Last evening it was the final of the tv-show Britain's Got Talent. I don't really care about competitions like this, but a lot of people do and the bar was packed when the winner was gonna be announced. It seemed like most people wanted one of the dance groups to win, which they also did, even though I liked these guys better. Poor Susan Boyle looked so nervous she looked like she would mess herself, so maybe better that she just got the silver medal.Of course there's not only talent in Britain, but lots of "talent" also in Sweden, and especially in my great home town of Örebro. This guy is a doorman at small pub where you go to start off a night with some cheap pints. He really likes the "power" his badge gives him and always asks you how much you had to drink when you get there to see if you're too drunk, even if you are totally sober, and then says "hmm, ok....but take it easy tonight!" He also always used to ask for ID from one of my friends (who at the time were 23) to let him in, even though he used to go down there a couple of times a week, and they also lived in the same building across the street from the place. You would think he would remember him and his age, but well he gotta do his job, right. Judging from his participation in the tv-show he does some stuff on the side, when he's not keeping everything under control in the pub. But I think there's no need to say he didn't make it through to the next round. Enjoy his performance!
Haven't done much this week, gets a bit boring. Sleeps till almost noon, read quite a lot (although not the academic literature that I should), and take walks with my four-legged friend Lenny. Today I woke up pretty early by the sun shining through my curtains, had a long big breakfast, and then went out for a long walk with Lenny (so happy it wasn't his time to go), and who can complain then?! The sun was shining from a clear blue sky, the snow went away as quick as it came, and with great music in my ears things couldn't feel better and I probably could have walked around for a lot more than the 75 min I did. The plans for the nearest future is to get started with the revision for the exams in May, take a trip to Uppsala, and maybe get away on some spontaneous adventure. Just keep my fingers and toes crossed that the fantastic spring weather will stay now.
I'm back! Haven't written anything in a week now, so time for an update. Came back to Sweden late Thursday night. The flight went really well, hardly any turbulence, so I read about Ewan McGregor's adventures, tried to relax, and even managed to sleep a bit. As there were unforseen troubles with picking me up, and there aren't many connections from the small airport, I decided to take a bus to my sister in Stockholm instead of waiting 1,5 hour to get to Örebro. Left from a cold but clear city at noon the day after with a train. Fell asleep, and became shockingly surprised to look out and see cm of snow and more still falling. Not what I expected or wanted. It's great being home though with everything about it. Still a bit weird though, don't really know what to do, think it will take a day or two to really settle down. Can't talk about any jet-lag, but the one hour time difference made me stay up an extra hour late last night since I forgot to change the time zone on my laptop, so lost an hour there. The snow is said to go way ina few days, but can't say I made a change for the better going from a sunny 14°C Durham to an almost as good London to this. Talking about London. I came there in the afternoon on Saturday and was met by Nicklas, with whom I was gonna stay at the upcoming days. He lives (temporarily) in a burough called Clapton, which looked like most other smaller areas outside the city central. As Nicklas was working during the days I spent the mornings either sleeping, reading or watching Scrubs, and then went downtown in the afternoon walking around by myself looking in shops, and then catched up with him for a bit of after work or so at some pub. Would of course had been better to have someone to spend the days with, but I kind of like to just walking around and try to feel like a Londoner, although I mostly walked around in the central tourist areas like Oxford Street and down to Covent Garden. The evenings and nights were cool though, and I met quite a lot new nice people. Also surprisingly bumped in to Marie from college outside British Museum the last full day so had well appreciated company, after have been alone all day, walking around there looking at statues of (the cool looking) Ganesha and Buddha among other things from South-East Asia. The last night I went out eating with Nicklas and some of his co-workers at Nando's, and after a beer at a pub next to it we went on to the pub where his friends worked for some fun partying although the place was closed. Have yet bought a new camera so got no pictures from London, although I saw some cool stuff I would had wanted to photoed. Hope to get one as soon as possible. Tonight I will meet up with friends and watch Sweden probably get there asses kicked by Portugal. Will be much fun, no matter the result.
Today it has been officiallyannounced 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.
During the vacation I have finished the book "Marley & Me - life and love with the world's worst dog". So right now it's a lot about man's best friend, since I'm the one that is mostly at home when my parents are working I have to take care of the family dog, Lenny. He's very far from being the world's worst dog. Full of playful energy, that sometimes though can be a bit hard to control when we're out on a walk and you want him to walk where you walk, but he's for the most a good dog. Also very social and always snuggle up on you on the couch, which keeps you warm. And heat is something that is very much needed right now. When I checked the thermometer before taking Lenny for a walk at lunch it showed -13 degrees! Even though I experienced temperatures below -20 (a few years back) it's still a bit of a shock to go out, especially if you're not fully clothed from head to toes, which you of course need to be. If you take off your gloves your fingers start to ache in a minute and it feels like needles to them. The only body heat I get during a walk is when I pick up a pile after Lenny, so it's with mixed feelings I do it. At the same time it's fantastically beautiful views outside with all the snow and a sunny blue sky with no clouds, and the air is so clear and easily breathed that it fills your lungs in just a quick breath. Simply just amazing!
