Leyre à Linköping!

Summing up

2008-07-20T17:38:00.003+02:00

hi there...

I have finally found a way, a proper way I hope, to end up this blog I've been more or less regularly updating since my arrival in Linköping (actually a lil earlier, middle june).
this is very strange, thinking that being back in Madrid is not temporary but definitive (at least until I manage to finish my degree, hopefully next year...), being back with my parents, seeing old friends,... but also being in touch with all these wonderfull ppl I've met in Linköping. I cannot miss out very special ppl, como tú Giulio :) I look back 1 year ago, I think about the fears and uncertainties that sorounded my departure to Sweden. I think about this year now and... really no words :)))) a huge SMILE and a lot of emotions...

I'm so thankful to everybody I've met in this wonderful experience, I've learnt from all of you and all of our experiences together :)

I was hard, very hard to leave Linköping. I have to say that it was probably one of the hardest weeks of my live :S but I survived to it! and I feel a lil stronger from that ;) but not invincible!
I'm ready to keep on learning, travelling, meeting, discovering,... even more than when I left to Sweden!

GRacias a todos y a todo lo que he vivido este año, jamás lo olvidaré!

Now... I feel like creating a new blog! still have to decide about the title, the colouring,... and what to write about! sometimes this writing has felt like a therapy (absolutely helpful!) so I might just open it to have a place to record what's going on in my life and in my mind ;)

cuidaros mucho! take very good care everyone!

leyre ;)

"don't look back into the sun,
now u now that the time has come,
and they said it would never come for u,..."

back back back...

2008-07-16T23:58:00.002+02:00

more than 1month since I left Linköp but still no idea of what I should write to conclude this blog in which I have almost regulary uploaded my life....
not yet thought about a good closing but I want to leave here the lyrics of a song that reminds me of linköping a lot... the gym and Ana, our step lessons... haha good good memories....
it's been played a lot in the Spanish radio :)

It was so easy that night
Shoulda been strong, yeah I lied
Nobody gets me like you do

"Could I keep hold of you then
How could I know what you meant
It was not meant to compare to"

I know everything changes
All the cities and faces
But I know how I feel about you

"There's a mountain between us
But theres one thing I'm sure of
That I know how I feel about you"

Can we bring yesterday back around
'cause I know how I feel about you now
I was dumb I was wrong
I let you down
But I know how I feel about you now

All that it takes, one more chance
Don't let our last kiss be our last
Give me tonight, and I'll show you

I know everything changes,
I don't care where it takes us
'cause I know how I feel about you

Can we bring yesterday back around
'cause I know how I feel about you now
I was dumb I was wrong
I let you down
But I know how I feel about you now

Not a day passed me by, not a day passed me by
When I don't think about you
And there's no moving on, 'cause I know you're the one
And I can't be without you

Can we bring yesterday back around
'cause I know how I feel about you now
I was dumb I was wrong
I let you down
But I know how I feel about you now

Can we bring yesterday back around
'cause I know how I feel about you now
I was dumb I was wrong
I let you down (I let you down)
But I know how I feel about you now

But I know how I feel about you now
Yeah I know how I feel about you now

have a nice Summer! :)

UNBELIEVABLE

2008-06-06T12:03:00.004+02:00

Weather forecast for Madrid for this weekend...

Friday

Jun 6

Sunny

High
23°C
Low
9°C


Precip:		20%

Sunny. High 73F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday

Sunny

High
23°C
Low
8°C


Precip:		10%

details

A mainly sunny sky. High 73F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.

Sunday

Sunny

High
23°C
Low
9°C


Precip:		0%

Sunny. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the upper 40s.

Weather forecast for Linköping this weekend...

Friday

Jun 6

Sunny

High
29°C
Low
12°C


Precip:		0%

Plentiful sunshine. Very warm. High near 85F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday

Mostly Sunny

High
28°C
Low
11°C


Precip:		10%

details

Plentiful sunshine. Very warm. High 83F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.

Sunday

Mostly Sunny

High
31°C
Low
10°C


Precip:		0%

Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 80s and lows in the low 50s.

I don't want to leave!!!!!

