Sparta - Life in a corridor room

The title might be a bit misleading. Truth be told I have only lived in the corridor for just over two weeks now but I think I have a good idea as to what some of the differences are between living in a corridor room and your own apartment.

Firstly...here is what my room looks like (excuse the crappy cell phone image quality)....

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 :)

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!

Yes! It is interesting...

Taken off of swan.ac.uk

I realised today that most of my posts have been about events and things I have done in Sweden but in actual fact most of my time is taken up by studying and reading, of which I have written little about.

As you know I am studying gender studies but I am amazed at how few people (including myself prior to this course) actually know what it is about. Whenever I tell people what I am studying I get this niggling feeling that I am being judged (this could be insecurity but the follow up questions and responses confirm my suspicions). "Ooooh, thaaaat's interesting." I always feel as though people think I am some raging feminist, ready to go out and chop penises off of every man I come across. Although a novel idea (wink wink), this is not what I am studying and not what I hope to gain from the course.

VIVA 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I am back in Sweden and ready to get the year rolling. In all honesty I have been back since the 2nd but it has taken me a couple of days to get my ass into gear and start the New Year.

My little vacation was wonderful. After a jam packed semester getting away to do nothing was amazing. And I got to see Oliver! YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! After four months of not seeing each other I was worried that things would be awkward or strange but it wasn't. But after a beeeeeeeeg hug and kiss at the airport we were back to Oliver and Claudia. It was awesome to spend time with him.

So what did we do in Ghana? Well, like I said, not much! I did a lot of reading (odd I know, considering I wanted to get away from Uni but this was enjoyment reading which is different), we did a lot of swimming in a gorgeous pool right next to the beach, a lot of chess (I lost every single game except for two on New Years Eve...could this be a sign of good things to come?), and a lot of chilling! It was awesome!

Awe!

This is serious!

The first time I beat Oliver ever!

The awesome pool

It has taken me a few days to get back into the swing of things. Arriving back to an empty apartment takes some getting used to all over again. But I couldn't take too much time as I have an exam paper due on the 13th and I officially need to get grafting.

However, other than a lot of work there are a lot of exciting things that are going to happen this year. In April I will be visiting South Africa where my brother would have just had his second daughter and where my sister will be expecting her first child. Then shortly after I get back from SA a friend from Switzerland is going to come visit me in Sweden. Then, shortly after she has left I have two friends that I knew in Korea coming to see what Sweden is all about. One of them has a course to take in Malmo and the other is just coming to have a great time! So April is going to sublime (and busy as all hell :).

Also in April I will hopefully be starting my second course on Swedish. I got 83% for level one and am hoping that by the time I leave Sweden I will be able to speak Swedish fluently.

As we inch closer to the middle of the year we reach summer vacations. I am hoping to do a spot of travelling during summer going to see friends who live in Europe. Then in July or August Oliver will be coming to Sweden! Can I get a whoop whoop! We have an awesome road trip planned and are going to camp across Sweden and see as much as we can possibly see in the time we have available. Oli is a photographer so be sure to check in in September I am likely to have some kick ass pictures up on the blog.

The next semester begins in September and I am not too sure where I will be. I have applied for several internships in Stockholm. If I get one I will be there for the next six months. If not, I will be doing some elective courses either in Lund or at Stockholm University. I am in two minds about whether I should live in Stockholm for six months. What do you think?

Either way, there is a lot going on this year and I am super excited to see what happens. I'll keep you updated on anything interesting along the way!

VIVA 2012!

This festive season

For me, back home, this time of year is characterized by hot weather and lazy behaviour (except for the crazy Christmas shopping). It's quite different on this side of the world.

I have been insanely busy with two exams last week as well as an assignment. It's also been rather chilly with us getting our first little bit of snow yesterday. But I must say Lund is rather mild.

Another cool thing is the seasonal merchandise. In SA you can pretty much buy the same things all year round but in Sweden (and I assume much of Europe) there is a lot of seasonal food and products and I think this stands out even more round the festive season.

