Bleh, in a weird mood this morning. And really tired! Even though I had tons of sleep. Which is v. annoying. Taxes are another thing that annoy me. I didn't file my income tax when everyone else did because I was out of the country, so now that I am back I have to deal with this. And found out this since I don't pay EI or something like that at the Estey I have to pay a bunch of taxes! GAH! Not fair. I wish I would have known this, but everyone was just like - 'Ohhh, you won't need to worry about filing your taxes until you get home because you won't have to pay anything.' WRONG! Grrrr. Would like to crawl into bed for some more zzzz's and forget about it. But no. Must work.

Well. There are a lot of fun things happening these days, but I can't really think of anything I feel like writing about. Need to get out of this blah mood and write something later.

Sort of going crazy right now. My stomach is in bunches. Is that even the right spelling? I'm not even sure right now. Cannot focus on this. And I just want to leave work anddd, I don't even know what I would do anyways. Might as well stay here.

Gah. Back to being bored at work. Had one semi-productive day yesterday...wait, what am I talking about! I actually have work today...I'm just at the point that I don't want to do it because it is so boring. I'm frustrated that I am not doing any research projects and we don't have the TILMA project this year to keep me busy. And Bill is gone on vacation until the end of the month...

On a brighter note, my planner has never looked more tasteful! Highlighter drawings are a thing of the past, I bought many coloured pens and they help me to occupy the time every once in a while. And I continue to learn about the world and sort of stay on top of current events. And I am getting a lot of reading done this summer, which I LOVE!

Something else that I love? Girlie movie nights! Which lucky for me we are having one tonight! Going to see the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, which I am pretty pumped about. Really feel like I could use a girlie, cheesy night tonight. Love it.

So, exciting news! Mel and I are planning on starting our own blog in the fall! :) We think that it is going to be AMAZING! I mean, come on - we are doing it! At least for the first couple months June and Al are going to be around, so we suspect there will be a lot of ridiculous happenings. And just June's fridge with be enough to write a couple blogs about. We think we will try to expand from time to time and branch out into Video blogs, but we'll see what happens. V. excited about it!

Could go for an afternoon nap right about now. Quite seriously. I think I had a bad sleep last night. I woke up completely exhausted - not a great feeling. Mel and I went to the fair last night, and that could have something to do with it. T'was good fun, the fair was! We caused our usual mischief and made our usual amount of scenes - it was grandiose! We of course catalouged our night through pictures, which I will be putting up on Facebook soon. Get excited!

A swim or a laze by the pool would also be excellent right now. Can't wait to move in! May be sooner rather than later - Auntie and Gordon are possibly going through rocky bit (Gordon is crazy psycho person about 50% of the time lately and my Aunt doesn't know what to do about it - to be quite honest I am a tad bit scared of him and avoid contact as much as possible) so I'm not sure if I should take off and give them space to figure things out or if I should stick around till the end of the month to be there for moral support for Auntie. Tricky tricky.

Alright, might read a bit in the economic textbook. Bleh. Toodle-ooo!

Feeling tired at work today, took a night bus fr. Calgary last night, got in at 5:20 and then decided to just come to work instead of going home first. In a weird mood I think, probably it has a lot to do with the lack of sleep thing. On the way I had some nice little sleeps but coming back last night I definitely did not :(

I also managed to slice the top of my foot open on my camera case on the bus last night, graceful, I know. This time I was smarter however and brought lots of sweaters on with me (I have a problem where I need to be quite warm to sleep)...it wasn't ideal, but better. Next time there may be a blanket... hahah.

Looks like it is going to be a gorgeous day out there today! I have a feeling I may miss a lot of it, since my goal when I get home is to have a bit of a nap. Butttttt, who knows, I might enjoy some of it anyway. Okay, should get back to work now...

BAHHHH! Bored At Work. Pt I

This is Day...well we will say about 3 that I am spending in absolute crazed boredom at work. Bill is missing (well by missing I mean I think on vacation, but don't want to sound like I don't know where he is so I haven't asked anyone...) and I have completely ran out of things to do here. However, here are some of the things that I have done in his absence: facebook (obviously), msn, reading a book, movie watching, learning about the Spanish Civil War, reading The Economist (one of the only magazines in our office), reading the news online, writing letters, writing songs (well, sad attempts at this), sneaking out for coffee with friends, drawing flowers in my day planner and colouring them in with highlighter, posting photos of my trip, para-sailing, etc, etc. Okay, I may have just made the last one up, but it would be a fun alternative to the nothing that I have been doing!

