THE SWEDISH APARTMENT

Final thoughts

2007-07-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

Erasmus life is not the real life... it's a life with a lot of fun and without the usual problems, everybody is happy and available... it's a situation where you can test yourself in a new environment and in a new society, it's a parallel dimension where you can reinvent yourself with new people, it's an experience where you can find yourself or, maybe, loose yourself as well. Erasmus life is perfect because is short and because it's not true... but like everything that is perfect it could be boring to be forever... so it's also good that it has been so brief!
In this way we will have a fantastic souvenir!

Sweden is a really good country for the Erasmus... very well organized, with helpful people, fair society and fantastic landscapes... but common! It is not perfect, you can't drink in the open air! ;-)
It's also good to be at home under some points of view, isn' it?!

I feel very strange now, at home. I feel like I have never left and, on the other hand, it's seems to me that I have always lived in Sweden... that a big part of my life has been in Orebro, living with my roommates in Brickenbacken, staying in the campus with my friends. I will never forget all this relaxing world!

In the beginning i did this blog for the people in Italy, in order to let them know what I was doing in Sweden... but now I realized that I did it also for me, for all of us (that's way i wrote in English)! I would like that this blog become a space of our souvenirs and dreams... a space of thoughts and considerations about this experience that will be always inside ourselves.

I know that visiting this blog can make us feel very sad... looking at the pictures makes me feel nostalgic and sometimes I would like to come back... but it's an happy sadness! Think about how much we would miss if we didn't do this Erasmus!

I'm waiting for comments...

because I miss you and I want we keep in touch!

Good Bye Friends!
Cecilia

The End

2007-07-01T10:08:00.001-07:00

And now it's really finishing... It's time to say goodbye to Sweden, to say goodbye to a lot of friends from all the world and to say farewell to the Erasmus Life.

It's time to wake up from the Swedish dream,
It's time to come back to the real life,
It's time to continue, or to leave, our previous dreams...
with more open minded points of view,
with more strength and autonomy,
with an experience more in ourselves...

Bye Bye Orebro!

Churros for breakfast!

2007-07-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic idea to have a spanish breakfast together! Churros and hot-chocolate is an healthy and light meal to perfectly "begin" (it was 13 o clock!) the day! Delicious...

Too many goodbyes...

2007-06-09T04:27:00.001-07:00

As you can see, we cooked a lot during our last days (that's way everybody, only girls, got some kilos more!)... Thanks Alberto for the Migas! Despite the mess of flour and water everywhere it was really good!!

The last days...

2007-06-08T05:09:00.001-07:00

The last ten days nobody had nothing to do, the weather was perfect and we spent the time going to the lake and to the city center buying the last (stupid) souvenirs (reinders, mooses, vikings... ). Here a pictures of a nice Medieval market in Wadkoping and of the lake in the summer time!

Last Babar + afterparty in the fountain!

2007-06-08T05:08:00.001-07:00

Babar this night was full of crazy exchange students having their last night of dance in Sweden!
Matteo wanted to kiss everybody (maybe because of the fear of loosing the love of all of us... or maybe simply because of the rhum, i don't know...)

And then... where can we go for the afterparty? It's warm outside... so what about taking a bath in the fountain in front of the university? No comment for the mess we did...

singing...

"Erasmus life is the best life,
Erasmus life is the best life,
without (e)studing... (without (e)studing!)
without working... (without working!)
wiiiith a bottle of rhum!
wiiiith a bottle of rhum!"

bbq+laundryparty=crazy pictures!

2007-06-06T17:10:00.000-07:00

Here we are doing the last BBQ... a lot of people has already left and the atmosphere is a bit sad... it's difficult to live the present and to enjoy the last moments without thinking that all this perfect life is finishing...
But anyway it's always time to invent new parties! And Spanish are often the best in this activity! Look at us doing party in the laundry... a fantastic place where we can put music without disturbing people living in Brickenbronx, and (why not) where we can try new experiences like discovering how to fell to be a cloth!

Modern art museum + Arkitecture museum= cultural afternoon

2007-06-06T16:43:00.001-07:00

Coming back from Tallin I was alone in Stockholm and I decided to have a full immersion of culture...
5 hours in the Modern Art Museum and in the Arkitecture Museum! It was quite difficult to understand everything, in particular the second one... I really would liked my favourite architect with me... :-(

TALLIN TRIP!