Apparently, Alicante will "welcome" me on Monday full of rain.... :(

L'Auberge Suedoise

2008-06-03T12:59:00.003+02:00

Alex, Ana, Anna, Alberto Arnaud Akiko Andrea Amandine Alexandre, Carlos Claudio Diane, Delphine, Emil, Filip, Frank Gemma, Giulio Javi Kappy Lena, Laura Luis , , , Marianne , , , , ,Paolo Paula, Pablo, , , , Paul, Punki Santi, , , , , , , Stefano,Tak,,,,

I didn't mention everybody and it's not in a perfect alphabetical order but at least it's a list of the ppl who have MADE my Erasmus happen... ;)

Enjoying the last days!

2008-06-02T16:46:00.009+02:00

This days we've been having a very Spanish weather here in Linköping, almost 25ºC every day and a very nice sun! It doesn't feel as Sweden at all... moreover, yesterday a group of almost 20 exchange students decided to go to the lake in Motala... and I joined! we were there for almost the whole afternoon (Diane, Patate and I left earlier than the rest): A-E-I-O-U, some swimming despite the coldness of the water (it felt really good after a while!), sunbathing,...

and then coming back to Linköping for a great sushi evening at Aki's! which also included a nice bottle of Spanish wine, mmmm....

Patate has left today so yesterday everybody met in the bbq place for an informal farewell. Then we went to Natal's re-newed corridor and stayed there for a while (after having said good-bye to Miquel too, as he's left today also!). Just chilling, talking a little and realising that at this point of the year it never gets totally dark here in Linköping, not evening at 2am! it seems as if the sun is just about to rise again!

Natal and Momo will also leave tomorrow, this is a week full of farewells.... :S

pd.- Patate I will miss u!!!

Vinter VS Vår

2008-05-26T16:06:00.006+02:00

these are 2 pics which I've taken in 2different times of this year here in Linköping, right near my house (on my way to the laundry actually...)
Two different times but really not so distant in time! the picture from the left was taken in mid-March (just before Giulio left) and the one two the right a couple of weeks ago (I think it was late April, before Ana left!)- weird that I take time into account remembering ppl's farewells...
It's the same group of trees: the one with snow, towards the laundry house- the one with flowers all over the place, coming back from the laundry to my place :)

pd- shit I'm going to miss Sweden....

Good weather is back! (apparently...)

2008-05-26T15:39:00.002+02:00

Yesterday was just the perfect perfect Sunday: morning run through the forest, afternoon lunch-fika in the forest for Paul's bday and pizza night at Anna&Matteo's place! so happy to be enjoying lasts weeks here :)))))) I just don't want to have time to think about leaving Sweden! :S
just for the record, the official countdown has started today: -2weeks to Spain....

pd- I love this pic witih Paul! (from his bday fika yesterday)

Mycket bra...

2008-05-20T13:15:00.004+02:00

Last week was one of the most busy weeks in terms of academical dutties (partying is another issue) ever since I'm here in Linköping!

- deadline for the final paper of Religion and Politics,

- Swedish exam,

- readings to do for Investment valuation,

- readings to be done for Environmental Law and Economics,...

Although it might sound a little stressing (which it was, no partying this week- just farewell bbq for Paolo on Tuesday), the fact that I had some pressure made me react and finally awake me from this long-term rêve I've been experiencing in the last months...

Today I got the home exam for Law and Economics, I'm supposed to hand it in in a week's time so I'd better start this afternoon... I'm terrible with deadlines! For those who find incompatible the words home and exam, yes, I'll be graded on an exam that I'll be doing at home. Strange but not easy! I think that part of the assesment is based on our capacity of argueing... so I really have to make an effort on the shaping of the answers...

Today I also got the feedback from the Religion and Politics: after having struggled to get through the writing of 4000 words (in the beggining it seemed easy) I can happily say that I've passed the course :D but we will get the final mark after the seminar on Monday... I'll be performing as Akiko's opponent and viceversa ;) actually our topics are quite close so we'll both have to work hard on it...

plus plus plus... Summer plans update! I will participate in the AEGEE Summer University in Palermo in August, yupiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii (this is the reason of the post's pic...)

The only thing that I'm missing is a lil more sun!