Annual Sidewalk Sale is going on currently downtown and thought I would take a walk around there while the guys were gone for lunch. Not a whole lot to see, but the weather was much nicer than this morning (picture dark foreboding clouds, large masses of rain, the whole works) so it was good to escape the office. However, I walked past Lululemon (which is always WAY more fun to say with a crazed french accent...at least I think so) and they had a huge tent pitched with tons of sale racks beneath. And TONS of people nearly physically attacking the racks. I walked through toying with the idea that I might find a nice little workout top, but then sense snapped in and I remembered that I detest this shop and did NOT want to become one of those people. Not that I hate people that shop there, I just don't think the shop is for me...paying outrageous prices for workout clothes that absolutely everyone else you pass walking down the street is wearing. So I calmly walked away from the tent and the huge line protruding out of the shop door and felt much better. (:

The weekend is looking like it has the possibility for fun, PJ is heading in for the weekend (and for all of those who aren't aware, that would be Presbyterian Jen) and I've been practicing up the cat dance for her. If she could only learn to love it instead of absolutely detest it then we would obviously discontinue it...but where would the fun be in that? She has someone subletting her place for the summer (which Kent affectionately nicknamed 'Studpants') and I am really hoping that we can find some entertainment of any kind from him. Roomie (last years version) was hilarious! Always with her awkwardness and absolutely pointless random facts...it would keep us laughing for days! Well except for when Jen told her to water the plant ONCE a week and she decided that meant once a DAY and it sort of ruined her floor...that wasn't as funny.

I am hoping that Dutch Blitz will be on the agenda sometime this weekend because I am in serious withdrawal! I haven't played since before I left for Sweden...and that is a long time! I am going to be heavily out of practice...but I suspect I will still be able to beat Mel and Liesel.

What else? Any other thoughts? Oh. I've been drooling over cameras online the past few days (in my work frenzy) and if I could I would be getting a new one in a heartbeat! SLR is definitely the next step...and I think that I am going to stick with the Canon because my last two cameras (not counting my 'for fun' camera I bought at Christmastime) were Canon and both were fantastic. My friends have laughed a little at me since I currently own two (point five, but they don't actually know about the '.5') but I am really getting into the photography. So I got the '.5' last night from my sister, an old school Pentax that used to be my Gran's and am going to spend a few weeks fiddling with that and learning a bit more. Yay!

Okay. I think I will take a break from this for a while and find something else to do. But I'm sure I'll be back with more thoughts soon.

3, 2, 1, BUNGEE!!

Wowwwww, bungee jumping was the craziest thing that I have ever done in my life, what a crazy feeling that was! Although I was a lot less nervous than I thought that I was going to be, I think maybe I was mostly excited to give it a try!

When it was Shan and my turn the clouds in the sky all cleared up and the weather was beautiful for our jump! (Afterwards the clouds came back and it started drizzling...) The crane didn't actually look like it was all that high up from the ground, but when you got up there you actually realized how tall it was... you could see everything! It was sooo amazing!

The jump was probably the weirdest feeling I have ever had. You put your feet over the edge, the guy counts down and you spread your arms and just fall...and just keep falling, getting faster and faster...and then it is over before you even know it!

I am not sure if I would do it again, stomach was a bit upset afterwards, but I am really glad that I gave it a try!

Beautiful day outside right now...but I technically should be studying...but I just can't! My brain will not focus...it is terrible. Lots of things on the brain I guess. How annoying! Heading to Norway in less than a week, I am really excited about that! Should be a really great trip I think, full of even some more adventures...wahoooo!

Bungee jumping tomorrow! How exciting! It is raining outside right now though, so I hope that this rain goes away before then! This is something that I have always wanted to do, I can't believe I am actually doing it! :)

Booked most of my trips in June with Shan yesterday! There was an amazing sale on Ryan Air yesterday, some kind of summer sale...I think we probably got 4 flights for about 50 or 60 euros in total! I am quite happy about it! Here are some of the places we are traveling to: Amsterdam, Dublin, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Paris, and Barcelona! I am so pumped about it, although I still can't even think about leaving here! And there is still the stress of how I am going to get my bags to London, grrrrrr. I hate it! I wish that they could just magically arrive there on their own! Sadly, this isn't a solution and I need to come up with an actually reasonable one...

