Hurricane Gonzalo Warning! Oh wait, it already passed and we survived! It was thankfully not so bad, the house creaked a bit, and it rained like mad for a few hours, but the wind wasn't so much worse than usual. We had decided to manage the storm by having a girls movie night: we're talking wine, blankets, lovey-dovey movies, cookies & chips. After a whole day of lectures and 2½ hours of shopping for Halloween it was a perfect ending of the day!

 

Last weekend it was my turn to hop on the plane and fly over to Montreál. After 6 days there it has been proven that while Montreál indeed is very beautiful, it is far more cold than St. John's, for unknown reasons. 

 

Day 1/6: Arrival at Montreál at 7:30 local time! Jacob was being a sweetheart and picked my up by the airport, so I didn't even have a chance to get lost on my way to the city (thank you).

2/6: This day we were very active! We climbed Mont Royal (local little hill that provides grand view of the city - and full of squirrels!) and saw it's autumn glory, walked to the harbour and saw Old Port ("Gamla stan" för Montreál). Also lured Jacob to his first Starbucks visit ever, and tried on the Canadian cinema's when seeing Maze Runner. God, I NEED to get a hold of those books! (as usual, click on the pictures to enlarge them)

    

  

   

  

 

 

Day 3/6: Today we visited the Botanical Gardens/Jardin Botanique, which managed to be somewhat in bloom despite the season. The gardens are currently engaging in a light festival called "Jardins de Lumière", where they light up the chinese and Japanese gardens. Sadly, my camera wasn't good enought to capture the lights in the dark, but it was so pretty and they had made such a nice show out of it. Additionally, as it's so close to halloween, the greenhouse had a "painted-pumpkins and witch" section <3 On the way we also passed the Olympical stadium, which was very well kept.

 

  

   

 

Day 4/6: We went to the farmer's market at Jean-Talon to buy everything and anything you could possibly need in terms of fruit and vegetables - and you need plenty to make a Thanksgiving dinner! Naturally, we have to engage ourselves in Canadian traditions such as celebrating Thanksgiving (in October, unlike US that celebrates in November), and we do it hardcore!

Day 5/5: Study day! As I didn't mention, I had a midterm the 15th, the day after I got back to St. John's, and s we are responsible people the monday was dedicated to studying. You might think "WHAT YOU SHOULD STUDY WAY MORE THAN THAT! HOW COULD YOU THINK YOU'D HAVE TIME TO TAKE A TRIP WITH A MIDTERM SO CLOSE BY!". We got the results back and I landed on 91/100, so don't worry, I know what I'm doing! AND we cooked the Thanksgiving meal, of course. I managed to make cranberry sauce from scratch, something I've wanted to try out for ages, and with a combined effort we actually managed to do heaps of the suggested foods. Omnomnom!

Day 6/6: Today there was little time for anything but making my way to the airport after a sleeping-in morning. Bye Bye Montreál, nice to have seen you!

Gosh, time flies! We've currently entered the first really thick deadline period, which basically will last until October 23rd (with varying stresslevel degrees). Due to two huge deadlines, and the work I had to do to be able to have a social life/doing the trips we've done, the blogging has been falling behind. But now it's time for a Grand Summary!

 

This Weekend: Schoolwork. Meetings. More schoolwork and meetings. But on Thursday we took a colelctive break, and Anna, Eva and me went to Shamrock City, a local pub for a drink or a beer. There was a live band that played irish music like Galway girl and Fairytale of New York, but also irish versions of Country roads and Avicii. During the night we ended up in a spontaneous dance, just because the mood in the pub was so inviting. A very perfect evening <3

Last weekend: Gros Morne National Park

With four brave girls and a big amount of optimism we rented a car, (automatic, as basically all cars are here. Never driven one before, but it wasn't as hard as I had expected it to be), and road-tripped the 9 hours across the entire island of Newfoundland to the national park Gros Morne, known for its beautiful nature! It was quite scary at first, since my thoughts were "Oh my god do Canada have other rules? Other signs? How do you fill up with gas in this cuntry?!", but we managed to figure everything out. Thankfully I had Anna as a co-driver, and when there's a 9 hour drive you reaaaally need to step away from the wheel after a while! 

