I do something here. Something else than partying

Study issues 

Yes, it's time. Time to talk about what i'm actually doing here for study. Time to say how GREAT it is to be so far away my home university.

I've been a little depressed these few days. When your are 2500 km from home and the one you love, that's a kind of logical. So I decided to focus more on what I totally crack on here. Mid Sweden University! You don't believe me. Well, I'm exaggerating, like usual, but not so much. I'm really having a good time here and the courses are attractive and (sometimes) well given.

Like I've already said,  the courses are given by modules. That mean that you will not start a course until your previous one isn't done. I've registered for 3 courses here: Writing for mass media, Graphic design and Magazine project.


Writing for mass media

The first course wasn't that great. We had four hours class per week and the teacher Elisabeth (yes we call the teacher by their first name, I love this) didn't taught me a lot. We were more talking in groups about our assignments. I'm actually pretty sure she didn't read our articles. She was only interested by our "informative headline" and our "catchy introduction". But this class gave me the opportunity to meet the students and  free time enough to visit the city... and becoming lazy!

Graphic Design 


The serious issues started with this course! It didn't came well because it was during the only week my boyfriend visited me. And because I'm a better girlfriend than a good student, i missed a lot of the first class.
For the first time here, we had a busy schedule and three demanding teachers. Yes, three! Two of them are Swedish: Mike and Karina. I like them. They're helping us for doing our assignments and when they have to criticize our final work, they're always trying to stay nice! And then, we have Kevin. Kevin is English and he's a kind of old nerd wearing hood-sweat and he is the terror of the graphics department (for me). It's only because he is the one who criticizes all assignments and gives the notes. He's never happy of what students create. It's why I clearly learned a lot in his class!!


The first assignment was a three pages article about "My life in Sweden". We had to write the article and make the layout. "Easy".
The second one was a totally different affair. We had to make a photo collage (six picture minimum) of a classmate which visually represent a part of his personality. Less easy. Especially for me who has no skills in Photoshop. We had from Friday to Wednesday 4pm to make it. On Wednesday morning, when dear Kevin saw my work, he said something like "I like the idea, but not how you did it" and ask me to do something close to what magic is for me. You will believe it or not, but after eight hours of tears and weeping, i'm officially a Photoshop witch!

The final assignment promised us to keep the students closer to the university than their bed for the week and weekend. We had to imagine a movie about our life and make it the poster. I decided to "talk" about my last teenager's years, when I tried to stop being the excelente bad girl or whatever you know about this part of my life and become what everyone wanted me to be (including myself). Here is the result of my work:

Magazine project 

The last course is Magazine project. I just started it last week so i don't have a lot to say about it for the moment. It will come later. It consist of making a all 48 pages magazine about Exchange Studies. We have to do ALL the magazine, articles, layout and everything. Very professional isn't it? I'm stressed but the group is cool. We are only seven students and I love the peoples in the group: Jolanda (be), Marcos (es), Marie (fr), Sarah (fr), Angela (nl) and Petra (nl). Wish me luck.  

Bye the way, I gave up the Swedish course. It's officially a smurf language for me! 

            

I miss Belgium ... no I don't ... Yes I do.

I always think about what will be the first thing I will do when I will be back in Belgium. It's been nearly three month that I've left my country now and even if I love Sweden, I really miss my country for many reasons. 

Food, family, friends, boyfriend... So much thing I would like to see back as soon as possible. Yes, I said food as first. Not only Belgian chocolate or waffles, FRIES is the thing I could pay a thousand kronor for. So this is a special message for my family and friends who are planning to pick me up in the airport: you may forget the beer(I could maybe forgive you for that), but you can't forget the fries.

Beers, of course. Swedish beers sucks. Truly.
I can buy Belgian beers here. They sell Chimay Bleu, Maredsous, Duvel and Leffe. That's not the point. What I really miss is enjoy these beers in a bar with my friends without being ruined for that. I would like to pay for a beer without thinking that it is a decisive decision for my wallet. I miss Brussels, where so many events take place in the same weekend that you can not choice which one you'll join.

