I AM A FAILURE

I frickin forgot my passport in Lund... HOW DID THIS HAPPEN????! I'm a globetrotter, I fly ALL THE FRICKIN TIME so I the frick could I forget the most important thing???? I'm so frustrated with myself!!
Anyway, I forgot it and fixed it. It wasn't easy though, I almost started thinking I wasn't meant to go... However, my mother is my saving angel, she drove me 45 minutes to V-rås just to find a closed police station, drove me back to Tunatown to eat and make a toilet visit before heading to Skavsta, an hour and a half it took because of the snowstorm that raged first from V-rås home then from home to Nyköping... Weather was not on our side! Finally I got my emergency passport, a pink one (made it a little better) which I paid as much for as the actual tickets... Totally worth it!

Best chai latte at Café Sylvia

Mellandagsrea = go nuts

Uh, people bother me, sales bother me, people at sales is like a dagger straight through my energy vain... Cheerful no? Right, can't go on like that. But truthfully, people (including myself) become very selfish and introverted when shopping at the sales, that's why it's a negative experience for me and I prefer to stay away. Yet I have failed to do so as my mother has been off and I have needed to buy a few things. So, I find myself elbowing and sighing my way through the crowds yet another year. I managed to buy a paris of shoes for new years:

warm wool socks, a fleece, earrings and this wonderful coat which I found at Ester second-hand boutique

 I also got a pair of knitted gloves to match the dress complementary, gosh, couldn't get any better!

We just visited little Hailey who's grown a little tiny bit bigger already. They already have so many clothes for her! Guess that's what happens when you get a little girl and just before christmas as well...

In three days I will be in the arms of my boyfriend, can't wait!

Christmas Day

in Sweden is a big chunk of party... But before the party mum and I picked up my extra grandma Ulla and had a nice dinner! Then, we picked up Sofia, sweet stunning Sofia, my precious darling friend whom I love so much! We went to Carl's apartment for a good intimate preparty before going to HåPe's (worst name ever). The best thing about coming home and going out is that you get to meet ALL the people you know, knew, seen, flirted with at a weak moment, used to work with, went to school with, yes, everyone was there yesterday... There was someone extra special there too. Hanna, happy honest hot Hanna, my beloved sweet hummingbird, aah so nice to see my two favourite girls again! Legendary night... Not a surprise though when the three of us entertain eachother... Great night at HåPe's (worst name Ever! HP sauce? Seriously?!?) followed by a nice afterparty also at Carl's, some bad pictures follow:

Hanna in her right element

-We go waay back, den där festen...
- Eh, ja, asså jag var ju så full, jag kommer inte ihåg

"Det finns en historia där"

Tomtebloss - succé!

We went to bed at 6... ish, and got up at 9.30, I made american pancakes with berries, jam, vanilla yoghurt, coconut, hazelnuts, anything you'd want for my two marvelous girls... Just when we'd finished breakfast it was time to start making food for family gathering, not great when you're hungover and very tired but I pulled through it and am now enjoying the couch and a film, waiting for my eveningly skypesession with my boyfriend. Bed. Early. Tonight. I'm not 18 anymore... Annika where are you?!

Have yourself a merry little christmas

Precious little Hailey, could we have gotten a better present?

As another great present I found out that Fynn has booked tickets to come to Sweden in the end of January!

I hope you have or you will enjoy christmas, and in the words of my dear friend Micha: remember the meaning of christmas; love and hope.

Dan före dopparedan = julstök!

Lots to do just days before christmas, well,one day for us Swedes, tomorrow it's Christmas!

Can't forget studying... Woo frickin hoo.

Making the meatballs

Cooking together is always more fun!

Nearly finished Christmas Tree

Janssons in the oven, ham in the sink and a stuffed fridge. Ah good ol' christmas, even the vegetarian is treating herself to some traditional home-made meatballs and maybe even some christmas ham...

Toooooo c c cold....

That's all I have to say. T t t too cooooold outside!

By the way, I love my naprapath. Thank you for vanquishing my back pain!
(If you have any problems whatsoever go to the naprapath at Munktell in Eskilstuna.)

Winter wonderland

Minus 15! Minus 15! It's frickin cold outside. But beautiful...

So Swedish...

