Better and better!

I currently have time to update this blog as I was a bit of a retard this morning. Other GU faculties had their induction days at 10.00, which I thought was the same for Social Sciences, it wasn't...it was at 1500 which I only found out sifting through my e-mails while wondering where the other international students are. 

I could really have used the sleep in this morning, even though I got back to my room at quarter to midnight, the other guys were partying on to past 2AM. I'm so happy knowing how they will have to suffer today at their inductions...so happy :-) Yeah, it's a bit evil but I think it's valid.

This city just keeps getting better and better. You keep finding more cool places in Gothenburg to go to and hang out in. I've made a little group of friends since the last blog entry, our little group consists of an English girl, a Swiss German, a German living in Switzerland another Australia, and myself of course. 

(Niklas, Jonas and Rhian)

We have already had a general induction to GU in terms of what is expected of us, rules and regulations, all the boring stuff. However where we had it was pretty nice. It's not actually a part of the University, it's the Bethlehem Church on Vasagatan because the GU auditorium hall isn't big enough anymore to seat all the International Students they take in now.

I thought the student life was good in Australia but in Sweden it's even better. The welcome reception by the major of Gothenburg was awesome! We were all invited to the Old Stock Exchange building and honestly the place is magnificent! There was free (good quality) food and wine as well, I not really a wine drinker usually but whatever that bottle of red was, I love it! I felt so under dressed but at least I wasn't the worst one there by any measure, there as one guy in a singlet.

The general buzz in Gothenburg is really cool. It's a huge city really and there is a lot of it I still haven't covered yet, but it's got this chilled out vibe that you never get in any other big cities around the world. You can walk at your own pace and not going to get in anyone's way or irritated anyone, there is so much space here and plenty of it consists of little parks and gardens. Really enjoying this Fika culture too. Fika is like coffee, cake and some good conversation which is something I'm always up for. You hear about Sweden being expensive, and it is, but this place called Pour Bon (I think that means For Good in French?) which is pretty classy but cost 50SEK for a large coffee and a meringue. Not bad at all! There are street musicians around as well so you always have something nice to listen to at the same time. It's so easy to relax here. I have to say, Gothenburg is awesome!

The language is slowly coming on as well. I still don't really understand too much or can say anything in Swedish but each day you pick up words here and there and getting used to the way they pronounce things. It may not be as difficult of a language as I once thought :-)

I'm looking forward to getting accustomed to the University and getting some sort of routine back. It's been really good though having all this time off to get accustomed to the city. Still don't quite know my way around off by heart but I have a pretty good idea which is just going to make life as a student a heap easier.

'Till next time, thumbs up!

Settling In

It's the weekend and I think it's time for another blog entry!

Not much has happened really, just been getting used to my surroundings having quite nights in watching movies/episodes on the laptop and heading to the gym. With the exception of today, the weather has been mostly light rain. However that hasn't stopped me from going into the centre each day.

Gothenburg definitely has it's charm and I have to say I wasn't that impressed when I first got here...but it's really growing on me and you find the little gems here.

I've gotten to know where the important things in the city are for me for when I start studying, like where my faculty is and the main building of GU. I've never studied at an inner-city University before but I think it's gonna be cool. As they (GU) say on their website, it is pretty much like the whole city is the campus. I thought it was gonna be quite confusing or inconvenient having the University spread across the city but it's all fairly close together and from what I can gather it's just the faculties that are in separate locations. So thankfully it doesn't look like I'll have one class on Aksjashfgatan or Kjsdfhtorget (my comical impression of what Swedish road names look like).

I'm actually really looking forward for the semester to begin. I am keen to see how different Uni will be here compared to ECU back in Perth and I'm really happy to be doing Social Science units and getting some PR/Advertising ones marked off in their place. It's not to say that the PR/Advertising units are bad at ECU, but for me personally I don't feel like they challenge me to think differently the way the Marketing units have.

