Corridor Party 24/03/06

Sat 1st July 2006

Sorry for the lack of updates but Well, my exchange is almost over - just have a couple of important weeks of travelling before heading home. This site will probably go very soon and I know, most of the links are already not working.

See you all soon (I land in Melbourne 23.55 on the 20th July)

Monday 17th April 2006

Time to write a bit more I think. Easter here was a bit strange with only a half-full corridor and not a family member in sight but nonetheless we enjoyed ourselves. I hope you all had a great time wherever you may have been. The weather here has suddenly become really really nice these last coulpe of days. Ok, rain is forecast for this afternoon but you can't have it all your own way can you? I got back on Thursday night (read on to find out from where), and all the snow was gone and then the next day, I could here birds and just about smell the grass and leaves that were starting to grow and cold walk around outside with only a thin jumper. The temperature must have been AT LEAST 10 degrees. In case you're wondering, that's really warm. On Saturday I went for a walk to the beach and was almost tempted to crunch my way through the ice in an attempt to swim and yesterday I even saw some flowers in the ground.

Ok, now for the fun stuff. Last week was our Easter break and some of us had plans to hire a car/van and see what we could see of Norwegian fjörds. However, those plans turned vaguer and vaguer as our break from uni approached and it looked like nothing was going to happen but at the last minute, we (well Kwok anyway) managed to organise ourselves enough to find our way to Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Malmö, Lund and Öland (for those not so familiar with Scandinavian geography, that's basically going around the Southern half of Sweden with a stop off in Denmark). Between the six of us, the others were Kwok, Sam, three French architect students by the names of Camille, Delphine and Fanny, we had a nine seater van due to a generous mistake of the hire company so we travelled quite comfortably. We stayed in hostels and then with a semi-Australian friend, Nina, and her father Jens (Joanne, her mother was in England) in Copenhagen. We had a great time seeing things, listening to almost too much reggae and just having fun. Anyway, just look the the pictures

Tuesday 14th March 2006

Yes, it's been a while since I last wrote anything and with very few exceptions, emailed anyone. I've just had probably the most intense half-semester of my entire life. Half-way through the first week, silly little Dickie decided that one of his subjects was too easy so he decided to change into another more advanced one. Okay, it wasn't that the original subject I chose was easy so much as a thought I wouldn't get credit for doing it because subjects at home had already covered most of the material. The standard load is two subjects (they only run for half a semester so each one is twice as intense as at home). It turns out that the two subjects I was doing, Broteknik (bridge design) and Stålkonstruktion (steel construction), have the reputation as being the two most difficult FINAL-YEAR subjects in my department. Unlike at home, there's no penalty here for failing and repeating subjects (no HECS, no threat of being kicked out of uni). That's nice in a way but it also means that most subjects are made as difficult to pass as possible. And did I mention that they're taught in Swedish? And the lectures always start at 8am??? Neither of those facts make the subjects any easier. I'm also doing advanced Swedish but to make everything even more complicated, that one runs for the whole semester.

I spent the whole term studying like a maniac and barely having any social life, yet still struggling to keep up with the work (big projects). I had quite a tough time and a week or two ago I decided to give up on the broteknik (bridge) so I could focus on steel - maybe I should have made that decision a bit earlier and saved myself some of the stress. Yesterday was my steel construction exam. Unfortunately, it was incredibly hard, as it often seems to be, much harder than the previous years' exams we were given, and I can't say anything more confident than that I might have passed it, but finally I'm feeling rather happy and relaxed now. Now I can do stuff other than just study and I'm also looking forward to seeing one of my best friends from last semester, Andri, when he comes to visit from Zurich in a couple of weeks and then my parents when they come in late May.

The weather here is really nice now too - well I think so, even if some people reckon that the temperature ought to get above zero degrees in March. I'm sure that will happen soon but for the moment, the snow is still shin-deep and makes everything look nice and bright. The skies have been pretty clear and the days are a sensible length. I played soccer (inside) and then went for a run (outside) yesterday afternoon - by the most exercise I've done for quite a while. I think that's about all for the moment. I might see if I can't find a few more pictures to put up.

Tuesday 7th February 2006

Ok, I had to move this site of Rick in Sweden to http://home.swipnet.se/rickwalsh because I've been away from Melbourne uni for too long to keep my Engineering computer account. Yes, I understand to pointlessness of this message seeing you've already found the site so you don't need to remind me. Oh yeah, and I'm still live and kicking over here in Stockholm.

