Amie's Travels

Well, its official. My theory has been supported SUBSTANTIALLY with my new findings.  I have this theory that wherever I go, the weather follows me. Pour example, when I came back from Quebec, Saskatchewan had the same, nasty, muggy weather that we had in Quebec, LAME. Exhibit B, when I came from Canmore where it was not so hot and came back to Regina, then we had out not so hot summer that we had this past year. AND NOW, the final piece of the puzzle has fallen! Regina has a huge blizzard, closing the schools and the highways, making it impossible to leave the house with the snowed in areas unless you want to trudge through waist deep snow. Yesterday, we got a blizzard just like that! Crippling our every movement, canceling plans and outings! I, however, still had a night class and had to trudge through the snow. I was not walking the 2.5km it is to school like I regularly do and I am not biking through the snow as its too hard, so I had to take the stupid bus. But, even getting to the bus was such a horrible task as there was so much snow that all the paths were waist deep and it just sucked. Plus, the bus was at least ten minutes late more than it usually is. Gah, so as you can see, the weather gods spy upon my destiny and declare that I shall forever be haunted by a meteorological ghost. BOO!

Anyways, back to the dimensions of reality .

MONDAY:

Not much going on here, went to class, hung around the university, then went to Daniela’s apartment for a movie. We watched Lindsay Lohan in I know who killed me. I left early as I was starting to fall asleep like standing up and I wanted to get on the time schedule. I got home and then I felt slightly awake so talked to Brendon for like ten minutes then got sleepy again and went to bed. Apparently the movie had a dumb ending anyways, but it IS Lindsay Lohan.

TUESDAY:

Well, much more productive things going on here. Went to the university and got some shit done, then met with some friends about going to Estonia for a week. About me and six other people are going to go from here, to Stockholm, to Helsinki, to Tallinn, stay in Tallinn for two days and then back up to Stockholm and the Umea. So, that will be an amazing trip I think. I’ve also made my decisions about other trips. Such as I am going on the trip to Russia, and I’m going on the trip that we ski in Norway as long as the rental of equipment is possible and not to expensive. I’m also going to Jokkmokk which is above the polar circle, for one day, which for sign up is on Thursday (today).

After this meeting, I went to IKSU with Daniela and we got our cards and worked out lots and all the razzi-matazz. I did a good 30 mins of cardio and 30 of weight training. I felt really good afterwards, I think it was just what I needed and I fell asleep slightly normal that night. I still woke up at 530am the next morning as I keep doing. But, the IKSU place has everything and I’m really excited that I signed up. I can finally get back into my summer shape that I was before I ran the QCM and I’ll be ready in time to run it when I get back and then hopefully I can still train when I’m in China, we’ll see..

After the workout, I went over to Linderhallen to the coffee bar and hung out with Anne and we had fika. I had a falafel sandwich and a cool glacier lemon water stuff that they have here. It was delicious ^.^. So Anne and I chatted it up for a bit and it was quite fun, then we headed out to our homes after and saw fireworks for the event going on that night. They were pretty to watch . Then I got home and just kind of relaxed as I was tired and I went to bed after talking to Dad, Bettyanne and little Jackson! ^.^ I also talked to Brendon a little later on which, of course, is always nice to see a face I’m fond of, SINCE THE REST OF YOU ARE TOO LAZY TO SKYPE ME. SEE IF I BRING YOU BACK ANY BRAGO, COOKIES OF THE GODS. I also went and kept the new girl company that just came from the UK. SHE HAS THE SAME NAME AS ME, A-M-I-E. It’s pretty boss, A-Team ASSEMBLE! So we chatted for a bit in her apartment and then off to bed!

