Well after weeks of saying goodbye to people it is mine turn to say farewell to the city of Jönköping.
I have had an amazing year out here. Looking back it has gone so fast, from my first night scared sh**less in the hostel in Huskvarna and then meeting Christian that night, to kick off week and then from then on. I will miss so much from Sweden, and weirdly I imagine a bit of a culture shock when I return home to the UK, for example, I am now used to cars driving on the right hand side of the road, for me it’s not look left, right, left again it’s the opposite, right, left and right again. It’s going to be weird seeing alcohol being sold in the supermarkets after a year of having to go to systembolaget. The culture shock will probably be at its worst in the winter when everyone starts complaining about the ‘snow’. Livingin Sweden you learn that there are different types of snow, none of which stop flights, roads, schools etc. I will miss the beautiful scenery in winter of the lake being frozen over with snow all over, it’s a beautiful winter wonderland. I even stayed in the gym longer because it has a view of the frozen lake whilst you are on the cross trainer or treadmill. Perferct. You would think the temperature would be something I would be happy to see the back off, well you would be wrong, I quite enjoyed walking to uni in the snow in -12C temperatures, it’s refreshing & so much better than sweating in the sun or getting wet in the rain. After a certain point your body doesn’t care how cold it is, it doesn’t recognise the variation in the temperatures, However I do have my Auntie to thank for leaning me (not borrowing me!!!!) her ski jacket from her days in the Alps. It was the best coat I have ever partially owned. (Not don’t assume winter coats will be cheap out here because it is Sweden, expect to pay around £150 for a basic winter coat, so get on ebay before you go). Another thing, I suppose you could say I have developed a coffee culture, thanks to the Swedish fika and the Italians. Before coming to Sweden I prob had one or 2 cups of coffee a day, that has probably trebled, however I will probably bring the number down when I get home, however coffee isn’t coffee unless it’s strong stuff. Of course I will miss all the friends I have had over this past year, no matter how long I knew you, the full year or a few months I thank you for making this experience absolutely incredible. I have developed a soft spot for a fair few of you (& I imagine you know who you are ;-) I hope to stay in touch with you in particular) I do look forward to visiting you all in your home nations, however It prob wont be for a while, sorry but I aint rich lol. If you haven’t already you should add me on Skype (Address on my facebook page) I have learnt so much from you all, and I shall cherish the moments we shared. Now this is starting to sound soppy.
Highlights of the year, start with kick off week, absolutely incredible , the students really did take over the city. A big heavy week, it is great that you are looked after by Swedish students, if this hadn’t happened I imagine it would have been harder to make so many Swedish friends. (Apparently Swedes will be friends for life )
Well I am now on the bus to Göteborg so my time in Sweden is not yet over, I have 2 nights here.
Sunday, 19 June 2011
HBQT & National Swedish Day.
Let’s start with HBQT, this is a LGBT festival in Göteborg, it ran from the 1st June to the 5th. The city just becomes a gay paradise, If you have ever seen the U.S version of Queer eye for the straight guy, where Liberty Avenue is just covered in rainbow flags, Göteborg becomes like that. The majority of flag poles fly the rainbow flag, (even one at a church which I thought was quite impressive) shop displays are in rainbow colours, In the centre of the city is a stage where lectures & performances are given. If I was fluent in Swedish I may have been able to enjoy it more, however I went on the Saturday thinking it would be the busiest day, but I suppose on a 5 day festival it’s all spread out. The entertainment is a little thin, the pride march was on the Sunday so I didn’t get to walk/see. It was nice to be in a city that embraces it all over rather than a square or a street. As written in an earlier blog Sweden ( & the other Nordic countries) are incredibly gay friendly. So we spent about 6 hours in the city which was nice, there was a street in the city that was rammed packed with people, it seemed to be a street music festival. It was incredibly crowded and with people sat on the street drinking, dancing I was reminded of a scene from Mexico city (which was featured in Andrew Marr’s programme “Megacities”) It wasn’t my scene, when I feel claustrophobic in the open air, I have to get out of there. I imagine it would be Simon Cowel’s nightmare listening to the music on the street. A majority of it was awful.
National Swedish Day
Well there isn’t that much to write about this day. I thought it would be a big deal like in Norway, but no. It is observed on 6th June. It was created in 1983 replacing “Swedish Flag Day” which was created in 1916 to celebrate the election of King Gustav Vasa, as he was considered the founder of modern Sweden. Only in 2005 was Swedish Day made an official public holiday. So Swede’s don’t really know how to celebrate it so they just treat it as an extra day of the weekend. However We in Delta went to the beach for a BBQ which was very nice it has to be said.
Friday, 17 June 2011
You know you’ve lived in Sweden when…
The first thing you do when walking into a bank/ post office/ chemist etc. is to look for the queue number machine
When a stranger on the street smiles at you, you assume:
o He is drunk
o He is in
o He’s an American
You have developed a big coffee culture within yourself, drinking 4+ cups a day
The sound “Jah/Ah” has become part of your ever day vocabulary
You find your native language has deteriorated somewhat and phrases like “Can you borrow me”, “Take a beer” etc.
You are now always on time and being late is now deemed unacceptable
You have given up on trying to find “fat free” food and so just pile on the butter & sugar
Your front door now resembles a shoe shop with the amount of shoes on show
You look at a Volvo and think “Hmmmm they don’t seem like a bad car”
You grow accustom to the cheap coffee at University
You know that a national or religious holiday is now an excuse to drink (In the Lords name obviously)
An outside temperature of 5C is a mild day in winter
When someone asks for three cheers you say “Hoorah,hurrah,hoorah,hoorah!”
You have conversations outside with people even though it’s -10C
Julmust starts to taste good to you
You associate Fridays with “After work”
You suddenly dash for the door at 1.30pm on a Saturday when you realise Systembolaget only has half an hour left until it closes
A night out is 5 hours of a pre-party then 3 hours in a club
You get extremely annoyed when the bus is two minutes late
You are shocked when a train is delayed
You assume that anyone who apologises after bumping into you is a tourist
You hide the fact you have a Nokia
Seeing a young woman with lit candles stuck to her head no longer worries you
You love the fact that in winter you don’t need to put beers in the fridge just 2 minutes outside will chill that bottle
When buying alcohol the first thing you look at on the bottle is the alcohol percentage
You no longer snigger when the words “fart, bra, or slut” used in conversations
Hearing and seeing swear words in the media is perfectly acceptable
In winter a lie in means you will prob only have 2-3 hours of daylight
You know that “Extrapris” means goods are cheaper, even though in English it means the opposite
You ringed somebody instead of you rang them
You don’t seem surprised when the GP not only can’t help you but has come up with the same diagnosis you had before you visited him
Ikea isn’t just a place to buy furniture, it’s a dinner out for meatballs at under £2
You save all plastic bottles and cans as this becomes money when you are poor
You have gotten used to the idea of a kebab pizza and see it as normal
Eating a kebab from a takeaway when sober appears normal to you
McDonalds is too expensive but Time out is cheap and good
“Pussi” to you means a popular brand of cat food and not the female sex parts
You get used to the fact that you are a Swedish XL when back home you can fit into a M/L
You are so desperate for Alfresco coffee that you will sit outside with a blanket wrapped around you
You get used to the fact that they add tax onto some items in the supermarket at the till but not all, so you never really know how much your shopping will be
“or” becomes a question rather than a joining word for two choices
You are used to the idea of unisex toilets
ICA is not I.C.A it’s eeka
Ikea is not eyekea it’s i kea
You know that fan is a swearword and not the word describing an admirer
You think Swedish doesn’t have swear words because the use the English ones most of the time
You think caviar being sold in a tube is normal
You accept that Swedes are at their most friendly and most talkative when they are drunk
J becomes Y in your English, i.e. John become Yon
Seeing cars driving with their lights on in bright daylight seems normal
You struggle to work out if a Swedish guy is gay or not, (Trust me such a tough challenge)
Sunday, 22 May 2011
May update
Tjänare blog followers
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
,
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
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
,
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
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Casualty Sweden
Well this is the story of my little visit to A&E. Wed night was the regular thing pre-drinks before heading to Aka. On the way down the stairs I tripped and fell down a few stairs and landed awkwardly on my left ankle. I eventually got up and just thought I had twisted it so I continued to walk to Aka, (Maybe limp is the actual term) The bouncer noticed that I wasn’t walking right so took me to one side to have a look at my ankle. It had started to swell, he then decided to call an ambulance as movement started to become restricted.
The ambulance took me to Ryhov hospital. I was wheeled into a private room where I waited for a nurse to come and have a look. The Hospital was very quiet and I didn’t see another patient whilst I was there. The Nurse examined me and sent me for an x-ray. Lukily there was no fracture which the Dr was expecting after the size of the swelling. I was given a compression bandage and crutches. Thanks to my EU insurance I only have to pay £30 not £186. (Taxi ride home cost about £13) Sadly the lift in Delta has been out of order for some time. So it took a while to get up the three flights of stairs. The Bruising the next morning was quite something. At present it hurts to have the foot straight so it bends to the right quite a bit. The crutches aren’t great they don’t clip around the arm like the ones I had back in the UK do so it’s hard to balance them on the one foot when I need one hand free. Looks like my Easter weekend will be spent in bed resting.