So beautiful

I love winter when it's like this, but it's just a little bit too cold now, it almost hurts to breathe when outside... I went to the gym today, felt so good to be back at Friskis, my regular gym, so many memories from high school, I practically lived there for a while. I remember when I used to go before school at 7.00 when they opened and after school at 16.00 and mum picked me up to go to dancing from 18.00 to 21.00... I don't think it was healthy... Now I just enjoy the work-out, de-stressing... I also went to the library, there too I found myself in reminiscence of old times. I got one article down, three to go. I'll tackle one tomorrow and hopefully I'll finish it!
I met up with mum to do some shopping, I feel such an urge to buy but even though I find things I like AND they fit well (which doesn't happen very often) there still is something stopping me from buying it. I just don't need it. Maybe I've got my needs and wants sorted finally? No, don't think so, I'll probably still struggle a bit, but I think I'm on the way of getting my priorities right...
I've also done my hair today at Pia Walter Widéns private saloon in Eskilstuna. Very pleased, bit darker, bit shorter, worked magic on my hair! I don't know what I would do without her, everytime I make the mistake of going to someone else I always end up disappointed, even when I went to Toni & Guy in London!
Think it's bedtime...
Goodnight world.

A new life is born

I'm an aunt! Not by blood but non the less, I'm an aunt! This little angel was born 2010-12-16

Baby Hailey

Isn't she's adorable?!

Look at the little mohawk! 

I got to see her today and she's so tiny, and cute and adorable and little and innocent and so so so cute! Little wee babybosibo!

I'm finally home in Tunatown again, after a rather delayed train/walk/bus trip. It's nice to have holidays... I will enjoy it. I'll have to study but I'll try to enjoy it.
I can't wait for new years, I miss my sweetie...

Times have changed...

Stole this ad from my friend Maja, need I even explain why?....

Moved in, almost moved out

Gaah, is there anything worse than the move-out-clean?! Probably, but I'm not enjoying it one bit at the moment! My right arm hurts like a teenage boy's after all the scrubbing... and it's still not clean enough! After 30 min I gave up with getting the oven clean, I normally quite enjoy cleaning and since I've kept it clean it's not That bad, but it still takes frickin long, only bout half-done and giving away the keys tomorrow! Plus we got another seminar coming up on Friday, when will I have time to read the text?! Well, apparently tonight or tomorrow morning because my group is meeting at lunch tomorrow. Probably should have read it by then...

Anyway, there has been little fun the past week. Saturday I enjoyed a very fun, interesting and drunk night at Lone's. Drinks, games and dirty talks, unfortunately a couple of not-so-clean texts slipped away in the mist...

Oscar got caught in between Lone's fingers and
ended up looking sweet as a little 10 yr old girl

Julia's angel hair also got plaited
Beautiful!

We then went on to a corridor fest, which wasn't to much to cheer for but Annike and I stayed on and danced the night away... until my bus left for Malmö that is... But no more late night buses! No more waiting for that stupid bus to come, no more commuting because *drumroll* I have moved into the new apartment in Lund! Woooooooo! It's a complete mess but whatever, only a few more days and then I head off up to Tunatown... I'm in serious lack of wardrobes after my last walk-in closet time so I still haven't unpacked most of my shit. I call it shit because honestly, I realised when packing that I barely use half the stuff I own...

Special thanks goes out to Patrick who was such a cutie-patotie and helped me move. Annika and Lisa also deserve big thank yous! Lisa also helped me get my new bed, much harder, better for my back, but we ended up having to push the seats forward in order to get the bed in the car so much that Lisa could barely steer! 

Unsafe but very funny....

Today we had cosy-christmas brunch at Julia's and it was very pleasant and enjoyable, you are all such nice and wonderful girls!! =)

On that positive note I shall finish off and try to go to bed, or read, or unpack... Gaah!

How I adore packing

The sun made a guest appearance today. I guess it was time for dark clouds, snow and rain to take a break, they've been working hard the past month...

Lately it feels like all I've been doing is packing up my life. Again...! But on Monday I get to move into mine and Lisa's new place in Lund, where I get to stay for at least a year! Can't wait for the safety of knowing exactly where I'll be for the next year, not counting the summer that is....

I went to a Fairtrade christmas market today at Stortorget in Malmö, very small market, a little bit disappointed but it was definitely a good initiative!

I passed my exam, which was really nice. Was hoping for a better grade but I did say that the first of the essays was probably the worst I'd ever written so I guess I can't complain...

Just about to go to Afro-dancing, after all the packing I need to get my frustration out and gain some energy for tonight!

(I was very pleased to see an article in Metro how to spend a green christmas, especially since I sent them an email five days earlier explaining their moral responsibility as the biggest, green newspaper in Sweden to help inform how to spend a sustainable christmas! Whether it had any effect or not doesn't really matter, I'm just glad they published it! Hopefully it inspired some to rethink their consumption habits...)