Thursday 19th January 2006

I kept a bit of a diary while I was away. It covers December and up until I left Switzerland. It's quite long so I won't be offended if you just skip it and look at my pictures. Anyway, here's what I wrote...

Monday 9/11/06 - Madulain, Switzerland

December in Stockholm was a bit strange. I was realising that almost half my exchange was over and around half of my closest friends here were getting ready for their goodbyes. Other 'highlights' were exams and our Lappis Christmas.

[few hours later - just got on the train to Bern]

As our last (almost) complete group Lappis dinner, we had a huge Christmas meal before everyone started going back to their home countries or on their travels wherever. Dinner was on the 11th of December; a bit early but that was how it had to be before everyone left. Dinner was great and as well as food and drink, featured a Kris Kringle and an appearance from a scary Swiss version of Father Christmas. Unfortunately, Andri was missing for that experience...don't know where he could have been. This version of Father Christmas told from his book what good and bad things each 'child' had done during and year and if they were really naughty then he would take them away in his sack.

Oops, I forgot to mention I turned 21 on the 4th of December. I went out on the night of the 3rd (which became the morning of the 4th) with the usual suspects for a good time at Bacci's - our favoured bar/club in Gamla Stan.

Skip back ahead a week or two, after 'our' Christmas, people started leaving so it was all a bit sad, especially knowing that some of them I may never see again. By the time I left on the 22nd to spend Christmas with a Swedish friend Li and her family in Halmstad, Lappis was almost completely abandoned.

In Halmstad, despite missing my family back in Aus, I had a great time and enjoyed a proper Swedish Christmas on the 24th (as they do). It involved some of Li's relatives, a bit of glögg (Swedish mulled wine) and akvavit (Swedish schnapps) and lots of uncooked sill (herring) in seven different (semi) pickled guises. There was plenty of more normal food as well. The home-made meatballs were definitely the best I've ever had. I'm not sure I'll be able to enjoy the frozen ones you can buy from ICA any more. I almost forgot to mention, the Christmas tree had to be perfect and the second one was. This was after comments from Li and her mother of 'jätteful gran' or 'extremely ugly Christmas tree' about what seemed like a fine first tree that was eventually thrown out.

Christmas was great and I enjoyed spending time with Li and her family and friends. They were all very friendly to the strange Australian from Stockholm.

There was no snow on Christmas but there was on the morning of Boxing Day and there was lots when I got back to Stockholm that night so while I didn't quite have a 'White Christmas', I almost did.

On the 28th I flew to Bergamo, Ryanair's idea of Milan, in Northern Italy where I met up with Kate (another Aussie exchange student) and her friend Dom(inique). It had snowed a lot in Bergamo, something almost unheard of there and my flight was delayed an hour as a consequence while Kate and Dom's flight from Oslo was almost diverted. In Italy we had a great time checking out Venice, Verona and Milan in our brief stay and experiencing the Italian rail system.

On the 30th we walked from the tiny town (Stallavena) in which we were staying about 15km North of Verona to a slightly larger town called Grezzana in an attempt to find something to eat. We came across a pizza shop. The guy there was closing for the night but he made us some hotdogs. He was very friendly but spoke no English. We, or more precisely Dom, had a conversation with him using a combination of her little Italian and lots of charades. Needless to say, it was very amusing for all of us. We thought he said to come back the next night (New Years Eve) because the shop would be open all night. We did come back, walking with our umbrellas through the snow, only to find a closed pizza shop (at around 11pm) and nothing open in the town. We trudged back, cold and hungry, and our only 'party' was hearing a few fireworks at midnight.

Our time in Italy was too short to see a lot but we had a good time. On the 2nd of January, we took a train from Milan to Calico, near the Swiss border, where Andri met us and drove us to his (parents) house in Madulain, near St Moritz. We didn't see much of his parents because they went to Austria that night (to go skiing of all things) and didn't get back until the night of the 7th.

At Andri's we met up with Samuel, Gemma (both exchange people) and Gemma's boyfriend Steve. There was snow everywhere and the mountains were amazing. I went sledding twice, cross country skiing twice and downhill skiing twice. I'd done cross country before and improved at that and I sort of managed to get the hang of the other two. Andri, Gemma, Steve and Samuel are all very good skiers and Gemma and Andri are instructors so they all helped me a lot. There were also plenty of snowfights and I had a good time jumping into the snow and rolling in it as well.

