Would be a really long title if i tried to make one

Hej hej alla!

Apologies for the lack of updates over the last couple of months; i've mixed it up a bit and you get it in a big lump sum instead. Big lump sums often seem more exciting than increments anyway right? If you get through you certainly deserve a prize. 

Basically since my last post, life has been overall FANTASTISK (as they say in Swedish)! Early January I headed to Barcelona with a friend of mine Brendan for a week or so. The time away was just what I needed, although still a tad cold/rainy to fully enjoy the beautiful beach! Twas a bit alarming on many levels to see two naked men walk past that's for sure! Incred architecture though! Shared a room with some Great Danes - I call them Great Danes because one of them battled with Appendicitis while we were there, making for an interesting trip - he was such a trouper!

Upon my return to Lund, I was greeted with Terry (other NZer here) who was staying in my room while i was away, with it being his last week here. I was also greeted with the rest of my corridor mates, all of whom decided to barge into and stay in my room for an unplanned pyjama party until 6am! the next night we managed to break a bed while we were having wrestling fights... Elsa has decided to run with the lounge vibe in her room, with the bed still on the ground several months later.

I believe these first couple of nights set the tone for the semester. Ever since, the corridor has become like a little family, eating together at least once a week (including a really nice Valentines Day dinner), singing together a LOT (my fave are the Disney songs in Swedish & Backstreet Boys renditions), watching Olympics together (curling = top favourite), decorating our doors together (new craze introduced by Elsa and I), crashing other corridor parties together, redecorating our rooms (i just inherit all the old furniture people dont want and get bargains at the AMAZING second hand shops here)... and drinking tea & baking ALL the time - we even bought a gorgeous tea set & have a whole cupboard allocated to our tea thankyouverymuch! I'll let you in on a little secret: try Chilli & Chocolate Tea - you'll never look back. Promise. I even have a secret language with several of the corridor members - Charlie and I prefer just hand signals - no English or Swedish permitted, with Elsa i just laugh, with Anton I talk in code and with Måns, well, in song. 

Following photos taken from our Valentines Day Corridor dinner (Charlie/Erik & all previous members missing)

Aside from life with the "family", the rest of my social life has been great also. Been to many corridor parties and had a few fun nights at Nations (best night at Blekingska with Finnish friend Miika - we pulled out the "Kiwi bird" move very successfully - ill teach you if you ask politely). Went to a concert last night in Malmö (Yeasayer for those of you who have heard of them - i know, it was AMAZING!) and have a Spex (theatre) ball/party next weekend with a friend which will be tu meke fun. And.so.on.and.so.forth. 

Food has been a total highlight too actually. Have had many dinners with friends that have included a full range of cuisine including Zucchini Bread (AMAZING, thanks Brendan), Icelandic soup (thank you Fifa), Chinese mushrooms (thanks Yi), Swedish gooey chocolate cake & Semla (cream) buns, bloodpudding (yes, that's right -thanks Anton) and so on... and I have Mexican & Japanese nights with friends from the respective countries lined up over the next few weeks! Plus have been having almost weekly dinners with some people at my church Credo - korv stroganoff a favourite there. In fact I have become pretty tight with my local Lebanese fruit & veg shop staff over the past couple of months too - absolute heaven in that place. 

So i just realised this whole email has been about socialising. Cough. I have been working hard at uni too - promise. No, seriously, university has been FULL ON. I started the Spring semester basically as soon as i arrived back from Barcelona, so am fully immersed in all of the work now. I am taking a Masters-level Urban Planning class which i absolutely LOVE - great people & very interesting area of study. Have an essay/report due nearly every week, so it is a bit of work. Heading to Hamburg on an all-paid for trip with the class in just over a week - woop woop!! the photo to the right is Julia & Dorota while we were studying - spot the snow falling in the background!

To ensure we live "sustainably" - something that is core to the course - a few Swedish friends and I take the walking school bus up to uni together. It fulfills all of the sustainability criteria - environmentally friendly, economical, socially bursting with life and with no clear politics getting in the way. PLUS it includes tours of the town - my Swedish friend Valter has been in Lund for 4 years so knows the history back to front and he takes me on little tiki tours everytime through the winding back streets. Its amazing how things have evolved and grown over 1000 years! Oh and the other guy Magnus works at the university radio so we popped into the station the other morning on the way to uni and ended up as radio djs for a few minutes which was fun! 

In terms of study, I'm also taking a Scandinavian Design class which is such a treat - I get to indulge in looking at design for a couple of hours a week! My final class is that of Swedish language! Det är jöttebra! (it is great!) Have been playing Trivial Pursuit in Svenska with classmates which has been a laugh! Figuring out what the question says is more often than not harder than the question itself! Its nice to understand a bit more of what is going on around me though-hopefully ill sound like a full-blown Swede when i get back! 

I may have mentioned in the last email that it was snowing here. WELL, since then, it hadn't really stopped until just a few days ago! extremely unusual for a place that usually gets about 2 days of snow each year. I've been taking the opportunity to walk 5 mins south of where i live, into the countryside. Never ceases to take my breath away when i see the place smothered in pure white snow. I wander around the little cottages and farmhouses and between the fields in awe of what I'm surrounded by. Surprisingly I am not sick of the snow or minus degree temps at all - I'm a little bit sad the snow has FINALLY melted away, although the sunshine and blue skies, something that has not been prevalent at all, is definitely welcome. 

Although i loved the snow, I did not get along with ice so well. Turns out shoes made in NZ have extremely flat soles - I learnt the implications of this the hard way. Just dont even risk it unless you feel like going ice-skating across town.

Soooo what's on the cards next you may ask? Well, the next 5 weeks or so are just chockablock really. *Deep breath* As I said I'm heading to Hamburg at the end of next week with one of my classes. Upon my return I have two exams to complete, then heading straight up to Stockholm for a Christian Apologetics conference that some of my friends are organising - its about computing God and Science. Should be fascinating. Im staying in Stockholm with my NZ friend Krystal for a week. Towards the end of the week (Easter Weekend in fact) another friend of mine from NZ, James is meeting me there and after showing him around the city, we'll head back down south to Lund and Copenhagen to have a good look around too. The following week I'm going to Valencia, Spain to see two good friends of mine from NZ, Max and Matt, who both have a gap in their sailing regattas, which will be MINT.

After completing another exam when i get back, I'm basically as free as a bird! I only will have a Swedish language follow on course! So will be helping out organising things for the massive Carnival thats on here in May (of which over 5000 students lined up the other day for 8 hours in minus degree temps to get jobs for it) and also for my corridor mate Elsa's festival she's organising in June. I've been asked to be Art/Design director for it so that will be too much fun! I've got Ralph & Soph from NZ visiting me at some stage in June, as well as Becky - we're thinking a cheeky trip to the Greek Islands together could be a go. 

So there you go. Michelle's life in a very extended nutshell.  

Hope all is well wherever you are in the world! Flick me an email if you get the chance!!

Love and happiness,

Michelle