down the barrel

just a quick update before I begin two days of blinkered, self-imposed study solitude, emerging only to eat and shower...I have this Global Environmental Essay due in on Tuesday and all I've done so far is cut and pasted quotes and surfed around Swedish ecological websites and admired pictures of elks and moose or whatever those things with the antlers are. Exchange is a time of firsts, as in first times (if you needed clarification) and this is the first time in my academic career that i have attempted to write an essay - nay, the sole assessment for a subject - in two days. You may be able to pick up on a slight undercurrent of panic? But i am taking responsible steps to make sure that i will get through it:

I started off today with an alarmclock set to 8.30am, four hours earlier than what i've been recently waking up at, the Guardian, two cups of strong hello coffee, some orange juice and two pieces of toast covered in Vegemite. Our kitchen is covered with popcorn from a food fight from last night, so i tried to ignore it and just eat with my feet raised above the ground. I also tried to ignore Peter Allen's anthem "I Still Call Australia Home" that was sweeping around in my head, no doubt encouraged by the Vegemite.

Friday ended my "birthday circus" week. It was a good week for turning 21 in. Lots of parties, lots of fun times, lots of inappropriate photos. We laughed, we cried, etc. Memorable moments include: lunch at Lunds on Tuesday with the ladies who do lunch + a few random men, talking about periods and moon cups, much to the fascination/repulsion of the men (they can just deal with it basically); the present from Nikki and everyone else, a book full of quotes and photos and comments, wrapped in Swedish coloured ribbon; getting a Classik Svensk Massage at a swish boutiquey place called Tokyo by a South Londoner called Paul (probably the most multicultural Lund gets...); attempting to drink whisky at kalmar nation; smoking hookas all afternoon in a bedouin cafe in Copenhagen with Murray, then heading on to one of the poshest little resturants i have seen in my 21 years for a candlelit dinner; shopping with Nikki with Mum's credit card (don't worry mum, i only bought two things and they were on sale, plus i got them in a size bigger just in case i grow any more!)

Then to top if off a sittning on Friday with my favourite peeps at Hallands nation. The sittning was hilarious...a normally raucous bunch of international students left in stunned silence as all around them, Swedes had shed their normally composed exterior and were well and truly pissed, standing on their chairs/tables/shoulders of friends, singing lewd drinking songs at the top of their lungs. There was one song in English and it came from Scotland, and it's a bit too lewd to repeat here. We tried to get the Aussie Aussie Aussie chant going to compete, but were pretty much laughed out of the room. The food was good, the wine was good (it was the house but at least it was in bottles) the company was excellent. Then it was onwards to the nightclub. You can see some pictures on my Flickr page if you're wanting some visual kind of
experience. I took yesterday off to lounge around in bed, consume chocolate, watch Grey's Anatomy and generally get back on the horse.

Ok. I'm on the horse now. Off to the shower. Back in two days.