Thinking about christmas presents?

Advice and suggestions for christmas presents that withstand the green och fairtrade critic eye and supports a more sustainable future:
1.   Make your own!

• knit something warm for the cold winter days
• make some traditional food, like fudge or the swedish "knäck"
• a book filled with memories and photos (questionable from a green point a view)
• remake something old eg. clothes, pillow cases, lampshades
• make personalised bottles, jars, pots, cups 
• spice your own snaps, easy and good recipes are widespread on the net

2.   Buy your present!

• second-hand
• fairtrade products
• christmas markets are perfect for individually, locally made products
• volunteer organisation shops
• give a present that helps someone else. At unicef's website you can buy presents like vaccin, mosquito nets, school equipment etc http://www.unicef.se/stod-oss/gavoshop (svenska), http://www.musthavegifts.org/Worldvision/Default.aspx (for everyone!). Many volunteer organisations have similar campaigns, go and check it out!
• Don't buy anything made in Japan, as they are still continually murdering dolphins in Taiji...
• Soda streamer, if you are a fan of sparkling water
• Organic wine, sparkling wine
• stainless steel bottle (found at Onya)

3.   Give away activities!

• theatre
• musical
• cinema
• concert
• invite friends for a nice dinner
• vouchers for massage, acupuncture etc
• dance lessons, cooking course etc
• weekend away (by train...)

That's how far my imagination stretches at the moment, would appreciate any other suggestion and ideas you have!

Reducing the christmas consumption craze is not about completely abandoning the tradition of giving away presents but reforming these traditions to include more sustainable ways to enjoy our holidays. Please think twice about the christmas food as well! It doesn't only help the environment but it also saves you countless hours at the gym getting it off ;)

Stolen bank card?

I think I just got my bank card stolen... I'm sure I had it in my phone pocket along with my ID and student ID. Crazy thing is that my phone is still there... I haven't used my card though, I saw it at lunch time, and now it's gone. It must have disappeared when I was doing yoga at Gerdahallen in Lund, but why would they in that case not steal my ID and my phone? Strange. Anyway, card is cancelled so if I happen to find it somewhere it's too late... Oh well, no money withdrawn so...

We had a UN role play today. Lots of fun! My group was already small with three people compared to others with 5-6 members, and one of the girls got the stomach flu last night poor thing, so we ended up being two people. I must admit that the other delegates treated us nicely though. We sat next to Jamaica where Per wore proper Bob Marley dreads, Linus managed to make a simile between the US and Nazi-Germany which resulted in great media coverage and diplomatic hardships for Jamaica. Last we saw a large US navy battle ship was strategically placed close to Jamaica... The responsible delegate is apparently facing disciplinary actions for his statement... Haha, great day!

Now that the role play is done, I'll hopefully be a little bit more active on the blog now =)

My Grown Up Christmas List

Not for myself, but for a world in need

No more lives torn apart

That wars would never start,

and time would heal our hearts

Everyone would have a friend

and love would never end...

This is my christmas list

and my lifelong wish

Work study study work

That's all I feel I've done lately. Stressing about moving in 2 weeks, still don't know how... Course work is taking up a lot of time, all being very interesting but difficult. Just had a seminar about three very interesting cases taken up in the European Court of Human Rights, I almost now all our rights according to the European Convention now...

Kåren - where I've been spending most of my time lately

Warm and cosy

Malmö has been having snowstorms every other day, it's quite nice but traffic is at a standstill so you never now when and if the bus is coming....

Christmas lights coming up!

Need to go do some washing now, can't wait for christmas and holidays! I want to relax....

IKEA and Lunda spexarna

A night of girltalk, glögg, gingerbread cookies, blue cheese, saffron buns and a nice wine is underestimated. Saturday night was spent in the company of lovely Julia and Annika and it was a very cosy and nice evening. Am I getting old prefering these nights to drunken dancing on an overcrowded dance floor where people basically push you around to the rhythm of the music...? Luckily I have Annika to pull back my old-lady-tendencies ;)

Sunday morning my values were subjected to contradiction. I propagate the aware consumption, shop to your needs rather than your wants. However, being a member of Unicef I was to market their stuffed animal campaign at IKEA to encourage people to buy. For each animal sold IKEA would donate 10 SEK to Unicef and Save the childen, great... but what about sustainability? I struggled with giving out free balloons in order to make people buy something they don't need for a good cause. Does the  justify the means? I don't think so and I will probably not participate again because I think people should donate because they have the resources and agree with the moral obligation to help less fortunate... If you go to IKEA and want to contribute you can do it without buying unnecessary objects, there are several signs everywhere telling you how to.

