Greetings Earthlings!
Well, this weekend was Valborg in Sweden - also known as Walpurgis Day. Apparently it's a big tradition to celebrate the last day of April (especially if you're a student), by getting up really early, drinking exorbitant amounts of alcohol, and partying until the wee hours of the morning. All to celebrate the arrival of Spring!
And so we did, in true Swedish style. We met at 945 on a Sunday morning (eugh!) equipped with beer, bicycles and our overalls, and headed down to the river to watch the dragon boat races. God these people are idiots - a whole bunch of swedes, all pioneering dragon boats in various states of undress, with those who were clothed looking totally ridiculous in a wonderful assortment of togas, men in drag, superheroes, and pirates. Fantastical. Really wanted to see someone fall in the river, but unfortunately didn't happen. Not to matter! We kept ourselves entertained, dancing, drinking, playing soccer, and evading the law in our own little way...
After the dragon boats we went to Tradgardsforeningen (try saying that 3 times fast) for a picnic in the park. After some very interesting bench antics the boys went to play soccer again, while the girls conspired as to how we could steal the ball away from them. With a spectacular bit of trickery by Angela and Silja, they managed to steal it (and get quite far), before Silja decided to throw the ball not to Angela, but into a tree, earning her a lovely crash tackle by one of the boys. Angela and I conspired against Lex, to test his level of Unagi while playing soccer - only to discover that it's very hard to sneak up on someone with at least 20 people watching. As a result, we ended up on the ground, covered in dirt and leaves. Spectacular.
After the park, we went back to Jonathan's place for some dinner and a nice drinking game or 2 before the kravall. After 3 very rowdy rounds of Kings (and a substantial amount of vodka), we headed off to the kravall - Akuten (Emergency). It was pretty good, music was a bit disappointing though - too much old school techno for my liking... I did however, get some lovely photographs; take particular note of Jonathan's lovely hair, which we all took turns wearing. I must say, the mullet look simply isn't for me.
Stay in school kids,
Chloe xx
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Bravery, Stupidity and Tonsilitis
Progress of Easter Boycott: Complete (see above pictures)
Fears overcome: 1
Number of times I've been sick since I arrived in Sweden: 5
Number of times I've kicked myself for not buying more cold & flu tablets in Estonia: 1,000,000 Size of tonsils: Enormous
So last week we went to karaoke at this bar called basement. Petrified at the thought of having to sing in front of people (shock, horror), we all decided to get a little tipsy beforehand. It worked marvellously. I think I got up to sing around 4-5 times in total, it was terribly hideous sounding, and to be honest, I just didn't care. The bar was totally empty at first, but after a while it got pretty full, and I definitely think we were the most entertaining group (for future reference, swedish karaoke songs are really boring). Took loads of videos, even more pictures, and had a great time all in all. That fear overcome, I think I can now attempt to conquer my other fear... but that's another story for another time.
We're fully back at uni now, which totally sucks, but there's not a whole lot I can do about it for now. Especially since I've just come down with tonsilitis... I was supposed to go on a countryside walk for my nordic culture course, but I had to cancel because it was raining, and going for a 4km walk in the rain with tonsilitis is not the best thing I could do. So, it totally sucks and I'm in a hideous mood. Fever, chills, headaches - not to mention the fact that I can't swallow OR eat! Gah!
I'm beginning to hate my room.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Bicycles, GoKarts, Limbo, and the Dutch Invasion...
So its been relatively crazy in this part of the world for the past couple of weeks, mainly thanks to an invasion of dutch people (turned out to be 3 girls, 9 guys, and one helluva lotta grog). God those guys can drink.
We went Go Karting a week or so ago, which was great. My team came second, but it was totally close all the way. I'm told I was a reckless driver, and my Italian friend Roberto was totally disgusted that a girl kicked his ass :D So we got medals and everything, there was an awards ceremony, where we got to stand on a podium. Totally ridiculous, but lots of fun nevertheless. Was feeling sore as all hell the next day though, tell you what.
Earlier on this week a group of us went on a bike ride to the Gota Kanal, a little north of Linkoping. Took 45 minutes to get there, and oh my god it nearly killed me. This little black duck is just not cut out for bike riding, hehe. Can't say that I'm surprised to be honest, it was never really my thing. I have to say though, the Kanal/lake was really beautiful. It was still frozen, but with really mushy ice. Looked fantastic, and made for some interesting videos of the boys throwing rocks trying to break the harder ice further out. They didn't succeed.
We went to a corridoor party on tuesday night, which lead to an impromptu round of the limbo. I made it through about 4 stages, then unfortunately my socks gave way and i fell on my head. Lots of fun, but mental note for next time: Take off socks before participating in any limbo-related activities.
