Markus i Sverige

The last day in Sweden went pretty well. After the morning I was finished with everything I had to fix. I brought back all my books to the library, picked up my copies of my diploma thesis, picked up the last stuff from my office, said good bye to Aron, changed my address at the Skatteverket, canceled my bank account and was back at Nacksta before 2pm. At 7pm I've been at Norrmalms and helped Marlies and Annemiek baking appelflappen . But I was rather useless than an effective support. Especially at half past 7 when my last Friends episode in Sweden started. The last for me. Since 8 I was sitting in the basement waiting for people. I do not know exactly when, but I think the first arrived at 9. And it was really nice. And I got the nicest present I could imagine. Well, I could not imagine it before! It is a memory game with pictures of all student from last semester. No picture is twice, so the game is about finding two different pictures of the same person. It even has a box title

Now it is almost a week ago since I moved into the living room. On Thursday we had valentine party in Kårhuset. Heineken was 19 SEK cheap, so I had to take the Friday off to prepare for the weekend. On Saturday we went to Kåren again. The DJ was not really talented, but at least they played some music you listen and dance to. It were several times the same songs and several times ABBA. But still better than the usual crap. The night was great and after we discovered that even Becks cost only 19SEK, we bought every bottle they could sell. At 2 we went to Norrmalms for the afterparty. Except of Doris and Marlies and some drunken Swedish people, Nacksta was dominating in the Norrmalms kitchen. At 4am I finally into my bed, skipping the after-after parties that started at Nacksta. But instead of sleeping long, I head to get up two hours later. I even woke up before my alarm, because at half past 6 we wanted to drive to Östersund watching the finals of Biathlon world championship. I ate qui

Emptying the room you spend your erasmus studies in is a strange feeling. My room I had for 50 weeks, after having lived 6 months in 20A. Almost one year in this little cabin. Seeing the room finally empty is not that strange. It even holds something exciting, since it means you move on. But carrying your stuff piece by piece out of the room is like watching a picture book from old times. It is not really a sad feeling, but you remember a lot of small things that seemed to be forgotten. But all my stuff did not vanish, of course. It just moved further to the living room, a place where almost every leaving exchange student has to spend some time. For me it will be a week. And it is not such a mess as it should be used for me. All in all I do not have so much stuff as I had expected. I guess it will fit all in this old crappy suitcase I have. However, I look forward to packing, for it means I will have to sort a lot of things out I would not look at again, anyway. And the stuff that rema

..that you recognise you are an ERASMUS student at the MIUN (not too serious ;) ) 10. You have no idea about the weekday, luckily the ICA is open 7 days a week. 9. You know 5 different words for wasted, but you need 20 seconds before you remember the word sober. 8. You need a map to find the university because you know i t only from pictures and the introduction week. But you know every shortcut between Normalm, Nacksta and Tornvillan. 7. You complain about a download stream lower th an 4 MB/s and your personal computer nerd at home is jealous about the possibility of a 100Mbit/s internet connection. 6. Your diurnal rhythm consists of pre-, main- and after-party. 5. You wake up and you don't know the room or the person next to you. But it is no problem for you to make your breakfast in the kitchen. 4. You learn that moonshine could be a bigger threat to your eyes than st aring at the sun. 3. You recognise to study media is a good excuse watching videos all night. 2. You k

The last week was passing quickly. During the days I worked on my thesis. In the end it even made some fun. I am only rewriting it at the moment trying to get a link between all chapters and finish ideas that I had in early chapters but never mentioned later again. The evenings became a lot quieter than they have been only two weeks before. I already start thinking about what I pack into my luggage in a week and what I leave here. That is fun. However, imagine to leave this room in two days is sad somehow. During the week Peppo had the great idea for having a mask-party. Because our neighbours have small children we moved the party to the old party flat (former italian flat), since we never had any problems with the neighbours. Until now. Already after 11 the police aksed us to calm down, since the drunken old lady from 18b had complained about the noise. Strange. The party was really cool, but not as loud as the partys before, since nobody was singing. So, we moved already before midn

I did not do so much these days. I called StuBo for an inspection date. On Wednesday the 13th my room will be locked. Only to be opened again by Sebastian a few hours later. From that day on I will leave in the living room. A fortune almost everybody has to share when he leaves. I also negotiated a date for the final presentation of my thesis. Either 25th or 29th everything will be over. The one or the other way. On Saturday night we went to Norrmalms for Doris' birthday party and Kåren afterwards. Because of the cold wind we took the bus. And while standing at the busstop, Nadja phoned me (international committee's president of my first semester)! She was back in Sundsvall for two days. We met in Oscars that night, but only for a few minutes, because we went back to Kåren. So that was my first and most likely only time Oscars. But it does not look really special. Today we had a barbeque at Sidsjön. Similar to the one last September . Only colder. -7 degress, but not windy. Sid