(Main GU building on Vasagatan)

Since most people seem to get around here by Bicycle, I thought it would be best to get one of my own. I was searching blocket.se, it's more or less the Gumtree/Craigslist of Sweden. So from what I have found is that the amount of used bikes is few and the pricing is not great unless you are happy with a rusted hipster ride, and new bikes are stupidly expensive. However I did manage to finally find a descent bike in Team Sportlia in the shopping complex between Centralstation and the Opera House for 2,500kr! It's an Australian brand as well (Peak) so why not, hey? I will have to fiddle with it a little bit as the gears seem to slip around a bit, but a little visit to the University of YouTube I guess I just have to fiddle with the rear derailleur a bit. 

(My new bike on the left. The right, showing how heavy the use of bikes is in Gothenburg)

So what about the culture here then? Well so far I've found everyone really friendly and willing to help out and have no problem switching over to English for you. There is a structure of how everything should work and the Swedish like to follow it. There is an order of priority: Pedestrians >Cyclists>Cars and everyone understands who they have to give way to and there is no aggression about it. 

I'm yet to really see anything in Sweden that is cheaper than what they would be in Australia. I knew people said Scandinavia was expensive but I thought that was just to the standards of the rest of the continent. Apparently Norway is meant to be even more expensive than Sweden is so on one hand I want to avoid it like the plague but then I hear about the stunning scenery there so I may just get suckered in yet.

I also ran into an old housemate from Australia midweek. I knew he lived in Gothenburg but I didn't think I would bump into him around this more southern part of the area. Even he was saying he never shops at that centre but he was working in the area. It was really good to see a familiar face in what at the moment is an unfamiliar place.

This is the arrival week for most International Students, so it will nice to meet who I'm going to be studying with and have some people to hang out with more regularly. It's all pretty well organised here, On Wednesday there is a Student Fair at the main GU building to get to know everyone and then apparently all International Students are greeted by the Mayor of Gothenburg which I think is pretty cool.

I think that's it for now. Will probably update in a week when there is something to report. Later!

Journey to Gothenburg

Okay so a bit to catch up on. My last day in Stockholm was pretty much uneventful, just had a cycle around Djurgarden. The island is nice and full of museums, I went into the Nordea Museum planning to go on to Vasa next but to be honest these museums are really not my sort of thing.

(Nordea Museum. It was better on the outside I felt.)

It was almost a shame to leave Stockholm. On one hand I was all Stockholm'd out as I had pretty much seen  and done everything there is (within my interests and patience) to do. Then I had also familiarised myself with the City quite well and in Sodermalm I found some favorite places to eat. This really nice Malaysian guy who has been in Sweden for 30 years now owned this little coffee shop and would always give me a jumbo cuppacino for the regular price...maybe because I said we are practically neighbours? Then there was this place called Dragon Sushi where I could get a really good and filling meal and a relaxing area to eat too, where as some places when you sit outside were practically on the road.

(Some local beggars after my meal in Sodermalm)

So, next day I get up early to go to Hertz hoping for a snazzy little Volvo to head over to Gothenburg...I ended up with a Kia Cee'd. After I had done the deal, I realised it was a manual as well, normally not a problem if I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the road. Getting out of Stockholm was easy yet stressful, I felt like the right hand side of the car was hanging off the side of the road ready to hit anything I pass, and I tried to take off in 3rd gear...twice.

(The little Korean missile)

Once on the motorway (E4 to Gothenburg) I got a chance to just get comfortable with the different setup.

Driving here in Sweden is really nice in comparison to Australia. People use the overtaking lane to overtake and then slot back into the right hand side, where as back home people will just pick a lane and sit in it regardless if someone wants to go past you or not. 

(Little delay outside Jonkoping. Stopping traffic and allowing a segment of traffic to drive on the one open lane.)

It was a pretty uneventful journey over to Gothenburg. Took me roughly 5.5 hours with two toilet and red bull breaks. Once in Gothenburg it was a bit of a nightmare trying to find my way to where the student housing office was. Renting the car was a more expensive option to get to Gothenburg but wow am I glad I did it, I would not have gotten to the office had I not. There was a slight issue that I was supposed to go somewhere else to sign the rental agreement first before picking up the keys. Luckily they let me just have the keys and told me to sign the agreement the next day. 

