The BOY says:Hi everyone! This is obviously not my BLOG (not that I have one) but everyone who knows GOON knows me so I’ll be posting my entries here for the next 6 months or so to update all on our adventures in Lund, Sweden and subsequently other parts of Europe! (GOON is still recovering from jet-lag… so its up to me to do the bulk of the BLOG updating…. FOR NOW)
It’s our 3rd day in Lund and its now 11.03pm on 10th Jan (which means its 11th Jan 6.04am in Singapore). For some of you it might mean that its time to wake up to go to school, for us, it’s almost time to go to bed. Much has happened since we flew off from Singapore on the 8th but this is the first chance that we got to be able to sit down and write BLOG entries.
DAY ONE, (08th Jan) - We arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark at around 7am. After collecting our luggage, we immediately boarded a train bound for Lund. It was a pretty short train ride, slightly less then 45 minutes but it gave us a good view of the Scandinavian landscape for the first time in our lives. There were no HDBs or tall commercial skyscrapers, just the occasional low-rise buildings and cottages sprouting out from what seems to us as the middle of nowhere. Rolling plains and withered trees, everything seems so surreal and fantasy-like.
When we finally arrived in Lund, we were finally hit by the cold winds of Sweden. It is really cold over here. Though officially, the weather reports a temperature of 5 degrees Celsius, but when the wind hits your face, it’s so cold, it stings. Thanks to the many generous donations of winter clothes our bodies were well insulated from the cold but nothing would be able to shield our faces. Eager to be rid of our heavy luggage and to be out of the cold, we quickly made our way to “The Train”, a youth hostel we booked for the night as our permanent hostel here won’t be ready till the next day. The Train is really a train, an old unused train that someone converted into a youth hostel. We slept in train cabins, each cabin having 3 single beds on top of each other, much like the famous KTM train from Tg Pagar to Malaysia you can take in Singapore. Most unfortunately, we could only check-in at 5pm so from 8am till 5pm, we had to “entertain ourselves”.
The Train, view from outside
The Cafe Cabin Car (that's the Swedish breakfast on the table!)
The Recreation Room Cabin (Yes, Europeans play Ping Pong)
We spent the rest of the day wandering the streets of Lund. This town is really different from cosmopolitan cities like Singapore. All the buildings are at most 5-7 stories high and reflect old Nordic designs, definitely NOT modern! There are a few major roads here but mainly, the city comprises of cobblestone streets, shared by cars, cyclists and pedestrians alike, governed by nothing but zebra-crossings and good judgment by all road users. There are over 10 cathedrals here, each with its own unique design, we hope to photograph all of them for you to see!
View from outside the train station
Buildings in Lund (not very tall right?)
However, the problem with Lund is that prices are VERY HIGH. Almost everything is double or more compared to those back in Singapore. For example, a Burger King meal here cost 65 SEK, equivalent to about 15 SGD; a bottle of coke 15 SEK, equivalent to 3.50 SGD, a LAN cable for 120 SEK / 30 SGD. Because of this, food is scarce over here as its really too expensive, with main courses at restaurants costing between 20-40 SGD. Even a visit to the toilet costs over 1 SGD. Speaking of toilets, Lund has numerous public toilets available. What makes it so special, is that toilets or rather cubicles are erected in the middle of the streets. For 2 SEK you can lock the door to this cubicle, the size of a phone booth, often found in the middle of the streets. Just imagine doing your business while cars, cyclists and pedestrians are zooming around you, inches away from where you are “doing your thing”. INTERESTING……..
Fancy doing your business in here??
Our dinner for the night.... Is it any surprise we couldn't finish it?
The grass is greener on the otherside, the vegetables sure are fresher in Europe!
Next we walked around the town, taking in the sights and sounds, snapped a few pictures of landmark buildings and promptly went back and checked in at the train at 5pm and fell asleep at around 8pm. The sun in Lund sets at 4pm so the darkness coupled with our jet-lag made 8pm feel like 11pm and so we slept like logs…..
