stockholm e en jävla stad
Hej på er!
How is everyone? What is happening in OZ?
Firstly, if you didnt get my message this is my new swedish number:
+64 760 836 644
An sms should cost the same as a local sms for you
At last I finally arrived in Sweden! It was an interesting trip and the worst was the Etihad flights. Not because of the flight, they are actually a GREAT airline but the passengers were not so good, nothing against arabs or anything but sitting on an arab speaking plane is like listening to someone hocking something up all the time.
So, I arrived in Abu Dhabi after 16 hours and that was very interesting. I really felt in the middle of nowhere and you could hardly see outsite the airport because of sandstorms. I had trouble with the currency because I had no idea how many dirum was what and arabic has its own number system so I had to guess.
Back on the plane to New York and I sat next to a Palestinian woman named Miriam who was travelling to America to get her baby daughter Zaina an american passport. She was nice but wouldnt stop talking to me. I made the mistake of helping her with her baby before we took off because she couldnt put her seatbelt on and hold the baby at the same time. Big mistake because I spent a large part of the rest of that trip holding and minding Zaina haha.
Skip NY because I didnt really do anything there but order a SMALL cheeseburger meal, the results of which you will see a photo.
Arrived in Frankfurt and NOW I realised I was in another country because up to now everyone had spoken english to me but suddenly everything was german. I was feeling disgusting and wanted a shower (naturligtvis) so I asked someone where the shower was. She directed me and I went on in and started to undres. When I am about to turn the water on I hear a banging at the door. I put some clothes on and open the door to find this little lady staring at me very angrily. "pay!!! duschen macht sechs euro!!!!" and a bunch of other german things I could not understand. I paid though and it was all fine.
I had to wait at Frankfurt for many hours but then I remembered Australians do not need visas in Germany so I went outside the airport into the sun. I just sat and had a sandwich but now I can say I have been to Germany!
The trip from Frankfurt to Arlanda was short, less than two hours but it was fun to look down and see the countries pass underneath. I felt very foreign because the whole plane was filled with swedes going home. Upon getting to the airport there was a sign which, unlike in most countries that say "welcome to said country", sweden simple had "Välkomna hem" or welcome home. I got ready to go through customs and followed the signs only to find there was noone there and I was now standing free in sweden, without anyone even checking for a visa lr så!
City has been dead the last few days because of the long weekend but I have done some very Swedish things already. We ate knäckebröd and caviar which is the swedish version of vegemite and vitawheats. For breakfast Lauri took me to a traditional swedish frukost smörgåsbord or breakfast buffet which is alot healthier than our bacon and eggs. It is all yoghurts and eggs and ham with cucumber and things like that.
fika fika fika.. fika fika.. that is all people do here. Fika is a verb which means "to do coffee". I find myself fikar lots but mainly to try and have a hot drink. Coffee is very expensive though. I bought a large cup of bryggkaffe which is like that black american coffee pot stuff and it cost me something like 7 dollars.
Lauri took me on a tour of the city so I could find my way around and he explained the tunelbana which is the subway, very easy to use and he lives at the University here so it is easy enough to find Universitet station.
I was lucky that until today the weather has been very sunny and it is funny to see all the swedes sunning themselves. They just sit facing the sun or "softar" as they call it. See photos for my demonstration.
It is also not as cold I though. Yesterday I was walking around in only a tshirt for sometime, though it does get very chilly at nighttime when the sun goes down, which is about 8pm.
Yesterday I went out for the day with my friend Jocke (pronounced yoo-keh) which was really nice. Jocke, Lauri and I ended up going out to a bar in Gamla Stan (The Old Town, old medieval part of stockholm). By the time we left the tunelbana had stopped which is DEATH because taxis are so expensive here. It cost me 200kronor which is something like 50dollars for a 10minute trip!
All in all I am loving it here but it is very strange. It very much feels like Melbourne only perhaps 600 years older hehe. But equally, whilst I have trouble understanding what people are saying I can read and understand most of the signs. It is strange how everything is new to me but feels so familiar at the same time.
Anyways check out some of my photos and keep in touch, I havent taken alot of photos yet because I have been too busy experience hahah.. but I figure I have a whole month for photos!
oh and.. yes... for the general part most stockholmers are good looking if not only average at the ugliest and dress very well.
sköt om er (take care)
Love Shannon
How is everyone? What is happening in OZ?
