so, since i've been here in sweden for over two weeks now, i decided it's finally to open this blog. and since it's raining outside what better to do than make some popcorn and sit down to write about my life here so far (okay, so maybe i should be practising hungarian pronounciation instead, but can't be arsed, really.. and can't eat the popcorn at the same time)

and what an interesting life it has been... the weekend before i came here, i met the stupid finnish band called lordi. why would a pretty petite blond girl want to dress up as a monster? and she was so nice too. i talked to mr. lordi himself too when he had his mask on but i still have to say i have no idea what he looks like really. i could probably point out two of the band in their regular faces but that's it. oh, i got autographs too (imagine me screaming fan-girlishly if you will). their tourmanager was so impressed with my food serving skills (worked at the festival where they were playing at) that at the end of the night (i was pretty much the only worker left at that point, even the security was nowhere to be found if i may add..grr.) he brought me a piece of paper with all five autographs. well, gee, thanks, this is what i've always wanted. maybe i should sell it on ebay...

so thanks to this festival and early morning flight on monday, i arrived in sweden pretty tired. got my keys without hassle, signed the lease and hopped on a bus, got to kantorsgatan and my flat. they call them corridors here, and that's what they are really; it feels like living in a hotel really. luckily there's only 5 of us in this corridor, i've seen longer ones too. the corridor-mates are all way boring, they don't do anything together, they all even have their own dishwashing liquids and all. one of them is a fourth year law student writing her dissertation now, the second one is a second year law students, in his "hardest semester of the whole degree" and the other two i've only ever said hello to. right, what a nice place for an exchange student to get into the society and swedish way of living. i bet they were expecting something more exotic but got a finn. poor them. a plus is that i have my own bathroom, so i don't really have to talk to them or anything.

the first week went quite quickly, going to the stuff organised for the exchange students (not too much to do, i have to say tho) and sorting out things. most of the people i met were finns, germans or australians, kept in touch with only the finns. i also met two other riikkas. so strange! there's not that many people with that name in finland, and i guess we're all here now :) it's really hard to meet new people and make friends when there's not that many meetings or things organised for us. and all that was organised was for exchange students only. so i could forget about meeting swedes there too.

and what else... been to ikea three times now, getting really tired of the place, robbing all my money! annoying swedes won't share anything in the kitchen so i had to get everything from corkscrews to knives. someone had left some plates and spoons in the cupboard, but that's pretty much it. i also bought a bike. everyone cycles everywhere here. it's about 20 min walk to the centre but it feels like it's too far away to walk when everyone else is whirling past you on a cycle. my bike was 700kr (about 75€), it's light blue and 20 years old. will sell it on once i get out of here. but it works and that's the most important thing. the second important thing is that it has lights, you could get fined cycling without lights in the dark. and i think that's right, it's scary when people suddenly appear out of thin air right in front of you, going fast. wellwell.

went to göteborg on sunday to see maja. got a train there early in the morning and took a night bus back to stockholm, then a train to uppsala. it was fun, both seeing a new city and meeting maja again. had a nice day walking around göteborg, seeing where she grew up and all. :) i was back in uppsala at 7am on monday morning and went to my first hungarian class at 10. slept about 3 hours that night, so i was fresh as a daisy and awake and eager to learn new things. after 4 hours of hungarian grammar (just letters and pronouncing them, but damn so hard) and språkfärdighet (speaking, i assume) my brain was really in a twist. it's unbelievable how something can mess up your head so badly. teaching was in swedish, we were learning hungarian and all my brain was trying to do was to use english. yay.

i joined the norrlands nation, they are the biggest one and have a pub that's open every night of the week. they also say they have the best burgers, but that's what every nation says. so me and my friend are going to look into it. so far we've been to norrlands and v-dala and norrlands' burgers seem better. they also have club nights, in the first one they had a cover band called puss playing kiss and other stuff. lordi too. shit. i'm thinking of working at the pub, they're only paying 36kr or something per hour but at least you'd get to meet people. and maybe practise some swedish. o_O

my passive swedish has got better, but speaking is still a bit difficult. when people see that i can't really speak swedish that well they change to english. no! when that happens i don't even try in swedish anymore. i've been to some dance and yoga classes and i can follow them just fine, but whenever they ask me anything my mind goes blank. fun, that. but i still decided to pick up breakdancing again and try and really concentrate on it this time, maybe i'll learn to do stuff. i was also looking for a good yoga school but all they seem to do is some western forms of yoga and not stuff like ashtanga so i might as well join a gym where i can do poweryoga and streetdance and work out all at the same price. oh, and they have a swimming pool and a climbing wall too. might try that out as well. so, weather permitting, i'm going to sign up for that tomorrow. i also need to buy a coursebook tomorrow, only it's about 70€! i really really don't want to spend that sort of money on a book i might never use again... wellwell.

what else... been planning some trips for this year. might as well travel since i'm in scandinavia now... i want to see åland, northern sweden and the border between the three countries, estonia, norway, denmark, home maybe a few times since i can do weekend trips now too, and places in sweden of course. might also go to amsterdam and helsinki for esn stuff, who knows. all very exciting. come early october, my schedule will change so that i only have classes on tuesdays and thursdays, perfect! i predict long weekend trips ahead, yippee.