Cheers!

leyre ;)

Hora de volver

2008-05-12T11:55:00.006+02:00

Last week I bought my flight ticket back home... this will be June 9th. Although there's almost a month left, I'm starting to have the feelings Ana was telling me she had the weeks before she left... a lot of emotions and all very different: having to do some studying for the courses here, knowing that I should also study for the exams I plan to do back home in June, social suntanning meetings, enjoying the corridor lifestyle, not leaving to a side the partying (huge rave coming up on the 21st of May... even if my last exam is on the 7th of June...).
I just hope that it won't be too hard- although many important ppl already left which I thought it would make the leaving much more easy it doesn't look like it's going to be as planned...

pic: from left to right, Gemma, Laura, Siri and me Plata night before my bday

my flip-flops suntanning (Ryds Allé = VIP solarium)

SO TANNEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD :))))))))))))))))

...a bucket of sunshine...

2008-05-06T12:31:00.011+02:00

this is the 1st post I'm writing as a 23 year-old: I must say that for the 1st time in my life, I haven't enjoyed getting one year older... 23 is not a nice number! but anyway... can fight time going by...

a couple of days after having arrived from Oslo (I think it was around the 25th of April) I finally decided to plant some seeds Mr. G had brought me from Amsterdam. No there were not marijuana u cheeky ones but SUNFLOWERS!
ever since that day I've been taking pictures of how they're growing...

I don't know if by the time I have to go back to Spain (I still haven't bought the ticket but I guess it'll be around the 8th of June...) I will have seen the flowers! right now there a quite a few little green leaves, they are quite crowded so I might have to change them from their initial yellow (and very cute) bucket. but we'll see :P here are some pics of how they're growing! ;)

left pic: Sunshine bucket and Paula's "zumbona grows her hair"

right pic: Sunshine bucket and some necklaces

Updating for Palank

2008-04-29T10:58:00.006+02:00

after not having posted anything for quite a while (more than a month!) I finally managed to make some time to update the blog...

this last month has been really intense:

farewell to Giulio and Andrea
10 days in Spain
Sea Battle to Tallinn- where we almost missed the boat back to Sweden!
long w/e in the sunny and sophisticated Oslo
farewell to Ana

This last week has been one of the most intense ones concerning emotions... although we were all certainly aware of Ana's departure, it was impossible to keep our tears at the bus stop...
we will meet soon that's for sure but it'll never be as magical as it's been here...

Ana is a big fan of Dorian... I 1st heard a song from them on Sunday...

"ver que ya no piensas en mi,
que ya no crees en la gnt,

que tomas pastillas rosas,
y te has vuelto muy lista...
y sueñas con no soñar...
entraría en tu luz
con una canción sencilla,
3notas y 1bandera
tan blanca como el corazón,
que late en tu cuerpo de niña...
estaría tan lejos de ti,
que ya no recuerdo el momento
en que te dije por última vez,
que el cielo se estará abriendo,
y se abre bajo tus pies,
y quiero que vengas conmigo
A CUALQUIER OTRA PARTE, A CUALQUIER OTRA PARTE, A CUALQUIER OTRA PARTE,...

Thx Ana for having made This so much more special!!!

Un besazo enormeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The Erasmus Myth

2008-03-19T14:24:00.001+01:00

p.s.- se admiten comentarios...

"Arguiñaning" or how I learnt to cook

2008-03-16T15:53:00.009+01:00

One of my biggest fears before I came to Linköping was the fact that I didn't know how to cook... ok, everybody can handle the challenge of some pasta+already done sauce or defreezeing some vegetables...

I have to admit that I am really impressed by my improvements ever since August!
after that TERRIBLE "tortilla de patatas" I made in September for my corrifor mates, I have been making noticeable progress! Croquetas, escalibada, apple "crumble", cookies, beans+veggies,... and even moussaka (although it wasn't as good as we expected...)

I've been trying recipes from Youtube (at one point I only watched Nonna Stella's cooking until I discovered she only had 23 chapters...), reading quite a lot about cooking techniques and surprinsingly not calling home to ask my parents (my father is the greatest cook ever!) although I've always had in mind their "cooking style" ;)

On the other hand, I haven't tried any Swedish traditional cooking at all... kötbullar, potatisen sallad, that creamy thing they put over toasts, kanellbullar,... simply not for me. Too much artificial tastes in it (they love everything with ketchup, a lot of curry and other similar spices...). But I have to admit Paula's salmon toasts from our last international dinner were really nice!

