¡Mis padres!

Already the 21st of November: time flies when you are having fun. This is the week that my parents are visiting me, yay! This means that I have to be tour guide (again!), but for my parents it is nice to see all the places you have been bragging about the last couple months. First however, some school work has to be finished and some classes have to be attended.

Last days before christmas.

It is Friday the 16th of December. We were just back from Porto, in one week we will go back to the Netherlands for Christmas. Tuesday we will have our first final exam and I still have to start learning so today I start thinking about how I would do that. The teacher didn’t post the slides online and we didn’t bought the book. He posted some study questions online so I started to answer those questions to learn the exam a bit.

Saying farewell

The last weeks I could not find any time to upload more on blogger. I think you would agree with me that this normally is a good sign. The weeks went by pretty fast but I did all I wanted to do and it was a great couple of last weeks.

My last exams ended in the first week of december, so after that I still had more than two weeks to enjoy the city and the Brazilian culture. Vasco played his last football matches and I visited them all! Unluckily they finished second in both the Brazilian competition as the Latin American championships. "Vice de Novo!" is for that reason a word people used to call me these last weeks.

The city of Rio de Janeiro houses many beautifull nature parks, including loads of trails leading to one of the several mountains surrounding the city. I spent the last weeks of my exchange with my international friend on many of these hills, with as most important achievement the top of the dois irmaos (two brothers, looking over the complete Zona Sul).


My activities in my sport athletics did also demand a large part of my time. The last weeks I had some great trainings together with my Brazilian trainings group and trainer and I think I am ready for next summer season with and European Championships and who knows another "great tournament" in London.

Besides all these nice activities I also needed of course to say farewell to all my Brazilian and non Brazilian friends I made in Rio. To be honest, this was quite a tough thing to do but I think eventually I had some great last days with all these nice people.

Now being back to France, to have a nice christmas in the snow together with my family I think I will never forget the superb last five months. I met some really great people, did things I have never expected to experience and developed my own person in many ways. I would like to use this channel to thank all the people who contributed to this great experience. However I also look forward to be back in the normal cadence of life in the Netherlands and see my Dutch friends and family again.

For now I will close this Blog but who knows will there be a new one in the future....

Abraços, Joeri

Beijing

My trip to Beijing with my girlfriend begins with a 1300km train ride from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing South Railway station, luckily the ride travels at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour so the ride takes less than 5 hours. It was nice to show her what the Chinese are able to build. The Chinese have been busy over the last few decades to build large landmarks that prove Chinese engineering and moral. The Bullet train ride only costs 65 euro’s each way, the seats are like an airplane and all face in the forward direction, they are turned around as the train stops to face the other way on the journey back. It’s quite an experience with all the Chinese surrounding you carrying their packets full of meat and treats for friends and family in the other of the two cities.

In Shanghai we had been so busy visiting sights, meeting friends, going to clubs and along all of this studying. We were so exhausted that the first two days we spend relaxing and enjoying being together after so long. We ate at our hostel and the next days just walked around the city center. The first thing we visited was the Olympic City. The Watercube after the Birdsnest were very impressive and it was nice to see it up close. It was hard to imagine it being packed with so many people from all over the world for the opening ceremony. It’s a shame that the huge stadium is no longer in use, apart from being a tourist attraction. After the Olympic city which is only accessible by tuk tuk, because the metro line to the city is closed and therefore no longer in use, we visited the center of the city. Walking through the main shopping street which, after seeing East Nanjing Road in Shanghai, is a little disappointing. But the food market is one of a kind. Live scorpions on a stick along with a wide variety of other bugs which can be eaten after being deep fried alive.Arriving at Beijing we notice instantly some of the main differences between Shanghai and the Capital namely the price and the crowdedness. Firstly tickets for the subway are half the price of what they are in Shanghai, 2RMB which boils down to €0,25 and for students its only 1,2RMB, too bad we found that out once we got back in Shanghai! Secondly, in Beijing it does not matter what day or time of day it is, it’s always busy in the subway. We thought that we knew what crowded meant when we saw people pushing and elbowing their way in the subways at rush hour in Shanghai but that just a normal ride in the subways of Beijing.

