Hej Hej!
I just got back from my trip to Helsinki. We were on a cruise ship which was absolutely fantastic. There is a picture of Moomin (Finnish Cartoon) and Santa Claus on the outside of the ship, which makes it THAT much cooler. I went with 11 others, Martina, her friend Barbara, Andy, Klara, Ewelina, Asia, Matt, Thomas, Emilie, Niki, and Christina.
We left on Friday, got a ticket and was going to leave on the 9.45am bus to Stockholm. The bus was full. However, since Niki lost her passport during her trip to Dublin and needed to get the new passport, and she didn't get a ticket early enough before the bus got full, I switched my ticket with her. So instead, I biked back home and came back for the 12pm bus. Got to Stockholm at about 2.45pm and took the city bus to the harbour. Everything went smoothly and voila! we were on the ship! We explored the ship a bit then went to the tax-free shop. The night was pretty laid-back, we just hung out and then we decided to go to the night-club to dance a bit. Afterward, at about 11 or 12 midnight, we decided to go up to the highest level to the teenager's nightclub to dance some more. Ended up staying to about 3.
We woke up at about 8.30 or so to get ready for our day trip to Helsinki. We were met by Martina's friend who was there. He showed us all over and even brought us to Suomenlinna. We then got seperated and it was the Czech group (Martina, Barbara, the guide (Martin), Klara and Andy) and there was Christina and I, and then the rest of the group. We couldn't find the others so we just hopped on the ferry and left them. We tried texting and got an answer.. but apparently, someone was playing a joke and pretended to be Matt. We felt so bad for leaving them but apparently they left the island before us!!! Matt apparently sent a message to Christina (though her phone ran out of batteries) saying "Poland, French, and North America minus Yvette have left the island" or something like that. Christina and I merged with the Czech group for the rest of our time in Helsinki. When we got back on the boat, we found the others taking naps and whatnot. So Christina and I decided to get the party started and bother their "beauty sleep". We got some food and just hung out again. A few people got sea sick because it was pretty rough but everything was okay. At about 1am... Cabin 2071 (Ewelina, Asia, Matt, and Thomas) and their next door neighbours (Cabin 2073) (Christina, Emilie, Niki and I) were talking through a wall and sang "In the Jungle" and lullabys... then suddenly everyone just fell asleep.
Sunday morning, we got off the boat and started our trip back home. Just like Norway, I used Christina as my pillow on the bus. When we got back, Niki, Emilie and I went over to Christina for dinner. Emilie left early to finish her essay while Niki and I stayed from 4.30 to about 12.30. We kept bothering Christina even though she needed to pack for her trip to Lappland the next day! But all in all, I definitely had a good time.
Just to be random, I had hot pot yesterday!! It was delicious!!!
And another plus... my work psych class for today was cancelled!!! Wohoo!!!
Until next time,
Ytam.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Entry #12 - November 17th 2008
This whole entry is basically about my 4days, 3 nights trip to Norway. Enjoy!
Friday: woke up at 5am so we can take the 6.35am train. Train from Orebro to Kil Station, then from Kil Station to Oslo C. Train rides accumulated to a total of about 5-6hours. Oslo was raining from time to time, but it was not that big, so it was all good. Went to Oslo with Christina, Martina, Martina's boyfriend Otto, Adam, Yuka, Eva, Ulli, and Nora. The last three people only joined us on our trip to Oslo and did not continue on with us to Bergen or the Fjords. They spent 3 days in Oslo instead. We explored the city, went the the Royal Palace, Vigeland Sculpture Park, the National Gallery, and the City Hall. We got lost from time to time but we figured everything out. I highly recommend the Vigeland Sculpture Park, I think that was the best attraction from Oslo. Beautiful, Captivating, Stunning. Martina called her friend who is currently studying in Norway and she showed us around town. Oslo at night with lights! Christmas decorations are slowly visible. It was amazing. At around 11pm, we took a night train to Bergen.
Saturday: spent the whole night on a train. Had a few pillow fights throughout the night. Wasn't able to get much sleep but it's okay, the scenery was fabulous! Snow everywhere, moutains, lakes, and a Christmas tree with lights! The only time I could fall asleep was when I fell asleep on Christina. :P At 7am, we arrived in Bergen, but unfortunately nothing was opened, not even our hostel. So we sat around the train station and waited til 9am then tried checking in again, we weren't allowed to go yet because people were still sleeping in the room. So we just left our bags with them and explored the city. We saw some churches, walked around the neighbourhood, had brunch/tea/coffee. Weather in Bergen was interesting to say the least. It would suddenly rain for about 5-10 minutes then it will stop for 10 minutes and continue. We experience hail, rain, sun and wind in Bergen!!! What a mix! We went to a castle and then there was a thunderstorm! Then out of nowhere, hail began to shower on us!! It was chaotic. Then suddenly everything stopped and we were hiding in a not so good place, so I said "oh good, let's go hide somewhere else", and then i turned to them and added, "watch this, when I step out of this place, it's going to start pouring and whatnot..." and coincidentally, the moment I stepped out, ... yup, it started pouring down on me. What a joke! By noon, we got our rooms, some took an hour nap and then by 2.30 we walked around the city again. We climbed up a huge mountain (we lost 2 on the way, but managed to find them through text messages). The view up top was breathtaking. I will post pictures up on facebook soon. By then, we were all soaked (even with umbrellas!) We decided to go back to the hostel and just call it a day. We had some tea, played some cards, took a much need shower, and slept. The bed were comfy and so was the pillow, so I was definitely happy! The hostel consisted of 4 bunk beds, so we shared with two others strangers who were studying in Uppsala. I slept on the bottom, while Christina slept on the top. In the middle of the night, she needed the bathroom so she jumped from the ladder to the ground and stepped onto Yuka's shoes She was basically in pain, jumping in circles but not letting herself scream. I, myself, being the evil one, let out a few giggles ;)
Sunday: Woke up at 6am, train leaf for Voss at 8am. After arriving in Voss, we went on a bus that took us to the boat that will take us around the Fjords. The scenery once again was beautiful. Very white grounds. It was very sunny, so it was a very desirable day for a boat trip around the Fjords. The boat ride took about 2 hours (will post pictures up later, once again). The Fjords trip ended at a place called Flam (with a circle on the a). We stopped there for about 2 hours and then took a "traditional, old school" train back to Voss. The train took a very beautiful route, white snow, untouched. It was a bit scary though, the train, at one point, started going up a small hill but then after 2 seconds, the train would go in reverse for 5 seconds. We didn't think it was going to make it! hehe We stopped at a station so we can switch to another train that will take us to Voss. There, I did a snow angel (snow eagle) and had a few snowball fights! Once we got back to Voss, it was about 5pm, and our night train home was at 12am. Unfortunately everything closes at 5pm so we were in search of cafes and restaurant. In the end, we decided to stop at a Chinese Restaurant. We stayed there from about 5.30 to 8pm. After that, we made our way to the train station where we decided to waste the night away (waiting for the train) by playing cards and Uno!
Monday: Spend the night on the train from Voss to Oslo. Train lasted from 12am to about 6.30. Slept pretty good, mostly on top of Christina, but I think that was my trick to a good night's sleep on a train. At Olso, we spent an hour waiting for a connecting train ride from Oslo to Hallsberg. Slept for about 1.5 hours out of 4 hours while en route to Hallsberg. Customs were on the train asking for passport, thankfully I remembered to bring my passport. They asked us how long we stayed, where we stayed, if we enjoyed it, where we study, etc. We were kinda out of it because they woke us up in the middle of our sleep. Martina and Otto kept sleeping and the custom officers just asked us if they were with us and we answered with a "yes" and then they're like "okay then, we won't bother them, you can go back to sleep! hehe" At a stop we saw police officers, the custom officers and a kid... I guess he didn't have a passport? The train had some technical difficulties we delayed out trip for about 10 minutes and we had a connecting train that had a 10 minute gap between that train and the train to Orebro. But fortunately the Orebro train waited for us patiently! :)
So there you go, that's my story. Probably the longest blog I've written. Overall, it was an absolutely amazing trip, beautiful country, amazing places, fantastic group of people, what more can i ask for! And of course, we experienced all types of weather (snow, hail, rain, thunderstorm, wind, sun, etc)! It was Yuka's first time with hail. A good time nonetheless. Next place... Helsinki Cruise!
