My trip to London.... where to begin...
The flight over to London was an interesting one. Martina and I flew with Ryanair which is a small airline company that flies to all the European countries, it's kind of like Tiger. Anyway the flight was rather an uncomfortable one as the seats didn't have much leg room and didn't recline at all!!! So i had my knees in the seat in front of me and had to sit upright for the whole 2 hrs, which meant sleep wasn't really an option. I did make it to London though where the weather was slightly warmer. We then had to take a bus from Stansted airport into Marble Arch near the centre of London. Martina had already bought her ticket and was booked to go on the 12.20pm bus. So I went and bought my ticket and we headed down to the bus bay only to find the 12.20pm bus had already left, 10mins early, because it was full. So after Martina asked the guy about her ticket, which he said could be used on any bus, we lined up to take the next bus. It arrived and we went to board, only to find I had purchased train tickets not bus tickets and so couldn't get on the bus. I really think I'm cursed when it comes to travelling!!! Anyway, we had only one option and that was to try and get a refund for the ticket, purchase a bus ticket and make the next bus. Thankfully, the guy at the desk who sold me the train ticket gave me a refund for the ticket so that I could go and buy my bus ticket (which worked out cheaper so that was nice).
We made the 1.00pm bus which meant we got to Marble Arch at about 2.30pm and then it was a short 5 minute walk to Martina's tiny flat. She has spent the past 6 months living with 4 other Swedish people in a 2 bedroom flat. Let's just say it was a little cozy!! The rest of the day was spent doing not much. We hit up the supermarket to get some much needed food supplies and then just relaxed watching movies.
New Years Eve day was spent relaxing around the apartment with a trip to the supermarket to get some alcohol supplies for the evening. We then decided that it was necessary for us to have a drink at 1pm in recognition of New Years happening in Australia. I also gave my parents a call and was surprised to find they were still up partying. (They're becoming quite the party animals these days). That evening some of Martina's school friends came over and we had a few drinks before heading to Hyde Park to catch the fire works. The fireworks we saw, however, seemed like someone was having some fun...they didn't look like professional fireworks. The night ended with a trip to MacDonalds to satisfy the late night hunger before heading back to Martina's for some sleep.
New Years day I took a trip out to Great Missenden to visit my cousin Bria and her husband and their new son Toby (which makes him my first cousin once removed). It was good to catch up with them all. They took me to visit Roald Dahl's grave which is in a church cemetery in Great Missenden. They also showed me they're old house and just as we were leaving to head back we ran into Steve's grandma so we went back to her place for some tea. She lived in a gorgeous English cottage with low ceilings. Afterwards we headed back to Bria and Steve's place where I stayed for tea before heading back into town. The rest of the night was quite short. I went to be really early. (I think I was still recovering a little from the jetlag).
My last day in London was spent catching up with one of my good friends Kat. She's been over visiting family and so came into London to catch up with me. After finding each other at Victoria Station, we headed out to Hammersmith to find the hostel she would be staying in. Then we headed into the city with the plan to go on the London Eye and then just walk around. The queue for the London Eye was quite long and I had to wait in line for about 2omins before I was served, however the line where you got on the London Eye was really short and so we were on it in about 5 minutes. I have to say that after going on the Southern Start (our version of the London Eye) down at Docklands, it just doesn't even come close to the London Eye. The view was amazing and we were lucky enough to have a clear night so we could see everything really well. Afterwards we walked past Big Ben, Downing St and ended up at Trafalgar Square. Later we headed back to Martina's place where the plan was to head out to the nightclub her housemate worked at. So at about 11.30pm we all headed out. Unfortunately we got split up not even 2 blocks from Martina's place. We ended up meeting up with each other, after numerous phone calls, on Oxford St. However, we managed to get separated again about 10 minutes later. By that time I was dying for a toilet and our destination, Leicester Square, was still ages away, Kat and I decided to head back to Martina's place and then work out how to get Kat home to her hostel. So the night didn't quite go as planned but I did manage to get some sleep before the others came home.
Saturday morning I got up early so that I could go and hit the shops on Oxford St with Kat. We visited H&M and then just strolled past the shops, window shopping because neither of us had the money to buy anything. We then found a nice little Italian restaurant where we had lunch before it was time for me to head back to Martina's to collect my bag and head to the airport. The bus trip was relatively quick, which may have something to do with me sleeping for most of it. Then the plane trip home only took 1hr 35mins and so we arrived back in Sweden 10 minutes ahead of schedule.
Arriving back in Sweden, the temperature is averaging about -4 degrees. It was sunny which was nice and it even snowed the day before I left. I spent most of my remaining days at Martina's family's place just catching up on sleep, doing a lot of laundry and watching movies. I also watched my first ice hockey game. It is definitely an interesting and full on sport and I am hoping to get to go and see a live game sometime before I leave and before the season ends. I did manage to take a bus trip into town, which proved to be more difficult than i thought because I only found out that you can't buy tickets on the bus as I was boarding!!! The bus driver was kind enough to let me board and then when we got to Mölndal Station, get off and get a ticket while he waited for me. So once I finally made it into town, I then spent about half an hour wandering the streets looking for a bank ATM so I could draw money out, because up until then I had only withdrawn pounds for my time in London and used my card at all other times. I had a good time walking around the city centre looking at shops. Once my wallet was full of money, I then visited the Universeum, which is a science museum. I spent about an hour and a half there looking at all the displays. They had a hug display that you walked through that showed the different types of environments you could find in Sweden and the types of plants and animals that would be found there.
My time in Mölndal ended quickly and suddenly it was time for me to ge on the train that would take me to Malmö and my new life for the next 6 months. The trip went relatively quickly, despite taking 3 and a half hours. When I arrived in Malmö I was greeted by some university students who would help with my luggage and lead me to where I would receive all the introductory information and keys to my room. Once all the information had been given to me, Iäm not too sure how much of it I actually took in, one of the students drove us round to our accommodation. I am living at Sommarstaden which is on the opposite side of town to the university so it took about 10 minutes to get there. I have to say, my room here is AWESOME!!! So much better than my room at Trinity! Here I have my own BATHROOM and KITCHEN! And my room is very spacious as you may be able to tell from the photos.
The weekend was spent settling in and getting to know my fellow exchange students. At my accommodation I've met four Austrian girls, and guy and girl from France, a guy from Finland, a guy from Italy, girl from Holland and a guy from Turkey, so it is very diverse. We've spent quite a lot of time hanging out and using the wireless internet that is unfortunately only available in Daniele's (the Italian guy) room.
Today we started our orientation project. After finding our way into town to the university using the bus we were given a 2 hour lecture about all the important information we should know about Malmö. For example where to find things, the best way and how to get places etc.That was followed by a dairy product tasting session which was run by Interact (our student host group who run programs and activities for the international students throughout the semester). I got to try sour milk, some Swedish chocolate, pineapple flavoured cream cheese and lots of other specialties of Sweden. Then after lunch we were given an introductory lesson on the Swedish language which will will spend the next 3 weeks learning (we have a session everyday for about 3 hours for the next 3 weeks). Hopefully this should mean my Swedish improves even more!!!
So that's all the news for me for the past couple of weeks. Will continue to update this to inform you of the happenings in Malmö and any travelling I get to do.
Puss och Kram
Alice
xo