The third day went a little more according to plan; we left early on a prescheduled tour of the city and the wall. We had booked a small group tour but because we arrived out of season we were the only participants. This meant that we received a private tour of first Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and later the Great Wall. All of which were equally impressive, our guide spoke slowly because his English was not all too great. The Forbidden City is overwhelming; buildings are huge and show the vastness of the Ming Dynasty. Along with the huge Tiananmen Square which in China, in contrary to the rest of the world, is famous for being next to the final resting place of Mao Zendong, not at all for the reasons the rest of the world knows of its existence. These phenomenons are a constant reminder of the influence the Chinese have on their people.

After the square and the city we drove a long way to the wall, stopping on the way to look at a jade factory. The wall was even more impressive than the previous two sites. We visited the original wall in Inner Mongolia, but this was something completely different. This wall has been restored and maintained and is a very impressive sight to see. We had 3 hours to walk up and down the wall so we had to hurry, it’s a long way to the top and we needed a few rest stops which were more than welcome to enjoy the sights. Once at the top we were however more than rewarded by the beautiful views and finally some fresh air!

It was a shame that our visit had to end the day after, our train would leave at 3pm so we decided to take all of our stuff and visit the Summer Palace before left. It was a big mistake, I had to carry our 20kg carry on all the way up the summer palace hill and then through the sights to the subway and then finally sleep in the train. The Palace was quite impressive and beautiful its located on a hill next to a lake. It includes a more than 700m painted gallery, several temples, halls and other recreational buildings. The most impressive thing about the 2,2 square kilometer vast lake is that it is entirely man made! The soil used to excavate the lake was used to build the large hill on which the palace is build. As mentioned before these large and extensive builds just keep showing the power of the Chinese.

We enjoyed our time together; it was much needed after being apart from so long. After our trip to Beijing we had a few more days in Shanghai but then her time here in China also had to end.

Round trip in Norway

The last weeks before I flew back to the Netherlands I traveled around in Norway. After I said goodbye to my friends, the city, the mountains and the university the big trip started. On an early Saturday morning we (two Germans and me) took the train to Gol. During the journey we had amazing views over a snowy landscape surrounded by mountains. As we got closer to our destination, the amount of snow increased. However, at the place where we had to get out, there was hardly any snow. We arrived at a abandoned train station, from where we took the bus to the ski resort (Hemsedal). Fortunately, we faced more snow over here, but we were told that only five (out of fourty) sloped had opened. But we had lots of fun in the snow and enjoyed the skiing quite good. Every day we started skiing around 9/10 o’clock in the morning, during the breaks we drunk a cup of hot chocolate and late in the afternoon we went back to our cabin. This was a typical accommodation on a ski resort and was situated right next to the ski lifts. It was a cute wooden house and all facilities were available, so this resulted in a perfect accommodation where we had the opportunity to relax after skiing.

After this week we continued our trip to Oslo. During the two days we spent in this city we visited all highlights, but actually there are not so many special things to see. We visited amongst other the beautiful Vigeland park, the Opera and went to Holmenkollen (the ski jumper situated in the outskirts). We spent the remaining hours on shopping, something we hadn’t done during the last few months. Unfortunately, we had no space left in our luggage, so we couldn’t buy a lot of stuff.

Our trip was continued to the northern part of Norway, to Tromsø. This is one of the biggest cities in the northern part of Norway and in this period of the year there is lights for only two hours a day. It is getting ‘light’ at 11 o’clock in the morning and one hour later it is already getting dark. It is quite strange to experience this, but very special. We did different activities during our stay in Tromsø, like dog sledding and snowshoe hiking. We decided to do the latter on our own, so we hired the snow shoes and took the cable car up to the top of a mountain. When we were here we had an amazing view over the whole city and at the other side were only mountains. We walked around with our snow shoes and we fell quit e frequently in the snow. It was a lot of fun! Every evening we took the bus to certain places to chase the northern lights. Different buses took us to dark places and we have seen the northern lights (again) as the sky was very clear. It was wonderful to perceive this natural phenomenon again.

After a few days we left Tromsø and took the post boat (Hurtigruten) to the Lofoten. The Lofoten is a peninsula and is known for its steep and sharp mountains, fjords, fishing villages and beautiful nature. We hired a car and drove around for a couple of days. The views we have seen were amazing and rather indescribable. Especially the western part of the peninsula was so beautiful. But there was only three hours light per day, so we had to hurry to see all nice places. Actually, the best period to go to this island is during summertime. So this is one reason to go back!