Firstly, if you didnt get my message this is my new swedish number:
+64 760 836 644
An sms should cost the same as a local sms for you
At last I finally arrived in Sweden! It was an interesting trip and the worst was the Etihad flights. Not because of the flight, they are actually a GREAT airline but the passengers were not so good, nothing against arabs or anything but sitting on an arab speaking plane is like listening to someone hocking something up all the time.
So, I arrived in Abu Dhabi after 16 hours and that was very interesting. I really felt in the middle of nowhere and you could hardly see outsite the airport because of sandstorms. I had trouble with the currency because I had no idea how many dirum was what and arabic has its own number system so I had to guess.
Back on the plane to New York and I sat next to a Palestinian woman named Miriam who was travelling to America to get her baby daughter Zaina an american passport. She was nice but wouldnt stop talking to me. I made the mistake of helping her with her baby before we took off because she couldnt put her seatbelt on and hold the baby at the same time. Big mistake because I spent a large part of the rest of that trip holding and minding Zaina haha.
Skip NY because I didnt really do anything there but order a SMALL cheeseburger meal, the results of which you will see a photo.
Arrived in Frankfurt and NOW I realised I was in another country because up to now everyone had spoken english to me but suddenly everything was german. I was feeling disgusting and wanted a shower (naturligtvis) so I asked someone where the shower was. She directed me and I went on in and started to undres. When I am about to turn the water on I hear a banging at the door. I put some clothes on and open the door to find this little lady staring at me very angrily. "pay!!! duschen macht sechs euro!!!!" and a bunch of other german things I could not understand. I paid though and it was all fine.
I had to wait at Frankfurt for many hours but then I remembered Australians do not need visas in Germany so I went outside the airport into the sun. I just sat and had a sandwich but now I can say I have been to Germany!
The trip from Frankfurt to Arlanda was short, less than two hours but it was fun to look down and see the countries pass underneath. I felt very foreign because the whole plane was filled with swedes going home. Upon getting to the airport there was a sign which, unlike in most countries that say "welcome to said country", sweden simple had "Välkomna hem" or welcome home. I got ready to go through customs and followed the signs only to find there was noone there and I was now standing free in sweden, without anyone even checking for a visa lr så!
City has been dead the last few days because of the long weekend but I have done some very Swedish things already. We ate knäckebröd and caviar which is the swedish version of vegemite and vitawheats. For breakfast Lauri took me to a traditional swedish frukost smörgåsbord or breakfast buffet which is alot healthier than our bacon and eggs. It is all yoghurts and eggs and ham with cucumber and things like that.
fika fika fika.. fika fika.. that is all people do here. Fika is a verb which means "to do coffee". I find myself fikar lots but mainly to try and have a hot drink. Coffee is very expensive though. I bought a large cup of bryggkaffe which is like that black american coffee pot stuff and it cost me something like 7 dollars.
Lauri took me on a tour of the city so I could find my way around and he explained the tunelbana which is the subway, very easy to use and he lives at the University here so it is easy enough to find Universitet station.
I was lucky that until today the weather has been very sunny and it is funny to see all the swedes sunning themselves. They just sit facing the sun or "softar" as they call it. See photos for my demonstration.
It is also not as cold I though. Yesterday I was walking around in only a tshirt for sometime, though it does get very chilly at nighttime when the sun goes down, which is about 8pm.
Yesterday I went out for the day with my friend Jocke (pronounced yoo-keh) which was really nice. Jocke, Lauri and I ended up going out to a bar in Gamla Stan (The Old Town, old medieval part of stockholm). By the time we left the tunelbana had stopped which is DEATH because taxis are so expensive here. It cost me 200kronor which is something like 50dollars for a 10minute trip!
All in all I am loving it here but it is very strange. It very much feels like Melbourne only perhaps 600 years older hehe. But equally, whilst I have trouble understanding what people are saying I can read and understand most of the signs. It is strange how everything is new to me but feels so familiar at the same time.
Anyways check out some of my photos and keep in touch, I havent taken alot of photos yet because I have been too busy experience hahah.. but I figure I have a whole month for photos!
oh and.. yes... for the general part most stockholmers are good looking if not only average at the ugliest and dress very well.
sköt om er (take care)
Love Shannon