 

The first day we did two shorter hikes, since we arrived in the afternoon: the Tablelands and The Lookout. The Tablelands looked like something you'd find in Arizona or Texas, yellow rocks and a little stream from the platfrom mountains. We also encountered a group of wild Caribou's, which was very surprising to us but really cool to have seen. The Lookout was very different - full of maples dressed for Autumn, red, orange & yellow leaves everywhere and a stunning view of the area. After the hikes we drove to our home for the weekend, Bayside Cottage. The cabin was very cute, and easy to find despite the fact that we had to find it in the dark (our hikes took a little longer than expected due to constructions/landslides. 

 

 Tablelands:

 

The second day was dedicated to one single hike: The Gros Morne Mountain. We started early, and walked for 1,5 hours before we reached the foot of the mountain, where warning signs to not proceed unless it was clear sight, wouldn't get dark soon and that we'd better be prepared for some really hardcore climbing. And it has indeed rained and been cloudy during the morning, but by now it had thankfully cleared up. We begaun our climb! And climbed. And climbed. And wondering why there was always yet another little hill to climb when we reached the previous summit. But then we arrived at a crater-like area (resembled the stampede from the Lion king), and it was very unlikely that any more climbing surprises would await us. But other surprises did - in the form of a Moose, in all its glory, who came climbing down from the top. So what do you do, in the middle of a bare mountaintop when a moose starts climbing your way? We can't run or hide, simply hope it wouldn't get too close. And thankfully he decided to take another path, and we could finish our hour-long climb to the summit at 806 meter. It was a tundra-like landscape on the top, with very hard, cold winds that had us stop and wobble aside many times, so we kept a careful distance to the edges. But the view - oh the view! It looked like a mix between a Norweigan fjord and Rivendell from The Lords of the Ring. The way back provided us with this lovely view, and a serpentine-like way down, so no more climbing (yay!). We stopped by a little (windy) lake and had lunch, before we returned to the same trail as we had walked this morning. The whole hike took 7 hours, and when we got back food and beds were the only activities we were willing to take on.

 

The third day we were once again on a tight schedule, since the rental car needed to be back by 21:30. So yet another early morning, and a hike to the Western Brook Pond, that simply was stunning. It was an easy walk there, apart from a couple of overflooded bridges that left us with pretty wet feet. But after yesterday such a walk was welcomed, and the view was worth it. We also did a super-short walk to the west coastline, which was much more approachable than the high mountainwalls and cliffs we have in St. John's! By some almost legal driving (might have crossed the speed limit towards the end, just a little) we got back in time. I must say though, during our road trip we met some proper lumberjack-like Canadians, which was so much fun to have seen (one of those types I approve of stereotypes), and I realized that coffee is, and always will be, the king of roadtrip enjoyment. And throughout the weekend, I couldn't have wished for better company - you're soooooo awesome girls!

 

Three weeks ago:

My darling came over from Montréal to visit me, and I did my best to show him my new world. We went to George street with the girls (the party street - most bars per square meter in north america!), where we indeed had a proper nigh out, but we also got Screeched in, which is a traditional ceremony that makes you an honorary Newfoundlander. A fisherman with a paddle singing songs with you, makes you swear an oath, we got some meat-like thing to eat, had to kiss a cod (fish), and finally drink screech, a local rum. After all this we had earned our diplomas! During his stay we also walked up to Signal hill, Quidi Vidi village, brewery (only the shop though) & harbour, Yellowbelly and Downtown. Next weeks it's my turn to fly over to Quebec over our thanksgiving break.