Monday, 4 April 2011
Spring's on its way
Hello Blog followers.
It’s been a while since I’ve entered a new entry to my blog. I would love to say that it’s because I’ve been travelling all around Europe etc. However this is not the case. This month has been a very strict budget focused month due to a delay in grant payment from the EU. (I was told it would arrive in Feb but not till around Easter I’ve been told now!) Anywho I digress.
This last month has been a quiet one for me. We had our exams for the 3rd quarter of the year, which meant people locked themselves in their rooms to study (for those who actually get grades from their exams.) I do have to say it is incredibly de-motivating at the moment thinking that I am “studying” and I wont get a grade for it at the end. I’ve just used this year to attend lectures in classes we don’t get taught as part of my degree back home such as Macroeconomics and electronic commerce. Anyway when it comes to group work I pull my weight as other peoples grades depend on it, so I do my bit for them.
The winter weather is leaving us now we had snowfall for one night and it stayed on the ground for about a week that was ace. We went from -4C to 9C in a matter of 24 hours. It was quite strange. However the massive lake next to the city keeps the temperature down due to it being frozen over. I do miss the winter weather, I came to Sweden for the cold and the snow not for the sun, but as you can imagine the locals are enjoying the + temperatures. The heating in my room is automatic and hasn’t shut off yet so it can get hot in my room if the window isn’t open. Anyway the lake is finally returning to normal so this may see me return to the water and continue rowing.
If you remember I was on the election committee back in December, well I am currently waiting on my confirmation as chairman of the election committee for the spring elections of half the board. This could be a lot of fun.
I have to say in comparison to last semester this one has been less of a social one. I do miss my group of friends from last semester (although thanks to facebook I do keep in touch)
A big event that has been going on in the last month us Melodifestivalen. This is like a version of the X factor however it determines the countries representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, so as you can imagine it’s quite camp and fun. It started in 1959 and since 2000 it has been the most popular show on Swedish TV. Its not just determined by phone vote but they also uses judges from European nations. (This year inc UK, Germany, Malta, Norway & Ukraine) I have to say I do like the winner for this year. The Prime Minister and his family was in attendance for the final interestingly.
Eric Saade the Winner
The other week was ‘Earth Hour’ widely publicised. The city was supposed to switch of its lights for an hour, however when it came to it only the lights around city hall were turned off. All the lights along my street which has some of the shops, fast food outlets and bars, not one light went off. So waste of time!
In Sporting News, (That’s right, sporting.)
The Local Ice Hockey team HV71, (Last year’s champions), have lost out on the chance to reclaim their title this year. They lost to Stockholm based team AIK IF (Allmänna Idrottsklubben Ishockeyförening) 4-0 in the Quarter final. The final is still yet to be played.
Let’s talk Easter
Back home Easter eggs come into the supermarkets on New Year’s Day (based on my experience in supermarkets) here Easter stock started appearing about 2 weeks ago, and when we say stock I mean one cardboard stand of cards and little chicks with some Haribo sweets at the base. Not seen on Cream Egg over here. This is devastating, it won’t be Easter without them (not that I buy into the message of Easter!)This year I have decided to give lent ago. I started off with giving up Coke and Crisps, a week into this both my Nan and Mum had sent me Crisps from back home. So now it’s down to just coke. I’m doing well but I will enjoy it when I can have it again that’s for sure.
Anyway I’ve filled you in now so I shall leave you for now and will keep you posted.
It’s been a while since I’ve entered a new entry to my blog. I would love to say that it’s because I’ve been travelling all around Europe etc. However this is not the case. This month has been a very strict budget focused month due to a delay in grant payment from the EU. (I was told it would arrive in Feb but not till around Easter I’ve been told now!) Anywho I digress.
This last month has been a quiet one for me. We had our exams for the 3rd quarter of the year, which meant people locked themselves in their rooms to study (for those who actually get grades from their exams.) I do have to say it is incredibly de-motivating at the moment thinking that I am “studying” and I wont get a grade for it at the end. I’ve just used this year to attend lectures in classes we don’t get taught as part of my degree back home such as Macroeconomics and electronic commerce. Anyway when it comes to group work I pull my weight as other peoples grades depend on it, so I do my bit for them.
The winter weather is leaving us now we had snowfall for one night and it stayed on the ground for about a week that was ace. We went from -4C to 9C in a matter of 24 hours. It was quite strange. However the massive lake next to the city keeps the temperature down due to it being frozen over. I do miss the winter weather, I came to Sweden for the cold and the snow not for the sun, but as you can imagine the locals are enjoying the + temperatures. The heating in my room is automatic and hasn’t shut off yet so it can get hot in my room if the window isn’t open. Anyway the lake is finally returning to normal so this may see me return to the water and continue rowing.
If you remember I was on the election committee back in December, well I am currently waiting on my confirmation as chairman of the election committee for the spring elections of half the board. This could be a lot of fun.
I have to say in comparison to last semester this one has been less of a social one. I do miss my group of friends from last semester (although thanks to facebook I do keep in touch)
A big event that has been going on in the last month us Melodifestivalen. This is like a version of the X factor however it determines the countries representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, so as you can imagine it’s quite camp and fun. It started in 1959 and since 2000 it has been the most popular show on Swedish TV. Its not just determined by phone vote but they also uses judges from European nations. (This year inc UK, Germany, Malta, Norway & Ukraine) I have to say I do like the winner for this year. The Prime Minister and his family was in attendance for the final interestingly.
Eric Saade the Winner
The other week was ‘Earth Hour’ widely publicised. The city was supposed to switch of its lights for an hour, however when it came to it only the lights around city hall were turned off. All the lights along my street which has some of the shops, fast food outlets and bars, not one light went off. So waste of time!
In Sporting News, (That’s right, sporting.)
The Local Ice Hockey team HV71, (Last year’s champions), have lost out on the chance to reclaim their title this year. They lost to Stockholm based team AIK IF (Allmänna Idrottsklubben Ishockeyförening) 4-0 in the Quarter final. The final is still yet to be played.
Let’s talk Easter
Back home Easter eggs come into the supermarkets on New Year’s Day (based on my experience in supermarkets) here Easter stock started appearing about 2 weeks ago, and when we say stock I mean one cardboard stand of cards and little chicks with some Haribo sweets at the base. Not seen on Cream Egg over here. This is devastating, it won’t be Easter without them (not that I buy into the message of Easter!)This year I have decided to give lent ago. I started off with giving up Coke and Crisps, a week into this both my Nan and Mum had sent me Crisps from back home. So now it’s down to just coke. I’m doing well but I will enjoy it when I can have it again that’s for sure.
Anyway I’ve filled you in now so I shall leave you for now and will keep you posted.
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Gay Sweden
LGBT History of Sweden
Back in the UK February is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) History month, so I thought I would tell you about the history over here in Sweden, which last year was named the most gay friendly country in Europe. After all this is the country that produced ABBA and loves Eurovision!
In 2006 An EU Member Poll Showed 71% Swedes supported same sex marriage. Also Gays are allowed to serve openly in the military.
So let’s take a step back and fill you in.
1944 Sweden legalised same sexual activities with the age of consent being 18. This at a time when Nazi Germany was persecuting gays (But not lesbians as they were thought to be treatable and women were the ones who could give birth) Compare this to the UK where Homosexuality was illegal until 1967 and then the age of consent was 21. Even with this bill it only allowed for homosexual acts could only take place privately as the bill still maintained prohibitions on buggery.
1972 Saw Sweden become the first country in the world to allow transsexuals to legally change their sex and provided free hormone therapy. This came into effect in the UK in 2004.
However not all was as progressive, although homosexuality was no longer illegal it was still considered an illness until 1979, when a number of people called into work saying they were sick with a “case of homosexuality.” A protest was then launched at the Board of Health and Welfare which led to declassification.
1987 Saw discrimination against homosexuals brought into line with discrimination on the grounds of race and gender. However Transgender identity was de listed as an illness and then added to this discrimination legislation in 2008.
1995 Saw same sex couples being able to register their partnerships. This gave these partners the same legal rights as married couples.
1998 sees the first Stockholm Pride Festival.
May 2009 saw civil partnerships registrations cease as the government passed legislation allowing same sex marriage. This move came about after the Chancellor of Justice proposed that marriage be extended to same sex couples. 2008 saw the legislation go to the Rikstag to be voted on. All parties bar the Christian Democrats were in favour of the bill.
Out of 349 Members
261 Voted in favour
22 Voted No
16 Abstained
50 Absent
October 2009 Saw the Church of Sweden hold its own vote on whether to give homosexual couples its blessing. The Church voted in favour.