So, after getting to the block of apartments it took me ages to even see where the door numbers where located. The numbers are small little stickers on the corner of the door frame, I was looking for at least 10minutes. Anyway, at least when I opened the door it was a pleasant surprise to see the room. It's actually quite nice and I have a little kitchenette with four hotplates and a little oven and a pretty decent size fridge - actually it's pretty big considering it's just for one person.

(Impossibly difficult door numbers to find)

(Got pretty much everything here apart from a laundry)

It was bliss to be able to sleep in a room on my own. After three nights in that hostel in Stockholm, I was getting a bit tired of other people's company even though most people were quite nice. I actually met another person from Perth in the hostel, he was there for a day but then he was off to travel through Russia and down to Asia and then eventually fly back to Australia.

I haven't really had the chance to see Gothenburg properly yet as I've just passed through it to give the car back to Hertz and go get my rental agreement signed. It's defiantly not as beautiful or impressive as Stockholm is but it feels like a nice place to live. There were times in Stockholm I felt like I got in the way of people because I wasn't walking fast enough for them, Gamla Stan was the exception but that island is a tourist hotspot so I guess the locals keep out of there then?

So far I've managed to buy some bedding, get a descent food shop and sign up a gym membership just around the corner. Right now, it's looking pretty gloomy outside, grey skies with some light rain. I guess I might head down to the University and pick up my student ID and familiarise myself with where the Social Sciences faculty is and the best way to get there. I want to buy a bicycle realistically since the public transport system, while incredibly efficient and frequent, is terribly expensive. I'm gonna have to find a used bike since this store close by sells bikes at around 4,500kr (maybe $600) and they are pretty basic too. I may also try and open a bank account today here, I have no idea how much I am being charged using my Australian debit card and since everything is going through as Credit transactions over here it takes a while for my balance to update. 

Overall, everything is going well. There does appear to be some form of laundry war going on since someone was kind enough to remove my washing from the dryer to replace it with one towel. I will learn the rules of this game and crush whoever did this like a puny American ant under the boot of mighty Stalin.

(Bye KimmyYong, it hertz to give you back!)

Första dagen

Right! My first real day in Sweden! I was planning on doing a bit of a blog at Doha and then another update when I got to the hostel but you know how it is. You never feel like doing anything fresh off a plane.

So yesterday I just caught the Arlanda express to Stockholm, the train was so cool. Free fast Wi-Fi, looks like it was decorated by IKEA and most of all, a toilet where a heads up display in the mirror telling you how fast you are serving up (like in tennis)...or it could be how fast the train is going...? :-P

Once in Stockholm I just caught a Taxi straight to the Hostel, I just wanted to sleep and it was raining like hell. Driving through Stockholm was nice, it's so cool how all these little islands are just connected up into one big city. There are 14 islands connected by I think 59 bridges. The effect is just amazing. I've never seen anything like it. I mean Perth has quite a beautiful view from Kings Park but this is something else.

(Pictures above in Sodermalm)

Once at the hostel and before sleeping I had a little walk around Sodermalm and everything seemed complicated. Today, rested, Stockholm is the easiest place to get around! It's amazing how big of a task things seem when you are tired. You can either walk between all the islands (in decent time too) or you can take the T-Bana (Metro), you can take ferries and trams too but I will keep it cheap and simple for now :-) Once you know how to get around on the Metro you are never waiting more than 5 minutes for a train.

So walking around I accidentally ended up in Gamla Stan (Old Town) to the Kings Palace where a military march was about to begin. It was a little bit funny actually since some of the horses took a nice dump right in the centre of where many of the soldiers had to march...or maybe it's meant to be like that for the King's entertainment. He must get bored like the rest of us do?

From there wound up in the city centre of Stockholm. I have to say this city is really beautiful. Everything is so clean and well kept. People are quite friendly too and all speak English. I do want to learn Swedish eventually but right now I'm so grateful everyone can speak to me in my language. However I do think I underestimated how difficult Swedish is going to be to learn. I'll just take it easy and learn it when I'm getting those introductory courses in Gothenburg.

