December

Wow...Where do I begin? This has truly been an amazing month! I know I have not been very good at blogging the past month, but once you hear what I've been up to I'm hoping you'll find it in your hearts to forgive me.

Well I suppose the best place to begin is at the beginning and that would be 1 December, World AIDS Day, and the official launch of my project ImPATCHit! Arriving back from Kiruna on the same day made things a little difficult and added a lot to my stress, but it was all for nothing as my friends really had my back and the launch of the project went off with a bang! There were close to 300 people at the launch party, most wearing red to show their support for the fight against AIDS. Everybody had a great time, the club looked amazing and we were able to sell over 300 patches on the first day alone.

The next two weeks we devoted all of our lunch times to selling patches in the student building and it was not difficult to reach our first target of 500 patches. This is enough to support  2 Gogo's for a year each! There has been a lot of interest from the students and I hope their enthusiasm will continue in the new year when I hope to launch phase 2 of the project and really get it on the map! None of this would not have been possible without my friend's help and if you guys are reading this then a big, big thank you...I owe you big time!

Of course December is also the festive season and one of the advantages of having so many international students friends was being able to see how all the different countires celebrate. I went to numerous Christmass parties including a Dutch Sinterklaus, a German Christmass party and of course a Swedish Rotary Christmas lunch.

One of the really nice things that one can not help, but notice is how the Swedes decorate their homes. They all have special candles in their windows. As December is the darkest month of the year, it is a beautiful way to make the darkness more bearable! It also has something to do with the festival of light or rather St Lucia that is held on the 13 December. Choirs dressed in white sing in the dark with real candles in their hair to symbolise that the winter is ending and that the days will now start getting longer. The singing is very moving and is a wonderful thing to experience. Yet another perfect example of how the Swedes have adapted to living in such a harsh climate.

Another highlight was the visit of Loria, a friend from Potch who is currently studying in Belgium. It was really fun showing her around and being able to discuss how different things were not only from SA, but also Belgium. We explored Linköping and did the winter lights tour. Certain parts of the town have been lit up by special lighting effects and its really nice to walk and see all them all. (Again coping with life in the dark!)

Our visit to Stockholm was amazing as we got to see the famous Christmas markets, we visited the Nobel Museum and even found places where we were the only foreigners! The weather was very cold and it was a little bad until it started to SNOW and made it all worth while. It was the first real snow of the season and we were like little children running around trying to catch snow flakes on our tounges. I swear the people must of thought we were mad! It was an amazing experience and Stockholm became even more beautiful (I did not think that was possible).

After Loria's visit things started to get a little sad as all the Erasmus students also started to leave. They are only on exchange for one semester and many of my good friends will not be coming back to Linköping. So a lot of time was spent saying goodbye with a lot of people holding farewell parties, dinners and fika's. I had no idea how many close friends I'd made until it was time to say good bye! Luckily I'll get to see them all on my tour of Europe in June and July.

One funny thing to come out of everyone leaving is that I'm now the proud owner of 8 bicycles! I've been given a lot of bicycles to sell on behalf of their owners and some of the money will go to ImPATCHit!

After all the goodbyes I was glad to be spending Christmas with Birgitta and Thomas in the south of Sweden. They live in probably the smallest village in Sweden called Gummemåla, only 5 families, right in the middle of what is called the Kingdom of Glass because of all the glass works in the area.

Christmas is mainly celebrated on the 24th with a special smårgasbord called a Julbord. Which is a kind of buffet with a variety of herring, salmon, gammon, special sausages and a potatoe dishes. Their daughter and her boyfriend came over and we had fun eating, talking and of course drinking schnapps (you always drink it with herring).

Lunch was followed by another Swedish tradition that is now 40 years old. That is to watch an hour of Donald Duck and other cartoons at 3 o'clock. All festivities revolve around this show and the entire family, both young and old, will sit and watch it. There are some traditional skits, but also some from more recent cartoons.

Donald duck is followed by the opening of presents and then generally just relaxing and enjoying the snow outside from in front of an open fireplace. Later we enjoyed a viking bath which is a hot tub outside in the cold accompanied again by rolling in the snow and jumping back in the bath! There is another tradition at supper of rice porridge with cinnamon accompanied by gammon and mustard on bread...very yummy!

The days after christmas were very relaxing and I was able to do a lot of reading in front of the fire. We also had the governor and my hosts from the conference, Lena and Bo, over for dinner one night, a salmon braai in a special braai hut, and it was nice to be able to see them all again.

No trip to the Kingdom of glass is complete without a visit to a glass works and it was amazing to see how they hand make these beautiful works of art. I also had a chance to try some glass blowing and even though everybody said I did very well, I don't think I'll be changing occupations anytime soon.

My time in the south was really relaxing and I look forward to returning in May when I plan to give some presentations. Thank you again to Birgitta and Thomas for making me feel like part of the family.

I spent New Years with some German friends in Norrköping. We had loads of fun and it was the perfect way to end one year and start another. The combination of snow, fireworks and friends really made it memorable.

So ended my 2009 and looking back on it now it will be a year I will always remember.

I hope you had a "god jul och gott nytt år" and that 2010 brings you all amazing blessings.

Hej då

PS: Sorry for the extremely long post, I'll try keep up to date in the future =)

The Kiruna Dozen

I hope you enjoy this video. I thought I would try something different this time, but unfortunately it has taken me a little longer to complete than usual. I tried my best!

It is just a random collection of photo's and videos documenting some of the things I did while in Kiruna  with some friends at the end of November. Kiruna is a city in the far north of Sweden about 200km above the Arctic Circle. Most Swedes have not even been there because it is so far away (approximately 1500 km from Stockholm)

It was cold, it was dark, but it was loads of fun!

Hej då

Italy

Do you know that feeling? You know that one you have when you have been waiting almost 23 years for something to happen, say go on a very special trip, and now as you sit on the bus, travelling the last stretch home, it all seems a little unreal? My trip to Italy was so perfect that it almost seems like it was a dream and a big part of me is sad that it had to end.

“Why are you always smiling?” Davide asked me as we stood outside Zia Teresa’s front door waiting for the ‘very big’ lift.

“Because I’m always happy!” Was my simple answer.

This was the simple answer, but in truth there were two reasons. The first was that I always had this big smile on my face because I had no idea what everyone was talking about and trust me in Italy they are always talking! The smile seemed to be the simplest way for me to hide my total confusion without looking too silly, but looking back it now seems it might have made me look a little “crazy” as Davide would say.

The second is that I really was happy all the time. From the moment I was greeted at the airport I was fed, pampered, fed, taken sightseeing, fed,  taken shopping, fed, introduced to practically everyone related to me and oh did I mention there was food involved?

If you did not already realise it I had a lot to eat. Every day at lunch there were 5 course meals to be enjoyed. I ate antipasti’s, pasta, fish, meat, lasagne, traditional Molfetta seafood dishes, fruit, nuts, cakes, sweets, chocolates, red wine, liquors and of course coffee. Espresso’s and Latte’s like you have never tasted before. I even ate Taralli’s, a delicious Italian biscuit that I last ate almost five years ago! I ate so many of these doughnut shaped biscuits I was in real danger of becoming doughnut shaped. Now that I think about it I am a little bit more round...

When I wasn’t eating I was sightseeing. The south of Italy is beautiful with its old white stoned fishing towns, rocky coastline, hectare upon hectare of olive orchids and vineyards. I had some amazing walks through old towns, like Molfetta, Trani and Giovinazzo, that at night come alive with activity. There are throngs of people everywhere just walking, talking, shopping and of course eating. I also visited an 17^th century gun powder factory, in the amazing setting of a sink hole, and Castle del Monte, a curiously built castle on a hill from which you can practically see forever in all directions.