First up, there is Glogg to keep the winter chill at bay. The there is Christmas (or Jul to use Swedish) merchandise everywhere including Christmas beer, a Christmas soft drink, and Christmas treats. It's quite fun!

Due to my busy schedule I haven't had much of a chance to embrace the Christmas atmosphere. Lund is quite pretty now with streets and trees being decorated with simple lights that add another splash of charm to this already charming town.

On Friday, after exams and assignments were done and dusted I made my way to Tivoli, a super old theme park, in Copenhagen.

Myself and Nina strolled around the pretty gardens and marvelled at some of the tummy churning rides. Tivoli was really special. It was like a little wonderland cornered off inside Copenhagen filled with lights and festivities! It was a cool way to get into the festive spirit and get ready for my Christmas shopping.

It's amazing how buying something small here and something small there for the people you care about adds up.

So now I am in the festive season and ready to do some relaxing! And oddly enough I will be having a scorching hot Christmas this year! haha! Yip, I am flying to Ghana on Wednesday.

Oliver's dad works in Ghana so we are meeting up there to celebrate and relax! I am soooooooo excited! I can't believe we have been apart for four months already!

So on that note I just want to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Baking with Buddies

There are few pleasures quite as sweet as baking your own awesome creation and then getting a chance to guzzle it down with friends!

Not too long ago we headed to a friend's house, Ulrika, to bake Lussebullar. Lussebullar?

Bulle (buns) are huge in Sweden. the most famous variety is kanelbulle (Cinnamon buns) but around this time of year you see yellow buns with raisins in them popping up everywhere, and these yellow buns are what are known as lussebullar. From what I gather they are a 'either you love them, either you don't' kind of food and this may have to do with their saffron flavouring.

So we arrive at Ulrika's house and first things first we heat up the Glögg which is kind of like German Gluwein but sweeter (a mulled wine I guess). You can buy it with or without alcohol and with a wide range of flavours, some with coffee and chocolate aromas or some with hints of rum or whisky but people seem to prefer the classic Glögg which is slightly spiced and simply delicious to drink, especially when the weather is cold outside!

I was expecting to be handed a large mug of this amazing smelling stuff but instead I was given a mini mug, slightly largely than a shot glass. Huh? I know right! But it is a good way to pace yourself and it feels quite quaint. Then, everyone started dropping raisins and nuts into their tiny glasses (along with the Glögg) and started sipping from their little glasses. Yummmmy  (Or "Mums" as they say in Swedish).

Anyway, back to the baking!

We went about baking the lussebullar which involved a fair amount of mixing and kneaded and before long we were twisting the dough into cool little twisted creations with raisins getting them ready for the oven...we then started getting creative making everything from snails, to penisis, and faces. I blame the Glögg.

This is clearly serious business

But man-oh-man whatever shape they were when they came out of the oven they smelt epic! Mums!!! I happily sat eating these baked creations and knew that I was definitely one of the "love them" people...

Click here for the recipe and let me know if you are a love them or hate them person!

The rooms of my mind

A strange thing happens (or at least for me) when you get into paper writing exam mode. I can literally (literally!) see things fall apart around me the closer to deadline I get.

Dishes slowly start to pile up, I get sloppy with my clothing, papers are scattered everywhere, my hair looks like a hornet's nest, and I become a hermit in every sense of the word.

But I think that there is a hidden process to all of this. I think my surroundings are descriptive of what is going on in my brain. When writing week starts you can slowly see the order crash into disorder. It starts with opening your files and slowly unbinding the material you have been gathering and the more you take out the more it spreads across your floor and desk. However, at this point in the process it is still systematic.

But as the days continue and your brain toys with contradictory ideas fighting for the angle and focus of your paper those organised papers start to be flung across the room and soon all mayhem breaks loose. It is organised chaos. You know where everything is and if anyone dares to touch your precious mess they might be met with a fist.

Then the procrastination sets in. You have an idea but you're not sure about it. So with that you let it mull over in your mind and your apartment finds itself suspended, still not clean. Once your procrastinating is done you realise that you have left everything just that little bit too late and now the deadline is looming closer that you would like it to. Now things get crazy!