This week many ppl will be away so not many dinners expected at the cooking school-restaurant "Parmigiano Reggiano Corridor" where I've spend most of my evenings enjoying and learning from my friends but at least for tonight, fika at Andrea's.
I'm thinking about baking the hipercaloric cookies... just in case anybody wants to try, I'll post the recipe:

HIPERCALORIC COOKIES (with dried cranberries or chocolate chips)

Ingredients
175 gr of flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
125 gr of butter
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of dark sugar
1 egg
3 spoons of peanut butter
1/2 cup of dried cranberries or chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 150ºC.

In a bowl, mix the flour with the baking soda and the salt.

Mix the butter with the two kinds of suger, add the egg and the peanut butter and then, little by little the flour. Finally, add the cranberries/ chocolate chips.
Place clumps of cookie dough onto cookie sheets. Do not crowd cookies. Leave space for them to spread out a little and not touch.Bake for about 14 minutes.

Cool cookie sheets. Separate the cookies from the cookie sheets with a spatula or pancake turner before they cool completely.

Enjoy the aproximate 500 kcal per cookie... :P

Another rainy day in Linköping

2008-03-14T15:57:00.004+01:00

Despite the lovely sun which woke us up this morning, another cloudy afternoon... and it looks as if it's going to be like this for a while...

ps.- "don't look back into the sun, now u know the time is come and they said it would never come for u, oh-oh-oh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

...

2008-03-07T02:43:00.001+01:00

¿oyes el viento?...

9-M and others

2008-03-06T00:18:00.007+01:00

I should have tittled this post "Spain still goes on" but I didn't want to make the blog look like a review about the different EU countries since in my last post I talked about Italy...
but nevertheless, this post will go over the highlights of the current situation of Spain. Even if I am here, I like to be updated about what's going on in Spain.

Firstly, the elections coming up this Sunday. I have to say that I am very angry with the Spanish embassy in Stockholm for not having sent me the papers which would allow me to vote even if I am in Sweden. Unanswered calls, no reply to my e-mails,... anyway. I am quite aware that it is important to vote, specially at decisive moments like this. The one good thing that has happened during this electoral period has been the fact that the candidates from the two major parties (PP- conservatives, PSOE- socialists) have finally accepted to participate in a public debate. Actually there have been two. I was able to watch them the day after in youtube and in the websites of Spanish newspapers. (Please take a look at the video in the Youtube link) Aparent conclusions from these debates: the socialists have a stronger candidate and they are, according to polls, said to be the most voted party next Sunday.

My personal opinion according to what I've seen... I am not going to analyse the concrete arguments of either Zapatero (socialists) or Rajoy (conservatives) but what I am going to point out is the attitude of both them during the debate: it is certainly not acceptable to giggle about certain aspects or to just come back over and over to the same arguments whenever they do not belong to the discussion. The conservatives will still be unable to reach the government as long as they keep with this candidate and with their political untolerant attitude...

The best thing about these debates on TV has been that they have proved that Spanish people are interested politics (still!): over 12million people watched the debates. I must admit I feel proud about this, we DO care about what politicians do! :)

More things... well, what actually pushed me to write this post was the finding of this extract from my favourite radio programme, "La Ventana", presented by Gemma Nierga. The interview is about an investigation called "In the mind of the torturing" which has ended as a documentary/book. Baltasar Garzón, a well-knowned Spanish judge responsible for trials about terrorism and international genocide (specially about the Argentinian dictartorship), and Vicente Romero have condutec it. In this link you will get to the interview... It's really shocking to think about their inner feelings during this investigations as they dealed both with those who were torturing and those who were tortured...
The question which has arised to me after hearing about the investigation process is: up to where should the legitimacy of foreign countries and what's more international organisms to take to trial those who are acused of having commited crimes in their home States?
The case that I am concretely thinking about is the jugding of the Argentinian militars by Spanish courts... the trial for these crimes started earlier in Spain than in Argentina due to the inmunity laws that were aproved after the dictatorship...

what about Italy?

