Okay, so today I decided to go with my mum to central Stockholm and do some shopping, since that's just how nice I am. Hah! No, I don't really know why I was stupid enough to go along with it, but there you go.. I mean I love my mum and all, but she can be sort of annoying..
Anyways, after we've done what we had to, and had some lunch she asked if I just wanted to check out some stores, and I was like "whatever/doesn't matter/I don't know" ('cause that's all I ever say..). So she took me to some of her favourite shops and asked me what I thought about some clothes and let me tell you: 99% of what I saw today is something not even Rachel Berry would have worn in Season 1 of Glee! That's how bad it was! Hideous patterns, not exactly flattering figures and crazy colours (and that's coming from me, Miss Rainbow-Wardrobe). I'm hoping the fashion world will change, and soon!
xoxo
Frida
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Success!
Just wanted you to know that I've now learned how to successfully add links to my posts (which I couldn't do last year), and my posts about music might be a bit prettier this time around.
xoxo
Frida
xoxo
Frida
For music lovers who need inspiration
Hi!
I used to post a lot of tips on music on here last year, and if I think of something I'll probably do it again, but I won't do it as often. Therefore I would like to recommend another blog for all you music lovers out there, where you can find a lot of tips, with daily updates. The blog is called The Music Screener, and you can find it right here at blogger, on:
themusicscreener.blogspot.se
I've found more than 60 songs on there that I really like, so you're bound to find something! A friend of mine started it as her senior project (and then she used to update four times/day), and decided to continue after graduation upon request. Please check it out, it's great!
xoxo
Frida
I used to post a lot of tips on music on here last year, and if I think of something I'll probably do it again, but I won't do it as often. Therefore I would like to recommend another blog for all you music lovers out there, where you can find a lot of tips, with daily updates. The blog is called The Music Screener, and you can find it right here at blogger, on:
themusicscreener.blogspot.se
I've found more than 60 songs on there that I really like, so you're bound to find something! A friend of mine started it as her senior project (and then she used to update four times/day), and decided to continue after graduation upon request. Please check it out, it's great!
xoxo
Frida
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
The Hunger Games
SPOILER ALERT!
The Hunger Games (first book)
After reading all three, I think this is the best, and had it ended differently (maybe not the berries thing, but the Peeta/Gale thing, which I guess it couldn't have), it could have been a stand-alone novel (not that I don't want the others). I think Katniss is a great character, she's a heroine, and how she deals with death is realistic to me (not that I've ever experienced any of what she has to go through, not even losing a parent), which contributes to my good opinion of the book. I'm definitely on Team Peeta, in this book, and sometimes Katniss behaviour aggravates me. Knowing Peeta is portrayed by Josh Hutcherson in the movie is not in his disadvantage. On a last note: Muttations are scary!
Rating: I think it's a 4 out of five, or 8 (possibly 8,5) out of 10. Better than the Twilight Saga, but doesn't quite do it for me as much as Harry Potter (this sentence goes for the entire triology). The ending, and I don't quite know why, drags down the rating.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Kind of feels like what it is, something to have in the middle. I liked it though, even if the ending was somewhat confusing. Still on Team Peeta, but am a bit more torn, Gale is kind of charming (and you know.. Liam Hemsworth, do I need to say more?) . The idea of a 75th Hunger Games bringing them back to the arena is horrible but brilliant, and I like the other characters more in this one (we know more about them in this book). And everyone kind of bonding is nice too. Cinna though! WHY?! I really liked him, and his death was not expected (at least not right then).
Rating: I think it's the same, though maybe half a point lower on the 10-scale (8 out of 10, 4 out of 5). Confusing cliff-hanger ending... I liked it a bit better than the first book's ending though..
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay
I think the word confusing sums this book up pretty well. You never really know what's going on. You think you do, but you don't. I don't like District 13, and the whole war is just sad. The whole book is kind of sad, what with Peeta and Finnick and Prim (and everyone else). I don't think I've really digested this book yet though, haven't really processed what really happened. And it's very clear that even though it could seem like a happy ending, it's not, and it never can be, not with all that happens. But I guess it's as good as it can get..
Again: I hate the stupid muttations! They. Are. Scary.
Rating: 7 out of 10, possibly 7,5 (3,5 or 4 out of 5). There's just something about it... Looking forward to seeing it on the big screen though.
Déjà Dead
The major differences showed in the character of Dr. Temperance Brennan (and the surrounding characters) as well as the setting of the book (Quebec instead of Washington D.C.). To me, Temperance Brennan is known as Dr. B, Brennan or Bones, and she is an attractive, brilliantly intelligent woman in her mid-30s, who lost her family around the age of 15 (and because of that has some issues). Booth, who she's destined to be with, is as important to the series as she is, but he's not even present in the novel. Tempe, the character of Kathy Reichs' first in many novels, is a mother (to a twenty-something girl), has a failed marriage and is a recovering alcoholic. She also has way too many emotions for me to be comfortable. Additionally, the French is bothering me. Mostly because I don't know French, and sometimes don't get exactly what they're saying..
