Journey to the Turk Land!

With time to fit in extra travel running out, I contacted my friend Onurçan who I met in Austria last year and arranged to meet up with him in his home of Istanbul!

(Onurçan on the right of me back in Halstatt, Austria)

I was really excited to venture over to Turkey as it's just completely different to the rest of Europe which can start to feel same old same old at times. You know immediately at 6am hearing the chanting from the Mosques inviting Muslims to come and pray that you are away from what you know. There are a lot of Mosques in Istanbul, looking over the city you honestly cannot miss them! Each one massive in stature and beautifully crafted.

This city is huge, no joke. The estimated population of Istanbul is thought to be around 23million which is more than the entire country of Australia! It is crazy to see how being so overpopulated makes the locals act. People are more than okay to be squished like shrimps on a bus that drives like a racing car, and cars seem to take little notice of the white lines that divide the lanes as people will cut in between just to get through quicker.

It was really great seeing Istanbul with a local, Onur knew so much about the city of Istanbul it makes me want to have the same level of knowledge about my own home of Perth. Obviously Turkey has a much more elaborate and varied history than that of Australia but still, knowing a story behind everything made the trip a hell of a lot better!

There are so many sides to Istanbul, there are the old bazaars and gathering points with the wealthier modern parts not too far away. 

The different food in Turkey was really great, so much flavour in each meal and the Turkish coffee was quite interesting too. I usually cannot stand coffee without milk but this was quite nice! They serve the coffee with water as well since it leaves you really thirsty afterwards!

 (Oldest bazaar in Istanbul)

Cats are everywhere in this city! They usually come up begging for food and don't mind a bit of affection either, except for the little bastard that took a swipe at me after I gave it two pieces of meat! 

There were so many cool museums and mosques to check out around the city. I cannot even remember how many different places we checked out but all of them were so beautifully designed and built. The wealth of these Sultans during the Ottoman/Byzantine era was truly ridiculous!

It was highly irritating that in most of the museums you could not take any pictures. There was some seriously cool pieces of armour, weapons and clothing. On visit to the archeological museum was 6 of the Chinese terracotta warriors, I was determined to get a picture but typically there was at least 3 guards in that room ensuring I didn't do exactly that. I did however manage to sneak a picture of Onur with these massive Hungarian swords, I don't think you can quite see how large they are on the picture to the right but they were stupidly big. Surly they were for decoration purposes since it would be so impractical to actually use such a thing in battle?

So! Next on the agenda is Lappland! I am somewhat petrified of the cold that I am about to endure. I went to the Helly Hansen store and dropped some serious coin on thermals, midlayers, etc. However it seems to keep me just comfortable here in Gothenburg now we are getting temperature around the -4C mark and dropping as low as -9C at night. For now, I have to smash out one last paper for Opinions in a Mediatized Society which I honestly cannot be bothered doing but as usual I have equipped myself with a nice large Red Bull to help power through it. 

So tune in next time to see wether or not I manage to come back alive from the frozen land of Lappland! Until then!

Dark dark Gothenburg + Liseberg

 This is the somewhat depressing side of Gothenburg now. It is getting so dark so early and by 5pm it feels almost like it is 10pm so it feels as if your day is almost over already. It still isn't getting too cold though, staying around 5 to 8 degrees. So basically all the trees are bare with no leaves, it's cold and there has been no snow to compensate for it :-( To the left is the dark and drizzly view from my room at only 4pm.

Views like this (image to the right) during class are now a thing of the past unfortunately.

Class is fairly boring at the moment. Opinions in a Mediatized Society is almost like English Literature where you take news articles and analyse the bias, what is emphasised, what is included, what is excluded, etc. Up until now I have actually had very little (well, actually none) coursework to do and even now the workload is so light and it seems like such an effort to do something so small when you have been inactive. I find you are usually at your most efficient when flooded with work and still somehow manage to fit more into your day. Even though my days are filled with almost nothing to do I still seem to be busy...? Either way, I'm seriously pondering if a finger painting will be enough to pass the unit? Come on it is Erasmus after all! :-D

Overlooking Anvenyn on the awesome Götaplatsen.

All the Christmas lights are up in the city now. Maybe I should say Julafton lights? The whole city is lit up on a small scale but it just adds a nice bit of warmth and light to a city that is so dark at the moment. Liseberg (the theme park) is all light up and should be going there on Saturday for a Christmas festival. 

