Visit from home

My wifey Mikaela is visiting me this weekend which is why there are no new blog posts. Will do better next week!


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What a day!

Just sat down after a long first day of normal life again! I had my first lecture today, then went to London to look for a book (with no luck), then came home, went for a run, had a shower, made lasagna, ate and read the 'Declaration of Independence' in preparation for tomorrows class. Phew!

Today's lecture was 'Early modern history'. It seems really interesting, but it also seems pretty hard. It is not easy to read 16th century poetry in English when you're not a native speaker! The teacher had us watch a clip with a speech from a Shakespeare play and we also got the text. We got to listen to it once and then she asked us to talk about the meaning and answer questions in groups.
Four out of six people in my group were Erasmus students and we all agreed we need more time to read the text to be able to answer the questions. I did get most of the language but it's just not easy to take it in when you have to look for hidden meanings etc. We spoke to the teacher and she said that normally we will read the texts at home first so it shouldn't be a problem, she also said we'll have more time to discuss in the future.
I felt a bit better after that, I did get a little worried there. I'm the type of person that needs time to think about texts even in Swedish so when it's 16th century poetry I definitely need more time. I have one week to change my courses but I'm thinking I won't change this one, hopefully it'll get easier!

So this is the reason I've read the Declaration of independence and tried to prepare a little for tomorrow's American literature class. Looking forward to that one, it was my number one choice!


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Rain

My plan was to go running today since its my last day off and the rest of the week will be busier, not doing it in this weather tho!



I was thinking I won't need a gym card as I can go running outside during the autumn, didn't really think about the rain tho.


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My new thing

-Crumpets



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Berko pub crawl

Yesterday we visited six of the local pubs. Two of them were really nice, two were real dumps and the last two were ok.



Favourite pub: The Three Horseshoes



The second best one: The White Horse

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Lol!!

We've watched all the episodes of the office now.



David Brent in the office



Andy in the office

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Blog design

I think the blog is a little hard to read at the moment, especially using an iPhone. I'll see if I can change the design over the weekend. I still haven't got a laptop but hopefully Andy will bring his work one home for the weekend.

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The canal

I absolutely love running along the canal here! Well I love the canal, not so much the running. People are so nice in this town too! Most people smile and say hello when I run past. Yesterday I ran past this man that was doing something with his boat and he went "Good work. You're doing great!" I just love that! I think I could really get used to life in a smaller town.

Today I went for an 8 km walk along the canal toward Hemel Hempstead. I've never actually been that way before, it was really nice!















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Getting to know London

After the registration on Tuesday Camilla and I decided to explore some areas of London. We went to Hammersmith, Shepherd's market and Notting hill gate without really knowing anything about the areas. I really think that's the best way to do it. Just pick an area, get there and then wander around aimlessly, lol it worked for us anyway!
We ended up at this pub in Notting hill where we had dinner before heading home.



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My timetable

I went to register at uni a couple of days ago and I also managed to change one of my classes. I changed from 'Early Victorian literature' to 'Gothic and fantastic literature' which sounds way more interesting! The best part is that Gothic literature is at 10-13 Tuesday's whereas Victorian literature would've been 14-17 on Friday's. So have a look at my amazing schedule;



I will have to leave home at 7.15 to go to uni 3 times a week but I don't mind if that means Mondays and Friday's off!

I'm mostly excited about the American literature module! It covers everything from the colonial period to the civil war and we'll be working with texts such as 'Moby Dick' and 'Uncle Toms Cabin'.
I've got a huge interest for this particular part of American history. On previous trips to the states I've visited a couple of plantations and it was so interesting! Can't wait for this one!

The Gothic and fantastic literature is about gothic literature from the late 18th century until today. It covers Frankenstein and other literature written in that style, should be interesting!

And then there's Early modern literature. I've done three terms of history at Stockholm Uni and for some reason I've always chosen courses and written essays about the Early modern period (1500-1700), I guess I have a thing for that era! The other reason I chose this module is that it covers a lot of Shakespeare and English literature, which is a good thing considering I've got an American literature module too.

I can't wait till next Tuesday when I've got my first lecture!

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Freshers week

This week is freshers week at Uni. Which means no classes and loads of activities for freshmen. I think I might go to the uni pub one night with this other girl from Stockholm uni but other than that I think I'm a bit too old for freshers week!

So this basically means I'm off most of the week, except for tomorrow since it's registration. There's also this optional English test that I might do tomorrow.

Right now I'm in Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd's bush and they've got free wifi! I'm just having a coffee break from shopping... Not sure if shopping is the right word considering I haven't bought anything yet. I have to try to remember I'm on a student's budget and shouldn't spend all my money at once...




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Meet the parents

Andy's parents came to visit us over the weekend. They live up north so it was the first time I've ever met them.
We had a really good weekend with dinner and drinks out on Friday. On Saturday I had a uni thing and then we had dinner at ours and went out for a few drinks. On Sunday we went for lunch to this nice pub close to us. Overall it was such a great weekend, I really enjoyed it!

I had this Uni thing on Saturday called 'photo frenzy'. We had to go around London in groups and get pictures of famous sights. Andy showed me around once a few months ago so it was pretty easy for me to get around to the different sights. Now I feel like I can actually show Mikaela around when she comes next week!