Four weeks ago:
It was Monicas birthday, which was celebrated with a cosy dinner & pub experience in Downtown, where we sang Happy Birthday in seven languages, and had a general blast! I really enjoy the group of girls I'm hanging out with, so many nice persons <3

 

 

 

Last night was trivia night at Bitter's! We fought our way to a table, named our lovely (but as it was soon discovered, not fully prepared) team "The Parrots/Papegojorna/Papousci" and put on our game faces! But when categories as "Name the Bill", "8-Bit Movie Posters", "Meat" and "Scientific shortenings" was presented, we faltered and after two hours we waved ur wite flag to surrender. But oh how much fun we had despite our lacking knowledge! It's such a nice bundle of people I've gotten to know here, and they make my day!

 

Another run, another view! While most of my days consist of school, lectures and assignments, I have time to go running. Today I took a turn to Quidi Vidi lake, which lies about 15-20 minutes of jogg down the road. I know there is a beer brand called "Iceberg" which is made from this lake, so it was nice to see it in person. On the way back I discovered a little river path back, which was just adorable! Seeing a river in the middle of the suburb, with all the cute houses and garden around. 

Sunday was the second hike, along Cobbler's Path, which also is a part of the east coast trail, which begins at Cape Spear (the hike we did on Saturday). The nature was more forest-like here, rather than wind-worn. Don't get me wrong, this entire island is constantly windy, so you still have to be careful while walking. This hike was also longer, and my legs were pretty worn out from the Saturday hike, but nonetheless it was so beatiful to walk along the coast! Afterwards everyone went to eat pepperoni pizza, before going homw to rest our legs. On the way home it started to rain like crazy (läs: slagregn/ösregn), and by the time I got back I could without any problems squeeze water out of my jeans. But all in all, a really fun first weekend and week here in Canada!

 

This weekend GradFest (the kick-off week) arranged two hikes, and since I'm struggeling getting out of town on my own due to lack of vehicle, I bought the tickets. First out was the Saturday hike, two hours long. It started and and ended at Cape Spear, the most east point of North America. It was super-sunny (got a little tan going!), super-windy (it is not unusual that people actually fall down the cliff and into the Atlantic due to the strong winds), and gorgeous. The wind made the hike endurable, otherwise it'd have been nearly too hot for such a walk. The most North American thing about it all though was the pick-up by a proper, yellow, school bus. 

(By the way - if you click on the small pictures they enlarge, in case you've missed this..)

 

  

This Friday morning Eva had made me agree to go to the 8 AM Yoga class, and against all odds I actually managed to roll out of bed and be there! First class I tried in the free gym, called "The works", and it was surprisingly nice to start the weekend in such a manner. This might become a good habit if things go well. 

 

 

The same day we had the mandatory Business Administration welcome meeting, which mostly contained basic information. It was nice to meet all other business exchange students though, and during the evening a group got together to go to the student pub called "Bitter's". It turned out to be this tiny little pub, the company was just awesome and we ended up staying 'til closing. Also turned out Okey, a guy we met during the concert on monday, worked there, and he joined in as well when he had a few minuted off. 

 

The way around campus has now gone from being a total maze to something managable, and I have started to figure out things like when to leave the house to be in time, how to avoid the most heavy traffic on the way to my classrooms and how the bridges work. But even so, there are sometimes little surprises on the way to school. The other day a big black plastic bag drifted by along the road, quite big and clumpsy. Then it got stuck to the fence and ripped open - and in seconds blue balloons where everywhere! The cars could of course not avoid them, so for several minutes the entire street was filled with balloon-popping-noises. Not sure why anyone would bother filling garbage bags with balloons, but it sure made my walk a little happier!

Today the sun was the most intense since I got here, so I went on a little run. Or so I though, but in the end it was nearly 8 km and took about 90 minutes, with constant up-and-downhills. But I got to see a lot of the city: the downtown, the harbour, the church, the art center and the second-highest top of signal hill, which lies of a really high hill at the port of the St. John's little protected harbour. The atlantic looks just stunning from up there, sadly my pictures does not give the view any justice.