Out of 249 Seats
176 Yes
62 No
11 Abstain
0 Absent
Since 2003 same sex couples have had the same rights to adopt as married couples including the right for a single LGBT person to adopt. With regards to inter-country adoption the government holds the view that it is limited on the terms of the country of origin for the child.
Since 2008 the issue of gay blood donation has been under debate. The Board of Health & Welfare proposed that gay men should be eligible to donate blood but only after 6 months of last having sex. From 1sr March 2010 Gay men were supposed to be allowed to give blood after 1 year of abstaining from sex however the blood banks rejected the law which means this issue has been delayed until October 2011.
This timeline shows how far Sweden has come with gay rights and the story is similar all over Scandinavia. In 2009 Iceland elected its first openly gay Prime Minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir.
A Dinner Date With Swedish Politics
A few weeks ago I had dinner at City Hall here in Jönköping. There was a small group of us who attended and we met the mayor and other representatives from City Hall.
This got me thinking, I haven’t bored you all with the Politics of Sweden. So I shall write about it now, hopefully this won’t bore you.
The Kingdom of Sweden has a Constitutional Monarch, since 1973 it has been King Carl XVI Gustaf. Since 1975 the monarch has no executive authority. The Government system is similar to that of the UK, headed by the Prime Minister and their Cabinet. The Government sits in the Riksdag with the legislative assembly.
The General Election of 2010
In Sweden they have fixed terms, every 4 years on the third Sunday in September an election is called for the Seats in the Riksdag, 20 County Councils and 290 Municipal assemblies.
To vote you must be 18, Swedish Citizen and at some point have been living in Sweden.
Now this is where it gets a bit messy. There are a choice of 3 ballot papers in the general election. 1) you can hand in a ballot paper with your preferred party, 2) You hand in a ballot with the chosen party and then you can mark your preference of candidate and 3) You are given a blank ballot and you write the party you wish to vote for. The allocation of seats is done on a proportional system meaning that a party that gets 25% of the vote should get around 25% of seats. The candidates are then chosen on 2 criteria, their party ranking and then the preference votes from the electorates. A candidate that gets 8% + preference votes goes to the top of the list, This happens in around 5% of cases.
The Riksdag has 349 seats, 310 are given to elected members with the remaining 39 used as ‘adjustment seats’ ensuring the number of seats matches the number of votes.
Are you still with me?
Well I may lose you now!
In the 2010 election there were 7 major parties which have formed their own alliances prior to the election!
The Governing Centre right alliance called Alliance for Sweden is made up of
Nya Moderata (Moderate Party) Lead by PM Fredrik Reinfeldt
Folkpartiet Liberalerna (Liberal People’s Party)
Centrepartiet (The Centre Party)
Kristdemokraterna (The Christian Democrats)
The Opposition alliance called The Red Green Alliance is made up of
Sveriges Socialdemokratiska (Sweden’s Social Democrats)
Miljöpartiet de Gröna (Green Party)
Vänsterpartiet (The Left Party, {formerly communist})
Things to note:
The social democrats, though in opposition are the largest political party in Sweden. This party has only been out of power from 1976-82, 1991-93 and 2006-Present. This party can boast the longest serving PM from 1947-69 PM Tage Erlander at the time of the 2010 election it was lead by Mona Sahlin however since the defeat she has announced her intentions to resign as party leader.
The New Moderates are the second largest party and under Reinfeldt the Right wing party have moved towards the centre ground. He is the first centre right PM to have won 2 terms since WWII
The left party are a socialist/feminist party. Ironically since adopting this feminist stance under Gudrun Schyman the party hasn’t had a female leader since 2003 when she stood down.
2010 Election Results
The Sverigedemokraterna (Swedish Democrats)problem.
This party is the Nationalist Party, thinking similar thoughts to the BNP, the country has too high an immigration intake threatening national identity and wants to return refugees to their home states etc. They don’t like the ‘special privileges’ the indigenous Sami people have, and wants to abolish the Sami Parliament. The party claim they are not hostile to homosexuals but they have a strong belief in the ‘nuclear family’ and oppose the rights for homosexuals to have children.
Why are they a problem?
(Apart from the reasons mentioned above!)
Well for the first time they have managed to win Parliamentary seats, 20 of them from a 5.7% vote, more than the left party. This meant that none of the two alliances could form a majority government and with the Alliance for Sweden holding power with a minority government the Swedish Democrats now hold the balance of power. Both alliances have said they will not work with the SDs. This then lead to protests including in Jönköping. Swedes say two things you don’t talk about in Sweden are Politics and Religion, so to see demonstrations of this kind is rare and holds a huge point.
This got me thinking, I haven’t bored you all with the Politics of Sweden. So I shall write about it now, hopefully this won’t bore you.
The Kingdom of Sweden has a Constitutional Monarch, since 1973 it has been King Carl XVI Gustaf. Since 1975 the monarch has no executive authority. The Government system is similar to that of the UK, headed by the Prime Minister and their Cabinet. The Government sits in the Riksdag with the legislative assembly.
The General Election of 2010
In Sweden they have fixed terms, every 4 years on the third Sunday in September an election is called for the Seats in the Riksdag, 20 County Councils and 290 Municipal assemblies.
To vote you must be 18, Swedish Citizen and at some point have been living in Sweden.
Now this is where it gets a bit messy. There are a choice of 3 ballot papers in the general election. 1) you can hand in a ballot paper with your preferred party, 2) You hand in a ballot with the chosen party and then you can mark your preference of candidate and 3) You are given a blank ballot and you write the party you wish to vote for. The allocation of seats is done on a proportional system meaning that a party that gets 25% of the vote should get around 25% of seats. The candidates are then chosen on 2 criteria, their party ranking and then the preference votes from the electorates. A candidate that gets 8% + preference votes goes to the top of the list, This happens in around 5% of cases.
The Riksdag has 349 seats, 310 are given to elected members with the remaining 39 used as ‘adjustment seats’ ensuring the number of seats matches the number of votes.
Are you still with me?
Well I may lose you now!
In the 2010 election there were 7 major parties which have formed their own alliances prior to the election!
The Governing Centre right alliance called Alliance for Sweden is made up of
Nya Moderata (Moderate Party) Lead by PM Fredrik Reinfeldt
Folkpartiet Liberalerna (Liberal People’s Party)
Centrepartiet (The Centre Party)
Kristdemokraterna (The Christian Democrats)
The Opposition alliance called The Red Green Alliance is made up of
Sveriges Socialdemokratiska (Sweden’s Social Democrats)
Miljöpartiet de Gröna (Green Party)
Vänsterpartiet (The Left Party, {formerly communist})
Things to note:
The social democrats, though in opposition are the largest political party in Sweden. This party has only been out of power from 1976-82, 1991-93 and 2006-Present. This party can boast the longest serving PM from 1947-69 PM Tage Erlander at the time of the 2010 election it was lead by Mona Sahlin however since the defeat she has announced her intentions to resign as party leader.
The New Moderates are the second largest party and under Reinfeldt the Right wing party have moved towards the centre ground. He is the first centre right PM to have won 2 terms since WWII
The left party are a socialist/feminist party. Ironically since adopting this feminist stance under Gudrun Schyman the party hasn’t had a female leader since 2003 when she stood down.
2010 Election Results
The Sverigedemokraterna (Swedish Democrats)problem.
This party is the Nationalist Party, thinking similar thoughts to the BNP, the country has too high an immigration intake threatening national identity and wants to return refugees to their home states etc. They don’t like the ‘special privileges’ the indigenous Sami people have, and wants to abolish the Sami Parliament. The party claim they are not hostile to homosexuals but they have a strong belief in the ‘nuclear family’ and oppose the rights for homosexuals to have children.
Why are they a problem?
(Apart from the reasons mentioned above!)
Well for the first time they have managed to win Parliamentary seats, 20 of them from a 5.7% vote, more than the left party. This meant that none of the two alliances could form a majority government and with the Alliance for Sweden holding power with a minority government the Swedish Democrats now hold the balance of power. Both alliances have said they will not work with the SDs. This then lead to protests including in Jönköping. Swedes say two things you don’t talk about in Sweden are Politics and Religion, so to see demonstrations of this kind is rare and holds a huge point.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
January: Round 2 Begins
I’m now into my 3rd week of semester 2 and it’s about time I caught you guys up.
Well Kick off week was shall we say quieter than the one in Semester 1. It was split into two as not all the schools were back at the same time. So week one was the turn of JIBS and the Engineers school. The first night was ‘the winter games’ Let’s be honest game. We separated into teams and had a relay race, running up a snow covered mound and then tobogganing back down. Was fun however I got myself a fair few scratches, the ‘toboggan’ was a small plastic dish type thing with a handle attached to it, so very easy to fall off. With it being dark it was quite hard to see people’s faces clearly in order to remember them. After that event we went back to delta had a few drinks then hit a bar after, good fun with people on the first floor of Delta. Day 2 was the bar crawl This was rather enjoyable, meeting new people, though I did struggle to remember names but was very good at remembering where people had come from . The bar crawl was 3 bars, (Something to note not a lot of bars in the city!) but still a good night to be had. Thursday night was the welcome party at O’learys (Aka was shut this week) this is where I got my first taste of living in the city. Being able to stay at the bars until closing and then the after-parties
There aren’t as many students on exchange this time round. About 200 in JIBS with a majority from France and Canada. I am now living in the city centre in Delta House. A block of flats above one of the night clubs here. There are 12 of us to a flat and 5 flats, so a fair few of us. I have got myself acquainted with my flatmates and the guys on the first floor. I live with people who were here last semester. The guys on the first floor are all new. 2 Americans, 2 Australians, fair few French. Can’t remember others.