My family. I know what your going to say: "But you were always complaining about your family". Who don't? I'll tell you the truth if a say that I even miss:

- fighting with my sister Leila because she forget to close the bathroom's door
- knocking at my sister Audrey's room late in the night because her movie is too noisy.
- be yelled by my sister Jennifer because I don't want to clean the dishes and prefer let her doing it alone
- The desperate look of my nanny Carine because my room is totally messy... again.

But being far away  home make me also realize how good and sweet it is to feel home. I'm living alone and no one is waiting for me inside, no one is sitting with me for eating, no one to watch a movie with and the worst: no one for chatting for hours in the kitchen, waiting for the Senseo to be ready.








Friends, boyfriend,  well, I've already told you all how I miss you. It's not a hot news. But I'll say it once again: I LOVE YOU and I don't spend on day without thinking of you all.


Ok, now I have to stop complaining and start being honest: I love my life here. It's never raining and the sun is shining every day. The university is terrific (I will probably write an all article about it). I've met so many awesome people here. I already know that I will miss them a lot. I love the city and I feel so safe here. I'm not afraid to walk alone by night! The landscape is wonderful. I love spend my afternoon walking in the forest. Nothing compare to the grey, nosy and stinking Brussels.

I'll miss Sundsvall, Sweden and the Erasmus people (ho yes, and the few Swedish i've met) . But we still have more than 2 months to enjoy together :)    

Lapland

Lapland

It was the only trip I really wanted to do here in Sweden. Not happy enough to be in the north, I wanted to go further, discover a land where the humans have less right than wildness and where every landscape seems to be infinite.

I haven't been disappointed!

We left Sundsvall with most of my group of international student, two Swedish from the student union and a couple of student from Stockholm and London. 50 students, for 12 hour in a car with a very strange, funny, really nice guide (forgot her name again, sorry): memorable trip!

Day 1: arriving in Kiruna, dogs sledges and snowmobile.

We arrived at 8 in the morning in Kiruna, one of the most northern cities in Sweden. We had a few minutes to prepare our room and have a great breakfast before the first activity: Dogsledges. I wanted to do this since I was a little girl.

We were four by sledges, trailed by eleven dogs. But not Huskies or whatever polar dogs. It was Eurohound dogs. A new European breed.  The dogs were fast and made the sledge jumping sometime. Funny and scary!   

Right after having a coffee rest in a sami tent, I put my ass on a snow mobile for the first time of my life. Of course, I was the only one to get bogged down. Poor Christelle who was stuck on the snowmobile with me.

Then, in the evening, we went to a bar (where I didn’t drink anything, not rich enough! Can you believe it?) before trying to see the northern light. We didn’t, or not a lot. Too cloudy. Even if we spent a few hours to watch the dark sky, we had to go back in the hotel, disappointed!

Day 2: Jukkasjärvi and the reindeer farm.

The second day, we went to the famous ice hotel Jukkasjärvi. Even if it’s wonderful, I will never ever sleep by -5° and pay that much for that. Freezing! The hotel is made every years differently. Each room is designed with a different architectural style. Lovely. Some of them seem to come directly from a fairy tail.

In the afternoon, the entire group moves to a sami reindeer farm. We had the chance to feed the animals and learn a little bit of the sami tradition related to the reindeer which are considered more important than human in the sami culture. The woman gave us reindeer soup. But I couldn’t eat this. Indeed, impossible for me to eat an animal right after seeing it alive.

In the night, we had a barbecue in a big sami tent, with all the student. A happy and friendly atmosphere. And suddenly, something happen outside: A high and impressive sky activity, the northern light. Everybody was screaming and taking pictures. One of the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.      

We spent the night in Abisko National Park, near one of the biggest lake in this part of the world.

