Oh my god, I predict a riot Saturday night!

Tonight is the big night! The moment we've all (me and Verena, and Philipp's stand-in Felix) been waiting for since booking the tickets in late October or something. Tonight is the concert with Kaiser Chiefs in Newcastle!! Have never seen them live before but seen live clips online, so I think they're gonna be fantastic live and their music is made to be played in front of a big wild audience. Sometime after eight tongight I will be probably rocking out like hell! Don't know when the concert ends, but hopefully we'll make it on the last train back to Durham, where the rock'n'roll riot will continue at Revolver!

Kaiser Cheifs - "I Predict A Riot" (Live from Elland Road)

Cut and marked

Today I picked up my first marked summative essay. Before I have just got back my formatives, which is essays or essay plans that you have to do but that is not marked and therefore not that important, so I was quite excited to see how the result, if I had failed totally or done well. I received a 53 %, which is pretty low but still ok and one of the comments on it were "an interesting essay, abd you have raised relevant points" so I'm pretty satisfied it anyway.
After that I went downtown to cut my hair at my regular shop, for the third time, for £7.90 (and then they don't even have student prices on Fridays). This time I was cut by the same girl who cut me the first time and did a very good job. It doesn't hurt that she also looks like a blonde doll, but she talks like a bald drunk, which is a mix I strangely somehow find quite attractive. She talks with a very distinctive local accent so I understood half of what she said, but that didn't really matter as long as it didn't concerned my hair. She asked me in the end if I wanted it 'squared or ... (the other word I didn't hear or understand even when she repeated it) in the back', and the latter meaning just a straight line in the back (who the hell wants that unless you're a hooligan or something?!) so I said I wanted the other thing which ended up perfectly.

Word of the day VII

I have been a bit sickly the last couple of days, so mostly stayed in college reading in the library in my sweat pants, uni hoodie and slippers or flip-flops. Haven't really cared about my looks that much so haven't shaved in a couple of days either, which I even like if it's not getting too much, and it was the reason I could add another word to my vocabulary. It's very similar to Swedish, but I had never heard about the word before asking a friend here.

• Stubble: Stubb

Pancake Day

Yesterday it was Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday as it is also called here (or Fat Tuesday in Sweden), so we were served two small pancakes as an extra desert for dinner. Pancakes are always yummie, but I would much rather have dad's mashed potatoes and pork with a Swedish "semla" after it. Still cool to experience other traditions. There was also a carneval-like voodoo-party at a club arranged by the International Student Association, but I skipped that tradition and just went with the British one. Maybe a good idea since I today have felt a bit under the weather, as they say here.

Royal wedding

Today it has been officially announced that the Crown Princess of Sweden has become engaged to her boyfriend and will get married in summer next year. I wish them all the best, but don't really care about it more than that. But I wouldn't mind marry her sister. Besides that, I just hope that the King will be able to enjoy the party in a relaxed way without being bothered and have to look like a teen caught by his parents.

Those who think that students don't study a lot...

...can as they say up here in North England "fock off!!". Although I mean that in the most polite way of course. But today I'm very tired since I had 8 hours of lectures, which is like a full-time job except you don't get paid and you have to sit on your bum and listen to someone talking for almost an hour straight at a time. Normally I have first Political Geography from 9-11am, then Social and Cultural Geography for another two hours right after, and then Governing Cities from 4-6pm. The lecturer in the last module has missed three out of five lectures for various reasons, so today we had a double lecture starting from 2pm. The man is from Glasgow, or something (at least Scotland), so he got a strong accent, which you can especially hear when he say, the rather oftenly used because of the subject, "downtown", which he pronounce [doontoon]. I was a bit bored after some time so I started counted, and I reached 84, so if you account the times he said it in the beginning I'm sure it was a three-digit number in total. Said to Felix, who even fell asleep some time, that it would be a brilliant drinking game, to take a sip of beer everytime he said it. Although the subject is quite interesting I think it would make the lectures much more bearable.

