Moi Moi No niin tulee, ole hyvä ja kiitos! Well that concludes my knowledge of Finnish that I’ve picked up - impressive I know. All the language learning came from my 10-day discovery tour of Sweden’s younger brother - Finland! Although positioned on a similar height above the world, I was soon to learn the many differences between the brothers and the long history of their ongoing relationship. Bordering Russia to the East and the Vikings of Norway and Sweden to the North and West respectively, the Finns have had it rough with maintaining their independence and way of life. Today, the land of Nokia provides its people not only with world-class mobile phones, but a beautiful natural landscape brimming with lakes, forests and islands. Summer for the Finnish means closing shop to get away ... read more

wake up. eyes still blurry. traverse corridor in search of food. distracted by new notice on front door. Note reads: Free ticket. quote number 'X' at store to recieve. Walk to store. Recieve ticket. Ticket reads: BEASTIE BOYS onsday july 4 kl 20.00. Stockholm. check date. july 4. check time. 16.00. Sabotage? Maybe. Nothing to lose. catch train to stockholm. Find venue. gröna lund. swedish funpark. Rides. Fairy floss. Three Mc's and one DJ. Picture this. Stand Together. Body Movin'. Time for livin' Craft Video on return. Ch-Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvzSsu1fDRU That's it Thats all. Dev ... read more

With the Spring semester drawing to a close at the end of May, summer holidays had well and truly arrived. Travel plans intermixed with parties and dinners as students from everywhere discussed where they would be and what they would do for the long Summer holidays (think Northern Hemisphere). To kick things underway I was invited by some kind Austrians to join them and a Polish lass on a Canoe trip through some of Swedens tranquil lakes and rivers. It was to be my first camping experience for 7 years - since the outback days of year 10 Pilbara camp - and I was more than a little excited at the thought of the adventure. I also discovered that a canoe/tenting/relaxing holiday was a very Swedish thing to do. Many people living within the busy ... read more

One of the best decisions I have made on my exchange thus far has been to join the Snerikekoren. Now that probably means little to none to most of my loyal readers so i'll begin by giving you the backstory. and then you can judge me... In the first few weeks here we are inundated with information about clubs and nations and things to join and sign up for. At one of these sign up events me and fellow australasian hailing from the insignificant country town of Canberra decided to add our emails to the choir list. Now I know what your thinking, Gandhi the choir boy has the voice of an angel its only natural i should join a choir. But I was also swayed by the promise of cheap alcohol and many a ... read more

Sho brushans Its coming up to 4 months of my exchange to the student town of Uppsala, perched in the European highlands of Scandinavia. So that means I’m a third of the way through my time here and one third closer to being back at the Taverns of old with you guys. So my ‘keeping in touch’ policy has been pretty lax, even by my standards, and really as much as I might try I can’t seem to come up with any believable excuses. Days just seem to fly by here and it becomes a great achievement when you actually complete dot points from the multiple to-do lists strewn about. Like yesterday I managed to complete my washing and drying in just half a day, which I thought, was reason enough to celebrate. Anyways, over ... read more