Anyway other things that are happening: The trip to Kiruna goes on sale on the 1st of February So I shall be up early for that to get a seat. Only £469!!! Then I have an evening Buffet at City Hall with the Mayor and local Politicians. That’s at the beginning of next month.
This month Sweden is host to the Men’s World Championship of Handball and some of the matches are being played here in Jönköping. Now I haven’t really heard of Handball before but luckily the UK has not entered a team so I am loyally supporting the home nation!
Not a very exciting blog update but I’m sure more exciting stuff will arise.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Semester 1, a long lasting memory
Well one Semester is over, and what a semester, it has been incredible. Coming to a country I have never visited before with a language I had no prior knowledge of, the thought of socialising with people who are stereotyped as shy and reserved (Sorry Swedes but it’s true) and then studying in a different education system. Yet here I am, I survived it.
Let’s start with a big thank you to the Fadders who looked after us for the first 2 weeks and beyond. You really showed us a great time during the kick of week doing all you could to make us feel part of the University community, even speaking in English all the time so we could join in with conversations! It must have been annoying especially the more drunk you got, (Ronnie I’m in particular talking about you asking me several times when you were drunk for a cigarette in Swedish!, That was day 2!) You took us under your wings and we formed our own little group of friends within the Kick Off week group, (we even had some defect to our group!)
Highlights of Kick off week were; going on a continued nights out with you guys, the Swe Party (The biggest pool party in Scandinavia with over 1400 people!) To that day I had never had a beer in a pool. The traditional jump into the canal at 2.30 am after the Toga party. The Pre parties you Fadders layed on for us, and of course to finish of a long fortnight of drinking Sunday Brunch!
Bad things about Kick off week; the cost and realising how much alcohol would cost
Another thank you coming up. To my Group of mates, (strangely it was manly kept within the commonwealth!), (In no particular order) Nick, Stuart, Christian, Kieran, Jo, Jakob In particular with other great people who I also met and spent a lot of time with (Yet again no particular order) Fabian, Giacomo, Anna, Thomas, Max and so many more from all over the world. You made the experience that much better and I do one day hope to come and visit you in your home nations and likewise if you come to visit Britain. We definitely shared some good times, laughter (Mainly at Christian’s expense, but if you do silly things...!) Many a drunken night together. Memories I shall treasure until the day I die (Or the day I get Alzheimers, whichever comes first!)
To my housemates, Bernhard, Fedder and Peyton. My family for the semester. Aka will not be the same without you Fedder. It was a pleasure living with you and our extended family in the other houses across the playground!
The University has also been good to us! Yep I said it, though they gave us much more work in a shorter space of time than we or I am normally used to and giving us exams at 8 in the morning on a Sunday and 4 hour long lectures. But yeah it has been a fun place, the academic side communicating with the social side to assist us with our easing in. The Student Union and IA organising trips and running Aka on a Wednesday night with volunteer work. So credit where credit is due.
Cheers guys
Xxx
Let’s start with a big thank you to the Fadders who looked after us for the first 2 weeks and beyond. You really showed us a great time during the kick of week doing all you could to make us feel part of the University community, even speaking in English all the time so we could join in with conversations! It must have been annoying especially the more drunk you got, (Ronnie I’m in particular talking about you asking me several times when you were drunk for a cigarette in Swedish!, That was day 2!) You took us under your wings and we formed our own little group of friends within the Kick Off week group, (we even had some defect to our group!)
Highlights of Kick off week were; going on a continued nights out with you guys, the Swe Party (The biggest pool party in Scandinavia with over 1400 people!) To that day I had never had a beer in a pool. The traditional jump into the canal at 2.30 am after the Toga party. The Pre parties you Fadders layed on for us, and of course to finish of a long fortnight of drinking Sunday Brunch!
Bad things about Kick off week; the cost and realising how much alcohol would cost
Another thank you coming up. To my Group of mates, (strangely it was manly kept within the commonwealth!), (In no particular order) Nick, Stuart, Christian, Kieran, Jo, Jakob In particular with other great people who I also met and spent a lot of time with (Yet again no particular order) Fabian, Giacomo, Anna, Thomas, Max and so many more from all over the world. You made the experience that much better and I do one day hope to come and visit you in your home nations and likewise if you come to visit Britain. We definitely shared some good times, laughter (Mainly at Christian’s expense, but if you do silly things...!) Many a drunken night together. Memories I shall treasure until the day I die (Or the day I get Alzheimers, whichever comes first!)
To my housemates, Bernhard, Fedder and Peyton. My family for the semester. Aka will not be the same without you Fedder. It was a pleasure living with you and our extended family in the other houses across the playground!
The University has also been good to us! Yep I said it, though they gave us much more work in a shorter space of time than we or I am normally used to and giving us exams at 8 in the morning on a Sunday and 4 hour long lectures. But yeah it has been a fun place, the academic side communicating with the social side to assist us with our easing in. The Student Union and IA organising trips and running Aka on a Wednesday night with volunteer work. So credit where credit is due.
Cheers guys
Xxx
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Tis the season to say farewell!
Well with the current issues with transport from and to the UK, my flight has been delayed by an hour and a half, so I shall use this time to write another blog entry and fill you guys in.
Well the last few weeks have been quite sad as the time has been drawing to a close. People have been slowly disappearing one by one. The rush round to say goodbye to all my new friends has been quite something and sadly I have not been totally successful. Sp for all those I couldn’t say goodbye to, forgive me. I wish all my new friends every bit of luck in the world. It has been an amazing adventure this past semester. Making friends from all over the world is great but sadly I won’t see you as much as I’m used to anymore. I feel like a family is being broken up. I hope to one day visit you all in your home countries and I hope to come visit you in yours. I already have plans to go to the Netherlands to meet up with my Austrian friend Max for Queens Day, (A royal holiday, cheeky!) Also I have an invite to go to a beer fest in Germany in Fabians home town. My leaving book is filled with offers of a place to stay should I come out. It has been valuable experience but luckily for me I get to do it all again in January.
January is a bit daunting with most of my Fadders going on their exchanges around the world I wont have as many people around however I am leaving suburban life behind and moving to a flat in the city. Plenty of new people to be met and of course I still have Jake, Anna and Thomas plus the locals around.
I’m currently waiting on one exam result in particular. Swedish 1. I need to pass this to continue my Swedish studies next semester. The grammar is quite tough but I have a feeling it has gone better than the first time round just need to get 60% to pass! 60%!
I am looking forward to going home, sad it may be to leave this time behind, but I gather my family are missing me and I them. Plus it is the Xmas break and I love spending it with family.
Well that’s all I shall write for now as I’m hoping the plane taking me to Gatwick will be here in a few minutes, (Delayed take off from Gatwick!) I then have a flight from Gatwick to LeedsBradford, last minute booking as the snow has caused rail problems.
I shall give a full update and summary of this semester in my next blog once I get home.
God Jul & Gott Nytt År
(Especially my Nordic friends who celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve)
Well the last few weeks have been quite sad as the time has been drawing to a close. People have been slowly disappearing one by one. The rush round to say goodbye to all my new friends has been quite something and sadly I have not been totally successful. Sp for all those I couldn’t say goodbye to, forgive me. I wish all my new friends every bit of luck in the world. It has been an amazing adventure this past semester. Making friends from all over the world is great but sadly I won’t see you as much as I’m used to anymore. I feel like a family is being broken up. I hope to one day visit you all in your home countries and I hope to come visit you in yours. I already have plans to go to the Netherlands to meet up with my Austrian friend Max for Queens Day, (A royal holiday, cheeky!) Also I have an invite to go to a beer fest in Germany in Fabians home town. My leaving book is filled with offers of a place to stay should I come out. It has been valuable experience but luckily for me I get to do it all again in January.
January is a bit daunting with most of my Fadders going on their exchanges around the world I wont have as many people around however I am leaving suburban life behind and moving to a flat in the city. Plenty of new people to be met and of course I still have Jake, Anna and Thomas plus the locals around.
I’m currently waiting on one exam result in particular. Swedish 1. I need to pass this to continue my Swedish studies next semester. The grammar is quite tough but I have a feeling it has gone better than the first time round just need to get 60% to pass! 60%!
I am looking forward to going home, sad it may be to leave this time behind, but I gather my family are missing me and I them. Plus it is the Xmas break and I love spending it with family.
