Great Göteborg

Göteborg is the second biggest city in Sweden and although I haven't yet had an opportunity to visit Stockholm I have has a chance to see Göteborg.

Just over a month ago there were tickets for sale for a day trip to Göteborg. 400 SEK got you a return bus trip, a stop at the zoo to see a moose, a city bus tour, free time, and entrance into a pub.

After quite a beautiful bus ride into the city we stopped at a city park called Slottskogsparken which has a small zoo including a moose. Yip! I am officially a little more Swedish because I have seen a moose. They are huge! Most of the ones we saw had already lost their antlers but I was amazed at how long their legs were! That was pretty cool. And teh garden surrounding the zoo was pretty beautiful.

Unfortunately we didn't have much time to spare and we were quickly told to get back on the bus. I guess this is to be expected when doing an arranged tour...you are there on a set schedule and have to do what you are told to.

Then we drove around in the bus looking (albeit through the window) at some of Göteborg's top attractions including Lisebeg (A popular amusement park), Maritiman (the world's largest floating ship museum); the Opera House; as well as two soccer stadiums and a giant ferris wheel near the harbour. Then we stopped off in old town (I think it is called the Haga District) which has been around since the 1600s and walked around its quaint streets until we climbed up a massive flight of stairs to reach a vantage point which gives one of the best views of Göteborg. After a good amount of photos it was time to head back into the centre of town and then we had a couple of hours of free time to do as we pleased.

Unfortunately by this time museums and shops were either already closed or about to close so myself and some friends opted for walking through the streets, grabbing some brunch and just enjoying the city atmosphere. It was great!!!

Then at 20:00 it was off to a bar which thankfully had reasonably priced drinks (by reasonable I mean 35SEK for a glass of wine or draft of beer) and I really started to enjoy myself. There were drinking games, good music and I was meeting people from all over the world including Switzerland, France and Iran.

The biggest mistake of the evening, in my opinion, was leaving the bar and heading to a club. we had to pay for entrance to the club on the bus so by the time I realised I didn't want to go I was told it was too late. Once in the club they wanted more money for our jackets, etc to be stored. NO way! I paid 100SEK entrance and now they want money for coats as well. Hectic. Then we go upstairs and the drinks are all like 80SEK +. So by now I am really getting bleak...my happy vibe from earlier began to disapear so I decided to go get some food. I was then told by the people at the entrance that if I leave, I leave, and if I want to come back in I have to pay again. WTF??? No stamps....URG! So now I was really really bleak so decided to say screw it....I left the club grabbed some grub and waited for the bus which wasn't too bad. I should have known better, I am not a club person.

Other than that I have a fantastic day and I can't wait to go back to Göteborg on my own where I can go some of the other sites including the Natural History Museum which has the only stuffed blue whale in the world!

Drunken Woes....

Taken from http://geoventurer.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/sweden-surprises/

When I found out that I had got a scholarship to go to Sweden several stereotypical images flushed my mind! I thought that I would soon be living among some freakishly tall, beautiful, blonde people who like to drink beer and vodka, go on nature walks, as well as occasionally dress up as Vikings.

Well, sorry to disappoint but there are not as many blondes as you might expect....in fact I would say that there is a good mix of many hair types including pink and orange! There are some people that tower over me (although come to think of it thats not too difficult) but for the most part people only seem marginally taller. And yes, they do sometimes dress up at Vikings and more often than not this is at drunken parties!

And that's what I wanted to talk about...not drunken parties per se but what makes them drunk....yip, I want to talk about the good old booze!

Taken from http://www.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?PostID=4525771

Sweden is famous for Absolute Vodka, which is brännvin (literally "burn-wine"), that is, it is distilled from fermented potatoes or grain. Long ago, people used to make their own brännvin and some still do it today although, from what I hear, it is highly regulated.

Sweden has massive tax on its alcohol (Vodka is 40%) and it is under a government monopoly. That is, only the government is able to sell and distribute alcohol above 3.5 %. This explains why it is so expensive to drink in Sweden.

If you want to get an ordinary draft in a bar you are looking at paying between 50-60SEK (R55-R65) and you could end up paying just as much for a 'special' bottled beer! Crazy right? I mean in South Africa you would pay R20 (25SEK) for a draft and in South Korea you would pay even less, 2000Won (R12, 15SEK). So drinking in Sweden is expensive business and I'm not quite sure how some students manage to go out four times a week and get wasted!

Well, I guess they get smashed because they drink before they pitch up at the party (pre-parties are VERY popular! It's no wonder why). Alcohol in the state owned bottle stores, Systembolaget, are cheaper than restaurants and bars but in comparison to the rest of the world it is still pricey. For a mediocre bottle of wine you are looking at paying about 100SEK (R120).

And it is so unfortunate that it is that expensive because Lund has some awesome little pubs and bars where you could see yourself slowly slipping into a drunken stupor if you didn't have to watch your wallet steadily burn a hole through itself.

Now the beer you buy in bars is generally of a really good quality! I don't know if you can say the same about the beer you buy from convenience stores. Convenience stores are allowed to sell drinks that have a volume of under 3.5% and once I bought Eko-Beer from my local grocery store! It was horrible! Bleh! One the first sip, your like, Mmmmm, that's not too bad, but, by the time you get halfway through the can you feel your throat closing up and refusing to have anymore! Anyway! Don't drink Eko-Beer!!

Ok, so now I have been blabbing for a while...but now you know a little bit more about the drinking situation here in Sweden. So have some sympathy! When you are out tonight, raise your glass and have a drink for me and maybe through some bizarre form of osmosis I too will get drunk!!!!

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Avl%C3%B6ningsafton_-_R%C3%B6sta_ja!_1922.jpg

Random Ramblings

I have been stumped about what to write about. In all honesty...I have been busy with class stuff mostly!

However, there are some changes that are happening. Firstly, it is starting to get cold! Last weekend the weather was randomly spectacular (apparently Swedish summer weather), the temperature was over 20 degrees Celsius, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and all in all it was just glorious! Needing to get away from the books for a while I hopped n by bicycle and found a spectacular little road that was lined by green fields and I just enjoyed the awesomeness of riding in the fantastic weather and beautiful scenery. I had a feeling that was a good weather send off...I knew it was going to start getting colder thereafter. And it has...with wind chill factor is has been about 9/10 degrees Celsius.

Considering how quickly things are going to get cold I decided to visit a neighbouring city, Malmö, this afternoon! Malmö is the third biggest city in Sweden and it is gorgeous. Being Sunday, there weren't many attractions that were open but I found myself just randomly strolling through streets and admiring the clear skies and great architecture. In South Africa Sunday's buzz with shops and activities, I was surprised at how quite and closed everything seemed in Malmö... However, several clothing stores start to grumble open at around mid-day so I did a spot of shopping. I finally bought myself a pair of pants for gym so there is no more putting it off! Yip, I will be joining gym this week (another change).

In the next two weeks I will be finishing my first course and starting my second. At the moment I am writing and studying like some kind of psycho. The paper I am writing counts for my entire mark for this course so I guess I'm a little nervous about it! On top of that it is the first paper I am submitting for grading at Lund and I am scared of how I will be graded! eeeek! "The first cuts the deepest", right?

Anyway, I can feel that these are just random ramblings as I really have nothing concrete or of incredible interest to tell you!! But when I do, you'll be the first to know :)