Been feeling like we are on vacation here this week, I only had one class the entire week! It has been great, even though the last two days have been rainy and blah like. Probably I should go and eat some lunch now though, or continue working...

Hello everyone!
Quick little update here!
Just heading out to the Raslatt beach as I like to call it... technically speaking it is just a nice little grassy area right outside my building... not very beach-like at all actually...

Everything is great in Sweden, this week we have had such nice weather!! A lot of sun and a lot of blue skies! My freckles are blooming and I think that I even have a bit of colour! We have spent many evenings here playing volleyball, lying in the sun and having bbq's...so beautiful!

Have been sticking close to home these past couple weeks, might head off somewhere next weekend, but who knows? Just paid off my Adventure Norway trip, that is going to be SO much fun! White water rafting, hiking, bridge swing...will be an adventure that is for sure!

Any good stories to share? Well, my ankle is still quite swollen (okay, back story: last weekend played football and rolled it...and then foolishly kept playing...and then on Wednesday someone accidentally kicked it...so now it is swollen again) but I am not a limper, so that is nice!

Oh! One more thing I almost totally forgot! People that are reading this from Canada: have you heard of the word 'foment'??? Because I sure hadn't until coming here! How sad, the Canadian girl is getting English lessons from people who have learnt english as a second or third language...so sad!

Haha, oh well! Well that is my update for now, off to the beach!
xoxo, Des

Because it has lived life intensely
the parched grass still attracts the gaze of passers-by.
The flower merely flower,
and they do this as well as they can.
The white lily, blooming unseen in the valley,
does not need to explain itself to anyone;
It lives merely for beauty.
Men, however, cannot accept that 'merely'.

If tomatoes wanted to be melons,
they would look completely ridiculous.
I am always amazed
that so many people are concerned
with wanting to be what they are not;
What's the point of making yourself look ridiculous?

You don't always have to pretend to be strong
there's no need to prove all the time that everything is going well,
you shouldn't be concerned about what other people are thinking,
cry if you need to,
it's good to cry out all of your tears
(because only then will you be able to smile again)

-Mitsuo Aida

Ze Update!

Woke up this morning to the sun shining and the birds chirping...looked out my window and saw the forest and I was sort of reminded of home a bit. The birds really reminded me of waking up at the farm early in the morning, I have always liked that feeling. It is a great way to wake up!

Well I was just in Frankfurt this weekend with Spencer and it was great! Frankfurt was an okay city, saw some pretty interesting buildings and hit up some really nice little cafes. The weather was touch and go, Saturday it was sunny and almost t-shirt weather at times (sometimes the wind was a bit chilly) but Sunday was off and on rain storms and in the evening was my first thunderstorm of the year! I was really excited about that, thunder and lightening are my favorite! The airport is fairly intense, very strict about the one bag policy (everywhere else I've traveled to so far lets you have a carry-on and a purse or whatever, not here though!), which was unfortunate. My boots the day before had started leaking (which was lovely, walking around with a permanent puddle in your shoes!) so they were still damp so I had to put them in my backpack, which means I barely had room to shove my handbag in there too! But I did manage to do it...

Today was International Day at school, Canada didn't have a booth (boo Canada! Dropped out on the last minute... wish I would have known, could have helped out!) so I helped Shan out with her Aussie one... yes, it made even MORE people think I am from Australia (half of everyone already thought that), especially now since there will be pics of me posing with Shan at the Australia booth! Hahaha, oh well. Was a great time today though, learnt a bit more about a few cultures and universities and ate a lot of TASTY food! Still quite full actually!

Speaking of food actually yesterday we threw a surprise supper for Basti at Shan's house (was his bday the day before) and it was a really great time! We did it in the hallway and sat on pillows and everyone brought some kind of finger food and it was so delicious! Basti was quite surprised...he was told that a couple people were going to Shans to have pancakes...so he came over with a pack of eggs!

Well that is all for now, must go and be studious for a while...hockey game on tonight, go HV71!

The stars in the sky...

So yesterday Shan and I played tennis...and let me tell you, what a riot that would have been to watch! For one thing, I have never played before, so that just added to the excitement. We probably played the worst game the sport has ever seen! Once we began we realized that our 'steal of a deal' rackets were indeed child sized and that our 'steal of a deal' tennis balls were the worst pieces of garbage ever...they didn't even really bounce! Sad, I know. But we gave it a go anyway...and like I said, I didn't watch but I imagine it must have been outrageously ridiculous. Near the end we were able to get a rally of about 4 shots going...which was pretty impressive by our standards!