2007-06-06T16:42:00.001-07:00

For the end of the exams I gave myself a present: a trip in Tallin, the capital of Estonia. It's a beautiful medieval (14-15 century) city very coloured and touristic!
Really something that I didn't expect! I was with my roommate
Amelie and her nice french friends Gaby and Vanessa!

Swedish style!!!

2007-06-03T18:02:00.001-07:00

Hej Hej!!! For the last night in Koren we decided to do something special! We imitated the swedish girls style... orrible dress and leggings!
Look at the picture... don't we are exactly like swedish girls??? Ok, maybe we miss some centimetres of high, but we are almost perfect!

The last Tybble Party...

2007-05-23T07:16:00.001-07:00

Sadely the dream is finishing... This was the last Tybble party! We'll never forget the good time we had here organizing crazy theme parties!
Our best boys performed some particular strip showes...
I have all the video that I'll put on utube as soon I will collect all the authorizations!
Here you can just see some previews...

Alessandro in Orebro!!!

2007-05-23T07:15:00.005-07:00

Ale came to visit me! We had a lot of fun... too much I would say! He passed on me all his unhealthy way of life!
I'm trying to recover now...

Mushroom

2007-05-23T07:15:00.003-07:00

We went to the Mushroom, symbol of the greatness of Orebro!
The view is beautiful... you can see the lake, and the city with all its coloured little houses!

Malmo, Copenaghen, Gotland, Stockolm, Upsala trip!

2007-05-23T07:15:00.001-07:00

It's quite impossible to describe the thousand adventures we spent together...
let the pictures speak...

Eleonora in Orebro!!!

2007-05-23T07:14:00.002-07:00

My friend Eleonora is in erasmus in Paris and she came to see another eramsus experience... the swedish one! I will discover her reality in France just before coming back Italy! And then we'll have to return to the real life... how will we do, ele??!!!!!

Festivalsborg

2007-05-02T18:19:00.001-07:00

Festivalsborg in Sweden is a celebration of the coming of the spring! The tradition consist on doing huge fires everywhere saying goodbye to the winter! There are big barbecues all around the campus, concerts, music and drunk people running and screaming in the street...

Paella!!!

2007-04-25T04:48:00.000-07:00

Rauuul Rauulll nananananarananaaaa! (S.O.S. to buy a telephone for the fugitive Raul)
We had initial comunication problem to organize this dinner but finally Raul cooked Paella!!!
And it was muy muy muy bonita! Verdad!

Group work

2007-04-25T04:40:00.000-07:00

This is the first of the three work group for our last but very big exam! Work psychology is killing us!!!! We have to many trips to do and we have no time to think about how to improve the leadership style of a fucking judicial office psychopatic boss!
Sorry for the vent but I needed it!
I'll introduce you our succesfull (hopefully) group:
Cecilia, the optimistic leader (?)
Julie, the english writer (now sadely completly in the clouds!)
Alba, the articles finder
Ainara, the constructive against the leader

Here we are...

Eurovision Tybble party

2007-04-25T04:39:00.000-07:00

Polish are always the best to invent parties!!! Maybe it's merit of vodka they drink like water!
In this tybble party every nation singed a song in competition with the others countries...

Daniel Balavoin - Mon fils ma bataille - FRANCE
Marlenê Drozdowska and Marka Kondrata - Mydelko FA - POLAND
Bondia - Dec n Festa - ANDORRA
Hans Albers - Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins... - GERMANY
Umberto Tozzi - Ti amo - ITALIA (we are very sorry for our bad taste... but every foreign knows this song and we thouht it was a good think for our public... in fact we involved a lot of people... everybody screamed: "ti amooooo")
Seuishun Amigo - JAPAN
Linda Roos Jessica - Ademnood - NETHERLANDS
Rosas and Espinas - Ni Chicha, Ni Limona! - SPAIN
Oasis - Wonderwall - ENGLAND
SWEDEN - (I don't know, Sofia brought her DVD and they perfromed something)
USA - Blame Canada song
CANADA - National Anthem with changed lyrics

The winner was... Japanese girls with their fantastic modern ballet!