Another highlight was getting to meet so many of my relative and trust me there are a lot. From aunts, uncles, great aunts and cousins both big and small. On the Saturday night Zia Teresa hosted a ‘little’ family get together and I was able to meet everyone. It was a little difficult to communicate, but it was fantastic just to stand in a corner and watch them all. Italians really are a lively lot and I don’t think there was a second of silence from the moment the first people walked in to the moment the last person left. It was so much fun!

Afterwards I went out dancing with my cousin Marco and his friends. Now at the time when Swedish, and even South African parties, usually end Italian parties only get started. If we had sat for just another half an hour on that dock drinking espresso we would have seen the sunrise, but I think we were all just a little too tired.

To recount all my adventures of the last week would be a blog on its own and even to put only half of the pictures I took would be difficult, but know that this little trip to Italy was easily one of the most memorable ones I’ve ever taken and I can’t wait to go again in the summer.

Hej då

PS: I dedicate this post to the loving memory of my Nonna.

Oslo

In another moment of spontaneity a couple of weeks ago my two travel buddies, Dani and Silke, where able to persuade me (not that I really needed much persuasion) to join them on a trip to Oslo. A one night, two day trip travelling with none other than inexpensive Raynair Airlines.

So it was that very early last Saturday morning (I'm talking about 3 in the morning) I found myself braving the cold with the two girls cycling to the train station to catch a bus to the Airport, where we took a very short flight to a Norwegian Airport and then taking another bus found ourselves in Oslo...the most expensive city in the world! (and I'm not over exagerating check out this link)

You might be wondering what do three exchange students from Sweden do in a city like Oslo? Now that is a very good question and the exact same one we asked ourselves as we walked out of the bus station in Oslo! We were all so excited about going to Oslo, but no one had bothered to find out what there was to do or see there. Luckily it was not difficult to find a tourism office where we picked up some brochures and while having a very expensive coffee at Mac Donalds planned our assault on the city.

We were lucky to find "Streetwise: Tourist information for young people visiting Oslo". This little guide book saved our lives and we soon found ourselves referring to it every time we had a question. It had all the best information like; what was free, the cheapest bars, the best sightseeing walks and even where to find the best, free, public toilets (they were at city hall!) It was amazing!

So armed with our guide book we set off exploring Oslo. It is an interesting city and again very different to the other two Scandinavian Capitals I have visited. Here I found a lot more of a relaxed, young, party vibe. I don't know if it had to do with the big soccer final being played (every person was either wearing orange or blue to support their team) or because of the World Music Festival being hosted in the city (did not see a single show because we could not afford it), but the city was crowded! It was loads of fun visiting the Castle and watching the guards march around all seriously (think it had to do with the fact that the King was in residents) and visiting the really expensive shopping malls.

One of the best things was when someone stopped us, started chatting away in Norweigan and gave us a flyer. Now Norweigan is very similar to Swedish and we were able to make out two very important words on the flyer...FREE FOOD! So of course very interested we went in search of this food. We found a large tent on the warf and here true as bob were people giving away food! Not just any food, but Norwegian sushi, cheese and crackers, and even cooldrink. We couldn't believe our luck and casually helped ourselves and ate our fill while pretending to read the marketing material the people handed out to us. The best part was that just as we were about to leave it started to pour with rain so we were forced to stay longer and eat some more!

Very pleased with ourselves we continued exploring visiting City Hall, the Noble Peace Center, a Contemporary Art Museum and a variety of other interesting places. We eventually found our way to our hostel and to our 6 bedded room that we shared with 5 other people (this is an internal joke and it will make more sense when you look at the photos). After  a short siesta we went in search of some entertainment and with the help of our trusty guidebook we eventually found a pub/disco where we could enjoy a pitcher of beer (R200/L) and a basket of tacos (R70). We sipped at the pitcher for as long as possible and then as it had been a long day headed back to the hostel and sleep.

The next morning after a very simple buffet breakfast at the hotel we went in search and found some Sunday markets. They sold a variety of handcrafts, art and antiques and we enjoyed just milling through the many tables and stalls. This search took us to a few interesting suburbs of Oslo and we were able to see more than the average tourist with regards to life in Norway.

Our next stop was the newly built Oslo Opera House. This beautiful white marble building, built over the water. is sloped in such a way that it looks like a mini snow covered mountain and you are able to climb all the way to the top and enjoy the view of Oslo. (Just a pity it was overcast).

After spending sometime at the opera house we went in search of the old city and slowly found our way back to bus stop, then airport, then eventually back in Linköping on Sunday night. It was a long two days filled with lots of walking, but we were able to see a lot of the city and I'm very glad I went.

In the end it did not even turn out to cost that much either!

Hej då

PS: I now know what currency they use in Norway ;-)

A bit of this and that

I’m really sorry about not writing a proper blog last week, but it has been a rough past two weeks. I can’t exactly put my finger on what I’ve been doing, but I hardly seem to have a free second.

The majority of last week was spent writing my exam essays. I know it may not sound like it is very difficult, but if your studies for the past couple of years has comprised solely of solving mathematical problems and you have not come anywhere near writing essays with strict rules concerning how you must reference in Harvard style then you too would be stressing every time you put a pen to paper  because you are hoping that what you are saying is truly original! They even have a special computer programme that you must send your essays to so that they can be crossed referenced against the entire internet!

Besides the exam it has, once again, been a very social couple of weeks. I attended a birthday party, another ice hockey game (LHC lost), went dancing, was invited to dinners, went to a Swedish Rotary version of Oktoberfest and it was the infamous Intervallen Thank You party. This party was well worth all the hard work to organise Intervallen. In the true Swedish tradition we had a ‘sitnining’ with singing, skits, jokes, games, good food, even better wine, schnapps and of course dancing until the early hours of the morning. As I said earlier it was well worth it and I would happily work again if it meant I got to go to another party like that.

Another thing that has dominated every waking moment, and even non-waking moment, of my day is my project, ImPATCHit! Students making an impact through patches...To explain the entire project would take too long and we will have a website up and running within the next month with all the information. In short myself and my committee, of about 14 international volunteers, are going to sell patches to the students at the university to (1) raise awareness of AIDS in SA and (2) raise funds to help support the goGogetters project in Knysna. Patches are a very popular way to decorate ones overall, an essential part of student attire at LiU, and we are hoping the students will buy them.

The committee is very optimistic about the project and we are frantically working hard to try and coincide the launch of the patch with World AIDS Day which is on the 1 December and thus only a month away! So please wish us luck.

I’ve also recently started to sauna. This amazing Swedish tradition is the perfect way to relax after a hectic week. Especially when after you have sweated a little inside  you go outside into the freezing cold! It feels as if every part of your body is alive and you can’t help, but feel the same. I’m lucky enough to have one at the place where I live and I’m seriously considering making it part of my weekly routine, at least for these cold winter months.

I’m currently at a coffee shop in town feeling very modern and business like with my laptop on the table and drinking coffee. I was in town early this morning for a Rotary Meeting and now I’m waiting for the bank to open before I go back to campus. I Surprised myself when I woke up this morning because the increasing cold and darkness are making it harder and harder to wake up in the mornings. I have no idea what I’m going to do in December when it is almost always dark! Anyway the bank will be open soon so I better go.

Hej då

PS: I'm a little pressed for time at the moment, so it's only words for now. I will add some photos asap...Promise!

Swedish Exam

As I sit here typing this post, I should actually be typing my two 5 page essays for my Business Ethics take home exam. However, I'm having so much trouble writing them that I seem to be finding any excuse not to. So here I am typing this blog.

