No rest for the wicked

My exam seemed to go pretty well, I got it finished in 2.5 hours instead of the 5 hours we were given to do it. You could answer in Swedish or English but I didn't think my lecturer would be impressed with "Hello my name is Conor. Is the car black? No the car is red". I then got one whole day off before starting my new course. The new course has more than 4 other students studying it which is exciting, including people from Germany (no surprise there), China, Uganda and Honduras! Oh, and a couple of Swedes for good measure. The course coordinator is called Sven, and he's actually the first Sven I've met here, regardless of what masseur sandal ads might lead you to believe.

I got to see a few films that were showing as part of the short film festival. In the first set of films, under the heading "collision course", there was an Australian film, and you could also hear "Home & Away" playing in the background of a Danish film showing in the set. Ah Alf, how I've missed your dulcet tones.

We changed our clocks yesterday, which means that by 5pm now it is very dark outside. *sigh* It also means that there is now a 7 hour difference between Uppsala and Perth, making communicating with home slightly more difficult. I don't know how Kiwis are able to talk to anyone back home, though I guess it must be difficult to teach sheep to use a phone anyway.

I got my bike fixed the other day which has made such a difference! The front hub was in such a bad state that the tyre was constantly touching the front brake, and the gears weren't working, but now they are both in perfect condition. I'm waiting for something else to bugger up now, or someone to steal it.

Before I go, my good friend Cliff has something to say...

"Happy Birthday Joan. I'd like to take you on a summer holiday"

Exam O'Clock

Still buried under the huge pile of photocopying. My exam is in a few days now, but I'm not too worried. The weather has been helping me stay motivated, as it's been raining all day. Looks to be raining all day tomorrow too. I'm glad I don't have any cycling to do in the next two days. Not sure how ready I am to don the rainproof pants I bought for 2 bucks at an op shop. They're very blue.

Preethi and I have tried out the sauna in her building a couple of times now, and I think it will be a regular thing. You book it out (by writing your time on the sheet of paper) and then once you're in you can lock it from the inside so you don't have to worry about people strolling in. The first time we stayed in for about half an hour, and the second time we managed a whole hour, only to be told that by the swedes that an hour was nothing. Plus we didn't take any beers with us, opting to sip on water, which (according to a guy that lives in the opposite corridor to me) isn't quite cool enough either. Oh well, by the end of the semester we should be staying in there all day and swilling cartons of carlsberg. Perhaps.

I can't help but be reminded of my leavers, when we camped at Horrocks Beach. It was pretty hot, and some of the guys (including Casey if memory serves) solved this dilemna by setting up some deckchairs under the showers, with an esky to keep them company. Ah the memories.

My class did a field experiment a couple of weeks ago, which was pretty interesting. Of course the data logger somehow managed to lose half the data we needed, which is only to be expected. At least the mice didn't chew through our wires.

Am a bit apprehensive about starting my next unit which seems pretty tricky. It's called "Hydrological Analysis and Modelling". All the units in this degree are so long, and they never leave enough space on the answer booklet in the exam to write them, so you have to write "HAM" or something similar.

Speaking of ham, we went and saw Heath Ledger's latest flick, the Brothers Grimm, last night. I enjoyed it but perhaps would have liked it more if I were 10 years younger. The cinemas here are a bit odd, in that you are allocated seats. By the time we got there, there were no seats left together so we had to split up, which was perhaps a good thing as I didn't have to share my chocolate with anyone.

There is a short film festival on here next week which looks really good, so I think I'll reward myself with some culture after I've done my exam. Plus they have a free breakfast next Saturday where you can meet some of the directors..or just eat for free! Mind you, I've been to free breakfasts in the past and they're generally things that you should eat before going to. Do you hear me, Vice Chancellor? A few bits of fruit isn't enough to sustain the bright young minds of tomorrow!

Anyway I clearly need to have my dinner, so hej då.

All the leaves are brown

Autumn in Sweden is beautiful indeed. There are so many different colours of leaves covering the trees, and the ground, and falling through the air. I haven't been very successful at capturing this beauty however, and the past week in particular has been characterised by me cursing myself every time I leave my building without my camera. I am sure that when I eventually do remember to take it, all the leaves will have fallen, and been swept away.

The big tree outside my window has already lost most of its leaves, after they turned a very bright yellow. This brightened up my room quite a lot, but now just exposes me to being seen from the other building. No more aerobics with the blinds open!

Uni has been taking up the bulk of my time lately. I can't believe I have my exam in two weeks - quite scary! Well, I guess I shouldn't be too scared. With the system here I can just try it again if I fail, which I don't think will be the case anyway. I think the most difficult thing will be not getting annoyed at people chomping and slurping - you can take any food and drink in that you want. I get annoyed at people sniffing and tapping, so I am sure that my concentration may suffer. Oh well, at least I have 5 hours to get it finished.

I got quite spoilt on Monday, getting a dozen long stemmed red roses delivered to me!!!!! That definitely deserves more than one exclamation mark. They are still looking beautiful. I think I will dry them when they turn, and then I can keep them in my room until I go home. Luckily one of the girls in my corridor has lent me a vase - the plastic water jug I had them in at first didn't really do them justice.

Well it's late and I should get to bed..just wanted to let you all know I'm still alive. Have been buried under an enormous pile of photocopied (probably illegally...but the copyright law information in the library is written in Swedish so I could always plead Australian) notes of late so haven't been up to anything very interesting. Well, apart from learning about soils of course!