Either case, it was a fun day and it was about to get much better!

I met up with Julia and Annika and went to boxing exercise and oh my gosh my legs hurt! Time to start exercising a bit more, this is tragic... Julia and I walked in pain to AF-borgen to see the best comedians in Lund; Lunda spexarna. Lots of political jokes, great singing and clever remarks, such a great show, can't remember the last time I laughed so much! Do not miss it next year!

This new course has really pumped up the pace, I actually study like a full-time job now to be able to read everything. It's so interesting though, talking about international and national law at the moment, it's going very quickly but our teacher is funny, inspiring and knows her shit.

In the cold winter my skin is cracking like the dry earth of the Sahara so to continue hand hygiene I need hand creme! I bought a metal jar from Nivea, might no be the best one but its easy to bring along and I'll be able to refill it constantly instead of buying the little plastic bottles...

Lots of snow!

Flash mob

PILLOW FIGHT!

13.15 today Julia and I fought a pillow fight at Stortorget, Lund with loads of other people!

Creative houses from reclaimed stuff | Video on TED.com

This guy is awesome, with his Texas accent, building houses from all sorts of material, including Budweiser cans!

Dan Phillips: Creative houses from reclaimed stuff | Video on TED.com

Carrying Capacity

If you ever took biology you've probably heared about "carrying capacity", how big a population can the ecosystem take. Well, how many humans can our earth carry?
This film is quite frightening, well worth watching.
http://svtplay.se/t/102814/vetenskapens_varld
(swedish) check out David Attenborough on youtube, plenty of videos...

Start thinking about ones consumer habits, water, electricity and food consumption. 1.2 billion people lack water at the moment, how will we sustain another 2 million, oh sorry Billion, people with clean water?

Email email email!

I hope that you are not forgetting what is going on in Taiji! Dolphins are being murdered almost everyday and the measures are becoming more brutal for the molesters to hide their shame! Popular measure now is to put a cork in a dolphins blowhole, that way it becomes more docile while they drag it to the gutting barge. Note that the dolphin is slowly drowning, that's why it's becoming more "docile.... So lets get to action! If you only write "stop killing dolphins" or something more it doesn't matter, what matters is that you take that 1 minute and let the japanese government have it!

political@japansamb.se


Get writing people!

Working the christmas feel

Went into Lund today for our first real lecture, subject: Globalisation. Our lecturer is awesome. I'm not kidding he's the coolest teacher ever, I feel like a little kid on Christmas Day!

Skåne has snow!

 After class Lisa, my future flatmate, came with me home and we made famous swedish saffron buns: Lussekatter!

Dough was too big for my biggest pot =(

Glögg, pepparkakor and lussebullar!
Can't get much better...

We also went to a lecture by Amnesty on a case in Mexico. Two girls had been raped by the military, a big problem in the Guerrero region and close regions. Drugs, money, power... So sick of it. Back to christmas!

One of my favourite songs, despite everything is still this Mariah Carey: All I Want For Christmas is You!

Home safe and sound

So I eventually made it home, went straight to bed yesterday after meeting up with Madeleine, my first room mate in Paris (our of three) and my cuddle bear Manda, how I miss you! The hours disappear in the midst of our chatting too quickly... 


Had introduction to our new course today, so excited! Teachers seem great and the subject really interesting, globalisation, international relations and a bit of law with a human rights twist, can't wait!
Lisa and I discussed the new apartment today, contract is on its way, we're writing a contract in between ourselves, cleaning weeks set, food arrangements all that kind of formalities... I'm really looking forward to moving to Lund now! Glögg nights, game nights, preparties, being able to bike everywhere, it'll be great!


Wish you were here... 

Fucking Fail

excuse my language but F* what a failure!

I left Soton at 21.30, got two hours of sleep on the bus to Stansted, got about another hour of sleep in the airport... Arrived at 1 am and checked in at 5. Went through security, tried unsuccessfully to get some more sleep before making my way to the gate. Was there almost an hour before take-off, massive queue so I sat down with a newspaper. There were three gates there and just one massive queue so I just waited for it to get smaller cause my bag was really heavy. They called out for other flights, and when the queue was short I got in. Realising that shit, this is for the wrong gate, my gate says closed, but oh they let a girl just four people in front of me through. I wave and 30 seconds later I was at the desk and they tell me it's closed. I'm like what?! I just saw a girl go through! 5 other people join me wondering what the hell is going on, how can the gate be closed?! They call the plane and they claim no one can get on. It's impossible because of paperwork and bla bla bla, come on Ryanair don't pretend you're a real airline! Bullshit business! I was like what about my bag?! Oh don't worry they took it off the plane when you didn't arrive at the gate. WHAT?! I'm HERE NOW! I'VE BEEN HERE FOR AN HOUR! Let us on instead of taking my bag off!!!