Always having a good time, you should too!
Ytam.
Friday: woke up at 5am so we can take the 6.35am train. Train from Orebro to Kil Station, then from Kil Station to Oslo C. Train rides accumulated to a total of about 5-6hours. Oslo was raining from time to time, but it was not that big, so it was all good. Went to Oslo with Christina, Martina, Martina's boyfriend Otto, Adam, Yuka, Eva, Ulli, and Nora. The last three people only joined us on our trip to Oslo and did not continue on with us to Bergen or the Fjords. They spent 3 days in Oslo instead. We explored the city, went the the Royal Palace, Vigeland Sculpture Park, the National Gallery, and the City Hall. We got lost from time to time but we figured everything out. I highly recommend the Vigeland Sculpture Park, I think that was the best attraction from Oslo. Beautiful, Captivating, Stunning. Martina called her friend who is currently studying in Norway and she showed us around town. Oslo at night with lights! Christmas decorations are slowly visible. It was amazing. At around 11pm, we took a night train to Bergen.
Saturday: spent the whole night on a train. Had a few pillow fights throughout the night. Wasn't able to get much sleep but it's okay, the scenery was fabulous! Snow everywhere, moutains, lakes, and a Christmas tree with lights! The only time I could fall asleep was when I fell asleep on Christina. :P At 7am, we arrived in Bergen, but unfortunately nothing was opened, not even our hostel. So we sat around the train station and waited til 9am then tried checking in again, we weren't allowed to go yet because people were still sleeping in the room. So we just left our bags with them and explored the city. We saw some churches, walked around the neighbourhood, had brunch/tea/coffee. Weather in Bergen was interesting to say the least. It would suddenly rain for about 5-10 minutes then it will stop for 10 minutes and continue. We experience hail, rain, sun and wind in Bergen!!! What a mix! We went to a castle and then there was a thunderstorm! Then out of nowhere, hail began to shower on us!! It was chaotic. Then suddenly everything stopped and we were hiding in a not so good place, so I said "oh good, let's go hide somewhere else", and then i turned to them and added, "watch this, when I step out of this place, it's going to start pouring and whatnot..." and coincidentally, the moment I stepped out, ... yup, it started pouring down on me. What a joke! By noon, we got our rooms, some took an hour nap and then by 2.30 we walked around the city again. We climbed up a huge mountain (we lost 2 on the way, but managed to find them through text messages). The view up top was breathtaking. I will post pictures up on facebook soon. By then, we were all soaked (even with umbrellas!) We decided to go back to the hostel and just call it a day. We had some tea, played some cards, took a much need shower, and slept. The bed were comfy and so was the pillow, so I was definitely happy! The hostel consisted of 4 bunk beds, so we shared with two others strangers who were studying in Uppsala. I slept on the bottom, while Christina slept on the top. In the middle of the night, she needed the bathroom so she jumped from the ladder to the ground and stepped onto Yuka's shoes She was basically in pain, jumping in circles but not letting herself scream. I, myself, being the evil one, let out a few giggles ;)
Sunday: Woke up at 6am, train leaf for Voss at 8am. After arriving in Voss, we went on a bus that took us to the boat that will take us around the Fjords. The scenery once again was beautiful. Very white grounds. It was very sunny, so it was a very desirable day for a boat trip around the Fjords. The boat ride took about 2 hours (will post pictures up later, once again). The Fjords trip ended at a place called Flam (with a circle on the a). We stopped there for about 2 hours and then took a "traditional, old school" train back to Voss. The train took a very beautiful route, white snow, untouched. It was a bit scary though, the train, at one point, started going up a small hill but then after 2 seconds, the train would go in reverse for 5 seconds. We didn't think it was going to make it! hehe We stopped at a station so we can switch to another train that will take us to Voss. There, I did a snow angel (snow eagle) and had a few snowball fights! Once we got back to Voss, it was about 5pm, and our night train home was at 12am. Unfortunately everything closes at 5pm so we were in search of cafes and restaurant. In the end, we decided to stop at a Chinese Restaurant. We stayed there from about 5.30 to 8pm. After that, we made our way to the train station where we decided to waste the night away (waiting for the train) by playing cards and Uno!
Monday: Spend the night on the train from Voss to Oslo. Train lasted from 12am to about 6.30. Slept pretty good, mostly on top of Christina, but I think that was my trick to a good night's sleep on a train. At Olso, we spent an hour waiting for a connecting train ride from Oslo to Hallsberg. Slept for about 1.5 hours out of 4 hours while en route to Hallsberg. Customs were on the train asking for passport, thankfully I remembered to bring my passport. They asked us how long we stayed, where we stayed, if we enjoyed it, where we study, etc. We were kinda out of it because they woke us up in the middle of our sleep. Martina and Otto kept sleeping and the custom officers just asked us if they were with us and we answered with a "yes" and then they're like "okay then, we won't bother them, you can go back to sleep! hehe" At a stop we saw police officers, the custom officers and a kid... I guess he didn't have a passport? The train had some technical difficulties we delayed out trip for about 10 minutes and we had a connecting train that had a 10 minute gap between that train and the train to Orebro. But fortunately the Orebro train waited for us patiently! :)
So there you go, that's my story. Probably the longest blog I've written. Overall, it was an absolutely amazing trip, beautiful country, amazing places, fantastic group of people, what more can i ask for! And of course, we experienced all types of weather (snow, hail, rain, thunderstorm, wind, sun, etc)! It was Yuka's first time with hail. A good time nonetheless. Next place... Helsinki Cruise!
Always having a good time, you should too!
Ytam.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Entry #11: November 10th, 2008
Hello Gang.
I don't know how many of you still follows this blog. But if it's only Hayley, then I'll still be more than happy to write just for her!
Ewelina's younger brother, Kuba, is here in Orebro. And we're having a great time. Last night we had a Japanese/Polish meal!!! and We each had about 5 shots of polish vodka. It wasn't too bad, actually.
On Saturday, I took a day trip to Uppsala, a town north of Orebro. I went with Christina, Uli, Martina, and Martina's two friends who were visiting from Czech Republic. The weather was nice. A little fog, which gave a nice touch to some pictures. Uppsala was interesting. But everything closed pretty early so we just explored a bit and then had fika. We went to a museum but it was closing in 10minutes so we asked if we can go in for free... and the person allowed us. We ran through the museum like there was no tomorrow! It was fun, we got to touch weapons hehe. The city was beautiful when it got dark. I will post pictures up later. Since I've only slept for 4.5 hours that night, and didn't manage to get any sleep in during our train and bus ride... i was dead tired by the time we got onto the bus to get to the train station. But the driver kept braking like there's no tomorrow so when i was about to fall asleep, he would brake... not fun. But once we go on the train, I slept! I was very happy! Christina said "I've never seen you that tired before" ... in reality, neither has I.
On Friday, Martina had a potluck dinner. Bring something from your nationality/country. Adam, Niki and I baked a very successful Apple Pie. It took a while but it ended up well. After the pie was baked, we found out we were all Libras, which meant that we were all indecisive. With that being said, we understood our journey of baking an apple pie. For instant, it took us about a day to figure out what to bake (cheesecake, tiramisu, apple pie..etc), another 15 minutes or so to see which grocery store to go to... It was fun nonetheless. Since Martina lives down the hill, in Tybble Hall, by the university. We had to somehow bike with our pie down the hill. So we decided to put the pie into a cereal box and then put that into a cardboard bag, and bike down the hill with one hand on the handlebar, one had holding on to the pie. I was the designated biker. My arm got pretty sore by the end of it and I had to get Niki to go ahead of me and stop infront of Tybble to receive the pie because i knew i wouldn't be able to stop with the pie. And it was a very successful handoff :D We had a lot of food there, crepes, german pancakes, sushi, german potatoe salad, swedish meatballs, czech dumplings, banana bread... etc! I think we'll be doing a couple of those party nights before everyone leaves.
Ewelina is planning to leave Orebro for good on the 13th of December :(. Shizuka is planning to travel from the 16th of December until the 3rd of January :( So i'll be home alone... Maybe I'll spend Christmas with Asia... we shall see. I think England is out of the picture, but I'm not sure yet. This is because my friend is planning on coming to visit me from the 28th of december until the 14th of January. That'll be fun too, perhaps we'll take some trips around the nordic countries.