Tonight there is some festival going on so I'll check it out to see what is happening. Other than that, dunno what I'm gonna do tomorrow. Might get on TripAdvisor and see what else there is to do other than the regular tourist traps. Getting pretty excited for Monday to go over to Gothenburg and get settled in. 

Life in Australia

I thought before I started blogging about my experiences to come in Sweden I would post up a little something of my life here in Western Australia, to give some level of contrast to what I'm coming from and where I am going.

So for the last few years I've been living in Joondalup, it's supposed to be a city outside of Perth (our capital) in the Northern Suburbs. It's home to Edith Cowan University, TAFE, WA Police Academy and everything is within walking distance from the train station, shops and industrial centre. It's a really convenient place to live. Even to get to Perth it is only 25/30minutes on the train.

Joondalup is pretty quick to get around by bicycle and most of the roads in this area have a designated lane for cyclists.

Perth, and Western Australia is quite an expensive place to live even in comparison to the rest of Australia. Joondalup is a bit cheaper as it is more or less a student town, however with the cheaper rents you also get in much of the lower income working class, who can often be a little bit on the dodgy side. 

I suppose you have to take the negatives with the positives, though. If you want a completely safe area you are always going to have to pay a lot more rent or you wouldn't have such easy access to the train station. So all in all this area works pretty well for me :-) Even though I would normally travel into Perth for work, it's good living so close to Uni where you can pop in and out as you please.

It's less than a week now 'till I set off to Sweden. I got my invoice for advanced rent payments from Gothenburg and at first my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I saw 8,600...but then I realised it is in Swedish Krona (SEK) and not Australian Dollars (AUD). So that's just over $1,000 for two months rent. Don't know what that means for Swedes but for Australians that is dirt cheap!

The excitement is starting to come but the reality hasn't really sunk in yet, maybe it will at the airport? We'll see! Maybe in the meantime I should start learning a bit more Swedish? 

Trevligt att träffas!

So I've never done a blog before so I guess I will start off with who I am. 

I'm Andrew, I'm a 24 year old student at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia studying Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations and I am just over a week away from heading off to Sweden to do a Semester Abroad at the University of Gothenburg.

It's a bit of a goofy picture but it's the only one I have of myself at Uni. ECU is a pretty modern and beautiful campus, plenty of trees and grass everywhere and we even have our own little lake. My course  is pretty cool too, I've really enjoyed it and because of it I've never felt like I've had to work too hard at it to get good marks. The Marketing units at ECU are awesome, we have a few really strong lecturers there who really challenge and change the way you think about how business, marketing and customers relationships should work. I'm pretty lucky in a way to know that I'm studying what I want to do in the real world, I've never really thought that I should have chosen another course or have doubts wether I wanna be in Marketing/Advertising/PR. I could see myself doing any of the three careers, it will really come down to what is the best opportunity after I graduate.

Why am I going to Sweden? Well I have learned a lot from my course at ECU, and I feel now it's time to go out and live in another country to get a wider world view, especially a non-English speaking country...even though I understand pretty much everyone can speak at least some level of English...but close enough. Scandinavians also seems like one of those regions where they are quite advanced in terms of environmental issues and have a high standard of living despite earning less than Australians and paying significantly more tax so it's going to be interesting to see how it all works over there.

I fly out of Perth on the 16th (August) to Stockholm Arlanda, stopping off in Doha, Qatar. I'll be spending 3 nights in Stockholm first, purely by accident, as I arrive Friday afternoon and won't be able to get to Gothenburg to pick my key up for my accommodation on time. Works out well though, a little holiday before I settle into what will be my new home for the next 5 months.

I'm not really too sure what I expect over there, apart from some serious cold that I will have never experienced in Australia. I have tried to learn a little bit of Swedish from a little pocket guide book but I'm still very much at level 0, but it should be fine, I'll learn as I go. 

Alright then, I guess that's it for now until I leave. This blog is just to keep track of my trip for memories but if anyone else out there is reading or following, take care and I hope you enjoy what I have to share!