I spend the last days of my exchange in Norway in Bergen and I took the time to say goodbye to the city I have lived in for the last months. I met some friends, we had our last coffee together and after two days it was time to go back to the Netherlands. I was really looking forward to see my friends and family again, but at the other side it was hard to leave all nice people I have met during my exchange. To be short: it was a great semester, with great people in a great environment. I have enjoyed every moment (and still do) and will never forget it!

Finally, I would like to thank you for reading my blog(s) and if you have any questions or want to get more information about Norway, feel free to contact me.

Best wishes,
Leonie

XIII

This blog will be fully dedicated to my travels trough Lapland. For those who do not exactly know what Lapland is; it is an area in the most northern parts of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Russia. It is generally considered one of the more cold places one can spend their holidays, with temperatures in the winter dropping around -40 degrees Celsius. Luckily (or not), the temperatures were around -15 to -23 in the days I spend there. So let’s start with the travels!

We booked the trip through some sort of a travelling agency for students. The trip there would consist of an 18 hour bus ride through the night, not exactly comforting! We had to pick some people up in Uppsala (north from Stockholm) as well. When we arrived there, it was revealed that of the 45 students that were participating, there were 14 Dutch people! Not exactly what I expected, especially considering I knew none of them beforehand. On the bus ride we watched some movies, ate at a crappy burger place (what do you expect on a road trip?) and in the morning around 8:00 the day after we arrived in Kiruna!

The first activity planned was the combi tour of dog sledding and snow-mobiling! When we arrived we got special clothing for the cold, and then we were ready to go on a sled! While we were sledding in a surprisingly fast pace, I was amazed by the pure beauty of the landscapes that Lapland has to offer. Pure White Mountains surface in the background while you glide gently through the untouched snow, and everything looks like it has been untouched for years. After this fun ride of about 45 minutes we got to warm up a bit in a tent with some coffee and some cake. Then it was time for the snow mobiles! Normally people went with 2 on the same snow mobile, but because there were two left, Urban and I both got one of our own! These things are freaking awesome! Going over little hills has you up in the air in no-time, and going around 45km/h was definitely no exception. The instructor did come in the end to give us a speech on responsibility, but that didn’t spoil the fun!

The day after we had to travel further to the next village we were staying, even more to the north. In between we visited the famous ice hotel. It is incredible to see what they build out of only ice! It is completely build from scratch every year, and it is very impressive to see what creativities the artists show in the different rooms. I must admit that it surprises me that so many people actually want to sleep a night in such a ridiculously cold place; it was an imposing sight indeed!

After this it was time to visit a Sami family, who had their own reindeer herd. We first went to a tent where we got to taste some reindeer meat on toast (delicious!) and some reindeer soup (less delicious!), while listening to the stories of the traditional Sami life. After this we got to go into the place where the reindeers herd, to feed and pet them. The man of the Sami family was happily telling us that two of them killed each other a week before because they got stuck with their horns. Fascinating topics while you are standing in the middle of the herd!

We also went to the Norwegian part of Lapland on one day. On the way there we were able to see some beautiful fjords! These massive parts of ice and land are truly impressive, and a must see for everyone who ever goes to Norway! Furthermore the town we went to was not that thrilling. It is impressive that there are actually people living normal lives in a place where the average temperature is way below zero and the amount of daylight in winter is less than 3 hours, but apart from that there is not too much to consider while walking around there.

That evening we went back to the hostel, and Urban and I were just relaxing at a fireplace. When we walked back to the hostel, we saw a little stream of light. Could it be?! Finally, we got a glimpse of some northern lights! The light got stronger and stronger, and eventually the complete sky was filled with green light streams. It is an unnatural experience, and there’s nothing quite like it! The pictures do not really give it the credit it deserves, as it is an alienating experience, and very beautiful! Apparently it was quite rare to see it as clearly as we have seen it, so we’re very lucky bastards!

They saved the best for last; ice-climbing! First we got the equipment, which consisted of special shoes with spikes on the front, a body armor to clip ropes and delaying devices on and a helmet. After this we drove to the destination, which was a frozen waterfall! The setting was perfect; the beautiful frozen waterfall was opposed by a huge lake, and the weather was really cold (-23) and stormy. So while in the background waves were crashing down on the ice and snow at the shores, we were doing our best to master the frozen waterfall. Lastly, we got two pickaxes and the instructor taught us how to attempt to climb it! It was awesome to do, and very exhausting as well! Definitely a crown on the travel to Lapland! As much as Lapland was a crown on my exchange in Sweden!