So last night I learnt something AMAZING! Well, technically I am pretty sure I learnt this fact in about Gr. 5 or something, but it had slipped my mind...in Australia they have different stars!!! Last night on the way home from a friends Tim, Shan and I were walking down the beach to the bus and I was pointing out constellations and they didn't know them and so I was amazed (because they were simple ones like the big dipper) and they said they had different stars! How exciting! And! We can sometimes see Mars...but they can sometimes see Venus! Just wanted to share my amazement with the world...

Catching Up...

Wow! I am incredibly sorry that it has taken so long to write another post! Really, from now on I am going to be trying to update this more frequently...time just goes by so fast here!

Well, it is April and I look out the window and all I see is clouds, rain and cold...and they are predicting snow for this week! I am ready for Spring! Although, to be fair, when the sun is shining, it is great because the days are so much longer now, which I am into. We had to change the clocks last week because of daylight savings...which was interesting, you go into a building and you are never really sure what time it is, because you don't know if they have changed the clocks or not!

Went on a cruise to Helsinki last Tuesday, that was a ton of fun! Although the senior citizen population to students was quite high we still managed to cause some chaos and have a lot of fun! On the trip back from Helsinki a few of us really wanted to do some karaoke, and lucky for us there was a karaoke hour! So we went to the 'fun club' and settled in for a fun hour of karaoke...only to discover the entire bar was probably about 55+ and the 'karaoke' taking place was old finnish songs, that couples were getting up and dancing to! You don't waltz to karaoke! Nevertheless, about halfway through the hour a few of us were called up to do our selection...Wonderwall by Oasis, which shook things up a bit! The best part was that one of the older couples got up and was dancing to it! Too funny.

On Friday was the much anticipated 'Pink' party...for which I actually went to a store and purchased pink! It was a great time, everywhere you looked in China you were blinded by a pink outfit...I hope to NEVER see that much pink at one time ever again! Linda, Shan and I even decided that we should have pink drinks!

Then bright and early the next day, Linda, Yulisa, Shannan and I journeyed off to Göteburg! (To say this word you have to picture yourself as a jolly plump man with a curly moustache, it is really the only way to properly say it...and it is sort of pronounced Yotebory) There was a mild intention of doing some sight-seeing, but the interest to shop much outweighed these intentions! We did however see the Opera house (which I would NOT include as sightseeing...there was absolutely nothing exciting about this building, regular buildings in the streets were much more amazing!) and made a trip to see the famous statue of Gustav! The weather was not sight-seeing weather so we were more than happy to spend our time inside the malls, checking out the new spring fashions! I found this amazing black dress, that I am very enthused about wearing!

What else can I mention about life currently? Shan and I are planning a games night couchland for tomorrow night at Sockertoppen, one of the many exciting events we as Culture Section Chiefs plan! It should be a great time, hopefully people show up! Well we always have our friends that we force to come to every event we plan...they are so nice! Haha.

Well, nothing much else to report right now, really hoping for sunshine, but we will see! Off to Frankfurt this weekend, so expect an exciting story soon! xoxo.

Almost Friday!

Hi everyone!
Sorry, it has been a while since my last blog, accidentally got crazy busy! Was in Aalborg, Denmark this weekend visiting my friends Pernille and Derek and I had a blast! It was such a fun time! Went to the ocean and it was sooo beautiful... why can't Saskatchewan be more on the edge of the continent?! Went to a city that was completely buried under sand, it was such a sight to see! When you climbed to the top of the sand pile you could see a few of the tips of the houses...crazy!

This week I have been emerged in my studies...our project management video was due on Tuesday, so for the first part of the week I was extremely busy with that! But it is done now and I think that it turned out amazing! If you want to take a peek at it, I think you can use this link... hopefully it works for you! The movie is only 15 mins, so it doesn't take too long!

Swedish test tomorrow, gah! Jag pratar svenska lite... gotta get some studying done! But once the test is done it is time to celebrate! Shan and Nick are having a combined birthday party on Friday night! Theme? Toga Party! Gotta get my sheets ready...

