kiruna trip

kind of strange, writing about kiruna from serbia, but i can't sleep now, so...

- thursday 31:
almost without sleeping (but smiling, important though) we went to the airport, had breakfast there, and went all the way sleeping. surprise when we arrived, that we found david (from architecture as well) waiting for us! he wasn't actually waiting for us, he was with another group of spanish erasmus that were just leaving, but it was funny to find him with the sign of "rosa and maite"... and he saved me lending me his gloves and sunglasses (thank you!)

so it was the owner of the cabins we were going to sleep in the one that was waiting for us, and he took us first to the centre. we visited the few few things that kiruna has to see and then changed our plans and went to the mine (the biggest iron mine) that day. it was amazing, specially the way down through the tunnels with the bus. once down it was like a museum, where they explained you everything and showed you machines and so, but you couldn't see where they were working at the moment, obviously. the best part for me (although lukas laughed at me) was seeing all the group with our funny yellow helmets walking through a tunnel in complete darkness XD

we came back to the centre and went to buy food for all those days, and then the man came to pick us up and took us home. and we had the best welcome possible: northern lights just as we came out of the van... impossible to describe, and even more what i felt when i saw them. i knew it was going to be very special for me if we saw them (i won't say i went to kiruna just to try to see them, but almost), but what i felt is just indescribable...

so they faded away and we went inside. prepared dinner, rested, and then some more lights again! not many, but enough for nice pictures, and for me that would have been enough to return happy to stockholm.


- friday 01:
breakfast and to get dressed for the snowmobiles.

[just explain first that we were very lucky with the cabins (we had one for 10 and another one for 2) because they were situated just where the equipment and the sauna were, so we had everything near, but still in the middle of nowhere. and the house was so nice inside...]

while we were waiting for the other groups to come and get dressed (special clothes, boots, helmets...), i spent the time playing around with the snow, jumping, rolling, and doing all what i had ever wanted to do with so much snow since i was 4 or 5 years old :P (of course i deserved several videos, but i was so happy back to childhood...)

the snowmobiles amazing. i thought i was going to be more scared, but i wasn't, we even drove above 100 km/h over some frozen lakes! and among the trees, and jumping a bit, and stopping to avoid the reindeers on the way, and hands and feet freezing, and our nose so cold that almost fell into pieces, and almost falling, and risking it again... but amazing, really. and the landscape... i'll show you pictures.

we went to the ice hotel, visited it, had a coffee, and back (with the snowmobiles). and then we ate reindeer meat with potatoes and lingonberry (really homemade lunch) around the fire outside the sauna (the man prepared it for all). it was very nice, the problem was that it was snowing and windy, so we weren't so confortable, but it was also interesting to feel this -20C!

then a small rest and to the sauna! first with other 5 erasmus drinking and playing silly games, and then just our group, very nice. and we did bathe in the frozen lake, and went outside to jump into the snow!

nice dinner again at home, and playing mafia! we saw a bit the northern lights, but behind the clouds, so there wasn't much to see. but the next day some people told us that was the first time they had seen something like that, to be able to see the lights even through the clouds, so that they must have been really intense.


- saturday 02:
we took a train to narvik, in the coast of norway, and even a bit closer to the north pole...
we had less than 2 hours there, but the city didn't have that much to see. the important part was the journey, through the mountains, lakes, abisko, natural park, kebnekaise... and the fiord, of course.

it takes more than 3 hours, so we arrived quite late. bought some things, and home. gerard and josep started preparing the sauna (they were the experts!), but we finally didn't use it, not as it's supposed to be used at least...

there were northern lights again, and getting bigger and bigger, so we decided to put all our warm clothes on and go to the lake (so we used the sauna to warm us up fom time to time). and we saw the most amazing sight i've ever seen. so huge lights, over almost all the sky, so intense, and moving, even changing colour a bit... for hours, incredible. the highest moment lasted around 2 hours, but before that they were there around 2 hours more, and after they still remained a few hours more, less intense but moving faster.

people started to freeze and go home, and we stayed the last igor, gerard and me sitting on a bench with reindeer skins and a cider. actually it was difficult to decide to go to sleep and say goodbye to that...


