Touched down...

Alrighty, finally got my internet connection up yesterday..Yay!! Anyway, just realized that blogging is a real CHORE... but anyhow here's a low-down of my life in Sweden over the past 2 days... First of all, a BIG THANK YOU to those who showed up at the airport to send us off on Sunday... really appreciate it! Well, it wasnt exactly a smooth sailing ride. Plane got delayed for half an hour in Changi Airport cos they were cleaning the plane?!?! Got me real panicky cos i was afraid i would miss my train at Stockholm which ive alr paid S$80 for! And over at Bangkok, we were stopped by some dubious characters who checked our passports over and over again... Upon asking what's going on, all that those buggers did was to wave their police badges at us! @#&@%#^

Transiting in Bangkok

On the plane, I was sitting next to this guy by the name of Morné.. He bore a striking resemblance to Ronaldinho except that he was bigger… But anyway, he is of South African origins and is a banker in Melbourne.. was travelling to Stockholm to meet a Serbian girl .. He's quite a funny fellow and even gave me his contacts and asked us to look for him if we go over to Melbourne... Well, over at Arlanda Airport (Stockholm), everything went according to plan.. managed to arrive at the train station in time but not after lugging 32 kg of heavy luggage up a broken-down travellator.. After much clarification with the staff, finally figured out how to redeem my pre-booked ticket and the train I should be boarding. It was absolutely chilly (with the temperature at 5 degress celsius) whilst waiting for the train even though I had my down jacket on coupled with several layerings.. On board the train, I was completely lost as to which cabin I should be seated in so I decided to consult a native Swede who was sitting beside me… Her name was Suzanne and she was really helpful and friendly… She even asked me to look her up if I go over to Stockholm.. =)

Me and duan with Morné

Arlanda Airport in Stockholm

My Train Ticket

Arlanda Train Station

Suzanne

The train ride was really boring since I was all alone.. was feeling really exhausted but I didn’t dare to doze off for fear that I might just miss my stop.. To my relief, after countless attempts, I managed to contact my peer student in Sweden who was supposed to pick me up from the train station. His name iss Martin and he's a really friendly chap. Not only did he help me with my overloaded luggage, he even paid for my bus fare to the dormitories where we had to lug the luggage up 3 stories and left the luggage at his friend, Bjorn’s room before heading to the campus to collect my room keys.

The student dormitories at Ryd looked pretty much similar from the outside which meant a high chance of me getting lost.. The campus is located 2km from Ryd (at least that was what the signage showed though Martin told me that it is usually twice the distance as stated). Martin also taught me a swedish word “Fika” which meant to sit down and grab a bite or drink.. On the way to my dorm, we met Jay, a Korean exchange student, who was supposed to pass me Martin’s bike.. Jay do not speak very fluent English but he's rather friendly… he followed us back to Bjorn’s dorm and even helped us with the luggage.. My dorm is pretty near the grocery, restaurants and barber place with the laundry area just outside my block… There's even a MacDonald's round the corner though Martin advised me to stay away from it cos the leftist students tried to burn it down 3 times alr.. haha...The room is very spacious and is spick and span to my surprise… What was even more surprising was that my washroom actually came with a bathtub and many mirrors mounted on the walls and doors…

Mac on my way to Campus

My Dorm

My Campus

The 3 of us then headed down to the grocery and grabbed a pack of waffles before heading to Jay’s dorm to have a fika after which me and Martin went down to Ikea while Jay had to make his way to the bank to make payment for his overdue rent.. well, i completed my shopping at ikea within 50 mins... cos in Sweden, the bus rides are free as long as the previous ride that you take is within the 1hour mark... but sadly, me and Martin did not make it for the free ride cos we had to wait 14 mins for the next bus... The bus rides in Sweden are really expensive... 13 Kronor for a ride which translates to 3 SGD!! On top of that, the Swedes are really environmental friendly... gotta pay for the plastic/paper bag when you purchase anything at the grocery or shops... and it aint cheap... around 50cents SGD per bag...

The Grocery Store

A Typical Bus Ticket

The sky in Sweden during winter is really gloomy... you can never see the sun and the whole place turns dark by 3 in the afternoon.. Back at Ryd, i did a little grocery shopping with Martin translating whatever was written on the boards at the store... we both grabbed a roasted drumstick for 7.50 Kronor and headed back to my dorm where we cooked rice to go with it...

View at 3pm

The rest of the night was mainly spent unpacking and watching downloaded shows from Ra cos my internet somehow couldnt work... gotta make a trip down to the campus the next day to sort it out...

Woke up real early the next day.... around 7.30am here... somehow not adjusted to the timezone here yet... anyway made a trip down to the campus on my bike and finally sorted out my internet connection... was really delighted that im finally able to talk to the ppl back at home... on my way back, i decided that the rest of the day i shall just go cycling around my dorm and the campus and take some pics so that i can update on my blog... okie... gtg now... and i'll update again soon... Miss you guys back at home...

PS: thanks lr for helping me with the blog... will add on more features soon