Finally, the Dutch Invasion. I walked into a room on wednesday night, filled with people playing an interactive computer/television game that closely resembled 'Who wants to be a millionaire'. Put into a team, I can safely say that it was the most confusing game I've ever come across - not helped by the fact that it was conducted in Dutch. I should mention that it is a drinking game, and that being bad at a drinking game very quickly equals lots of drunk people. Needless to say, the person who invented this game was clearly both an alcoholic and a masochist, as it contained components such as 'beer marathons' (one-on-one drinking showdown, beer by beer, last man standing wins a point for his/her team - which resulted in both of our contestants vomiting in the kitchen sink), and a highly competitive pitcher skulling competition. The next night we went to Bar and Kok (pronounced close to 'Shuk' for those cretins out there), a nice little nightspot which goes off on thursdays. We neglected to remember that they had go-go girls on this particular night, which resulted in us waiting in the line for an hour. This is one aspect of swedish life that i will not miss. Anyways, had a great night, and to cut a long story short, yours truly ended up dancing on the bar :o)
So, the Dutch Invasion have now deserted Linkoping for Stockholm, and I'm left here contemplating life, drinking coffee, and figuring out what I want to do when I go to Paris in May.
It is truly a hard life.
We went Go Karting a week or so ago, which was great. My team came second, but it was totally close all the way. I'm told I was a reckless driver, and my Italian friend Roberto was totally disgusted that a girl kicked his ass :D So we got medals and everything, there was an awards ceremony, where we got to stand on a podium. Totally ridiculous, but lots of fun nevertheless. Was feeling sore as all hell the next day though, tell you what.
Earlier on this week a group of us went on a bike ride to the Gota Kanal, a little north of Linkoping. Took 45 minutes to get there, and oh my god it nearly killed me. This little black duck is just not cut out for bike riding, hehe. Can't say that I'm surprised to be honest, it was never really my thing. I have to say though, the Kanal/lake was really beautiful. It was still frozen, but with really mushy ice. Looked fantastic, and made for some interesting videos of the boys throwing rocks trying to break the harder ice further out. They didn't succeed.
We went to a corridoor party on tuesday night, which lead to an impromptu round of the limbo. I made it through about 4 stages, then unfortunately my socks gave way and i fell on my head. Lots of fun, but mental note for next time: Take off socks before participating in any limbo-related activities.
Finally, the Dutch Invasion. I walked into a room on wednesday night, filled with people playing an interactive computer/television game that closely resembled 'Who wants to be a millionaire'. Put into a team, I can safely say that it was the most confusing game I've ever come across - not helped by the fact that it was conducted in Dutch. I should mention that it is a drinking game, and that being bad at a drinking game very quickly equals lots of drunk people. Needless to say, the person who invented this game was clearly both an alcoholic and a masochist, as it contained components such as 'beer marathons' (one-on-one drinking showdown, beer by beer, last man standing wins a point for his/her team - which resulted in both of our contestants vomiting in the kitchen sink), and a highly competitive pitcher skulling competition. The next night we went to Bar and Kok (pronounced close to 'Shuk' for those cretins out there), a nice little nightspot which goes off on thursdays. We neglected to remember that they had go-go girls on this particular night, which resulted in us waiting in the line for an hour. This is one aspect of swedish life that i will not miss. Anyways, had a great night, and to cut a long story short, yours truly ended up dancing on the bar :o)
So, the Dutch Invasion have now deserted Linkoping for Stockholm, and I'm left here contemplating life, drinking coffee, and figuring out what I want to do when I go to Paris in May.
It is truly a hard life.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Easter sucks...
...So here are a list of things that I, Chloe Jade Barnes, will be celebrating in liu of Easter this year.
1. HG is closed - thus forcing me out of my comfortable nook here in Ryd, and allowing me to fully explore the wonderful plethora of bars residing in Linkoping (actually, I'm not sure if plethora is the correct word...perhaps a little excessive...there are probably 5 good bars in linkoping. lets see if i can find them all).
2. I'm boycotting the holiday that is solely responsible for my addiction to cadbury cream eggs. Its a vendetta people! Damn the man!
3. It's FINALLY warm! Spring has sprung, there are birds building a nest outside my window, and today was the first day that i was able to go outside without my mega chunky jacket on. I'll raise a toast to that alone ;)
4. I don't have to give a damn about uni for a whole week. No assignments, no group work (though Yoann's nutella pancakes are always a welcome group motivator), no homework, and best of all NO SEMINARS!
5. The Dutch invasion is a-coming. 12 Dutch people (I believe 11 guys, 1 girl), all coming to shake things up a bit here in Ryd. Should make for some interesting corridoor parties to say the least. 2 days, no sleep. lovely.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
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