Sooo.... I have a lot to tell. Let's begin at once.
On tuesday the 10th of December, there was this AFS-Glögg I've already mentioned. We (the exchangestudents from region Stockholm) were all dressed in white, had glitter in our hair and a read ribbon aroud our stomaches. In the AFS office were tables with glögg, julmost, pepparkakor, chocolate and cheese and there were many people waiting for us to sing. The chorus prepared itself in the kitchen with practising some of the Luciasongs. Then we stept out into the room where all our hostfamilies stood ready to take pictures. We sang four or five songs and walked back into the kitchen as a train of people. The singing sounded quite good, we got nice feedback from all around. Then in the end we could enjoy the christmas mood and drink some glögg. David, Ylva, Karin and I didn't stay that long, because it only was a normal tuesday and we all had to go to school/work again on the next morning. Jonas couldn't come, because he was in London with his firm at this time.
Arika from Indonesia was the Lucia, so she wore a crown of candles.
Because of the Open House Day on saturday the 30th of november (where we students had to go to school, so that the pupils from 9th grade could visit and decide, if they want to attend Huddinge Gymnasiet later) we got free from schools on monday the 16th. Some girls from my class and I planned to go to Stockholm on that day. First we ate lunch at PizzaHut (I was really full after this meal), before we went to the christmasmarket in Gammla Stan. I expected it to be bigger, but it was actually quite small. The were only few stands with christmasdecoration or food and candies. Nevertheless, we spent a little time there and drove home after a while. It was a nice afternoon.
Yummy apple-candies
This picture is taken at about 3 pm and it was already dark as it was late evening... Well I'd better get used to this.
Last tuesday the 17th, I got asked from AFS if I wanted to tell how life is as exchangestudent in Sweden for two 9th grades. It was quite spontaneous, because the presentation was the next day, but I thought that it will be funny and said yes. Therefore I didn't go to the math class as normally on a wednesday afternoon. I took the train and cross path to Gullmarsplan, where I met Karolina from AFS who asked me to come. Together we rode bus to Årstaskolan (school in Årsta). It was cool to tell those students my own view of Sweden and how I experience my time here. Karolina was in France until last summer and she told both about how it was there and AFS. We also did some exercises: The students had to stand up in pairs and get so close, that their toes touched. Then they should tell each other what they're planning to do over christmas holydays. In an other exercise they had to tell about their plans for Newyears Eve without looking anywhere else than in each others eyes. This exercises should show, that our sence for distance or eyecontact while speaking is not a thing that we're born with. It's all about culture. I think, Karolina and I could arouse the interest of some students. They were quiet and interested listeners in any case. Ufortunately I don't have any pictures of this day, but I'm sure you all have a great phantasy ;-).
Today was the last day of school for this semester. We students listened to the schoolband playing some christmas or pop songs. It wasn't normal class today, so we all could go home again after this short show in the aula. I spent the rest of the afternoon with preparing and packing for next week: DALARNA! I'm so excited to go there for celebrating and experiencing the Swedish christmas. I'll see if I can make some blogging, but you probably have to wait until I'm back. So long: Merry Christmas everyone! :-D
Finally a little snow in Stockholm. I really waited for this all november long. Now it feels like a wonderful winterland, everything outside in white and shining Christmas decoration up in the trees and behind the windows. Whole Sweden is counting down the days until the 24 of december; there's a serie in TV, that shows 10 minutes of a Christmas story every day. This year the story is about a family from the stone age that travels to the future and wants to invent Christmas for making the winter less dark and cold. It's pretty funny to watch those short parts of the serie every day and see how the stone age people invent all the things which belong to a Swedish Christmas nowadays. The whole Advent-time seems to be very important for the Swedes. As soon as december started, everyone took out candles and lights in starshape to decorate the house and the garden. Even in school you can find candles on the tables in the cafeteria and Christmas songs playing in the speakers at breakfast and lunchtime. As I already told in the previous post, you eat a lot of delicious sweets (such as gingerbread) during the winter. This weekend Karin, David and I made "Lussebullar": sweet small buns with safran and raisins. They tasted heavenly. Now the time to learn some of the Swedish Christmas songs has also come. On next tuesday will be an AFS event, where we exchangestudents from Stockholms area will sing some songs for our hostfamilies and contactpeople. And on friday the 13th is Saint Lucia's day. I'm looking so much forward to experience this special tradition. However, there will be a lot more wonderful events and feasts next month, so I guess it's better I tell you more about each one afterwards. Have a nice Advent! :-)
May I present you: our garden as a beautiful winterwonderland
My very first Lussebullar. They don't look as professional as Karin's when she showed me how to do it, but they were delicious anyway.
Here I coat the buns with egg, then they were ready for the oven.