All in all, a good book, somewhat lacking in the development or depth of the character's, and apart from the constant reference to alcohol I think I really would have enjoyed it if Bones hadn't been one of my favourite TV-shows (I think I'm too invested in the characters). Because of this I think I give it a 2,5 out of 5, or 4,5 out of 10, if you prefer that scale.
LONDON!!
As I'm writing this I am waiting for the pictures on my iPod to get to my laptop, so that I can share them with you. The week was so amazing and relaxing!
Monday
The flight didn't leave Arlanda until late afternoon so in the morning I relaxed and made sure I had everything I needed. When we landed at Heathrow we had to wait for my friend's luggage for about half an hour (mine took about 25 minutes to make its appearance) before we could head to the underground and take the tube in to our beloved city. We stayed in a hotel in Earl's Court (where, despite three earlier visits) I hadn't been before. During my first trip to London I lived in a hotel pretty close to there though (Gloucester Road). On our first evening there we mostly relaxed; we had dinner at Pret (one of my absolute favourite places to eat, in heavy competition with Wasabi), and went to Sainsbury's.
Tuesday
Up there on the list of the best days in my life!! After a morning where we ate the hotel's mediocre breakfast, visited Fortnum & Mason (and other things around Picadilly Circus), Trafalgar Square, and looked around a bookshop there, we headed to Euston station. Wanna know why? Because we had to take the train to get to where we wanted (and had booked tickets) to go. Where was that, you might ask. TO HARRY FREAKIN' POTTER STUDIO TOURS, that's where!!! It was sooo AWESOME! (And took the entire afternoon, and sort of the evening too.) You could see Sets and Props, costumes and special effects. So totally awesome! You could also try riding a broomstick (and the Weasley's car) in front of a green screen, and try Butterbeer (which was disgusting!!). This is where like 99% of my pictures are from. We also got to see the model of Hogwarts they've used for sky-shots and stuff. Another cool thing was the digital guide with videos of Cast and Crew, shots of things behind the scenes and the audio-guide with Tom Felton (who was Draco Malfoy, for you less invested in he awesomeness that is Harry Potter). Such a totally awesome day, that I still have trouble processing.
Wednesday
Shopping! Walking up and down Oxford Street, Regent Street and Carnaby Street resulted in aching feet, sweat dripping down one's back (because of the warm weather) and lots of shopping bags. I found a pair of fake converse on Primark (only £6), along with a T-shirt, a pair of tights and nail-polish, and a T-shirt for my brother. At The GAP I got a T-shirt, and was just thrilled! The extremely nice people at Lush got me to buy stuff for my mum, and HMV "stole" my money for the three Hunger Games books (they had the lowest price though, with only £15 for all three). I also got me some tea at Whittard's and enjoyed the trip to David & Goliath even though I didn't buy anything there. Some store for bathing suits made the day, however, by having their attractive male employees stand in the entrance in only bathing shorts - yum! (We didn't dare to go in the store though, they were kind of intimidating with their six-packs and all - not the greatest marketing trick) The day ended in Hyde Park with take-away dinner (sushi) from Wasabi - more yum! All in all, a very successful day.
Thursday
More shopping - at markets! We headed to Camden Markets, Burrough Market and Covent Garden, for clothes, accessories and food. Camden Markets was nice, though somewhat huge, and smelled weird. There I got a cute dress, and some kind of thing to tie my hair up. After that we headed over to London Bridge and Burrough Market where we ate lunch (I had only fries) and I bought my dad some fancy chocolate. For "dessert" we bought juice; I got Acai-juice (ass-eye-ee) with apple, kiwi and banana and what-not. It was brown and tasted funny. At Covent Garden I visited the other David & Goliath to get Erika a sweater that she wanted, and we headed to the Apple-house for my friend to check her e-mails and stuff. The day ended with bus-hopping and another dinner at Wasabi.
Friday
The sad day that we left London. I was quite content with leaving though, even though I didn't really wanted to go home. We relaxed in our room before heading to the airport (where I had to go through some weird machine in security, becuase I beeped in the first one). Lunch at Pret, got Cosmopolitan at WHSmith, and then I had no money left. When we landed in Stockholm again, where we got our luggage pretty quickly, I started reading the first Hunger Games while waiting for Arlanda Express.
Now I'm gonna eat some lunch while waiting for the damn photos to upload..
*leaves laptop to eat*
And here we go:
Coming up: The Hunger Games and Déjà Dead
xoxo
Frida
Monday
The flight didn't leave Arlanda until late afternoon so in the morning I relaxed and made sure I had everything I needed. When we landed at Heathrow we had to wait for my friend's luggage for about half an hour (mine took about 25 minutes to make its appearance) before we could head to the underground and take the tube in to our beloved city. We stayed in a hotel in Earl's Court (where, despite three earlier visits) I hadn't been before. During my first trip to London I lived in a hotel pretty close to there though (Gloucester Road). On our first evening there we mostly relaxed; we had dinner at Pret (one of my absolute favourite places to eat, in heavy competition with Wasabi), and went to Sainsbury's.
