kust

Today was an exploration of the swedish coast in skåne. We went from Lund over to Kivik on the east coast. I love that this country is so narrow. We could drive all the way across in a couple of hours. It was a wonderful day. Filled with bright hot sun, horizontal rain, wonderful friends and lots of laughs. Jonte, Lisa & Emma and I stopped at the cutest little coffee shops and bakery called Oliv Viktors. We then kept going on to a few towns that I have to get clarification of spelling on. It was a lovely!

oliver

I spent the morning walking around Lund a bit, taking a few pictures. There was a boring parade from the social democratic party. Just a marching band and some people walking slowly with red flags.

Jonte & Lisa arrived in Lund today. It was so wonderful to see Jonte again! I've missed him very much and it was great to see his little face. We went to Emma's and had a nice lunch and dinner there with Jonte, Lisa, Emma, Tobias & I.

A lovely day!

The swedish word of the day is oliver, meaning olives.

kräftskiva

Last night we had a kräftskiva here at Helene's place. There were lots of crayfish, schnapps & swedes.

The swedish word of the day is kräftskiva, meaning crayfish party. These parties are a swedish tradition. In the summer, gorcery stores stock hats, plates & serviettes with crayfish on them.

The party was a lot of fun. It was nice to meet so many of Helene's friends who up until now i've only known through stories and photos. Benjamin came from Malmö. It was nice to see him again. The best part of course was spending time with Emma again. It was so good to see her. I've missed her so much over the last 9 months. I got to meet her handsome blonde-afroed boyfriend Tobias! He's lovely!

I like the way swedes drink shots while eating dinner accompanied by much singing and swaying. It was pretty cool and fun.

After the party we went to plysch in Malmö where Truls was the dj. It was a lot of fun. We all had too much to drink and danced the night away. When the club closed Helene left with Truls and I went with her friends back to lund for an afterparty at some guy's house. Essentially it was 4 drunk girls wandering the streets of lund at 5am.

When I woke up today I was not feeling super hot and I really didn't do anything today. I went for a walk in lund and then cleaned up some of the aftermath of last night.

lund stortorget

Today Helene & I went and had a nice coffee in stortorget in Lund. We met up with Emma. While Helene did some work for Redbull, Emma and I looked at all the photos from the semester when she was in Vancouver. It was so great to look back at all the fun memories. Very nostalgic. Emma said “you know what I miss the most about Canada? Reeses Pieces!” She was very happy when I pulled them out of the bag for her. It was nice that she was so excited about it.

We made some great fajitas and had dinner with Emma, Helene & Truls. It was a nice dinner. I will spend the rest of the evening doing the last of my schoolwork for this semester and relaxing a bit. So far it’s been such a nice relaxing and fun trip! It’s so good to be together with Emma & Helene again. It is very much like old times, but in a new location.

malmö

I wrote this yesterday, and again forgot to post it. Today was great! We woke up late and went to Malmo. On the way to the train station we happened upon Emma on the street! It was so great so see her after all this time. I can’t believe that it’s been since mid-December. 9 months already! We will hang out tomorrow, she had to work today.

I took the train to Malmo with Susanne, Helene’s sister. We had some lunch and a coffee on a nice street that is closed to cars. It was interesting and fun to watch all the people walking around in the main shopping area. Later, Helene joined us and we did a bit of shopping. I bought a handbag and some gloves. There were some few other things I saw that I think I might go back and buy, if I can find some money in the travel budget.

Around 4pm Helene had to go back to Lund so she dropped me at Möllevångstorget and I met up with Benjamin and John. Benjamin is a guy I met on the internet through flickr a few months ago. We went for a beer at Ölkaféet. Then we went around Malmo on bikes! There are lots of large parks and pretty buildings. I can’t believe how bike/pedestrian-friendly Malmo is. It’s really impressive! I wish Vancouver was that easy to get around, although I guess it is getting better. We had a nice time. Later, we met up with Hanneke, Jon & Benjamin’s roommate. Hanneke had been to Vancouver a few times and Jon knew a bit about Vancouver through his thesis paper on urban sprawl. It’s interesting to hear about Vancouver from the perspective of a non-resident.