Äntligen är väl att ta i, men riktigt skönt är det! Terminen har gått hur fort som helst och var slut innan man han tänka efter. Mest är det positivt, i den bemärkelsen att jag har haft väldigt roligt och träffat väldigt mycket trevliga människor, flera som jag hoppas och tror att jag kommer ha kontakt med längre en det här läsåret, som gjort att jag knappt inte har längtat hem eller haft långtråkigt överhuvudtaget. Sen är jag även en sådan person att jag lätt anpassar mig till nya platser och gör dom ganska snabbt till mitt hem, och Durham är en perfekt liten stad i stora delar. Dessutom så saknar jag sällan saker riktigt mycket förrän jag upplever dem igen (vilket kanske både är positivt och lite negativt), t.ex. personer, mat, språk, kultur, och andra saker. Därför kändes det först inget speciellt när jag hoppade in i taxin utanför colleget för att sen ta tåg till Edinburgh för att där ifrån flyga hem till Sverige. Kan delvis ha varit för att jag sov max fyra timmar sista natten efter en lång och riktigt rolig Jingle Ball. Dock konstaterade jag i incheckningskön på flygplatsen att det var väldigt skönt och avslappnande att få höra svenska pratas runt omkring mig. Jag har pratat svenska en del i telefon och med två tjejer på college, men försökt hålla mig till engelska för att fokusera på att utveckla mig. Men varje gång jag har hört svenska nu de nästan tre senaste månaderna så har jag själv varit del av konversationen, så va skönt att bara få lyssna litegrann utan att behöva prata (låter ganska olikt mig). Sen har det självklart varit väldigt härligt att få träffa familj och en del vänner, och ser verkligen fram emot att få se fler! Sen är det faktiskt en del saker jag redan direkt saknar från mitt tillfälliga andra hem i Durham. De vänner jag fått och allt roligt jag har gjort med dem. Vädret här hemma just nu är otroligt nog sämre än det nordengelska; blött, slaskigt, grått, blåsigt, regnigt, nä usch. Den naturliga artigheten som oftast finns i England; människor ursäktar sig mer, håller upp dörrar och tackar när man själv gör det. Inte för att jag tycker att vi i Sverige är mindre trevliga (eller kanske litegrann ibland), det är bara ett annat sätt som jag inte upplever här hemma nu.Allt som allt ska jag dock avsluta med att det är härligt med lite uppehåll och få smälta allt man upplevt och få träffa människor men inte sett på ett tag och göra saker man inte kunnat göra.
Even though a bit more than two months have passed I still haven't showed any photos of my room. As the slow starter I am it took me of course some time to get it personal, cosy and feel like some kind of home. Now I must say it is quite alright, but it can always get better of course.Before it used to be a white sticker with just my full name and room number on my door, until mon ami Bibo was very friendly and gave me this fantastic personal name tag! The coolest thing is that I didn't even tell him how I wanted it when he asked if I wanted one, but this is exactly how I thought it would look like! So welcome inside my room! The two bins on the floor get taken care of by the cleaning ladies two-three times a week or something. The blue is only for paper, don't dare to throw anything else in there! They come around ten in the morning and knock on your door, and wake you up if you had plans of a bit of sleep in after a long night. Well, they are actually very friendly and chatty, so I won't talk more bad about them. I also got a little fridge. It's mostly small yoghurt packs in there that you take with you from breakfast that I eat sometimes as a bit of bed time snack. Sometimes there's also a beer or two, milk or something in there too, but most of the times it's kind of empty. My bed isn't big, but for a small man like myself it's pretty perfect. Don't think I need to say that the bed always looks that neat and nicely made every morning, as a former army man I know how it should look. Although sometimes occasionally (read mostly) I wake up tired and just let it be. We got a bed sheet pack when we came her, but the duvet fabric feels very plastic in a strange way so I prefer my own ones. The cool poster gives the room a bit of a needed raw edge in the remaining so neatly room. I got quite a lot of cupboard space for my clothes and other belongings, so I won't complain, especially since I'm a guy. Seems to be a bit worse for some of the girls who are in the so called houses off from the main college building, they're quite jealous when they see the rooms we got who lives in the corridors. I don't have my own bathroom, I share with about eight others, but I got a little basin at least and a mirror. I don't even have to clean the basin myself, but that is done by the cleaners every Monday when they also hoover the floor, although you have to clear the floor and around the basin before they come. Not bad, not bad. I don't sit and study much at my desk, instead I go to the library, so I sit there mostly at night checking my mails, chat and read news. I've matched my lovely green laptop and mouse with a plastic green cup for pens, could almost be an add for IKEA. In my bookshelf I got a few books, some I've read and some I've yet not, but it makes it look intelligent. Also got the freshers photo with everyone dressed up, with myself in the middle. On my board I put up a collage of family, friends and places that makes me feel more at home and remember a lot of good folks and times. I hope to put up some more photos and cover the whole board, maybe some new ones from here to mix it up a bit. My room view is not cat piss at all, you could have much worse than waking up in the morning, pull your curtains and look out over wonderful hills spreading far away. As you might glimpse, there is a quite nice cathedral too from my window view, but the trees to the left totally ruin my perfect picture. Me and my neighbour Tom have long gone plans of a midnight chainsaw massacre mission and cut it down, but so far it's still there. Hope you like it, and feel free to visit anytime you want. Mi casa es su casa!
Of course there's not only talent in Britain, but lots of "talent" also in Sweden, and especially in my great home town of Örebro. This guy is a doorman at small pub where you go to start off a night with some cheap pints. He really likes the "power" his badge gives him and always asks you how much you had to drink when you get there to see if you're too drunk, even if you are totally sober, and then says "hmm, ok....but take it easy tonight!" He also always used to ask for ID from one of my friends (who at the time were 23) to let him in, even though he used to go down there a couple of times a week, and they also lived in the same building across the street from the place. You would think he would remember him and his age, but well he gotta do his job, right. 