Porto

Monday we had our last classes of strategic management and organisational economics. I was really sick so didn’t went to class. Jasper , went and came back with really bad news, the teacher of organisation economics had the great idea to give another test in the last class on Thursday but then we are in Porto so we will get a zero. The teacher wouldn’t make an exception for us and so we couldn’t make it on another day. So frustrating because all my effort in this course to get really high grades was worth nothing now. This zero will lower my average grade very badly.

Sinterklaas was in Madrid

Its Sunday the 4th of December, As I told you in my last blog we go out for dinner tonight.
We went again to Vivares 37, I love the food there and it isn’t really expensive.

Monday we celebrated Sinterklaas with our exchange friends, one of our friend went back home last weekend to her parents and brought us some ribbons with the head of Sinterklaas and Zwarte piet. We all brought three little presents, I brought a little Christmas tree and red balls for in the three and a cute frog with a clip for photos.

An overview of money spent during my exchange to Korea

I’ve been keeping track of all my expenses in Korea to get a clear view of how much money was spent on what kind of things. In total, I’ve spent roughly 3.510.000 KRW in Korea,  which is about 2350 euro. Click the link below for a further analysis of my expenses. Tomorrow I will leave Korea (sadly), so the following is complete view of all my costs during my time here. 

November in Spain

Hello!

As promised, this blog will be about my exchange life during November!

First of all, I need to update you regarding my football team: we won for the first time! Next to that, we played an international tournament with other university teams in Valencia, which was a great experience. It was a combination of several things I like: football, fun, a lot of international people and a lot of Spanish to practice. Since the days lasted really long (they started early to play football and ended late since we went out) I practiced my Spanish approximately 18 hours a day. The bad thing is that I got injured the day after the tournament…

November was also great in terms of visitors: I got visitors two times this month! First, one of my best friends came with her dad to see the match Real Madrid – Osasuna. They stayed for a few days and we had a lot of fun. Two weeks later, two other friends came to see me, which was great too.

Now I will to tell you two anecdotes to illustrate how I perceive Spain now and then. I often hear myself saying “that’s typical Spanish” after which I always have to laugh, because I enjoy the unexpectedness of some events here. First, I went to a football training (before I got injured) to find out that the door was locked. I was the only one there, and started to doubt whether there was a training. Fortunately, my trainer and a team mate came too. We decided to wait, since it is quite normal in Spain that someone comes half an hour after the time you had a meeting, so it could be that the “man with the keys” would come late. Then, while waiting there, another girls football team arrived. They told us they had to play against Comillas (us!). We said that match was planned for two days later, but they did not believe us. The man with the keys came, and the other team just got into the building ready to play a match. Our trainer did not pay attention to this, and started the training with us as usual. After many phone calls, the trainer said we had to play a match! Without proper clothing or referees, we played the match eventually… Typical Spanish! Another Spanish experience was going to the hairdresser. Here in Spain, it is very normal to put a price list and promotions outside the shop. One day I saw a nice promotional action: cutting, a special shampoo treatment and a special conditioner treatment for only 10 Euros! So I was dreaming the whole day of a nice hair massage, but when I finally sat in the chair ready to receive this nice treatments, it was horrible! It was so quick and it even hurt me! Typical Spanish? ;)

I think you are pretty much updated now, although I have to mention some other nice things I did to conclude: I found two lounge bars which have become my favorites (“Olé Lola” and “Areia”), I went shopping two times in one week, I cooked “hutspot” for some international friends and I had a drink with a girl I knew from my trip to Morocco.

In short, I enjoyed November a lot! Adios!

Late night adventures!

Sunday 11 December. Me and my friends decided to go out for dinner as a last goodbye. Christina is the first one to leave on Friday and Carol will leave on Saturday and won’t come back in January for the exams. At first we wanted to have the dinner last Friday. However, the restaurant was fully booked so we decided to book for Sunday at 8 for 8 at Mother India in the West End. On Sunday afternoon the first girl cancelled on us, cause she has 4 tests this week. A few minutes later the second girl cancelled for the same reason. This was all understandable. However we were a bit disappointed when Chelsea cancelled on us. She met a Scottish guy here in the first weeks and we hardly see her. But we kind off expected her to cancel since we had dinner with her on Friday. So then we were with 5...

Last week

Last time I already told you, how much time flies!

It flew even faster the last few weeks!

It was visitors month! Kind of wierd to recieve visitors so close for you coming home, but it is great to see everyone after such a long time and most of all show them a city you got to know so well!