As not much new and all together interesting has happened this past week I have decided to try something a little different for this post. In the spirit of exams I would like every body who reads this blog to ask me a question in the form of a comment. Then I will answer the question as a comment and maybe we can get a little dialog going of questions and answers. This way you can find out all you want to know about life in Sweden and I won't feel bad about not having written a blog in awhile. It's a win-win situation for all.

So please feel free to comment and I look forward to answering your questions.

Hej då

PS: I hope someone actually asks something otherwise I'm going to feel just a little foolish!

Week 42

I know this might seem like a strange title for a post, but so much has happened in the past week I really wanted to talk about it altogether. Plus counting weeks is a very Swedish thing to do especially at university where each weeks timetables are completely different. It really helps keep track of what is going on. Anyway after this little piece of information let me tell you about week 42.

I had hardly recovered from Intervallen when I was on my way to Stockholm (the capital of Sweden) for the first time. I say first time because I'm definitely going back! What an amazing city full of history, beauty and water, oh my word so much water! It was so hard not to take hundreds of photos of the buildings and landscape because I had the words of Aldo, my brother, ringing in my head, "...stop taking photos of the stupid old buildings, we already have enough of those in South Africa!" I really had fun exploring the city and I was spoiled rotten when I went to Emma's house. Emma is a Swedish girl who lives on an island in the Stockholm archipelago. I spent the night there with her family and was treated to Swedish pea soup, fillet steak on the braai and of course kanebulle and coffee! We also watched Sweden loose to Norway in the World Cup Qualifier and now they won't be coming to South Africa in 2010, which kind of stinks!

I also had a lot of class work this week where I worked on a group presentation about nature and business ethics. We presented it today in a seminar and I think it went well. (Just had to mention this because I really want to give a complete overview of a typical week in Sweden.)

Rotary was also a very big part of the past week. Apart from my Rotaract meeting on Monday night and the Linkoping: Aurora breakfast meeting on Tuesday, I went to dinner with some Rotarians and a GSE (Group Study Exchange) team from the Netherlands, who I'd met at the District Conference, on Wednesday. On Thursday I went to my first Ice Hockey game, also with the GSE team and Rotarians. It was fantastic and I really had a good time. Such a good time that I'm going again this Thursday with some friends. LHC, the local team, winning made it even better! GO LIONS! Ice Hockey is really big here and one can't help, but get caught up in the vibe, even the buses fly little flags to support the team. For Friday lunch I went to Linkoping: Filbyter Rotary Club where I once again met the District Governor, the GSE team and a local youth exchange student from Australia, Meg. It was a really nice meeting and I even got the opportunity to introduce myself to the club.

After the lunch I went to town with the GSE team and Meg. Of course we ended up having a fika as the weather was a little sour. Just a quick note on the weather. It is Autum and it is so beautiful. The leaves are changing color from green to yellow to red, sometimes all three colors are on the same tree...its really quiet breathtaking! The weatherman even says there is a chance of snow soon, but still no luck!

There is a little Thai restaurant in Ryd and my friends and I thought it would be fun to eat out on Friday night instead of making our own food. Talking about food I just remembered that I even cooked South African this week. It was a last minute decision, but on Tuesday night I made some Bobotie with Bread and Butter Pudding! It was really nice and the mixture of smells, red wine and SA music made me feel at home. Going to have to plan another dinner like that soon!

As it had been so long since I'd been at home, I decided that Saturday would be a good day to do my grocery shopping and luckily Henning and his car were going and I was able to tag along and really stock up. That was only after having a really nice, small and cheap breakfast at IKEA. (I really like that shop!)

Reading back through this post it does seem to be a little random, but I think it really illustrates a feeling I've been having the last couple of weeks; I'm no longer on holiday in Sweden, I actually live here now! Thinking about why it has taken me so long to realize this I came to the conclusion that it's because of all the wonderfull people I've met. Every single one of them is the reason why I feel so at home in Sweden...and for that I'm extremely grateful.

Hej då

PS: I think I'm a little home sick ?!?!

Intervallen 2009

...this was not like any of the other parties I had been to because this one was organised, with the help of ESN, entirely by exchange students! I volunteered to work at the party because I still have the RAG (Reach out and Give - The charity committee I was part of in SA, where we organised parties to raise money) blood running through my veins and I was curious to see Swedish-party-organizing-skills first hand.

The idea of Intervallen is that those exchange students who volunteer to help are divided up into 7 bars according to what country they are from and sell food and drinks from that country. So of course there was; the German Bar (Jagermeister and Curry Wors), Asian bar (Sushi and Sake), French bar (These mini cheese, french loaf things! If anybody can tell me the name please let me know? and of course wine), Spanish bar (tequila and sangria, I have no idea if they sold food?). When we started running out of people to represent one country we started making combinations like the Alpine bar who were the Austrian and Bavarian exchange students (Wheat beer and beer wors) and the Milk bar with a few Germans and Koreans (a non-alcoholic bar that sold milkshakes and cakes). But when you are left with 2 Dutch, 4 German, an Australian and a South African and put them together what do you think you get? Why the Waikiki Beach Bar of course or just Best Bar Ever for short!!!

Thats right we decided it would be fun to just to have a crazy party themed bar where people could come buy a drink and have a good time. So we sold a very special secret recipe cocktail, a funky blue shot and candy necklaces!

Thursday night is party night in Linköping. Every Thursday one of the many university committees organizes a party in Kårallen (the student building) and the students come in their overalls and party the night away. The parties usually start at 10pm and last until 3am. The big organisational nightmare is that until 6pm Kårallen houses a coffee shop, bar and restaurant. So you have to wait for them to close before you can start moving all the tables, chairs and couches out of the way to make place for the 2 dance floors, 7 bars and the wardrobe (an esential part of any Swedish party because no one wants to dance wearing their heavy snow jackets!)

I'm not going to say too much about the party itself because I think a party is a party and I'm sure the pictures will speak volumes about how great it was, but I do want to leave you thinking about how much work goes into this very short event on the night;
Arrive at 3pm to start preparing food.
4pm restaurant closes and you can start moving hundreds of tables and chairs.
5pm first few bars start to set up.
6pm normal student bar and coffee shop closes and you can start packing the couches away.
7pm started setting up and decorating our bar.
8pm start stocking bars and all the workers have supper.
9pm get given security briefing.
10pm doors open and streams of people start pouring into the student building at the same time you start running around like crazy trying to serve everyone and ensure that you don't run out of beer.
12am run out of 'cool' beer and start selling Swedish beer.
1am take a quick break to greet your friends who were clever enough not to work at the party.
2am go stand outside in the freezing cold because it's your turn on bouncer duty.
3am bars close and you chase everyone away so that you can start packing up and cleaning.
5am after everything has been mopped, the walls have been wiped and everything is packed away, the cleaning ladies arrive so that they can polish the floors with their special machines.
6am you start to pack back all the tables, chairs and couches according the pictures provided because the bar, restaurant and coffee shop want to open again.
8am you walk out of Kårallen and decide that today is just not going to be a good day to go to class.

Thank goodness I was allowed to go home at 5am because I don't think I would have made it all the way to 8am! The good thing that does come from this party is that some of the money is used to throw a "Thank you party" for all the people who worked at Intervallen and I hear that it's well worth standing on your feet for over 12 hours...I'll be sure to let you know if they are right!

Hej då

D2410 District Conference

This past weekend was one of the most inspiring weekends I've had in a very long time. Maybe it had something to do with having a lot of time to think because I did not understand much of what was going on or that I always feel so capable when I'm at a Rotary function. Capable in the sense that I know no matter what, anything is possible with Rotary!

