Sandra

Here's the summer for everybody who complained when it was cold and rainy! You better not be complaining over the heat, cause I think Mother Nature tries her best to please everyone.
It's been a sweaty week so far, and it seems to continue that way. I don't mind, since I have a five minute walk to the lake. Of course, I wouldn't mind some an air-conditioned house...but it cools down okay at night. And I'm keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that next week will be warm and rain free! Finally we are going to Hultsfredsfestivalen!

So this week will be mostly packing, recording tapes, washing of clothes, more packing and checking out the forecasts 13445756856835 times before we take the train down to Hultsfred on Monday:D

This past weekend I went to Oslo to get some papers ready, and to see my future flatmates. I can't believe the area they live in... Badminton court, Volleyball court, and now they've got some kind of Pool there as well... Can't say I'm not looking forward to get there! Anyway.... we had a great weekend with lots of sun, chillin' by the "pool", partying and so on.

Time to get the fingers out of my... and record a tape or two now. 6 more dayyyys!

Everybody and everything was with us yesterday. The weather proved the weathermen wrong, by giving us sun in stead of rain.
Me, Jossan, Malin- who made the cutest little midsommarstång (sorry don't know the English word for it if there is one, but it's the leaf covered pole you see on the picture in my last post), Carro and Madde were enjoying the sun and some barbeque until we were too cold to sit outside. Then we went inside and the party was started. We played Alias until we got a headache from the stress and all the laughing. Even though me and Jossan lost (it was thiiiis close though), it was a blast. After a while, Ann finally showed up, with Jonatan from Kil (I think..well, Värmland anyway) and  made the night even better! Soon, we got even more company, and I guess that was the birth of a spontaneous houseparty, as Alex, Olle,Blom and Martin joined us. Good music, good people and good wine was the only thing needed for a great night! Thinking back on it, I think it was one of the best Midsummers so far.

I woke up thinking something was very wrong, as better than ever. I was happy, headache-less and rested!

Now I've just finished my dinner after a long walk, movie renting and food shopping with Jossan. Having some of the best vanilla Coffee ever! I didn't realize how much I missed it until I had it a couple of days ago. It's weird that you can buy Swedish coffee in the US, that doesn't even exist here...Good thing I have the best host family ever, that sent me two packs of it<3

Tonight, Ann, Malin, Jossan and I are gonna get together and watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (LOVE that movie!) and the Swedish movie I Taket Lyser Stjärnorna which is hopefully really good as well.

By the way, I'm gonna try to get some of my friend's pictures from yesterday, to post here. I'm falling asleep only by looking at my blog, ha ha.

It's too nice out, to sit inside. Gotta get outside and catch some sun before I take my precious bike to Jossan for a movie night!

Oh, how I love the Swedish summer. Well, I was kinda.. no, I was being very sarcastic. Not that I don't love the Swedish summers. It's just that this summer, so far, has been more like fall. But now I think we start to run out of rain, and the weathermen promised better weather after the weekend. So I think we'll survive. Also, it's actually pretty nice to blame all the laziness and all the junk-eating on some rain, and getting away with that. Every rainy day, is one step closer to a sunny Hultsfredsfestival. Gaah, I can't wait. It's gonna be so much fun, I can feel it in my piknies! And three days later I'll get on the plain to NYC! It can rain all it wants today, and tomorrow. I've even got a raincoat.

Believe it or not, but yesterday was actually sunny. I think mother nature wanted to give us a sign, that the sun still exists, or something. I managed to get a bit sunburned as I couldn't find the sun lotion (which I now remember putting in my beach bag, so I wouldn't forget the sun lotion...that's just me). Som Hemma (coffee shop) was open 'til 9.00 pm yesterday, so I met up with Ann, Jossan and Susanna there.

Tomorrow is not just any Friday, it's Midsummer. The day every Swede is either eating or drinking a bit (or alot)  too much. I guess some people manage to do both, as well..
As it seems now, it's gonna be cold and rainy later during the day, so I'm happy to have a house, and parents who aren't gonna be there. So I'll see who shows or doesn't show up. In worst case, I'll be eating and drinking with myself, my cats and Bon Iver. Yes, I'm still in love with Bon Iver's music. None of my friends or family seems to understand me though.