Cereal bowls mount up next to your papers. You forget to cook yourself a proper meal and decide to opt for a peanut butter and jam sandwich, cereal, or anything that you can grab. Cooking is simply too much when you are at the stage of delirium.

As you feel yourself slip closer towards dementia and your heartbeat starts to speed up as that inevitable paper writing frenzy washes over you. You stop. You take a look around you. Gasp! "I can't concentrate in this mess". And just like that you find yourself cleaning up: doing the dishes, stacking your papers, making your bed and brushing your hair. A weird calm washes over you as you sit down in front of your laptop. Yip, you are in the zone now. You have organised the space in your room and in some magical way you have also organised your thoughts. You are ready to argue.

Then the typing comes, flows, stops, goes. The rat-tat-tat of the keyboard falls into a steady rhythm and you are no longer at your wits end. "What will be will be"; "I can only do my best". With that you finish typing close your laptop and do something totally unrelated with your time before giving it one last squizz before hand-in which results in a couple of hyperventilated breaths as you start to question your arguments before you realise "it's too late now" and hand in the paper.

Then you take another breath and brace yourself for the next round of madness.

An abundance of acivities

One of the greatest things about being at University is that you are able to explore many different things, find interests you never thought you had, and do things you'll never do again. And I'm not just talking about the course work ;) Universities provide a whole new world with so many things to try and do.

During my undergraduate and honours degrees in South Africa I worked several jobs so my ability to exploit these opportunities was limited. Despite this I still managed to have my own show on UJFM during my first year and worked as a tutor and assistant during my third and fourth years. Maybe it was just me or maybe it is because my eyes have been opened by Lund University that I realise there wasn't that much to do at UJ.

At Lund University the amount of things there are to do is utterly crazy! Everytime I go onto Facebook there is some party somewhere where you have to do something or drink yourself silly. But on top of this usual university garb there are trips to other countries, booze cruises, and generally just awesome excuses to get out of town. The only ones I have were my day trips to Goteborg and Copenhagen. Being in a long distance relationship isn't cheap so I am having to save my pennies to visit Oliver which unfortunately means I miss out on some of these great excursions (but it's OK I don't mind).

However beyond the travel there are tons of groups and activities you can get involved in: everything from set painting to unions and radios. So with so much to be had what have I opted to do?

Well I joined Radio AF, Lund University's radio station and every other Tuesday I go on air with other presenters and just speak about random shit for an hour. It's great and it isn't too demanding which is even better considering the unbelievable amount of reading and work that is involved in a Masters. However, I also wanted to get involved in something a little bit more meaningful.

Because of time constraints back home (a poor excuse I know) I was hardly ever available to get involved in volunteer work. However, here I have joined UNICEF Lund! Again it is not too time consuming but being an active member is super rewarding and we were encouraged to come up with project ideas and ways of improving the group. With this in mind I came up with a pen pal idea and luckily people liked it, even the big bosses in Stockholm. So the project (now called Writing across Borders) got approved and now it is underway. The basic idea is to get children from two different countries (in this case South Africa and Sweden) to write letters to one another to teach each other about their homes and in turn teach tolerance and curiosity. To read more on this initiative you can read the entry I wrote for the UNICEF blog last Friday. The only hirdle left in the project is getting funding to post the letters from SA to Sweden.

The kids involved in Writing across Borders in Sweden

Now I wish I could get involved in even more...and in the upcoming months I am sure I will! So I will be keeping my eyes peeled and let you know the next time I stumble into something awesome!

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 :)

The language mismatch

OK, so anyone who has ever tried to learn a new language knows that it is no easy task and plucking up the courage to speak this new language is terrifying.

I'm not terribly good with learning languages. I can barely speak Afrikaans (a well known language in South Africa); Oliver's (my boyfriend) family is German and over the years my ear for the language has developed but my ability to speak it is still shocking; and lastly, after living in South Korea for a year I was able to master a few basic phrases like hello, yes, no, how are you?, where is the toilet?, etc but even after a year speaking the language was no easy task.