Well that’s all I shall write for now as I’m hoping the plane taking me to Gatwick will be here in a few minutes, (Delayed take off from Gatwick!) I then have a flight from Gatwick to LeedsBradford, last minute booking as the snow has caused rail problems.
I shall give a full update and summary of this semester in my next blog once I get home.
God Jul & Gott Nytt År
(Especially my Nordic friends who celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve)
Monday, 29 November 2010
Update, Reunion, Culture, Elections & an annoying street entertainer
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
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
Friday, 12 November 2010
First Snowfall
It has finally happened. The first proper snowfall, incredibly exciting to open my blinds and see the big blanket of snow. Proper snow not the powdery stuff we get in the UK. I had to put my winter boots & snow jacket on. I was however saddened when as I went into Uni in the centre there was no snow, too warm in the centre. After uni we had a snowball fight between the students here in Huskvarna. Sadly only two members of the alliance here with the majority of students being from Austria-Germany. Friendly fire from my roommate.
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3 Capitals 6 Days
Stockholm
Only spent one night here however taking the 6.20am bus to Stockholm meant we had the best part of the day to go round the city. With the rest of our party joining us at around 7 that evening the rest of us went sightseeing. I have of course spent one night in Stockholm before however it was nice to see it again. This time I went to City Hall which gave us a wonderful view back on Old Town with the sunset making it picture perfect. We’d checked into the Hostel which was just around the corner from the Bus station, handy for an early morning start! The room was rather nice, 4 bunk beds 2 on either side of the room. Once the others had arrived we went to an all you can eat Thai buffet, (typical Swedish food I know) Once we’d stocked up on food we decided to go to the famous Ice Bar. This is owned by the same company that owns the Ice Hotel in the North of Sweden. For around £15 you get your entry and your first drink included, (all other drinks after cost around £9!) Your first enter a room where you put on your coat as the Ice Bar is about -5C. The sessions are limited to half an hour (and the staff rotates every 2 hours) Walking through the door into the bar, it felt like being back in the freezers at Sainsburys, just with better use of Ice! The room had a few ice sculptures standing around the room; a Jelly fish carved into a block of ice took the centre alongside a carving of an old diving suit. An octopus was carved into a table next to a seating area. The bar also made completely out of ice took up one side of the room. We had a choice of cocktails to choose from. The glasses were pretty cool (pardon the pun) being made out of ice also. You had to have your gloves on to hold it. I then took on the challenge of eating the glass after finishing my drink. I always eat the Ice when it comes in my other drinks why not this one. They only get melted down and re-sculptured. It is defiantly something worth doing, and it gives you an insight into the Ice Hotel up north which I hope to visit.
Prague
Getting up fairly early In the morning to make our way to the airport that Ryanair use. It’s apparently a Stockholm airport but is an 82 minute coach ride away in a town called Nyköping! Gotta love Ryanair. The airport is shared with the Swedish Coastguard. Anyway, first flight with this low cost airline, so let’s keep an open mind. It is only costing £10 anyway. One thing that was questionable; whilst stating the flight was non smoking they did offer an alternative, smokeless cigarettes, cigarettes you could smoke in places you weren’t allowed to smoke, clever I admit however the line “& if you don’t smoke maybe you can start with smokeless” was a bit of a legal concern! The landing on this Ryanair flight was interesting to say the least. I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to slow the plain down before you land and not just slam on the breaks when you touch the ground!
The architecture in Prague is quite unique it feels just like a stereotypical Eastern European city. There is a big emphasis on their communist past. You will find communist poster dotted around, especially ones advertising the communism museum (sadly we didn’t have time to visit it) No mention of the German occupation. The hostel was just around the corner from an old bell tower which towered up over the street. Opposite a 200 store shopping centre it was clash of old and new. The old town Square is a beautiful place to stand. The Cathedral towers over the square with the clock tower opposite. Every hour on the hour a crowd gathers at the clock tower to watch it chime. It’s quite like a giant Swiss clock with little figures signing the hour, followed by a guard in the clock tower who then plays a tune from his trumpet at all four sides of the viewing platform of the tower. You can get horse and cart rides from the old town centre which just adds to the character of the old square in the background. Prague is called the most atheist city yet it has plenty of churches. It is true in Prague beer is cheaper than water! Around £1 a pint with a bottle of water costing £2. One thing to note is the great customer service you receive in Prague! They say a smile costs nothing yet apparently that’s too expensive for some people in Prague! I should point out, English is spoken here especially in the tourist zones, with regards to eating out you can ask for a menu in English to save you working out what on earth it is you are ordering. For our first meal in Prague we went to a traditional Czech restaurant. I ordered a Goulash with a side order of dumplings (all you can eat!) Popular Czech dishes will include beef, pork & chicken. Another favourite is fried cheese.
The tourist attractions are within walking distance. The fees associated with the attractions are around £1 each, so great value. One thing I recommend as a must visit is the Castle grounds. Up at the top of a hill with an amazing view over the city is the Royal Palace. The castle itself surrounds the centre piece of the site which is a huge cathedral towering over the palace and the city. This is a wonderful piece of architecture. The front has similarities with Notre Dame.
The food stands around the tourist areas are of good quality selling things such as belly pork which was heavenly (but can be pricey). If you make it 30 Czech Crown to the pound you have a good margin of era, it’s on average about 27.4 to the pound but 30 is easier to work out. It is cheap in Prague however if you go to the shopping centre with well known stores such as Topshop, M&S etc (The Aussies wanted to go!) you will find the exchange rates a bit odd as the big stores will put their prices on the tags in many currencies. In M&S in particular the price in Swedish Krona is almost double the value when converted to Euros. So be careful.
The Old Charles Bridge is well worth a walk over, pedestrians only so you can take your time and stop at the stands selling jewellery, paintings or even get a portrait/characture done, there are plenty of them! There are plenty of tourist shops around with the majority of them selling Czech glass, ranging from affordable to expensive (as you’d expect) finding a Czech flag was quite hard but got it and it now hangs in my room along with the others I have gained.
For a night out I would recommend one of the bar crawls (plenty of them). For around £10 you can have an all you can drink pre party followed by a few bars. The pre party was in the basement of a converted church. (Interesting, see how many sins you can commit in a church!) The unlimited drinks were limited to Beer, nasty wine and watered down shots. So good thing it was all you can drink because the drinks in the bars afterwards were around £3. O not to self never have cider in Prague unless it is the Swedish one. It was really bitter, just like the wine.
Note the Czech Rep doesn’t have a smoking ban, when you are used to this in Britain and other European countries it can take a bit of getting used to again, in restaurants it can be coped with however smoking in clubs at night caused me a few breathing problems, I have no idea how the asthmatics among our party coped! Be prepared for your clothes to sting of cigarettes when you get home, so pack extra clothes is my advice.
Berlin
Our time is up in Prague and we now move on to Berlin, a city we were all excited to go & see due to its history. Having only been to Germany once for 24 hours in the north of the country I wasn’t sure what to expect. We got the train from Prague Central and were on our way. It was around a 4 hour trip. You could tell when you entered Germany because the accents on the signs suddenly changed, and then you had a changeover of train guards from Czech to German. We arrived in Berlin to a wave of confusion about how we should get to the hostel. We decided that instead of faffing about with the underground we would just get a taxi. Just under 10 Euro a bargain compared to Sweden. Although the Euro £ exchange rate wasn’t in our favour as it was about 87p to the Euro, compared to the days when it was about 70p it turns out we had two different addresses for the hostel due to a mix up with the name. Our Hostel was just around the corner from the TV tower which I fell in love with, (the tallest building in the EU, surly upsetting the French!) and also just about a 5 min walk from the Main cathedral in Berlin (Berliner Dom)
Our first night was a fairly quiet one, One of our party went off to watch a play in German by a play write who she had studied before whilst we all went off to find something to eat. We ended up in an Asian restaurant! The Aussies & Canadian were excited by the fact you can drink in the streets here. A novelty that didn’t fade over time. This was clearly man time with conversation over dinner and beyond of a masculine nature! Berlin I have to say is quite, well strange is a way of saying it, maybe different is probably more applicable. Prostitutes walk around touting for business, and there are a lot of them. Bless though Christian I have to say came up with a quote that will stick with me for a while, “Was that a Prostitute? I’ve never seen one before” O dear! After moving on from them we ended up walking down an ally (As you do in an unknown city at night!) to find open fires and drinking in a square behind some buildings, quite tense I have to say, but the others seemed to be enjoying themselves. Something I would not do normally, chat to prostitutes and go down an ally!!!! Anyway Jo saved my life and texted to say her play had finished, so I was a happy boy.
The next day we returned to more normal things of sightseeing. We started off at the Berliner Dom which is quite a grand church; the restoration of it was only finished in 1993 after it was destroyed during the final days of the War. They did a good job it looks as if it was undamaged and had stood tall throughout history, about £2.50 to enter, but worth it. Especially for the views you can get from the roof. It is very grand inside, we’d stumbled on the beginning of a service, which of course we didn’t stay for! We went on the hike to the top to get the views. After that we ended up in the well I’m sure it’s not called this but basement. Where German royalty is buried alongside one unknown. The coffins had their crowns placed on top of them.
