Swedish Plants and Animals

On Tuesday, (March 31) , Vanessa, Isak, Jamie, and I went to the Varmlands Nature Centre and Animal... something. It was kind of a groggy day as all of the past days were, but it was still a lot of fun. Isak brought his dog and together the five of us walked through the abandoned park and had lunch in the nature centre.



From there, we walked through the animal park and saw goats, black sheeps, ducks, and cows. No sight of the supposed horses. Played around on the playground for a few minutes, but then it was time to catch the bus back into town.


Vanessa and I then went and hung out in the library/tourist centre, where I finished my souvenir buying, checked my email, and sat around because I was sooo tired.



That night, we just hung out again, watched more of the Big Bang Theory. I had to leave in the moring, so we were pretty sad.

The next day, I got up early and got myself down to the train station. Took a train to Gothenburg City. I had four hours to kill before my bus to the airport to take me back to London, so I decided to walk around on my own for a bit. By then, the weather in Sweden was beautiful (of course just when I'm leaving) and really hot out, but unfortunately I was all layered in coats so I didn't have to pack them and walking around was somewhat of a tiring task. Anyways, walking around I realized Gothenburg is more of a nicer, friendlier Paris. Everything shines and everyone is out shopping and happy. There's a few canals I walked by, and pretty European buildings. I didn't walk very far, but I found my way a few streets over to where the university is. There's a canal and a hill covered in flowers, so I sat on a bench for an hour and read my book (Cider with Roadies). All of the university students were out sunbathing sitting on the ledge of the canal. After that, I walked back to the station and got an ice cream and sat outside listening to a podcast until it was time to go home.



Sweden overall was a really good trip. I got to reconnect with Vanessa and Denis and I made a couple of new acquaintances. The atmosphere is really relaxed and I think it's definitely a challenge for Vanessa to live there and to learn how to live a slower lifestyle compared to Toronto. I liked having time off from the big ol London, and probably deserved that snowstorm because I missed all the big January ones in Toronto.

Oh, and Swedish sounds like a mixture of Sim language and Italian. Strange, huh?

dragons and snow "storms"

it's been an eventful weekend, you could say. except, this week, my weekend counts from last thursday until... this coming thursday (if i even have school) due to the snow. but more on that later.

on Friday, Suzan and I finally got to go to a concert in London. We ended up down the road at the Lexington to see Darren Hayman, the front man of now defunct indie band, Hefner.


his opening bands were a boy that looked like a tim burton character (and pretty sure that's what he was going for) singing about a spider he found as a child and then actually doing an adaptation of the snow angel song from Edward Scissorhands. it was ridiculous. The other band was called My Sad Captains, and I really like them now. (there will be more coverage of this show on Round Letters.... soon.. also once SPIN Earth is up, you can see my video report). It was fun, and I really liked the Lexington. It was a good night overall.

on Saturday, Carmen and I headed over to Wagamama for dinner. I really can't get enough of this place. I tried the chicken katsu curry when i went on Monday (...) with Martha, and I had to have it again (as well as that wasabi cake). It's SO GOOD. seriously. my stomach feels happy every time I think about it. Anyways ... *drool* we then met up with Hilde to go see Rachel Getting Married. And it was good, but depressing. Didn't help Hilde or Carmen much in their moods, as the night before they unfortunately witnessed a man getting hit by the bus they were on... yeah. I wasn't kidding to anyone when I said these buses have no mercy.

on Sunday, it was the London Chinese New Year Celebrations. Carmen, Hilde, Suzan, and I met up with Soren and our new Italian friend Davide for the festivities.

(Suzan, me, Davide, Soren, Hilde)

We walked around Leicester Square (seeing the dragon dance and eat lettuce..) then to Trafalgar and saw the concert going on there. It started snowing, but I didn't believe it, I just thought it was dust or something. Really.


We then ended up at a pub chain named Garfunkles, for a long time because it was so cold outside and we had nothing else to do. It was a lot of fun. I still can't get over how funny we are together.



Then, we went back to Leicester Square to see the fireworks. Right in the middle of the square. The square surrounded by trees and buildings. I know, I couldn't believe it! It was awesome though. Usually I don't like fireworks and think 4th of July is lame, but this was fun.


Herded like cattle down the tube station, we finally got home to Angel and then went to Tortilla (Hilde pronounces it 'tor-til-ia') for dinner. Then we hung out for the rest of the night. It was a fun day.

By the end of the night, there was a little bit of snow. Carmen and I giggled at first but then were frustrated. We came here to get away from it, we said. (Ha)

(Carmen and I in front of the Canada...place)

By this morning, I woke up to children playing outside around 11 and thought that was strange. Turns out, this city went into chaos while I was sleeping and then proceeded to wig out for the rest of the day. All the schools were closed. The tubes weren't running. Snowmen popped up everywhere on the streets. My friends messaged me to exclaim their joy over classes being cancelled, people in the streets with their cameras, and even sheer excitement of just seeing it.