WEDNESDAY:

Well, Wednesday, again, woke up at 530 on non-purpose so I kind of lawled around in bed for a while then just decided I’d just get up. Which SUCKED, so badly . So I got up and I tried to get a hold of the guy that was selling a bike, but I ended up meeting him at 10am. Although, it had started getting blizzardy outside, and for some reason, I decided I would take a different way because it was apparently shorter, to alidhem which is very far away, and I got lost and ended up doing a 40 minute circle, walking, in this blizzard back to my street. Then I just festered in anger and walked to the university the way I knew and he ended up just meeting me there thank the lamb of god. So I payed 400kr for it which is sooo cheap considering everyone else wants like 800 SEK for theirs and 500kr is about a good price I was willing to pay. But, its a rickety old bike, but it’ll work for the four months that I’m going to use it then I’ll just sell it to someone when I leave. So, after that WHOLE ordeal I just went home and said that I had had enough of trudging and I was so sore already from working out the day before, now I had walked probably like 6 or more km around in a blizzard. Then I had to ride this bike home in the blizzard, uphill . You can imagine that I could not move when I got home and I lied in bed and had a two hour nap, but it was a gooooooooood nap . Then I finally ate something as I don’t recall eating anything in the morning. I might have eaten, but I just actually don’t remember as my eating habits are messed up due to the time change…hmm… I should probably buy some more groceries today. But, anyways, I still had a night class at 1800, so the blizzard at this point of course was horrible and I had to wait for the stupid bus to be late. The class itself was interesting and I sat next to Courtney, the girl from Calgary and I recall that we learned that Santa is really from Sweden. APPARENTLY. Although, there was a dispute about how the Finnish people claim it and so do the Norwegians. I still vote he is from Canada, the people of Alert, NWT have been lying to us all this time I am convinced. But yes, that was my day and then I just came home and sat in exhaustion. I also apparently found out that there was a sauna in my basement from the new girl. I will have to try that today.

Other than that, for today, Thursday, I am going to University as I have to sign up for the Jokkmokk trip at the office and also make a trip to the archaeological lab for my Vikings class. Its going to be sweet. Then off to the centre like I was suppose to yesterday to open a bank account if I can and then some other well-deserved shopping. However, I might just end up going on Saturday, but then the bank is not opened probably as banks here are even worse than BMO’s opening hours. I KNOW RIGHT, SHOCKING! But, yes I’ve just been eating and lazing around since 6 this morning so I should probably stop eating and shower. Sorry, no pictures, I didn’t feel like taking a picture of the blizzard as all of you just had one, you didn’t need a reminder. I’ll take lots of pictures soon, don’t worry!

Amie

Well, we had out team building day which was AWESOME to say the least! Team 9 rocked the socks of all those who opposed us and we won all of our events except for the last one, but that’s because we felt bad for Team 10 not winning any of their events so we let them win this one !

This is how it rolled:

I'm obviously the one in the blue toque i always wear.

First we had the snow sculpture competition! Our team decided to make a jacuzzi! We made a sweat ass jacuzzi in the snow and put people in it, the put snow on their laps so it was like WATER! Crazy awesome! Then it was all GROUP PICTURE!

Then, we went inside for fikka! (This is a common word used in Sweden, it means break or coffee time, Swedish people will tell you that they love the fikka!)

After this were had races on…what did they call it…frick I don’t remember…but it meant like a baby toboggan. And we had to push on person in this little tiny baby toboggan. It was crazy hilarious!

After this, we did and Irish Christmas! And after I saw what it was I totally understood! HAHA. What you do is you take a brumball stick (sweden sport, it is like a smaller baseball bat) and you twirl around on the ground with your forehead on the handle of the stick ten times. After this you must get up and run back to your team and tag the next person. You don’t feel that dizzy when you are doing it but as soon as you get up it is like you’re drunk! It’s hilarious to watch people do it! LOL! Everyone looked like they were drunk!

After this we did the classic pass the orange in the chin thing. My hair kept getting in the way though, but we still won! Hoorah!