By the way: we didn't cut the rest of the birch tree. It's now a place for the bird house I won in the fishing competition I told you once about. Looks a little bit like in "Pettersson and Findus", doesn't it? :-)
It feels like a traditional Swedish day today, even if my everyday life doesn't look like that normally. I helped Jonas to cut down a birch tree in the garden, or I'd better say half of a birch tree, because the other part is still waiting to be cut down tomorrow. I really like to climb up on high stepladders and cut wood into small pieces. It isn't actually a normal hobby to Swedish girls to cut trees at weekend, but it feels quite Scandinavic anyway, because there's so much wood here. Karin and Ylva prepared pancake with bacon for lunch and we ate them with selfmade Lingonsylt (eng. lingonberry jam) over the top and drunk milk. (I never used to drink milk for lunch before I came to Sweden, but here it is absolutely normal.) The Swedish traditions continue with Fika. This means a small coffeebreak with some chocolate and/or cookies between lunch and dinner. Today we had Pepparkakor (thin, crunchy ginger bread) and Glögg (a warm punch that you drink with almonds and raisins in it), which are both typically Swedish and very delicious. One thing that is also different from what I know from Switzerland is the daylight. It gets dark here around 3 or 4 p.m. so that I can't see the sun at all, when I have a long schoolday. On one hand it's kind of annoying and irritating, because I feel like I soon have to go to bed when it's just time for dinner. On the other hand I like the early darkness, because it's something new to me and belongs to the nordic winter.
There's just one week left until december starts and I'm looking so much forward to St. Lucia's day, Christmas and of course the New Year's Eve. But most of all: I'm still waiting for snow...
The remaining wood saves a warm and cusy livingroom during the long and cold winter.
It contained a lot of work
Heart shaped Pepparkakor. Ylva, Karin and Jonas told me that if you lay one in your open hand and manage to knock it into exactly three parts with the other hand, you can make a wish. I've succeeded!
Alcoholfree Glögg. You heat it up and serve it in small coffee cups with almonds and raisins. A perfect drink for cold days.
Wednesday; British museum and taking leave
The last moring in London started as usual: with breakfast. Then we packed our luggage and gave them to the reception when we gave our keys back. We were allowed to leave our luggage there until noon, so that we could go to the British museum without that much stuff. And so we did. The British miseum is really really big. There are so many different exhibitions that it was simply not possible to visit all of them. There was one with the name "Life and Death" where they showed up how many pills and how much medicine a human takes in its whole life. That was really impressive. I also liked the room of clocks and watches. All the antique clocks with their extraordinary system were a real pleasure to observe. However, we decided to meet up after two hours, so that we have enough time for lunch before we had to go to the airport. Because it was one of David's wishes, we went to PizzaHut, after picking up our luggages at The Jesmonds. It was a good meal that made us full and ready to leave. We first had to travel 1,5 hours with the metro until we reached the London airport. After the safety check we still had some time that we spent with writing holyday diary or checking out the airport shops. Finally we could bord and take the flight home to Sweden. This was a really cool journey. I'm sure, it wasn't the last time, I visited England.
The last few seconds on English ground
And finally in the air again. Goodbye London!
Oh, right! I almost forgot to tell what I did in the rest of my autumn holydays. I visited Swedens biggest cinema together with Sofia and Segen from my class on thursday. We watched "Thor - the dark world". The biggest cinema of Sweden takes place in Heron City, a shopping mall twenty minutes bus travell from my home. In this shopping mall you can also find a very huge ice cream bar. I promised my self to go there once again and test some of these delicious looking ice creams.
On saturday was a little home party for AFS students from Stockholm. It was cusy and nice to meet them again. Now school goes further and so does everyday life. It's late autumn now and almost all the trees are leafless. I hope the snow comes soon!