I just started a new class, my 4th and last class of this semester: Work Psychology. The teacher seems pretty cool. We have about 12 students and the class was originally scheduled for 13h-16h. But our prof Roland Gustafson said he highly doubts that he'll need the full three hours. Today, we left after an hour and 15. So life is great, school is great.
This coming weekend I will be going to Norway. Oslo, Bergen and a boat trip around the fjords!!!
I'll be staying 4days, 3 nights. 2 nights on trains and 1 night in a hostel in Bergen. I will be going with Martina and her boyfriend (from czech, visiting her), Adam and Christina! It shall be a fun journey! I'll let you know all about it when I come back from Norway!
I think that's all the news I have for now.
Come visit me if you want!
Take Care,
Ytam.
I don't know how many of you still follows this blog. But if it's only Hayley, then I'll still be more than happy to write just for her!
Ewelina's younger brother, Kuba, is here in Orebro. And we're having a great time. Last night we had a Japanese/Polish meal!!! and We each had about 5 shots of polish vodka. It wasn't too bad, actually.
On Saturday, I took a day trip to Uppsala, a town north of Orebro. I went with Christina, Uli, Martina, and Martina's two friends who were visiting from Czech Republic. The weather was nice. A little fog, which gave a nice touch to some pictures. Uppsala was interesting. But everything closed pretty early so we just explored a bit and then had fika. We went to a museum but it was closing in 10minutes so we asked if we can go in for free... and the person allowed us. We ran through the museum like there was no tomorrow! It was fun, we got to touch weapons hehe. The city was beautiful when it got dark. I will post pictures up later. Since I've only slept for 4.5 hours that night, and didn't manage to get any sleep in during our train and bus ride... i was dead tired by the time we got onto the bus to get to the train station. But the driver kept braking like there's no tomorrow so when i was about to fall asleep, he would brake... not fun. But once we go on the train, I slept! I was very happy! Christina said "I've never seen you that tired before" ... in reality, neither has I.
On Friday, Martina had a potluck dinner. Bring something from your nationality/country. Adam, Niki and I baked a very successful Apple Pie. It took a while but it ended up well. After the pie was baked, we found out we were all Libras, which meant that we were all indecisive. With that being said, we understood our journey of baking an apple pie. For instant, it took us about a day to figure out what to bake (cheesecake, tiramisu, apple pie..etc), another 15 minutes or so to see which grocery store to go to... It was fun nonetheless. Since Martina lives down the hill, in Tybble Hall, by the university. We had to somehow bike with our pie down the hill. So we decided to put the pie into a cereal box and then put that into a cardboard bag, and bike down the hill with one hand on the handlebar, one had holding on to the pie. I was the designated biker. My arm got pretty sore by the end of it and I had to get Niki to go ahead of me and stop infront of Tybble to receive the pie because i knew i wouldn't be able to stop with the pie. And it was a very successful handoff :D We had a lot of food there, crepes, german pancakes, sushi, german potatoe salad, swedish meatballs, czech dumplings, banana bread... etc! I think we'll be doing a couple of those party nights before everyone leaves.
Ewelina is planning to leave Orebro for good on the 13th of December :(. Shizuka is planning to travel from the 16th of December until the 3rd of January :( So i'll be home alone... Maybe I'll spend Christmas with Asia... we shall see. I think England is out of the picture, but I'm not sure yet. This is because my friend is planning on coming to visit me from the 28th of december until the 14th of January. That'll be fun too, perhaps we'll take some trips around the nordic countries.
I just started a new class, my 4th and last class of this semester: Work Psychology. The teacher seems pretty cool. We have about 12 students and the class was originally scheduled for 13h-16h. But our prof Roland Gustafson said he highly doubts that he'll need the full three hours. Today, we left after an hour and 15. So life is great, school is great.
This coming weekend I will be going to Norway. Oslo, Bergen and a boat trip around the fjords!!!
I'll be staying 4days, 3 nights. 2 nights on trains and 1 night in a hostel in Bergen. I will be going with Martina and her boyfriend (from czech, visiting her), Adam and Christina! It shall be a fun journey! I'll let you know all about it when I come back from Norway!
I think that's all the news I have for now.
Come visit me if you want!
Take Care,
Ytam.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Entry #10: October 31st, 2008
Happy Halloween!
and Ladies and Gentlemen... it has begun.. SNOW TIME!
started last night with here and there snow, but now... it's pretty frequent.
It's getting pretty cold. low being -4 and high being 2.
Supposedly on saturday, temperature will have a low of -8. Wish me luck! I've already started wearing 4 layers of clothes + toque + scarve + gloves.... hmm I guess I'll just have to go shopping sooon!
Florian and his two friends, Alex and Ulrich and also his brother, Felix have come to visit him! It was a fun evening, they cooked me scramble eggs (austrian style) i suppose, lol with onion, cheese, ham etc. It was a nice. Then we talked, played cards, talked some more, and then play Country, City, River....
Yesterday, at my house, it was a muffin show-down. hehe. Shizuka made banana chocolate muffin which was delicious. Then Ewelina, Ulli, and Asia made daim chocolate muffin! I am going to get fat! whooooopie!
Well the ground is getting VERY VERY white! I can't wait until i go out and jump into it and make "snow eagles" (that's what polish calls snow angels) teehehe.. wohoo! Okay toodles! Time to have fun!
Have a good halloween once again! People back home, enjoy fright night (if you are going)
hej da!
Ytam!
and Ladies and Gentlemen... it has begun.. SNOW TIME!
started last night with here and there snow, but now... it's pretty frequent.
It's getting pretty cold. low being -4 and high being 2.
Supposedly on saturday, temperature will have a low of -8. Wish me luck! I've already started wearing 4 layers of clothes + toque + scarve + gloves.... hmm I guess I'll just have to go shopping sooon!
Florian and his two friends, Alex and Ulrich and also his brother, Felix have come to visit him! It was a fun evening, they cooked me scramble eggs (austrian style) i suppose, lol with onion, cheese, ham etc. It was a nice. Then we talked, played cards, talked some more, and then play Country, City, River....
Yesterday, at my house, it was a muffin show-down. hehe. Shizuka made banana chocolate muffin which was delicious. Then Ewelina, Ulli, and Asia made daim chocolate muffin! I am going to get fat! whooooopie!
Well the ground is getting VERY VERY white! I can't wait until i go out and jump into it and make "snow eagles" (that's what polish calls snow angels) teehehe.. wohoo! Okay toodles! Time to have fun!
Have a good halloween once again! People back home, enjoy fright night (if you are going)
hej da!
Ytam!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Entry #9 - October 24th, 2008
Happy Belated Birthday Hayley Petersen. My Number One Fan of this blog :D
Fact #1: Austrians invented Redbull!
Fact #2: Toutin: is a Newfoundland term for a dough cake fried in fat and made from fresh bread dough -- According to Wiki.
Fact #3: Tybble party is a weekly party (Tuesdays) hosted by different countries each week, which is held in the Tybble Hall. Hence the name, Tybble party.
The Canadians hosted the last Tybble party. And everything went smoothly. We made Toutin and Poutine. Excellent choices, might I add. Andrew's girlfriend came from Newfoundland to come to Sweden to visit him brought along a lot of goodies. Like TATTOOS, A small maple leafs jersey, light up pins and small pins! Absolutely amazing! See some tagged pictures of me on facebook, I'll upload my pictures up in a little while. Party ended at 1am (rule of hosting parties at Tybble) Cleaned ended at 2ish. Got home at 2.30 Slept at 3.30 and Woke up at 7 for study visit! Then on Wednesday, I had to finish my 10page essay. So I was living on limited amount of energy!
Go to facebook and look at my tagged pictures. In there, you'll find pictures of me in my roommate's (Shizuka) kimono! Tell me what you think about that!
The countdown begins. Friends are leaving soon, a little under 2 months..........
I think that's all the update I have for right now. If you want to know what's been up, just check the tagged pictures of me on facebook!
Ytam.
Fact #1: Austrians invented Redbull!
Fact #2: Toutin: is a Newfoundland term for a dough cake fried in fat and made from fresh bread dough -- According to Wiki.
