I'm opinionated!

It turns I have a lot to say! Yip... I am opinionated! Who knew? So what does someone with a whole lot to say do with all these opinions and rants? Well, they write blog entries of course. This blog is more about my life in Sweden not so much about the things that get under my skin and make me what to throw a snowball across the room or slap someone. Nope, this is not the space for that.

So, if you are interested in reading my opinions....which of course you are (wink wink). There I go thinking I am important again (cough cough). But if you are interested you can read the introductions of my latest work below (note, most of it relates to African affairs and gender and is found on a blog called Africa Interpreted):

Internship!

As you know (or maybe don't because I have been so crappy at keeping you up to date lately) I am doing an internship at the Nordic Africa Institute. Our departments back at the university encouraged us to write blog entries on their graduate blog so that other people could read about the process, etc. I have writtentwo entries for them based on my time at NAI.

Uppsala snowscape...pics

This year Uppsala was witness to a early snow and some beautiful weather. The landscape changed in what appeared overnight (but was more like a week of heavy snow) to one that seemed almost foreign. Rivers and streams disappeared under layers of whiteness and other distinguishable landmarks began to disappear. Cars, cemeteries, and streets where all under wraps as people worked through the night to clear them but often ended up losing the battle.

I have been in snow before and marvelled and its awesomeness but I have never had to walk home for an hour in snow that sits just below my knee because the buses couldn't cope. This was the most amount of snow I had ever encountered. Sure, I have been on mountain tops where the snow and whiteness is endless but I had never experienced so much snow changing my surroundings so quickly...Uppsala became a snow scape.

Below of some of my pics which don't do anything any sort of justice but might give you an idea of what Uppsala looked like

What the hell is floorball?

Taken from lcart.eu

I can't tell you how many times I have asked myself this question. I have quite a few friends that play it and I know that it is one of Sweden's most popular sports but the point of the game and how it works always seems to evade me.

Until I played it myself!

Every Monday at 4 a group of us head to the local hall to play some floorball as part of a work health plan. Needless to say it isn't very popular amongst us nerds who bury our faces in books and arch our backs at computers. We usually have between four to seven people every week which is well below the desired amount but does mean that we are always really stiff on Tuesdays!

Floorball was created in Sweden in the 1970s and is very similar to hockey. In fact, other than the ball and the stick I am not entirely sure there are any big differences. I would hate for my novice observations to piss someone off so I decided to do a little more reading about what exactly floorball is.

Tjörn - Photos

One of the prettiest places I have ever been, Tjörn is a real summer is treat!!! The tiny island just north of Göteborg is part of the Bohuslän Coast which is a natural gem with blue waters and rugged islands!

On Tjörn there is not much to do but sit and watch as little boats move in and out of the harbour while feeling the light breeze on your skin.

We spent a day driving the breadth and width of the island with every turn seemingly more beautiful than the last.

The little swimming holes, some of which had diving boards, were simply epic and the calm waters were home to hundreds of star fish and other little critters.

There is not much else say other than it is an exquisitely beautiful place! I'll let the photos (as much as they can) speak for themselves.

Volvo and Saab - the cars of Sweden

Volvo! Is there anything more Swedish than a Volvo? Fika? IKEA? a Daclarian horse? There are many things that are distinctly Swedish but the world over everyone knows Sweden for their ability to mold both safety and style into a car that has become a symbol of automotive innovation!

A romantic getaway

Why did it have to rain today? Why today? Why when I had made plans for a romantic getaway, out in the woods, in the middle of nowhere. Why today?

Sadly, Mother Nature doesn’t always play along with our romantic gestures and life plans and today was no different. I had been planning this little excursion for a while and it took every bone in my body to keep it a secret.

You see, Oliver and I are in a long distance relationship, while I complete my Master Degree in Sweden, and knowing he was coming over I couldn’t resist the opportunity for a surprise. And when I stumbled across Kolabryn online I knew it would be the perfect romantic retreat!

The best road stop in the world

As we drove up the Swedish east coast heading toward Stockholm our bellies rumbled and our eyes started to get watery. It was time for a stop...We needed to fill up on some coffee and have a stretch. Little did we know that this would be the best pit stop in the world!

