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. [View Full Entry]

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Surströming! In this simple Swedish word lies so much power. Power of Smell. Power of Taste. And power to make even the strongest of men week at the knees. Mention the word around Swedes and they scamper away never to look at you the same again. Up until Friday the 13th I had no idea what the fuss was about. Now I know. Oh how I wish my Surströming ignorance remained. But now I will describe as best one can the sheer enormity of this infamous Swedish delicacy. Hundreds of years ago, so the story goes, there twas a young [View Full Entry]

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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.co [View Full Entry]

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Resan började i mitten av Juni när jag och tre kompisar Ã¥kte söder. Vi hade planerat resan hela terminen och nu var tid för nöje. Vi reste i bil till Vadstena. Där vi satte upp tält, spelade fotboll och kopplade av. Jag mÃ¥ste nämna att vi ocksÃ¥ sÃ¥g Ã-rebru. Denna stad var berömd för att ha mÃ¥nga kvinnor. Men vi sÃ¥g bara unga flickor - jag mÃ¥ste resa tillbaka om fem Ã¥r! Det var mycket bra med pöjkarna och vi slappa´, snacka´, vi var coola´. Efter Vadstena Ã¥kte vi till Ã-land - en ö förbindade till Sverige med en lÃ¥ng [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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I was pretty stressed out the morning of the 30th. I had my final exam for one of the harder Engineering units i'd been doing and the lecturer conviently decided to change the course requirements to create a final oral exam. I was soon to find, however, that the stress was undeserved - the lecturer simply held an extended conversation with me about me thoughts and learning from the course (a course might i add in which I attended 10% of lectures due to unforseen circumstances - like Amsterdam). Anyways, relieved to claim some unit points and have the rare [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Friday 4th May After weeks of deliberations and planning the day finally arrives - the building “10 floor 2” boys trip to Amsterdam shifts category from pipe-dream to reality. A falu korv/pasta breakfast serves as a final goodbye to the old Sverige and our day of testing European transportation services begins. Starting from 9.50am we catch a bus to Uppsala central, train to Stockholm central, bus to skavsta airport (where we are joined by Canadian Mikey Wallace), plane to Weeze airport in Germany, shuttle bus to Nijmegen in Holland and finally a train to AMSTERDAM! On a qui [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Sha! hope everyone and everything is well around the world. Sweden is blasting away like an aussie tourist in full flight... Last weekend I ventured beyond the charms of the town of Uppsala and headed west, to the coastal town of Gothenburg. Travelling with my four finnish compatriotes (and a rabit hung like a moose) we ventured far and wide, absorbing the Swedish landscape - fresh to emerge from the winter snow. Upon my return i felt inspired to create a small presentation which I have now posted on the small and unkown vaults of 'youtube' : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m93k104z [View Full Entry]

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