After that we did like…a seven legged race? Basically five people tied together! It was awesome! It was also hilarious because when they got to the turn around point, both teams got stuck at each other and almost fell down trying to move out of the way and it just looked like a mess of people fighting and pushing!

After that, we went and we played no feet. where you have to get seven people with no or less feet on the ground in a shape or formation that is creative and no person can be in the same position. People just kept trying to do dumb things and it was all blah! I just stayed out of that one, I was like, oh I’m staying out of this! But yes, we let Team 10 win this one .

Don't you love it when boys are pushed into uncomfortable spaces?

Then the day was done and I was suppose to go to Forfest (pre-party) at 530 (yes the swedes start this early). But, I wasn’t feeling good in the morning and then as soon as I got home I felt it . And then I was down for the count for the rest of the weekend. I couldn’t get out of bed. And I had no food left, but I didn’t feel like eating anyways. But yes, I did absolutely nothing ALL WEEKEND. Disgusting, I know.

But, today however, I finally went grocery shopping! THANK THE LORD! And I made the most delicious sandwich ever and bought some BRAGO! The most delicious swedish cookies ever, they are my new love! Except, Patch Bear ate them all! OH NO!

Fuck, Patch Bear Ate all of the BRAGO!

Tonight, going to hang out with Daniela at her apartment because their common room has a tv and dvd player! so we’re going to watch a movie! I’m bringing my wine that I never used from the weekend and some fanta! They are crazy about their fanta here! But that’s all for now! Tomorrow is finally my geography class and I will let you know how that goes!

Because we're 63 degrees, it gets dark at like 3pm and this is what it looks like.

Well here is the recap of the past three days:

Wednesday:

Well, I had my first class that day at 1:15, so I slept in a little and went to the univesrity like an hour early to try and find where the frick my classroom was. They don’t have a SYSTEM like we do back home. And they have no page in english or swedish to explain the room number system and the letters accompanying them. So, I went there early to TRY and figure out where it was. It was in C104 and I thought, oh, maybe the code is for the bulidings as they are labelled, A..B…C…CC…etc. But, C was the library, but I went there anyways to ask where it was and I got pointed to the Humanities building (something in swedish that I can’t remember, like Humanisethussek or something) in the basement where are MILLIONS of classrooms. BUT, I did manage to figure it out!

My first class was Milestones in History Swedish I (there are four levels, a new one starts like ever four weeks I think). It was pretty cool, we talked about viking conquests from each scandinavian country and how a lot of the original people were asimilated into central european culture from their ventures. We also get to go to the archeaological lab next thursday and see all these ancient viking relics! Which, I think is pretty cool, but may be lame to the rest of you . Then, there was orientation at 4, but our class, that was suppose to be two hours, ended early. So, me, and the American girl that I met from Seattle ate coffee on the cool coffee hours above all of the lectures halls in the Linderhallen building.

The orientation thing was so long . Until nine o’clock. But we did learn a lot of things, there was a lecture about Umea and cultural differences, a lecture about the Sami people of the north (native peoples) and then information about IKSU (HUGE sports facility with literally everything) then IKSU alpin and IKSU frulifts (skiing and outdoor activites). Then some stuff from the student unions and then we went outside and played soccer in the snow. It was pretty fun, but I got some bruises on me and I got soaking wet. I missed the bus then had to walk home and got sick. I then did not leave my room on Thursday as I was sick .

