Extend, establish, enjoy.

Three words that have been lingering in my mind recently.

Firstly in regards to Virgin Mobile. A key theme in my recent Business Policy group case assignment was looking at ways they could extend their company operations, establishing elsewhere and enjoying higher profits spread across greater activities.

Although this has taken up a lot of my time, lets be honest, Im not writing this to tell you that. There's been something else that I have been far more absorbed in recently.

It all started on my train trip to Stockholm. It suddenly dawned on me that i could in fact stay here for another semester. My friend Will who I was with could not stop looking over and laughing at me as in a couple of hours i had written up a comprehensive budget and gone through the pros and cons, turning what was a niggling thought into a full reality. I had gone from being happy with coming home in January to being adamant that it just wouldn't feel right. 

My favourite reaction was from mum when I first proposed the idea. The first thing she said to me was, following a sigh, "I thought this would happen..." 

So after three weeks of intensive researching/emailing/calling/thinking/late-nighting, the decision has been made. And I'm excited.

I'm here to stay.

Rather than coming over here for a short burst of fun, adventure and travels, I'm looking forward to enjoying and being challenged by the realities of actually LIVING in a different place - away from good friends & family and what will probably be an incredible summer!

I will be taking a masters-level geography paper on Urban development and sustainability. Will be incredible taking it here, particularly after the global climate change summit in Copenhagen in December that I am going to (and probably joining my lecturer in a protest!). Many of the lecturers are actually from Copenhagen (being only 40mins away), so I'm sure the course will be very insightful taking into consideration the outcome of the conference.  In line with Sweden being quite an environmentally aware country, many students here are very into the issue. One of my current papers, Global Enviro Justice, has really opened my eyes to how beneficial it is studying overseas - with the input of ideas, experience and knowledge from all over the world you get such a rounded view of what is REALLY going on in the world. You just cannot possibly get that type of insight when taking a paper with the same nationality who have had very similar life experiences.

I have also applied to take a Swedish language course and a Scandinavian design course. Other possibilities include an entrepreneurship & innovation paper as well as business papers in regards to Europe integration (the EU) and how they compete within the world economy.

In regards to life now, although its been hectic, each time I bike somewhere I make sure I slow down and delight in the Autumn colours - such a rich diversity of yellow, orange, red, pink, green and brown tones painting such a vivid picture around the town. I've never seen so much colour in a landscape before! On the way back home from the supermarket the other day i made sure i walked down the whole street through the crunchy leaves. Just like the little kid in front of me. Check out these photos I took the other day to see Lund in Autumn!

I've also managed to have some luck with churches recently. Met some really great people too. I forgot what it felt like to go into a room full of people who love Jesus and just genuinely love people. Very overwhelming. During the service I sat there with my headphones on getting the english translation. Even when i couldnt understand what they were saying, I could feel their passion - through their tone and body language. Looking forward to checking some more out in Lund and Malmö. 

I've also been involved more in my nation, Sydskånska. Last week I was a waitress at one of the "sittnings", which are basically sit-down dinners for large groups. Its either quite formal, or there's a theme. This one was with the nurses, who were none other than Smurfs. They put blue EVERYWHERE. Not that fun cleaning a blue toilet at the end of the night... Stayed for the club after with this crazy rock band! Last night I worked there again, but instead for the film club. There was just the förmän (person in charge), Maja, and myself running the evening - preparing and selling yum chicken, pear and blue vein cheese sandwiches as well as blueberry cheesecake and setting up the couches and tables (with cute retro tableclothes and candles!). The film Frost/Nixon was a goodie. Working there this friday for the lunch too. 

The other day I walked past my favourite second hand shop and everything in the shop was 10kronas ie. $2 NZ! AMAZING. I bought this old light brown coat, a cute shirt, dress and shoes! get out. 

So that's me. Exam on Weds to mark the end of my business policy paper and Российская Федерацияm, ie. the Russian Federation (yes that is their language) next week!

Hope all of you back in NZ have had an awesome Labour weekend - i heard the sun was shining and the barbies were out. Enjoy the longer days - mine are only getting shorter! Love you all so much and if you have a chance, would love an email or call on Skype to hear how YOU are!

M x

A pinch of creative expression

My current sources of inspiration.

An eclectic mix of creative expression.

M.E Design Mag - design mag

Wallpaper* - sophisticated & stylish design mag

Frankie - quirky mag

Elinkan - Swede fashionista

Inhabitat - eco design

Print Club London - inspiring graphic artists

Social entrepreneurs - Sweden - inspiring read

TED.com - riveting talks by remarkable people

Urban outfitters - fashion

Acne - Swedish clothing label

Grandpa - shop in Sodermalm, Stockholm

The Sixty One - stream up and coming music

Spotify - stream almost every song you can think of
Kings of Convenience - great band
Sydskånska Nation - my student nation at Lund

The Beauty by the Sea

Last week I was blessed to be able to venture up to Stockholm, the beautiful capital city of Sweden. It certainly rings true to its image of being the "beauty by the sea". If it were a person, i would describe her as being majestic, creative, classic and humble.