We saw the lake from the highway and thought it would be nice but while standing on the pier - in all our clothing we went for a spontaneous dip. And it was fantastic!!!

There's something liberating about randomly taking a dip in your underwear not giving a damn what anyone thinks :)

Österlen

During our two week road trip Oliver and I spent two days along the little coast which stretches from Ales Stenar to Kivik in the Eastern part of Skåne which is beautiful with a lot to see and do.....

Ales Stenar

Constructed around AD 600 the 67m ship-shaped rocks of Ales Stenar are fascinating. It is believed that the stones were erected as a solar calendar.

Foteviken Viking Reserve

After spending a lovely morning strolling through Hjärup and Lund, Oliver and I decided to take a trip to the famous Foteviken Viking Reserve.

Our Swedish roadtrip!

I am sooooooooooooo excited!!! Today, Oliver lands! Yiipppeeeeeeeeeee! I haven't seen him in four months and I am just over the moon that he is coming to Sweden and I get to show him around! I have quite an awesome itinerary planned with lots to do and see. The next two weeks are going to be incredible!

Tomorrow afternoon we are picking up a car in Göteborg and then on the 17th we are starting a roadtrip. Here is what's planned:

A hike in Söderåsen National Park

Knowing that my Jojo Summer Card was about to run dry I decided to make one last cool summer trip on it to Söderåsen National Park. I expected it to be pretty but no where near as diverse and as beautiful as it actually is.

Bjärred Beach

Bjärred is a little coastal town 10kms from Lund with a nice little beach and some fancy looking houses!

Landskrona...a great place to spend a few hours

Whenever the train stopped at Landskrona when I was on my way up to Helsingborg I peered through the train windows hoping to see a glimmer of why I should visit. But it always looked super quite and uninspiring. However, kitted out with my Jojo Summer card I thought what the heck, let me see if I am wrong.

And man-oh-man was I mistaken. Landskrona is a lovely and it really is an awesome way to spend a few hours!

10 things I wish I knew when arriving in Lund

August is upon us and this means that Lund will soon be flooded with new students! I remember my arrival day, actually my first week, being confusing and looking back there are certain things I wish I knew before getting to Lund or in my first month in Lund.

A cool town: Kristianstad

It's known as the most Danish place in Sweden, which is not surprising considering the town was founded by a Dane in 1614, Christian IV of Denmark.

A spontaneous stop in Höllviken

One of the days last week when the weather was simply beautiful there was no option but to head down to the beach. My plan was to arrive at the central station and take the next bus to whichever beach. It turns out as I got there a bus to Falsterbo Peninsula was about to head out.
I had been there once before and knew that it would be well worth the journey (about an hour and a half just to get there). However, I did not expect the bus to get so full that it would have people lining the walkway. It was packed. It seems everyone had the same idea as me.

I sat in the bus and was grateful that I had a seat next to a window but soon the heat in the bus became too much and I just had to get off! So as soon as I heard the word strand (beach) I climbed off.

A stroll in Dalby Söderskog

Although it was a bit of a pain in the butt to find Dalby Söderskog is a lovely place!

Living right next door to Dalby I realised that I was irritated that I hadn't paid a visit to a national park so close by. So, I packed my bags and headed out to take a hike in the forested region.

Oh Switzerland! You beauty!

I met Bianca December 2004 on an exchange program in her beautiful town of Tamins just outside of Chur. It is hard to believe that we have known each other, and managed to stay in contact, for almost eight years.  So, when I found out I would be living in Europe I just knew that I would have to take some time to visit Bianca and her incredible family in their gorgeous corner of the world.

Three incredible stops in Austria!

I have been to both Graz and Salzburg before but it was in the winter time. It is incredible just how different a place can be in the summer. We don't have such contrasts in South Africa. The winter is cold and a bit drier but things, for the most part, look the same. Europe goes through these big seasonal changes and consequently visiting the same place in a different season gives you a whole new experience.

Slovenia!