Tuesday
Up there on the list of the best days in my life!! After a morning where we ate the hotel's mediocre breakfast, visited Fortnum & Mason (and other things around Picadilly Circus), Trafalgar Square, and looked around a bookshop there, we headed to Euston station. Wanna know why? Because we had to take the train to get to where we wanted (and had booked tickets) to go. Where was that, you might ask. TO HARRY FREAKIN' POTTER STUDIO TOURS, that's where!!! It was sooo AWESOME! (And took the entire afternoon, and sort of the evening too.) You could see Sets and Props, costumes and special effects. So totally awesome! You could also try riding a broomstick (and the Weasley's car) in front of a green screen, and try Butterbeer (which was disgusting!!). This is where like 99% of my pictures are from. We also got to see the model of Hogwarts they've used for sky-shots and stuff. Another cool thing was the digital guide with videos of Cast and Crew, shots of things behind the scenes and the audio-guide with Tom Felton (who was Draco Malfoy, for you less invested in he awesomeness that is Harry Potter). Such a totally awesome day, that I still have trouble processing.
Wednesday
Shopping! Walking up and down Oxford Street, Regent Street and Carnaby Street resulted in aching feet, sweat dripping down one's back (because of the warm weather) and lots of shopping bags. I found a pair of fake converse on Primark (only £6), along with a T-shirt, a pair of tights and nail-polish, and a T-shirt for my brother. At The GAP I got a T-shirt, and was just thrilled! The extremely nice people at Lush got me to buy stuff for my mum, and HMV "stole" my money for the three Hunger Games books (they had the lowest price though, with only £15 for all three). I also got me some tea at Whittard's and enjoyed the trip to David & Goliath even though I didn't buy anything there. Some store for bathing suits made the day, however, by having their attractive male employees stand in the entrance in only bathing shorts - yum! (We didn't dare to go in the store though, they were kind of intimidating with their six-packs and all - not the greatest marketing trick) The day ended in Hyde Park with take-away dinner (sushi) from Wasabi - more yum! All in all, a very successful day.
Thursday
More shopping - at markets! We headed to Camden Markets, Burrough Market and Covent Garden, for clothes, accessories and food. Camden Markets was nice, though somewhat huge, and smelled weird. There I got a cute dress, and some kind of thing to tie my hair up. After that we headed over to London Bridge and Burrough Market where we ate lunch (I had only fries) and I bought my dad some fancy chocolate. For "dessert" we bought juice; I got Acai-juice (ass-eye-ee) with apple, kiwi and banana and what-not. It was brown and tasted funny. At Covent Garden I visited the other David & Goliath to get Erika a sweater that she wanted, and we headed to the Apple-house for my friend to check her e-mails and stuff. The day ended with bus-hopping and another dinner at Wasabi.
Friday
The sad day that we left London. I was quite content with leaving though, even though I didn't really wanted to go home. We relaxed in our room before heading to the airport (where I had to go through some weird machine in security, becuase I beeped in the first one). Lunch at Pret, got Cosmopolitan at WHSmith, and then I had no money left. When we landed in Stockholm again, where we got our luggage pretty quickly, I started reading the first Hunger Games while waiting for Arlanda Express.
Now I'm gonna eat some lunch while waiting for the damn photos to upload..
*leaves laptop to eat*
And here we go:
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| Entering Hyde Park |
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| Harry Potter Studio Tour (almost all the following) - The Great Hall |
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| The Gates to Hogwarts |
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| Inscription on the Mirror of Erised |
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| Potions Classrom (as seen in the sixth movie) |
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| Lily's letter to Sirius |
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| Don't we all want one of these? |
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| Wish I could enter! |
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| M&M world in London (end of Harry Potter Studio Tours) |
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| I guess it is incredibly difficult to spell Linn and Frida (Starbucks) |
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| View from the hotel room (what you see is the tube station, which was noisy) |
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| One last picture from the Harry Potter Studio Tour - Hogwarts |
xoxo
Frida
The week before last..
.. was somewhat uneventful, to be honest. It mostly consisted of me working out and sticking to my newly revised diet. It just feels so good to finally do some real workouts you know? My knees are not holding up too good though, so now I'm just trying to not "break" them again. (I have been having lots of trouble with my knees the last year).
Ok, not very exciting week, but Wednesday was a lot of fun, and Thursday held its own activities to brighten the day. I also managed to squeeze in meeting Sara and her boyfriend on the Friday. And on the Sunday I went bowling with my dad and brother (instead of packing).
Ok, so the Wednesday (aka. Chaos-day), started out as the previous days, I did Pilates and ate breakfast. Then I called to see if I could do my driving-test (for my driver's license) closer to where I lived instead of going across town. The only available times however, were the same day. So first I went there, flunked the test (doing it again after the summer), and then I was supposed to meet Sara before heading to a movie-night with my now-former-classmates. I was kind of depressed though, so I decided to head straight to the movie marathon (all Men In Black movies - ending at the cinema). We had a really great time (even though we were only six people, a seventh joining us by the cinema), and since we were five girls we forced the guy to go window-shopping with us before the last movie - so much fun! The day turned around to say the least. Afterwards me and Erika headed to my place and had a tiny sleepover which mainly involved sleeping. :)
On the Thursday I went to the pool with Linn, another one of my close friends. When we got back we bought grapes and strawberries at the local shop and ate until I could barely move - awesome and tasty!
