EUROTOUR

First Country - Germany, more specifically Berlin


When I saw the Berlin TV Tower, it hit me that i was actually in Germany and in Berlin, it was a great realisation, a fantastic feeling. Berlin was so interesting for me, the history regarding the Berlin Wall was such a recent part of history that I found truly fascinating... The first night we had a traditional German Dinner; sausages, potatoes and cooked cabbage i can't remember the name, then apple strudle for dessert. I have to say i still prefer Aussie sausages from our local butcher in Dural but they were ok, and the Dessert was delicious. The next day we got out and saw Berlin. Check Point Charlie was good, the museum was really good, i was in there for double the amount of time I had to be, cutting out of my free time but I didn't mind. Then we had a bit more of a tour of the city and we were left to our own devises. We looked at one of the old church ruins from WWII had a look around, then we were ghosting the people of Berlin, it was so funny and then there was a crowd laughing watching with us.
The longest remaining part of the wall was great to look at, colourful modern artworks were so entertaining... my signature is now on the wall, although I don't expect it to be there long as the wall gets repainted every couple of years... but hey shows i have been there :P

This is the memorial for all the people of Jewish faith that lost their lives during WWII.

We saw alot of Berlin, however there was so much more to see, more night exploration to do and definitely better hostel/hotels to stay in...

So thats just one of six or seven countries to come... :)

So this post was supposed to come a month ago, but I've been busy travelling around Europe for the past couple of weeks, lucky me :). So midsummer in Sweden was the 19th-20th of June. so midsummer starts on friday Midsummers Eve... So the family was home that day, we got a day off school well rather summer holidays started then, we had a midsummer lunch, traditionally sill (herring) and potatos, but lucky for me it was more than just sill... so it took me all of lunch the find the courage to try sill, it wasent as bad as expected but i certainly dont intend to make a meal out of it, and omgsh apparently it gets worse at some point in the year in going to have to try pickled herring or something its like rotten raw fish, although Kim prefers to say controlably rotten like blue vain cheese. Totally have to get back on track, so we eat ALOT, drink shnaps i don't know how to spell it. After lunch we then went to a place not far from where i live called Julita, there are traditional celebrations held there, the midsummer pole, dancing, stalls etc. I went here with my host family ended up seeing Maja and Fanny there and hanging out with them looking at the gardens and other places. So the midsummer pole, which you can see in the picture above, is danced around, its mostly little kids and their parents know days. Then that night i just spent the night with some friends at a party :) and apparently on this night if u pick 7 types of wildflower and put them under your pillow you will dream of your future husband, i was so tired when i got home and it was dark so i forgot...

The next day Midsummer's day I stayed home during the day and just lazed around. Then at night i went with Johanna, Amanda and Hedvig to Brevens Bruk I think thats what it was called. This place is basically a big outdoor party for all ages, at the front there was country music and then down the back there was a outdoor club sort of thing, the picture above is of this earlier in the night, it was alot busier later that night. There was some very interesting people there, but we saw alot of friends. some people arrived on the back of tractors similar to what they do on graduation. So that was lots of fun too. :)

On Sunday of Midsummer weekend i headed out with my host parents to go see a castle about an hour away from where i live called Gripsholms Slott/ Castle. Parts of the castle dated back to the 1500's so did artworks within the castle. It was pretty amazing too see. Then we had lunch, went to an art musuem and came home.

All in all a very enjoyable Midsummer weekend in Sweden... :D

10 days :D

So its Monday 15th of June, 10 days till I officially leave for Eurotour from Malmö, however i travel to Malmö the day before. So I'm pretty excited and cant wait...