I left them around 8pm and wandered around Malmo alone until about 9:30. I was very proud of myself for figuring out how to get from Benjamin’s place, to the train station, on the right train and then from the Lund C. train station to our house. I didn’t get lost at all, but to be honest, I did have a very handy Malmo map courtesy of Jon.

Didn’t do very much when I got home. Helene & Emma were both very tired after work, so we went to bed early. But what a lovely day!

svenska

Helene is at work right now so I'm home here with Suzanne. She's watching bad american tv. It's amazing what is on here! Ricki Lake, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Extreme Makeover, the Bachelorette. Anyway, it seems they have imported the worst of america.

Met an american girl called Fleming from north carolina today. She is a friend of Jan's who is here on exchange. We went for lunch with Helene, Truls, Fleming & Sebastian at a the spot in lund. It was nice and delicious.

It was raining a lot again today, so we didn't walk around very much. We went to the international office so Fleming could find out where she'll be living. It's kind of handy to be here right now so I can figure out where everything is. When I come here it will be so much easier to find what I need. Fleming is learning swedish too, so we are having a healthy competition naming as many swedish words as we can. Right now, she is kicking my butt and providing some encouragement to pick up the pace.

The swedish word of this post is svenska, meaning swedish.

heja sverige!

Helene's street in Lund
Originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

woke up this morning to the sound of thunder and lightening. it was great! very loud & flashy.

now I hear doves, doves, doves! I finally know what Jonte was complaing about all the time!

Anyway, good to be here. It's 9am. Everyone is sleeping.

I'm wasting time online, and being jetlagged.

tåg

August 14, 2006 - I wrote this last night and forgot to post it.

Today I finished the last leg of my journey to Sweden. Arrived in Frankfurt at 6:50am after a lovely first class flight from Montreal. Quickly caught the next flight to Copenhagen. Got the train from Copenhagen to Lund. I had a little trouble at finding the transfer to Lund at Malmo, but after receiving some help from a very handsome and extra-fashionable Swede, I managed to get there.

First impression of Lund was that it was beautiful! Cobblestone streets etc. It looked exactly like how Europe should look in my mind. The city is old, lots of old buildings and interesting architecture. It was wonderful to meet up with dearest Helene! She met me at the station with her bike and we loaded my bags up on it and walked home. She lives very close to the station, in the centre of the city.

After having some breakfast with Helene, Truls (her boyfriend), Suzanne (her sister, we lazed around the house for awhile. I worked a bit on my very delayed final paper. Which will be done today, I promise! I don’t want to hear or think about it anymore, let alone write about it, so today it must be completed!

We were about to go on an exploration of Lund, but a thunderstorm discouraged us. We ended up walking over to Helene’s new apartment where Suzanne was cleaning and getting it ready to move in. I promptly fell fast asleep on the couch. I am a very tired girl.

It’s 6pm and I can barely barely keep my little eyes awake! I didn’t get much sleep on my trek here. Anyway, now I’m in Helene’s room, all snuggled in, ready to fall asleep for the night, but with my laptop and books keeping me sort-of, half awake.

I’m going to force myself to complete at least 1000 words and then it’s god natt for me!

The word of the day is tåg, meaning train.

flygplats

The swedish word of the day is flygplats, meaning aiport because that is where I am right now.

I'm in Montreal! My favourite city, however I just may aqcuire a new favourite city on this trip at some point.

After a flight from van to winnipeg. An uncomfortable, but uneventful night in the winnipeg airport, a flight to montreal I can finally relax a little bit. I'm exhausted, but happy. My flight for frankfurt leaves in 4 hours. I will use that time to finish up my homework, recharge all my electronics and get a little tipsy for free. Thanks air canada & dad for the free booze & flight.