I think I'm getting a little ahead of myself here, some background information is in order. This weekend I attended my host districts conference in a small town on the south east coast of Sweden called Torsås. The area is famous for an island called öland, where the king has his summer residence, and for a castle that is the most fortified castle in Sweden.

I left early on a very cold Friday morning with a Rotarian from my host club. If you don't mind, I'm going to side track a little and tell you about how quickly it got cold here! On Monday it was still an average autumn tempreture of about 12'C, but within 3 days I was waking up to frost on the grass and tempretures no higher than 3'C and its been like that ever since! Needless to say I spent most of last week shopping for my winter clothes. Now the Swedes having a saying that there is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothing. So it took me all week to buy the right clothes because I didn't want to make that mistake. I'll be sure to let you know if I was unsuccessful.

Back to the conference. We arrived at about lunch time at a beautiful historical hotel just outside the town. The hotel is an old farm surrounded by pine forest and only about 500m from the sea. As there was to be a board  meeting that afternoon the husband of the conference organiser and my host family for the weekend came to fetch me for an afternoon of sightseeing. I'm not usually one to get excited about a car, but when you are sightseeing in Sweden in a gold Mercedes SLK 230 I can't help it, I felt like a little boy again with a silly grin on my face the entire time!

That evening we had supper at the hotel and I got the oppotunity to meet some of the Rotarians. I really enjoyed meeting the Swedish and Latvian (the entire Latvia is part of the district, if you were wondering) Rotarians this weekend as everyone was very friendly and really made me feel welcome and I was able to make countless contacts with clubs for me to give my speeches at! Not only did I meet Rotarians, but also the 8 Youth Exchange Students and a GSE team visiting from The Neatherlands.

I seem to have gotten sidetracked again, sorry. The Saturday was the main conference day with the usual speeches and formalities of a conference. I was able to participate in the conference as they had arranged translators for us and I enjoyed listening to the famous Swedish guests, one of whom I actually recognised as 'The Weatherman', give their talks on Health, Children and the Environment (the theme for the conference).

Saturday evening I got the oppotunity to once again enjoy a Swedish banquet and really had a lot of fun singing songs, listening to 'fly in my soup jokes', eating, drinking and of course there was snaps! The diner was followed by dancing to the music of a big band and I took the oppotunity to teach the exchange students how to 'langarm'...of course! Even though the bus came to take us home at 12, it was still an amazing night that was perfectly ended with a night cap with my hosts and their neighbours at their house.

Sunday was to once again be a more business like meeting so I joined the bus that was arranged for the the wives and husbands of the Rotarians on a tour of a local harbour where we enjoyed coffee and cinnamon buns, looked at the local handcrafts and took a tour of a sailors museum.

When we arrived back at the conference I was given the oppotunity to quickly (I was only allowed 1 minute) introduce myself to the 200 odd Rotarians.It has been a long time since there has been an Ambassadorial Scholar in the District and the DG just wanted to make the rest of the clubs aware I'm here!

After lunch was the memorial service for all the Rotarians that have passed in the last year. It was very moving service at a local historical church. I really had to keep from shedding a tear as the combination of candles, an old church and beautiful singing really tugged at my sentimental side. Afterwards it was time for the long journey home and it was while travelling home that I realized how much I still want to do in Sweden and I'm starting to think that the 10 months I have left will not be enough!

I know I started this post with talk of being inspired, but what it was exactly that inspired me I have no idea. I do however now have, what I think, is an amazing idea for a project that is really going to get heads turning not only here, but in SA as well. I can't tell you what it is yet because I still have to iron out the details, but it's going to be a real ringer! So watch this space...

I would also just like to thank all the Rotarians that helped make this weekend such an amazing one. Especially Lena and Bos (My ma and pa for the weekend) for their hospitality and putting me up for the weekend. Also to Thord for allowing me to drive with him to the conference, I hope I did not talk your ear off? I know I will be seeing you all again in the near future.

(I handed out a lot of cards this weekend so I hope that they have an opportunity to read this blog)

Hej då

Helsinki?

It was last weekend that I went on my first trip out of Sweden. Now to which country that was exactly took me a little while to figure out!

Roughly 3 weeks ago when I was approached about the trip the conversation went something like this,
"Hej Damian. Do you want to join us on a ferry trip to Helsinki?"
"How much does it cost?"
"I think about 500 crowns."
"For the whole trip?"
"Yes!"
"Ok, I'll go. Can you please pass me the salt?"
And that was the end of the conversation.
It was only after an SMS to Silke asking what currency is used on the ferry and in Norway? That I found out I was going to FINLAND!

No matter what country, I was very excited about going and after a short bus ride to Stockholm we arrived at the ferry terminal. Now when I think of a ferry I always think of those little platforms that cross the rivers of the Eastern Cape that ferry a few cars over the river with the help of a rope and maybe a donkey or two. Maybe even the small tug boat like ferries that I used to cross the Bosphorus when I was in Turkey, but nothing prepared me for the gigantic cruise ship that awaited us at the docks. This ship was so big it it made the Melody look like a tug boat! First I thought it was just big, but it even had all the luxuries of a cruise ship.

The easiest way to explain the Silja liner (The name of our ship) is to compare it to the MSC Melody in the same way as you would compare SAA to One Time. With SAA you pay one price and get all the benefits, but with One Time you buy the ticket to board and the rest is pay-as-you-go! The same applied to our ship. All the shops, restaurants, even the swimming pool cost something, but being the students that we are we were quite content to stock up with supplies like sparkling wine, nuts, jerky and chocolate from the duty free shop and enjoy the few freebies that where available on board like the shows, disco, views and of course the tap water.

The one thing we did decide to indulge in was an early morning gaccuzi and sauna before we arrived in Helsinki. (You can guess the only reason we decided to do it was because it was cheap!) Shortly after our swim we arrived in Helsinki.

It was a beautiful autumn day and we enjoyed having our morning coffee at a tent coffee shop at the market on the square over looking the harbor. It was the perfect start to a day that was spent exploring the city from its old and beautiful churches to its super modern shopping centers that are built inside really old buildings.

The one thing that really struck me about the city was the age and architecture of the buildings. They all look like they come out of the middle ages (which I suppose they probably do) and they are a mixture between Swedish and Russian design. They have a distinct Swedish feel, but the odd dome every now and then tells you that they aren't. The people are also a little different to the Swedes. They seemed to be a lot more 'out there' almost making the Swedes look formal! It really was an amazing day filled with lots of walking and sightseeing, but almost too quickly our time was up and we had to return to the ship.

It was on our journey home that we came to realize the 'funny side' of our trip. We had traveled 21 hours to Helsinki to spend little over 6 hours there and now we were traveling 21 hours back! Even though the trip was a little out of proportion I had a really good time and I went to bed Saturday night a very happy man. However, it was Sunday morning that the trip took a turn for the worse...

I awoke early Sunday morning to take a walk on the deck and admire the Stockholm Archipelago in the early morning light. It was on this walk that the pain just started and what a pain it was! I've never experienced anything like it in my entire life. It seemed to be coming from my lower stomach and making ever muscle in my body cramp! I knew immediately that something was not right and went to the ship's nurse. As sweet as she was there was very little she could do, besides give me a maximum dose of Voltaren and say I had to go to the hospital. Now the last thing I wanted to do was go to a hospital in Stockholm and decided to cancel my sightseeing and take the bus straight back to Linkoping. It was the longest 3 hours of my life because the pain was like having someone kick me between the legs the entire time! I was so grateful when I finally arrived at the hospital.

The last thing that I am is a doctor so it'll be very difficult to give you all the details, but what I can tell you is that in under an hour of arriving at the hospital I was being prepared for surgery and for the first time in 7 hours I felt no pain thanks to the anesthesia...