Day 3: Narvik and the artic swim

For the third day, let’s go back in the bus for a short trip to Narvick, in the fjord area of Norway. One of the thing I really don’t like in these kind of organized trip, is that everything is…organized, even the “taking picture views”. The concept is quite simple: the guide decide to stop the bus and the travelers have 5 minutes to take as much pictures as they can… so Asian!!  Anyway, the fjords are truly exceptional.

We spend 2 hours in Narvik. The tour “offers” us to pay 150 SEK (18 euros) for using the ferry to get to the top of the mountain and ... take pictures of the beautiful view! Boring! With Thibault (a French guy), we decide to economize our money and climb by feet… for going down by sledges. Hilarious moment!

The last activity was a sauna followed by an artic swim in the frozen lake… By night! If you think that you had the opportunity to find out what cold is in your life, it’s nothing compare to jumping in a -3° water, right after leaving a 80° room when it’s -30° outside. I swear!

Day 4: Mooses

The last day was a day off. We had free time to walk a last time in the national park!

After a few minutes, when Christelle said something like “I saw something in the forest”, nobody truly believed her (to be honest, I was the one who didn’t believe her). With a more careful look, we realized that it was really something. At the first I thought it was a tree, then, maybe a very big horse. But in fact, it was a moose with her baby. These animals are bigger than I expected. For a few minutes, Christelle, Maureen, Jolanda and I turned into hunters to go closer to the animals and…. Take pictures!

Picture by Maureen Gayet

It was time to go back in Sundsvall. We left the amazing landscape to find our routine back.         

  

   

Live and Study

Don’t forget, I’m here to study

Well, yes, when I will have to explain my Erasmus to my future employer, I’ll will probably skip the fun part of my life here and focus on the university, which is actually nice too. I subscribed to four courses here: Writing for mass media, graphic design, magazine project and Swedish language. Opposed to Belgium, the course works with modules. You start a course and you have for example five weeks with only one topic, ending with a test before start the next module.

I feel that courses are very interesting. We evolve fast and learn a lot. Those consist of many practical exercises and challenges. Sometime, I feel like I already have to act like a professional. 

The university is very well equipped. One of the buildings is full of media and communication’s technology. It is very impressive when you come from a university that has only five Mac

The university is big and really beautiful. It looks like a small village. The greatest thing is the library.  With its tree floor, all these plants and these special corners for group works, it’s perfectly designed for study.  

Now I (nearly) know how to live

For the first time of my life, mummy and daddy are not here to help me and tell me what to do. I have to cook, to clean, to make my laundry and to live in a shared apartment with someone who’s not my sisters or another part of my family. Someone I didn't chose.

Having an Erasmus experience is truly a life lesson, wherever you go. But you have to choose it well and be prepared. Far away, little troubles can became big problems. But you will always find someone to help you.

  

Sundsvall, dear Sundsvall

Sundsvall, dear Sundsvall.

The first impression was weird. I’ve already start to hate the snow and the street didn’t look like what Google map told me. The city has a completely different appearance with its white cover.

Naturally I was lost. Here come my first advices for the future students: Don’t forget to take the pickup service. It’s free and really useful.

I like the city. Even if there is a quite ugly industrial area, Sundsvall is very charismatic. If you take the time to look around, you’ll quickly find somewhere to take a Fika (the Swedish kind of English tea), shopping or a walk in the so beautiful nature. Even visit the residential area can become a nice walk. Houses and buildings are in typical Swedish architecture, colourful, covered by wood and with small gardens. 

Personally I live in Nacksta. It’s an area in 30 minutes to the centre, with a thousand identical and without personality big buildings. I love it. But only because it is full of international students. 

More International than Swedish

Exception made of my teachers; the only Swedish people I've met can be counted with a single hand. I can say that there are nice, rarely friendly and often shy. They are always happy to help you, but never ready to answer to your happy “hello” if they don’t know you. No, really, the only friends a truly have here come from all around the world and they make my Erasmus band of bros.

