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...]

Linkoping - My first day

What a beautiful day it is!

I got in late to a not so cold( only 13 degrees), but raining Linkoping last night and was warmly greeted by Claus (I think that is how you spell it) and Inger. I was so tired, but relieved to finally be here. They took me to a F1 like hotel and you can imagine the first thing I did was sleep! Ater waking late and eating breakfast and sleeping again, Inger took me on a tour of the city. Its not so big, but also not so small, we were able to walk everywhere.

Had my first Swedish food experience of fish and potatoes very nicely prepared with lots of pepper and tomatoes. We ate in the park where the resturaunt is inside a tropical greenhouse shaped like a pyramid. There was even live music.

Next was my accommodation. Its a really nice double room that I have to myself. Its practically on campus. I could not be closer! Just hope they have place for me for the rest of the year. Its awesome little red barns that have been converted into houses. I can see horses in the outside museum from my windows.

I have not had much time to explore the campus, but its really beautiful! Its literally surrounded by forest and you won't believe what the seniors were wearing...Ovies! I almost fell over! I have no idea why yet, but trust me I'm going to find out!

Agh after the accommodation I went to campus for some admin things and then to town for the same. Also did some grocery shopping. Inger was with me the entire time and was very helpful, I could not have asked for a better host counselor.

One thing that really struck me was how brown everyone is...it stinks that I've just come from a winter because now I'm walking around in shorts and look like a snowman! Hopefully it will become cold soon and I can cover up,then again from what I've heard not sure I really want it to get cold here.

Cycling is the best way of getting around so its first on my shopping list. Also an umbrella is a must at all times because it can start raining at anytime, which it did, but luckly Inger had given me an umbrella as a gift the second I got off the plane.

Thats all for now...please comment and ask questions I'd love to answer them all.

heij dog (again not sure of the spelling, but it means bye)

[PHOTO: The view from my house's front door. My place looks exactly the same.]

Amsterdam

Can't believe I'm sitting in Amsterdam!
I can't say much cause I only have so much time on the internet.

My flight was long and a little uncomfortable, but I'm glad to say incident free...except for the very special beer I had to throw out, but I'll explain later!

Amsterdam itself is very cool, its just a pity it's raining. I took a cruise on the canal and saw all the famous buildings and then went for a walk through the streets. Just know the Red light district is very disapointing! No pretty girls at all...!

My time is almost up, but I'll write in more detail at a later stage.