They Call Me Sweden

Imagine the relief I felt yesterday when I had submitted two of my essays. There was no anxiety over what grade I’ll get, just pure relief. Those were the heaviest course work, social theory and psychology and social behaviour… I have one more essay to write, but it isn’t due until next Friday which is almost like a lifetime for a student haha.

And guess what! I’m going back to Stockholm tomorrow. I have a job interview on Friday so I’m traveling back earlier than expected. Then I’ll stay there a month, then go back to Cardiff in June for a week for my exam. I’m looking forward to a Swedish summer, though I hope the weather will be better this year. I’m also trying to get my Cardiffian house mates to come and visit me. I’m so lucky to have such good friends in both Cardiff and in Stockholm.

What else then? I have an interview for a position within the media in a couple of hours. I don’t want to jinx it so I’ll let you know the details later. Would be so fun if I get it though!

A picture from the Welsh Varsity last week. Cardiff won against Swansea!

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I must have forgotten how stressful it could be to keep the deadlines for coursework. Writing my second essay was tough even though the subject was interesting, as I chose to write about The Political Economy of Italian Broadcasting System. If you have been to Italy and watched TV there you know what is special about it. Its Public Broadcasting is still very state governed and there’s a duopoly as Silvio Berlusconi has control over the commercial side. I wrote about how the broadcasting system is structured, its history and the possible dangers if the duopoly still stands in the future. Even though I began to write early I still ended up during the night before deadline editing it which lead to that I’ve been tired all week. And I should start on my next essay now so that I won’t have to write that much during Christmas.

Aaw Christmas.. We have like a Winter Wonderland here in Cardiff at the moment! It’s probably the first time I’ve ever experienced real snow flakes in the UK. Actually I’m really excited for Christmas this year as I’m going home to see friends, family and my boyfriend and then on Boxing day I’m going to Finland to see my boyfriend’s family (he’s half Finnish). I guess it will be more snow over there than in Sweden and they have fireplaces, saunas and skis thus it will be really cosy! There’s some weeks left though and until then I will have, as mentioned, work work work to do, but I think there will be time for some fun as well. Tomorrow or Sunday I will go housewife and bake some Swedish gingerbread cookies, yummy!

Christmas cards that I’m going to send to family and friends, I felt that I had to buy some cards as I’m in the land of cards… They seem to love it here!

People here behave like they never have seen snow before.

My friends and I went to watch the opening of Cardiff’s Winter Wonderland in the beginning of November, Dr. Who attended and turned on the Christmas lights with his screwdriver.

P.S. Someone wondered if they still call me Sweden and yes they do, can’t seem to shake off my Swedish heritage!

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Wolverhampton is known for its Wolves team.

The walk from the students’ hall where I live to Bute building where I had my History of Mass Communications and Culture seminar was a really tough one. It was windy and as I’m going straight to Wolverhampton in a while, I had to carry a really heavy bag. It was tempting to take a taxi…

The seminar was quite interesting though, we had to do roleplay and act that we were going to bid on a newspaper for sale. It was quite hard to argument for why our company was the best for the task, however it’s useful to get an instinct of how the procedure is when a newspaper is on the market. History of mass comm. is my favorite module as the lecturer, Professor Justin Lewis, is engaged in his lectures in a way that grasps your attention. We have gone through the political economy of Barbie, British vs. American broadcasting system and latest about the British press. Really interesting and it makes you look at news and broadcasting in an entirely different way.

I actually planned to bring some books over the weekend, so that I could start writing on my History of mass comm. essay, but I decided not to as the weight probably would have made me fall over! And after all, I’m going away to celebrate my cousins’s birthday, would be quite boring to study then. Mmm, I’m longing for cake!

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Today has been a very busy day, three seminars and one lecture so there has been some hectic going on. Also include that my time planning of the studies hasn’t been the best last week, which has lead to that seminar preparation got a bit last minute… I managed to get it all done though and I’m glad I did, as it’s quite hard pretending that you have done prep work when in fact you haven’t. I.e. the seminar leaders are quite tempted to ask random students questions. When I have handed in my representations essay tomorrow I could relax for a little while.

I did so much research about Cardiff and Cardiff Uni, but I seem to have missed that it’s the rainiest city in the UK. Have got some reports from Sweden about snow today, would prefer that instead of rain and hard winds. Sometimes it’s 10 degrees here and some days it is really cold, like today. In my opinion there’s no reason for it to be cold if there’s no snow… Well well, I’m gonna get some tea now and read through my essay.