(Sledding on the street)

See, London hasn't had snow like this in almost 18 years. And seriously, it's nothing compared to Canada. It's literally like, 2 inches? I don't know, I can't measure with my mind. But it's NOTHING. doesn't even cover your foot.

(Seriously, look at that stump. That's how much snow there is.)

So as everyone was joyous, Carmen and I were frustrated. Stuck inside because we didn't bring our snow boots with us, we decided to do laundry. And then we found out our class for tomorrow was already cancelled because the snow that happened today. And I only have classes Tuesday and Thursday... so.. yay long weekend. I feel a little guilty though, and... I'll get to work .... tomorrow.

oh, PS -- my plant died. :( its too sad to put it in the garbage, and i have nothing to plant it elsewhere with...

also, thanks Carmen for half of the photos!

aaaand... 8 days till Ryan is here :)

random late night facts and musings

there's a buzzing coming from one of the rooms i'm in between that's been driving me nuts for days. i don't know what it is, where it's coming from, or how i can stop it.

however, all the new music i've recently acquired has helped me through this. and then i try and get myself out of my residence room for a good amount of time, that works too.

but falling asleep has been hard. staying asleep has been hard. waking up has been hard. sleeping is just generally not a fun task anymore. i haven't had a pleasant dream since i've been here, lately i keep waking up, and also the last few days ive been woken up by very, VERY loud drilling on the street outside my window.

my floor kitchen gets grosser by the day. the one thing that was clean, the microwave, was product of some explosion by this morning. i don't know but it's a little appetite-stealing. guhh.

today, i met up with an old acquaintance, Martha, from toronto who used to be my journalistic mentor-ish who's now doing grad school here, ate a huge lunch at wagamama and drooled thinking about it all day, wrote in Round Letters, wrote some emails to publications back in Toronto with hopes of getting a summer internship, then met up with a friend, Alex, from Ryerson who was only in London for the day before he flew off to his exchange in Denmark. Carmen and I went to meet him and took him to a pub near Leicester Square. Then Hilde, Suzan, and Soren met up with us and we went to celebrate Chinese New Year in Chinatown at some restaurant I completely forgot to get the name of. Then Alex left. Then after dinner, the five of us wandered Chinatown in search of fortune cookies. Then Soren left. Then the four of us wandered Leicester Square until we got to Piccadilly Circus and then as Hilde really (hehe) wanted cheesecake, we trekked back to Angel, walked fooorever (I'm lazy) down Upper Street to another restaurant I forget the name of and stayed there for quite some time especially after giggling for at least a half an hour after all the new ways Hilde discovered to say "I'd tap that."

I've been feeling kind of homesick the last couple days. I don't miss some significant things, but it's just the aura of it. I miss my routine. My room. My house. Concerts. Ryan. You know. I wonder what it will be like when I get back...

That said, I'm back to fretting about my journalism future.

Oh. The crew and I are planning a trip to Barcelona for a weekend at the end of February I believe. I hope this works out! I never thought I'd want to go there, but right now I really do. Jetsetting here is way cheap, and we might as well take advantage of it! Trips still to come: Manchester, Oxford/Brighton/Liverpool? Hmmm. Then Edinburgh, Karlstad, and wherever Francesca lives in Italy and wherever Malte lives in Germany. I. Am. Excited.

15 days until Ryan's here!

i can't wait until its warm out so i can find places to walk to in this city, sit down, and read a book. or people watch. although, everyone here has a scowl on their face. especially at Sainsbury's.

oh last ps -- more photos up here.

London Calling

I arrived in London Tuesday evening. Today's Thursday. Since then, I've been staying in a very nice hotel/apartment (or, how you say, 'flat') on City Road, checked out my new neighborhood of Islington via school, residence, and Angel marketplace-square-typething. I've also been on a terrible sleep schedule and I am paying the price.

London is everything they say it is. Grey. Rainy. Fancy. Old.
The people seem to be about 10x cooler than anyone, no offense. They have this air to them. Maybe they have better posture. Mental note: check this out today. Prove thesis.

I've enjoyed watching British television, everything seems 5x more important. (At least on the news. Although, even silly commercials like for KFC don't seem so terrible. I'm sure these people know their accent is convincing. Market! Market! Market!)

My new neighborhood is great, although I've been adviced twice so far to not walk alone at night. Seems easy enough.

Today, mom & I will be riding a boat down the Thames River. She says it's pronounced 't-ems'. We shall see. I bet it sounds more convincing if you say it British. Speaking of which, I find I've been catching myself trying out the accent on the voice in my head. Just be glad it's in.