I'm here! Finally...

Well I've made it safe and sound! My stomach is still recovering from eating far too much airplane food, but apart from that I'm pretty good. Now for a recap of what we've been up to so far...

My first drama was encountered at Perth airport, where I was told my suitcase was so heavy that occupational health and safety laws meant that they couldn't handle it! So out came two pairs of shoes and some hair wax, and although I was well over the 20kg limit they allowed it through without paying any extra. The man wasn't too nice about it though, giving me a lecture about it before having a go at us for being environmental students. He said something along the lines of "oh yes, you're studying now but then you'll marry a rich man and spend all his money on pot". What a weirdo. Our theory is that he is bitter and twisted as he has never ventured beyond the airport himself.

Saying our goodbyes was pretty difficult but then it was go go go getting through customs and onto the plane. We had 2 seats on our own, so no fatties spilling into our seats which was nice. Dinner was some sort of curry type dish which wasn't too bad. I watched most of Madagascar which was pretty amusing, and spent the rest of the time reading and playing the crappy games. Pong can only keep you amused for so long...

Arriving at Kuala Lumpur very tired, the airport succeeded in confusing us somewhat! We had to get on a train to get to the other part of the airport and through to customs. Thanks to me however we had a couple of extra train journeys. I thought we needed to get back on it to get to the next part, but it just went back to where we were. Anyway we got there in the end, and got a bus to our airport. Our bus driver was practicing to be a rally driver but at least we got there quickly. After too short a sleep we got up for breakfast which included wedges! Strange.. though not as strange as the breakfast we were offered on the plane ...

After another bus trip to the airport we made our way to the plane, and noone checked our bags at any stage. You could either go through the metal detectors or just walk past them so we just walked past them and noone stopped us. Great security!

Anway, the breakfast on the plane must be seen to be believed. The non-vegetarian meal looked very nice (on the menu) but we were served purple-grey gelatinous cubes in a runny soupy egg mix with peas. I don't get airsick but almost spewed just looking at this crap. I ate the peas and the mushrooms which were on the side but needless to say I didn't touch the grey cubes of death. Preethi was more adventurous and said they tasted like tasteless jelly. Yum.

I got to watch 'the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy' which was good, and played some more crapola games.

Arriving in Stockholm we were greeted by very warm weather! And hordes of very tall, thin, tanned blonde women and similar men.

What followed was a painful journey into Uppsala, with our heavy bags and more rediculously heavy suitcases. Luckily an Aussie girl Kate met us at the train station with our room keys, and showed us to our rooms. We would have been very confused without her!

The last couple of days have been a bit of a blur really. We've settled into our rooms, set up our internet accounts (thank god) and done some grocery shopping. As everything is in Swedish, this is a difficult task. For example, the sour cream carton is just like a mini milk carton so you have to be careful what you buy. Last night it was cup-a-soup and toast for tea, but I will be getting more adventurous soon! I can't survive on cup-a-soup for 6 months.

My room is nice, and I have my own bathroom. I share a lounge and kitchen with the other 11 people in my corridor, and although I've only met a few of them, they seem very nice and helpful.

Well I guess that's it for now. It's very warm here and I'm sitting here writing this is a singlet and shorts. I hear it's nice and cold in WA at the moment. Don't worry tho, I am sure I'll be whinging about the cold soon enough!

Hope everyone is well. Will write more once I've done more! It's orientation week this week so I'll get introduced to student life here. SHould be interesting, I think!

love conor
xx