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My boyfriend left today and it was harder to say good bye than I thought it would be. The fact that I won’t see him the next time until Christmas made me quite sad when he had left. His bus from Cardiff to London was 45 minutes late (Megabus, don’t ever travel with them, unless you don’t care if you’ll arrive on time or not) so I almost hoped it would be cancelled – which would mean that I would get to spend some more minutes with him. I’m glad though that I have such nice and wonderful people in Cardiff who I can rely on, and that I can contact my friends back in Sweden as well, and there’s Skype too, what on earth would we do without it? However, it doesn’t change the fact that long distance relationship is probably the hardest thing I’ve experienced.

Immediately after he had left I remembered that I have tons of stuff to read, as I’ve missed some lectures this week… Well, well, I have the day off tomorrow so I’ll plan to spend the whole day studying. At a library, otherwise I wouldn’t get any work done.

The nine days that he were here passed so quickly, it feels like he came and then left so soon. We had so nice days though. We spent some days at Cardiff Hilton, went out for nice dinners, went to see my aunt and family. The negative thing was that my camera got stolen at a night club last Friday and I didn’t get it back. I’m so naive to think that everyone can afford one themselves nowadays and therefore it wouldn’t be stolen… Life’s however all about prioritizing and therefore I decided to buy a new one yesterday as the insurance cover some of it at least.

I met Joel at London Heathrow so I got to see my Swedish friend Anlu as well! I love Carnaby Street in London, it’s a bit hidden from the busier streets Regent St and Oxford St.

Cardiff

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I planned to upload some pictures, but there’s too little space.

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Oh god. I’ve just been horse riding for the first time in years. I’m serious, I haven’t sat on a horse for at least three year. Oh boy you could really tell how unfit I was and the balance seemed to have vanished. You know when you believe that you’re quite good at something and then you’re taken off your ‘high horses’? Horse riding is that something for my, when I quit riding at a riding school 5 (!!) years ago I left with a sense that it was their loss. That I was quite good at it. Now I wish I never quit! The basics are still there, but it really feels like starting over again. Well, life’s suppose to be a challenge so I just have to put more effort in showing that I’m a good rider after all… And I love being back riding again. The stable seems quite nice but I realise that students here, apart from in Sweden, are not expected to tackle or groom the horses by themselves. Hey, that’s such a big part of riding – they don’t know what they’re missing!

I have  a social with the riding club tonight and there’s a pirate theme. I don’t have any pirate outfits though, but Emily lend me some big gold earrings so it will probably be nice! We’re meeting up at a pub and then we’re going for a pub crawl and then we end it at the Student’s Union, where it will be a foam party. We’ll see how that’s going to be, have never gone to a foam party before and I have to admit that I’m quite suspicious towards those kinds of events. However, it probably will be fun anyway!

And my changed blog name? Well, I figured that I had to change name as I’m not on a gap year anymore and then I realised that my new nickname is Sweden…

Me and some of my new English friends. Fleur to the right was the one who started to call me Sweden.

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One night there was the freshers’ pub crawl, too much walking between the places though!

It’s been a while since I last published a post and the reason for that is that I’ve been so busy! I came to Cardiff nearly two weeks ago and it all started right then. Freshes’ week had just begun so I literally was thrown into everything that freshers stand for. It was actually quite hard for me in the beginning, I felt a bit insecure and thought that it would be impossible for me to break through those small groups. Then I understood that absolutely everyone were walking in the same shoes, we’re all coming from different towns (and countries for that matter as Cardiff is in Wales not England), but the small difference between me and them is that I have to travel a bit longer to get home.

I think I will enjoy Cardiff to the fullest and I realise now that the course suits me better than I thought it would. The lectures started this Monday and gosh how I’ve longed for this moment! All my modules will be so interesting and I’m glad I don’t have written exams in all of them. I’ve also joined Cardiff University’s award winning newspaper Gair Rhydd and the riding club, I’ll be busy but meanwhile have the time of my life.

The students’ life is actually really good in Cardiff and apparently it’s one of the cheapest towns in UK to live in. A majority of  the stores give student discount, there are cheap meals and it also cheap at the night clubs. Before I went to Cardiff I thought that I had to give up one thing that I absolutely love (yes, I am a bit spoiled in this department) and which is to take a taxi home after a night out. That’s also really cheap. I live about 5-10 minutes drive from city centre and a taxi ride is only £5. Even a student could afford that!

All the partying of freshers’ week and the little sleep has lead to that I’ve become sick, we call it freshers’ flu. I’ve had a fever and a really bad cold. I comforted myself with a shopping round tonight though with my friend Emily, everyone deserves that!

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