I was fortunate enough to get to see a lot of Slovenia, a slow paced Eastern Europe country! Starting near the Austrian border in Maribor I was already charmed by the good weather and scenery. Things got better as I moved toward the slow moving capital and then to the iddy biddy little stretch of Slovenian coast!

Hungarian Surprise

Hungary surprised me. I had no idea how awesome it was going to be. To be honest I hadn't heard much about the place at all and having never ventured into Eastern Europe before I didn't really no what to expect. But the one great thing about no expectations is that they are always surpassed and in the case of Hungary they went far far beyond!

Why so quite?

One of the perks of studying Europe is that you get to really exploit your summer holidays. With countries so close in proximity you are really able to get around and see some awesome stuff. Although not in the heart of Europe, Sweden (down south in particular) is only a stone through away from the rest of Europe.

So, like many other students waiting for the next semester to start I decided to take advantage of my summer holiday and I packed my bags ready for some adventure! I have been busy in the 7 weeks since university came to an end having visited not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 countries!

1 down 1 to go

This week has been madness and it all climaxed in a crazed filled day yeterday which left me feeling exhausted and relieved!

The day started out with me waking up early and doing my best to write a compelling conclusion for my final paper. I needed to hand it in by noon so the pressure was on! On top of that I needed to move out of my little apartment. With my conclusion down I glanced at my clock only to be gobsmacked by the fact that it was already 10:30. Why the panic?

Well, on top of handing in my assignment I also needed to move out of my apartment. I still had dishes to do, some small things to pack, a bathroom, to clean, and an apartment to sweep and mop. It doesn't sound like a lot but it has a way of stealing more time than you anticipate. So I furiously got to work! The clock hit 11:15 and by now I was running to my friend's (Melanie and Anne) apartment to drop off my backpack and laptop. Then, still running, I went to my apartment mopped the floor and locked up. Time was marching on and I would have loved some time to be sentimental about my little apartment but with only half an hour left to cycle into town, print my assignment, and hand it in I was in no such luck!

Pendling like a demon with the wind against me the whole way (typical!) I managed to get my assignment in just in time (11:59). High fives all round!

Exhausted it was time to have a coffee with classmates I have gotten to know over the past 10 months. It was a weird sensation when we realised that these were the last classes we would have together as next semester would be internship time and the following semester would be thesis time (Yikes!). Unfortunately, I couldn't linger. Oh, did I forget to mention? I also had a Swedish exam at 17:00 which I hadn't started studying for.

So I said by goodbyes and gave some hugs and soon my head was back inthe books! I crammed for three hours and then walked tentatively into the Swedish exam all. Two and a half hours later I felt utter relief! My summer holidays had officially arrived and I was officialy 1 year down!

Completing my first year Masters I feel ready for sommarlov (it's kind of cool sommarlov is Swedish for summer holiday, it just makes me what to speak like Barry White, I'm not sure why).

Now, homeless, I am crashing at my friends place until next week Tuesday when I jet off to Hungary for a month of backpacking around Europe! It should be fun! Yiiiippppppppppppeeeeeeeeee

Happy summer holidays everyone and I hope you are feeling as relieved as I am with the semester done and dusted :)

Around the Sound

Travelling around Sweden isn't the cheapest thing in the world. And wanting to go across the Oresund Bridge to get some of the action happening in Denmark is even more expensive. So what to do?

Make a trip of it!!!

Going via train return to Copenhagen from Lund will cost you roughly 216SEK but if you buy the Around the Sound ticket it will cost you 249SEK so why buy the Around the Sound ticket? Here's why:

• You get unlimited travel in Southern Sweden and Denmark for a full two days
• It's the perfect excuse to go away for the weekend
• You get to take the train in one direction and the super awesome ferry in another
• And, when the weather is good its amazing just how much you can see in two days!

When my friend Karolina was here we decided to make use of this pretty sweet deal and see how much we could see. This is what we managed to do:

News...more like procrastination with a touch of narcissism

Hello everyone!

I am so sorry that I have been out of touch lately. Things have been a little crazy! I went back home to South Africa in the beginning of April for a very fast and furious two weeks. My brother and his wife had just had their second baby and my sister was about to have her first! It seemed as good a time as any  to whip out my savings and go home for a little visit. On top of that Oliver and I hadn't seem each other for four months and I was absolutley dying to see him!

