Vecka tolv

This week I will complete a culture blog, comparing Vȁxjӧ to home. I went home this week for some appointments I had to attend. Luckily I was finished class, and colleges at home were closed for Easter holidays and so I got to meet up with and spend some time with my friends and family.  I also have a friend who I’ve met here in Sweden, Jackie from Australia, who always wanted to visit Ireland but never had the opportunity to, and so I invited her to along on my trip home. We were both so excited, I was excited to get to show off the lovely Ireland to my visitor and she couldn’t wait to meet my family, see some sights, the green grass, and of course the lephrachans!

When landing in Belfast, we were greeted with a familiar downpour of rain, rain which we never quite experience in Sweden, immediately I knew we were home. The familiar accent at the airport and the use of English was nice. Coming from a non-English speaking country to this feels great!

My sister picked us up at the airport and we drove to Sligo. Along the way I was giving Jackie a grand tour of our beautiful country. She had her camera out taking photographs of the green, green farmlands, the colourful mountains, and anything else out of the ordinary she spotted on the way, she couldn’t wait to show her family in Australia the ‘green-ness’ of Ireland. I quickly realised how beautiful Ireland looks through the eyes of an outsider.

Luckily Tuesday turned out to be a lovely sunny day so we headed to the mountain of Knocknarea which is in Sligo. From the top we had some beautiful views of the coast, and of the whole of Sligo. Walking up through crowds of sheep we spoke about the differences between Sligo, Vȁxjӧ and Melbourne.

We also made a trip to the beach on Tuesday. It was great to be near the coast again as Vȁxjӧ is about an hour from the coast and so it’s difficult to visit the beaches. From living in Australia, Jackie is also used to sunny weather and being at the beach and so she loved seeing what an ‘Irish’ beach looks like in comparison to theirs.

We will be in Ireland for a few more days and so I will continue a culture blog into week 13.

Vecka Elva

As I am still waiting to receive information regarding my placement I will do a personal reflection on my time here since the beginning eleven weeks ago.

Before coming here I was nervous, about classes, incase I didn’t make many friends and incase I didn’t like it here. Eleven weeks on I have completed my classes, which although difficult at times, I really enjoyed. I enjoyed exploring other cultures and learning about other international students in my classes. Even though it was difficult, I managed to grasp a little Swedish, enough to pass my exams!!  I found this course very grammatical however I loved learning the spoken language through conversation activities.

The friends I have made here have deeply enhanced this whole experience for me. I am so lucky to have met so many people from all over the world and created such close relationships with them. It’s just a pity I can’t take them back to Stranmillis with me. My friend family have been so good to me, taking me in as one of their own, cooking for me and inviting me to excursions with them, hopefully I will get to spend much more time with them before returning home. The ‘buddy’ system here in Vȁxjӧ is brilliant too. Each Erasmus student is befriended by a Swedish student. I was lucky to get a really nice Swede who is always happy to meet me for coffee and a chat.

I have really loved this experience. I have definitely become more independent and have learned to appreciate everything that I have and all that is done for me at home.

The weather is coming and going, hopefully for our last few weeks here, we will see lots of sunshine.

That’s all for this week!

Vecka Tio

                                  

The sun is out, and we can see spring is here and summer is near! I think this week temperatures are up in the high-teens. I am currently waiting to be given a school for my placement, my classes have finished and so I am off for the week enjoying the sunshine. Luckily some of the others are also off this week and so we are all off relaxing in the sun together. I am however, in major need of a shopping trip, I don’t have any clothes for this weather, I only have my winter woollies; great excuse for some retail therapy!

We have had a nice chilled out, activity based week. Michael and I played some pool, needless to say I didn't win. Everyday we went with some friends up to a large green area for some sunbathing only to find half the student population was there. It was like Stran open day except it was for the week, a lot of banter was had!

Time to get the frisbee’s out! We joined a huge game of ultimate frisbee where I got to show off my lack of frisbee catching skills! Still this far into the semester we have so many opportunities to meet new people and make new friends. We also played some outdoor basketball with our Dutch friends, brought me back to the good ol’ days of QUB basketball.

 

We bought a barbeque this week and had some awesome barbeques cooked by non-other then or very own chef Michael Nelson. We toasted some marshmallows and relaxed; enjoying the weather with not a care in the world.

THIS is the life....

Vecka Nio

Today I will make a short personal reflection based on the weekend I have spent with my friend family.

As I was late to receive a friend family I haven’t known them for very long. I have been placed with a Swedish/American family. The father is Swedish and the mother is American. They have four beautiful kids, two boys and two girls, whom I have been able to spend lots of time with. They are four, six, nine and eleven years old. Luckily for me, they all speak excellent English because of their American heritage. They tend to speak English most of the time I am there, but sometimes will use Swedish with their father. It’s amazing the way all the children, even the four year old, can change between the two languages so easily.

I went out to them on Saturday afternoon. It was really sunny and so I borrowed the mother’s bike and brought the kids for a cycle. It was really fun to get to know the kids and allow them to spend some time getting to know me. They also really enjoyed it as they we could all go together.

We then had a barbeque with different Swedish meats which was delicious! We sat outside and got to know each other a little better. The parents were then going out that night and so I stayed and babysat the kids. They were so excited to have me sleeping over!

The next day we went for a drive through the countryside, admiring the Swedish scenery. We also went to see Kronoberg Castle which is located just outside Vȁxjӧ. The castle is located on a lake with the most beautiful scenery, luckily the sun was shining making it all the better. It was built in the 1440’s and has been her since the war between Sweden and Denmark in the 1540’s. I hope to make another trip to the castle when it opens in the beginning of summer.

I have had a great weekend with my friend family. I loved spending time with the children and telling them about life in Ireland. It was great to see a family being a family, and being allowed to be part of this. They are such lovely people who went out of their way to make me feel welcome. They make me feel like part of the family, like a big sister. Their love and hospitality has really enhanced this experience for me. I can’t wait to call again!