A stay in hospital is not pretty no matter how one decides to write about it, so I don't think I will. Just know that the operation was a success and I was discharged on Monday afternoon. It has now been a week since the operation and I'm almost fully recovered with the only side affect being that I'm not allowed to ride my bicycle for the next couple of weeks which is a major irritation as it is my only form of transport! However, I'm extremely grateful that the pain is gone and even more grateful for my two AWESOME friends Silke and Dani, who were with me the entire time. I swear if it weren't for those two I don't know what I would have done! Thanks gals!

So I hope you can forgive my lack of posts this past week, but after all my adventures I think I have a good reason ;-)

Hej då

Camping in Motala

...was both fun and maybe a little bit of a bad idea. The only reason I say it was a bad idea is because I've now been suffering with a cold for over 2 weeks and it just won't go away! It's one of the reasons I've not been able to post something in a while, but enough about the bad part let me tell you about the fun part.

In Sweden there is this rule/law/saying thingee (not exactly sure what to call it) that they call "every man's right" which basically means everybody has the right to go anywhere in the nature and camp, hike, etc. and no one can stop you. It's a fantastic rule that enables a person to really enjoy all the naturally beauty the country has to offer.

So my friends and I had been speaking for weeks about using this right and going camping somewhere in the forest or near a lake or something. It took us a while to arrange the logistics like tents, transport and such, but eventually we had it all planned and we were off. When we started planning we were close to 9 people going, but by the time it came to actually going we were down to 4. Which was fine as seeing we only had 2 small tents and 1 car. Now that I think of it I wonder if that is why the rest chickened out? Anyway Henning, Thomas, V (His girlfriend who's name I still can't pronounce or spell) and I set off in Henning's car to Motala, a small town about 45Km from Linkoping on the banks of the 2nd biggest lake in Sweden.

Going to a holiday town in the beginning of September has both its dis- and advantages. Advantage is there is no one else so it's quiet, but as a disadvantage there is no one else so everything is closed and not just closed, actually boarded shut! We found a perfect little spot in a picnic area in a pine forest on the shores of the lake. It was a beautiful spot and wasted no time setting up camp so that we could just sit and enjoy it.

One of the main reasons we wanted to camp so badly was that we wanted to make a fire and braai. Which is exactly what we did, however, we had planned on being 9 people and so we had food for 9 people! Now that I think about it wasn't really a problem because it meant the 4 of us ate like kings! We had German sausages, steaks, ribs, melted Camembert, salad and we didn't even touch the potatoes! It was fantastic just sitting in the forest eating, drinking, joking and listening to music, I think there was even singing at one stage!

I think we were having too much fun and someone must have gotten a little jealous because we soon had some unexpected visitors. Two people with torches and police on their clothing arrived to say that they had had complaints of a bonfire! A BONFIRE! I almost started laughing because our fire was barely large and hot enough to cook our food! They quickly realized there was a mistake and left us to our Bonfire which was the cause for much amusement the rest of the night. The rest of evening was uneventful and before I knew it I was falling asleep under the stars next to the Bonfire...

Next morning we all awoke very stiff as ground is hard no matter where in the world you sleep on it! Surprisingly our bonfire was still burning and we decided to eat our breakfast for 9 and once again we ate too much. It was during this breakfast that I think I made my big mistake and went for a quick dip in the lake! It was freaking freezing and my entire body went very very numb. It was the coldest water I'd ever swam in, but now at least I can say I went swimming in Sweden!

The rest of the day we spent exploring the town and drinking loads of coffee at a coffee shop on the square. This has become a favorite past time of mine of the Swedes, with them calling it a 'fika'. They can spend hours just sitting drinking bottomless coffees, eating cakes and chatting. The Swedes really love coffee!

I really had a good time camping and even though I'm now sitting with the consequences I'd do it again in a heart beat. Which is probably why I've spent the last week getting in touch with the Scouts in the area and I can't wait to go to my first meeting, but more about that at a latter stage.

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Jag heter Damian

...is the first official Swedish I learnt in my classes last week. (It means; my name is Damian.)

Not only did parties dominate last week, but I also started with my first classes. (Now do you understand why I'm so far behind on my blogs?)

The education system in Swedish universities is very different to what I'm use to, with most people only following one subject at a time. The catch is you only do one subject for 4 weeks and nothing else! I'm finding it a very intense and focused way of studying, but it requires a lot of time, reading and preparing not only for lectures, but also for small group work seminars.

The first course I'm doing is an introduction to ethics and morals. It is the first time the course is being offered at LiU and the professor teaching us is also the author of our text book. He is very good and knows what he is talking about. There is also a PHD student who leads our seminars. It has only been a week, but we have already had to read almost 6 chapters and a number of articles. Its interesting reading, but it takes a lot of time. We are only about 15 in the class, all international students, so missing class is not an option. I love going to class because it has the feeling of one of those Ivy League universities where the small classes sit around a table and solve the problems of the world...you know like in the movies!

The other class that started last week is my Swedish language course. This I'm taking at a small college in the middle of town. We have class four mornings a week for 4 hours. It is a very intense course, but the two teachers are very good and they make it very interesting. I'm not finding Swedish that hard to learn, but I am struggling with some of the pronunciation. The teachers say I'm getting better and someone even said I should be speaking Swedish within 3 months. Not sure if it'll happen, but we'll see. I'll keep you posted.

Another thing worth mentioning is that I attended my first Rotary club meeting last Tuesday morning. The Rotarians were very welcoming and I can't wait to get to know them all better. I'll be giving my speech next Tuesday and I'll let you know how it goes.

I think are all now up to date on everything that has been happening in my life here. I hope you found this post interesting? I don't even have a photo to add, but as I said in my previous blog I wanted to let you know more about the serious side of life too.

Hej då

Party, Party, Party

...is something the Swedes love to do and I'm not complaining!

The reason I'm so behind on my blogs is because there has been an array of different parties that I had to attend and even organise. I actually feel a little guilty about writing this blog because I'm scared the Rotarians reading it might think I'm not studying and doing my ammbassadorial duties, but that is not the case as I'm busy experiencing all aspects of Swedish life. Nevertheless, I promise my next blog is going to be more about my studies.

The first party was last Saturday called SOF2009. It was organised as a celebration for all the first years completing their 2 weeks of orientation. It is held outside the student union building and is a 12 hour party starting and ending at 3. It consists of pretty much the same as most of the other parties; beer, music and overalls. It was at this party that I started to come up with my 'Swedish Magnet Theory', which is still a work in progress and hopefully after some more research I'll be able to post about my findings.

One thing that I started to notice while I was kuiering with my friends, was the lack of Swedish companions at our kuiers. I mean we are in Sweden to meet Swedes! Thus the idea of the Meet-a-Swede braai was formulated. Last Tuesday we had a small get together of all our exchange student friends, but the catch was everyone had to bring a Swede with to the braai. No Swede no party! It was initially meant just to be a small gathering of friends, but word quickly spread and there was about 30-40 students at one stage. It was a roaring success and everyone had fun just chilling by the fire and getting to know one another. I also took the opportunity to show them how a real braai is done and was very satisfied with my juicy beef steak. Yummy!! It went off so well that there has been talk of having another one and maybe even designing our own patch...