Fact #3: Tybble party is a weekly party (Tuesdays) hosted by different countries each week, which is held in the Tybble Hall. Hence the name, Tybble party.
The Canadians hosted the last Tybble party. And everything went smoothly. We made Toutin and Poutine. Excellent choices, might I add. Andrew's girlfriend came from Newfoundland to come to Sweden to visit him brought along a lot of goodies. Like TATTOOS, A small maple leafs jersey, light up pins and small pins! Absolutely amazing! See some tagged pictures of me on facebook, I'll upload my pictures up in a little while. Party ended at 1am (rule of hosting parties at Tybble) Cleaned ended at 2ish. Got home at 2.30 Slept at 3.30 and Woke up at 7 for study visit! Then on Wednesday, I had to finish my 10page essay. So I was living on limited amount of energy!
Go to facebook and look at my tagged pictures. In there, you'll find pictures of me in my roommate's (Shizuka) kimono! Tell me what you think about that!
The countdown begins. Friends are leaving soon, a little under 2 months..........
I think that's all the update I have for right now. If you want to know what's been up, just check the tagged pictures of me on facebook!
Ytam.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Entry #8 - October 19th, 2008
Hello There Gang!
It's been awhile, so I've decided to take some time off of my busy schedule to update all of you. I'll keep them short.
#1: On my birthday I fell asleep at about 11pm. Got woken up at 12am because my friends threw me a surprise party. I was so out of it (having a headache does not help!) But I am very grateful to have made so many nice and thoughtful friends. For presents, I got a mug, a singing card, 2 postcards, a picture frame with pictures of me with Ewelina and Asia in a GREEN frame, 4 new origami cranes, cookies and 2 cakes!!!
#2: I have a Swedish exam tomorrow. Wish me luck, because I'll definitely need it. I have a 10-page essay due on Friday.
#3: I'm quite busy with the exams and homework due pretty soon. But also, I have many parties to go to. 2 birthday parties and the Tuesday Canadian Tybble Party! At the Canadian party, we've decided the dress code as "Red, White, and Toques" and we will make Toutine (sp?) From Newfoundland, and Poutine! woohoo! Fun Fun Fun!
#4: That's pretty much all I've been up to. Parties and Hangouts. and i guess homework on the side.
That's it for now! Toodles!
Ytam
It's been awhile, so I've decided to take some time off of my busy schedule to update all of you. I'll keep them short.
#1: On my birthday I fell asleep at about 11pm. Got woken up at 12am because my friends threw me a surprise party. I was so out of it (having a headache does not help!) But I am very grateful to have made so many nice and thoughtful friends. For presents, I got a mug, a singing card, 2 postcards, a picture frame with pictures of me with Ewelina and Asia in a GREEN frame, 4 new origami cranes, cookies and 2 cakes!!!
#2: I have a Swedish exam tomorrow. Wish me luck, because I'll definitely need it. I have a 10-page essay due on Friday.
#3: I'm quite busy with the exams and homework due pretty soon. But also, I have many parties to go to. 2 birthday parties and the Tuesday Canadian Tybble Party! At the Canadian party, we've decided the dress code as "Red, White, and Toques" and we will make Toutine (sp?) From Newfoundland, and Poutine! woohoo! Fun Fun Fun!
#4: That's pretty much all I've been up to. Parties and Hangouts. and i guess homework on the side.
That's it for now! Toodles!
Ytam
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Entry #7 - October 7th, 2008
Hello, Hello!
Boy, have I been slacking off recently with this blog. Let's get it going again! Lots to say, so let's begin, shall we?
#1: 5 more days til I turn the big 2-0 and become old, but I have since, been reminded that I'll still be the baby here in Sweden. So i guess, nothing changes. I got a birthday card from my family, about 2 weeks early, boy, they definitely did not know when my birthday is ;)
#2: I was in Stockholm about a week or 2 ago! For a day trip with Kaddy, Ina and Adam. I'll post pictures up on facebook, when I decide to get on it. I'm lacking behind in the uploading photos department, but sooner or later, I'll do it, so hold your horses! Stockholm was beautiful, we picked an exceptional day to go. Amazing weather, sunny with no clouds, what more can we ask for! It takes about 2.5 hours bus ride to get from Orebro to Stockholm, so it wasn't too bad. In the morning, we ride our bikes (approx. 25 mins) to the train station, where we board our bus, then 2.5 hours later, voila! we're there! We went shopping, didn't end up buying anything because they were pretty expensive. We also watched the sunset on a bridge, it was phenomenal! So we decided to take the last bus back to Orebro at 10.30. But we almost missed that. Thanks to my good visual history skills, I was able to find the Stockholm train station by thinking backwards and going through history to go back to the station. We made it in time with 1 minute to spare! yahooo! Stockholm was fun! I'm sure I'll be going there numerous times.
#3: I've been learning more and more polish. This is soo exciting! I talked to Ewelina's boyfriend through her skype. Though it was only one sentence lol. But i'm starting to talk to Asia and Ewelina in Polish and they answer me back in Cantonese! How sweet is that! We're also learning Japanese, this way we can bond with our third roommate, Shizuka! So by the end, I'll come up with some common phrases in Japanese too!
#4: Many trips in the planning. This thursday, I'll be going to Norway with my roommates (Ewelina and Asia, yes we consider Asia our roommate, though she lives diagonally across, but is always over) and perhaps Adam. That is only a day trip. And I have been invited to go to another Norway trip in mid november, where we'll be visiting oslo, bergen and the fjords!! Also, have been invited to go to Helsinki in late november on a little boat ride that cost about 20 Canadian dollars (not includeing train/bus ride) And as I said before, I will be visiting Hayley when it's possible. I have yet to find out when my Swedish final exam is. So as hpo would say it. That's the plan, stan!
#5: This week's tuesday night party is hosted by the Germans with their theme of Oktoberfest! That should be quite interesting. Well at least it sounds interesting.
#6: I have just taken my first final exam in Sweden this past saturday! I definitely hope it went okay, fingers crossed. and Yes that does mean I have finished one course already. Anti social behaviours is over and done with. I am now taking Comparative Social work. This course includes 1 intro class, 3 lectures, 2 study visits and 2 days of presentations. No final exam, just a 10 page essay and the 5-10 minute presentation! So that should be alright. And this class end in 4 weeks! wohoo! Time is sure passing by super quickly, soon enough, all the friends I've met here will be going back home. O well, more places to visit ;)
#7: Ever heard of Surstromming? Well wikipedia it or youtube it. It's the stinkiest fish alive! It's a Sweden thing and we decided to give it a try after my roommates were hosts of a Polish meal. Excellent meal, might i add. But the fish's smell, holy moly! It was EWWWWWWWWWW
Once again, I'll post some pictures up. But hey, we did it, not necessary ate it but I managed to have enough courage to touch it. My fingers were smelly for the rest of the night, but it's okay now :D Adam and his Swedish roommate, Marcus, actually ate the fish. I would of done it, except for Marcus told me that eating it was okay, but the aftertaste that stays in your mouth was awful! So, no thanks!
I think that's all for now. I'll tell you about my norway trip when i get back and make time to update you all. While I'm at it, I might as well upload my pictures. So enjoy!
Ytam.
Boy, have I been slacking off recently with this blog. Let's get it going again! Lots to say, so let's begin, shall we?
#1: 5 more days til I turn the big 2-0 and become old, but I have since, been reminded that I'll still be the baby here in Sweden. So i guess, nothing changes. I got a birthday card from my family, about 2 weeks early, boy, they definitely did not know when my birthday is ;)
#2: I was in Stockholm about a week or 2 ago! For a day trip with Kaddy, Ina and Adam. I'll post pictures up on facebook, when I decide to get on it. I'm lacking behind in the uploading photos department, but sooner or later, I'll do it, so hold your horses! Stockholm was beautiful, we picked an exceptional day to go. Amazing weather, sunny with no clouds, what more can we ask for! It takes about 2.5 hours bus ride to get from Orebro to Stockholm, so it wasn't too bad. In the morning, we ride our bikes (approx. 25 mins) to the train station, where we board our bus, then 2.5 hours later, voila! we're there! We went shopping, didn't end up buying anything because they were pretty expensive. We also watched the sunset on a bridge, it was phenomenal! So we decided to take the last bus back to Orebro at 10.30. But we almost missed that. Thanks to my good visual history skills, I was able to find the Stockholm train station by thinking backwards and going through history to go back to the station. We made it in time with 1 minute to spare! yahooo! Stockholm was fun! I'm sure I'll be going there numerous times.
