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