Next post holds the awesomeness that is my week (five days) in London!
xoxo
Frida
Ok, not very exciting week, but Wednesday was a lot of fun, and Thursday held its own activities to brighten the day. I also managed to squeeze in meeting Sara and her boyfriend on the Friday. And on the Sunday I went bowling with my dad and brother (instead of packing).
Ok, so the Wednesday (aka. Chaos-day), started out as the previous days, I did Pilates and ate breakfast. Then I called to see if I could do my driving-test (for my driver's license) closer to where I lived instead of going across town. The only available times however, were the same day. So first I went there, flunked the test (doing it again after the summer), and then I was supposed to meet Sara before heading to a movie-night with my now-former-classmates. I was kind of depressed though, so I decided to head straight to the movie marathon (all Men In Black movies - ending at the cinema). We had a really great time (even though we were only six people, a seventh joining us by the cinema), and since we were five girls we forced the guy to go window-shopping with us before the last movie - so much fun! The day turned around to say the least. Afterwards me and Erika headed to my place and had a tiny sleepover which mainly involved sleeping. :)
On the Thursday I went to the pool with Linn, another one of my close friends. When we got back we bought grapes and strawberries at the local shop and ate until I could barely move - awesome and tasty!
Next post holds the awesomeness that is my week (five days) in London!
xoxo
Frida
Monday, June 25, 2012
Coming Up...
Okay, so I know I haven't written anything in two weeks now, but guess why?
The first week was pretty dull (even if it was pretty crowded) and last week I was in LONDON!! :) Also, when I got home on Friday I started reading The Hunger Games Triology, which I finished a few hours ago. But I promise, I'll start writing again tomorrow. Starting with a recap of the last couple of weeks and my opinions on HG, as well as the novel Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs (which I read in London).
Now I shall move on to a new book, Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult I think.
xoxo
Frida
The first week was pretty dull (even if it was pretty crowded) and last week I was in LONDON!! :) Also, when I got home on Friday I started reading The Hunger Games Triology, which I finished a few hours ago. But I promise, I'll start writing again tomorrow. Starting with a recap of the last couple of weeks and my opinions on HG, as well as the novel Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs (which I read in London).
Now I shall move on to a new book, Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult I think.
xoxo
Frida
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Weekend, 9th and 10th of June 2012
Saturday morning I went to Twiin's place and we had a Bones-marathon. We watched the last seven episodes of season 7 (which she had downloaded as they hadn't aired in Sweden yet), so now we're up to date with everything :)
Just a few notes on Bones:
Their daughter, Christine, is SO cute!!!
This season's serial killer = creepy!
Why did it have to end with a freaking sad cliffhanger?!?!
After the marathon (during which we ate chocolate and took a break for dinner with salmon and pressed potatoes) we watched Made Of Honour (the movie with Patrick Dempsey) and she tried to convince me to watch some Barbie movie. I got out of that, however, by insisting we watched something else. That resulted in me having to pick the movie, and I don't like to be the one making decisions. Anyways, we ended up wacthing The Ice Princess, and fell asleep about 1.30 am.
The following morning my dad picked me up so that I could practice driving in that part of town before my test on Friday. (I'm soooo nervous!)
When we got home I practically spent the entire day playing Tap Tap Glee on my iPod Touch, and let me tell you; that game is ADDICTIVE! In fact, I'm gonna get back to playing it right now ;)
xoxo,
Frida
Just a few notes on Bones:
Their daughter, Christine, is SO cute!!!
This season's serial killer = creepy!
Why did it have to end with a freaking sad cliffhanger?!?!
After the marathon (during which we ate chocolate and took a break for dinner with salmon and pressed potatoes) we watched Made Of Honour (the movie with Patrick Dempsey) and she tried to convince me to watch some Barbie movie. I got out of that, however, by insisting we watched something else. That resulted in me having to pick the movie, and I don't like to be the one making decisions. Anyways, we ended up wacthing The Ice Princess, and fell asleep about 1.30 am.
The following morning my dad picked me up so that I could practice driving in that part of town before my test on Friday. (I'm soooo nervous!)
When we got home I practically spent the entire day playing Tap Tap Glee on my iPod Touch, and let me tell you; that game is ADDICTIVE! In fact, I'm gonna get back to playing it right now ;)
xoxo,
Frida
Thursday and Friday, 6th and 7th of June 2012
Okay, Migraine has mostly passed so here it goes:
Thursday was the day of Dina's "running out" and reception, and also the day that we were to collect our final grades from school. So first I headed to her school, watched the "running out", laughed and screamed with her and then hurried back to my own school. Turned out the hurrying was useless as I got to school 45 minutes ahead of schedule, so I stopped at Wayne's and ate some scones and drank a latte. That was the first thing I ate since the picnic the day before, so I was kind of hungry. Anyways, Erika got there after a while and we went to school to collect our grades, and guess what? I aced every subject!!! 2600 points of courses with all MVG! On the other hand, I've barely had a life these past three years..
After collecting the grades we did nothing for a while (going to Erika's little sister's school, going to Wayne's again, waiting for Farry), and then me and Farry went to school again (she had to get her grades) and met a few of the girls. After that me and Clara went to Dina's place and her reception. It was quite fun actually.