The second day of orientation was far less exciting. Since this part was exclusive to graduate students, more focus on proper faculty welcomes were present, as well as the imtimidating promises of huge workloads. Not the best spent hours of my time here so far.

 

 

When I got back home Eva invited me to join her for a Zumba class the Uni offers at the gym (the gym is free of charge for all students - awesomeness.), and I said yes. And then I accicentily locked myself out of my room, due to a key mix-up when the landlady got them made. So I got help from Caitlyn to contact the landlady, and the door were soon opened, and by now I have a new, very canadian key. But I missed the Zumba of course, so instead I was invited to join Caitlyn for her Yoga class, which was really good compare to the few I've been to back in Jönköping. Seriously, how sweet aren't the housemates of mine? <3 On Wednesday evening we also did a little tour to Walmart, which are about as American a food store gets in Canada, and Dominion, which also is a food store but with better fresh products. The three of us squeeze into Caitlyn's car, to the so called "Box-store" area (Kanadensiskt ord för citygross/ICA Maxi/ÖB-områden), shop 'til we drop and drives back with a full car, and with an unmotivated proudness of ourselves (or, at least that was my feeling). I know I keep saying that my housemates are awesome, but it just keeps surprising me how quickly and easily the strangers-to-friends adjustment has gone by! 

 

The concert and BBQ turned out to be two different, I think, local bands who were pretty good. Additionally, before, between and after the bands the area turned into some kind of outdoor disco with house music, light sticks, dancing, silly string shooting and balloons. All non-alcoholic, and all really fun! All these little activities makes it so easy to interact and get to know different people, which is perfect for newly arrived students like myself. It is so many canadians though - normally you only meet exchange students while on exchange, but the integration of exchange and program students is pretty seamless here, which is really nice.

  

Today was first day of Orientation, which corresponds to Jönköping/Sweden's "Kick-off". But less partying (which is called GradFest and occurs simutaneously). So this morning my housemate Eva and I went to orientation, where I met her Czech friend Monica (and during the day heaps of other people with equally many names).

It started off with some speaches from the faculty, where the most importent info seemed to be that Memorial University is named this way as a memorial of the soldiers that served during the first world war. Since it's been 100 years on the dot since then, they are having a kind of jubilee for the next 4 years, which for us meant free memorial scarfs to wear. Yay, free stuff!

 

 

After the speaches, one drum group, two dance groups and a cheerleader performance (so North American!), we were sorted into groups. I got to be a Caribou, a word I had to google before realising it was simply a North American reindeer..

 

Hi Everybody!

Since I'm back out in the world, it's time to restart this blog for a little while!

 

So; This time I'm on exchange on the Island of Newfoundland, in Canada, in a city called St. John's which so far is very colourful, more Amercian-looking than I thougth and utterly adoreable! I'm in love already.

 

I've only been here for a few hours, and so far I know that

1: My landlady is sweet as a button! Seriously, I feel so looked after and welcomed, from the moment she picked my up with my name on a sign, to the rapid making of new keys and wi-fi password to the drive to the supermarket - it really feels like this semester will be great.

2: My roomies (who I have yet to meet) seems awfully sweet as well. This was on the door when I got into the house:

This whole experience just made me want to flip tables, so I'll share it with you.

 

So as you know from my previous post, I finished my bachelor last May, but since I had been writing like a crazy person on those pages I hadn't managed to find a job yet. That meant I had to go back to the Job Center, which I hadn't visited since I graduated three years ago and back then only attended one meeting before I got accepted to my bachelor. It had also been a basic meeting like, what are your experiences (and I was like, eh, 1 summer job at a miniature golf court and like, voluenteering at events...does that count?) and then a meeting on how to search for employment.