The days are likely to be even shorter when we go up to Lapland which is much further up north in Sweden which is going to absolutely awesome. I really cannot wait! It's gonna be a big blog post, let's put it that way ;-) Just to let you know how far this Lapland region is, I've marked Kiruna (which is a small mining town in the Lapland province) on a Google Map image to the right. I just managed to fit Gothenburg into the image which you'll see on the very bottom left of the image. I think Sweden could be as tall as Australia is wide which is pretty astonishing.

Little fun fact about Kiruna that I learned in Swedish classes is that they are mining so close to the town and are about to dig underneath it, because they fear of the town collapsing they are actually going to move (yes, physically move) the whole town brick by brick a kilometer over to the...well some direction! So I would figure they are making a few kronor up there to justify doing that!

However, I still have to go to Turkey on Monday first! A warmer country! Yes! Yeah okay, they are heading into Winter too but compared to Sweden, it will be nice to head outdoors with only a long sleeved shirt or maybe just a light jacket.

At the moment, my days are filled with going to the gym, going for a walk around the scenic parts of Gothenburg with a coffee in hand, clocking up some YouTube hours and that is pretty much it. Not too much to update on. Yet.

Update 24th November 2012 - Liseberg

So tonight after over three and a half months I finally venture to Sweden's most popular tourist attraction which also happens to be situated only two trams stops away from my place. Liseberg, the big theme park of Sweden. Tonight we went to see the Christmas lights and I have to say straight away it was definitely worth going. The place is lit up so beautifully, there is a few small waterfalls, the trees are all wrapped up with lights, typical Swedish Christmas food and drink and even a little Lappland area that is meant to look like a mini Sami settlement.

As usual, the pictures cannot do the place justice. It feels very typically Swedish (apart from the English Christmas carols) yet it is a bit frustrating just how many people you have to squeeze through just to move anywhere which makes walking in an average sized group more difficult than it needs to be.

The lighting wasn't just limited to tacky tinsel but even small waterfalls, the ferris wheel and the reindeer island were illuminated nicely in blue. There was a few different areas with different themes, one of them was the North Pole where you could go into Santa's workshop. It had this big machine that you could write what you want for Christmas and feed it into the machine...okay it's not really for adults but we didn't know that at the time! :-P

In short, it is a nice place to spend the evening. I can't really go on about it much more to be honest so I'll just dump a few pictures on here. Take it easy, everyone!

Helmutsrogatan Student Housing, Gothenburg

Most people find my blog searching Google for Helmutsrogatan (Helmutsrogatan 13 & Helmutsrogatan 15). This is a random blog post but I figured since a lot of people are looking for information, I'd add something on here to offer something more relevant for what people are searching for. I myself had to choose blindly to what student accommodation I was supposed to choose due to almost no good information online.

Helmutsrogatan is arguably the best student housing that you will get offered at GU. The location is great and the living conditions are superb. The only housing that is located better than Helmuts is Olofshjöd which is one tram stop away, but you don't get a kitchen or fridge - you have to share with about 14 people. Plus Olofs is a bit like living in an old fashioned council block, I personally would hate it. The other housing options are apparently good but they are kind of in the middle of nowhere.

When you first arrive / Getting to the SGS Office

From Landvetter Airport: There is a 'Flygbuss' that will take you from Landvetter airport to a tram station called Korsvägen. From there, jump on Tram 2 (Mölndal) or Tram 4 (Mölndal) and stop at Almedal





From Centralstationen: You just catch the 2 or 4 to Möldnal to Almedal. Look for the signs to Spårvagn (Trams).

At Almedal: The SGS Studentbostäder Office is somewhere in Olofshöjd, I don't know the easiest way to get there on foot since I drove in, but I've put a map up to make it a bit easier. I'll ask one of the other guys later on how they get there, I know it looks confusing. There are lots of stairs and paths that are unmarked in this area and should be easier than the maps makes it looks.

(Don't worry, I didn't use Apple Maps!)

Now to get to Helmuts: Now jump back on the Tram and get off at the next stop which is Elisidal. The student housing is across the road from the Shell/7-11 petrol station.

Finding your room and shops at Helmuts

Building 13 and 15 are in the same place and there is no difference in the rooms, 13 is closest to the petrol station and 15 is on the other side.

Finding your room: Some people may think this a stupid thing to put on here but when I first came I could not for the life of me see the numbers on the doors. They are up on the top left corner and are extremely small. If your room is 1xxx your are on the second floor, 2xxx the third floor, etc.