Last night (the 8th) we went for a walk to a glacier nearby after dinner. It was a little bit cold but we were wearing warm clothes so that was fine. There was a great ice cave; it was quite big but so slippery we couldn't get far inside because we'd just slide straight out again.

Before I move on from my time in and around St Moritz, I should mention that the town itself is amusing and full of disgusting extreme wealth. I saw more real fur and more facelifts than I ever wish to again. Walking down the main drag was rather funny - shops selling all sorts of overpriced goods, from bamboo veneered skis to clothes covered in jewels. Not to mention all the Rolls Royces and women walking their dogs that wore doggie outfits designed by (as Dom informed me), top fashion labels.

The other thing about my time in that area was the temperature - varying between a warm -3 degrees and a cool -23. It was difficult to imagine the hot, dry days and bushfires back in Australia.

Now I'm up to date with my diary and just going through some beautiful valleys and mountains on my way from St Moritz to Bern.

Thursday 12/01/06 - Zurich airport

Here I am, about to leave Switzerland. I've had a good time these last few days with Samuel and in the country in general. I stayed at his place in Bern, a house with a big garden and small farm near the city. The place (not the house) is open to the public and his father is the gardener and caretaker. The house is nice and old and theres barn with a couple of very cute few day old lambs. Both his parents were lovely and welcoming and friendly, despite his mother speaking little more English than I do German. Their dog Bart is a very friendly standard poodle waiting to become a guidedog.

Our plans for checking out that part of Switzerland were disrupted somewhat by my needing to go to Zurich airport on Tuesday and Zurich city yesterday to finally get a new flight ticket - the ticket I booked over the internet was sent to Dad's credit card address (in Australia) so I had to claim it as 'lost'. It was an SAS flight but they couldn't print a new ticket because for some reason the ticket was issued in Qantas's name and they weren't at the airport. It was annoying but several train trips (making the most of my four day Swiss pass) and 50 francs later, I've checked in at Zurich airport and I'm waiting to board my flight back to Stockholm.

Now, enough of my whinging, how about my time here? On Tuesday (10th) morning, Samuel showed me around Bern, Switzerland's capital. It's really nice old city, built on a river and named after a bear, the first animal the founder of the town saw after deciding to build a town. It's the only town I know that has a bear pit. It's in the perhaps unwise position of just next to a brewery and bar. But maybe that's intentional and really just Switzerland showing Sweden that it too can have a tough policy on alcohol consumption and taxes are just too boring. The beer, by the way, was very nice - much better than anything I've had in Sweden.

Bern is build on the inside of a bend in its fast-flowing river - important for its defence some time ago. There's a nice cathedral, parliament house, several nice bridges and like the rest of Switzerland, tons of watch shops.

In the evening, after jaunting to Zurich airport, I met up with Samuel and his girlfriend Barbara in Luzern. We stayed at her place and in the morning we checked out the town.

Luzern too has a nice river with bridges. The art gallery is in a very modern yet appealing building. The building also houses and concert hall, apparently one of the best in the world (Barbara is a serious muso and she's played there) but we didn't have time to see either.

We did however see a museum showing a lot of Luzern's and Switzerland's history. It was very interesting and reminds one that Switzerland has only been peaceful for 150 years, before that it was quite another story.

We also saw a glacial park, including several glacial mills (large and deep holes caused by rocks and boulders rotating in cracks caused by glaciers and water) and an amusing mirror labyrinth. Don't ask me why the two are on the same site.

We went back to Bern via the Qantas office in Zurich. This morning we drove to and then climbed a broadcast tower on a hill giving a great 360 degree view of the city and surrounding valleys and mountains on the horizon. Apparently I missed out because there was no sea of fog below us but the view was nonetheless great.

We then went to Samuel's grandparent's place somewhere between Zurich and Luzern and had a lovely early dinner and then had a swim in their 30 degree pool. They've done quite a lot of travelling, including almost all the way around Australia.

Next I made another Zurich airport - I think this will be my last for quite a while. Getting close to my boarding time so I might head over to the gate (B27). Boarding pass and passport are both finally in hand.