Wacko Joaqo

Joaquin Phoenix has said he's gonna quit acting and focus fully on a rap career. For a bit more than a week ago he was on David Letterman supposed to promote his new (and perhaps last) film "Two Lovers". You can easily say he wasn't up for a nice funny chat.



Last night at the Academy Awards, where "Slumdog Millionaire" very well-deserved won a statue for best film, Ben Stiller did a very funny parody of him:

Word of the day VI

This vocabulary-lesson is a bit Aidan's Day inspired. One of the words I learned way back when I first came here because of it being the Aidan's mascot. The other word I learned yesterday as it was one of the team games in the morning.

• Badger: Grävling
• Tug-of-war: Dragkamp

St Aidan's Day

Yesterday it was St Aidan's Day, which ment a full day of activities and party! The bar was open from 10am and team games, but I had to play a 5-a-side football game first so didn't join the festivities until noon (which was still early so didn't mind). As an Uppsala student I'm skilled and experienced when it comes to full day wet partying, so I took it quite easy with an even pace and fitted in a break for a nap so I could last through the night. Besides being able to hang in the bar early you could also try to play human foosball, listen to live music and other fun things around college as . In the evening the bar was packed with people, and there was kareoke so me and about a dozen other people went up and ripped off this classic in almost the same crazy style as the original performers. We stayed in the bar until they closed sometime after 11pm and were supposed to go out to a club, but everything went so slow so most of the guys I was with stayed in college. But after midnight me, James and Phil decided to go anyway and ended up rocking out at Revolver at the DSU for an hour, which was packed with people as well.

This is England

Yesterday I finally got to choose what film to see (since I most of the time watch films together with others), and it was bit more realistic and deep than the last two I have had to watch. I've wanted to see "This Is England" for quite a long time, especially makes sense since I'm here now, but it never happened until yesterday. I knew before that it was about original ska/reggae skinheads and taking place in the early 80s, but I was surprised to see that it turned out to be quite a lot like "American History X", which just made the affection on me stronger. The film is really well done with everything from the great music to the setting of the time and place, and fantastic acting especially by the young Thomas Turgoose in the lead role as 12-year-old Shaun.



Even though I think the film doesn't really break new ground with its theme about racism and who belongs where and why these things might come up, I think it's a topic that always needs to be brought up and discussed to prevent racism to evolve. These things are very current for me as I've have studied 'Race and Representation' in my Social and Cultural Geography module, and discussed 'What is Britishness?'. As a part of this module I was recommended by one of the lecturers to read the book "Even in Sweden", which I have just started to look into but it brings up many things that I'm more familiar with, such as cases from the early 90s, than British examples and which makes it more interesting and easier to understand. I really hope that the recession and crisis right now, which led to many companies having to cut down on employees, such as Volvo and Saab in Sweden, doesn't become a breeding ground for racist thoughts and organizations as it unfortunately often shows out to be (which is described in the book I mentioned), especially with an upcoming parliament election coming up next year (in Sweden). So even though "This Is England" is about this country the story could had taken place anywhere, and the theme is therefore very relevant for Sweden, in this case, and other countries too.

Therapeutic landscape

Today I handled in my second essay in less than a week, and it feels even better to be over with than the first one! It's not the best essay I wrote in my life, but it fulfills its purpose at least, can't really be bothered about it anymore.
The essay I wrote is about how natural environments can influence human physical and mental health and wellbeing. For example what is called 'therapeutic landscapes', which I had a seminar about in where we discussed our own therapeutic landscapes, places were we feel relaxed and well. I said that mine was probably the family summer house, which is on a small island south of Stockholm. When I was a tiny kid I was a bit afraid of it cause it was very dark and scary at night, since there's no electricity, and a lot of the interior is as old as the house, which is 120 years old. Then as a young teen I got very bored and restless as there were no TV to watch. But the last couple of years when I've been able to go there myself with friends for a weekend or so I have appreciated it much much more; the big quiet old house, the relaxing calm, the amazingly beautiful natural environment, the evening dips in the strait (which I think creates a need for "Word of the day"-special, since I didn't even know this word myself), and sitting on the balcony with a beer in good company and see the sun sets. Pure quality of life!