We continued our walk towards the Brandenburg Gate. Now a game we have played throughout our trip was to spot the embassies. Russia has the grandest one in Berlin I have to say however the embassies are on the ‘Eastern side’ of Berlin. The Brandenburg gate is quite something, creating quite a buzz. You have for the tourists people dressed up in the old military uniforms of the soviets and the East Berliner and on the other side the American and West Berliner, and where the hell would you be without Star War’s very own Darth Vader at a historical sight such as this!
We then moved onto the Reichstag, fun quote from the guide book “Why is the Reichstag called the Reichstag? It is not! It is called the Bundestag” Fancy being told off by a leaflet! Also the leaflet states “The Bundestag is not built on a foundation of sand” They really struggled for things to write about this place! No mention of it being burnt down. In fact you will find a lack of history between 1933-45 here. They focus strongly on the oppression under the Berlin wall! It is a long wait at the Parliament building and you only get to go to the dome on the top to get an audio guided tour of the view of Berlin. No Signe of Chancellor Merkel sadly.
That night we went out on a bar crawl, £11 again with one free drink and free shots at the bars. Pretty good night has to be said. Anyway next day woke up at 12, all tired from the night before with still a fair few things to see.
We made our way towards Checkpoint Charlie, on our way we walked past a motorcade parked up at the University, one car had the coat of arms for Germany on a flag attached to the front. I asked a Police officer who was there. He said that the President of Germany was inside the building. So we waited around for 5 minutes and sure enough the President of Germany came out. Being a more figure head position I had no idea which of the men walking out of the building was the President. All I knew was that Merkel had trouble getting him elected. I soon worked out who was the President, and he said Gudentag to me, so I replied. We reached Checkpoint Charlie which being American was next to a McDonalds! We visited the Berlin Wall Museum which though interesting was filled with information, it will take the best part of the day to read it all. It is filled with stories of escape from East Berlin to the West. What is also interesting is they had files with the names of people who were killed or died trying to escape from the East. There were at least 8 files filled with names. We then went on in search of the remains of the Berlin Wall that was still standing. It stands next to the grounds where the Gestapo building stood, which is now an open air museum. Tired as we were we made our way to the Jewish museum. Set up as a reminder of the Holocaust. The garden set as a memorial was quite interesting. It was pillars set in a slanted ground. The Holocaust tower was a room that high ceiling with one slit in it for daylight, however when we went it was dark so no light entered the room, it was quite moving. The section on the Holocaust was very interesting. It had memos from the Gestapo & SS with regards to the ‘Jewish solution’ as the Nazis called it. It showed footage from The Hague with relation to the War trials. Letters from the camps. I have to say the rest of the Museum wasn’t interesting at all, in my opinion.
Only spent one night here however taking the 6.20am bus to Stockholm meant we had the best part of the day to go round the city. With the rest of our party joining us at around 7 that evening the rest of us went sightseeing. I have of course spent one night in Stockholm before however it was nice to see it again. This time I went to City Hall which gave us a wonderful view back on Old Town with the sunset making it picture perfect. We’d checked into the Hostel which was just around the corner from the Bus station, handy for an early morning start! The room was rather nice, 4 bunk beds 2 on either side of the room. Once the others had arrived we went to an all you can eat Thai buffet, (typical Swedish food I know) Once we’d stocked up on food we decided to go to the famous Ice Bar. This is owned by the same company that owns the Ice Hotel in the North of Sweden. For around £15 you get your entry and your first drink included, (all other drinks after cost around £9!) Your first enter a room where you put on your coat as the Ice Bar is about -5C. The sessions are limited to half an hour (and the staff rotates every 2 hours) Walking through the door into the bar, it felt like being back in the freezers at Sainsburys, just with better use of Ice! The room had a few ice sculptures standing around the room; a Jelly fish carved into a block of ice took the centre alongside a carving of an old diving suit. An octopus was carved into a table next to a seating area. The bar also made completely out of ice took up one side of the room. We had a choice of cocktails to choose from. The glasses were pretty cool (pardon the pun) being made out of ice also. You had to have your gloves on to hold it. I then took on the challenge of eating the glass after finishing my drink. I always eat the Ice when it comes in my other drinks why not this one. They only get melted down and re-sculptured. It is defiantly something worth doing, and it gives you an insight into the Ice Hotel up north which I hope to visit.
Prague
Getting up fairly early In the morning to make our way to the airport that Ryanair use. It’s apparently a Stockholm airport but is an 82 minute coach ride away in a town called Nyköping! Gotta love Ryanair. The airport is shared with the Swedish Coastguard. Anyway, first flight with this low cost airline, so let’s keep an open mind. It is only costing £10 anyway. One thing that was questionable; whilst stating the flight was non smoking they did offer an alternative, smokeless cigarettes, cigarettes you could smoke in places you weren’t allowed to smoke, clever I admit however the line “& if you don’t smoke maybe you can start with smokeless” was a bit of a legal concern! The landing on this Ryanair flight was interesting to say the least. I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to slow the plain down before you land and not just slam on the breaks when you touch the ground!
The architecture in Prague is quite unique it feels just like a stereotypical Eastern European city. There is a big emphasis on their communist past. You will find communist poster dotted around, especially ones advertising the communism museum (sadly we didn’t have time to visit it) No mention of the German occupation. The hostel was just around the corner from an old bell tower which towered up over the street. Opposite a 200 store shopping centre it was clash of old and new. The old town Square is a beautiful place to stand. The Cathedral towers over the square with the clock tower opposite. Every hour on the hour a crowd gathers at the clock tower to watch it chime. It’s quite like a giant Swiss clock with little figures signing the hour, followed by a guard in the clock tower who then plays a tune from his trumpet at all four sides of the viewing platform of the tower. You can get horse and cart rides from the old town centre which just adds to the character of the old square in the background. Prague is called the most atheist city yet it has plenty of churches. It is true in Prague beer is cheaper than water! Around £1 a pint with a bottle of water costing £2. One thing to note is the great customer service you receive in Prague! They say a smile costs nothing yet apparently that’s too expensive for some people in Prague! I should point out, English is spoken here especially in the tourist zones, with regards to eating out you can ask for a menu in English to save you working out what on earth it is you are ordering. For our first meal in Prague we went to a traditional Czech restaurant. I ordered a Goulash with a side order of dumplings (all you can eat!) Popular Czech dishes will include beef, pork & chicken. Another favourite is fried cheese.
The tourist attractions are within walking distance. The fees associated with the attractions are around £1 each, so great value. One thing I recommend as a must visit is the Castle grounds. Up at the top of a hill with an amazing view over the city is the Royal Palace. The castle itself surrounds the centre piece of the site which is a huge cathedral towering over the palace and the city. This is a wonderful piece of architecture. The front has similarities with Notre Dame.
The food stands around the tourist areas are of good quality selling things such as belly pork which was heavenly (but can be pricey). If you make it 30 Czech Crown to the pound you have a good margin of era, it’s on average about 27.4 to the pound but 30 is easier to work out. It is cheap in Prague however if you go to the shopping centre with well known stores such as Topshop, M&S etc (The Aussies wanted to go!) you will find the exchange rates a bit odd as the big stores will put their prices on the tags in many currencies. In M&S in particular the price in Swedish Krona is almost double the value when converted to Euros. So be careful.
The Old Charles Bridge is well worth a walk over, pedestrians only so you can take your time and stop at the stands selling jewellery, paintings or even get a portrait/characture done, there are plenty of them! There are plenty of tourist shops around with the majority of them selling Czech glass, ranging from affordable to expensive (as you’d expect) finding a Czech flag was quite hard but got it and it now hangs in my room along with the others I have gained.
For a night out I would recommend one of the bar crawls (plenty of them). For around £10 you can have an all you can drink pre party followed by a few bars. The pre party was in the basement of a converted church. (Interesting, see how many sins you can commit in a church!) The unlimited drinks were limited to Beer, nasty wine and watered down shots. So good thing it was all you can drink because the drinks in the bars afterwards were around £3. O not to self never have cider in Prague unless it is the Swedish one. It was really bitter, just like the wine.
Note the Czech Rep doesn’t have a smoking ban, when you are used to this in Britain and other European countries it can take a bit of getting used to again, in restaurants it can be coped with however smoking in clubs at night caused me a few breathing problems, I have no idea how the asthmatics among our party coped! Be prepared for your clothes to sting of cigarettes when you get home, so pack extra clothes is my advice.