Just to be a liiiittle negative here, that seems to be very popular at the moment (maybe I'm turning into a hippie, but feel absolutely no need to complain as long as I've got friends, family, room and food..and if I can kick the door and say a few bad words if I get mad sometimes. Whatta heck, life's what you turn it into...
   To the point; the water in our town is polluted! Which means you have to boil it before you drink it. It's okay for a few days, but it gets tricky as we are four adults, two dogs, four cats and ONE tiny refrigerator. Well, it's not for forever I guess, but it feels a bit gross to think about the fact that we all drank the water until we knew about it. I wonder what we were drinking...
  But again, it could be worse! Not alot of people can drink delicious water out of the tap every day. Now we can sympathize with them.

Now I'm gonna go eat the rest of yesterday's soup. Then I might make a rhubarb pie. Or not. Doesn't matter 'cause it rains so it's okay if I do nothing at all^^

It has finally stopped to rain. It really feels more like a fall deluxe, rather than summer. But I've heard it's still June. Maybe the Mother Nature is too busy trying to get rid of the polution. Maybe she gets confused and give us fall in stead of summer, and maybe she'll start a storm in stead of warm summer winds? Well, she has to give us good weather in July.

Speaking of July, and of course festivals; I am, and I get the feeling all my friends who are coming to, are very excited about Hultsfredsfestivalen. All day today I've been making lists for the tapes I am going to record. Yes, I mean real cartridge tapes. Sometimes you need to go back in time. We know from previous experiences that CD's and CD-players doesn't do it on the festivals.

The weekend was alot of fun! Ellinor, Susanna, Jonatan and Sofie came to my place before we went to Statt to dance to the crappy music. We had a really good time with laughs, dancing, singstar and wine (well not for Sofie, for her it was cider and beer^^). This friday is midsummer, and hopefully it won't rain too much. I'll try to take a few pictures so that I can post some here and make this blog a bit more interesting. As I am absolutely worthless with blog designs, you just have to live with the fact that my blog never's gonna be one of those pretty one with pictures everywhere..

I'm gonna finish my new playlist and put it on my ipod, then go for a walk.

And I finally have spotify, so now I'm listening to music 24/7! Lovely!

Rain, regn...okay, I was thinking I was going to write the word rain in as many languages as I could, but I could only write it in two...
Anyway, it's such a rainy day today. A perfect day to do nothing. That's pretty much what I've been doing. I went to do some shopping with my mom, then home and made tacos. That's it.

I should probably call some people and suggest that we watch a movie or something. But I'm stuck here, on my bed, listening to Sigur Rós, which on the other hand is very (veeery) relaxing, but also makes you ridiculously lazy. Maybe I'd be better off just saving the energy for tomorrow... hmm. Life is full of choises...

Hope everybody gets a great weekend, sunny or not. And Samantha, if you read this sometime during your travel; have a safe trip and enjoy India as much as you can! Stay away from bridges:)

If I was a housewife, I would've been a great one today! I've been walking the dogs, feeding the cats, knitting, cleaning the house and washing clothes (in the mashine and by hand). Singing along with the Troggs, scaring our pets away shouting Hi Hi Hazel. And now, just as I'm done with that, and as my record stopped to spin, the sun showed. So I'm thinking it's a sign from something or someone, telling me I need to get some fresh air and some exercise...

Other than that, I haven't been doing too much. Yesterday I met Malin, Susanna, Jossan and some old classmates at a pub. It was really good, and honestly a bit weird, to see everybody again. And for the first time in a long time I had to bike home all alone, since I'm the only one living on this side of town. But I had my ipod and I didn't meet any creapy guys or crazy dogs, so it was actually not that bad. Plus, I biked super fast.

I was thinking this wasn't going to be a long post, since I don't really have anything to write about. Well, I have but that would be all negative stuf, about what a mad world we're living in.

