week 1 - a brainfull

Infact I'll do it today. Appologies to those I might offend here in Sweden but it was my first impressions. Some have changed since. I',m posting now but this was writen weeks ago so the tense might not make sence in some parts...

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I made it to Sweden! I arrived on the 9th of August and stayed in a hotel for the night and wanderered around town (Malmö) finding out a little bit about where I shall live for a while. On the 10th I rocked up to Malmö University Reception and found out where I was living and a few other bits of information. There's about 120 of us spread out across the city in 4 main buildings. I was told I was living in a place called Rönan with about 40 students accross 2 floors. Gulp...

We were each alotted to a 'fadder' which is a previous student who can help you out with questions and problems etc - i'm not to sure who mine is but I seem to have survived so far by trial and error. Our fadder (for that day) piled about 6 of us into a people-mover along with half tone of bagage and set off accross town to Rönan. There is some kind of collective agreed madness that governs the road rules here and I had to constantly stop myself from informing our driver that he was on the wrong side of the road.

We arrived at Rönan. It's a 10 story retired hospital now put to use as a vacination clinic and highschool. It's still under costruction to it aquire its new purpose so we were lead through a crowd of workmen, patients and equally confused looking students. Up a big lift and onto 6th. The rest of my group got off on 5 so the janetor gave me the 30c tour - hall, kitchen, your room (in swedish).

Finding out I was going to live in a dorm was a little bit of a shock - finding out I had my own room and my own bathroom made the world a nicer place. The momement I closed the door the chaos outside disappeared. My room is about 8 metres by 4 meters - i have a single bed, big desk, shelves, bedside, wardrobe and a great big view of Malmo city. It is a mercy to be able to colapse into my chair and watch over my domain at the end of the day. Anyway after brief inspection and unpack my room was adjusted enough to call mine. Were do I cook my food?
There are about 20 peole on 6th floor and we share a big kitchen with 2 cookers, 4 fridges and a big table, dozens of cupboards and a balcony. It is certainly a place of socialising. Most of the population is female and I'm reguarly informed of whos top is the prettiest today, who ate too much cake last night and what the latest discovery from 'willies' (shopping centre over the road) is. It is a place off parties and the organisation of parties. As I write this there will be one tonight for some guy who lived in Ronan last year and is now leaving - i don't know why. Dinner is an act of supreme organisation - aquire the required hardware from dishwashers, sinks, cupbourds, other people, get your food together, find the the oil, stand near a cooker till it comes free, cook and get out. Breakfast is easier - I have that down pat and people aren't such big chatters in the mornining.

There is a big Ozy contigent in Rönan (about 15) so you wont find me coming back with a sweet Swedish accent - probably a stronger Australian one. We've got a bunch of primary school teachers from Tasmania and all sorts of odds-and-ends from Melbourne and Sydney - only two of us from Brisbane. The rest are European of one-sort-or-another. There's a noisy French guy downstairs who's trying his accent on the ladies but I don't think he's had much luck. There's one guy who has lived (by choice) in the dorm for the past 4 years. The general aggreement is that he just picks off the best peices each semester and has his Swedish way with them.

I own a bike now and it takes me about 10 minutes to get into to uni each morning. It has also taken me to many other bits of town and to all the bits of the Swedish festival (further on). At the moment we're all doing a Swedish culture course. This includes lots of interesting excursions to other bits of Sweden (one to a place called Lund last week). The bit that I dread, though, is the Swedish language content. We have to spend approximatly 2.5 weeks doing an emersive language course each morning for 3 hours. Emersive in that the teacher does everything in Swedish with a big grin and expansive hand gestures. Swedish is a beautiful language (i think) full of song like sounds and melody. I approach it with all the charm of a blind butcher holding a ruster cleaver. I dread the moments shes squares her cross-hairs on me asks some simple question in Swedish. These days I stay away from the front rows and always try to look busy - failing that I sit there with dum look on my face like a rabit caught in the headlights of a car. I think she avoids asking me questions now - we're both tired of correcting my pronunciation.

The highlight for this week has been the Malmo festival. Its a bunch of big-top-tents, stages and other venues spread out accross town showing concerts, theater, film, music etc etc all free. All sorts of cultural stuff. I saw a good film yesterday called "look both ways" (Australian) and and band called "Tiger lo" on Saturday night. Also saw a two peice thrash mettle\goth thing for something different. One guy stuts back and forth across a stage growling into a mike wile the other bangs away on a electric drum kit to a tchno backing beat - lots black leather, chains and big guys with long black hair at that one. Had to walk away after 10 mintues.

The highlight of the festival (so far)has to be a the Swedish orchestra doing the theme tracks from well-known video games and movies last night. The dj was Swedish so I couldn't catch all the titles. Meddle-of-onnor, everquest, many from the commodore 64 days, final fantasy and the highlight of the night super mario bothers - best cover ever.

Well that covers what I'm up to. This Thursday I'm on an excursion around the tip of southern Sweden for the day. This friday a big party is being organised, as part of the program, by the students. There's already a bit of argy-bargy as the alpa males and femails start pushing their views on who should do what and how it should be orgainsed - will be good to watch that one play itself out.
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There you go...