The next party was Kallas. It is a massive festival hosted by the university to welcome all the first years(tickets are free for all first years). It is held in the ice hockey stadium on the other side of town. It starts in the afternoon with speeches from the rector and deans followed by a comedian. Of course there was a band. Now when Myron and I arrived it was very mellow affair so we set off in search of 'refreshments. While nursing a cold one at the bar we got to chatting to some people and learnt some very important Swedish phrases, you know pick up lines that sort of thing. I was having a chilled time when all of a sudden people started handing out ear plugs! Ear plugs? I thought to myself, the band is not that loud and then it started! The entire stadium became a massive night club with DJ's scattered all over the place. I could not help, but dance and once again found myself admiring Sweden by the early morning light on my way home.

On Friday was the ESN Welcome Dinner, a typical Swedish dinner only for exchange students. Everyone gets very smartly dressed(see top photo), sit at long tables, sing and of course drink very nice South African red wine. It was fun listening to all the different nationalities sing songs from their own countries, but was re-leaved when I was forgotten because I was not looking forward to singing all alone in front of 250 people. You know singing has never ever been my strong point. The dinner was followed by dancing in an adjacent night club and it was here that I decided I'd introduce Sweden to the 'Springbokkie'. It cost us a small fortune, but they had Amarula and SA was playing the Wallabies the next day, so how could we say no! It was by far the best party I've been to in Sweden...so far, but it was by far not my last.

Student accommodation in Linkoping is very rare and when you do manage to find a place it is cause for celebration. So Saturday night was the house warming of 4 of my friends who had found a private flat in Ryd. It was once again the perfect opportunity to meet new people and it was nice just to sit around and chill after the week I'd had.

So as you can see I've had a very busy past 10 days with even more adventures in the pipelines. I hope I can keep up, but then again when in Sweden do as the Swedes!

Hej då

Canoe Trip

...was the perfect way to once again admire the natural beauty of Sweden.

The canoe trip is one of the most popular events hosted by ESN with people queing on a weekly bassis in their hordes to get a ticket. Luckily for me I have contacts and I was able to go on a private trip with Yvonne and some other friends from Germany. We were only six and were able to sit three-three in two boats.

The canoe area is on a part of the Gota Kanal about 25 km from Linkoping. Two of the guys that went with us have cars so we were able to travel with them. It is a beautiful and isolated hotel that hires out the canoes. It is surrounded by farms and the occasional golf course, but very little of anything else.

I loved being on the water and the weather was beautiful, in the beginning! We paddled for about 2 hours before we came to a large, round, smooth rock on the side of the river and decided it would be the perfect place to have our lunch. One thing that always strikes me about the Swedish country side is how silent it is and this was no exception. I could have sat there for hours just watching the water and admiring the beautiful little red and yellow wooden houses scattered along the banks. I've decided I'm going to have to buy one in the future.

While eating lunch the weather started getting a little windy and everyone quickly put their jackets on. It was a first for me, having to paddle with a full on 'winter' jacket, but I'm glad I'd decided to take it with because while we were on the water it got choppy and we even had a little rain. To my relief the rain stopped almost as soon as it had started and we were able to paddle back without incident.

I did not realise how tired I was until I almost fell asleep in the car on the way back to Linkoping, but I'm glad I was able to do the trip and I can now see what all the fuss was about.

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Major Ninja Mission

...was the name given to one of the weirdest things I've done in a long time and I think those who know me will tell you that I've done some pretty weird things.

Linkoping is a student town, as I'm sure you've noticed, and with any town where there is a constant in and out of young people there is a lot of furniture being sold. Now it was one such piece of furniture that Myron had decided he just had to have. What could be so important that an exchange student only living in Sweden for 6 months could just not do without? Why a sleeper couch that folds out into a full sized double bed of course!

When he first came up with the idea we were all very supportive, I mean having a couch in your room is super cool, but when it came to asking him where he had bought the couch he answered quite cheerfully that it was only about 3 suburbs and a forest away. Oh? and how do you intend to get it to your flat with no car was the next obvious question and the answer that followed floored the lot of us. "We'll move it the same way as we did Thomas' TV." Do you see the problem? Not? We moved the TV with a shopping trolley!

It took an entire evening of planning, 7 young bright students, 2 of whom have degrees in engineering, about a case of beer and I think 1 or 2 whiskeys to convince him that a trolley would not work...we needed 4!

So the next day we all gathered outside the flat to embark on the Major Ninja mission. First thing was to go through the check-list: String, 4 trolleys, beer, map (we weren't exactly sure where the place was), passports (so we could plead foreigner when the cops stopped us because removing a trolley from a shop is frowned upon in Sweden) and raincoats (just in case, it is Sweden after all).

With everything ready we set off in high spirits, laughing at the looks we were given. Now you really know you are doing something wrong when the Swedes look at you because they are probably the most accepting people on earth, but when you are getting looks that would rival any true SA 'tannie' one can not stop laughing.

Through Ryd, passed the golf course, through the campus (here we did not even get a single glance, typical students), through the outdoor museum, into the forest, along a street I have no idea what it's name is, across the hospital parking lot and finally we reached our destination. Exhausted we took some 'refreshments' while we waited for the ex owner of the couch to meet us.

When he arrived he opened the store room to reveal the biggest couch I've seen in my life and I started to worry that we had not brought enough trolleys! However, to my amazement, after much huffing and puffing we were able to get it on to the trolleys and 4 was just right.

Once again we set off home, this time not laughing as much as before. It is amazing that when you are not moving anything heavy you fail to notice the hills. On the return journey we found a sudden appreciation for the natural beauty around us and stopped once or twice to admire it. We were also no longer given suspicious looks, but rather knowing grins and the occasional chuckle.

Three hours after leaving on our adventure we arrived back at the flat, but we were faced with one final challenge. The couch could not fit through the door. Luckily Myron lives on the first floor and there are no burglar bars covering the massive windows allowing us to get the couch into his room. Everyone was very pleased when the couch finally stood in the room, none more so than Myron.

At the end of the day it was a very funny experience and to show his appreciation Myron cooked us a three course meal of soup, pizza in a tin (I'm not kidding, but it's another story for another time) and cinnamon buns. Now after an adventure and meal like that what true student can say that fetching the couch was not worth it!

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My first IKEA experience

...was something I'm not easily going to forget for two very simple reasons.

Now those that know my mother will know that she is a very particular person and it's something we all love about her. Now IKEA would be my mom's paradise!

IKEA is a Swedish trademark known all over the world except in South Africa. You should have seen the looks I was given when I told people I'd never heard of it before, I thought I'd just spoken dirty or something! It is a massive shop that has only Swedish designed products for your home and they have just about everything!

When you arrive at the shop you have to go upstairs and walk through what seems like an unending maze of displays showing you how your home could look. It is at the beginning of this maze where my mother would be very happy! Everyone who visits IKEA can take a pencil, a piece of paper (for writing what you want to buy) and of course a TAPE MEASURE to make sure everything fits in the right place. When I saw that I could not stop myself from laughing when I though of my mom and her many tape measures!

The other thing that I really found amusing was at a DIY shopped called Biltemma. Now when I say DIY I really mean it. All you need is a chassis and you could build a car from scratch! It has everything from computer parts to car parts, tools, boat parts and of course car accessories. It was here that I again could not stop laughing at the shelf packed full of car dice that would make any true Boksburger proud.(See photo)Was thinking I need to buy a set for my bike, but have not decided yet. Scared someone might steal it.

In the end it was a very normal shopping experience and if it weren't for these two reasons I don't think I'd even be writing this post, but I just thought I'd share a little something I found amusing.

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Munchen Hoben

...is the LiU version of Oktoberfest!

But this post does no start there because this is the perfect opportunity to tell you about queueing.