Lastly, something that is not mad, at least not in a bad way; Today is 25 days until we take the train down to Hultsfredsfestivalen, and 34 days until I take the plane to the US!

Back in a cloudy cold and unfriendly Karlskoga, from a sunnier, warmer and friendlier London. It was like the whole city (Karlskoga) was giving us a big finger as a "welcome back", and made me and Josefine regret that we didn't get on the wrong plane when we left London. I also came home to a jungle... My brother Steve is home for the summer, with his cat Ziggy. All of the sudden that little one room apartment we were staying at in London doesn't seem so small after all.

We had five lovely five days in London. As our couchsurfing friend decided to test our nerves by not writing back and give us a phone number, an address or ANYTHING, we were homeless. Then Josefines friend litterary saved us by offering us one of his apartment. He had moved out so he had an extra apartment for a few weeks. Our joy was ridiculous, and made us think that things must really happen for a reason/her friend is God personified. As we got there after a day filled with travelling by bus, train, plane, another bus and finally the subway, we had two things on our minds;
1. FOOD
2. SLEEP
It was simple, we went to Burger King, went home, ate and went to sleep.
The next day, and the days after that as well, we did some shopping and alot of walking around London. On friday we went to a really nice club, Koko. The music was really good, even though I hadn't heard most of it. Our britpop-hearts were beating that night and we had a really good time. Then on Saturday, after sleeping in real late, (we aren't used to being out late as the two only clubs in our hometown closes at two, and most of the times we're sick of it and leave early) it was time for another club night. This time it was time for my 60's-heart to beat. And it did! I thought I was in heaven, well, I did until it was five o' clock and I got back on earth, thinking I need to sleep. So we went home, Josefine with a mild tinitus, and me with a bittersweet feeling I was happy to have gone to the club, but bitter about the fact that I probably need to go to another country to be able to go to a similar one.

Wow, I could go on forever about this trip, but I'm too tired to. It was a great trip, even though our trip back could have gone a bit more smooth. To be brief, we forgot to get our boarding passes at first, we almost got on the plane to Oslo (big mistake not to give that a try, though), then got stuck on the train because of some signal errors, sitting behind two beer-drinking Asians who were drunk, smelled and were talking and laughing all the time.

Now it's time for a bath and a facial mask, to get the last layer of big city-pollution of my body. I guess I need to start cleaning my room as well, and buy a new bodylotion as the one I use is all over my toliet bag. I will also try my best to enjoy the summer and for being here with my family and friends. And of course drinking French Vanilla Coffee, and looking forward to see the Pelosis in about a month!

(I guess I better apologize if some of what I wrote is unreadable because of grammar or spelling or anything else. I'm simply to laz....I mean tired to read through it all)

<3

What am I doing here?! I should be packing, or even almost done packing. Well, at least I've got most things out... It looks like a bomb just hit my room.
   Tomorrow at 9.30 I'll be at the bus stop with Jossan, waiting for the bus that will take us to Örebro, to the train that will take us to Västerås, to the shuttle taxi that will take us to Västerås Airport, to the plane that will finally take us to LONDON!

And things got a bit too dramatic, when a couchsurfer waited a little too long with answering our e-mails. So we had no place to live until yesterday. Now we have our own (well, it's not ours, but you got that already right?) apartment in London for six days. Not too bad, ha ha.

Today me, Malin and Jossan went to Örebro, to run some errands and just enjoy not having to go to a work on a Tuesday. We went to La Baguette to get some lunch, when we pass a guy who looks and sounds (he was talking on the phone) just like one of Sweden's most famous hockey player: MATS SUNDIN. I don't think anyone who reads my blog doesn't know about the fact that I love hockey. It was like I've just seen Madonna or something. OMG, if you know what I mean. I started to look for a pen and some paper... of course I had neither of it, so I went to ask for a piece of paper and just as I found a pen, ha walked away. So I missed my chance of a proof, but I swear, I saw Mats Sundin today.

Well, I'll turn up the volume of my Room on Fire-album (the Strokes<3) and sing like there's no tomorrow. There is a tomorrow though, and I can't wait to get to London!

<3