Sanamki

Pålsundet

Word of the day V

• Strait: Sund
  

Det nya sättet att göra slut på

Det finns många mindre bra sätt att göra slut på; via email, telefon, sms, eller helt enkelt inte bara höra av sig alls. Eller så gör man på det nya sättet, som Chris Brown (som förresten är en riktig idiot om allt som sägs är sant), och ändrar sin relationsstatus på facebook till "singel" för att tala om att det verkligen är över. Är intressant och kul att se vilka ibland enorma reaktioner av nyfikenhet en liten ändring på en internet-sida kan orsaka, har faktiskt själv blivit lite smått förvånad ibland av vad som dykt upp bland uppdateringarna på sidan. Fast mest tycker jag det är rätt överdrivet. Kanske borde komma ut med mitt "öppna förhållande" eller som "gift" och se vad som händer.

The curious case of Per Norberg

Went to the cinema last night, which I do quite often here compared to at home (my 4th film so far), and saw "The curious case of Benjamin Button". I had very high expectations, which I must say weren't really met. It's a very interesting and a bit weird idea that of being born as an old man and age backwards and it's a great story, but nothing more than that. A really good film has to leave me with something. However, it was good Friday night entertainment. Give it 3/5. I was joking last night that I'm a bit like Benjamin Button myself. When I first started to study at university I had a large apartment, which I shared for a while with a 25 year old friend. And now here I am more than three years later, 25 myself, living in a small college room as an Erasmus student surrounded by mostly teens. I also look very similar now to when I was a tiny kid, and I don't think I look like a baby now, although I was unlike Benjamin Button a super cute kid (which if I look now like I did back then must mean something). Moreover, like in the film, I celebrated my birthdays as a kid with mostly "old people", adult relatives and friends to the family, since most other kids were away on holidays in the middle of the summer. I don't really have any problem with my age or with becoming older (although 26 sounds really weird and far away right now), but I like feeling a bit younger here sometimes with younger friends around me. Just hope I don't age backwards for real. Don't wanna end up being 14 or something again, much better now.

3 or 25?

Essay and slades

Today I've put another summative essay behind me, and I'm pretty satisfied with the result. Feels so good! I was going to finish the conclusion and the reference list at the main library, but this morning it started to snow and it didn't stop. So now Durham is covered in white again, which I don't really mind at all (even though I really look forward to spring and summer). So after I had handled in my essay I went back to collage, changed clothes and went out to hit the hill. Even though I have to prepare a bit for a tutorial tomorrow and finish another essay by Monday, I saw it as kind of a reward to go out and play in the snow, get to be like a little kid again. Although tiny kids probably wouldn't ride like this:

Ticket to ride

Yesterday I received a letter that contained the three tickets to Kaiser Chiefs I've been waiting for. The concert is in a bit more than two weeks and is going to be my first concert so far since I came here, even though I had as a goal to try to go and see as many as I could. Unfortunately, the big concerts in Newcastle sell out quite quick. Also, ironically there have been quite many concerts now in Sweden that I've really wanted to see. One of them is the "Check The Rhyme Tour" tonight in Gothenburg that includes a dream-team line-up of classic hip-hop acts as Beatnuts, Tha Alkaholiks, Paris, Lords of the Underground, and Jeru The Damaja. I've already seen Beatnuts once in Stockholm, after which Juju (one of the rappers) were arrested after a bar fight. Anyhow, I'm really looking forward to the end of this month, and hope I get to see some more concerts before I leave back to Sweden in summer.

Monday

Mondays are right now my most busy days with three lectures during the day. The first one starting at 9am, and the last one from 4.15-6.15pm. The last one is not only at a terrible time, but has so far been quite terribly boring. The subject itself is not that awful, which is about how you govern cities and who is doing it, but the lecturer is! Again, not him personally as he seems like quite fun and easy going, but how he holds his lectures. Today he had 42 slides, which were full of text, and which he just read off, word for word. Hell, I can read perfectly fine myself! If I knew he was just going to do like this I would not had gone, and he took a break with only half an hour left so was not worth it to leave. Can't be fun for anyone this way, for neither him or us. Luckily Felix is in the same class, which makes it more fun and easy to cope with, and some nice looking girls to rest the eyes on if you get bored by the slides.

