Thank you Boots!

I always try to get shampoo and hair products from England because it's so much cheaper there. I got all of the stuff in the photo for £15 (160kr). Just the shampoo alone would've been £10 in Sweden.

Can't believe it took me this long to realize that I can get stuff from Boots at Stansted as it doesn't affect the hand luggage liquid restrictions.




- Posted from my iPhone

Time for my reward!

A glass of wine and pomegranate seeds. I just love pomegranate! Unfortunately it's just a pain to peel. In England you could buy the seeds so you didn't have to do the peeling. Not that I ever did, but it's a good idea for us lazy people!



- Posted from my iPhone

Going to the doctor

I've had a lovely urinary infection all week (should I really be blogging about this?). I've drank so much cranberry juice it's crazy! I even got these Cymalon sachets you're meant to drink 3 times a day, don't think we have anything like that in Sweden. Anyway, that didn't help either.

I decided to stay at home today so I could go to the doctor. I was sort of expecting it to be a hassle but it wasn't at all! I just called the doctor's surgery Andy goes to and they gave me an appointment withing the hour. All I had to do was fill in a "temprary resident" form since I'm not a resident. I think that entitles me to free health care for up to 3 months and it can be prolonged after that. So I got to see a doctor, explained my symtoms and got a 3 day prescription of antibiotics. And it didn't cost me anything! Well, the antibiotics cost about £7 but that's it.

Don't get me wrong, the health care system in Sweden is really good too (although it does cost about 200kr or something for each visit). I was just expecting more hassle for some reason. This got me thinking about how good it is to experience things like that. Every new thing I do here, even if it is only going to the doctor, is an experience and every time I do something new I learn something new!

I cannot wait for the antibiotics to kick in so I can finally concentrate on Uni stuff!

Cards

One thing that's different in England is the tradition of sending cards. There is a card for everything here!

In Sweden I would usually get a card or two on my birthday and I might get a card or two sent to me at Christmas. Andy on the other hand must have gotten 20 cards on his birthday! And also when he moved during the summer he probably got about 10 'new home' cards! It's crazy here! You can tell that the card industry is doing well by the amount if card shops there are too.

We were looking at Christmas cards the other day and there's really one for every person in your life. They had 'to mum and her boyfriend', 'to my niece and her fiancé', 'to the cat/dog', 'from the cat/dog'....So basically you can get a personalised card for anyone in your life.

I sort of like the fact that people send more cards here. What I don't really like is that they are so personalized, in a weird way it just makes them less personal and there is no need to put any thought into the card.



- Posted from my iPhone

English TV

I love tv here! I've sort of given up most of my normal tv-series for a while (I'll have loads to watch when I move back in January!). I still watch New Girl because it's the only one I've managed to get Andy to like so far. Sometimes when he's not home during the day I'll watch How I met your mother or Grey's Anatomy while having lunch or a break from studying.

Anyway, the best shows here right now are Coronation Street, Monroe, 8 out of 10 cats, Celebrity Juice, Towie and Peep Show.

Coronation Street seems to be one of those shows that has been on for ever! Sort of like Days of our lives, but not as crazy! It's on a few nights a week and I don't always watch it but it doesn't matter as you can always keep up anyway!

Monroe is on a break right now but it's really good! It's basically an English version of House....or is House and American version of Monroe?....Nope just checked, House started airing 2004 and Monroe 2011 so it's an English version of House. Anyway, it's amazing! And I love James Nesbitt!

8 out of 10 Cats is one of those comedy panel shows. It is hilarious! It's probably the funniest show I've watched here, Jon Richardson (to the right) is amazing!

Celebrity Juice. Lol, I don't even know what to say about this one. It's also a comedy panel show and it's presented by Keith Lemon (Leigh Francis). Just hilarious!!

Towie, ok so I'm a bit embarassed about this one. Towie, or The only way is Essex is one of those dumb reality shows that everyone just loves to hate! The charachters are amusing and shockingly dense at times! But I just love it!

Peep Show is back! This is a sitcom Andy and I used to watch when visiting each other in Stockholm and Milan. Definitely a favourite!

My first first!

I got my Early American Literature paper back today and the mark said  70. I'm not very familiar with the grading system here but anything over 70% is a first, which is the highest grade! Yayyyy!

I copied this from some forum for those of you who are interested in how it works:

A first equates to the student having an average of over 70%
An upper second (2:1) is between 60% and 69%
A lower second (2:2) is between 50% and 59%
A third is between 40% and 49%

So I would've thought comparing it to the Bologna system (which we have in Sweden) would mean:

First=A
2.1=B
2.2=C
Third=D
Pass=E

But after talking to some english students during the break today I realized it doesn't really work like that. They said that basically anything under a 2.1 was not considered good. I think in Sweden being a C student is still pretty good so maybe I can't compare the grades as I have done.
Will have to investigate some more....

But right now I've still got 150 pages of A Picture of Dorian Gray left to read until tomorrow...

Roehampton <3

At Stockholm uni it was hard finding a seat anywhere in the library. Here you get your own room, without booking! :D



- Posted from my iPhone

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!

- Posted from my iPhone

An English Wedding

I got back home today, landed around 9 and had to take the bus back so I wasn't home until around noon. I was so tired so I just had to sleep for a couple of hours, hope that doesn't ruin my night sleep as I have to be up 5.30 for work tomorrow!

The weekend was just AMAZING! I arrived late Thursday night and spent the first night at Andy's. On the Friday we went to lunch and a rehearsal type thing at the bride's parents house and after that we went to check in at the hotel. Andy had all kinds of best man duties and was staying with the groom at the venue Friday night so I didn't actually see him until the wedding the next day, looking very handsome in his suit and top hat, lol yes top hat! ;)

I was originally thinking that I would be so bored at the hotel and that it might be a bit awkward at the wedding since I literally didn't know anyone! But I was introduced to the grooms family and some family friends and so I spent the Friday afternoon in the hotel lobby with them and I also went out for dinner with them later. It was so nice of them to let me join them, and so nice to meet all of them! It was such a good thing too since that way I had already met some people and had people to talk too at the wedding.

It has been such a nice experience to go to an English wedding. It was, in many ways, very similar to Swedish and Finnish weddings.
First there was the ceremony. After that we went outside to the garden for photographs and champagne. This part did feel very English as the men in the wedding party wore top hats and many women had fancy hats and everyone was mingling, drinking Pimm's and lemonade.

After that it was time for the speeches, the father of the bride, the groom and the best man gave speeches. The father of the bride even did a song (which I was told is not a traditional thing). Andy did a great job with his speech!
I think wedding speeches are a bit different in Sweden. I don't think Swedish weddings are as traditonal as English but I think that according to tradition it starts off with the father of the bride and then the father of the groom and after that other close family and the best man and also the maid of honor usually give speeches. I also think almost anyone (e.g co-workers, bosses, friends) can give speeches at swedish weddings.

After the speeches it was time for a three course meal which was amazing, I even got to try yorkshire pudding! Since Andy was the best man he was sitting at the top table. I was sitting at another table where I didn't know anyone. Everyone was so nice and outgoing though so it wasn't really a problem.
After the meal there was the cutting of the cake followed by the first dance and after that it was mainly mingling and dancing.

All in all it was such a nice day! I wish I had some photos to post but I never got any off Andys camera before I left. I'll try to post some later though!