This process was somewhat repeated on the Friday, but instead of going to school between Linn's "running out" and her reception, I had lunch with Erika at some Thai place, and then went home. I tried to piece everything together so that I could go to my friend Mikaela's reception too, but as they were at practically the same time in completely different places of town, it was somewhat impossible.
Friday ended with me going home and sleeping of my food-high. Eating constantly (or a lot in one time) for four days straight can do that to you.
Next: Bones-weekend and driving
xoxo
Frida
Thursday was the day of Dina's "running out" and reception, and also the day that we were to collect our final grades from school. So first I headed to her school, watched the "running out", laughed and screamed with her and then hurried back to my own school. Turned out the hurrying was useless as I got to school 45 minutes ahead of schedule, so I stopped at Wayne's and ate some scones and drank a latte. That was the first thing I ate since the picnic the day before, so I was kind of hungry. Anyways, Erika got there after a while and we went to school to collect our grades, and guess what? I aced every subject!!! 2600 points of courses with all MVG! On the other hand, I've barely had a life these past three years..
After collecting the grades we did nothing for a while (going to Erika's little sister's school, going to Wayne's again, waiting for Farry), and then me and Farry went to school again (she had to get her grades) and met a few of the girls. After that me and Clara went to Dina's place and her reception. It was quite fun actually.
This process was somewhat repeated on the Friday, but instead of going to school between Linn's "running out" and her reception, I had lunch with Erika at some Thai place, and then went home. I tried to piece everything together so that I could go to my friend Mikaela's reception too, but as they were at practically the same time in completely different places of town, it was somewhat impossible.
Friday ended with me going home and sleeping of my food-high. Eating constantly (or a lot in one time) for four days straight can do that to you.
Next: Bones-weekend and driving
xoxo
Frida
Monday, June 11, 2012
Migraine
As the summer vacations are starting for real this week, I decided to start living a new healthy life. This involves kicking my caffeine addiction (towards the end I averaged 4 cups a day), and 18 hours into day one I have a migraine. I will continue writing the other posts tomorrow, but right now I want to sleep. Or whatever.
Wednesday 6th of June 2012
Picnic day ;)
Woke up arund 10.40 am, with a text that we were to meet in a park close to the school by noon (a place which would take me about an hour to get to). This was just a bit stressful.. Anyways, I got "an extention" to half past twelve, but then I had to fix drinks too. So after stressing all morning and not eating breakfast I got to the park, or rather, field.
We spent the day eating stuff that everyone had left from their receptions, which was A LOT OF FOOD. We also took a lot of cool pictures, played UNO, and had a g rass fight. It was truly an amazing day :D Even though I don't remember most of it ;)
Next: Thursday and Friday - other people graduating, and my grades
xoxo
Frida
Woke up arund 10.40 am, with a text that we were to meet in a park close to the school by noon (a place which would take me about an hour to get to). This was just a bit stressful.. Anyways, I got "an extention" to half past twelve, but then I had to fix drinks too. So after stressing all morning and not eating breakfast I got to the park, or rather, field.
We spent the day eating stuff that everyone had left from their receptions, which was A LOT OF FOOD. We also took a lot of cool pictures, played UNO, and had a g rass fight. It was truly an amazing day :D Even though I don't remember most of it ;)
Next: Thursday and Friday - other people graduating, and my grades
xoxo
Frida
Tuesday 5th of June 2012 - GRADUATION
GRADUATION DAY!!!
It felt as if I hadn't slept at all when i woke up (for the tenth time in the pas half hour) at 6 am. I got dressed in my green dress (unlike everyone else, who wore white according to tradition) and my fake converse. I left with my hat and a bottle of strawberry wine (non-alcoholic) to meet Ingrid from a parallell class so that we could go together (it takes about an hour to school). We met the others down by the embankment (which isn't in use, but it's a nice place to sit), and people piled in over time. This is where we had our Champagne-breakfast, which was really lovely. During the Champagne-breakfast we started writing in each others' hats, and I got some really cute messages from people.
After the breakfast we went to school to watch the teachers play some music and sing us a song they'd rewritten. They also had a competition between to basegroups with questions about our teachers, and an award ceremony with somewhat hilarious nominations. Me and my twiin Erika were nominated to be the school's Chip 'n Dale. :) Afterwards there was a small lunch and we continued with the "hat-writing", and me and Erika gave our teachers flowers. We had our "running out" from a boat, so we had to go down to the embankment again when everyone had eaten. However, as half the year are girls there was a lot of running around to get hold of a toilet.
After about an hour boatride (which was truly wonderful) we met our families at Riddarholmens embankment. According to tradition they hung things around our necks (little stuffed animals, champagne glasses, roses etc.) and every family had at least one sign (A2 size) with a baby picture of their student. I must say that Swedish tradition is really quite interesting.
