Blogs from Linköping, Östergötland County, Sweden, Europe - page 2

Hello all I've been pretty quiet on here since I arrived because I've been getting settled and familiar with everything, plus I havent done any travelling or new sightseeing lately. Tonight I'm going out on the town with some friends for the first time since I've been here. I'm nervous but also excited to see what it will be like. At the moment it's rather cold and rainy so finding a going-out outfit to work with the weather will be interesting I'm sure. I found the liquor store this week (called the Systembolaget) and decided to try some Swedish beer. I wasn't sure if I was a lager or an ale girl so I got one of each and a bottle of sparkling wine. I was bored last night so I cracked the beer and tried ... read more

So I'm on my own in Linkoping now as Aunt Swedish Berry departed yesterday for England. I was worried at first because I hadn't actually met any of my roommates at that point. Considering 8 people live in this corridor it seemed awfully quiet! Last night when I got home I met Uma who is from India. He told me where I could put my stuff in the kitchen and was very helpful about providing me with information about how things work around the house. Just as he was telling me everything Erik and Daniel came in. They are both from Sweden and are really funny about trying to teach me to speak the language. They correct me on my pronunciation and make me repeat words until I get them right. Last night I learned a ... read more

Tjena bloggers, I have now started work at the hospital and am really enjoying. I am working on the stroke and neurology wards so lots of learning to do, it seems never ending. I went to listen to a neurology lecture a couple of weeks ago by a top researcher from America. As I guessed it all went way over my head but it was worth going if only because his name was 'Bud'- nice. Its a bit challenge trying to communiate with patients but I haven't killed anyone so thats a positive. We mainly try and find english speaking patients for me, which tend to be the younger ones so it works out ok. I was chuffed yesterday because one of the patients gave me a present (mug and tea for the British tea addict) ... read more

I arrived in Stockholm airport at about 3pm in the afternoon still reeling from a hangover and feeling woefully underprepared. Discovering that duty-free within the EU was a thing of the past only worsened my mood to the point where I considered getting my head down for the night at the airport. Things began to pick up when my mobile phone magically came to life long enough to contact my 'peer student' Pontus. He picked up my flat keys and arranged to pick me up at the trainstation in Linkoping. My train arrived bang on time as expected. I wasn't expecting it to have 2 decks though (as in floors, not turntables) - my horizons were expanding only an hour into the trip. Pontus took me by bus to my room. Not what I was expecting ... read more

Yay, so on thursday i jumped on the trainline and made a weird and in places wonderful trip to a place called Linköping, which is pronounced Lin-Shore-ping, which i found out when asked by the train conductor and confusing her by saying lin-co-ping, or whatever i said, hehehe. It was a bit of a trek, almost three hours on the train, and i still cant find where i was on any maps, though i havent really looked that hard, i have a feeling its kinda south south west of stockholm, a bit, and the place was as far as i could tell kinda boring. There was a really big church though, that it seemed you could see the steeple from wherever you were, which made a good point of reference for when i got lost. I ... read more