Myself and two friends also on exchange in Lund, James and Chris, decided that we wanted to organise a trip to Russia ourselves! In order to obtain a Visa we needed to go to the Russian consulate in either Göthenburg, Sweden's second largest city, or Stockholm. Having wanted to visit Stockholm anyway, although Göthenburg was closer, we thought we may as well go the extra distance there (four hours on the train) and make a trip out of it! 


I caught the train up on the Tuesday with Will and Terry who joined us on the trip, "wowwing" at all of the beautiful lakes we passed and enjoying traveling through the heavy mist in amongst the forested areas.


A friend of mine from New Zealand, Krystal, who is living with her Swedish boyfriend Olaf in Stockholm kindly had us to stay. Was SO nice to have some fun girl company, and joke around New Zealand-style. We even stooped as low as getting gangsta to the beats of Savage, P-Money and the Decepticonzzzzz...

"Now drop it looooow and let me see your hips SWING

Down to the floooor now let me see your hips SWING

Down to the floooor now let me see your hips SWING"

Haha!! Oh the joy! THANK YOU Krystal and Olaf for having us to stay! You were the most hospitable hosts and far too kind.

I cannot even describe how beautiful Stockholm is. It is made up of over 14 islands, excluding the extensive archipelago that you can explore by boat. Over 30% of Stockholm is water and another 30% is made up of parks and green spaces (according to Wiki). 

We wandered through Gamla Stan, the "Old Town" of Stockholm, which is a cute medieval-style area. Central to this is the stortoget, the main square, where the well-known Stockholm Blood Bath occured. There is also the beautiful German church on the corner - such an elaborate church that is rather square in shape. This is where the royals get married. The Nobel Prize Museum is also situated on the Stortoget. It is Swedish is origin after all, although the Peace Prize is giving out in Norway. Was neat to go to it - there was an exhibition on about the invention of the telescope. Very fascinating.

Krystal and Tez being very patriotic just like the Swedes to the left, Will and Tez in the old phone booths to the right

Gorgeous streets of Gamla Stan...

We also took a wander across from Gamla Stan to Norrmalm, considered the most central part of Stockholm. It certainly wasnt as pretty as the rest of stockholm with horrible 80s architecture and busy streets filled with the usual department and chain stores. Certainly felt a bit grubby in comparison to everywhere else.


The photo below was taken at dusk as we walked over the bridge from the wealthiest area of Östermalm to the island of Djurgärden on our way to Nordiska Museet. Following the museum we walked along the most prestigious street called Strandvägen, a boulevard lined with super-yachts and launches, parrallel to the large apartments opposite. One of the most stunning views at night. This was the actual colour too!! Couldn't believe it.

The island of Djugärden also houses the beautiful botanical gardens, along with Skansen, the open air museum which shows in real size, how Swedes have lived in the 19th Century, including their native Sami tribe. There was even a zoo! Will and I voted the owls our favourites. Watching their necks move put us in hysterics! Walking around this island, with the autumn colours splashed everywhere, certainly took my breath away. Unfortch my camera died and i forgot the charger, so i could not capture the beauty of the place, but it certainly has been captured in my mind!

I spent a lot of time exploring the island of Södermalm that connects to the Southern end of Gamla Stan. The photo below is taken of Gamla Stan from the bridge connecting the two islands. Södermalm is one of the largest and most populated islands and one of the trendiest! The area south of Slussen, a well known innovative traffic intersection connecting the two islands, is known for its second hand shops, boutiques and cafes. It is known as the bohemian area of Stockholm, relabelled SoFo with all the shops located South of Fulkgatan (one of the main streets). It used to be a working class area but due to gentrification has undergone transformation, housing more of the alternative and artsy dwellers who have some money. Its a bit of a treat walking around this area - you really can get away with wearing anything, no matter how outrageous it may be. A highlight for me was sitting in one of the quirkiest cafes where you could purchase the second hand furniture you were sitting on if you so desired, feeling inspired by the styles of those that wandered by. Then subsequently getting lost in the shops, searching for some warm winter buys was a bit of fun too. If i lived in Stockholm, this would certainly be a neat place to live.

The north eastern area of Södermalm is characterised by its views. Krystal works in a restaurant called Herkules that is situated right on the edge of the cliff, looking back across to the other islands. Possibly one of the best workplaces with a view! It is such a gorgeous view too. The north western area of the island was characterised by its art galleries and also its stunning views along the cliffs. As i was walking to the cliffs, i ventured into the galleries. Lucky for me i managed to find myself in an exhibition showing old nude people, many of them in rude positions, that my innocent and young eyes just shouldnt have seen! It was only when i saw the second photo that i realised there was a bit of a theme to what i was seeing. Trying to look interested, yet feeling rather startled, i picked up my pace and got out of the exhibition swiftly. What surprised me was the large number of older people looking at the photos and seeming far too interested in what they were seeing...