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The reason I moved to England

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Commuting

I'm on my way to uni for a one hour information thing. Had my first day yesterday, so far its only information and meeting the other Erasmus students but it was good! People seem nice and the campus is still amazing! It's quite a lot smaller than I thought but I guess that's a good thing.

Right now I'm in Clapham junction where I change trains everyday. Found a caffe Nero with access to wifi. So I'm just hanging out outside of it, lol!




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Roehampton University

Tomorrow is the first day of university so I went to check out the campus today!

I will be commuting from Berkhamsted to Barnes which will take about 1h and 15 mins on the train and then it's a 15 min walk to campus.
I don't think I'll mind the commute too much, the problem is that the fastest train connection only goes once an hour. If I miss it I'll have to wait or take another train which takes longer. I think I'll only have uni 2-3 days a week so I should be ok with the commute.

Anyway, the campus looked amazing!















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TOMATO

Omg! I just said tomato! Like a proper English "tomarto" instead of my usual American "tomayto"


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A great weekend!

I haven't had much time to blog over the weekend. On Saturday morning we went to Andy's friends Dave and Ana and spent the day and night there. They live in a town outside London and we spent most of the day walking around and going to different pubs. In the evening Ana made amazing Indian food and after that we played different trivia games and had more drinks.



Dave, Ana and Andy all like their ale, I've tried it before but haven't really liked it. So I decided to give it another go and it is actually pretty ok, but I still feel it needs bubbles :/

Overall the weekend was great! And now I've only got a few more days before uni starts!

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I'm loving this Friday!

Just went for a 4 km run and now I'm getting ready to go to London. A day of shopping ahead! It's also my first day of traveling alone on the London tube, hope I don't get lost! ;)



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Soup time!

I made salmon and prawn soup today, it turned out well! :)
Need to start cooking more!



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A miracle toothbrush

I bought my first electrical toothbrush yesterday. Today I'm wondering why no one told me about this little miracle machine?

It is amazing! After a two minute brushing my teeth feel cleaner than ever!! Lol I sound like something from a commercial. But it is just that amazing!



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Night out

We went out for dinner tonight, and then two different pubs for drinks. I'm actually blogging from a pub right now, I love the places where you get free wifi!!




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Berkhamsted castle

I went to Berkhamsted castle yesterday. Another absolutely beautiful place here!

The castle dates from around 1100 and has apparently been in ruins since 1500. There are just a few walls standing now, but still there's just something about the place. Guess it's just one of those magic places....



The outer walls are still standing



There's also a cottage from the 1800s on the site.

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IKEA

Yep we visited the most Swedish place on earth yesterday; IKEA! I've never been to an IKEA abroad before but it's just like home! It's strange really how a person could be thousands of miles away from home and just walk into IKEA and feel like they're in Barkarby or Kungens kurva in an instant.
I know what I'll be doing if I get homesick!



We got some stuff that we need for the apartment which is still pretty empty. Well it's not empty but there are some essential things missing, so I guess we'll have to go a few times. Not complaining by the way -I love IKEA! :)

It's strange buying stuff for the apartment and decorating knowing that I'll only be here for a few months. I love doing it so I'm not complaining but I would love doing it even more if I knew I'd be here to stay.

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Early bird

For some reason I keep waking up half an hour before Andy in the mornings. I lie awake for about and hour and then sleep to about ten. Ahh the life of a housewife!

No I think I'd be bored out of my mind if this was really my life. It's really nice to have some vacation but at the same time I can't wait to get some everyday routines! One week till uni starts! :)



Lol didn't know what to photograph here so; ladies and gentlemen; our bedroom window!

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Grocery shopping

All of this for £20!! I love England! Sweden is so much more expensive when it comes to food!




This was yesterday's shopping at Tesco. Today I went to Waitrose which is more expensive but bigger. I just love grocery shopping in new countries!

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Today's plan: To explore Berkhamsted

I'm still having difficulties uploading photos, which is annoying since there's no point posting about certain things without photos!

So yesterday I explored the canal area all the way to Tring. Today I'm thinking I'll explore the town and maybe check out some of the shops.
The town we live in is called Berkhamsted and it seems absolutely amazing! It's such a nice little town and so far it seems there's everything a person could possibly need right here. Plus it's only 30 mins to London by train! Think I'm going to like it here :)


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Exercise

I went for a jog/power walk along the canal today. It was beautiful! I really wanted to walk all the way to the next town to see what it's like so I did 15 km in total. Don't think I ran more than 4-5 but my legs are still killing me!
I don't think getting started with my running will be hard when I get to run along such beautiful scenery!
(Trying to post photos here but it's saying I don't have enough signal for that, which is annoying cause I do!)

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Laptop problems

I'm having some difficulties doing anything but mobile blogging right now since I had to leave my laptop for service before I moved here. And now Andy's laptop seems to be dying too!
I should most likely get my laptop when Mikaela comes to visit in a few weeks. After that it'll be easier to write longer posts.



Andy got me some flowers when I arrived on Thursday <3 data-blogger-escaped-br="br">
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My first cooked English breakfast

Andy made us a cooked English breakfast today. I'm not a big meat eater so was not looking forward to this!
However; I have said I want to try everything English, so I did. And it was actually ok, if you don't think about what you're actually eating.




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Night out in London

Last night we went to London to go out with Andy's friend and his girlfriend. Had a great night!

We had drinks served from a teapot! Now I thought this was very English but apparently it isn't. Still fun tho! :)






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