Off to Berlin on Monday for five nights, super excited! I am looking forward to exploring a new city and seeing some new sights! Shan is heading there on Saturday, so I am meeting up with her when I get there and her, Dani and I are going to have some great fun!!

Alright, must get back to my homework, just wanted to post a quick note!

Congrats ME!!!!

Oh the sun is shining and it is a glorious day!! I got an email from the MSA (management student association) and they are offering me the CEO position! Since I am not there now to start training the current CEO is going to stay on until December and teach me the ropes. And then in December I officially take over by myself! This is sooo exciting!

Got the videos finally working for Project Management, was starting to get a bit worried...so now the editing process begins! Going to be tricky, but I think that our team can definitely manage it...we have some good footage so it is mostly a matter of putting it all together...

Need to book my Berlin tix! Which means that I really need to chat with my S&T group today to find out when we can present to the company! I am super excited for Berlin though, Shans bday, how much fun is that!! We need to start planning her party here in Jönköping soon...she wants a toga theme...should be a blast!! Heading to Aalborg, Denmark this weekend to visit Pernille! Sooo excited to see that lady! It has been a couple months shy of a year! Taking the ferry from Göteborg to Frederikshavn so I am pretty pumped about that...hopefully the sun is out and it is a nice day!

Alrighty, must go and meet up with my S&T group...wish me luck!

THE SUN!

How exciting! The sun is out and it has done wonders for my mood! I love it! I think that it is pretty hard to be sad when the sun is out (especially when it is rarely out to begin with). It is just what I needed I think! Start of a new day!

Spending the night tonight with some of my girlfriends, going over to Yulisa and Linda's place and we are having pancakes. With ice cream! And wine! Looking forward to it for sure. And then we plan to go to Club Caj, a club here in Jönköping that is only open every second Thursday. The theme tonight is 'Moscow' (yeahhh, I don't know they are doing some random city/country themes...), could be a good time!

So here is a funny story for all of you back in Canada, pretty much everywhere else in the world (okay, well of the many countries that I have talked to) calls 'aluminum' ALUMINIUM! Bizarre? I think so! And also many places pronounce oregano differently (not sure how to explain it though). Oh the things I am learning here, I like it!

Alright, I am off for the day, just got an offer to go shopping...and many of you know that I can't resist that!

Welcome!

Well I finally decided that I am starting a blog about my adventures in Sweden! (and surrounding countries...) I thought it would be a great way to keep everybody back home up-to-date with what is happening over here...if you are even interested! Haha.

So this past weekend me and 8 of my good friends took a road trip to Malmo and Copenhagen. It was great fun! We went to see a german band called the Beatsteaks in Malmo and they were probably on of the best live shows I've ever been to! It was sooo much fun! The next day we did some touring around Malmo, starting our day off with breakfast, which for most of us consisted of mcdonalds...yes, we're a healthy bunch! It is a pretty great feeling traveling with a bunch of friends, even though we were all a bit hungover/tired, everyone was in a pretty good mood, traveling around Malmo in a big blue van listening to some great tunes. We didn't really have any plans on what we wanted to visit so we thought we would just go to city center and go from there. So we parked and paid for the parking but when Martijn put the ticket in the window to show we paid, it fell into this little crevice between the window and the dashboard where it couldn't been seen! Haha, Tim spent over 20 minutes trying to get the ticket out, using a fork (which ended up also falling in there...and never being retrieved actually...), chewing gum, various pens and eventually twigs. I imagine this wouldn't have been very fun if it happened while you were by yourself, but with a bunch of people it was hilarious!

Copenhagen=beautiful! What a gorgeous city! All of the old buildings are sooo nice to look at! The weather was a bit chilly though...but I guess that it is only February, and technically I shouldn't complain because I hear it is MUCH colder back home...We went to a couple museums, saw the opera house, the royal family's house, the little mermaid and we went to this really interesting community called Christiania. It is within Copenhagen, but separate because it doesn't follow all of the laws that the city has, it makes its own. You can't take pics while you are there and there is tons of graffiti and hippie-like people. Dogs run free and people pretty much do what they want there. It was intriguing!

Most of the people on the trip took a turn driving (I didn't because I am not confident in my standard skills...and by not confident I mean I've done it approx. twice) and there were a few scary moments with some people! But I won't mention any of the names...or nationalities! Hahaha. All in all, really fun trip! Looking forward to my next one...wherever I will go!