Getting home: Catch either Tram 2 or Tram 4 to Mölndal again. These two Trams will always get you back home.

Food Shopping: There are two food stores close by, Willy's is your normal food store and then a bit further down the road is ICA Maxi, which is a food store plus a general goods store so you are able to buy some basic bedding (which you will need since non are supplied in your room) and will have a better selection of pots, pans and containers if the person before you did not leave any.

Mölndalsvägen is basically Mölndals Road, everything you need is on this street and within 5-10 minutes walking from the student housing. Both these photos below were taken from Mölndalsvagen.

ICA Maxi (Left) and Willy's (Right)

Furniture: The best idea is to make your way to IKEA but there is a nice second hand store in the same area of shops that Willy's is in that is pretty cheap. It's nice to get a rug or something to cosy up the room a little.

Gym: There is a Sportlife on Möldnalsvägen before you turn to into Willy's. They offer student discounts.

Gothenburg: Tram 2 will take you to Brunnsparken which is where you will likely want to go to be in the centre of Gothenburg. It takes roughly 10 minutes.

Getting to your Uni Faculty

Handelshögskolan (Left) or Social Sciences (Right): Tram 2 will take you straight to Handels' tram stop, but the quickest and nicest way is to take tram 4 to Valand and walk up Vasagatan until it ends. To your left will be Handels and in front of you, cross the raod (Sprängskullsgatan) to get into the faculty.

Campus Linné: Catch Tram 2 to Linnéplatsen and keep walking in the direction that the tram would be going. You will see it.

Main Building: Is on Vasagatan, you will see it on your left walking up from Valand if you take the number 4. For orientation you are likely to end up in Bethlehem's Church which is directly across the road.






I think that's all I can think of for now. I hope this helps give you some sort of bearing to what will be your new home for the next 6 months, year, or however long you decide to stay :-)

Throw a comment down below if you like this info or you think something else needs to be added!

Cruise to Riga!

It's been a while since anything has been put up here. I haven't been up to much but somehow you can end up incredibly short of time when you are doing nothing. Luckily the course load is a joke at the moment so I am able to finally take it easy.

Off to Stockholm we went, on the train from Gothenburg that only took roughly 4 hours to reach the other side of the country in pretty good comfort. Power sockets, WiFi and cushy reclining seats make it a very bearable journey. It seemed not many people were keen on sightseeing around Stockholm so it is really a good thing I had seen the place before, and also in good weather too. Big difference seeing the capital at this time of the year, gloomy and rainy with not many hours of sunlight. It is still a beautiful city mind you.

I must admit though it was a nice change being in another city and not rushing around to see all the sights and just taking it easy with a few light pub sessions and a Sunday Funday of Bowling which is always a laugh, especially when things start getting competitive.

These cruise liners are actually quite good value for money. I mean the cabins are far from spacious but the beds are ready made, and looks quite nice and has a few restaurants, clubs and bars. The only thing I just couldn't take is the constant rocking of the boat once we were out of the port, I think I was one of the only people on the boat not really drinking and thought I could possibly be the only one to throw up!

Once in Lativa, the sight was not exactly majestic. You straight away get this feeling that "Yep...I'm in Eastern Europe" and obviously the locals feel it too. All of them are so silent in public, look depressed and stare at you if you show those white squarish things that appear when you open your mouth. 

One thing I was very surprised of is the local currency (Lati) is stronger than the Euro is. 10Lati is roughly 12Euros, but of course everything in Riga was still fairly cheap. For 11 of us to have a decent meal in a nice restaurant was 90Lati (100Euro).

There was undeniably beautiful parts of Riga, and construction on the other side of the city looks like the country is really trying hard to establish itself. Apparently the city has a good reputation for nightlife too, but for me it's more or less all the same. There are some streets of the city that couldn't hide its Communist past where it is poorly maintained and locals have propped up open air stores with cheap, fake products.

Apart from a last minute sprint to the train to Gothenburg, due to waiting for the girls to get off the boat, the return journey was more or less the same and uneventful. The benefits of not being a big drinker showed through that morning since everyone looked like death while I was feeling quite fresh and awake.

As usual, glad to be back in the comforts of my familiar little Gothenburg. There is more yet to come though. I've just booked a trip to Istanbul to meet an old friend I met in Austria, then only a few days later I travel up to Lapland with dog-sledging and snowmobile activities booked! It's gonna be more than awesome and will look forward writing that blog, I will just have to remember to take plenty of photos since I never thought to take any of the boat to Latvia.