Heysan!

As you may notice, I am not a blogger. Sort of makes sense as I have been in Sweden for two weeks and I haven’t written a damn thing yet. Also, as I prefer to limit the amount of Dawson’s Creek-type posts, I’ll stick to the facts and figures and link up to the photo’s I make, which should speak for themselves. No mushy mushy stuff here please..

Fact #1: the car trip to Uppsala was definitely worth it, thanks to An who joined me in the car and somehow managed to incessantly keep talking [photos are here]. We found some very nice campsites along the way, one near Malmö and the other not too far from Jonköping. Good stuff.

Fact #2: after staying here for two weeks, I can’t say I am suffering from any kind of so-called “culture shock” people always talk about when you do Erasmus. People are hardly different and are sociable, just like in Belgium. I guess it depends on your personal style. The way the day is run is quite different but not something I really suffer from. Life here is horribly inefficient though, you only get to do two or three things in a whole day.

Fact #3: it is a bit too social here in that you regularly need to take some time for yourself after a few days, not in the least because the amount of smalltalk you have to endure here is enough to talk a moose to death. Considering I’m kind of direct that is a mild annoyance. Still, people are fun to talk to here and even Swedes are great folks.

Fact #4: TIGHT. I guess Belgium is the only country in Europe where tight pants are not yet mainstream. Here, they are. And guys wear them. I would guess there will be some fertility problems in the swedish population sooner or later as that stuff just has to be bad for your balls.

Fact #5: Swedish women are indeed blonde. At least, here they are. Luckily for my girlfriend, I generally don’t dig blondes so it isn’t quite paradise for me. Still fun to watch other people drool over them though. And they dress kind of funny, the type of clothing you usually only see pregnant women wear. I wonder if they have something to hide.

Fact #6: Going out in Uppsala means going out EARLY. Everything worth mentioning stops at 1 or 2 AM so you leave early and you come back early, unless you end up in some corridor party.

Fact #7: Alcohol is expensive, food is pretty much okay if you know where to buy it. Meat is quite expensive but chicken is okay; fish is also quite cheap.

Fact #8: The first experimental and semi-unplanned camping trip [click here for photos] was great fun. We ended up in a cabin the first night due to storm, but the next night was great weather and found yet another wonderful campsite. GPS coordinates will be posted later on!

Some other pics are here. To be continued..