Well, I got up at 06.00 in Sweden last Wednesday to take the cab half an hour later. I went to the airport where I met my classmates from the Mid Sweden University that have also studied here. The flight to Schiphol airport went fine. It took about two hours, which was a bit longer than expected but not much. The two hours we had to sit in the plane before it could lift due to radar problems in Amsterdam weren't that pleasant tho. But I did manage to solve quite a few Sudoku.
When we arrived it was a little past 12, and we were met by some people from the International student network in Amsterdam, they offered free transport from airport to place to pick up keys and other important stuff and then finally to the apartment that I am going to live in for five months if nothing unexpected happens. Truth to be told it's not beautiful and quite small but it is also the cheapest option. The heating element dries out the air a bit, which has been a little annoying for my throat but my flatmate gave me the tip to put a glass of water close to it for some hydration, which seems to be working.
His name is Will and while I can't say that we're best friends we get along just fine and a dinner in the city center and then a pub was nice. He also managed to explain how to put the shower on the right temperature. It gets scorching hot and freezing cold and I had to stand the cold for my first two showers, which literally made it hard to breathe but now I know how to get to that little space inbetween.
On Thursday the introduction activities started and it has been great. The group I was in was really nice and we've had a lot of fun. Now the introduction is over but it's still a lot of fun. Most of us met just yesterday. I also have a lot of fun with my class of course but I havn't had the chance to spend that much time with many in it yet. I'm sure I'll make many good friends there as well tho.
Come to think of it we havn't really done that many special activities, mainly just spent time together. The one thing I can come up with is going iceskating. Being a Swede I had a bit of pressure on me to be good of course, in a joking way I should add. I wasn't too sure about how my performance would be as I can't recall the last time I went iceskating, I havn't done it for the last five years for sure and it could be much longer since. From the start it was tough and one foot kept sliding out the wrong way but after ten minutes or so I got the hang of it and went from the learning area to the track without falling even once. I was hardly a pro but did decently, in the end I kept up with our dutch coach who turned out to be the fastest one when we all raced a lap earlier.
It was all good until I was forced to slow down as a person was in front of me. I know how to slow down but couldn't really do it fast enough, there wasn't much space to get past and somehow I ended up sitting on the ice. Nothing wounded except for my pride, at least I kept the pace. Still a fun experience.
It's funny really, sometimes I have trouble writing despite having time as I don't know what to write. Now I have much to write but havn't had the time to do it at all. Next post should come sooner, I've got some fun stuff coming up this weekend. That will be a cliffhanger :) Pic is of my group, at least most of the members.