Sunday 15th January 2006

Well if you look to the left of the screen, you should notice that there are lots of new pictures. That's because I away for a couple of weeks. I'm hungry now so I'm going to get dinner instead of writing everything about them now, but have a look through the pictures. I went first to Northern Italy and then on to Madulain and the rest of the Engadin valley in Switzerland (the best known place around there in St Moritz) and then Bern, Luzern and Zurich...and several trains between them all.

Monday 12th December 2005

Yesterday we had a delicious and oversized Christmas dinner. It was lovely. The time is nearly 3pm and I haven't eaten since because I'm still not hungry. The quantity of the food was impressive but that was compared to how good it was. A combination of a few people's takes on a traditional Christmas dinner (but unfortunately for us Aussies, we don't have a cricket bat so the backyard cricket was lacking). We've been saying that our dinners seem to keep getting better each week, since they began in August and I think this one just about tops it all off, which is appropriate considering that some people will be leaving this week so it's probably our final with this whole group of people (sob). We were even visited by a scary (Swiss) Father Christmas who read from his book and told us what we'd done that was good and bad. Luckily we were all good enough to avoid being taken away in his big bag. They say a picture tells a thousand words so I might just tell you to look at them all now - there is quite a lot to see.

Tisdag den 7de december 2005

Well Mum, it looks as though you've finally convinced me to write some more here. Och efter your marvelous email in Swedish, jag tror att jag ska skriva lite på svenska också. I hope you're happy when you know I really should be studying because I have an oral exam tomorrow in Vattenbyggnad (Hydraulic Engineering). Just joking, I need a break and it isn't really an exam - bara en muntlig redovisningen, just need to explain a few questions orally to the lecturer. It's a hurdle (not graded) so as long as I can show some competence (and I should be capable of that), he'll pass me. It's a good way to get students to do all the set (but not assessed) work before the exam. Our final lecture was yesterday and the exam will be on Monday week. I've been studying mighty hard these last few days (doing those set questions) so with a bit of luck I'll be okej.

Now I feel like talking about the fun stuff. On Sunday, the usual crew and myself will be having our own special Christmas Dinner. People will be going all over the place pretty soon so we need to have our julbord a wee bit early. I haven't been doing any organising of it, but the word is that it'll be pretty good. My effort so far has consisted of making mince for mince pies. My cupboard is giving off that yummy dried fruit, brandy and spices smell that reminds me that Christmas is not far away. Unfortunately, I won't be able to spend the real Christmas with any of my family (including our latest member) back at home

Oh, apart from studying the other thing I've done recently is getting that little bit older. As you probably know (I don't flatter myself by thinking too many people are reading this) it was my 21st on Sunday. After seeing a musical, The Pony Express, which starred Julia (who also did a lot of work on the sets), with leading orchestral roles by Samuel and Andrew on Saturday evening (hey, I was 21 at midnight), I went out with quite a few friends to a bar called Bacci (no, not Barry) in Gamla Stan. We had a fun time and it all ended (rather late) with pancakes back at Lappis. Hopefully Andri doesn't mind (cheers mate) that I stole his picture (above) but that's one of the first photos of me as a 21 year old. Thankyou Mum and Dad for that very nice and warm jacket I'm wearing there. I just realised, I use an awful lot of brackets (but they're needed so I'm not going to edit them now)

Monday 28th November 2005

As you should be able to see, I've put a fair bit of new stuff up recently. It snowed overnight and has kept going all today. It isn't our first snow, but it's definately our best yet and I reckon it's here to stay for quite a while (check out the latest pictures). Also, I'm always looking forward to new emails so don't forget to write, I know I haven't done all that much writing myself of them lately, but maybe I will soon.

Tuesday 18th October 2005

IMPORTANT: To access this site, please go to www.ecr.unimelb.edu.au (change of domain name). The ecr.mu.oz.au address may not work soon.

Also, I've added a few pics I took when I went for a walk in this morning.

Monday 17th October 2005

Just got back yesterday from a nice little overnight excursion to Sweden's oldest standing town and the nearby forest. It was very worthwhile and we had a great time. Check out the pictures.

Wednesday 12th October 2005

Hello again. Last weekend I headed down South and a bit West to Halmstad and Lund to visit a couple of friends. I had a nice time and took a few nice pictures (including a few of some Australian plants Dad...I finally found some for you in the Lund Botanic Gardens). Anyway, by the time this little message is on the web, some more pictures should be too, including some that Samuel took and gave me the explicit permission required to have them on my site so that I'm not breaking any Melbourne Uni ECR rules.

