Merry Christmas everyone!!

I'm back in Stockholm for a few days. There's so much snow here, it's so Christmassy! Spent Christmas Eve at my mums yesterday and tonight I'll be going out with my friends. Happy Holidays people!



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How I met your mother

Just watched the season finale of How I met your mother and it made me cry like a baby!! It was just....perfect! Watch it!!!!

The Rex Cinema

The visit to the cinema yesterday was so nice, I love those old style cinemas! And 'A Christmas Carol' (the animated one) was really good! There's a bar in there so we ordered drinks too. It's nice to be able to have a drink while watching a movie!

After the cinema we went to the Gatsby for a cocktail. Haven't been there before but it was nice. All in all, a good night!






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Great..

The back of a bag of McCoy's crisps...




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Christmassy things

Yesterday I went to Hemel Hempstead to do some Christmas shopping. Then later we had a nice Christmassy evening. We had mulled wine and wrapped all the gifts.

Tonight we're going to the cinema. There's this old cinema called The Rex here, it's from the 30s and it's supposed to be really nice! Going to see 'A Christmas Carol'. Lol Christmas overdose here!






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Plans for the future

I can't believe how fast my time here has gone! On Sunday I'll be heading home for a few days over Christmas and then in exactly a month I'll be moving back to Stockholm. CRAZY!

So, I guess it's time to talk about the future. I have decided to move to England permanently. I obviosuly want to be with Andy and I really do love it here so it feels natural for me to move here =)

Moving here does require some planning though, here they are so far:


University:
I still have one term of Uni left in Stockholm so I need to move back so I can finish my studies. It's going to be a rough term though because I've got two essays and one exam from previous terms that I haven''t done for various reasons. So I'll be studying full time, doing those extra assignments and hopefully also working a little bit.

Living arrangements:
Mikaela is renting my apartment right now and since she needs a place to stay and I need a place to stay we've decided to share for a while. This is a really good way for us to save money! The apartment is pretty small but I'm sure we can make it work for a while ithout killing each other ;)

Timing
We haven't decided when the ideal time to move is. I will (hopefully) be finishing my studies end of May/beginning of June. If they've got shifts for me at my old job at the hotel over the summer I might stay and work and earn some money. Can't really move without any money!

Plans in England
Since I'll (hopefully) be a qualified teacher in June I'm obviosuly hoping to work as a teacher in England, even tough it is a bit scary! I think they do need teachers here so it shouldn't be impossible to get a job. And I am qualified to work here since I will have gotten my degree withing the EU. But I am prepared to work with something else for a while if I can't get a teaching job right a way. I know and like the hotel business so I can always do that. Another back-up plan is to sign up for a distance course at a university in Sweden. That way I can study from England and still get student money from Sweden. This is not ideal though since I'd rather not be taking more student loanes.

So that's my plan! It's a bit of a scary plan but at the same time I'm so excited about it all and can't wait to move over!

Xmas shopping

Yesterday after submitting my last essay for this term I went to Oxford street for some xmas shopping. I met up with Andy later and we had sushi at one of those places where it goes around on a thingy (lol don't know how to explain). Anyway, it was nice!

I'm off to Camden with Camilla now for some more Xmas shopping. She's going back to Stockholm tomorrow :(



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Weekend plans

Camilla's coming over to Berko today. Think we will just walk around and go to some shops and some pubs off course! Looking forward too it!!!

Tomorrow will be a crazy day of studying as I need to finish my essay by Monday 2 pm, it'll be the last thing I have to hand in before Xmas and I'm so happy about that!

Meal deal

Andy just sent me a photo of the M&S meal deal he got for tonight. A main, a side, dessert and a bottle of wine for £10! I just love how easy they make cooking here :) And cheap!




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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!

Not a good day

I'm not feeling very well today, have been feeling ill and couldn't sleep last night. I probably got like an hour of sleep.
I have to e-mail a first draft of my essay to my 'Language, Society and Power' teacher and I'm nowhere near done... I guess I'll just have to e-mail her what I've got. The final deadline for the essay is Monday. I've also got a smaller deadline on Friday. Can't wait till Monday 2 pm! After that I'm taking some time off studying! The only thing I will do is finish reading a couple of novels that I need for my two literature essays that are due January 9th. Then its back to studying January 2nd I guess! I'm moving back to Stockholm January 19th so I will have about a week with no studying before I move. Looking forward to that!

Christmas plans

I can't believe how fast this term has gone! Next week is my last week of uni. And in two weeks I'll be going back home to Stockholm over Christmas. I'm flying there on the evening of 23rd and then spending Christmas Eve at my mums. On Christmas Day I'm going out with Mikaela and Jenny, can't wait to go to Malmen again! On Boxing Day I'll be visitig my dad. And on the 27th I'm flying to Manchester and spending the night at Andy's parents. On the 28th Andy's friend is getting married outside Liverpool so we're going to the wedding and spending the night there. After that we'll probably head to Andy's parents for another night or so and then we'll be coming back south for New Years Eve. I think we'll be spending New Years with two of Andy's friends and some of their other friends.

So, as you can see I'll be doing a lot of traveling over the holidays. It sucks that I can't spend Christmas with Andy but at the same time I'm really looking forward to seeing my friends and family again!

 

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.