Tuesday; London Eye and Mamma Mia
This day was our last full day in London and we planned a lot for today as well. Like the day before, we split up in the same groups. Ylva and Karin wanted to go to Tate Modern, an art museum and David, Jonas and I wanted to ride the London Eye. It took quite long to stand in the queues (first for to buy tickets and then for actually riding it), but I found it okay. Then we finally could go into one of the gondolas, which rode the whole way round in about 20 minutes. The view was amazing. I recognized some of the buildings where we were on the days before and just enjoyed to have such a wide horizon. In the end of the ride, we had a little time until we would meet not just Karin and Ylva, but also Karin's brother Frederik and his wife Elisabeth with their three children for a Turkish lunch. So we walked slowly to our restaurant with a little detour to Tate Modern. We didn't see that much of the exhibition, but what we saw was quite... abstract. By the way, at the moment they have an exhibition of Paul Klee, who is Swiss (just wanted to mention that and feel cool :-P). Anyway, we met the Blomqvists who travelled to London at the same day as we did, but would stay a whole week. Once more in my life as exchangestudent I got asked why I actually chose Sweden, what I like most in this country and how it is different from Switzerland. I'm sure I will get asked this a hundred more times under my year. I don't know if you already know it or not, so I will try to explain it. Why did I choose Sweden? Well, it was clear for me, that if I would go to an exchange year, I would go to Sweden. Since we once visited my mother's Swedish letterfriend in 2005, I was kind of fascined by this country. I always wanted to learn the language and come to Sweden again. In my primary school some of my classmates even thaught that I have Swedish roots (I haven't), because I always wanted the Swedish footboll team to win, whenever they had a game. Therefore I signed in myself in the AFS program one and a half year before my departing, so that I surely get a place in the list (there's a list for every country with a counted number of places and if it's full, you have to choose an other country). What do I like most in Sweden? This question is always quite difficult to answer. I like a lot of things in different ways which I can't compare. I like for example that I don't have any pressure in school, or kannelbullar (a kind of cinnamon muffin), or when I get a compliment for my Swedish, or many many other things I experience here. It's the whole adventure I like. Everything makes a part of it. What are the differences between Sweden and Switzerland? Well, even if many people don't think about two different countries when they hear theese two names, there are a lot of differences. You can find them everywhere; in the manners, the schoolsystem, the food, and so on. You best travel to Sweden and Switzerland yourself and build your own opinion. ;-)
Okay, now I digressed a little bit... Back to the topic. It was funny to meet some hostrelates and have lunch toghether with them. When we were finish, we took leave from each other again. The Blomqvists wanted to go to Tate Modern and we went over the Millenium Bridge and then further to the museum of London. It was a really great exhibition, which showed London from the stone age until today. We were quite long there and had a look at all the things they found from previous times. Because we ate quite much for lunch, we just went to "Pret à manger" (a cafe, where you also can buy fresh food) and ate a salad or sandwich. Then it was time for theater. We watched "Mamma Mia" live on stage and sat in the highest tier of the theater. It was a lot of fun to watch it and hear all the famous songs from the very popular Swedish music group ABBA. The actors and actresses earned a lot of applause from us all. And so we finally made us ready for our last night in England.
This is what you see when you stand in the queue
Me...
...and David...
...and Jonas in the gondola.
Five Blomqvists, four Lindmarks and one Andraschko :-)
Monday; War museum and shopping
Monday was our shopping day. We ate breakfast in the morning and had still some time until all the shops would open. So we decided to go to "Churchill war rooms" which was a museum that shows all the secret rooms that were used by the English government under the Second World War. All the rooms show how the people worked and lived their everyday life down there at this secret place. When this hiding place was in use, you only could enter it through a floor hatch in the kitchen of a big building. Almost nobody knew that this place actually exists. However, it was quite interesting to learn things about the war from an other view than from the Swiss neutrality. After this visit in the museum we splitted up, so that Ylva and Karin could go shopping in the Oxfordstreet and David, Jonas and I could go to Hamley's, the biggest toy store all over the world. The three of us walked to the store with a little detour to the Buckingham Palace. Then we joined those many many people (mainly kids) who were already there. Hamley's has 5 floors full of every toy you've ever seen or thaught about. This was David's paradise. He bought some toys and was really exited to prove them later in the hotel. When it was time for lunch we met Ylva and Karin again and ate in an Indish restaurant. After a delicious meal we wanted to do some more shopping, this time toghether. So we went to the Doctor Marten's shoe store and then to an other one where I bought a pair of shoes, because my old sneakers were not that pretty-looking anymore. After a while in the shops we got tired and decided to split up again, so that Karin could carry David and Ylva back to the hotel and go to some more shops for her own and Jonas and I could take a bus to the Hard Rock Cafe, where I wanted to buy a shirt. It's not that I collect them official, but my Dad brought me and my brother some times such T-shirts when he was in an other country and therefore I decided to buy one too, when I have the possibility. However, we went "home" too and took a short break, before it was time for dinner in an Italian restaurant. It was long time ago, I was so full. I'm sure, if I would have eaten only one bite more, I would have burst. Because we were not able to do something exhausting after this big dinner and were tired anyway, we took it easily and went just back to the hotel and later to bed.
The entrance to Churchill War Rooms
When the hiding place was in use, there was always a guard in front of the office room.
David and me in front of the Buckingham Palace, where the Queen of England lives.
The Queen built out of Lego in Hamley's
Sunday; Tower of London and filmstudio
This day we had a tough schedule: First we wanted to go to the Tower of London and have a look on the crown jewels, before we eat lunch and take the tour bus to "Making of Warner bros. Harry Potter studio tour", which was my personal highlight in this holydays. But let me tell from beginning.