Pizza & Film

2007-04-25T04:36:00.000-07:00

Only me, Alba and our delicious huge pizza, tonight!
And a light movie: Love actually! I fell it my finger... lalalallaaaaa

Bad Taste Tybble party

2007-04-25T04:33:00.004-07:00

German people organized the Tybble this week!
The theme was "bad taste"... really difficult for me! ahah!
It took a lot of time to me, luca, matteo and my roommates
to find something bad to wear... but at the end... here we are!

week-end in Goteborg

2007-04-25T04:33:00.003-07:00

Goteborg is a very nice city! We spent a week-end there visiting everything thanks to the Goteborg-pass: boat and bus tour, maritimmam museum, scandinavian art museum, design museum, cultures museum, universeum, fish churh, bla bla bla...

Lake Hjalmaren in spring time

2007-04-25T04:33:00.001-07:00

The lake in this warmer season is great!
In particular in a romantic promenade...
(even if the bike brook in the farest point
of the way and you have to walk pushing
the bike for 3 or more km!)

Matteo visited me!

2007-04-25T03:25:00.000-07:00

Finally my boyfriend came to visit me!!!
I prepared him a fantastic week since I'm almost a Sweden tourist guide now! I went to pick him in Stockohlm central station in the middle of the night (Sweden is a very safe country!) and we went to a very typical hostel... it was a really nice red boat used as hostel with a fantastic view of the city hall and of the coloured houses overlook the sea!
The following day, after a big breakfast we visit the city with a particular look at the design of the architecture (hehe) and we went to Skansen, a very important open air museum located on the island of Djurgården, a royal park near the centre of Stockholm. In this park you can find the historical scandinavian buildings and the animals that live in these fantastic land, like the sweet bear and this bored bufalo in the pictures below!

Snow a Pasquetta!

2007-04-09T01:41:00.000-07:00

Incredible!
After two weeks of bright spring... it's snowing again!!!
It's my first year without pasquetta's pic-nic!!!

Easter meals!

2007-04-09T00:55:00.000-07:00

Hej hej Happy Easter!

Double Easter meal for me today!! I and Luca prepared the Italian Easter lunch:

Abbacchio (lamb) e patate al forno,
carciofi e zucchini alla Romana,
Torta Pasqualina!

All was very good despite the oven didn't work and something was almost burned!

As soon as I finished the lunch I was invited to the American Easter dinner! The J&J company (I know it's like the initials of McD, but it means Julie and Jonathan chefs!!) cooked for us an impressive dinner!

Spinach ranch dip,
Turkey with gravy and lingonberries
Carrots and turnips,
Mashed potatoes,
Stuffing,
Apple pie with ice-cream!

Delicious... And there was no cucumber... incredible!!!

Easter eggs

2007-04-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

We went back to be children for a while today! We painted Easter eggs and we decorated a beautiful Easter tree for the new Fadderiet office!
And then I and Julie borrowed Sophia's watercolour and made our own Easter tree! We are so proud of that...

Toga Tybble party

2007-04-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

Americans organised the Toga Tybble Party tonight! Amazing!

Sometimes I study even!

2007-04-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

Even if it doesn't seem to be true, I study even! And finally I have the prouves!!! I just received the result of my first exam... and I got Very Good! Incredible! The course was called "Introduction to Swedish Culture and Society" and the exam consisted into writing a paper about something concerning swedish society in comparison with my own country's society. My report ("Transition to adulthood: Italy and Sweden") was about the possible reasons of the fact that Nordic people leave the parental home much earlier than southern Europe people.

Easter market

2007-04-01T14:18:00.001-07:00

We welled out of the warm weather enjoying the Easter traditional market in the old town Wadkoping... and we ate the first ice-cream of the year!

Orebro transformation! It's time of barbecue...

2007-04-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

What's happening??? Something is changing! Spring is arrived! Orebro has suddenly been transformed... the atmosphere is completly different now... in the campus the students took out their sofas lying at the sun... swedish people are becoming more sociable... everybody is more happy now! Studentgatan seems like a camping because everybody organise barbecue... exchange students as well! Here we are in the forest eating a lot of wurstel and hamburgers and drinking beer in the beautiful pine forest just behind the university!