Out of order

One of the modules I'm taking here is about development, which I've studied a bit before as well. In many cases I think that Britain is an underdeveloped (even though it is a really questioned term) country, and I could make a long list of things that annoys me but I won't. However, one thing that really does is when I want to do my laundry here. First of all I've gotta pay £1.50 to use the washing-machine and £0.50 for the tumbler. I know this might just sound like I'm just whining and that it's normal to pay for this (here and in many other places), but not for me. I'm used to a big, fully equipped laundry room that is free for everyone in the building. With the rent I pay here I think it could be something they could have for free too. Secondly, they don't have drying cupboards here, just tumblers, which you can't use for all clothes. So I've put up a clothing line in my room to dry jeans, shirts etc that I don't want to get shrunk or look worn. On top of it all so were three out of four machines out of order today. Hell, it's the 21st century you island-stuck Neanderthals, aaaaahhh!!!

Birthday x 2

Yesterday was the birthday of two friends here, but fortunately I was able to celebrate them both as they didn't do it on the same night.
First out was Mademoiselle Marie Liane, who decided to celebrate her's the night before the big day. We were about a dozen of us at, one of Durham's best bars (in my opinion), Fabio's and had French cheese, sausage, and champagne (the first time I ever had real French champagne, to the others' surprise and amusement). It all tasted very good! Also, as always, there was a bit of theme involved (hence, the French food), and this time you were supposed to come as your country. I didn't really have the time to get something (would probably have bought a Viking helmet) but I at least dressed up in the beautiful Swedish colours.

Holland and Sweden united

Last night it was the charming Chinese from Hong Kong, Brian's turn to celebrate as he took the big step from teen hood to manhood. So a group of friends from all around the world (although mostly Europe) went out and ate a Chinese Buffet together. It was very good and with lots of different food to try out, but I was so full afterwards I thought I would burst. After the dinner about half of the group went to the DSU to dance a bit of Scottish dance, which is fun but a bit complicated and exhausting. The night ended up at Studio Nightclub, but a bit earlier for me than the others that I went with since I wanted to get up early this morning (although I overslept an hour).

Brian puts on his birthday present

Live!

I guess most of you are familiar with the brilliant (Swedish, yeah!) music service Spotify by now(, even though not so brilliant anymore). Now I have found another great free online music service; Fabchannel. It's a Dutch website that let you stream almost 1000 live concerts in lots of different genres, most of them from Amsterdam. It's very good quality, both sound and picture, not some amateur stuff. You get to see the setlist for the concert you're watching and you skip to the next song if you want to, and also add songs and make your own playlists. So far I've seen some great concerts with Shout Out Louds, MGMT, Lightspeed Champion, Millencolin, and CSS. It's like having your own concert venue in your own room!

Utan å, ä, ö

...så kan det bli ganska roligt. Skickade ett mail igår från universitetsbiblioteket till min institution i Uppsala och avslutade med "Vänliga hälsningar", vilket jag först i efter hand kom att tänka på blir "Vanliga halsningar". Blir ju lite fel, men dock så sant. Halsningarna är ju rätt vanliga som student.