Falsterbo Peninsula

30 kilometres South of Malmö, , Falsterbo Peninsula is a beautiful little getaway, even if it's just for a morning.

A walk along the beautiful coastline stretching between Skanör and Falsterbo is calm, relaxing, and wonderfully beautiful.

The water is clean and clear and appears to go on forever. This peninsula is the southwestern most tip of the scaninavian peninsula and is the border between the Baltic Sea and the Øresund.

The origin of both towns dates back to the end of the 12th century and today there are affluent areas with large houses.

But the reason you really go to falsterbo peninsula is this:

It's for the stretches and stretches of white sand and blue, blue water!

It's a train!No,it's a bicycle! No, wait! What the hell is that?

Up-down, up-down, my legs are pushing themselves, and the swooosh, I freewheel for a short while, clickity-clack, clickity-clack, the slight downhill means I am picking up a little speed, clickity-clack, clickity clack, we giggle, this is simply too cool, too random, it's awesome!

People have a way of making random inventions that exploit things of the days gone by; a burnt house makes for an awesome paintball field, or an old submarine as a new age museum. What would you do if you had a stretch of old railway that was no longer in use but that stretched through beautiful farm lands and little bits of valley? Make a rail-bicycle of course!

Valborg

Today is Valborg in many Northern European countries. What is Valborg? Well up until today I thought that it was just a massive piss up here in Lund but it turns out that there is a whole lot of history to this day and it is one of their biggest holidays, second only to midsummer.

It is the eve of May Day and it often also known as Walpurga's night in English and Valborgsmässoafton in Swedish. Started as far back as the middle ages it was orginally a pagan festival that was meant to watrd of evil spirits and welcome fertile soil to the lands as spring approaches. In that same vein, minus the religion, Valborg today is more about welcoming spring and saying goodbye to winter.

One of the biggest parts of the tradition is lighting huge bonfires and it appears that this starts at around 20:00 when things start to get dark. Then people go about singing traditional Swedish songs. Lund and Uppsalla are said to have two of the biggest and oldest festivals with students gathering to get merry from as early as 08:00. Generally students start with some champaigne and strawberries before working their way to the harder liquor to make sure they are in the merry spirit by the time 20:00 comes round.

I don't think I have the liver or kidney capacity to get started that early but plan on heading over at around 11:00. I'll be sure to give you a follow up entry outlining what I am sure will be both mad and awesome!

Till then :)

14 Random facts about Sweden

1. Sweden has a population of roughly 9.4 million people
2. Pippi Longstocking is Swedish
3. Swedes are known for their Innovations. Swedish Inventions include: the zipper , marine propeller, the refrigerator, the computer mouse, the pace-maker
4. The Nobel Prize Ceremonies are held in Sweden and Norway every year on December 10th. The Nobel Prizes were founded by the Swedish inventor and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite in 1866.
5. The favorite food in Sweden is usually meatballs with potatoes and lingonberry sauce. (a berry type jam). Swedish pancakes are also a favorite.
6. IKEA and H&M are both Swedish brands
7. Sweden is full of music! Sweden has produced many famous musicians and musical groups over the years such as: ABBA, The Hives, Millencollin, The Cardigans.
8. Sweden is the land of the Midnight Sun! Every year, Swedes celebrate Midsummer (Midsommar) on the twenty-third of June. On this longest day, in many parts of Sweden the sun never sets.
9. All the Tsars of Russia including the last one, Nicholas II, were Swedish. This is because in the 9th and 10th centuries Swedish Vikings invaded Eastern Europe and founded the first Kingdom of Russia (might explain why they both value good Vodka)
10. Per capita Sweden has the most number of McDonald's chains in Europe
11. Sweden was neautral in both World Wars
12. The sun rises at 3:30 in summer and sets at 15:30 in winter
13. The first ice-hotel in the world was built in Sweden
14. On Christmas Eve every year at 15:00 most Swedes settle in to watch Donald Duck