Saturday 1st October 2005

Well it has been a while since I last updated my website and I thought it's about time that I did. I don't really have time to do it because I've been rather busy and I've got too much studying to do. I'm slowly getting through my work but it's not easy.

Last Monday and Tuesday I went on a little study trip to the middle part of Sweden for my geology subject. We stopped at lots of places along the way to look at variuos sites and we stayed the night in a nice old town (actually all towns here seem to be old so I suppose that goes without saying) called Örebro. I enjoyed it and got to know quite a few people in my class but I didn't actually understand much of what the lecturer was saying about everywhere that we visited because it was all in Swedish. I think all of the important stuff is in the book we got for the trip so I should be alright. Anyway, it was good to spend a couple of days hearing a lot of Swedish. At one of the places we stopped we saw a few snakes, so that was nice and homely. Apparently Sweden has only two sorts of snakes, one that bites and one that doesn't. We saw the harmless one; It was fairly small but not small or pretty enough to be cute so really, it looked rather pathetic and underwhelming.

I'll put some pictures up soon but now I shall study

Saturday 17th September 2005

I love spontaneous get-togethers. Last night I was going to have Kate and Gemma over to watch something on my computer and I thought I may as well cook dinner too. So then I asked myself 'why not ask a couple more?' but once I did that I realised I ought to ask everyone who isn't walking up around Kiruna this weekend. So after starting to invite people a bit before 6pm, I was cooking for eight and I'd told them all to come at 7. It was actually more like 8 before everything was cooked but I don't think I did a bad job. I did have a bit of help so I can't forget that. We had a good time and hopefully my corridoor-mates weren't too annoyed at having all the extra people crashing their kitchen and lounge.

After our dinner and viewing, we went off to Elise's corridoor party. She's living on campus at KTH so it took a bit longer to get to than other corridoor parties that are held in Lappis but it was a pretty big party on two floors of her building and it was good fun. All up I (and I think most others too) had a good night.

Sometimes I feel my attempts at Swedish are pathetic and hopeless. The other day I had a geology tute and we were working in groups and I felt so bad that I had to keep asking the people I was working with to repeat almost everything in English. I was working with really nice people but I hope I didn't test their patience too much. Most of all, I'd just like to be able to speak Swedish fluently with them. Unfortunately, it isn't all that easy; even though I can understand most of the words they say, it's too quick to understand the sentences and hence, what they're actually saying. Also, when I hear a word I don't know (quite often) I often try to think about it and work out what it might mean. That's all very good but it means I miss the rest of what they're saying.

Thurday 15th September 2005

Good news, the picture pages are full now with all the decent and semi decent pictures I've taken since I've been here. I've also changed the colours so hopefully it looks brighter and more Swedish and less depressingly dark

Now the less exciting things. This morning I had a geology tute and we were working in groups looking at special maps of some area of Sweden (I have no idea where but I'm sure the others did). I felt really bad having to ask the people I was working with to repeat everything in English. I get a bit annoyed that if I concentrate I can understand most of the words that people are saying but most of the time, unless they speak slowly, I can't put it all together fast enough to understand what they're saying. The people I was working with were nice and I think they managed to put up with me alright.

This evening I'm going to the first class of a Swedish culture and history course. With a bit of luck, I might be able to claim credit for it as a politics subject. Even if I can't, I think it's a good excuse to see some nice museums and films and the like. Quite a few of my exchange friends are taking the course so it should be pretty fun and it's taught in English and I don't think there'll be too much work involved so it shouldn't be too difficult. I suppose I'll know a bit more about it in a few hours.

Wednesday 14th September 2005

Well people, it looks like I've finally found a place to put up all my pictures. Please tell me what's pissing you off on this website; I imagine I'll be changing everything around pretty soon and I'll keep changing it. Yes I know, the picture pages are looking pretty empty at the moment but I haven't had time yet to put everything on. If I have a bit of time, I might even go for thumbnail pictures too

The most recent news would be that on Monday I found out that I passed my Swedish (Intermediate) exam. Not only did I pass, to my surprise I actually did quite well. Some of us went out that night to Karaoke bar in the city. I'd never been to one of them before and despite all the bad singing, it was actually a nice place.