So this last week had been very busy it was the last week of school, 18th birthdays, graduation for some and goodbye for other... i spent 3 days in Eskilstuna to farewell Mike, and celebrate Brenton's 18th... it was a good 3 days well 2.5. On Wednesday the exchanges from areas in and outside Stockholm met in Eskilstuna to throw Mike a surprise farewell, we caught the bus to a ski hill (just a park in summer), we had a BBQ and playing viking games (one of Mikes fav). Even thought the weather was wet and cold we pressed on with our outdoors fun. I spent the night at Beths out in the country.
Thursday was Brenton's 18th, Beth and I went to Eskilstuna then to Brenton's just outside, we had dinner with his family, exchange students and friends. Mike, Beth, Daniel and I then went out for to celebrate... a very interesting night...we all spent the night at Brentons...
Friday was the last day on school in Katrineholm, Beth and I went to my school, i had to clean out my locker and say happy 18th to a good friend of mine Fanny... then we went to a graduation then to Maja's... then home, I went out that night hung with some friends for a bit then went out and saw more friends :) good night for chatting...
Saturday was busy, Beth went home, i went to a graduation then to a graduation lunch with Fanny to her cousins, then straight to Tina's we then went to a party at Niclas then into town, saw almost everyone i know in Sweden... pretty decent night, definitely not enough sleep...
Sunday the day of rest for me :)
Today is Erics 18th... should be a good night...
So now its summer holidays and I'm ready to enjoy summer and to my dissappointment it is abut 15 degrees raining and windy... i hope it improves over the next couple of days :)
I'd put pictures up but I didn't take any... promise to take some tonight :)

Life in Sweden

Just some Pictures of things so far...
February 2009

Weekend Away with the Bennetofts...

Shopping Street in Stockholm (well one of them)

March 2009

The girls; party at Helmers...

April 2009

First Signs of Spring in Stockholm

Me opening flowers on my Birthday :D


May 2009

Park in Stockholm... visited with the other exchange students...

June 2009

1st of June, beautiful 27 degree day of perfect sunshine, i spent the afternoon chilling out with Fanny and Tina...

Hej hej, so I have now been in Sweden for about 4.5 months. I decided instead of sending 1 million emails a month I would have a blog for anybody who is interested in what I have been up to in Sweden.

This weekend more or less started on Thursday 4th June with a class trip to Stockholm for SP program, both 2nd and 3rd graders came, when we got to Stockholm we split up into our classes or grades. SP2A split and started our walk around Stockholm first stop being the Katarina Elevator which rises from the suburb of Slussen to Södermalm; an amazing view awaited us at the top, although the cold and wind didn’t make great conditions. After this we stopped at many locations on the way to the National Museum; we stopped to talk about famous people, locations, history and culture… my part was the give a brief talk on the Royal Palace. After this when we were inside the National Museum, regaining feeling in our fingers, toes or in some peoples cases their whole bodies, we were ready to look at the beautiful paintings on the 2nd floor (I think it was) Although we weren’t there for long the paintings were amazing and it was enough time for me to have a good look. Finally it was lunch time; we headed to a food court near the shopping centre of Stockholm for any type of food we desired. Fanny, Tina, Sarah and I settled for nachos which were massive but yum yum. Then it was time for the shopping part of the day… the girls headed off for the shopping streets of Stockholm. Although we didn’t all find what we were looking for, in particular me who couldn’t find the shoes she liked in her size, it was good down time and time to get reacquainted with the big city opposed to the smallish town Katrineholm. After we all met up again and had a tour of the Opera House, although the tour was in Swedish so I didn’t understand most, it was good to see the rooms not usually shown like the Gold Room and rooms belonging to the Royal Family. A quick fika was had before we sat down in the highest seats to watch the ballet Swan Lake. Finishing just after 11, we headed back to Katrineholm, and interesting bus trip to say the least and we were home just after 1 in the morning.

Getting up on Friday morning was a struggle, but I survived… I then left school at 1ish to head to Uppsala with my host family, they were seeing a relative who graduated and I went to visit another exchange student Anthony. We saw a famous Church, which was massive and pretty impressive, the Castle and the Music Centre, and of course the shops, to try and find some shoes which is proving an ongoing quest. Next on the agenda was visiting Johan’s mother, then home to Katrineholm via Stockholm to drop off some things to a relative. I slept 3 out of the 5 hours driving done this afternoon and was still glad to crawl into bed.

On Saturday it was with 6th of June or Sweden’s National Day I continued my quest for shoes failing when the shop was shut… then headed to my friend Rebecca’s to watch the 2nd half of Sweden vs. Denmark game before heading down the beer tent. The Beer Tent was the centre of town, many of my friends were down there and there was a band… lots of fun.

Sunday continued my quest for shoes again failing, and then I went to my friend Maja’s we made a Pavlova and watched Green Street Hooligans. The Pavlova was yum and the movie was great… then home to sleep before returning for another week of school.