Berlin
Our time is up in Prague and we now move on to Berlin, a city we were all excited to go & see due to its history. Having only been to Germany once for 24 hours in the north of the country I wasn’t sure what to expect. We got the train from Prague Central and were on our way. It was around a 4 hour trip. You could tell when you entered Germany because the accents on the signs suddenly changed, and then you had a changeover of train guards from Czech to German. We arrived in Berlin to a wave of confusion about how we should get to the hostel. We decided that instead of faffing about with the underground we would just get a taxi. Just under 10 Euro a bargain compared to Sweden. Although the Euro £ exchange rate wasn’t in our favour as it was about 87p to the Euro, compared to the days when it was about 70p it turns out we had two different addresses for the hostel due to a mix up with the name. Our Hostel was just around the corner from the TV tower which I fell in love with, (the tallest building in the EU, surly upsetting the French!) and also just about a 5 min walk from the Main cathedral in Berlin (Berliner Dom)
Our first night was a fairly quiet one, One of our party went off to watch a play in German by a play write who she had studied before whilst we all went off to find something to eat. We ended up in an Asian restaurant! The Aussies & Canadian were excited by the fact you can drink in the streets here. A novelty that didn’t fade over time. This was clearly man time with conversation over dinner and beyond of a masculine nature! Berlin I have to say is quite, well strange is a way of saying it, maybe different is probably more applicable. Prostitutes walk around touting for business, and there are a lot of them. Bless though Christian I have to say came up with a quote that will stick with me for a while, “Was that a Prostitute? I’ve never seen one before” O dear! After moving on from them we ended up walking down an ally (As you do in an unknown city at night!) to find open fires and drinking in a square behind some buildings, quite tense I have to say, but the others seemed to be enjoying themselves. Something I would not do normally, chat to prostitutes and go down an ally!!!! Anyway Jo saved my life and texted to say her play had finished, so I was a happy boy.
The next day we returned to more normal things of sightseeing. We started off at the Berliner Dom which is quite a grand church; the restoration of it was only finished in 1993 after it was destroyed during the final days of the War. They did a good job it looks as if it was undamaged and had stood tall throughout history, about £2.50 to enter, but worth it. Especially for the views you can get from the roof. It is very grand inside, we’d stumbled on the beginning of a service, which of course we didn’t stay for! We went on the hike to the top to get the views. After that we ended up in the well I’m sure it’s not called this but basement. Where German royalty is buried alongside one unknown. The coffins had their crowns placed on top of them.
We continued our walk towards the Brandenburg Gate. Now a game we have played throughout our trip was to spot the embassies. Russia has the grandest one in Berlin I have to say however the embassies are on the ‘Eastern side’ of Berlin. The Brandenburg gate is quite something, creating quite a buzz. You have for the tourists people dressed up in the old military uniforms of the soviets and the East Berliner and on the other side the American and West Berliner, and where the hell would you be without Star War’s very own Darth Vader at a historical sight such as this!
We then moved onto the Reichstag, fun quote from the guide book “Why is the Reichstag called the Reichstag? It is not! It is called the Bundestag” Fancy being told off by a leaflet! Also the leaflet states “The Bundestag is not built on a foundation of sand” They really struggled for things to write about this place! No mention of it being burnt down. In fact you will find a lack of history between 1933-45 here. They focus strongly on the oppression under the Berlin wall! It is a long wait at the Parliament building and you only get to go to the dome on the top to get an audio guided tour of the view of Berlin. No Signe of Chancellor Merkel sadly.
That night we went out on a bar crawl, £11 again with one free drink and free shots at the bars. Pretty good night has to be said. Anyway next day woke up at 12, all tired from the night before with still a fair few things to see.
We made our way towards Checkpoint Charlie, on our way we walked past a motorcade parked up at the University, one car had the coat of arms for Germany on a flag attached to the front. I asked a Police officer who was there. He said that the President of Germany was inside the building. So we waited around for 5 minutes and sure enough the President of Germany came out. Being a more figure head position I had no idea which of the men walking out of the building was the President. All I knew was that Merkel had trouble getting him elected. I soon worked out who was the President, and he said Gudentag to me, so I replied. We reached Checkpoint Charlie which being American was next to a McDonalds! We visited the Berlin Wall Museum which though interesting was filled with information, it will take the best part of the day to read it all. It is filled with stories of escape from East Berlin to the West. What is also interesting is they had files with the names of people who were killed or died trying to escape from the East. There were at least 8 files filled with names. We then went on in search of the remains of the Berlin Wall that was still standing. It stands next to the grounds where the Gestapo building stood, which is now an open air museum. Tired as we were we made our way to the Jewish museum. Set up as a reminder of the Holocaust. The garden set as a memorial was quite interesting. It was pillars set in a slanted ground. The Holocaust tower was a room that high ceiling with one slit in it for daylight, however when we went it was dark so no light entered the room, it was quite moving. The section on the Holocaust was very interesting. It had memos from the Gestapo & SS with regards to the ‘Jewish solution’ as the Nazis called it. It showed footage from The Hague with relation to the War trials. Letters from the camps. I have to say the rest of the Museum wasn’t interesting at all, in my opinion.
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Winter Chills & Exams (Month 2)
Well I have now been here in Sweden for 2 months. I have to say in comparison to the last month it’s not been as hectic and active. The weather is changing quickly now. We are in what the Swedes have called ‘British Winter’ It feels like a December morning. The frost is coming and with that Ice is also appearing. (Being surrounded by hills makes walking around the risky part to my day!) It has snowed a little now, not as much here in Huskvarna, I keep getting texts from friends in Råslätt (The other side of jönköping) saying they have snow. It just rains over this side.
The A1 quarter is over and I´ve just had the exams. What a contrast in exam procedures. In the UK once you enter the room you aren’t allowed to talk, you have to sit quietly and wait to be told the exam has started. In Sweden you can chat away and once you receive the exam paper away you go. Also they offer you way too much time for the exam. Apparently they don’t want students to be pressured for time in their exam. You will be given 5 hours for an exam that realistically 2-3 hours suffices. Also in the UK if you need to use the toilet during an exam, an invigilator has to follow you to ensure you don’t cheat, here in Sweden all you do is sign when you go to the loo and that’s it the amount of people that go in looking worried and stressed and come out looking happy is amazing. Such a contrast.
For a post exam break myself and a few friends are heading to Prague then Berlin, having never been to either of these cities it’s quite an exciting prospect. We leave in a few days spend 1 night in Stockholm 2 nights in Prague then 3 nights in Berlin. Not much else to report sadly, due to the exams. Much more to write about once I get back my travels.
The A1 quarter is over and I´ve just had the exams. What a contrast in exam procedures. In the UK once you enter the room you aren’t allowed to talk, you have to sit quietly and wait to be told the exam has started. In Sweden you can chat away and once you receive the exam paper away you go. Also they offer you way too much time for the exam. Apparently they don’t want students to be pressured for time in their exam. You will be given 5 hours for an exam that realistically 2-3 hours suffices. Also in the UK if you need to use the toilet during an exam, an invigilator has to follow you to ensure you don’t cheat, here in Sweden all you do is sign when you go to the loo and that’s it the amount of people that go in looking worried and stressed and come out looking happy is amazing. Such a contrast.
For a post exam break myself and a few friends are heading to Prague then Berlin, having never been to either of these cities it’s quite an exciting prospect. We leave in a few days spend 1 night in Stockholm 2 nights in Prague then 3 nights in Berlin. Not much else to report sadly, due to the exams. Much more to write about once I get back my travels.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Autumn Leaves
As a stereotypical Brit I shall start by talking about the weather. It is getting colder, the Aussies are complaining and so are some of the Europeans, the Swedes are starting to wear coats and gloves, however I am still walking round with just my hoodie for warmth. I must have really good circulation. The temperature ranges from about 10C during the day to 3C at night, the other night it was supposed to have reached 0C. To me it just feels like the end of November for me, the cars start to mist up at night and in the early morning. The trees are either losing their leaves or they’re changing colour, living out here in Huskvarna surrounded by forests is actually quite beautiful and with the lake in the distance it makes for a wonderful view. I don’t think I could ever get sick of that view on my way to the bus/train stop especially on a day like today where it was clear blue sky, ice blue lake and the golden tree covered hills with the houses dotted about. If it weren’t so autumnal it would look like a Greek Island or something to that effect.
Any who as I haven’t written in a while I have a lot to fill you in on. I say a lot probably isn’t actually that much. Let’s think back:
Tallin Cruise
Well I woke up at probably half past 5 to get the train in to go and queue for tickets on this Scandinavian University’s cruise to Estonia. It was the first time I had used my Skiing coat and winter boots. Standing for over three hours in what can only be described as a free for all huddle rather than a queue (Moaning again!) by the time our part of the queue had actually managed to get into the warmth of Student House we were informed the tickets had all gone, I have to say that due to the lack of order in the queue some people who were behind us ended up getting tickets by pushing their way through, we weren’t happy. So that little trip is out of the window, lucky for me they repeat it again next semester!