So I have been in Sweden now for a month...how is my Swedish panning out? Well, I start formal lessons from the 31st of October so I have been doing self-study at home off of the internet....my vocabulary is getting better but my pronunciation needs a lot of work...which became apparent when I tried to read for some of my Swedish and Danish friends who were mystified by what I was trying to say and were in fits of laughter by how I was trying to say it.

Well, anyway...On Friday for lunch I went with a friend of mine, Nina, to buy a Kebab. Before I ordered I confidently said to her that I was going to order in Swedish....

I step up to the counter and say ein Kebab, the man starts speaking to me and I realise I understand what he is saying (I'm blown away....wow...my home studying has really paid off)...he is asking me what sauce I would like, I hear sharf which I know to be hot and I quickly stop him saying sharf in reply. He then repeats the order back to me and I say ne (which is yes in Korean). Realising my mistake I quickly say yes in English and then step aside waiting for the order to be made and I start giggling at my mistake...Nina then asks me why he was speaking German to me. Confused I realise that I had order ein kebab instead of ett kebab and the very well spoken kebab man had been speaking German to me which is why I understood what sauces he was listing....so much for my at home study lessons.

After that Nina and I were in fits of laughter....we couldn't contain ourselves. Keeping in mind that placing the order only took a few brief minutes this post barely does the situation justice....I was throwing around little bits of other languages and some how I still got the right order.

This wasn't the first time I got languages confused and I'm pretty sure it won't be the last....

Just wait till the next time someone gets me drunk or I'm overly tired, or I'm just not paying attention...they are going to have a poorly speaking Swedish, Korean, German, Afrikaans English person on their hands....

Some sort of fool!

Ok, so this isn't a personal attack against myself or anything but I must admit that I can do some pretty stupid things...put me in a different country when small, seeminly mundane things baffle me then you are bound to get some surprising results.

It all started with a bottle opener, yes, a bottle opener. I bought a can of sweet corn (mielies back home) but have been avoiding opening it because of the peculiar tin opener I have. Needless to say I tried several times to twist it around the can and puncture it but to no avail.

So just the other day I was speaking to my new found friend Nina about my little dilemma. She comes from Denmark and says she finds using these openers much easier. She then carelessly told me to push it in and pull it along. OK! So it's that simple I thought...I was just being silly, right?

So that night I decided to face the dreaded can and, no, it was not that easy. All I ended up doing was puncturing the can until it looked like something that had been left in a scrap yard. After a little while of puncturing holes in to I joined the holes to make a bigger whole (which was still quite small relatively speaking) and poured my corn out. What a mission!

So that was my one foolish moment and no I have not yet figured it out so until I find another opener to buy (which I have been looking for but this style appears to be the national favourite)  I will avoid tin food! Sounds fair enough. The next foolish moment, caused me a little more pain.

Because it is so dry here...with winter approaching and the change of season etc I noticed that my skin was very dry so I went about trying to buy some body cream. So standing in the isle I pick up a bottle of cream and off I go. Now let me explain my skin is very cooperative, it gives me no hassles and makes very few demands of me so I usually use body cream for my face as well and I have never had any issues.

So after my shower I decided to put some cream on and while rubbing it into my arm I realise that the cream takes forever to rub in and a little stretches very, very far! Weird, must be a Swedish cream-thing I thought! So after a couple of days of using the cream on my body and face I realise that the skin on my chin is getting very dry. URG! So in an attempt to counteract the dryness I put even more of the body cream on my chin, seems logical. But it burns a little and the condition worsens, eventually I begin to feel self conscious of it so I head off to the pharmacy and I got a non-perfumed face cream. So now I have my remedy!

Then this morning I am about to put on my body cream (the first one I bought) and realise it says "duschcreme". I stop! Doesn't dusch mean shower or something? OMG! I've been rubbing liquid soap into myself for the past week thinking it was cream! What an idiot!! No wonder my chin decided to go red and hate me!! What a fool!!

And to top all of that on my way home today I realised I have absolutely no idea how to put the light on my bike on!

So yes...I am some sort of fool!