Nonno Ligio

2007-03-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

Ci sono dei momenti importanti nella vita in cui e' necessario tornare al nido... si sente il bisogno di riunirsi e celebrare insieme un rito di passaggio... si accompagna una persona cara da "vicina a noi" a "dentro di noi". Nonno Ligio, sarai sempre in quella parte di me che ama la natura, il profumo delle primule, il becco giallo dei merli, il rosso vivo dei pomodori. Sono stata lontana, ma sempre presente, lo sai. Ora siamo piu' vicini, perche' sei ovunque: nel cielo, nella neve, nella terra, nel pane, nel cuore. Ci lasci un ricordo profondamente buono e sereno.

I would like to thank all Kiruna group to have been so all-understanding in this difficult situation.

ITALIAN TYBBLE PARTY!!!

2007-03-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

Who did organise the best tybble party??? Italian people of course!!! This was the poster that we prepared for the party!
We decorated the room with Barilla paper, we prepared Nutella snacks, we played the "secret message game" and everybody had a lot of fun!

La Festa Italiana in Tybble

When Tuesday the 20th at 21.00
Where TYBBLE!

Are you ready to be Italian for one night?
Dress up as you think a real Italian would...

or... if you don't have any idea,
then wear something red, white and green!

Nutella and silly music are waiting for you!!!

HIKING WEEK END

2007-03-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

Ehi!! Let me boast of a very hard adventure!!! I went hiking with the active group (that's becoming always more numerous with Christin, Alba and Matthias!) for 50 Km in two days!!! We leave from Annaboda on saturday at 9 and we walked for 10 hours in the forest along really fascinating landscapes... we reached our cabin at 7 in the evening, just in time, because it was getting dark and cold!!! We arrived completly exhausted after this 30 km and we didn't have the strenghts to make party! Jonathan went to bed at 7 and woke up the day after!! And Matthias ate a big part of my rise salade! The day after a surprise was waiting for us!!! All was whyte... it was snowing and raining (a sort of wet snow)!!! I proposed to take the bus and come back (in Italy we hate rain!), but nobody listen to me and so we leave! The path was completely muddy and we had to walk on the border... but sometimes was impossible to avoid the puddle and at the end our feet was totally wet! But anyway it was a really good week-end! Arrived to Nora, very nice village, we recompense ourselves with sweet pie in a really nice cafe!

SUSHI DINNER

2007-03-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

As everybody knows Italian people like eating good food and love trying and learning other countries' kitchen! So here we are learning to prepare SUSHI with Tomohito, Kaorina and Kaorona, Yukie, Shiori, Satomi and Akio!!! It was really funny to learn using the chopstick and to roll sushi with them... they were very patient with us!! We prepared different kinds of Sushi... with thunna, salmon, cavial, meatball and coloured vegetables!
Next time it will be our turn... after Lasagne and Tiramisù our Japanese friends will learn to cooked the real italian Pizza!

Teriyaki sauce:
soia sauce (3)
honey (2)
saké (3)
sugar (2)

CURLING!!!

2007-03-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

Here in Sweden it's common to play curling... so why don't to try it? Here we are, me and Annika, in a very professional position! Ehm... It was almost impossible for me to uderstand the rules because the teacher spoke only in swedish and even if some german boy tried to explain me it I didn't understand very well because of their bad "german" pronounciation of english!! But anyway I could even cast the stone in the circle and I got a point for my team!!!

RIGA TRIP

2007-03-14T02:28:00.002-07:00

The trip to Riga was a really crazy!! We took a ship (only 100 SEK (10 euro)!!) from Stockholm at 5.00 p.m. and we arrived in Riga (Latvia) the day after at 9.oo a.m.! So what could we do to avoid boredom and spend the time? Drinking of course... and dancing and singing Karaoke!
Obviously, the day after waking up was very hard! But Riga was very nice... it's the largest city of the Baltic states. The Historic Centre of Riga has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the city is particularly notable for its extensive Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) architecture, comparable in significance only with Vienna, Saint Petersburg and Barcelona! Looking at the pictures you can choose between the drunkness section (not for parents!!) or the artistic one!

STOCKHOLM

2007-03-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

The active group, plus Matthias, a typical, and so very active (too much!!) German boy, went to visit Stockholm... we saw the old town (gamla stan), the Palace, the city hall and of ALL the museums we saw only the Vasa because of Matthias' slowness... he wanted to read every caption! He he!! But anyway it was interesting...
There, in the photos section, I mixed the pictures of this trip with the pictures that I took another day in Stockholm...during the trip to Riga... I was with a latin group this time... so, what's better than eating typical fried herrings in the typical market (Ostermalmhallen)?