My family had brought some of my clothes with them, as well as the sparkling water, as we were to go on the truck right after the "running out". I had them bring my clothes as I had had a fair warning of what the "flak" would be like. The thing was, that hour truck was late (with about two hours) so we had to start decorating it as we got there, and deliver the beer at the same time. It was quite the chaos. Anyways, we finally got going - and we were junmping around and dancing to the music and the majority were spraying beer at each other. Our first strike came barely half an hour in, when someone threw a beer can of the truck (we were supposed to drop them on the floor), and the police stopped us. This is when some complete ignoramus decided that it was intelligent to spray the police man with beer... By some miracle we got to continue going on the truck but people continued to misbehave and we had a bad atmosphere for a while where everyone was mad at the people that didn't go to our school but somehow made it on the truck either way. However, we continued for a while until the rain started pouring down (it literally seemed like the heavens had opened on us) and then it was way to cold to keep going.
After we got of the truck we tried to find the subway, walking around in a mall, soaked to the bone in a T-shirt and shorts, and I ahd flipflops. Just before we found the subway I realised I had a cut in one of my toes and it was bleeding quite a lot. We tried stopping the bleeding with a newspaper (though that didn't work really well) and then got on our way to our respective homes.
When I got home I showered and ate a piece of bread before the guests started to arrive. I got a lot of fantastic gifts and some money, so that was pretty geat. :) I then had to be social for several hours until the last guests decided to go home, after which I received a text that I had to go to a party, where apparently everyone was celebrating together (which I don't believe since I know all of my closest friends were at their places). I was incredibly tired though, and decided not to go, and then I fell asleep about five seconds later.
Me
The boat
The Studentflak
It was a great day, and the day after - Sweden's National Day (though I had almost forgotten that) - was pretty amazing too. But more about that in my next post ;)
It felt as if I hadn't slept at all when i woke up (for the tenth time in the pas half hour) at 6 am. I got dressed in my green dress (unlike everyone else, who wore white according to tradition) and my fake converse. I left with my hat and a bottle of strawberry wine (non-alcoholic) to meet Ingrid from a parallell class so that we could go together (it takes about an hour to school). We met the others down by the embankment (which isn't in use, but it's a nice place to sit), and people piled in over time. This is where we had our Champagne-breakfast, which was really lovely. During the Champagne-breakfast we started writing in each others' hats, and I got some really cute messages from people.
After the breakfast we went to school to watch the teachers play some music and sing us a song they'd rewritten. They also had a competition between to basegroups with questions about our teachers, and an award ceremony with somewhat hilarious nominations. Me and my twiin Erika were nominated to be the school's Chip 'n Dale. :) Afterwards there was a small lunch and we continued with the "hat-writing", and me and Erika gave our teachers flowers. We had our "running out" from a boat, so we had to go down to the embankment again when everyone had eaten. However, as half the year are girls there was a lot of running around to get hold of a toilet.
After about an hour boatride (which was truly wonderful) we met our families at Riddarholmens embankment. According to tradition they hung things around our necks (little stuffed animals, champagne glasses, roses etc.) and every family had at least one sign (A2 size) with a baby picture of their student. I must say that Swedish tradition is really quite interesting.
My family had brought some of my clothes with them, as well as the sparkling water, as we were to go on the truck right after the "running out". I had them bring my clothes as I had had a fair warning of what the "flak" would be like. The thing was, that hour truck was late (with about two hours) so we had to start decorating it as we got there, and deliver the beer at the same time. It was quite the chaos. Anyways, we finally got going - and we were junmping around and dancing to the music and the majority were spraying beer at each other. Our first strike came barely half an hour in, when someone threw a beer can of the truck (we were supposed to drop them on the floor), and the police stopped us. This is when some complete ignoramus decided that it was intelligent to spray the police man with beer... By some miracle we got to continue going on the truck but people continued to misbehave and we had a bad atmosphere for a while where everyone was mad at the people that didn't go to our school but somehow made it on the truck either way. However, we continued for a while until the rain started pouring down (it literally seemed like the heavens had opened on us) and then it was way to cold to keep going.
After we got of the truck we tried to find the subway, walking around in a mall, soaked to the bone in a T-shirt and shorts, and I ahd flipflops. Just before we found the subway I realised I had a cut in one of my toes and it was bleeding quite a lot. We tried stopping the bleeding with a newspaper (though that didn't work really well) and then got on our way to our respective homes.
When I got home I showered and ate a piece of bread before the guests started to arrive. I got a lot of fantastic gifts and some money, so that was pretty geat. :) I then had to be social for several hours until the last guests decided to go home, after which I received a text that I had to go to a party, where apparently everyone was celebrating together (which I don't believe since I know all of my closest friends were at their places). I was incredibly tired though, and decided not to go, and then I fell asleep about five seconds later.
Me
The boat
The Studentflak
It was a great day, and the day after - Sweden's National Day (though I had almost forgotten that) - was pretty amazing too. But more about that in my next post ;)
Monday 4th of June 2012
Posting Spree!!
I am now an "Upper Secondary School" graduate! Because of the graduation and everything around it, I haven't had any time to write about the week's events until now (a week since my last post). And let me tell you, a LOT of things have happened!!! Let's start with the Monday, exactly one week ago.