Slum Beautiful

This past weekend I have seen two films. One that is a few years old, and one that is brand new. The first one I saw on Friday was "The Squid and The Whale".The films is about a family in Brooklyn, NY. The dad is a writer and a teacher whose career and success just have gone downwards. The mom on the other hand rejoices newly success with her articles getting published, which makes the existing gap between them even wider and they decide to divorce. Their two sons can't understand or accept this at first, bet get told that everything will work out fine for them with the parents having joint custody.
It is a really dark and tragic film showing a really awful divorce and split of a family. So tragic that it sometimes becomes quite humorous in a way, how they behave and take sides. Not your typical Friday feelgood film, but a very well done drama about a serious topic that many probably go through. Hopefully not as bad as this. This was director Noah Baumbach's big breakthrough, and I will definetely see his latest film "Margot at The Wedding"

The other film I saw on Sunday at the Gala Theatre cinema together with more than ten other friends from college is a new Indian film called "Slumdog Millionaire". Normally on Sundays the St Aidan's International Film Club is showing a film at college, but even better to go to the cinema for just £4.70 as a student and fun to see something else than American or European films. It is directed by "Trainspotting"-director Danny Boyle, and has been very highly criticized and won four Golden Globes and is nominated to ten Oscars.The film is about Jamal, a young man raised in the slums of Mumbai who serves tea at a call center for living, who is about to win 20 million rupies in the Indian version of "Who wants to be a millionaire?", but is accused of cheating and taken to the police where he tries to prove his innocence. The story about Jamal's life is told in a very smart way, and even though it looks back in time you never know what is going to happen. It includes love, brotherhood, thrill, and much more. One of the best films I've seen in a long time, just fantastic in every way. The music through the film is great too and includes for example M.I.A. I really hope it wins some Oscars, because this is a must see!

When Durham freezes over

Yesterday evening it started to snow again, or more precisely hail, and quite a lot so it even hurt a bit. This morning it was even more. It's still not really a problem though, maybe a bit more slippery sometimes but that's it. So I get more and more surprised (or maybe just the opposite) for everytime I see how paralyzed this country get by snow. I mean, it is quite a lot and cover the ground a couple cm, but that they close airports, roads, schools etc. is crazy! It's not like it's as in "The Day After Tomorrow" or something! Yesterday there was a car who couldn't brake and crashed right outside of college. Have they never heard of winter tires? Gonna leave the library now and head back home for dinner, let's see if I make it...

Wild night!

Yesterday night I was invited with the other guys to a pre-party at a friend to a friend's apartment. It was cool to see how the students outside of college lives. Most share with 3-5 other people, so it must be really fun to live with your friends in your own place. This apartment was right above Topshop, so really central in Durham and close to most things with restaurants, stores and bars around. Had a few drinks there before hitting out to Klute. It's definitely not my favourite place, I had rather gone to Revolver, but as it was really close and all the others wanted to go there I followed along. I really like places with good music, which can be anything from rock/pop, hip-hop/r&b, dance/house and more, but it doesn't have to be so important if you're with good company and have fun anyhow. The music at Klute was so bad though most of the time that I totally get out of the party mood, and when I lost the others I decided to leave and go home a bit after midnight. Found Philipp in the bar with the girls and told him I was gonna leave. He asked me where Bibo and Felix were, which I didn't know and guessed they were on the dance floor. On the way home I passed by the pizza place on the corner of Old Elvet Bridge and New Elvet Rd, and took a look in to see if it was a long cue and possibly buy some chips to eat on the way home. Guess who, to my huge surprise, I find in there... Bibo and Felix!! I ask what the hell they're doing there and not in the club? They also found the club night pretty shit, and decided to go home and puzzle instead! That's what we did the rest of the night until Bibo fell asleep on his bed and me and Felix left to go to ours. So the life as a student in Durham ain't always that wild and crazy as it might look like from all the photos on Facebook. Although I think puzzles are really rock'n'roll.

Puzzled

Mon ami Bibo has found a new hobby. Puzzles. He bought a 500 piece puzzle at the Salvation Army on Thursday and has since then been sitting with it every moment he get (since his computer doesn't work at all). As about half of the puzzle consisted of blue sky pieces you had to just sit and try every piece to see if it fitted. As I have hardly any patience I can manage to do this around 5 minutes, then I can't stand it. Yesterday he was almost finished with it, so I decided to film this big moment:



The piece is still nowhere to be found, so he glued the puzzle on to a cardboard and painted the missing part blue. Right now he got his hands on a 1000 piece puzzle. Hopefully there's not just 999.