Friday:

Friday, I slept in by accident and almost missed my bus as from sleeping all day the day before I couldn’t sleep anymore when it came to Thursday night. So then I didn’t fall asleep till six am this morning and then I slept until like maybe 11. But, there was a tour going on in the centre so I went to that. That went on till about four or five and then we went shopping around the centre for some things that we all needed. I’ve started hanging out with three German girls, Maria, the one that I knew the first day, Daniella which lives right next to me which is nice and the other girl I can’t remember her name, I only heard it like once! But, she is still very nice. But, the four of us went back to Maria’s apartment in Aldheim (I live in Mariheim/Marievagen) which is past the university and further from my house. It’s where I got lost the other day and ended up going further instead of closer to the university. But, anyways, we went there and we all cooked tacos together and had some wine! It was fun, and we talked and put on music and it was a very nice girl’s night. I left around ten and we had to wait for the stupid bus again and we also had to transfer buses. The bus took forever and then we went to the Universum (university area) stop and waited. The bus was over twenty minutes late that would actually take us to our stop because the other bus was so late that all the other buses had already STOP running. IT SUCKED. But, now I am finally home at like 12am and I am tired and now I have to have a power nap so that I can talk to Brendon a little later . Slightly suckish, oh well. There is always tomorrow!

Tomorrow is Saturday and there is a lot of international/exchange student stuff going on. We have team building day with our buddies at 12pm so we are doing GOD KNOWS what in the snow. I will be extra prepared this time! Then after that I am going back to Maria to eat our left overs! Yum! Then we have pre-parties at each of our respective buddy groups’ Swedish people’s houses (there are three Swedish students in each group of international students) and then there is the international pub night at a club called REX downtown that everyone is going to. I’m not very much into the clubbing thing, but I am going anyways because if I don’t get out I will just stay in my room the whole time and be scared of ever leaving! And I won’t meet a lot of other new people! And I have met lots of nice girls so far! Mostly Germans it seems though! Lol, there are tons of them here! I  met a few Canadians on Tuesday, the one crazy guy from Yorkton and one from Saskatoon and another from Calgary. The crazy guy from Yorkton is in my history class and asked if he could borrow notes to go register for his other class. (In order to fully register you must show up on the first day of class and put your name on the list or they give your spot to someone else).

Some other exciting stuff is all the trips that are offered to us. I already booked an amazing snowboarding trip to Svanstein near the polar circle! So excited! And there are trips to Latvia, St. Petersberg, northern Sweden (above polar circle) and parts of Norway and all these cool things happening! I am very very excited! Hopefully, I can go on some of them! But, anyways, not anymore that I can think of, talk to you all later!

Well, I got all moved in on Sunday and we bought some groceries for me and set me up all alone in my dorm room . It felt very lonely and I wanted to cry lots and just go home at first. But, I moved the furniture around a little bit and that helped a lot. I moved the bed by the window and that always makes me feel better! The way the room was before was just dumb becuase there’s a ledge thing all along the window wall and someone put the shelf like diagonally against that, what a waste of space and just didn’t feel good at all. Maybe it was block my CHI! lol.

But, after I got myself settled it wasn’t so bad and I ate my pre-made soup and went to bed after talking to some people on the internet. Which sucks btw. I wanted to watch a movie on here to make myself feel more at home, but I can’t stream anything and you can’t really download anything, so I was out of luck. But, apparently, there’s a good site to get movies off of. But anyways..

Today, I felt like NOT getting out of bed because this bed is EXTREMELY comfy. Yes, this horrible dorm bed is really comfy. And I didn’t want to get up . But, I did because I had to as there was orientation at 130. I thought about taking the bus, but I decided to try and figure out the walk there, plus I’d kind of get the sense of where I am more. At the moment I’m just totally clueless and lost, of course. So, I had a nice walk and I took at few pictures of the nature, which is very nice. The walk also made me feel a lot better because of all the pretty nature around. Hmm, someone above me has huge feet, I can hear them walking around. Anyways, yes I walked to the university and I somehow managed to find this Lecture Hall thing and I sat and listened to all the important stuff for orientation. I met one girl there who is very nice. Her name is Maria and she’s from Eastern Germany! We exchanged phone numbers after we had a nice long conversation and also got online information! Hopefully, we’ll be going to the pub tomorrow night together! Everyone seems to love their jager here, so I’m guessing that’s what we’ll be around the most.