Getting the Visa was a bit of a mish - due to my stuff-ups (yes, more than one) it ended up taking a couple of days to get it sorted. Obtaining a Russian Tourist Visa is harder than most places. You need to get "invited" by an organisation in Russia (we paid someone to invite us), have all your accommodation booked and documented, fill out the Visa application in a specific way - cant make a mistake at all, have to go to the consulate yourself - cant send it in, and basically not be a criminal (definitely the hardest part). Then once you arrive in Russia you have to "register" at every new place you go to - thats $30 NZD down the drain everytime. You can only stay in Russia for 30 days too, which makes it especially difficult for those wanting to travel along the Trans-Siberian railway as well as the large cities. Whilst in Russia you have to keep a copy of your passport, visa and registration whereever you go, otherwise you can receive a huge fine and be followed up by the police, which is not a fun situation in a country with a corrupt police force. Basically the whole process is just a whole lot of documentation of the documented documentation that required a lot of documentation of documents. Enough said.

All in all, a very lovely and successful trip to Stockholm. Definitely have to go back there. Its one of the cities that i have visited to date that i would seriously consider living it. I'm hesitant to say it, but i would probably consider it my favourite city in terms of quality of life. I loved the fusion between the stunning natural landscape and the creativity expressed everywhere; in the buildings, the fashion and ingrained in the culture.

For a visual snippet of Stockholm click here for my photos

Gotland: got anything?

After a bit of a last minute rush to get one of my take home exam finished I jumped on the bus to head to the mighty land of Gotland, an island off the east coast of mainland Sweden. This is supposed to be the "Hawaii of Scandinavia". To our disappointment we experienced quite the opposite! Unfortunately our tour was poorly organised and we spent most of friday actually getting to the place via bus and ferry. It got to the point where on the bus, my friends Chris & Will & myself ended up playing the game where you had to go through the alphabet, listing countries of the world for each letter. We played this after "guess the celebrity". It didnt help that the landscape along the east coast of Sweden is pretty plain - field after field after field after field after field.... You get the point! However, we did stop off at a beautiful castle in Kalmar on the way, just as the sun was going down. In my mind I could not stop saying "How's the serenity" ... (quote from The Castle - I'm sure you recognise it)

Arrived to our prison at midnight. Literally. Prison turned hostel. Still had the barbed wire around the edges and the bars on the windows! Quite cool actually!

Following day walked around the little town of Visby/Wisby - wandering through the old church ruins (9 within the towns walls - the most in any northern european city) and those that still stood.

It was a cultural day for Visby so there was a cute little market in the main square (Stortoget) and we stumbled upon a re-enactment of what Visby would have been like several hundred years ago. All the young locals we talked to in the shops were extremely kind and friendly and were happy to talk to us about the island and point us in the right direction.

That afternoon we hopped on the bus to head to the northern end of the island. The rain set in and our plans for a BBQ diminished. We arrived to our destination some hours later, only to realise that our destination was, well, limestone rocks! We spent a whopping 20 mins there galavanting around, before hopping on the bus and making our way back to Visby, wet and making jokes at what a joke the trip was!

The highlight of the night was the popcorn throwing that Olaf so kindly demonstrated and we all gladly joined in. Thank you to the person who cleaned up the popcorn the next morning :) We had a few drinks at the hostel, threw some popcorn, then headed to a stylish waterfront bar where we listened to a Swedish cover band (questionable about their ability) and went hard with the dance moves upstairs in the club. Was a bit sad to see the atrocious state of some of the people though. Not really my kind of scene. Thanks though to the Swede who bought me the peppermint shot just as I was leaving. Was SO YUM!

That was the trip basically. No, hang on. The best bit is to come.

Joke no.1: Lets get on a bus at the hostel to go to the ferry terminal that is literally just next door, only to have to walk back past it again to get into town to kill some time before boarding the ferry.

Joke no. 2: Lets all sit at the front of the boat in the comfy chairs, only to find out that we were approaching a storm with 3m waves and were all about to have to pay a visit to the bathroom and what we spent on coffee that morning was a waste because it all came up again anyway.

Joke no. 3: Lets all get on the bus after a horrible three hour ferry trip, only to watch Ghost Busters. I mean, COME ON.

Joke no. 4: The best part of the trip was the pizza we had in Karlskrona - something we organised ourselves. Thanks team. (you were awesome by the way - thoroughly enjoyed bonding over all the negativity!)

But wait, there's more! The fun didnt stop when we arrived back home to Lund. I managed to throw up without cease for the next day and a half, just so i didnt forget how incredible the trip was. All in the name of Gotland.


Photos