Because I want to close my blogupdates on a funny note I decided to make a: You know you have been in Dublin for a while when. The idea came from a friend of mine, who posted a link with you know you have been in the Netherlands too long( you can never be on exchange for too long, hence the change) when http://www.perfectgroup.com/blog/2011/07/you-know-youve-been-in-the-netherlands-for-too-long-when/ It is in English and it's really funny.

So here we go:

You know you have been in Dublin for a while when:

1. You drink a pint of guinnes just as fast as two glasses of dutch beer

2. You randomly cross the road on places without a traffic light

3. You are disapointed when you need to cross when the traffic light is green

4. You are used to pay by exact cash in the bus

5. You are used to always see full pubs.

6. you are used to strict bouncers being strict, except when you tell them it's your 21st birthday.

7. You ate Irish breakfast at least twice

8. You are used to saying how are ya back, instead of fine and you?

9. You understand most of your fellow students when they speak a language they seem to call english, but sounds a lot like a wild person trying to speak

10. you apart from drink a lot, watch and do sports a lot.

11. you know exactly how to get free beer from guys ( whaa this sounds so bad!)

12. You are used to emailing your teacher with dear Gemma, instead of Dear docter Donnolly-Cox

13. You are used to teachers knowing all of the names of the students in their class.

14. You are used to teachers actually appreciating what you see, and I do not mean this in a condicending way towards Tilburg, but they tested a case on us! and we don't even have diploma's!

15. You start saying; ah Thats Grant or Oh it was grant!

16. or worse You start saying, Thanks a million

17. Even worse: You start saying Thanks a mil! ( guilty on all accounts)

18. your friends start saying they hear an Irish accent when talking to the waiter

19. you know that smithwicks is pronouced as smiticks

20. You are no longer surprised by the fact that when you wear gloves, scarfs and wintercoats, they Irish walk out wearing hoodies, of even worse, just pull-overs

21. You realise when you look outside and see irish walking in coats and scarfs, there is a possibillity you might freeze to death

22.You go out with your rugby team without dinner and might possibly be completely drunk before midnight, while they seem completely fine

23. You are used to just smile and nodd when old Irishmen approach you in the pub, they do not speak english anyways

24. You realise that you are going to miss the wierd chinese places such as wok in the box.

25. You get used to your teachers assuming that morningclasses are use less, because of to much alcohol before, even though its monday

26. You get used Dublin as a two sided city, with on one side good neighbourhoods and the other bad neighboorhoods.

27. you have shown stephen's green shopping centre 3 times already

28. you know what mince pie is

29. You going to miss all the cute cheap lunch places

30. You going to miss all of your friends and life here

I can go on and on!

But I am going to leave this city as I came.. in a complete party mood, with parties from now until I leave on the 20th of December! thats at least 5 parties in a row!

also I will see a the leincter vs Bath game in a stadion! and in the meantime, I am trying to pack. because I expect my last visitor the 18th, she will fly home with me:)

It has been a pleasure sharing my stories, and I hope that you will have a great exchange as well!

Seville!

Hola gente! This week something quite exciting is about to happen: I will visit Seville! First however, some classes had to be attended and some homework has to be made.

Ordinary day in Glasgow?!

This blog has two sides. A typical day in Glasgow and a not so typical day in Glasgow. Let me first start with the typical day, Tuesday 6 December:

Christmas feeling.. uhuh

Almost Christmas! Last few weeks passed very quickly. Maybe because I had an overload of presentations and deadlines for assignments, maybe because of the visitors or because of all the national Portuguese holidays. Before I came here I expected this period, before new year's eve as the most lonely and difficult period. I experience totally the opposite.

The last 2 weeks I had to do 6 presentations. Before I came here I did only 2 presentations in Tilburg. I don't like giving presentations but since I did all the presentations here, I am much more confident while I'm speaking. I don't know why we never have presentations in Tilburg since it is a necessary skill during future work. I got back some assignments and, all graded between 16 and 20 (grades from 0 to 20). The material of the courses is from the same level but in this manner I can get higher grades more easy.

My brother came last weekend and the weekend before five friends came from Nijmegen. We had a great time, they were jealous and I surfed with them on 5 december (sinterklaas)! The weather stays above 15 degrees, still very confident.

