Well it’s been a while and sadly no more travels to report on. The money is running out for this semester so I shall spend the rest of the time in Jönköping. Sucks I know but I look forward to the budget airline January sales. I still want to get to Iceland at some point but the prices are quite high atm.
Start off with the bad news. I didn’t make it back in time for the trip to Kiruna in North Sweden, which is where the Ice hotel is and is spot for the Northern Lights, however I have been told it is better to go in January/Feb time as that is when the Northern Lights are more commonly seen (plus the ice hotel hasn’t been constructed yet!) I’m not paying £500 for that lol. Anyway people have been organising their own trips up there, flying instead of the 24hr train ride up north! So I shall hear back from them when they return and take on advice from them.
Yes Christmas season is finally upon us here in Sweden. I loved the fact they didn’t do the British thing of stocking Christmas stock until after Halloween. The city streets have their lights up and the City’s Christmas tree has also been put up. The university also has one on campus.
As I write this we are on day 7 of snowfall, not continuous though but it snows at least once a day, if not all day. I absolutely love the weather atm. I’m glad I managed to find some snow boots in my size otherwise my trainers would be ruined. We constantly have snow plows out and about clearing the roads and sometimes pavements, this does lead to some places being covered with more snow than others. I have had snow to the top of my boots! Yes the temperature has been falling. 2 weeks ago the temperature didn’t rise above 5C and got as low as -3C Now however it is constantly in the negative numbers I’ve seen a high of -1C to a low of -11C. Now when the wind isn’t blowing this is fine however the wind chill burns the face.
Cultural Days:
Now I haven’t mentioned these before so I shall fill you in. Every Wednesday a group of international students make some food, posters, facts and powerpoint presentations representing their home Nation. We’ve had Iran day, Russia Day, Canada day and this week it was the turn of the Australians. (I know ironic Australia and culture! Joke) So I went along found out I still don’t like Vegimite, question a few of their Aussie slang words (because I’m pretty sure some they had in the list are British) but never mind. Then of course was the most un Australian thing, Aussie football in the snow!
Space Jam Reunion:
This was a really good night I co-organised. If you remember we were split into groups in kick off week and our groups theme was space jam. So the majority of the group was reunited for a big night out with drinking games and banter. It was really good to see everyone again especially the Swedes, as we only see them briefly in between lectures. It is probably the last time we will all be together as exchanges are coming to an end and the senior Swedish students are about to start their exchanges.
JIBS Student Association (JSA) Elections:
It was the time of the year to vote for a new board of JSA. As stated in a previous blog I got a seat on the election committee (EC). So this last week I have been busy with this. The ECs role was to go through the applications from the candidates, interview them and then make the recommendations at the conference. Some recommendation decisions were straight forward, others not so straight forward. We only refused to nominate on one position due to the belief that the only candidate standing was not suited to the role. Luckily however a challenger put themselves forward at the meeting, and so the position was filled. No one had applied for Vice President of the board and I had considered it however on advice I did not stand due to the role needing a knowledge/ability of reading Swedish law. That position was also filled at the meeting, by a chap who was born in Plymouth but his family relocated to Sweden when he was 6. The EC had a 75% success rate in getting our nominated candidates elected. A lot higher than previous years I am told (particularly last year where no candidates nominated by the EC were approved)
This coming week:
Well the main event of this week is the goodbye dinner. This will be a gathering of exchange students for a meal before heading on to Aka. I imagine it will be quite a moving night as we come to terms with the fact that we only have weeks rather than months left together. I know of a few exchange students who are staying on for the 2nd semester, Jake in particular who I have gotten to know really well and then of course the Programme students who have to stay here, so I won’t be totally alone, however it is annoying that we have to go through the whole process again of meeting people. It will feel like the family is being broken up.
Swedish re-sit:
Well as this is the only exam that poses any value this year I am determined to pass it. I have been working on the grammar, trying to read the newspapers and of course this gives me an excuse to listen to the Swedish music of Carola.
Broken phone:
I am absolutely furious at that street entertainer. Let me fill you in. Walking through Stockholm we passed a statue street entertainer, and as I was walking past him I was texting someone back, he then chooses this point to move and he makes me jump, my phone goes flying out of my hand and lands in a puddle! It worked for 2 mins and then died. I sent it off to be fixed and there is nothing they can do but they were going to charge me £47 to have the broken phone returned. So I just decided to get another cheap phone, luckily I found one for £20 as the phone i had originaly had gone up to £70. Not a happy bunny bout that.
Well I do believe you are now up to date, I shall write next after goodbye dinner I imagine
Cheerio
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