Love you all, keep an eye on the blog and i'll update it whenever I can.

I posted my photos on my flickr site. The sweden ones are here.

This lovely little bench is where i spent last night. Although it was safe, quiet and dark, it was also bumpy, uncomfortable and freezing cold. But I'll take what I can get.

T

du stressar för mycket

Mom & Dad came over tonight to bring me some clothes, my passport, and other travel necessities. I think when Trent & I travel without them it makes them nervous. Mom kept hugging & wanting to take pictures. Hence, the stressed look on my face. From this picture it seems weird that people say we look alike so often. My school work has progressed much further than I expected I'd be able to accomplish today, but still there is an ominous cloud of 3000 words looming above my head.

Chris is away camping for the weekend, so I won't see him until I return from Sweden. It's been nice living with him, but it'll be great to live with a girl again for awhile.

The swedish phrase of the day is du stressar för mycket---you rush too much, you put yourself under too much pressure. And in my case, it's the truth.


I appreciated the following links:
Turn Here: Short Films, Cool Places
Castro the Conservationalist?
Green is the new Dead 

hemläxa

My final papers are slowly progressing. As I find myself faced with 4500 more (at least semi-coherent) words to type into this computer before Friday at midnight, my heart starts to beat faster, my stomach ties itself in knots, and all i want to do is write emails to old friends and chat on msn.

I figured I'd get the blog out of the way earlier in the day so I won't have it hanging over my head as an extra time waster all day long (this is illogical, but true). I really (maybe) am going to muster some discipline and get to work right now (in ten minutes).

Saturday - filled with packing, airports, and the beginning of a scandinavian adventure is looking better and better.

Today I found the following articles interesting:
How to Undress in 2 seconds
Condoleezza is a student of history
prominent porches in american literature
without USDA approval GM grass escapes into the wild
israel and water (again)

The swedish word of the day is: hemläxa, meaning homework.

today's special.

exam done, 3 papers to go

After a mostly sleepless night my final exam has been written and I can breathe a little easier. 3 papers left to complete by friday night and then no school for three glorious weeks while I galavant around sweden! My travel plans are beginning to take shape and although there are no itineraries or set dates for anything except my arrival and departure, I feel like I am getting a general sense of how I will spend my time. Mostly behind a camera, I'm sure.

Chris is moving out and being replaced by my lovely friend Katie while I'm in Sweden. So I'll return home to a new roommate, new classes, new job (hopefully) with a recharged brain prepared for a busy semester studying islamic civilization, modern africa, making of the british isles, social history of Canada and music fundamentals. It's not going to be easy, but I'm sure it'll be interesting and a lot of fun.

In my quest to be more involved in student life, I've decided to join some clubs and groups on campus this fall. It should make being at school all the time a bit more interesting, and also it will be a good way to make some more friends (all my best friends from school last semester are back in sweden). Potential groups I may involve myself in are the radio station, canadian students for darfur, sustainable campus coalition, christian club, and the community economic development student union.

Anyway, let me know if you have any suggestions for completing poli sci papers at light speed, or excellent things to see in Scandinavia.

The swedish word of the day is resa, meaning travel.

Today I found the following articles interesting:
Map your flickr photos!
Top 10 unintentionally worst company URLS
Comma irks Rogers
The scandal at the Zoo

Thanks Urban Sprawl

100_1413
Originally uploaded by traceylikesyou.

This morning it took 2 and a half hours to get to work. It's BC day, so transit didn't start running until 8am. Although inconvenient, the deserted streets and the peaceful warm breeze made the hours of waiting around pleasurable. I was able to relax and do some very necessary reading for my classes. I took some pics of the deserted skytrain platform.

In 1 week I'll be in Sweden. I cannot wait to see Jonte, Helene & Emma. But my excitement about the trip is hampered by the excessive amount of homework and studying I need to complete before Saturday.

Now... back to work and msning with Benjamin.