Mary and Max
I think I want to see this film.
Belated Ski Week photographs
“After Ski” (Apres Ski for those of you that are english 
)
Low quality shot of the night skiing. Nicey icey black.
Lindwe, Mr Healey, Winus and Frenchman disembark from the 4-man.
And a string of thumbnails there.
Foursquare, Salsa and Hove Festival
Not posted for a few days (weeks (probably months actually)) but got a few things to talk about.
Första, vi prata om foursquare. (First we’ll talk about foursquare). It’s a location based game, where you use a mobile device to check into “venues”. Venues are defined by users of the network which leaves room for fun venues such as ‘university toilet’. When you check into a venue on your mobile device, you receive points for each check-in along with ‘combo’ points for multiple check-ins in a day or multiple visits to one place. Awards can also be won for actively participating.
Now this is very much worth playing, but only if you have people to play against. I checked into a friends apartment recently as someone had set it up as a venue, and become the mayor of their apartment (which you become upon beating others at the number of check-ins into one place). I pointed out to said friend that I was now the mayor of their apartment, which was followed by the statement that “if I was to write that you were the mayor of my apartment into a word document then save that word document into a folder and then forget where that folder it, that is how visible it is to anyone that cares on the internet”.
Perhaps I should wait to move to London from Sundsvall before playing any more. However, a friend of mine took me along to Salsa dancing recently which was something new. I apparently dance like a Computer Scientist, but that’s okay because I’m sure I can write some java for a robot which will dance better than them all *cue swooning women, or not*.
I think most interestingly (for me) is that I today found out I’ll be working as a security guard at Hove Festivalen in southern Norway this summer. The lineup includes Muse, Massive Attack, Florence and the Machine and Dizzee Rascal so it’s a decent variety to say the least. Link is here if you’re interested: http://www.hovefestival.com [New Tab/Window]
Eesti
Sushi. Tallinn, capital of Estonia.
Sushi. Tallinn, huvudstad Estland.
Estonia. Busy party boat.
Estland. Upptagen fest båt.
We ate and drank unlimited beer. Many H&M in Stockholm…
Vi åt tillsammans och drack obegränsad öl. Flera H&M i Stockholm.
Stockholm – Just Pictures
Left to Right: Hanno, Me, Aart, Sophie, Lars, Tobi, Maik and Martin.
Me, Teele and Tobi clearly in Stockholm.
Pre-departure Sundsvall Snow.
11.1.09Halloween i Kårhuset
This was Jocke and I working last night in the Kårhuset. I think everything went wrong that could have gone wrong, but it came out with some amusing stories. Our change ran out at one point, so we had to start taking money from the tips. Then one guy felt bad for us and decided that he would buy a glass of tapwater for a 100Kr tip… That’s £10. Off out now, got a staff after-party.
Norra Berget i Sundsvall/North Hill in Sundsvall
Went walking recently up the north hill in Sundsvall with Anna, a German girl I live with. There’s a tower on the hill and it’s the highest point for a few kilometres so when you’re up there you can everything. Nothing much to say about it, but I took a Kalles cheese sandwich and a nutella sandwich and it was great. Here’s some pictures:
This is me, to the back is east of Sundsvall and the east island.
This is the university where I study and I like the architecture on it. It’s all villagey like.
10.4.09Kårhuset Sundsvall
Started working in the Student Kårhuset last night. It’s basically the student union of Sundsvall, but it has 4 different bars on two levels of converted prison and it is huge. Main floor there is a bar, cloakroom, live band room and the restaurant where I work. Downstairs is a maze of tunnels with a pub, another bar and a dancefloor. There’s actually another floor upstairs for hire to companies and a tower/turret with some sofa’s too. Anyway, 11 hours in the restaurant really takes it out of you, but pretty sure it was worthwhile. Still much to be desired from my Swedish, but have got until next time to work on this. Was a quiet night, but still entertaining.
Stockholm, theft and the British Consul.
Took a trip to Stockholm couple of weeks ago on a whim, with a few German friends. 5 Hour drive (thanks to Hanno and Lars) and two nights in Crafoords Place Hostel. We arrived, parked up, grabbed the room key and went straight out. Wandered around the city, very very beautiful. Made a video, had a few soundy issues, will fix if got time as it’s time consuming..
The only issue, was that when returning to our car, the two side doors were unlocked. My bag and Hanno’s bag had been stolen, with our clothes, ipods, toilettries (which we discovered can add up to a reasonable amount of money). Those things are easily replaceable with lots of money, unlike my passport which I now do not have in my possession because that was also in the bag.
Do not lose your passport! Our embassy are terrible. I make particular reference to the UK embassy in Germany for having no people skills and managing to patronise you for any misunderstanding. More on that soon.
08.24.09Social Security and Futher Travels
In Sweden, every Swede is given a personal number which is a 6 digit number (DOB: YYMMDD) followed by a 4 digit number (3 digits and a checkdigit). If you ask any Swede what it is, they won’t tell you but you can be sure they’ll know it off by heart. This number is basically like the National Insurance number of the UK or the social security number of the USA except with more prominence. It is used frequently when making purchases, using the healthcare system, getting jobs or other government branches. Getting a job is something I would like to do whilst here so I got one of these numbers, however I had to say that I would be staying here for more than a year, which confused me. EU citizens have the right to work in any country, but Sweden will not give you the number without you saying you’ll be here for more than a year. The obvious solution was to twist the truth slightly.
Today I am also in Sundsvall. It is 03.01am. Last night (night of the 22nd) I set off on a night train (natt tåg) from Borås to Sundsvall, with 1 change. I’d booked a bed as it was an extra £10/12€. These trains are hot, so unless you’ve booked a bed, take some lightweight clothing. Shared a triple bunk with 2 other Swedish guys which were interesting to chat to. One was crossing the country in search of jobs due to the recession kicking him (and his masters degree) in the face twice in one year with the redundancy boot. The other guy was going on a state funded ski instructors training course.
The train was an experience, each bunk had a radio and a cabin call bell. Ideal if you find that your room mates are crazy and indeed want to hurt you as there are hefty train staff on board to deal with such incidents. There was also a shower, a bistro and a state of the art on-board cinema. The cinema was broken which is a shame because the film was ‘How to lose friends and alienate people’. Onwards. Arrived at 4am (sleep deprived) and thought about sitting in the station. It was full of sleeping homeless people and I didn’t feel like being rude and disturbing them. I saw that the fast food restaurant across the street had its doors open which was great so I carried my 35kg suitcase, two rucksacks and bicycle across the street to the door where the guy simple said we’re shut. A guy tried to convince me he was a taxi to take me somewhere to which I thanked him and said I was going to go and buy some food instead.
The petrol station was full of strange people and had a kind of stand up café. Now I’d planned the day before that I would get there at 4am and check into my hostel at 10am. That was 6 hours after arrival and soon after standing in the petrol station I realised that me and my bags weren’t going to make it. So I called a taxi and wound up in a cheap ibis hotel which cost me £50 for the night. But I wasn’t going to stand in the middle of Sundsvall any longer. They let me check in very early as the room was empty and I slept. Explored Sundsvall a little, not enough to report on but we’ll find out later today.
Night!
