apartments above shops and in order to live in these apartments you have to own one of the shops. Full meal deal if you ask me. We then went to the city so I could take pictures of the cat sculptures on the water, meow, and had some more fika. Yum I love 5 dollar coffee. Now I am home again, bullet wound free and looking forward to a crash course in German tonight. Berlin comes next week and Katie and Rob come to visit the week following. I am a busy girl!

Facts of the week:
1. The bad parts of Sweden are about as bad as upper middle class areas in Canada. Love Socialism.
2. Bakeries in Sweden are amazing. Everything looks so delicious and I swear these cakes could make someone...who hates cake...love cake. That analogy sucked.
3. There is a Swedish version of Skor bars called 'daim'. It is just as delicious if you were wondering.
Be jealous. I'm going to eat so much pierogi.
4. Sports teams all around the world are called the Indians. We went and saw the Forlunda Indians play hockey. Funny part, most people don't have any idea what a First Nations person is. Ha.
5. MEOOOW.

xx

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Camilla inte bor i Celsiusgarden!

It's that time again...blog time!

It's now Sunday night in old Sweden land and I am just about to go whip up some dinner. This past week hasn't been terribly exciting (no weekend trips to London or the like), but hey, I'm in Sweden so that's pretty exciting on it's own.

After returning from London, I had a lot of catch-up to do (like blog posts, homework, cleaning - the fun stuff). So after that was wrapped up on Monday and Tuesday, I had the rest of the week to dabble in some more homework and lounge about to nurse my cold.

Wednesday, Kat, Franz and I went for a bike ride to the sea. It was quite warm out and sunny which was so nice. We went just before sunset so we took some pretty nice pictures and had a photo shoot with our bike family. Every time we go on a bike ride, we discover a bit more of the city. I guess that's the benefit of living, rather than traveling, somewhere. There is still so much more I'd like to see but sometimes you get wrapped up in routine rather than exploring. On my list: Kallbadhus (a cold bath and sauna house, apparently where all the Swedish seniors hang out - score!), the Chocolate Museum & Cafe, various museums, the public library (a miss-mash of old and new architecture), and well there has to be some other things as well. Hopefully one day this week, I swindle someone to go on an exploration bike tour - weather permitting of course. Oh, Wednesday also included a cookie-baking-towel-fight-dance-party-to-fatboyslim. Yeah, be jealous.

Thursday brought the beginning of Swedish round 2. It's cool because now I can actually sort of speak/understand. Emphasis on "actually sort of". Hopefully by the end of it I will make an improvement on that string of modifiers. But hey, if all else fails, I can just claim I don't know as I'm not Swedish.

Another highlight of the week was all you can eat sushi and Chinese food buffet for 89 kr (about $13 CAD). You might be thinking "oh god sushi from a place other than the west coast?!" And if you were, you're right. The sushi was mediocre, but the rest was pretty delicious. Regular types of Chinese food, but as much as you'd like...including pop, tea, coffee, and dessert! Wow! Also the place was really classy looking. You'd think a Chinese food buffet would be kind of seedy. But nope, tranquil music, hostesses in traditional gown, fancy tiles and gold leaf. Really quite the experience. Following this, with many-a-bloated stomach, we went for a leisurely bike ride. In the hail. Joy. But at the end of this bike ride was a delightful second hand store. It's like Value Village, but more organized and way more hidden gems. Though Swedish people seem far more hipster, apparently they don't go for the vintage hipster look, because I have never seen so many un-bought vintage Adidas track jackets.

Friday night, me and a group of German girls and an American girl went to Lund (a small student town about 15 minutes by train away) to see a Swedish band, Movits! Here's a sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnaeImQ0TSg. It was a really interesting experience. Everyone. There. Was. Swedish. And Swedes are strange people to run into at a bar. They not only are shy but a titch passive aggressive. They are so hard to talk to so we created a bad ass dance circle until they Swedes switched from passive aggressive to regular-type aggressive. Think mosh pit with the most beautiful people on earth (I don't know how bad that sounds now...ha). Anyways, it was still really fun and the band was awesome even though I had no idea what they were saying until they said tack (thank-you). Oh, and I got to put my bum on so much Swedish. Please see this reference if that statement concerns you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NjThjinDDQ (fast forward to 1:06 if Tom Green isn't your cup of tea). All and all a successful trip!

Saturday consisted of a group dinner for a French girls birthday, homework, and an awkward themed party. Yes, I was just as mystified by this theme as you. But being the classy girls we are, we wore pretty dresses, heels, and mustaches. What's more awkward than a bearded lady? We listened to some stellar awkward tunes (including My Pony by Ginuwine, courtesy me) and it was the first time I've heard ABBA in Sweden. I don't know how it took so long. Anyways, today constituted another sleep-in day. I am beginning to like this trend. Katreace and I then went on a walk got some delicious Swedish pastries that are only available for 4 weeks (sweet bun, marzipan, and fresh cream, yum!) and then headed home.

Next weeks adventures: planning a trip to Budapest and Vienna, hockey game in Gothenberg, and whatever else Sweden throws my way.

Fun fun facts!