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Christmas time

Last night we decorated the Xmas tree, listened to Xmas music and had mulled wine and gingerbread with blue cheese. Finally getting into the Christmas spirit!

I can't believe I managed to find Swedish Anna's gingerbread here! Got them at this really cheap store for 69p, lol!
















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Grumpy Santa

We're both working at home this afternoon. Well, one of us is, I'm getting nothing done today!

We went to Hemel earlier and got a Xmas tree, some decoration and two Santa hats! :)



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Thank you!

Think I forgot to post this. It's all stuff Frida and Jennifer brought us from Sweden :)

The Julmust is for Andy, he loves it! The delicatoballs are long gone but we've still got most of the dips left and a bottle of Julmust we're saving for Xmas!



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The first snow!!

Woke up to this in the morning. It's all gone now but still....yayy!!!


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Coffee and crumpet break

I know I've blogged about them before. They're just THAT amazing! Just realised something tho, I will have to go a loooong time without crumpets when I go back home :'(





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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 English phone

By the way I finally got tired of not being able to call or text Andy when I want so I got a cheap phone.

Have a look at this beauty! Lol, it's very basic but I love it!








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Thursdays with Camilla

So, Camilla is his Swedish girl I know from Uni. She's from Stockholm Uni as well but we didn't know each other before we moved here. When we met in the beginning of the term we decided to speak English to each other since we're partly here to improve our language skills. It's been so good to have someone to talk to and to explore London with!

We decided early on to try out a new area of London every Thursday night and it's been really good! We have the same classes on Thursdays and it's always a really long and intense day so it's so nice to get out, walk around a new area and have dinner and drinks. So far we've been to: Hammersmith, Imperial Wharf, Brick lane, Victoria, Clapham and yesterday we went to Camden. So far Camden is definitely my favourite area! Clapham was also really good!

We we're just talking yesterday and realized that there aren't many Thursdays left as Camilla is going home in 2-3 weeks :( It's been such a good experience though and the best way  to get to know London!! I will miss our Thursdays! :'(

 Mulled wine at Clapham a couple of weeks ago

Visitors from Finland

Waiting for my cousins at Victoria station :)



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Weekend in London



 

Here are some photos from our weekend in London when Frida and Jennifer visited! I had such an amazing time!!



 



 

 

 

 

 

Will do better soon...

I have been so crap at writing! Will do better, soon! I have a deadline at midnight tonight and tomorrow my cousins Maria and Merita are coming for a visit, looking forward to that!!

Busy times

I had an amazing weekend in London with Frida and Jennifer! And then this week has been all about catching up. I will post soon, and maybe with some London photos! :D

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This day has not been the best...

This day has been poo. I've been at uni all day studying. When I finally decided to go home at 7pm my first train to Clapham was late. It actually said on the screen that it was late because someone got hit by a train...seems bizarre to put it up there. Anyway, I did manage to make my second train but then suddenly it was announced that the train would terminate in Shepherd's bush. I got off there and went up to ask about how to get home and the answer was: take the overground to Willesden jct, change to Watford jct and then take the train toward Milton Keynes. Sigh....did I mention I had my laptop and loads of books to carry as well?
I've actually been thinking about how the train system seems really good here and that there are rarely delays. I guess the thing is that when there is a problem it's really a problem. It's not easy to get from south London to Berko if the trains aren't working!

You would think this poo day ends there? Nope! A while ago I tried to turn my laptop on and a text appeared saying that a fan isn't working properly and that it shouldn't be turned on. Still managed to do it to save my essay on a USB.... I just really hope it works tomorrow so that I don't have to waste 3-4 hours traveling to uni and back!

I am not a happy camper right now...


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Blaaaah

This is just to inform you of my whereabouts the next few days. Nothing exciting happening here!




BUT after Thursday (deadline day) I get my reward! Three days of touristing in London with Frida and Jennifer who are coming to visit! :D


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Pointless

According to Andy this is the most pointless thing we've done so far.

-Who can hold their leg up the longest?



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Self-control

I can't handle having Nutella at home! It's too easy to go and get a spoonful every now and then. I've got no self-control whatsoever...

Lol, I even thought about buying an extra Nutella and hiding it so that Andy won't see how much disappears daily! :P




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One of those days....

It's another one of those days. I'm sitting here and really trying to concentrate on writing this essay but I just can't do it! Isn't it strange how some days you can write pages of good stuff whereas others you just can't put a single word on paper?

I'm trying not to stress about the fact that my teacher was saying to us on Thursday last week that those of us that haven't started are in trouble in terms of finishing in time. I started yesterday.... But it's just the way I work though! I need pressure to be able to do anything. But at the same time I crumble under pressure....What to do?

The Old Mill

The weekend has been so nice! It's not often we have a weekend without any plans. We spent the day at home and I've been trying to study...

Then we went to The Old Mill for a late Sunday roast with red wine, followed by an amazing cheese plate! It's been a good weekend!






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Feeling Christmassy

There is already Xmas stuff everywhere! I know a lot of people think it's too early but I just love it!!

I had a coffee at Costa the other day and it was served in a Xmas cup! :)



Yesterday we went for a walk in town and ended up in a garden shop. They had a room full of Christmas decorations! Can't wait to go shopping there once we get a tree!




We already got our chocolate calendars a couple a weeks ago. And also some Xmas scented candles and Xmas cards.






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