Diploma in Trading
I took a two day crash course in Financial Trading, from GCMS in association with Copenhagen Business School. It was a 9-4 course for the two days covering the important parts of financial trading such as foreign exchanges and EFDs on shares etc. This was quite good as I do get a qualification out of it. During the second day we were set to work on the simulation, with a budget of 1,000,000 I made 70,000 in one day! Pretty good, When it came to the group trading this is where it went wrong. My team mates seemed to forget that the value can go up as well as down, due to some bad moves made by team mates were were down on luck, however I stepped in and made a few risky trades which managed to reduce our losses by a significant amount. We then came 2nd out of 5 groups and only lost by $30, had the group listened to me and kept our other trades for longer we would have won by $160. So there is a future in trading for me!
JSA Election Committee
Well this email looks interesting ‘Click’ “Apply now to become a member of the JSA Election Committee. You will be responsible for interviewing potential candidates to face the vote.” Now before I go further I shall explain what JSA is. Jönköping University has the main Student Union then each individual school has its own union. JSA stands for JIBS Student Association and is for the Business school. Anyway I submitted my application and have been successful in gaining a seat on the committee so looks like I will be involved in Swedish Student Politics.
Sport
Nope that isn’t a typo. I have finally joined the Student Sport Association (Its quite big here in Sweden to belong to an association) anyway I have played some badminton though there weren’t many people there. However I do intend to go back. Anyway the big news is I have finally managed to track down the Rowing squad and shall be returning to the water almost one year after my knee injury which ruled me out of last season. I can’t wait to get back into it, all be it my knee will be strapped up, I’m not risking anything this time. Lake Vättern will be really nice to row in. It goes right passed the uni.
Health and Immigration
Two areas I have recently had experience with so I thought I’d blog it. Firstly Health: Although Swedes are taxed up to their eyeballs here Healthcare still isn’t free. You have to pay the first £100 to see a Dr so that is 10 trips at £10, after that your Dr Visits are free. Prescriptions are also not cheap. You have to pay the first £9 then if you have a Swedish Identity number you pay half the remaining cost of the drugs, up to a certain level. As I am waiting on my Swedish number I had to pay full wack, not fun at all. With regards to immigration I am now registered as an EU student living in Sweden. I had to go to the immigration office across town and into the office. The set up was really weird. You got out of the lift into the office where the forms were on the wall to fill in and then a waiting area. You take a ticket and wait for your number. When your number is called this what looked like a bomb proof door opens electronically then gets shut behind you and locks itself. Interesting if that weren’t enough the office workers are behind glass screens also. Now to register as a student living here (Which you must do if you are in the country for more than 3 months) then you need your Passport, University acceptance letter and proof that you have medical insurance (in my case the EU medical card) then you need your address and to sign forms saying you can support yourself financially. I am currently waiting on my Swedish personal number to be sent through to me.
Dodgeball
Right firstly I should explain how this came about. One of the many modules here is based on Enterprise, and the students taking this course are split into groups and given 200Kr (£20) they then have to come up with an idea that will make them profit. Ideas such as jewellery, patches for overalls, Iphone covers, plenty of thermos flasks for coffees, Swedish to English shopping guide etc etc. One of the groups came up with the idea of a dogdeball tournament. 16 teams of 6 at 120Kr (£12) per team to partake. Fancy dress obviously. This was great fun to watch with all sorts of costumes, the biggest looser (which is apparently quite big here) Old Grannies, Tiger Woods and his mistresses etc. Great laugh to watch, sadly the team I threw my support behind (Team Aussie) didn’t make it through the first round. My god there was a lot of cheating going on luckily the audience wasn’t having any of it.
Exams
Yes exam season is upon us I’ve already had my first one which was Swedish and it was on a Saturday morning at 9am!!! Honestly, outrageous. Anyway I’m not sure how it went I think I did well in the reading section and the word order etc, but as per usual the grammar section threw me. I find it hard to learn grammar in this sort of scientific way, I don’t even know what some of the words are grouped into in English let alone Swedish. We shall see when the results come in. I have however had my Creative Writing test for Swedish, which is where we were given a picture and had to write about it. I was given a picture of people in a bar, so I created a dialogue between two of the characters. This got me 90% which I was chuffed to bits with.
Well I think you’re all up to date now.
Cheerio for now
Any who as I haven’t written in a while I have a lot to fill you in on. I say a lot probably isn’t actually that much. Let’s think back:
Tallin Cruise
Well I woke up at probably half past 5 to get the train in to go and queue for tickets on this Scandinavian University’s cruise to Estonia. It was the first time I had used my Skiing coat and winter boots. Standing for over three hours in what can only be described as a free for all huddle rather than a queue (Moaning again!) by the time our part of the queue had actually managed to get into the warmth of Student House we were informed the tickets had all gone, I have to say that due to the lack of order in the queue some people who were behind us ended up getting tickets by pushing their way through, we weren’t happy. So that little trip is out of the window, lucky for me they repeat it again next semester!
Diploma in Trading
I took a two day crash course in Financial Trading, from GCMS in association with Copenhagen Business School. It was a 9-4 course for the two days covering the important parts of financial trading such as foreign exchanges and EFDs on shares etc. This was quite good as I do get a qualification out of it. During the second day we were set to work on the simulation, with a budget of 1,000,000 I made 70,000 in one day! Pretty good, When it came to the group trading this is where it went wrong. My team mates seemed to forget that the value can go up as well as down, due to some bad moves made by team mates were were down on luck, however I stepped in and made a few risky trades which managed to reduce our losses by a significant amount. We then came 2nd out of 5 groups and only lost by $30, had the group listened to me and kept our other trades for longer we would have won by $160. So there is a future in trading for me!
JSA Election Committee
Well this email looks interesting ‘Click’ “Apply now to become a member of the JSA Election Committee. You will be responsible for interviewing potential candidates to face the vote.” Now before I go further I shall explain what JSA is. Jönköping University has the main Student Union then each individual school has its own union. JSA stands for JIBS Student Association and is for the Business school. Anyway I submitted my application and have been successful in gaining a seat on the committee so looks like I will be involved in Swedish Student Politics.
Sport
Nope that isn’t a typo. I have finally joined the Student Sport Association (Its quite big here in Sweden to belong to an association) anyway I have played some badminton though there weren’t many people there. However I do intend to go back. Anyway the big news is I have finally managed to track down the Rowing squad and shall be returning to the water almost one year after my knee injury which ruled me out of last season. I can’t wait to get back into it, all be it my knee will be strapped up, I’m not risking anything this time. Lake Vättern will be really nice to row in. It goes right passed the uni.
Health and Immigration
Two areas I have recently had experience with so I thought I’d blog it. Firstly Health: Although Swedes are taxed up to their eyeballs here Healthcare still isn’t free. You have to pay the first £100 to see a Dr so that is 10 trips at £10, after that your Dr Visits are free. Prescriptions are also not cheap. You have to pay the first £9 then if you have a Swedish Identity number you pay half the remaining cost of the drugs, up to a certain level. As I am waiting on my Swedish number I had to pay full wack, not fun at all. With regards to immigration I am now registered as an EU student living in Sweden. I had to go to the immigration office across town and into the office. The set up was really weird. You got out of the lift into the office where the forms were on the wall to fill in and then a waiting area. You take a ticket and wait for your number. When your number is called this what looked like a bomb proof door opens electronically then gets shut behind you and locks itself. Interesting if that weren’t enough the office workers are behind glass screens also. Now to register as a student living here (Which you must do if you are in the country for more than 3 months) then you need your Passport, University acceptance letter and proof that you have medical insurance (in my case the EU medical card) then you need your address and to sign forms saying you can support yourself financially. I am currently waiting on my Swedish personal number to be sent through to me.
Dodgeball
Right firstly I should explain how this came about. One of the many modules here is based on Enterprise, and the students taking this course are split into groups and given 200Kr (£20) they then have to come up with an idea that will make them profit. Ideas such as jewellery, patches for overalls, Iphone covers, plenty of thermos flasks for coffees, Swedish to English shopping guide etc etc. One of the groups came up with the idea of a dogdeball tournament. 16 teams of 6 at 120Kr (£12) per team to partake. Fancy dress obviously. This was great fun to watch with all sorts of costumes, the biggest looser (which is apparently quite big here) Old Grannies, Tiger Woods and his mistresses etc. Great laugh to watch, sadly the team I threw my support behind (Team Aussie) didn’t make it through the first round. My god there was a lot of cheating going on luckily the audience wasn’t having any of it.
Exams
Yes exam season is upon us I’ve already had my first one which was Swedish and it was on a Saturday morning at 9am!!! Honestly, outrageous. Anyway I’m not sure how it went I think I did well in the reading section and the word order etc, but as per usual the grammar section threw me. I find it hard to learn grammar in this sort of scientific way, I don’t even know what some of the words are grouped into in English let alone Swedish. We shall see when the results come in. I have however had my Creative Writing test for Swedish, which is where we were given a picture and had to write about it. I was given a picture of people in a bar, so I created a dialogue between two of the characters. This got me 90% which I was chuffed to bits with.
Well I think you’re all up to date now.
Cheerio for now
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