COUNTRY SKI

2007-03-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hej hej! I didn't introduce you to the active group yet!!! It's a variegated group of people that like living actively during the day as well as during the night, composed in majority by the Austrian people Heidy, Max, Lisy, Magdalena, by the Hungarian Lotzy, the French Romain, the German Annika, my roommate Julie and... Me of course!! We went together to country ski in Annaboda and it was amazing!!!
We (country) skied for two hours around the lake and then we played on the frozen lake! Look at the pictures to see the fantastic landscapes!

TYBBLE PARTIES

2007-03-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

Now I would like to introduce you to the Tybble parties! Every tuesday we organize a theme- party where everybody has to dress up with clothes that fit the theme... For example, the Fadderiet organized the Intergalactic party; others prepared the Black&White party, the Hat party, the sun-glasses party and the Austrian people proposed the Carnival party (where i dressed up as Abba!). I don't know why but every party here finished with a strip tease!
We will see what comes next...
All of the (ashamed) pictures are linked here --->>>

(ERASMUS) STUDENT LIFE...

2007-03-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine the exchange-students' life is very busy!!! You have to travel, organize parties, practice some sports and sometimes it's even necessary to study! The first week was very hard... The Fadderiet organized a lot of activities to help us meet each other and to integrate us in the very well organised swedish student-life! We went to Annaboda to play snow games, some people biked to the lake Hjälmaren, some people preferred going to Ikea... Just look at the pictures to get the idea!

ÖREBRO

2007-03-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

I've just realized that i haven't talked about Orebro!!!The city of Örebro is situated in the heart of Sweden, about halfway between Stockholm and Göteborg. It is easily accessible by major roads and railways, or by air from Stockholm, Copenhagen and Malmö. From the Örebro region, everything Scandinavia has to offer is easily within reach. Örebro has about 125, 000 inhabitants and is therefore Sweden's seventh largest city.The city of Örebro has grown around a medieval castle. At a natural fording point over the river Svartån, fortifications were started by German merchants and artisans in the 13th century. These eventually grew into the present medieval castle, one of the central area's most spectacular sights. The castle, called Slottet, is to this day the centre point of Örebro and actively serves as residence for the County Governor. It also houses a museum, concert hall, conference centre, pub, restaurant and a tourist office.

Örebro is a pleasant city where any part of the town is only a few minutes bicycle ride away from campus. One of the more striking aspects about Örebro is actually that biking is the most common way of getting around!

THE UNIVERSITY

2007-03-11T05:46:00.000-07:00

And what about the university? It's simply perfect!!! Örebro University is one of the most expansive universities in Sweden with its well over 14,500 students and 1,300 staff members.
It's seems like living in a movie... I love walking in the campus corridors, meeting people in the library and eating a kanelbulle together! There's a really relaxed atmosphere... and studying is almost a pleasure!

MY HOME

2007-03-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

Just a few words to describe the house... I live in Brickenbaken, a district just outside the center at a 5 minute distance from the university... It is also called "Brickenbronks" because of the high rate of criminality and delinquence that there is... eh eh... in reality in Sweden the worst thing that can happen to you is that someone steals your bike... and in fact it's happened to me! I'm so lucky!!! However, the house is very big and i live in the bigger (and sadely more expensive) room... But this means that i can host a lot of people!!!

MY ROOMMATES

2007-03-01T04:41:00.000-08:00

How to summarize more than a month in a few posts??? I'll give you just a flash... I live with two fantastic girls... a little bit crazy (like me, they say!!) You can see them in these pictures! The cleaning one is the french Amélie... funny isn' it? She leaves in Poitiers, she eats cheese and she studies law! The other one is Julie: Canadian, from Vancouver Island! She studies psychology, she eats cucumbers and she is our english teacher!

SWEDISH ATMOSPHERE

2007-02-18T14:53:00.000-08:00

Suddenly I understood that it wasn't real life... It's a long weird dream... it's a bubble without worries or troubles.
The dream began a month ago... I went to bed knowing that I wouldn't wake up for a long time, but I was ready, so I closed my eyes and I fell asleep. Now I'm still slepping but I can perceive what's going on...
I'm in a different striking country and the main colours here are white, grey and dark-green.