The town's landmark, The Domkyrka or the Cathedral
Cathedral side view
Another section of the cathedral
The main Lund University building and its grand fountain
DAY TWO, (09th Jan) – We woke up promptly on arrival day to a traditional Swedish breakfast. Swedish food is EXTREMELY healthy, and some of you might feel, EXTREMELY NOT WORTH what you are paying. There’s bread, cereal, muesli, fruits, eggs, ham, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce among other very healthy stuff. For those of you who can’t et enough of Delifrance and its over-priced sandwiches, you might consider emigrating to Sweden. Next, because we were late and GOON was feeling lazy, we dialed for a cab to take us to the University building (this cost us 89 SEK / 20+ SGD for a short 5min trip). We did all our paperwork and collected our key to our hostel and home for the next 5 months, Spoletorp.
Spoletorp comprises of 2 buildings, Spoletorp North and Spoletorp South. We stay at Spoletorp North or Norra Spoletorp in Swedish. GOON and I stay on the same corridor, she stays in room 409 while I stay in room 406. We share the corridor with 4 other people, a guy from Japan, Hiro, another guy from Germany Pantaline, a girl from Canada, Anna and another unknown tenant who has yet to check in. The 6 of us share 2 toilets, 1 male 1 female and a kitchen and a common living room area with 6 other students from the opposite corridor.
Our rooms have a VERY IKEA feel about it (with half the furniture from IKEA) and is quite spacious for 1 person. We have a table, a cupboard, 3 wall shelves, an arm chair, a computer chair, a nightstand, a notice board, a single bed, a sink and a good view out the window. Besides not having a personal bathroom and kitchenette, our rooms are really quite comfortable to live in and convenient as well with the city centre where all the shops and amenities are just 200 metres away.
My Messy Room
Me and Goon outside my room
The rest of the day went on simply enough, we grabbed bedsheets for our bed, some dinner and went straight back to our hostel. Both of us did not even notice it was GOON’s birthday till about 6pm and we were so tired by then already. So we went back, cooked spaghetti for ourselves and fell asleep at about 9pm. This decision came back to haunt us the next day, when we got up at 5am for sleeping too early…
DAY THREE, (10th Jan) – Our first day of the orientation programme! We started the day by attending our first lesson of our Swedish Language Course. It was a grueling 3.5 hours!! But we did learn some useful things which we will share with all of you guys!
“Hej”, pronounced [Hey] which means “Hello” in Swedish.
“Tack”, pronounced [Tahck] which means “Thank you”.
More to come with every BLOG entry! A few words a day!
We opened an account in Sweden today! However, we have also spent over 3000 SEK / 700+ SGD within this short span of time due to high prices everywhere.
We also met our mentor group and quickly toured the place. Apparently, ALL alcohol, besides beer is sold in shops designated and controlled by the Government and the legal age to purchase alcohol in the shop is 20 years old!
More to come from us at Lund! Do leave your comments! It's great to hear from home!
The GOON says: It has been quite a journey here. All this way, and God's blessings never fails. We'll be posting up pictures soon, as soon as we get the chance to take them. Lund is really a beautiful town. It has got cobblestone-lined streets, with european architecture, and bicycles and cars and pedestrians that share the same roads, with hardly any traffic lights!
We've met and made friends with really wonderful people from all over the world, and we just came back dinner with 2 people from Finland, and 2 Germans. We've also met many Singaporeans here! 5 of whom are in my Swedish class! Haha, the boy and I cooked dinner last night, spaghetti, oxtail stew and warmed roast chicken and we shared with our German neighbour who just arrived.
Our new friends, too bad they're leaving for Germany soon!
And right from when we left you guys at the airport, God has been faithfully providing, sending nice people to give us directions and all!
Friends are like wine, the old ones are always the best!
Goon in Malmo!
The Turning Torso, don't worry, it's won't fall!
Waterfront living in Malmo. The sea is on the other side!
Clear green fields, too bad this is a park for dogs.
Goon, dwarfed by the tree.
Goon walking into the distance....
Goon on a bridge, lagi like Korean Drama cancer patient.
One of the many rivers in Malmo.
DUCKS!!!
A windmill, very different from the one at Holland Village.
The public park (for humans)
Malmo city square, and yes, it's an outdoor ice skating rink!
The statue of King Gustav that marks the centre of the city square.
City Hall of Malmo.
Look, it's IKEA!!! It looks dark but its just over 4pm...
Meatballs in Sweden! Only 16 SEK!!!