Monday morning I woke up fairly early because I had to be in school at about 8.30 am with the paint. You see, there's a part of Swedish tradition that the graduating classes go around on the back of trucks spraying beer at each other (more about this in the next post) after they have "run out" of the school. On said trucks sheets with funny slogans and often the school name are hung on the sides. I was in possession of the spray paint and textile pens that we would use, so I had to be in school when we started. My fellow classmates that were to bring the sheets were late - of course. Anyways, when they got there we, and a few other girls that managed to get their butts to school (note that I said girls, no boys felt the need to leave their comfortable beds for this activity), started planning what to do with the sheets and where to paint them. We decided to use the spray-paint on two of the three sheets, and took them outside to paint.
I just needed to interrupt my story-telling to say that this is actually going somewhere. It will be a special anecdote, I promise. And another sidenote: our sheets had the slogans "Studentflak (which the trucks with graduates are called) - can contain traces of nuts(with the very clever wordplay, nuts=stupid people (not crazy), at least in Swedish, that NO ONE understood)" and "We will pay your retirement, how does that feel" as well as "IKG Natur (short for Natural Science Programme, which I was in).
Ok, back to the story. It was raining, or rather drizzling, outside and we did not want to get the sheets wet so we stood under a roof. This also meant that we had to lay the sheets on the ground (which was concrete or whatever) and not in the grass. And then we started painting/writing. We had some minor issues with not having enough paint and me getting blue fingers, and paint all over the lab-coat I was wearing. The real problem however, occured as we went to carry to sheets inside to start writing with the textile pens (our names and such). It turned out that one of the sheets was too thin for this kind of activity, and all the paint had gone right through so that it said "Studentflak - can contain traces of nuts" - on the ground. To make matters worse, it was in front of a neighbouring company, working with cameras or whatever, and it was in the employees' smoking place.
Needless to say, we had to clean it up. So me and Jen, who were mostly responsible for this mishap - and also the only ones caring - tried figuring out how to clean up the freaking mess. The thing is, in Sweden you could get charged by the police for spray-painting on the ground (or anywhere really), and we really did not want that the day before our graduation. So we asked our school's "receptionist" to let us use the cleaning supplies, and we got concentrated cleaning liquid, a bucket of water and brushes (like dish brushes). We stood scrubbing for quite some time but the stupid paint just would not go away!
About 11.10 am we had to take a break since I had to go to my only class of the day - a half hour basegroup (meeting with mentor and fellow classmates). Somewhere in the timeframe before the basegroup my two best friends from school arrived (Faryal was actually pretty early), my mom called me and asked me to come home and kill a spider, and everyone was asking me stuff non-stop. Jen and Mad also tried to get in touch with their parents to see if they knew anything. Also, me and Jen ran to a store to see if they had anything that would help, and we found paint thinner (slightly toxic, but whatever), we would have to use it after lunch though.
During the basegroup we had a "friendly" competition where we worked in two groups to answer questions and complete tasks so that we would get lego pieces out of which we had to build a car, and the group with the coolest car won - which was my group (of course). ;) Our mentor also gave books to the students in his basegroup that he found the most deserving (for a great project work, good attendance or whatever), and all of the four of us that were there got one. XD It was written by some Polish journalist, so it's "educational" or whatever, but it seems interesting. There was also a lottery about this other book about an alternative world where Germany won WW2 and I won that too. :)
After basegroup I ate a quick lunch and armed with a lab-coat, protective glasses, rubber gloves, paint thinner, a bucket of water, sponges and a brush we went outside again. Me and Jen stood on all four, scrubbing like crazy people, for a while before Mad, Clara, Erika and Farry joined us. I guess some people got scared by our appearance (especially mine), as we wore full lab-gear as well as scarves around our faces to protect us from the fumes (see the picture below). The paint finally went away though!!
To celebrate we spent the afternoon at Wayne's Coffee (I think I was there for about four hours). Erika and Farry went back to school to have their final class of the year (City Planning), for about an hour, but then came back. We had so much fun, even though I can't even remember half of what we said. As me, Farry and Erika didn't really want to spray beer at each other the following day, we decided to buy sparkled water before we went our separate ways.
I can barely recall what happened after I got home this day, but I think I prepared for my graduation by locating my clothes, showering and shaving my legs (you know, for such an important occation...). My parents tried to get me to help clean the house, but I don't remember them being successful at that point.
The "Studentflak" - it was worth the hard work in the end
Me being scary (Jen in the background)
Tomorrow: the big day - Graduation (which will be written today ;))
I am now an "Upper Secondary School" graduate! Because of the graduation and everything around it, I haven't had any time to write about the week's events until now (a week since my last post). And let me tell you, a LOT of things have happened!!! Let's start with the Monday, exactly one week ago.
Monday morning I woke up fairly early because I had to be in school at about 8.30 am with the paint. You see, there's a part of Swedish tradition that the graduating classes go around on the back of trucks spraying beer at each other (more about this in the next post) after they have "run out" of the school. On said trucks sheets with funny slogans and often the school name are hung on the sides. I was in possession of the spray paint and textile pens that we would use, so I had to be in school when we started. My fellow classmates that were to bring the sheets were late - of course. Anyways, when they got there we, and a few other girls that managed to get their butts to school (note that I said girls, no boys felt the need to leave their comfortable beds for this activity), started planning what to do with the sheets and where to paint them. We decided to use the spray-paint on two of the three sheets, and took them outside to paint.