- sunday 03:
we had the dogsleds. again getting dressed with these coveralls and warm hats, and to the sleighs. 2 or 4 people in each, and 10 dogs (each). it wasn't so exciting as the snowmobiles, completely different. this was more to relax and see the landscape (with a few small jumps and risky turns, but still), and we were very lucky because it was a perfect day, sunny, beautiful sky... (but still so cold!)

we had a coffee in the middle of the forest, beside a samy hut, and came back.
and once in the camp again, we took the skis and went cross-country skiing. so tiring! so we went a bit far, but not so much. and lukas and me decided just to come back walking and carrying the skis, but it was also tiring!

so we earned a really good lunch. and then a nap and to the sauna!

and back home, dinner, and northernt lights again! yes, we were sooo lucky! they wasn't so spectacular as the day before, but incredible anyway. we went to a platform in the middle of the lake, walking through 50 cm high snow (difficult and tiring, i can tell), and it was freezing there, so we took some pictures and came back. the others went home, but gerard and me just decided to stay a bit longer in the same bench as the day before (as i said, difficult to say goodbye to that...)

back at home we played a few rounds of mafia again, until late, and just before going to sleep a quick goodbye to what remained of the lights, something very light but moving really fast and crazy (and very unusual to see something at all so late, around 4:00).

- monday 04:
to the airport, completely sleepy, breakfast there, flight, and back home - you know from here on...

ps: i will put pictures, but when i'm back in my computer!

200 days

a bit late, but i just realised today that our day 200 was the 16th of february... so i guess the next day to celebrate will be the day 3/4 of erasmus year, the 12th of march. get prepared :)

home to me is reality, and all i need is something real

i've complained a hundred times about madrid, and i've said a thousand more how easy it is to disconnect and forget that it exists at all...
but today i'm writing to say the opposite. after 6 days thinking only/continuously about madrid, i just realised today (after finding resemblance in all parts of belgrade with different neighbourhoods of madrid) that i do really miss it.
i know i will probably disconnect again in a few days, and i will have a more objective view over all of this again... or maybe just less objective (you know, sweden is like a bubble). but right now i would like to feel at home just for a while...





btw, greetings from serbia! i will write more about the trip when we're back...

ps: and the title comes from this song

2 weeks to talk about with a big trip in between, so sorry if i rush a bit, i don't have so much time as you can see...

- saturday 26: 60s party in our flat, and -strangely enough- 60 people there! so yes, the biggest party in our flat until now, we almost took it to the limit (can it carry more? maybe we can check :P). many people disguised, papel flowers all around, stickers, famous couples game, 60s music... it worked, yes. thank you people for helping us to mantain 516's level!

- sunday 27: the night before didn't finish exactly as supposed, but on the other hand i found good help and a better wake up, so... good anyway :) (and thanks again)
i visited igor that had just arrived, then came back to my flat to clean, and finally a little nap.
at night we had dinner in our flat, but first i had to ask several things... i did, problem solved, and perfect dinner.

- monday 28: working day, but so nice! just the 3 girls, without diego, but anyway we managed (diego, i know you were proud of us!). bit of work, bit of chat, bit of dawson... andat night a long and not pleasant wait, although we finally could do nothing to help, but we were there just in case. the next days we also gave as much support as we could, i hope we were somewhat useful...
and i realised quite clearly something that always happens here, when someone is not right, non of us is either... are we so close that we share even feelings in some way? strange...

- tuesday 29: tutorials in the morning, boring lecture in the afternoon, dinner at igor's in the evening. we ended up playing the hands game and trying to beat diego so that he drank a shot of vodka, but after failing twice we decided not to play more because we were going to finish all under the table before making him drink... but maite did! and we have such a good video :)

- wednesday 30: another sunday! (we have about 4 sundays a week now, haha) sunday morning, sunday lunch... but swedish in the afternoon. we found out that definitely we are just 5 of our level there. and we were just sitting together at the back, as the "rebel corner" just as if we were back in high school... funny, but frustrating. are we ever going to reach the level of the class? i really felt out of place, there is such a big gap between swedish 2 and 3...

after that a long, long night trying to leave everything solved before leaving. and, besides other boring things, i had a very nice moment and a very nice conversation that made me regret that the plane left so early...