 

This time, I had a bachelor degree, education all in english, I had engaged in several projects and merit-based activites, I had more basic work experience, had been abroad on exchange twice, had gotten more confident, had taken CV courses and the equilvalent: briefly said, I knew I only went there to a) see if they had any nice jobs in case I wouldn't get accepted to my master and b) have a financial insurence if I couldn't get a job. More or less.

 

So I arrive and wait in line on a monday for about two hours, and when I reach the counter it goes like this:
-Hi, I'd like to re-activate my status an unemployed (still hurts to think about.).
- Sure! When was the last time you were registered?
- Three years ago.
- Three years? Then you're out of the system.

- Okey?
- Go back home and fill in the online application with all your merits and similar, and come back tomorrow.

 

And of course I do that, which basically is copy-pasting my CV onto their webpage, with everything I mentioned above, and it takes no more than 30 minutes. And the next day I'm back again, waiting for two hours, and then being called. I meet a female worker a few years older than me, and she seems nice, especially compared to the oddball of a lady I had to deal with three years ago... The talk starts with me spending 25 minutes re-telling her my entire CV, which I had uploaded to their webpage, on their demand, yesterday. It was very, very obvious that she hadn't read any of it. This was more or less the conversation:

- So what have you done before signing up?
- I finished my bachelor in business administration.

- Oh what does that mean?
- Well, as I wrote on the webpage, it's generally a mixture of economics, project leading, management, HR, some statistics..a well-grounded thing. All in english, the program is called International Management.

- Oh, so you speak english then?

- ...Well, yes, since I passed the degree, and I also spent that exchange semester in England as I wrote on the-
- So, would you say that english isn't a problem?
At this point I think she's got to be pulling my leg, but no. Apparently spending 5 months in England and having a three year all-english university degree doesn't prove that I can speak english. Sigh. So this continues in a similar manner, and this is the conclusion she reaches:

- I can match you as a janitor assistant or cashier. 

 

Excuse me? I did a degree in economics and business, and you can only match me with JANITOR ASSISTANT due to a summer job I did four years ago? Which planet are you on honey? She also sends me to a meeting - which will be proven to be EXACTLY THE SAME DARN MEETING I HAD THREE YEARS AGO. And this, my friends, is when I lost all faith in the offical Swedish Job Center. Three weeks later I got my acceptance to the master program. Please excuse me while I fix my carrier on my own.

 

 

When in Rome, do as the Romans.
Or when in Italy, do as the Italians. Which of course means wear a toga and look awesome in it!
The ESN crew had arranged a toga party in a local bar (which is designed to be english...love it!), so we grabbed the sheets of our beds and headed off to the party, which was a blast!

For those of you who are fashionistas you have to know that Milano Fashion week is currently ongoing here in Italy, and for those who did not know I'm telling you right now. So the I and three girls from Belgium took a trip there for some minor shopping, and stumbled into a random fashion show! It was so adorable when the little child-models worked it on the runway, your heart just melted away!

 

 

  

 

After some hours of walking around we took a walk over to the current Pablo Picasso exhibition and watched over 100 different paintings and scultures of his, I couldn't take any proper pictures of course, but it was very fun to have seen the art (and to feel like a society lady). His cubism was my favourite era, like "Man with a guitar" (google it, and choose the one without sadness). The classic crazy picasso, as seen below, is interesting but some of the pictures are just a bit over my range of understanding...

I was too quick to call Legnano a small town without anything to see, and I say this because we found the city center, and it was so cute and full of coffee shops! 

 

On our way back home, suddenly an ELEPHANT drives by. That's the beauty of taking walks, you can always find something unexpected...

 

 

Since it's Milano Fashion Week we went to a club there, and Yasin was being a sweetheart and gave the exchange girls roses on the way back home. As we usually say; the evening automatically gets better if you go home with a rose in your hand!

Today was like the lazy song: we didn't feel like doing anything. So we shook ourselves up and went for a walk, stumbled onto a sunday market, the yummiest ice cream in Castellanza and are soon about to go to a karaoke party. Yep, just one of those days where nothing happens... ;)