It has been a month since I last wrote a blog entry and I would like to say there have been lots of exciting and fun things happening, however this is not entirely the case. I shall start by updating you on my ankle.
As you know I fell down the stairs a month ago and badly strained my ankle. I can now tell you that all the bruising has finally disappeared after it continued to spread up my leg and down to my toes. The swelling has reduced in size but has not completely gone, which is quite worrying but normal with this sort of injury. It is believed that with the severity of the fall that I have torn the ligaments around the ankle which does fit in with the bruising pattern also. I am still on the one crutch now which means my drinking hand is free. I have found some stretches to do now and again to try and get my ankle its full movement back as it is still restricted. I can’t wait for the full movement to come back as I am actually missing the gym and badminton.
On the academic side of things, I have finished my lectures for the year. The final few were interesting in Marketing however mind numbingly dull in developmental economics, partly because of the topic areas covered and partly because of the lecturers, for some reason to be a lecturer you need to have a monotonous voice and just be really dull with the lecture. On an academic note because my grades here can not be transferred back to my home institution I have found it hard to motivate any work outside of lectures except for group work, I don’t want other people to get a bad grade because of me so I don’t slack on that side of things.
Delta Hus
I have found this half of the semester to be more social, whether it is me opening up a bit more (which is quite likely as I do have time periods where I just want to be alone) or just more social activity going on within the flats. We have gotten into the habit of having Italian coffee in the mornings on second floor and then we will get on with our days routines, then meet up later on for coffee/ a meal. A few weeks ago we went for a BBQ along the lake’s beach, which was really nice. The weather has been good to us recently with the sun being out most days and the temperatures now being between 6 & 18C. Last weekend we played the Eurovision drinking game which co insides with the Euro’ Song Contest. This was a good laugh with people from all over Europe supporting their countries and with Italy’s first contest in over a decade it was nice that the Italians could join in, although I did lose a bet saying the UK would do better than Italy, how wrong I was.
Farewells
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It is getting to that time of the semester where people are starting to go back home. Last Wednesday we had our Goodbye Dinner which was a red carpet theme (though not sure how many red carpet events are buffets!) Food & drink wise was the same as the Goodbye Dinner back in December. Peoples departures are scattered all over, some going early and others going in June. I’ve decided to stay in Jönköping until my lease runs out on the 18th June, then I shall go to Göteborg for 2 nights to catch the next available cheap flight. I was lucky enough to get a direct flight to Manchester for £60, all other flights were via Copenhagen, though I have not visited Denmark like I planned I don’t fancy spending 4 hours or so in the airport. As the weeks become fewer and fewer I am starting to think about my return to Newcastle. I know I will be incredibly saddened to leave here, even more so than at Christmas when a lot of good friends had left, (I still walk past Match House and think of the fun I had their with the gang from first semester it has to be said) I’ve picked up a bit of Swedish almost subconsciously I suppose as I haven’t taken a class since November and had I been staying for a full degree I’m sure I would be semi fluent by the time I graduated. Would I have liked to do a full degree here? Maybe, it is a nice city and a nice university however it is a bit quiet for me and I disliked the first university I went to in London for that exact reason, things start to become mundane in the long run, you go to the same clubs each week, the same coffee house etc, there isn’t the variety that a big city like Newcastle offers, however I have loved the weather (even though as I write this it is raining) The deep snow in winter and now the sun is out a lot more. On this note the days are getting longer, I remember in the winter I would wake up at 10 and by 2.30 It would be dark, now the sun rises at something like 4.30am and on Friday night I noticed it still wasn’t dark at 10Pm and according to the locals we still haven’t reached the lighting climax (can’t think how to say this)
I have been asked for permission for my blog to be used by Northumbria University as a guide for potential students and have been told that 3 students will be coming here next semester (I’m not sure if it’s for the full year or half a year) but I promise you will enjoy it. The welcome teams have already been created and the kick of week has been in the planning process since January. I loved the kick of week here, it is so different to welcome week back home. I don’t think I did any of the University activities during the week but went off with my flatmates etc, here you have constant involvement with the university and you will meet people and make friends for your whole time here. I still see my fadders and stop and talk to them and other members of my kick off team. I would love to see this at Northumbria but I suppose that due to the University here being small and in a small city in comparison to Newcastle it’s a lot easier to organize.
Trips:
I was bitterly disappointed when my trip to go to the Fjords in Norway was canceled. I was offered the chance to move onto the second trip however I had an assessed presentation to do during that time. (In hindsight with the crutches, glacier climbing wouldn’t have been the best idea.) Due to the injury I also had to miss out on a few invites to Germany for a beer festival in a friend from last semesters home town and an invite to Amsterdam for Queens day, bitterly upset but I hope to be able to come out and see you soonish. I imagine that if I don’t get a job after graduation I could take half a gap year and tour round visiting all the people I have invites from taking me from Canada to Australia. That would be pretty cool. However I do hope for a job lol.
Marknadshelg i City:
This coming weekend there is an event happening in the city, and having looked at the website it is a big market with musical performances including Charlotte Perelli who I mentioned in one of my first blogs, a famous singer and a Judge on Sweden’s got talent (or Talang as it’s called out here) which by the way a student from JIBS has entered and is in the semi-finals.
Well I think you are all up to date now, so I shall blog you all soon
Vi ses