1. As mentioned before, Swedes are really passive aggressive. Some guy got a drink spilled on him in Lund and just yelled "TACK!" about 4 thousand times. Effective sir.
2. Swedish pastries are so so so delicious. Even 7-11 is like a gourmet bakery. Staffed by models.
3. The wind has died down, but the cold is so...cold. Yep, I said it. It warmed up for a bit but it is again freezing (well below freezing in fact).
4. I am a sushi snob. That is all.
5. I don't know any more fact this week...is there anything YOU'D like to know? (This is a test if I have any readers, you can leave a comment under a sneaky alias).

Meow. xx

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Danger: High Winds

So all else exciting aside (ex. London), riding my bike (now named Stina) today was TREACHEROUS. With a capital 'T'. I woke up this morning and of course, did not want to get out of my bed. I then peaked out of my blinds and noticed it was sunny. This cause me to spring to my feet and celebrate. No rain = waaaay greater options in terms of shoes. Nice. I got decked out in jeans and keds, spent several minutes debating whether my winter jacket was necessary (decided on no and wore leather, oops). Then set out to go to class.

The moment I stepped outside, I immediately regretted all of my fashion choices. It was windy. And not like Vancouver Island windy. Like WIN-dy. My eyes were instantly watering, my hair (which I wore down for the first time in ages) was all over the place, and I was an awkward combination of both sweaty and freezing. It took me about double the time to ride to school and I was actually fearing for my life. The wind was physically moving my bike in different directions. Once I finally made it to school, I came to the realization that my hair, yet again, would be put in a bun. I feel like a 90's revival. Where are the butterfly clips and hair mascara when you need them?

Annnyhow, now that I am home, safe and suffering only from minor windburn, I will update you on the past week.

So as a few of you know, I went to London. The days prior (ex. Monday and Tuesday) were just classes...so I will not go into detail. But Tuesday night after class I made my way to Copenhagen to catch my flight. After being fully patted down by a male security man (thanks Socialism) and walking to the end of the earth (EasyJet section in Terminal 2), I was on my way. I slept for most of the two hour flight and arrived in London Stanstead at 10:30pm. I then caught an EasyBus (big fan of all things easy) and thought I was going to get into a head-on collision as I forgot about the side of the road driving difference. Once in Central London, I was to meet my best friend from Victoria, Katie and her boyfriend Rob at Baker Street Station. My bus was early so I went inside to the ticket bays. After I had waited about 15 minutes after we were supposed to meet, I started frantically texting and calling both Katie and Rob. To no avail, I started to freak out. I walked back and forth from the Tube to the bus drop-off and could not find them anywhere. As the last tube was leaving soon, I went for one last trek and found them. Yessss. Reunited! We returned to Katie and Rob's place in Greenwich and retired for the night.

The next few days were great. They were spent doing the following:
-  Meandering through Greenwich and it's parks
- Wandering Central London - Trafalgar Square, China Town, Covent Garden, St. Paul's Church and Monument
- Consuming delicious cider that is considered not-so-delicious in London
- Going for some stonebaked Pizza
- Seeing Wicked (which was in fact, wicked)
- Meeting with an old friend, Daina for lunch
- Reading in the Park
- Eating cookies and cupcakes
- Watching buskers
- Walking along the Southbank of the Thames
- Exploring the Tate Modern
- Drinking 1 pound beers and eating Aussie meat pies at the Australian Embassy
- Attending various local pubs
- Shopping at Primark
- Checking out London's ghetto (aka Peckham)
- Perusing the 99p store
- Going out for drinks and dancing with the girl (7 pound drinks? I'll have 3)
- Running out on our tab for 3 pound juices as the bartender told us they were cider
- Enjoying the Museums of South Kensignton
- Eating and drinking in Greenwich

That generally sums up the jolly good time I had in London. It was so good to see Katie and Rob both living so cutely in London. London London London. They have some of the cutest little words (ex. proper, manky, cheeky) and the most delicious junk foods (ex. cheese twists, custard creams, majestics). I shall miss it. But will be going back soon as I think I will be flying home from the Queen's land. And well maybe I'll relive it's majesty during the Royal Wedding.

This week so far has been full of homework and class. Luckily, I don't have class until Monday now so I should be able to sleep in and enjoy Swedish life (though I still have a smidge of homework, as I'd rather do more now and get ahead and travel later). Speaking of travelling, I am planning trips to Uppsala, Budapest and Vienna, Stockholm, and Lappland. Oh and I'm planning for when Katie and Rob and my mom and aunt come visit. I guess I am a busy lady.

That being said, I have to change out of my ever-so fashionable sweats (not acceptable in Svenland) as I am going to an open mic night at a bar. No I am not singing. You're welcome world.

Facterinos:

1. Risifruitti is hereby known as the best food in the world. It is rice pudding packaged with fruit sauce. In the most Ikea-like container. I love you Sweden.
2. A lady at the airport asked me what time the train came in Swedish. I answered in Swedish. I guess that's how Swedish works.
3. This weekend there is an awkward theme party. Prepared to be blown away Sweden.
4. HOW COULD I FORGET?! Last week in drawing class, we had a live male model. He was nude. No clothes. Naked. Me and Ingrid giggled. For the whole three hours.
5. Swedish grocery stores still confuse me. Who wants to go on a full day excursion to Willy's? Awesome.
6. I think I am going to be blogging for Malmo Hogskola. Keep your eyes out for links, cause I know you think my writing is stellar.

Love love. xx.

Ps. Swedish lessons start again this week. Jaha!