After skiweek Philipp arrived in Sundsvall for defending his master thesis. His visit fell right into the time of hard good byes. On Friday night we went out to Norrmalms and to Kårhuset for celebrating a last time with Marco, Marco and Ward. The Marcos left on Saturday morning. Ward, we brought Saturday night to the trainstation. On my way home I thought, if it always had been so hard. It was never easy, but this year it feels special. Because it is. This semester was special. More intense than the two semesters before. We were only a few, but the group fitted. But the most difficult way to the trainstation was definitely this morning when we set Christian and Maritha on their way to Copenhagen. Although we all know we will see each other again, this determinates a lifetime. It has been so special. So close with so many people. So many experiences. So many memories. Although we are still 15 people from the old semester, it feels like my time here already has ended. In 3 weeks I will l

20th - 24th January Short before the last of us leave we had our final trip. On Sunday morning we headed of to Vemdalen. 5 cars started at 7 in the morning in Nacksta. But except of Ole who did not have to refill gasoline 4 of us got already stucked at the gas station behind ICA Nacksta. Johan's car broke down and could not be repaired properly. In between the Corsa of the Marcos ran out of battery. First we planned to go by train to Östersund, but after midday we started with a rented car. In the meanwhile we heard that also Ole's car had some problems on the way to Vemdalen. They came off from the street, but except a spot in the car nothing serious seems to have happened. Since we arrived to late in Vemdalen we skipped the first day skiing. The following days were amazing. I even took a black slope, only during night skiing. But it is still to steep for me. I almost fell every attempt. But I made it to the second mountain this year where the slopes are longer than on the beg

17th January The night I turned 25 we had first a sittin in the italian flat. I left earlier back to my appartment for helping Maritha moving to Jens and me. At midnight Christian, Maritha and Jens surprised me with Jelly shots, a movie about my "thousand faces" and a selfmade accustic song by Jens! I think we were sitting two hours in the living room, watching pictures and telling stories. My birthday party was the biggest birthday party I have ever celebrated. At the same time it was a welcome party for all new students and a good bye to Ralf and Matt. The guests came almost all in half an hour. From the first I remember the names, but after a while it was impossible for me to keep in touch with everybody. Living room, corridor, kitchen and balconey were absolutely crowded. It must have been 50 people at least. Pictures by Ward . The appartment next morning was a mess. After cleaning the statistics showed up three broken glasses, a small hole in a wall and a broken chair. B

Last Friday was a good-bye party at the italian flat. It was the last night were their sculpture made of cans has been fed with additional beer cans. During the night everybody could give a guess how many cans has been collected over the months. The result will be given at the end of this week. But first assumptions show a result slightly more than 1000 as most likely. Almost everybody guessed more than 2000. We are looking forward. The party itself was nice. It really started at around 1am and I stayed until 5 in the morning. Once again we got a good impression what happens if Spanish are in party mood :) Proof by Ward . Saturday was therefor quiet. I wrote further on my thesis. Although it feels more and more like ridiciolous content, I think I can bring this to a formal end in the coming 6 weeks. If I do not sleep too much. I have no clue what's going on with me at the moment. Did I consider a few weeks ago 6 hours of sleep as very long, it is now the total opposite. I sleep so

... news hold some comedy. Sundsvall can be sure for a lot new male free movers and exchange students. Because, believe it or not, Sundsvall is unique in Sweden (until now): http://www.thelocal.se/9599/ If first would not be weird enough, the title of the following news is really misleading: http://www.thelocal.se/9614/20080110/ The Swedish mail service is a topic for its own. Cards to Germany, Spain or Finland need between 2 days and 2 weeks, so you can be sure, that a birthdaycard will never arrive on time. The other way round is even worse. Mail to Sweden can take weeks! Or, if they cooperate with the greek mail service, even a little bit longer: http://www.thelocal.se/9603/20080109/

It is done. Not the thesis. Not yet, I hope. But flight and train were so cheap at the moment that I had to book them now. Therefore, on the 20th of February I will finally leave Sweden. That makes 6 weeks from now on. After more than 18 months.

Nice, nice. So far, 2008 started quite well. But from the beginning. I arrived back in Sundsvall at the 30th December late in the evening. In my appartment I found a mail from my home university: they finally accepted my diploma thesis. Deadline is the 27th of February. Great, an end is finally in sight. The last evening of the year 2007 we spent in the Italian flat with a big dinner and drinking games afterwards. Jonny and Marzena has been there, too!!! Before midnight we drove to Norra Berget to watch the fireworks. Not that we haven't seen some, for at least since two days they shot as many rockets as at midnight itsself. And we were not the only people with the idea to go to Norra Berget. We missed the countdown so congratulations were rather spontanuous, but still sincerely. Afterwards heading back to the Marcos. I do not know when we finally went home. Pictures by Ward . The following days were pure holidays. Sleeping long, having breakfast earliest at 11am, skipping lunch, p