--- kiruna trip---
(i know i didn't write about my trips the last term in the end, but i promise to do this time!)

- monday 4: we arrived in the afternoon and first of all we saw a surprise in our mailbox: the teacher had sent us what she should have 2 days before our departure to kiruna, apologising, but still she asked us to prepare it for tuesday... so working afternoon (and night!). boring topic, and sleepy mood, but not so bad, anyway! it's nice to work together, the "family" (but diego is not the father as you might think, guess who is who) haha.
and then laia prepared for all of us such a great dinner... so nice, with coloured tablecloth and napkins, candles, a menu! many dishes, a bunch of food, everything so delicious...
it all began because she offered a dinner for those that put our ass into the frozen lake's water more than twice, but we all did many more times, so... :D thank you laia, amazing.

- tuesday 5: early to school to finish our presentation, and lunch with half of sunbyberg people in our school. we had food enough from laia's dinner so we took it there for everyone, funny meeting. then the seminar/presentation, that was much better than we expected (in fact they told us our presentation was perfect, and not so other groups, this teacher is going to love us, haha). i insist on what i said other times, i just think we spanish people are much more effective! less time and better results :)
and, at night, we could finally sleep, that i needed it since a week before!

- wednesday 6: non of us waked up early, of course. then "sunday" morning-afternoon, as usual, swedish essay, and swedish class. still lost and still difficult, but a bit better though.
at night we organised a dinner in our flat to put all the pictures of the trip together. 17 people finally (all around our wooonderful santa claus' table), nice dinner, a few vodka shots then (igor is taking us to the wild side lately :P) and, just when we were going to see the pictures a bisbal song appeared, people started singing rapturously, so we looked for other tacky songs and kept on singing, dancing and having some more shots in my room... and diego took one! D-day...
things finally calmed down (but we even had a neighbour's and a police's visit -not the first time by the way, but they are so nice always here...) and we stayed watching the pictures laia, victor, lukas and me, and after leaving victor just the three of us. and it was a very special moment, wasn't it?
and after they both left as well, i just found the perfect mood, the perfect moment, and felt as good as i had almost never felt since i came to stockholm... :)

- thursday 7: after a day and a half being paranoid without a founded reason i decided to solve it, what meant wasting almost a whole day for nothing, but...
i arrived to university just on time for our lecture (such a strange guy, he began playing a record of himself telling a kind of story over an improvised music, so imagine the rest), and back home.

- friday 8: we went to school without nothing, and we had a presentation at 1... but we were as effective/productive as always and we prepared something good enough, and even finished on time to have lunch calmly with the others. then our teacher loved our presentation (as always, haha), it raised another long discussion, then we saw a strange serbian film, and came back home.
we were too tired to want to party, but still we "forced" ourselves a bit and went to igor's flat, that he had prepared meatballs. after them came vodka, and more vodka, and then we all went to grand garbo (finally!) and still took more vodka... so imagine.
...no comments on this, so i'll just say that all what we have heard about grand garbo (the disco in front of our building) is true, you have to see it to understand it...

- saturday 9: the least painful of my problems was a twisted ankle, but that made me stay at home all day, being lazy and doing nothing, and i think i really needed it, i hadn't stopped since i came back!
lara and edu, 2 friends of andrea, arrived that day as well (until tuesday), but i didn't see them much that day because they were in stockholm.

- sunday 10: we were supposed to leave to helsinki, but after being all of us doubting for days, at 14.15 we realised it was impossible. but we couldn't leave the people that wanted to go without tickets, so maite and i went with them to the viking terminal, got the tickets in the last minute (as usual!), and then went walking (slowly and with a bit of difficulty because of my foot) to gamla stan to eat some muffins with all the spanish people, quite a lot. then back to sundby.
at night, a big dinner in our flat, and some rounds of mafia... :D

- monday 11: to try not to feel so bad about not going to helsinki, we went to uppsala, igor, maite, diego and me. it was a beautiful sunny day, so we had a very nice walk around. it doesn't take much time to visit the most important places of the city, so we didn't have to hurry. and anyway at 5 we were back home!
dinner, bit of hairdressing... and me getting worse and worse with my throat. it had begun the night before, but it got worse during the day, and at night, it was my worst in the last 2 or 3 years, dizzy, shivering... :'(