Yesterday I decided I'd avoided the queues at the admin building long enough and I should really go and get my student card. So off I went just after 12, pushed through the crowds to the ticket machine and got my number, 751, but when I looked up at the number counter it said 900. Now I was really confused, had I taken the wrong number? Was the machine broken? No, was the answer from the Swede, "it's 1751!" So knowing that this might take awhile I decided to go run a few errands, you know buy a text book, read the first chapter, have lunch, take a nap, that sort of thing. When I returned at 3 the counter was at 700 and I still had to wait another hour or so until I was helped.

Then I was off to the massive line at the Muchen Hobben party. I arrived there at 16:30 and waited with Myron and Thomas. Now this line was really slow and none of us had thought of bringing refreshments. So we passed the time by chatting to the people around us and laughing at the funny characters in the line.

We eventually reached the gate at 19:30 after standing in line for 3 hours. When we got inside the 1L beer mugs and the party badges (that you sew onto your ovie) were sold out! So we just bought beer in normal plastic mugs and partied away with close to 5000 other students.

The party was loads of fun and there were live bands, Swedish rappers and DJ's to entertain us, but at around 11 the beer sold out and the bands were finished so we decided it was time to go home.

All in all it was a really fun evening that reminded me a lot of JOOL and not even a little drizzle could dampen the spirits of the Swedes who really enjoy a good party, but to top it all off I was up early this morning to stand in another queue for about 2 hours to buy a ticket to a formal dinner hosted by ESN to welcome all the exchange students. I have a feeling that I will be standing in a lot of queues in the next year.

Hej då

The Bird Nature Reserve

...is where I ended up going on Sunday afternoon. (instead of my cycle.)

I lent a bike from my friend Myron (from Germany) who had the flu and decided to spend the day in bed. Thomas (from Belgium), Astrid (from France) and I set off towards Berg and after deciding to take the road less travelled stumbled upon the nature reserve. Its not very big and it only has two viewing points where bird watchers can sit and watch the birds, but the views of the lake, farms and far off mountains as well as a peaceful silence really made it a memorable trip.

I'm not going to say much more about the trip because I think the photos speak volumes about how beautiful it was there. However, I do just want to mention that my bicycle is not the only one that was giving trouble as we also had to stop for Thomas a number of times to fix his chain and Astrid's bike started making a whistling sound that no one could find the source of. It was not a very good day for bicycles in general.

My Bicycle

...has given up the ghost.

I had planned to write this awesome post at the end of my year about how great my bike was, how it survived the year and was my trusty companion through it all even though I had my doubts about it in the beginning. Complete with photos of us at different exotic locations.

Unfortunately that will not be the case as after two weeks of loyal duty my not so trusty, blue, red wolf, 3 speed mountain bike complete with kick stand, lights, bell, mud flaps and a back luggage rack, is no longer with us.

On Sunday I had decided it would be a good idea to go on a little 20km cycle trip along the canal in Linkoping to another town. It started off well, but after about 2km the noise started. Now a little noise is not the worst thing in the world I thought to myself and decided to continue onwards. It was a little funny because I no longer needed my bell to warn people I was coming, the noise did it for me and I got a few very quizzical looks.

It was after about 4km that the real problems started and my pedals packed up completely. They would no longer move! After a very careful inspection with my all knowing engineering eye, I was able to diagnose that my ball bearings had had it and in short my bike was bust!

With deep regret in my heart I carried my bike (for whom I had not even found a good name yet!) to the nearest fence, locked it and continued on my journey by foot, pausing only for a second to wipe a little tear from my eye.

RIP bike with no name...

(Some parts of this post might be a little over dramatized, but I plead poetic license.)

[PHOTO: A picture of my bike on a bridge at the canal just before it started giving trouble.]

Norrkoping Music Festival

...was real fun

Norrköping is a smaller town about 45 minutes from Linköping and it hosts another of the universities campuses where one of my German friends studies. She invited us to visit because of this big festival in the town. August is a very popular time for festivals in Sweden because its coming to the end of summer and everyone is making the most of the sunshine.

We left at 17:00 from LiU on a free bus service that runs between to two towns for students, but I don't think we were the only ones going to the festival because the bus was really full and always being the gentleman that I am I gave my seat to one of the girls and sat on the floor, so unfortunately I can't tell you much of the country side as I didn't see any of it.

On our arrival I was surprised to see a city so different from Linköping because that is exactly what it is, a city! It’s smaller, but is far more industrial. It is still very beautiful with loads of old buildings, parks and rivers.

On our very steep walk back to our friend’s student housing it was very evident that something big was happening because there were loads of people migrating in the same direction, with fun rides everywhere and restaurants expanded into the streets so that they could serve shell fish to everyone. Another part of August in Sweden is eating crayfish, I have no idea why? It’s just what they do. There was a really festive atmosphere to the whole place that reminded me a lot about Aardklop and KKNK!

After a quick stop at the housing we were off in search of the show, it did not take us very long to find as all we had to do was follow the mob. The music show was hosted by a radio station (my station by the way, it’s the only one I listen to hear) in a large park in the centre of town. It was free of charge and there were people, especially families, all over the grass just chilling and listening to the array of Swedish music being played while it slowing got dark.

There were all sorts of carnival like sweets for sale including popcorn and super long, jumbo sized liquorice so you can imagine how in heaven I was! We also just chilled on the grass and even danced a little and I was even able to show the German girls one or two of my sokkie moves!

Now I know it’s only been a week, but I don't think my Swedish is improving because when I bought beer for the evening I bought a 4 pack of the best looking can that was reasonably priced. It was only when I was finished my first beer and one of the Swedish speaking German girls started to kill herself laughing that I realised something was wrong. I had bought ORGANIC beer, now I don't personally see the problem with that, but to the rest it was extremely funny and turned out to be the joke of the evening!

When it started to get dark we decided it was time to return to Linkoping and thought it would be a good idea to go by train. Unfortunately once again we were not the only ones and the train was packed full full full and I found myself standing. One thing that I forgot to mention was how many teenagers there were at the festival and just my luck I got stuck with the loudest bunch on my coach...it feels good to say that kids are naughty everywhere in the world, even in Sweden.

After a long train trip, a bus ride, a walk, a very expensive Mac Donald’s meal and a little more walking I was finally back in my room and very quickly fast asleep after what was once again a very successful outing.

Hej då

The last couple of days

...have been really chilled. Have not really been up to much since the adventures of the bicycle trip.

On Sunday I was invited by Rotarian Claes and his wife to their house for supper. We had a lovely meal of wild yellow mushrooms, that they'd picked themselves that afternoon while on walk in the wood, nettles and cheese pie and salad out of their garden. It was really nice to just relax and talk about their trip to South Africa and many other trips around the world they have been on. I look forward to seeing them again as they said they would take me mushroom picking!

The days in Sweden have been really long with the sun setting well after 22:00, so I've found myself sleeping rather late everyday. It is really hard to get out of bed when there is nothing really pressing for you to do. I've been doing a lot of house hunting, but have not had much luck, even in the private market. The option to stay where I am is however looking better and I know a little more each day and I will know finally on Monday, so lets keep those fingers crossed!

On Monday I stood in my first proper queue. Not one where you take a ticket and wait, but rather where you arrive hours before the scheduled start time to ensure you get a ticket! It was for special exchange student tickets to a big Oktoberfest type party next week. I was actually one of the founding members of the queue and waited almost 2 hours to get my ticket. It was fun to sit and chat to the other exchange students, but I've heard these types of queues can get quiet serious for other events with people waiting 24 hours before the start of ticket sales. It is considered a national sport in Sweden and there is a lot of etiquette involved.

Most of the other exchange students have already started with classes, but we are finding time to keep ourselves busy. We played beach volleyball on Monday evening at one of the many public beach volleyball pits and had a pizza and beer evening last night in one of the corridors. That was loads of fun and we went out to the local nightclub's international evening afterwards, where we partied until early this morning. So you can imagine how nice and late I slept today! I will be joining another group of friends tonight at local pub where they have live music on Wednesday nights.