#3: I've been learning more and more polish. This is soo exciting! I talked to Ewelina's boyfriend through her skype. Though it was only one sentence lol. But i'm starting to talk to Asia and Ewelina in Polish and they answer me back in Cantonese! How sweet is that! We're also learning Japanese, this way we can bond with our third roommate, Shizuka! So by the end, I'll come up with some common phrases in Japanese too!
#4: Many trips in the planning. This thursday, I'll be going to Norway with my roommates (Ewelina and Asia, yes we consider Asia our roommate, though she lives diagonally across, but is always over) and perhaps Adam. That is only a day trip. And I have been invited to go to another Norway trip in mid november, where we'll be visiting oslo, bergen and the fjords!! Also, have been invited to go to Helsinki in late november on a little boat ride that cost about 20 Canadian dollars (not includeing train/bus ride) And as I said before, I will be visiting Hayley when it's possible. I have yet to find out when my Swedish final exam is. So as hpo would say it. That's the plan, stan!
#5: This week's tuesday night party is hosted by the Germans with their theme of Oktoberfest! That should be quite interesting. Well at least it sounds interesting.
#6: I have just taken my first final exam in Sweden this past saturday! I definitely hope it went okay, fingers crossed. and Yes that does mean I have finished one course already. Anti social behaviours is over and done with. I am now taking Comparative Social work. This course includes 1 intro class, 3 lectures, 2 study visits and 2 days of presentations. No final exam, just a 10 page essay and the 5-10 minute presentation! So that should be alright. And this class end in 4 weeks! wohoo! Time is sure passing by super quickly, soon enough, all the friends I've met here will be going back home. O well, more places to visit ;)
#7: Ever heard of Surstromming? Well wikipedia it or youtube it. It's the stinkiest fish alive! It's a Sweden thing and we decided to give it a try after my roommates were hosts of a Polish meal. Excellent meal, might i add. But the fish's smell, holy moly! It was EWWWWWWWWWW
Once again, I'll post some pictures up. But hey, we did it, not necessary ate it but I managed to have enough courage to touch it. My fingers were smelly for the rest of the night, but it's okay now :D Adam and his Swedish roommate, Marcus, actually ate the fish. I would of done it, except for Marcus told me that eating it was okay, but the aftertaste that stays in your mouth was awful! So, no thanks!
I think that's all for now. I'll tell you about my norway trip when i get back and make time to update you all. While I'm at it, I might as well upload my pictures. So enjoy!
Ytam.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Entry #6: September 23, 2008
Dobry wieczor!
For the past few days, I have been learning some Polish from Ewelina (my roommate) and Asia (you can also consider her my roommate), and some German from Christina and Florian. So by the end of the semester, I should be able to say some phrases! Might I add, pronoucing these languages are super hard, especially when it's Polish! So the good thing is that my "teachers" are very, and I mean extremely, patient.Yesterday night, Florian, Christina, Asia, Ewelina, Adam and I made (as we would call them) Ice Cream Crepes. It was absolutely delicious! Afterward we played some card games, which included KENT (Signs or Signals), UNO!, and Cheat (Bullshit). Well technically, for the past three days, we've been playing card games.
GUESS WHAT V! THEY ALSO PLAY 31!!!! well a bit differently, but the idea and the objective are the same! Crazy!
On a different note, I may be going to Stockholm for a day trip with Kaddy and Ina. So we shall see. That should be fun. My roommate, Shizuka, just got back from Goteland, which is a small island and she said it was really beautiful. So perhaps I'll get there.
The class system here in Sweden is very different. Smaller classes and whatnot. But also, we have 3-4 different teachers for a course. Yesterday we had a teacher who was born in the USA but did her doctor degree in Canada. Guess which insitute... UVIC! Crazy eh. Small world. We had to tell her where we're from so after class, she asked me, "So which school do you go to? UBC? SFU?" I was like nope.... UVIC! Her class included studies that were done in Vancouver and Victoria, so that was interesting. She was a fun teacher, using a lot of slang so for foreign students, it was pretty difficult to understand her jokes. She said something like "Have anyone ever tried getting tanked the night before and then go to work the next day? Well it's impossible to get anything done. I've done it before." I think about only 4 of us who understood what tanked mean. And the four people were 3 americans and me.
Every Tuesday, Tybble Hall hosts a party revolving around different countries. Us, Canadians, have signed up for the 21st of October. So that should be a ton of fun. Today, it's the Uruguay party!
Well I should probably get back to studying some more Swedish.
Toodles.
Ytam.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Entry #5 - September 8th, 2008
Hej,
So I've been in Sweden for two weeks. Boy! Does it feel like I've been here longer and have known my friends for a much longer time. Nonetheless, life in Sweden has been going terrifically well!
So I'm not sure if I've told you all about my possible travel plans. Our school have trips up to Russia, a cruise ship to Finland and a possible trip to Lapland. However, the Lapland trip (which consist of dog sledding and the well-known ice hotel) might not have the green lights because of the lack of snow which create a problem of not knowing what we can do when there's limited amount of snow. So Kaddy suggested the idea that maybe we'll just go on our own. So I believe that's the plan for us. Secondly, I believe we (Florian and Adam) will be planning short trips to Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, and somewhere in Norway. Thirdly, I think I've said this already, but I have been invited to visit Linz, Austria where two of my friends, Florian and Christina lives. So I might just take this opportunity to visit Austria. Also I've been invited to go to Poland, where my roommate and her best friend lives. So that could also be another choice for me. I might stop by in England to visit Amber and Hayley and of course my uncle. Lastly, I got invited to visit Hamburg, Germany in February or March by Kaddy. That would be an absolutely fun trip! So many choices, Such limited amount of money, So little time. Any other suggestions on which cities I should visit, let me know! And perhaps I'll make YOUR dream place into MY travel place! ;)
Sundays are "clean-up the flat" days. The three of us, Ewelina, Shizuka and I band together and make our flat look pretty. Yesterday, we had to take out the trash. Ewelina and I went to the compound room, where the only way you can enter, is to unlock it with our key swiped across the pad. When that was completed, Ewelina turns to me and said, "Ready?" And I replied back, "Let's go!" We ran into the room, she unlocked the garbage bin and we threw our bag into the bin and ran off! Slammed the door and laughed our heads off. We had to go in with one breath because of the overwhelming disgusting smell of garbage. Needless to say, we're a team ;)
I've been watching movies with friends for the past week, tons and tons of movies. Blazing Saddles, The Benchwarmers, Accepted, Catch Me If You Can, American Beauty, O Brother! Where Art Thou?, Talladega Nights - The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and Get Smart (in theaters). We watched Get Smart at the Filmstaten, which you can see in one of my photo albums on facebook. The seatings are pretty sweet. The very last row consists of seats of two. It was fabulous!
Yesterday was the first real rain I've experience here in Sweden. It was raining cats and dogs. I went over to Adam's and thank goodness I brought Storms (my bike) with me. Other news, you might have already seen my pictures, but I have taken some snap shots of hedgehogs and a very cool mushroom!
Also, ever since I've met Florian, we have been eating ice cream every other day! But hey! I'm not complaining, ice cream is sooooooooo good! :D Even when it's cold here, and we have agreed on IT'S NEVER TOO COLD TO EAT ICE CREAM! :D Florian was eating a popsicle and we were walking towards downtown and suddenly he drops his popsicle! We looked at him and he just bended down and picked it up. But before he put it back into his mouth he asked us "Do you think it's dirty? Like this is also the bike lane, do you think there's a lot of dirt and dust?" And I replied back, "Of course, it's going to be dirty and gross!" And he said "Well I'm sure it won't kill me, it'll only make me stronger!" lol hahaha and he just kept eating his popsicle like nothing happened! But I'm sure I'll be fat when I get home, Ice cream and chocolate......
Lastly for today's blog, I played basketball again. This time, it was way more intense than the first day I played. We had about 10 players so we played full court. But it was a lot of fun, good exercise, for we played more than 2 hours!