During the group works, I came more in contact with the Portuguese people. With strategy, organization leadership I was in a group with four Portuguese girls, what a lucky guy;p It was quiet funny because one of them went on exchange last year to Tilburg. She loves Tilburg, so we decided that she can take my flight back;p I discovered a lot of differences between Dutch and Portuguese people. We are more straight forward. In the group works they are really shy to say what they actually think. When I said that I didn't like some of the work, it was a confrontation for them. The Portuguese are more shy and rules are unwritten.

As a dj, I wanted to play somewhere in a club in Lisbon and Last week it was possible to play with a friend from Amsterdam in club Musicbox in Lisbon!

Last Thursday was a national holiday in Portugal. It was the fourth in 3 weeks. Now I know why it is crisis, they find holidays for every small celebration.

The upcoming weeks are planned as study weeks but this weekend my friends from Tilburg are coming. Perfect brake during the weeks of studying. Furthermore I have a lot of christmas dinners.

It is strange to see a Santa with 18 degrees crossing the streets of Lisbon. No, I don't have the christmasfeeling yet.

Last week in Seattle

Hi there!

A lot of Christmas things are already going on in Seattle. You can see lights and decorated houses everywhere, ‘Santa-cabins’: to have the opportunity to make pictures with Santa, and the Christmas-shopping started with amazing discounts. Moreover, there is a Christmas tree on the Space Needle. Last week I went to the Christmas Caroling Competition, a big event in Seattle downtown. For this event, groups of people (f.e. employees of the Starbucks or students of the UW) can subscribe. These groups raise money for charity and compete with each other by dressing up in Christmas-costumes and singing Christmas-songs on this event.

The Christmas-atmosphere officially starts after Thanksgiving with the Tree Lightening Ceremony. Thanksgiving is an American tradition with a lot of food involved. We had two extra days off before the weekend and most of the students fly home to celebrate this tradition with their families. I also had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, cranberries, beans, and pumpkin pie and apple pie for dessert.

In the mean while, there is only one week left for me in Seattle. Yesterday I had my last lecture and my first final exam. Next week, I have my two other final exams and I will fly home on December 17. I really look forward to see my family and friends in the Netherlands; on the other hand I don’t like to leave the beautiful UW campus with its traditions and the country with so many possibilities and friendly people.

For now, I’m going to enjoy my last week in Seattle! Bye!!

Party time

Hello guys,

It is already Monday, we had to make a case for strategic again. After this we just have 2 to make. Luckily I thought I didn’t do it that bad :) after our classes we went for the last day with the parents of Jasper to see some more things. We went to the new part of Madrid. We had a nice lunch and after we went to palacio de cristal where seemed to be a bohemia garden. Unfortunately this one was closed on Monday so we went to the apartment of Jaspers parents to have a nice drink and talk a bit more. That night we had a good bye dinner at vivares 37. Also this is a very nice restaurant where you can get very nice 3 course menus. For 12,90 you get bread , wine, and a menu. I took the salad with salmon and asperses. After I had a nice fish with fries and as a dessert an tart of the house. After a nice last walk around the city alongside the chic hotels we had to say goodbye.

Visitors

My mom, brother and later my girlfriend finally came to visit me in Shanghai! This was a relief because I missed them quite a bit! I managed to wait with visiting the main sights here in Shanghai because I knew I’d have to visit them with my mom, dad, brother and girlfriend. All of them would be picked up my mom and brother were first to visit. What pleased me the most was that I was finally able to show them some of the things I told them about such as; the pushing and pulling to get in the subways, the constant spitting on the street and the little corner shops and street food sellers. Let them experience a slice of my Shanghai that was my goal. I had such a wonderful time with them and was sad to see them go after only 8 days. During their stay I was extremely busy with the University. I had so much homework to do during their stay. I would wake up at 8 to travel around 45 minutes to their hotel which was located in the center of the city, People’s Square. We would then go sightseeing through the city and at the end of the day I would then take one of the last subways home. Arriving home at eleven at night I would study until 3 in the morning then quickly get some sleep and the next day again. It was quite exhausting but the only way to make the most of their stay while not affecting my school work.