I know what your are thinking about: ”You make party all the time and be drunk every day”. Well, we make party quite often, it’s true, but it’s not to most important. We are from many countries, far from home and from all the people we love. It brings us together and creates real friendships.

Ski and Outdoor

Everybody have his way to fulfilling his day. My pleasure here is to enjoy the beautiful Swedish nature by skiing or walking in the forest. There’s two ski slopes here in Sundsvall. One is really close to Nacksta and I’m used to go twice a month.  From the top of the mountain, you can have one of the most beautiful views of Sundsvall and the lake, according to me. I advise you to go there for the sunset. During this instant, the sun colours the sky with a variety of all kinds of pink and orange

I’m passionate by nature. Even during winter, the Swedish wildlife is diversified. I’m used to walk ones or twice a week and look around me in the middle of the forest. I hope that ones, I will be lucky enough to see a wild Swedish animal during one of my walk.  

Here I am, Sundsvall

My Life in Swenden 

Do you see the little girl lost somewhere in the middle of a snow mountain? Crazy isn’t? It’s me, Céline, 24-year-old Belgian student who decide to make her Erasmus in Sundsvall, Sweden. And I’m not that crazy, I’ve just made the biggest choice of my life.

So here I am, staying five month in the north of Europe to study communication and journalism. I’m already imagining your interrogative faces. Why didn’t I chosen a more common country like Spain or France? Why so far, so cold, so dark? Well, exactly because it’s far, cold and dark. Exactly because it’s different. And this is the way of my life.

It took two days to come in Sundsvall from Brussels. I made one tourist day in Stockholm before discovering my new town. And then, first chock: all the girls are not blond, you can not breath when it’s minus 25 grades, people are not wearing snowsuit and snowshoes like I do and the worst: Suitcases with wheels do not roll on the snow. Damned!

Landscape

Exploring the landscape of the southern mountain

Sweden, Sundsvall. We are the winter in the end of January. Far way the excitement of the city center, on the southern mountain, there is a lake. And to discover it, there is a little way on the forest. What’s better for a foreign student than spend a few hours there, looking at the landscape with a watchful eye? 

On the afternoon, it’s probably the best moment to make this exploration. The sun is still shining, but not for many time. It’s 3pm and the sun set is for soon.

You have to know where the way is to take it. And after a few minutes of walk, it’ seem to be another world. A world where the nature has all the right. On this season, the white winter coat recovers everything, but not similarly. Depending the kind of trees and their tall, it is possible to see a green branch or a brown trunk. Some trees are so covered by snow that they look like works of arts. Sometime the snow is white, sometime it looks greyer. The forest is diversified and not always dense, but still lightly. In the frozen wood, stones became white mushrooms and water flows are fixed like ice fountains.  Human’s traces aren’t totally absents. We can find like little birdhouses or benches. Everything is quiet. The silence is only stopped by birdsongs.

The way is quite large, enough for a few people walking in group. It looks like a snake, crawling between the pins. Sometimes, it crosses little paths. They probably conduct to the houses that we can perceive across the forest. The main road is a trail especially made for walker, and mainly for skiers. We can see their ski printed on the ground.

They are many skiers there, motivated and concentrated in their colored outfit. They are not the only one to enjoy the nature. We can find walker with dogs or sticks and also happy children having fun with their sledges.     

The final destination is the lake. . The sun is nearly disappeared behind the hill but a few light made this extended snowfield shining and sparkling. All this space gave to the visitors a sensation of freedom. The lake is completely frozen. If there was no lifebuoy, it would be easy to forget that there is water under the ice. Now the sun is nearly over. In a country where the sun doesn’t seem to rise or set, it's important to take advantage of the moments when it illuminates the landscape. So take the time to feel the light.

On the way back, it’s the night and the moonlight changes everything in the atmosphere. They are several shades of color in the sky, dark blue, pink and orange around the moon. Enough brightness to see around like during the day. The Sundsvall’s forest looks like a fairyland during the winter.