Off to bed.....take it easy :)

Back in Sweden

Well, I'm back in Sweden after spending 6 days in England. I went over there last Tuesday, as my grandmother died the previous week and her was held on Friday. I was picked up from the airport by my parents, and aunty Sue and uncle John, who took my photo as I walked through the arrivals door but didn't bother having my name mispelt on a card. Very disappointing :) My first few hours in the country were spent enjoying the traffic. A fitting introduction!

It's pretty strange to fly for two and a half hours and end up in a different country, though I can't prove it as they didn't put a stamp in my passport! When travelling in the EU with a EU passport, it appears that they just check your passport, or put it through a machine, and don't actually give you a stamp. Almost worth using my Aussie passport. Perhaps I'll do that when I go back for Christmas :)

I went into London on Wednesday with Mum & Dad, catching the train in. When we got in we bought tickets for the Big Bus Company, which allows you to catch their buses for 48 hours, and we bought tickets for the London Eye and Madame Tussauds from them too. You get headphones when you're on the buses, so you can plug them in and learn about the places you're driving past. Or you can use the opportunity to try and learn French or German. Some of the buses have people with microphones saying the same sort of stuff. First stop was the London Eye, which was pretty cool and a good way to see the city.

After having something to eat we jumped on another bus to head up to Madame Tussauds to check out the celebrities! Upon arrival we were greeted by fellow Aussie Elle MacPherson, and made our way through taking lots of photos. We were surprised that you could get up so close to them, thinking that they would be behind a rope or something. In fact, you could even get close enough to try and nab their gun. Or touch Kylie's bum, as I've heard is quite popular. After looking at all the waxworks we went into 'The Chamber - Live - Serial Killers' which you were advised to not enter if you had a heart condition or were pregnant etc. After coming out the other end I can understand why! You walked through darkened corridors which had bodies hanging, and people getting tortured, and then zombies came out of nowhere and staggered past you, moaning. I stopped, cringing, and he came back and started whispering things at me until I kept walking. As we made our way through, people kept jumping out at us, or grabbing at us from above or through holes. I've gotta admit I let out quite a few good screams in there. I was puffed when we finally staggered out the other end.

Next stop on our tour was Harrods, which was very expensive but also very impressive! We all bought something and got our Harrods bags to carry around for the rest of the day. We also got to see the memorial erected for Diana and Dodi, much to Dad's displeasure. I was hoping to see some (real) celebrities shopping here, or indeed anywhere in the city, but if I did I didn't recognise them.

We made our way back to Victoria station to catch the train home, and spent the night resting from our adventures.

Just as well, as Stone Henge and Brighton were on the agenda for the following day. Getting to Stone Henge involved a fairly hefty period of driving, but watching the countryside passed the time nicely. We passed a sign for Shaftesbury at one stage, and I couldn't help but think of Bill Hicks. Arriving at Stone Henge was pretty surreal! I think you could photograph it for hours. We probably would have if it wasn't so cold up there. 'twas amazing to see it in real life. You couldn't get up close to it, as they have ropes that you can't go past. Apparently too many people chipped bits of it, and were damaging the rocks so they took measures to stop it.

Next stop was Brighton, and we checked out the pier first, and then walked up to the Pavillion to check it out. Didn't go inside but walked around and took lots more photos. We then went off to a 'world famous' seafood restaurant which I can't remember the name of, to have some dinner. You got chips with your fish, and could choose between mushy peas, garden peas, or beans. I felt like having some beans so I ordered those, but was a bit miffed when they turned out to be baked beans! I should have guessed. I ate so many baked beans and chips during the week, but didn't have any pickled onions or eggs, or pies for that matter.

On the way back to the car after dinner, there were some cops parked up on the side of the road with their motorbikes. John took me over to them and took my photo standing next to a bike, but I wasn't allowed to sit on it.

The next day was the funeral, and I met all of dad's siblings. Not the best occasion to get together, but it's nice to have some faces to go with the names now.

Saturday morning, Mum, Dad, John and I went to a British wildlife park, as I was keen to see some badgers and foxes. Got to see lots of animals, but the badgers were asleep, and not in the place where you could look through the glass to see them sleeping, so I had to make do with looking at a stuffed one, and the ones in the gift shop. John also bought me a furry badger bag :)

Next stop on our whirlwind tour was Windsor Castle, but on the way there we decided to go to Hampton Court Palace instead as it was closer, and Mum and Dad hadn't been there before. It was very impressive indeed! We wandered the halls of the palace, including the servants quarters which were quite dingy. The kitchens were really good, as they were actually used to cook the food of the day. After walking through those (despite the slaughter rooms with dead animals) we decided it was time for some food and headed to the cafe for some hearty soup.


No rest though, as then it was off to the maze. It was John and I vs. Mum and Dad, and needless to say we beat them easily! At one stage, John and I took a fork each, but a minute later turned corners to meet each other again. In the centre was a compass and some seats, and once Mum and Dad joined us we wandered back to the palace to check out the gift shops. Just as well we did, as we got caught in a shower on the way back. Thank god we weren't still stuck in the maze. I had a win in the gift shop, as the woman behind the counter scanned the cheapest item I was buying twice, and didn't scan the most expensive one.

I bought a little sword letter opener and some cocktail forks, which proved troublesome the next day. Having bought so many things during my stay, I had a bit of trouble fitting it all in my bag and so had a fair bit of hand luggage. Foolishly I forgot exactly what I had bought, until the security staff at Heathrow checked my bag (it beeped in the machine) and pulled out the offending items. I felt like such a moron. I had to go back to check-in, and check the items in, in a plastic bag, then rush back to get through security to get to my flight. Turns out I didn't have to rush, as my gate was very close and hadn't even started boarding yet. So I scoffed one of the sandwiches that John had packed for my playlunch and had a look in the duty free shops.

Well, that's it really for my weeks adventures. Didn't do much, did I?