So we just had to make our way to the ticket desk, the girl (incredibly rude) said that she'd make sure one of the guys would pay full charge for being rude (I fucking understand why he was rude! To be fair all he said was that it was bullshit...). Well at the ticket desk, after getting my bag back(!), we found out that oh you'll just ahve to pay £246 to get on the next flight tonight. With a bag yeah about 300...!! I wonder what the "full charge" was......

Good thing was that I met a really nice and interesting girl from Sweden living here in London. We made company from the airport back to London, she'll go back tonight (booking online though, bit cheaper) and I'll go tomorrow morning. I'm going to be the fucking first perosn in that queue AND I will ask the staff about one hundred times if this is the right queue for Gothenburg... I realise it is mainly my fault but they should have called out for the flight and made it clearer which queue you were supposed to stand in, insted of having one massive queue for three gates.... Oh well, I get to hang out some more with my counsin...

Let's see if I'll get on the flight tomorrow!

Southampton

So! Finally some time over... I have spent every day from 9 am to 5-6 pm at the Hart Library in Soton writing my f*ing exam. The first question makes me so annoyed that I will continue with the fun things I've done this week!
Remember everyone from Paris? Here's an update:

Phil "the irish" Chambers

Who can forget
 Joe "the mystery man" and
björnen Björn"?!

Sexy EnrrrriquE!

Great reunion!

Darling Anton

Let's not forget Jono and my reason for being here, Fynn... So I arrived Friday night to a big party in Anton's flat, dancing and drinking, some of us made it to the student club Sobar, where Fynn and I danced the night away. Saturday morning we visited one of the world's heritage sites: Stonehenge!

It was 9 pounds to get in and stand 10 metres from the stones so like cheap students we watched it from behind the fence... I sat on Fynn's shoulders to try to get  pic without the fence (if you are observant you'll see the fence and a man in a hat in the right corner...) Off we went again, destination: not quite sure, Avesbury, Ailesbury, ended up in Marlborough... A really picturesque little town where Björn and the swedes (+Enrique) got to taste their first Fish and Chips...

Happy and full we continued our search for some other random stones in what I think was Avesbury, by this time it was dark so once we got the the fields we couldn't relly see them anyway. Fail. With our spirits still high we continued to Salisbury, one of my favourite places so far in England!

Giant, very believeable, man.
Not many photos since it was dark,
this is definitely not the reason
it's on my top five places!

Dessert and coffee at a proper English pub

Sunday we played paintball! First time I ever play, must admit I was a bit terrified, especially when I found out that I was the only girl amongst 10 guys. Great. In the van there I got an overdose of manly banter, "walk of shame" yelling out the windows to random girls leaving houses and farts... My spirits were not high. We get to Delta Force and I figured, what the hell, why not right? I was mainly afraid of the pain of getting shot and you know what! I fucking ruled this game! I didn't get shot until the last game, and I managed to shoot at least five people out, hold my cabin and get fairly muddy. It was actually quite fun! As the wimp I am I got a bruise from the only ball that hit me....

Wet, sweaty and happy

The night we had a bbq in the freezing cold in Jono's house (which is a little cottage on the backyard, really nice!)

Had to put this picture in here
cause it represents everything
about Björn!

Monday I studied, Tuesday likewise, Wednesday studied and played squash for the first time, Fynn said I was really good and then he ruined it with: for being a girl... Gee thanks.- No I did actually appreciate it!
Today I finished my essays, which have been a pain in the behind! Honestly, I've used google docs cause I dont have word on my computer, and Fynn naturally doesn't have å,ä,ö on his so I had to write it, not knowing how many pages I wrote and not being able to do footnotes(!), transfer it to word in Fynn's computer and start adding all the footnotes. This, yesterday, is when I realise that I have 7 pages and I can have maximum 4. Great. Start cutting, it's only taken me three days to write this stupid too wide essay and now I have to narrow it even more?! I was in a complete break-down state. Today I finished the second and last question in one day. Difference was that this question you could structure and find things in the literature to support your claims... Whatever....
I've realised that we don't have enough pub quizzes and comedy nights in Sweden, it's awesome! Tuesday night I laughed my abs to soreness!
I shall go down and help my man make food. He's been very good writing his French essay...