I just needed to interrupt my story-telling to say that this is actually going somewhere. It will be a special anecdote, I promise. And another sidenote: our sheets had the slogans "Studentflak (which the trucks with graduates are called) - can contain traces of nuts(with the very clever wordplay, nuts=stupid people (not crazy), at least in Swedish, that NO ONE understood)" and "We will pay your retirement, how does that feel" as well as "IKG Natur (short for Natural Science Programme, which I was in).
Ok, back to the story. It was raining, or rather drizzling, outside and we did not want to get the sheets wet so we stood under a roof. This also meant that we had to lay the sheets on the ground (which was concrete or whatever) and not in the grass. And then we started painting/writing. We had some minor issues with not having enough paint and me getting blue fingers, and paint all over the lab-coat I was wearing. The real problem however, occured as we went to carry to sheets inside to start writing with the textile pens (our names and such). It turned out that one of the sheets was too thin for this kind of activity, and all the paint had gone right through so that it said "Studentflak - can contain traces of nuts" - on the ground. To make matters worse, it was in front of a neighbouring company, working with cameras or whatever, and it was in the employees' smoking place.
Needless to say, we had to clean it up. So me and Jen, who were mostly responsible for this mishap - and also the only ones caring - tried figuring out how to clean up the freaking mess. The thing is, in Sweden you could get charged by the police for spray-painting on the ground (or anywhere really), and we really did not want that the day before our graduation. So we asked our school's "receptionist" to let us use the cleaning supplies, and we got concentrated cleaning liquid, a bucket of water and brushes (like dish brushes). We stood scrubbing for quite some time but the stupid paint just would not go away!
About 11.10 am we had to take a break since I had to go to my only class of the day - a half hour basegroup (meeting with mentor and fellow classmates). Somewhere in the timeframe before the basegroup my two best friends from school arrived (Faryal was actually pretty early), my mom called me and asked me to come home and kill a spider, and everyone was asking me stuff non-stop. Jen and Mad also tried to get in touch with their parents to see if they knew anything. Also, me and Jen ran to a store to see if they had anything that would help, and we found paint thinner (slightly toxic, but whatever), we would have to use it after lunch though.
During the basegroup we had a "friendly" competition where we worked in two groups to answer questions and complete tasks so that we would get lego pieces out of which we had to build a car, and the group with the coolest car won - which was my group (of course). ;) Our mentor also gave books to the students in his basegroup that he found the most deserving (for a great project work, good attendance or whatever), and all of the four of us that were there got one. XD It was written by some Polish journalist, so it's "educational" or whatever, but it seems interesting. There was also a lottery about this other book about an alternative world where Germany won WW2 and I won that too. :)
After basegroup I ate a quick lunch and armed with a lab-coat, protective glasses, rubber gloves, paint thinner, a bucket of water, sponges and a brush we went outside again. Me and Jen stood on all four, scrubbing like crazy people, for a while before Mad, Clara, Erika and Farry joined us. I guess some people got scared by our appearance (especially mine), as we wore full lab-gear as well as scarves around our faces to protect us from the fumes (see the picture below). The paint finally went away though!!
To celebrate we spent the afternoon at Wayne's Coffee (I think I was there for about four hours). Erika and Farry went back to school to have their final class of the year (City Planning), for about an hour, but then came back. We had so much fun, even though I can't even remember half of what we said. As me, Farry and Erika didn't really want to spray beer at each other the following day, we decided to buy sparkled water before we went our separate ways.
I can barely recall what happened after I got home this day, but I think I prepared for my graduation by locating my clothes, showering and shaving my legs (you know, for such an important occation...). My parents tried to get me to help clean the house, but I don't remember them being successful at that point.
The "Studentflak" - it was worth the hard work in the end
Me being scary (Jen in the background)
Tomorrow: the big day - Graduation (which will be written today ;))
Thursday, June 7, 2012
A Promise
Hi there!
It's been a few days, but I will write a few posts this weekend about the week that has passed. I'm now no longer a High School Student but a Upper Secondary School Graduate, unemployed. My life is awesome. Well, I promise to write more this weekend, and now I need to get back to my movie - Stardust - 'cause Yvaine is talking to Tristan the Mouse about love. Beautiful. If you haven't seen Stardust: Do it. Now. One of my absolute favourite movies!
See you soon!
xoxo
Frida
It's been a few days, but I will write a few posts this weekend about the week that has passed. I'm now no longer a High School Student but a Upper Secondary School Graduate, unemployed. My life is awesome. Well, I promise to write more this weekend, and now I need to get back to my movie - Stardust - 'cause Yvaine is talking to Tristan the Mouse about love. Beautiful. If you haven't seen Stardust: Do it. Now. One of my absolute favourite movies!
See you soon!
xoxo
Frida
Sunday, June 3, 2012
I'm not dead!
Hi there!
I know it's been AGES since I last wrote something in this blog, but now I'm quite determined to pick up my writing over the summer. In two days I'll be graduating from Gymnasiet (the Swedish equivalence to High School), and after that I have pretty much nothing to do (read Profile). This is just a post to inform you that I'm alive and well, and I'll write more soon!
xoxo
Frida
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