After our breakfast we took a bus to the Towerbridge. From there we walked further to the place in front of the Tower of London. Even if the ticket sale point didn't open yet, Karin said that it would be smart if one of us would already stand in the queue, because there will be a really huge crowd when the sale point opens. Therefore she was waiting for buying tickets, while the four others of us had a look into one of the souvernier shops. Then we were standing in a queue as well, in the one in front of the entrance. This strategy was very intelligent I think, because otherwise we would have had to wait more than one hour to get in. After we walked through the entrance, we actually wanted to follow a guide, but we just missed one and this meant that we would have had to wait half an hour for the next. So we just decided to go for our own. An other smart idea of Karin was, to visit the crown jewels before all the other tourists do this. Unfortunately it wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the building, but I won't forget this anyway. You could see every single crown that has ever been worn of an English king, queen, prince or princess, every sceptre they used, all the dishes out of gold, clothes they wore on a ceremony, weaved with finest silk and gold thread, and a lot of other very precious things from the English royality. I was most impressed of the sceptre with a diamant as big as a hen's egg, that Elizabeth II had in her crowning and of a punch bowle out of gold with so many small details that it took longer to forge it than its smith lived. After the crown jewels we went around and learned things about the history of Englands royal family. When we saw enough we decided to go out and buy a coffee at Starbucks that we will drink on the way to the Themse, where we wanted to take a boat. The boat took us a bit upwards where we walked along the river. After a while we passed BigBen and took some pictures, before we arrived the train and busstation where also our tourbus would run. Because there was a little time before we had to catch the bus and we didn't eat lunch yet, we went to a restaurant and ate hamburgers. Then it finally started. I took a short nab while the bus drove about 1,5 hours to the studio. Inside the studio self, we had three hours to watch all the filmsets, props, costumes, drawings and so on. It was so amazing I hardly can't describe it. After the battery of my camera was dead, I took a thousand more pictures with my mobile phone. In the end of the whole tour was a big fan shop with everything possible. Hogwarts school uniforms, wands of almost every fim character, pins, mugs, books and and and. When our bus took us back to London, we all were tired but lucky. This was really worth to visit!
The Towerbridge
Inside the tower of London
Taking some typical tourist photos in front of London Eye...
... and BigBen
woohoo: our tour bus
This building contains the dream of thousands of children all over the world - and I was there!
Where Harry Potter spent his childhood
Daniel Radcliffs very first costume in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone. Cute, isn't it? :-)
I'm sure you know well to whom this costume belongs ;-)
Dubledore wants to have a talk
Wigs for the stunt doubles
Hogwarts' clock
a golden Snitch
The entrance to the chamber of secrets in the second Harry Potter film
The livingroom of the Weasley's house
a anonym deatheater with mask
Dobby, the free elf. He looks so real.
A paper model of Hogwarts. After I had to build a paper model in my art class in Switzerland too, I know how long this takes and how exhausting this is to build. And even if my own model of a building was not at all detailed, I got almost desperate, so how must the builder of this genious model feel...
Saturday; market and afternoontea
The next morning we went up early and ate an English breakfast with toasts, bacon, eggs and tomatoes. Then we were ready to go out for a walk in the city. First we took one of these typical red double-decker buses and hopped off near the Hidepark. To David's pleasure we found the Lady Diana's playground, which was, if I discribe it with David's words "en lekplats med klass" (eng. a playground that is in a class of it's own). David, Ylva and I walked around and tested the many different constructions and installations. There was a lot to discover and we had fun. Anyway, we had to go further after a while and walked down the streets until we reached a market. They sold fruits, accesoires, clothes, freshly prepared food, and many many other funny or weird things. We stoped here and there and watched all the people walking around and doing their business. This also made us hungry, so we were looking for a restaurant and finally found a Spanish one. Then it started to rain, as it is usually in whole England, but we're fortunately not out of sugar, so it didn't kill us. David was a bit bored, therefore we decided to have a look into the gigantic m&m store. It was amazing to see on how much things you can put a m&m logo. Shirts, ties, shorts, pens, pillows and mugs are just a few examples. But the most important part of the store were of course the m&ms their self. You could buy them in every single colour you can imagine. Inside the store was also a very huge crowd of people, therefore we decided to just buy some few things and go out again. We also didn't want to be late, so that we have enough time to go back to the hotel and change clothes or whatever before we went to a high-end hotel restaurant for afternoontea. This was really great! I felt like a very important person in this comfortable chair and with all the small but delicious sandwiches and desserts. When we were finished after maybe 2 hours, all the stores or museums were already closed, so we just walked full and confident to the hotel. We knew, the next day is going to be busy as well.
 |
| yummi :-) |
In my opinion all m&ms taste the same, but nevertheless it's funnier to have a lot of different colours in your own plastic bag.
Let's take some special Halloween-m&ms! :-)
This was so delicious, I'm almost getting hungry everytime I see this picture.