- tuesday 12: i woke up as i could and decided to "drug" myself to avoid feeling as bad, and it helped :P we worked a few hours in the proyect, had lunch, went to class to another boring seminar, the pills lost effect, i felt like dying again, came back home, took another one, rested, and went to stockholm.
it was laia's day, so we had dinner in gamla stan and came back. she seemed a bit sad because we were all going home so early, but she didn't know we had 2 other surprises for her! so we went to her room later and had a very nice moment, i know she really liked it, you could see it in her face... but you deserve that and more, laieta!

ps: today's song is just an example of that sometimes the most unexpected thing can make a bigger difference than something worked, or be more effective than pills...

one more week

- saturday 19: i woke just on time to have lunch with andrea, that had prepared a very nice meal for both. so we spent the (day) afternoon at home, watching a movie, talking with people that came around... and at night was maurice's goodbye party. we went a bit late because we were busy at maite's, but then the party was fine. many more people than i expected! in fact we were outside in the corridor for a while, but a policeman came so we had to go in again, and it was pretty crowded... but we were ok :)

- sunday 20: we organised a really good sunday-breakfast, even with pankakes! because we needed energy to go to millesgården, a park-museum in lidingö (north-east of stockholm). we spent half the day there, we saw about 1000 pieces from carl mille's (sculptor) work, we realised that lidingö must be a rich area (such big houses!)...
we came back to sundby, most of us, and we decided to have late lunch/early dinner all together in our flat. and it also was a "sunday meal", staying there talking until nearly 8 pm... and after a short "break", we went to see a film to lukas' flat.
and in between victor came to say hello, he had just arrived :) and anthony had arrived too, though we hadn't seen him yet, but we are all here now!
well, not all exactly, but at least the ones that are supposed to be...

- monday 21: we went to university quite "scared" because they were going to tell us how the rest of our year was going to be like... and it wasn't bad! it seems we're going to work a lot, but i think we can also have a good time. we are only 12 in class (all girls but diego!), and they are all very nice. and we have managed to be andrea, diego, maite and me in the same group, so much easier to take!
after lunch we went to the roma culture centre in the south of stockholm, and we were there about 3 hours talking with some people there. but it wasn't a lecture, we were just sitting around and having a coffee, nice...

- tuesday 22: we had a lecture, and then we went shopping (it's worth going bargain hunting here!). we had dinner near the centre and then to the jam session in gamla stan. we were really a lot of people there, specially from sundbyberg, because it was maurice's last night... half of them left in the middle, but they missed the best part... a swedish girl came on stage with a nykelharpa (see video) and improvised over a blues, and then she started playing a swedish polka and the band little by little found out the chords and started playing, first following her and then improvising as well. it was really amazing, how they did it, how it sounded, everyone's faces...

we came back to sundbyberg singing our national anthemns for maurice (i don't know why he wanted so, but it was really funny), and went to roberto's room to wake him up and sing happy birthday...



- wednesday 23: we met at 7:00 at diego's room to go all together then to maurice's... we went there all together, "petit soleil style", and singing petit soleil in fact! we stayed there a while, eating kanelbullar that jana and diego had prepared, and then we all left... bye bye maurice! :(

back to bed, of course, and then a "sunday lunch" and to our first swedish 3 lesson... all in swedish! what a headache :$ the first half wasn't so bad, i was quite happy because i understood more or less what she was saying, but when we started with exercises and texts, impossible! so i guess we are going to work a lot...
and after that, just dinner and dawson in the chill out corner :)

- thursday 24: lecture in the morning, and in the afternoon we went with our class to visit tensta, a neigbourhood quite near sundbyberg.
we then came back to prepare friday's presentation, and at night we went to sturecompagniet, in the centre, because there was a simple plan party. there was nothing special about them finally, but at least we had an excuse to go out, and the place was really nice...

- friday 25: the presentation had two parts. first we had to show one of our old projects. i explained one from last year and i think they really liked it, they were surprised by the amount of work (but you know, that's what you are expected to do in spain, you can't just pass with a nice model). the second part wasn't so well prepared, but anyway they just liked the discussion we raised, so perfect.
at night, roberto's birthday, with 80 eggs in spanish omelettes :)