One thing that I really struggled with was doing my washing yesterday. Now Mom before you hang your head in shame please remember that you never taught me how to use a front loader! It took awhile and about 3 attempts, but I think I got it right. Rather I hope I got something right because there was still a lot of powder in the machine afterwards and I don't think that's right?

Now that I read over the blog it has been a rather busy couple of days, but I will welcome the start of classes because then I'll have a bit more routine. However, until then I'm making the most of my free time and enjoying the Swedish summer sun.

Hej da

[PHOTO: Kantarell, the yellow mushroom that grows wild in the forests around Linkoping.]

Lazy Sunday Afternoon Cycle

...Or so we thought!

In Linkoping cycling is the most popular form of transport and everyone has a bike and as I think you've already realised, we exchange students have also bought ourselves bikes and it was last Sunday that we decided to really test them out.

We had come up with this brilliant idea while city exploring on Saturday, but said we would wait and see if it was going to rain. So a sunny Sunday mornig came, the sms's were sent, it was on! We were going to cycle to a lake JUST north of the city, not too far.

We met at the local shopping centre at 1 and the first indication that this was maybe not the best idea came when I realised everyone was wearing their winter warmest against the WIND! Wind? We had checked the weather reports for rain (only 5% they said), but had never thought to check for wind. We decided that it can't be that bad and the next vital question was asked, how to get there? No one knew exactly, but luckly we had one or two maps amongst us and after fighting the wind for control of the maps, a route was decided on.

Cycling in Sweden is fairly easy, no real hills and there are more bike paths than roads. It was really nice riding through the streets of neat little houses and watching little children play in really fun looking parks and the bigger children playing soccer on the public lawns. It was only after about 30 minutes that we realised that we had been looking at these scenes of Swedish life a little longer than maybe we should have, were we on the right road?

After I stopped a Swedish lady for directions we came to realise that we were riding in a nice big circle around the neighbourhood and had failed to notice the bike path under the bridge that would take us to our destination.

After eventually finding the right path with a sign saying Berg 10 km, we all thought that can't be too bad by bike, but yet again we forgot to account for the wind! We were soon on a bike path parrallel to the main road with majestic corn fields on both sides and a gusting wind sweeping straight across us!

Besides for the difficult conditions the ride was really nice and we were able to see a little of Swedish country life of wide open spaces dotted with little red houses and best of all not a fence in sight. When we neared the lake we could see wind surfers on the water, probably the only people really enjoying the weather.

Berg is one of the many towns that line the Gota Kanal, a channel that runs all the way from Gothenburg to Stockholm, and one of the best things to look at is the series of lock gates running from the river down to the lake its self. It was here that we stopped and admired the incredible natural beauty of Sweden while enjoying a nice hot cup of coffee and some cakes. While we were sitting at the cafe, we were also fortunate enough to see a yacht enter the locks, that are really wonderful pieces of engineering.

Unfortunately we could not spend all afternoon there, but as we were leaving we passed two children selling their old toys and that is when I saw it...and low and behold I bought my first Swedish hat! Actually its more of a helmet made of cardboard, but its still very cool! (My new profile picture is me wearing it!) Of course I wore it all the 10km home and it now sits proudly on my bookshelf awaiting its next oppotunity to be worn.

In the end it was a really great Sunday afternoon and fair enough it did not rain, but I hope it is only the first of many more such adventures that awaits me.

Hej da (that is how you spell it, but the 'a' needs a circle above it that I don't have on my

keyboard, will have to find it)

{VIDEO: This is my first attempt at adding video to my blog, I hope it works! Please excuse the bad video parts ie. the green parts. I have no idea how that happened and I don't want to pull anymore of what precious hair I have left out trying to fix it. I'll try to fix it before my next video, but I still think you'll get the general idea...ENJOY!}

Orientation Weekend

This has been a rather busy weekend, but I enjoyed every moment of it!

On Friday I decided its time to get myself some transportation. So off I went to the closest Turkish second hand bicycle shop I could find and bought myself a set of wheels! However as I sit typing this post I'm not entirely sure how long this bike is going to last! The Turk was like , "for you...I make special price!" and after having consulted with people, I've come to realise that there was nothing special about the price and that his is not the best shop to visit. You think I would have learnt something from my time in Turkey. Oh well! It works for the moment, but more about the bike on a later blog as I'm both very proud and extremely embarressed by it and I think it deserves its own piece!

That afternoon began the International Students Orientation and we all quickly learnt that if a Swede says 13:00 its 13:00! Don't be late, they don't like that at all...I must admit that before the orientation I was a little apprehensive because I'd been watching the first year O&B of the "Nolle" (meaning zeros) and was truly afraid of having to live my first year over again. A senior at the PUK always says that your first year is the best year of your life that you never want to have over and here I was on the verge of it happening all over again. Its a little silly I know, but I instantly found myself marching in time and trying to avoid making eye contact with the seniors!

But to my relief the international organisation that all international students at LiU (thats the short term for the varsity) belong to does not do any of that! IESN (International Erasmus Student Network) looks after exchange students here and organises events for them, social activities, tours, braai's, even sports! Its a really great way to meet the other foreign students and have some Swedish fun at the same time. And we will also get our own ovie and become full on members of the student life here at LiU.(I'll also write more about the ovies at a later stage because its really amazing how similar the concept is to the PUK that I want to make sure I have all my facts right first!)

After the introduction speeches, you know the usual this is who we are and this is how we can help you stuff, I went to a braai with some other exchange students. I've been able to meet quiet a few new people mainly German, French or Belguim students who are here for 6 months on Erasmus Exchange programmes from their home universities.

The braai was fun and I met even more people because it was in the common braai area between stacks of student flats right behind the local pub, so everyone on their way somewhere stopped for a drink and to warm up at the fire. Thats another thing I have to mention, the beer here is very very expensive nearly R 60 a six pack and the only beer you can buy at the supermarket is 3.5% alc. The government has very strict laws about it.

I just realised that alot of the things in this post I'd like to elaborate on at a later stage so please forgive me if I don't give all the juicy details now.

After walking out of the pub at about 2am and having to bike all the way back to my place in the cold it's safe to say that I slept pretty late on Saturday. I felt really guilty about that because I mean one can sleep in SA, why am I sleeping in Sweden! So after eventually dragging myself from my bed, I decided it was time to explore Linkoping on my not so trusty steed! It was really relaxing cycling throught the forests and after getting a little lost found myself in the middle of town where I accidently bumped into some of my German friends! We just explored the town a little to get our bearings and enjoyed watching the Nolle play games in the park. Carefully watched over by the seniors or 'fadder', of course!

Last night was the Exchange student braai hosted by IESN, but true to Swedish weather it started to rain. That of course did not stop us! True to my South African instinct I found myself next to the fire and quicker than you can say 'I'm South Afri...' I had a tong in my hand was helping rescue the fires from the rain. Looks like our reputation of braaing is world famous!

The rain did not spoil the spirit too much and everyone just had fun mingling and getting to know one another better.

All in all its been a very interresting last couple of days, but at the moment I think my german is going to improve long before my swedish does ;-)

Heij dog (still don't know how to spell it, really need to make a plan?)

[PHOTO: Nolle-P(in civies), Fadder(in the red ovies) and what I can only imagine is their HK type people in the funny costumes, busy with an activity in a park in the middle of town. The photo is bad because I took it at a distance because I was afraid they would chase me away or tackle me or something if I came any closer! I love how paranoid the PUK has made me...]