Well I think that's it for this blog, if I've missed anything, I'll post it on the next blog whenever I get to it.
Auf Weindersehen, Baby!
Ytam.
So I've been in Sweden for two weeks. Boy! Does it feel like I've been here longer and have known my friends for a much longer time. Nonetheless, life in Sweden has been going terrifically well!
So I'm not sure if I've told you all about my possible travel plans. Our school have trips up to Russia, a cruise ship to Finland and a possible trip to Lapland. However, the Lapland trip (which consist of dog sledding and the well-known ice hotel) might not have the green lights because of the lack of snow which create a problem of not knowing what we can do when there's limited amount of snow. So Kaddy suggested the idea that maybe we'll just go on our own. So I believe that's the plan for us. Secondly, I believe we (Florian and Adam) will be planning short trips to Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, and somewhere in Norway. Thirdly, I think I've said this already, but I have been invited to visit Linz, Austria where two of my friends, Florian and Christina lives. So I might just take this opportunity to visit Austria. Also I've been invited to go to Poland, where my roommate and her best friend lives. So that could also be another choice for me. I might stop by in England to visit Amber and Hayley and of course my uncle. Lastly, I got invited to visit Hamburg, Germany in February or March by Kaddy. That would be an absolutely fun trip! So many choices, Such limited amount of money, So little time. Any other suggestions on which cities I should visit, let me know! And perhaps I'll make YOUR dream place into MY travel place! ;)
Sundays are "clean-up the flat" days. The three of us, Ewelina, Shizuka and I band together and make our flat look pretty. Yesterday, we had to take out the trash. Ewelina and I went to the compound room, where the only way you can enter, is to unlock it with our key swiped across the pad. When that was completed, Ewelina turns to me and said, "Ready?" And I replied back, "Let's go!" We ran into the room, she unlocked the garbage bin and we threw our bag into the bin and ran off! Slammed the door and laughed our heads off. We had to go in with one breath because of the overwhelming disgusting smell of garbage. Needless to say, we're a team ;)
I've been watching movies with friends for the past week, tons and tons of movies. Blazing Saddles, The Benchwarmers, Accepted, Catch Me If You Can, American Beauty, O Brother! Where Art Thou?, Talladega Nights - The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and Get Smart (in theaters). We watched Get Smart at the Filmstaten, which you can see in one of my photo albums on facebook. The seatings are pretty sweet. The very last row consists of seats of two. It was fabulous!
Yesterday was the first real rain I've experience here in Sweden. It was raining cats and dogs. I went over to Adam's and thank goodness I brought Storms (my bike) with me. Other news, you might have already seen my pictures, but I have taken some snap shots of hedgehogs and a very cool mushroom!
Also, ever since I've met Florian, we have been eating ice cream every other day! But hey! I'm not complaining, ice cream is sooooooooo good! :D Even when it's cold here, and we have agreed on IT'S NEVER TOO COLD TO EAT ICE CREAM! :D Florian was eating a popsicle and we were walking towards downtown and suddenly he drops his popsicle! We looked at him and he just bended down and picked it up. But before he put it back into his mouth he asked us "Do you think it's dirty? Like this is also the bike lane, do you think there's a lot of dirt and dust?" And I replied back, "Of course, it's going to be dirty and gross!" And he said "Well I'm sure it won't kill me, it'll only make me stronger!" lol hahaha and he just kept eating his popsicle like nothing happened! But I'm sure I'll be fat when I get home, Ice cream and chocolate......
Lastly for today's blog, I played basketball again. This time, it was way more intense than the first day I played. We had about 10 players so we played full court. But it was a lot of fun, good exercise, for we played more than 2 hours!
Well I think that's it for this blog, if I've missed anything, I'll post it on the next blog whenever I get to it.
Auf Weindersehen, Baby!
Ytam.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Entry # 4 - September 1st, 2008
Hej,
First of all, I hope you guys will all have a nice start to a brand new semester.
Secondly, on my last blog I have given you all my address where you can send mail. I have finally found the address where you can send me packages or anything larger than the size of a letter.
The address is the following:
Orebro University
International Office
Yvette Tam
Godsmottagning F
SE-701 82 Orebro, Sweden
Please make sure you put my name under International Office. Very important.
Also, here's my school schedule for the next few months:
Week 36
Sept 2: 14-17
Week 37
Sept 8: 13-16
Sept 9: 14-17
Sept 10: 13-16
Sept 12: 13-16
Week 38
Sept 15: 13-16
Sept 16: 14-17
Sept 17: 13-16
Sept 19: 13-16
Week 39
Sept 22: 13-16
Sept 23: 14-17
Sept 24: 13-16
Sept 26: 13-16
Week 40
Sept 30: 14-17
Oct 4: 9-12
Week 41
Oct 6: 10-13
Oct 7: 14-17
Week 42
Oct 14: 10 - 12, 14-17
Oct 16: 10-12
Week 43
Oct 21: 14-17
Oct 22: 10-14
Oct 23: 10-14
Oct 24: 10-12
Week 44
Oct 28: 14 -17
Oct 29: 8-17
Oct 30: 8-17
Week 45
Nov 4: 14-17
Week 46
Nov 12: 12.30-15.30
Week 47
Nov 19: 12:30-15:30
Week 48
Nov 26: 12.30-15.30
Week 49
Dec 3: 12.30-15.30
Week 50
Dec 10: 12.30-15.30
Week 51
Dec 17: 12.30-15.30
Week 2
Jan 7: 12.30-15.30
Jan 8: 12.30-15.30
Week 3
Jan 14: 12.30-15.30
Jan 15: 12.30-15.30
There you have it.
School starts tomorow for me. I'll let you all know how the Swedish class goes!
Later Gator,
Ytam.
First of all, I hope you guys will all have a nice start to a brand new semester.
Secondly, on my last blog I have given you all my address where you can send mail. I have finally found the address where you can send me packages or anything larger than the size of a letter.
The address is the following:
Orebro University
International Office
Yvette Tam
Godsmottagning F
SE-701 82 Orebro, Sweden
Please make sure you put my name under International Office. Very important.
Also, here's my school schedule for the next few months:
Week 36
Sept 2: 14-17
Week 37
Sept 8: 13-16
Sept 9: 14-17
Sept 10: 13-16
Sept 12: 13-16
Week 38
Sept 15: 13-16
Sept 16: 14-17
Sept 17: 13-16
Sept 19: 13-16
Week 39
Sept 22: 13-16
Sept 23: 14-17
Sept 24: 13-16
Sept 26: 13-16
Week 40
Sept 30: 14-17
Oct 4: 9-12
Week 41
Oct 6: 10-13
Oct 7: 14-17
Week 42
Oct 14: 10 - 12, 14-17
Oct 16: 10-12
Week 43
Oct 21: 14-17
Oct 22: 10-14
Oct 23: 10-14
Oct 24: 10-12
Week 44
Oct 28: 14 -17
Oct 29: 8-17
Oct 30: 8-17
Week 45
Nov 4: 14-17
Week 46
Nov 12: 12.30-15.30
Week 47
Nov 19: 12:30-15:30
Week 48
Nov 26: 12.30-15.30
Week 49
Dec 3: 12.30-15.30
Week 50
Dec 10: 12.30-15.30
Week 51
Dec 17: 12.30-15.30
Week 2
Jan 7: 12.30-15.30
Jan 8: 12.30-15.30
Week 3
Jan 14: 12.30-15.30
Jan 15: 12.30-15.30
There you have it.
School starts tomorow for me. I'll let you all know how the Swedish class goes!
Later Gator,
Ytam.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Entry # 3 - August 31st, 2008
Hej Guys,
My address for my flat is:
Yvette Tam
Tallrisvagen 15E:1
702 34 Orebro
This address is for LETTERS/CARDS mail only, no packages here because if i'm not home and they send a package, they will have to bring it to the nearest post office store which is in downtown. I will give you the package address when I decide to get off my bum and look for it. So please, mail/letter only for this address.
Secondly, in Tallrisvagen, the 'a' in "vagen" has 2 dots on top of it. And also in "Orebro," there's 2 dots on the first 'O'.
So what's new?