Most memorable was also the scooter ride I took with my little brother to and from the university. Being only 15 years of age I let him ride my scooter through the busy streets of Shanghai which was quite a frightening experience, seeing as he had never before ridden a scooter! The other highlight that stands out over the rest was the Shanghai ERA Acrobatic Performance. A friend of mine had managed to get me amazing seats to the jaw dropping performance! I think they both also enjoyed our trip to Hangzhou where we cycled round the lake and got to enjoy the sights of West Lake. For them though, I think, the best were the trips to the various fake markets. Haggling with the shop owners and constantly being amazed by the vast variety of products available for next to nothing prices. They were so keen to make sure they had enough presents and gadgets that even on our way back to the airport we had to make a small detour to get the final things from the market! Thank you both again so much for coming!

With the first group of visitors out the door it was only two days later that finally my girlfriend came to visit me! Those two days were spent being extremely busy with homework because I did not want to do the same as I had done during the previous week. This was made even more difficult because another friend came who also wanted to spend time with me during those two days of rest. We went out every night even the night before my girlfriend would arrive! I came home at 4, it was carnival but it meant I had only two hours of sleep in for I had to be at the airport at 8 to pick her up. Luckily she was worn out from the flight so we had a relaxing first day.

With Joske, my girlfriend, it was pretty much the same routine; the Pudong Boulevard, the skyscrapers, East Nanjing Road, fake market, temples and restaurants, nothing was spared. Luckily she would stay more than two weeks so we had time to spread it out and avoid having such a hectic schedule. I was so pleased that I was able to show her where I lived and showing her what is beyond my living room wall, for this is all she saw when we would Skype. She got to meet my friends, join me in class to the university, and most importantly get a taste of Shanghai Nightlife. I’m sure the Crazy Vodka Party will not soon be forgotten!

To do something special together we decided to take go away for a few days, just the two of us, and visit the capital of China, but more on that in my next blog.

XII

Hej!

Light is getting very scarce these days in Stockholm. It starts getting dark around 14:45 and around 15:30 it is completely dark! It’s a very strange experience to walk around town thinking it is very late because it’s dark, but it’s actually only 4 o’clock! These circumstances seem to take their toll, as I’m very tired most of the time. I hear similar stories from other exchange students luckily. And of course it does not keep us from doing awesome things!

The trip to Helsinki is an excellent example of this. We went with a Viking line ship, which basically means that you only spend around 8 hours in the city. The good thing about it is that you travel with a big cruise through the night, and it’s relatively cheap. So we gathered on a Friday to board the ship, and had an excellent time there. Once we finally arrived in Helsinki the day after, we had a perfect guide to show us where we had to go; my good friend Johannes is born in Helsinki! He showed us the places to be, and Helsinki is also a very nice city, with a lot of atmosphere. He even knew where to get some cheap food, in the form of a pizza buffet! We also went to a small market, where they had some awesome winter hats. They were however, of real fur (from seals to foxes, you name it!), so they were ridiculously expensive, in addition to the fact that it is kind of unethical of course. The disadvantage of a Viking line trip is that the time you spend in the city is not too long, and time seemed to be flying! Before we knew it, it was already time to board the ship again for the journey back.

There was a storm on the way back, which had quite an influence on the balance of the ship. Walking straight through the hall ways was quite the challenge, and everyone was doing their best to keep their balance. This effect even had an aftershock, because when I was sleeping the day after I had the feeling my complete building was moving!

Studying is progressing quite fortunately. I got my first grades (finally!), with a B in History of the welfare state and a B in International Marketing! I was very satisfied, especially with the first one, since I’ve put quite some effort in that paper. The other two courses are also done as of this moment, and I’m currently laying the last hand on the final assessments for Human Resource Management. If everything goes well and I pass these courses, it means that I will basically be done for this semester, which will be a very satisfying feeling!

Anders, a Swedish friend of mine, had a birthday party last weekend, and he was so nice to invite some exchange students as well. It was nice to be invited to a party of a real Swede and not an exchange student for a change. It’s an interesting way of getting a taste of the real Swedish life, and some real Swedish people. We had a very good time that evening, and we decided that we should meet at least once before everyone is leaving.

The end is indeed coming near, as the first exchange students are announcing their departures. It is a strange feeling that this exchange is coming to an end. It is the ending of a chapter in life in a way. I’ve already booked my ticket home, and my departure will be on the 15^th of January. I will leave with a double feeling (like most exchange students I guess); It was a fantastic experience and I’ve made some really good friends, but home begins to call me, and it’s a good thought to be reunited with my girlfriend, family and friends.

Next week is my trip to Lapland. We’re going to the ice hotel, dog sledding; see the northern light, ice climbing, and much more! I’m extremely sicked and my expectations are very high, so I hope this trip can match them!