2007 was an eventful year. When I think back I almost can't believe all the things that I've been through. I started off the year of 2007 in Singapore, where I lived with the best flatmates until May, and those 4.5 months in Singapore was truly great. My first time in Asia and I enjoyed it to the fullest. We partied. Ate - a lot. Pretended to study. And traveled. I managed to squeeze in five trips during that short period, Thailand two times, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Philippines. Then of course we experienced Singapore in every way. It was a perfect exchange semester, I experienced a lot and made best friends.
It was difficult to come back to Sweden. I loved my way of life in Singapore, my friends, the food, the culture. And the weather. I think I was born in the wrong climate since I had such trouble adjusting back to the Swedish weather. Of course, after a while I managed to adapt to the Swedish life again even though I occasionally longed to be back in Singapore.
The summer I spent mostly in Stockholm at my parents house, but also in Jönköping. I had a long summer, 4 months. I worked some, studied, had vacation, and wrote on my bachelor thesis. Had a great couple of summer weeks in Jönköping when working on my thesis. But of course had time to relax as well and meet my friends. It was the first time I experienced a summer in Jönköping, it was about time.
In September it was time for my next exchange semester - this time in Helsinki, Finland. My thought was to improve my Finnish and also take some interesting courses and actually learn something. Unfortunately I didn't improve my language skills that much, and regarding the courses they were quite okay. Then again, I would probably have learned more if I had studied more. I guess I can only blame all the partying, it's what happens when you go out 3-4 times a week. But we had fun, me and all my friends - all really great people. Also I managed to go on a trip to Russia and visit both Moscow and St Petersburg which was two amazing cities.
The exchange in Helsinki was of course different from the one in Singapore. Singapore was something new that I had never experienced before, and Finland I've been to every summer since I was born and it's also so similar to Sweden. The only bad thing in Finland was of course the cold weather, but sometimes you can't have everything. The semester ended and once again I had to say goodbye to all my newfound friends.
I came back to Sweden just before Christmas and the day before Christmas eve my family left for Spain. We spent the holidays in Alicante - a quiet, calm city with warmer weather was really nice. I got to see a blue sky, which wasn't that wasted on me in Helsinki.
So my year was very international. My time was spent in nine countries. I got to experience a lot. Everything from a quiet island vacation in Philippines, to live prawns for dinner in Singapore, to standing on the historical Red Square in Moscow. I made many new friends, and hopefully I'll get to see them all soon again.
The conclusion is:
A truly special and memorable year of 2007.
Interesting blog! I don't want to sound opinionated or anything like that... But to me, it seems like Swedes like to travel/study abroad a lot. Is it the cold weather or something?
ReplyDeleteI can spot a Swede here in So. Cal. every now and then either attending a local college/university (I am in college), just enjoying the sun, or shopping at the local Ikea. (J/K about Ikea!)
Sweden and its culture seems interesting to me...so nice blog. :)
-Robert, Los Angeles
A late reply, but as we say: better late then never :). I think many of us Swedes like to travel. I would love to live and work abroad for a while and during my vacations experience the rest of the world. I think that many Swedes are adventurous, like me, and just want to experience different countries and cultures. We all know that there's more out there and we want to get to know it. Like when I was in Thailand and met Swedes all over. And all the locals in Bangkok knew some Swedish. On Ko Phi Phi, an island outside of Phuket, about 80% where Swedes. So strange, sitting on the beach and only hear Swedish around you.
ReplyDeleteWe're not narrow minded at all and just want to experience as much as we can before many settle down (many in Sweden of course). But I would love to live abroad for many years, but we'll see where I might end up. I'm open for anything and not afraid of moving to any other country. After my exchange in Singapore I feel that I'm not at all finished with that part of the world. So much more to see.