There has been huge parties so far on campus. The night club has officially opened on campus. And I just got back from camp in Fiskeboda, where I played like 6 hours of ultimate! A couple of days back, our orientation group played dodge ball! It was sooo much fun! Today, I was only lucky enough to play basketball with Adam, Florian and his roommate: Tony, and his roommate's friends: Leon and Will. We had a fabulous game!
It's been pretty cold here in Sweden already, and all of us are thinking, "if we think it's cold now, we're pretty screwed for winter" So, peaceeeee me?
Tonight, i plan on spending the night with Kaddy, Adam and Florian. I think we have decided to just chill at someone's room and watch a movie. So it shall be relaxing. I hope you've seen all the pictures i've posted so far on facebook. Hope you like them, and i guess i could say "wish you were here"
8 New things I just found out:
1. Jumper = sweater
2. Hoover the room = vacuuming the room
3. Perogies are originally from Poland!
4. To pronounce Orebro, it's actually "a" as in a ball and the bro is actually like "brew" so ' a - re - brew'
5. Sweden students DO NOT pay tuitions, in fact they GET money for doing well in school!
6. In Sweden, you're not allow to Drink and Drive (duh!) but they also (recommend/require) you to not to drive the day after because you still have alcohol in your blood.
7. Boys are extremely strong. This is because, during Fiskeboda, we played a game where our group (there's 10 groups in total) had to stand on a tarp and pretend that global warming is making the ice that we're standing on melt. So we had to see how many times the tarp can be folded with all 10 of us standing on the tarp at all times even when we're folding the tarp in half. There was four guys who carried four girls on their shoulder (which one of the girls happen to me, so i am quite impressed). We managed to fold it 3 times.
8. When you're in new country, your google page changes from English to the the country's first language. In my case, it's all in Swedish!
Well until next time, take care.
Ytam.
My address for my flat is:
Yvette Tam
Tallrisvagen 15E:1
702 34 Orebro
This address is for LETTERS/CARDS mail only, no packages here because if i'm not home and they send a package, they will have to bring it to the nearest post office store which is in downtown. I will give you the package address when I decide to get off my bum and look for it. So please, mail/letter only for this address.
Secondly, in Tallrisvagen, the 'a' in "vagen" has 2 dots on top of it. And also in "Orebro," there's 2 dots on the first 'O'.
So what's new?
There has been huge parties so far on campus. The night club has officially opened on campus. And I just got back from camp in Fiskeboda, where I played like 6 hours of ultimate! A couple of days back, our orientation group played dodge ball! It was sooo much fun! Today, I was only lucky enough to play basketball with Adam, Florian and his roommate: Tony, and his roommate's friends: Leon and Will. We had a fabulous game!
It's been pretty cold here in Sweden already, and all of us are thinking, "if we think it's cold now, we're pretty screwed for winter" So, peaceeeee me?
Tonight, i plan on spending the night with Kaddy, Adam and Florian. I think we have decided to just chill at someone's room and watch a movie. So it shall be relaxing. I hope you've seen all the pictures i've posted so far on facebook. Hope you like them, and i guess i could say "wish you were here"
8 New things I just found out:
1. Jumper = sweater
2. Hoover the room = vacuuming the room
3. Perogies are originally from Poland!
4. To pronounce Orebro, it's actually "a" as in a ball and the bro is actually like "brew" so ' a - re - brew'
5. Sweden students DO NOT pay tuitions, in fact they GET money for doing well in school!
6. In Sweden, you're not allow to Drink and Drive (duh!) but they also (recommend/require) you to not to drive the day after because you still have alcohol in your blood.
7. Boys are extremely strong. This is because, during Fiskeboda, we played a game where our group (there's 10 groups in total) had to stand on a tarp and pretend that global warming is making the ice that we're standing on melt. So we had to see how many times the tarp can be folded with all 10 of us standing on the tarp at all times even when we're folding the tarp in half. There was four guys who carried four girls on their shoulder (which one of the girls happen to me, so i am quite impressed). We managed to fold it 3 times.
8. When you're in new country, your google page changes from English to the the country's first language. In my case, it's all in Swedish!
Well until next time, take care.
Ytam.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Entry #2
Hej!
First thing to address: the title, i'm going to keep it boring now so you'll know which entries you have read or have not.
Second thing: HPo, yeah, i re-read everything again and I saw that mistake but i was like, mannnn i'm soo tired, i'm not going to bother with it. lol hahah so the tired/lazy side of me took the best of me.
And.... continue on!
So what has been going on in the past few days. I have met the greatest people from all over the place. But I am now living with a girl from Poland and another girl from Japan. And might I add, they have really hard names... and so does everyone else who is on exchange! I have made two really good friends, they're pretty much like my best friends now. They are Florian Blasl from Austria and Adam Engstrom from US.
The three of us walked to downtown to get some stuff, then we decided to just chilled and we walked around and came across the idea of .. let's get ice cream! I got cappuccino flavored, Flo got banana split and weinoughart or something like that. I had a taste and it was unique to say the least. Adam got a strawberry flavored one. Then we walked to the church and just went into to view it. By the very end of it, boy were we tired!
In Orebro, there's a group of people who are called the Fadders they are basically act like your "father/buddy" My fadders are Christoffer, Conner, and Michael. We just had a BBQ last night and we got to meet our fadder. Those three fadder takes care of 6-8 students. So my fadder group contains: Ulrike from Germany, Francisca from Spain, Yi Den from Shanghai, Jiri from Czech, Martin from France, Ann-Kristin from Finland but is studying in Germany. After the BBQ, we hung out one of our fadder's place and chilled. We even googled mapped our house so everyone knows where everyone went to school and where they live. My group is hilarious! Yi Den is very straight-forward when she answers her questions, Martin's last name is Champagne so they were like what do you want to drink? Beer? and now everyone goes... CHAMPAGNE!!! , Ulrike and I just laugh our butts off... good times!
12 Facts of the day:
1. In Orebro, there is a monopoly company where they sell alcohol.
2. Must be over 18 to drink in bars, but MUST be 20 to buy alcohol from monopoly company!
3. There is a night club on campus for us, grand opening this friday and we'll all be there!
4. We're going bowling tonight!
5. We're going camping on the weekend!
6. We're can choose to go to a swim park on Thursday
7. Punctuality is EXTREMELY important in Sweden. They get offended if you arrive even a minute late! "When we say 11, we mean 11, not 11:01"
8. THERE ARE HEDGEHOGS HERE!!!!
9. I have the greatest quilt cover ever! (wait for facebook pictures)
10. Everything is walking distance here in Orebro. 30 mintues to my flat from university, 45 minutes to Downtown.
11. EVERYONE BIKES HERE!
12. I have seen 2 Chinese restaurants here in Orebro!
I also rented a bike!! I will take pictures and post them on facebook soon enough. Since Dmitry named his bike, Sunshine or something, I've decided on Storms! :D
Everyone speaks English, however a lot of things are written in only Swedish. For example, we got sim cards from our orientation group and we had to put money in. They sent us swedish text to welcome you and tell you the call didn't work out or whatever but when that happens we just shove it to our leaders and to random store clerks!
I registered for my autumn courses, when i feel less lazy i will post my schedule for you guys but it's really confusing or weird to say the least.
And on a very last night, I think i might be the youngest exchange student here.
Til next time,
Ytam.
First thing to address: the title, i'm going to keep it boring now so you'll know which entries you have read or have not.
Second thing: HPo, yeah, i re-read everything again and I saw that mistake but i was like, mannnn i'm soo tired, i'm not going to bother with it. lol hahah so the tired/lazy side of me took the best of me.
And.... continue on!
So what has been going on in the past few days. I have met the greatest people from all over the place. But I am now living with a girl from Poland and another girl from Japan. And might I add, they have really hard names... and so does everyone else who is on exchange! I have made two really good friends, they're pretty much like my best friends now. They are Florian Blasl from Austria and Adam Engstrom from US.
The three of us walked to downtown to get some stuff, then we decided to just chilled and we walked around and came across the idea of .. let's get ice cream! I got cappuccino flavored, Flo got banana split and weinoughart or something like that. I had a taste and it was unique to say the least. Adam got a strawberry flavored one. Then we walked to the church and just went into to view it. By the very end of it, boy were we tired!