After that, I walked home and one of my room-mates was actually out. It was a Swedish guy from here! Me and him ate supper together and then another Swedish girl that lives here joined us for a bit and we had some drinks together. Then I met the exchange student in our dorm that’s also from Germany. She seems very nice. But, after that I was pretty exhuasted with information overload so I went to my room to relax and sleep. I feel asleep for two hours then Brendon texted me to walk up to chat on Skype for an hour while he had internet priviledges. So, I talked to him for a bit.

And now, I’m up at 540 in the morning because I can’t sleep and I’m writing in my blog talking to Bettyanne on Facebook. I made her promise to buy a webcam so I can see my little Jackson . Because I MISS HIM SO MUCH. Nephews are just too cute, are they not? Well, at LEAST mine is, BE JEALOUS! Anyways, that’s all I got for now. Tomorrow I’m going into the centre with Jessica to buy some essentials and more food then back to the Uni for some more student stuff at 6pm. My one class doesn’t start till this Wednesday and the other one that I have doesn’t start till next Wednesday! Yay, I was going to sleep in today, but that failed. Talk to you all tonight.

Love,

Amie

Well, yesterday, didn’t do too much! We went to the centre and I got a swedish SIM card!! Cool stuff! It’s from a company called Halebop! That sounds pretty nifty to me! But, my phone is locked and needs a restriction code to unlock and apparently you can get one from your company, but the guy my dad talked to at Rogers is a complete IDIOT, obviously. However, Jessica’s family is letting me borrow a phone that’s been in their drawer for some time so that is good!

Other than that, we just stayed at home as I was really tired and we just kind of watched movies (Les Fabuleaux Destin au Amilie) and I talked to Brendon and other people on Skype. Everyone should get skype so I can talk to them!

Then, today, I managed to wake up at 9:58 their time to go to the bathroom before our alarm at 10 o’clock so that was good! I still am always tired during the middle of the day though, my body is so messed . But, we’re going to see avatar today in 3D!! I’m very excited! Then after we’re going to the university and moving me into my apartment! Hopefully all goes well! I’m not sure if there will be a cable in my room or not when I get into my room to hook up the internet so I might not be on for a while. But, hopefully within a day or two I will be back on! Love you all!

Amie

They only drink it at Christmas, just like how mini-eggs were only at Easter.

Well, I arrived in Sweden in tact and in one piece everyone!

For me, this is an accomplishment in itself as I’m deathly afraid of planes and heights, as I’m sure you all know, as well as other irrational fears such as zombies and asphyxiation. Anyways, I got to Umea and my penpal Jessica and her twin sister Camilla were waiting there with a big big sign that said “Amie, I’m here!” It was very awesome and cute!!! I was happy to get there, but they lost ALL of my luggage . So I only had my backpack with my computer and stuff. No clothes or toiletries (as you can’t bring liquids or gels as carry-on). But, thankfully, I got them this morning! Jessica let me sleep in till 11 o’clock! .

This afternoon, we took the bus from Savar, to Umea, and we did a tour of the centre with all the shopping and walked along the river! We didn’t really do any shopping quite yet, but we went to the library so Jessica could get mathbooks and I got a look at the system. Its ALL letters, not like the decimals system or like the U of R system, way different than that. But, it was easy enough to find everything! Later, we met with her mom and sister and we saw them at their job and we went to get groceries and they bought me a big bag of Candy!! I felt bad, but it was so nice of them! They are making me feel very welcome and have been so nice to me! I only hope I can repay it one day when Jessica comes to Canada and she can stay at my house!!!

Other than that, I stayed up talking to Brendon on Skype for a bit before he’s off to Regina Beach to see his grandfather for the weekend! It was very nice to talk to him and we were talking about doing a roadtrip during the summer as I have to go to Calgary to get my Chinese visa! So hopefully that works out too! Anyways, first day in sweden was good, but I’m still so tired. So now its time for bed! Talk to everyone later!

Amie