In Orebro, there's a group of people who are called the Fadders they are basically act like your "father/buddy" My fadders are Christoffer, Conner, and Michael. We just had a BBQ last night and we got to meet our fadder. Those three fadder takes care of 6-8 students. So my fadder group contains: Ulrike from Germany, Francisca from Spain, Yi Den from Shanghai, Jiri from Czech, Martin from France, Ann-Kristin from Finland but is studying in Germany. After the BBQ, we hung out one of our fadder's place and chilled. We even googled mapped our house so everyone knows where everyone went to school and where they live. My group is hilarious! Yi Den is very straight-forward when she answers her questions, Martin's last name is Champagne so they were like what do you want to drink? Beer? and now everyone goes... CHAMPAGNE!!! , Ulrike and I just laugh our butts off... good times!
12 Facts of the day:
1. In Orebro, there is a monopoly company where they sell alcohol.
2. Must be over 18 to drink in bars, but MUST be 20 to buy alcohol from monopoly company!
3. There is a night club on campus for us, grand opening this friday and we'll all be there!
4. We're going bowling tonight!
5. We're going camping on the weekend!
6. We're can choose to go to a swim park on Thursday
7. Punctuality is EXTREMELY important in Sweden. They get offended if you arrive even a minute late! "When we say 11, we mean 11, not 11:01"
8. THERE ARE HEDGEHOGS HERE!!!!
9. I have the greatest quilt cover ever! (wait for facebook pictures)
10. Everything is walking distance here in Orebro. 30 mintues to my flat from university, 45 minutes to Downtown.
11. EVERYONE BIKES HERE!
12. I have seen 2 Chinese restaurants here in Orebro!
I also rented a bike!! I will take pictures and post them on facebook soon enough. Since Dmitry named his bike, Sunshine or something, I've decided on Storms! :D
Everyone speaks English, however a lot of things are written in only Swedish. For example, we got sim cards from our orientation group and we had to put money in. They sent us swedish text to welcome you and tell you the call didn't work out or whatever but when that happens we just shove it to our leaders and to random store clerks!
I registered for my autumn courses, when i feel less lazy i will post my schedule for you guys but it's really confusing or weird to say the least.
And on a very last night, I think i might be the youngest exchange student here.
Til next time,
Ytam.
Monday, August 25, 2008
First Day!
Hi Guys!
So a lot of you have emailed me or has facebooked me. I'm sorry, but our time difference makes it hard to communicate and also, I've been really busy settling in and also making tons and tons of new friends!
I'm going to update you on my life so far, it may sound choppy but hey, it's almost 1am here and I have to get up in about 6 hours. But since you are all just so important to me, that i had to update you guys.
Let's start from the beginning, plane ride #1 (seat arrangements 3 4 3) from YVR to LHR was a loooong 9 hours. I got sick and thankfully recovered before the second flight departed. Sat in LHR for about 4 hours for lay over. Then I went from LHR to CPH (seat arrangments 3 3). Interesting airport I must say, and you all should be proud of me for navigating my way through that massive airport. Had to take like 3 trams to get from my arrival gate to my departing gate. But all went smooth. When I got to CPH, i was shocked. Everything first thing i saw was in dannish, even though english translation was right underneath it, but the dannish letters and words just pops up and it's frightening! But don't you worry, I got to where i needed to go. Let me start off to say, they (the dannishs) rely heavily on honesty because there's a sign that says... I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DECLARE and another sign that reads THERE IS SOMETHING THAT I NEED TO OR MIGHT HAVE TO DECLARE. And if you picked the first one, they don't even check to see if you're lying or not. It's truly amazing. Then I stayed in CPH for another 2.5 hours. My third and final flight was really cute. I got my boarding pass and usually they tell you where you're sitting but on this particular flight and on this particular boarding pass, underneath "SEAT" it read "FREE." So I was like what is going on??? I arrived to my gate and we (the other passengers too) were driven to the very small plane. As dumb as it sounds, i felt like a celebrity because we actually had to walk up the steps of the small plane and was greeted by ONE flight attendant. And boy, how'd you guess, she was blond! But after that flight which was approximately one hour and we had a total of 8 passengers! lol it was grand! (Seat arrangements 1 2) After stepping off the airplane, oh might i add, they actually had propellers!!!! But after stepping off the plane, we were greeting with cold cold air. You could see your breathe! But all 3 of us exchange students met and were greeted by our representative and she drove us to the university and we just chatted and got everything ready (keys, pillows, quilts, etc) Though my flight landed at 10, I didn't get to my flat until about 1 am. They drove me to my appartment and helped me carry my baggages up to the second floor. And it was bedtime for i had to wake up in about 7 hours.
So I fell asleep and woke up at 2.30, couldn't go back to sleep until 3.30. But that didn't last long either, i woke up at 5ish and just couldn't fall back asleep. So I've decided to just go for a walk at 6am! I explored my university and the area where i'm living. It takes a little more than 30 minutes to get from my flat to the university but nonetheless it's a nice walk. Met some locals who just started talking to me so that was nice....
But for now, i must end here. I have much more to tell you all after a good night's sleep. Give me a break! I'm living on like 3 hours of sleep!
I'll add another post tomorrow or whenever! Keep checking regularly i guess if you want to know about my life.
All i can say, after this long journey, i have finally enjoying it. It's amazing!
Love,
Ytam.
So a lot of you have emailed me or has facebooked me. I'm sorry, but our time difference makes it hard to communicate and also, I've been really busy settling in and also making tons and tons of new friends!
I'm going to update you on my life so far, it may sound choppy but hey, it's almost 1am here and I have to get up in about 6 hours. But since you are all just so important to me, that i had to update you guys.
Let's start from the beginning, plane ride #1 (seat arrangements 3 4 3) from YVR to LHR was a loooong 9 hours. I got sick and thankfully recovered before the second flight departed. Sat in LHR for about 4 hours for lay over. Then I went from LHR to CPH (seat arrangments 3 3). Interesting airport I must say, and you all should be proud of me for navigating my way through that massive airport. Had to take like 3 trams to get from my arrival gate to my departing gate. But all went smooth. When I got to CPH, i was shocked. Everything first thing i saw was in dannish, even though english translation was right underneath it, but the dannish letters and words just pops up and it's frightening! But don't you worry, I got to where i needed to go. Let me start off to say, they (the dannishs) rely heavily on honesty because there's a sign that says... I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DECLARE and another sign that reads THERE IS SOMETHING THAT I NEED TO OR MIGHT HAVE TO DECLARE. And if you picked the first one, they don't even check to see if you're lying or not. It's truly amazing. Then I stayed in CPH for another 2.5 hours. My third and final flight was really cute. I got my boarding pass and usually they tell you where you're sitting but on this particular flight and on this particular boarding pass, underneath "SEAT" it read "FREE." So I was like what is going on??? I arrived to my gate and we (the other passengers too) were driven to the very small plane. As dumb as it sounds, i felt like a celebrity because we actually had to walk up the steps of the small plane and was greeted by ONE flight attendant. And boy, how'd you guess, she was blond! But after that flight which was approximately one hour and we had a total of 8 passengers! lol it was grand! (Seat arrangements 1 2) After stepping off the airplane, oh might i add, they actually had propellers!!!! But after stepping off the plane, we were greeting with cold cold air. You could see your breathe! But all 3 of us exchange students met and were greeted by our representative and she drove us to the university and we just chatted and got everything ready (keys, pillows, quilts, etc) Though my flight landed at 10, I didn't get to my flat until about 1 am. They drove me to my appartment and helped me carry my baggages up to the second floor. And it was bedtime for i had to wake up in about 7 hours.
So I fell asleep and woke up at 2.30, couldn't go back to sleep until 3.30. But that didn't last long either, i woke up at 5ish and just couldn't fall back asleep. So I've decided to just go for a walk at 6am! I explored my university and the area where i'm living. It takes a little more than 30 minutes to get from my flat to the university but nonetheless it's a nice walk. Met some locals who just started talking to me so that was nice....
But for now, i must end here. I have much more to tell you all after a good night's sleep. Give me a break! I'm living on like 3 hours of sleep!
I'll add another post tomorrow or whenever! Keep checking regularly i guess if you want to know about my life.
All i can say, after this long journey, i have finally enjoying it. It's amazing!
Love,
Ytam.
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