2008-03-01T14:18:00.004+01:00

that's the question I've been trying to answer to myself.
I first visited Italy in August 2003, I think moved by the faxt of having met my good friend Niccolò in Nice the previous Summer. I was in vacation (+ Italian language course) in Florence for the whole month. Despite the unbearable heat, Uljana, the views from Forte Belvedere, living in the same street as "Davide" from Michellangelo (yes, I lived on the same strees in which Galleria dall'Academia is), the Duomo and the Gellateria close the Galleria dall'Academia made me enjoy one of my best lifetime experiences :))))
after that I kept Italy forever in my mind (and my heart) but never had the chance of going back until last April [about the IW Milano 2007... certainly couldn't define those wonderful 7 days but say that they certainly helpd me to broaden my view about life (thx Luigi, Riccardo, Andrea and Ale)].
In the meanwhile, I got to know Italian cinema, not only the classics but also the "teenager" latest films: Manuale d'Amore, L'ultimo bacio,... I have to confess: I like them! even if I'm not the kind of falling-in-love-everyday girl, from time to time you need to see this kind of sugar coat movies :P
I just love to see how much love means to Italians, no need to hide it! I love this scene from "che ne sarà di noi" (right now downloading). Maybe we should take notice of Italian girls... :P

coming back to the question... I really don't know what's inside that makes me always come to Italy... maybe I was Italian in another life? At the moment I certainly am, I am part of the Parmigiana Reggiana Family :D

Future Plans: Alghero with the girls!

Sex And The City

2008-02-17T21:05:00.008+01:00

This post is dedicated to the best TV show ever: SEX AND THE CITY.

Ever since I got to know the show Sex And The City (don't remember when it was exactly) I became addicted to it. I remember those afternoons with Jose and Diana when I just couldn't stop referring to the show! hahaha (thx for standing me guys). To those who may not know about the show (if the possibility still exists), u might just get a lil puzzled about it because of its title, "does it only refer to sex?".

Well the answer is NO. It's not about a group of 4 desperate-horny-single women in their 30's who live in NYC. To me it's about the glam life, being a gorgeous single and the importance of having your friends close to you. The most outstanding thing from the show: "sex from a female's point of view and turn it into a weekly event" ( Chris North who plays Mr. Big in the show).

I really like how Michael Patrick King (one of the show's producers) defines SATC:

"ppl find it's only about sex or it's just about fashion and it's slowly over the years ppl start to see it's really about love and relationships and sex and basically the battlefield of trying to be in love, whether to be with another person or be with yourself"

Despite it ended a couple of years ago, I can't help it watching chapters over and over again. They still make me laugh like the first time! or even better, now I watch them from a different perspective ;) Although I do not agree or like the main character's attitude (Carrie Bradshaw, even if the Brainfall Quiz test result told me I was a "Carrie Bradshaw), I just LOVE LOVE LOVEEEEEEEE the show! Recently I found 4 vids on Youtube.com about the farewell of the show so I decided to post them here to have them at a "click" distance whenever I want to watch them ;)

Wednesday 27th February... I'm editing this post, way too long! just leaving my fav' vid... enjoy!

From Beauvais with love

2008-02-15T11:38:00.007+01:00

hej hej everyone around... it's been quite a long time ever since I last wrote the latest blog post here...

the last 15 days I have been studying "seriously" for my exams back in Spain. By seriously I mean not partying 4 times a week here in Linköping but whenever everybody went to HG, Plata, etc I went home in order to be rested for the next studying day... So that has been my routine here the last 2-3 weeks.

I flew to Madrid last Saturday from Skavsta to Beauvais and then to Madrid. The price of the ticket and the nearness of Skavsta (only 1h30) by direct bus from Linköping were the reasons to choose this route but know I have "sufferer" the "auto-transfer" experience I am seriously questioning the posibility of repeating it... On my way to Madrid I would have to wait in Beauvais 6 hours but that was something I was already prepared for so it was boring boring booooooooooring but at least I knew about. But coming back to Sweden has been an exhausting travel! After having slept for 4 hours in the last 48h in Madrid (an exam, meeting friends, going out for dinner) I was really looking foward to sleep on the planes (Madrid- Beauvais, Beauvais-Skavsta) and getting early in the afternoon to Linköping and then sleep for the rest of the afternoon to be ready for the Plata reentré night (also known as the Long Island Iced tea night). I landed in Beauvais on time (8am) but the flight to Skavsta at 9.30 am as well as all of the flights departuring from Beauvais were cancelled because of the densed fog. We were told we would be rearrenged in the flight at 12.30pm but that flight didn't take place either... I was terribly tired, unable to find a place where to take a nap, having to carry around my hand luggage which was now incredibly heavy due to the 4bottles (2gin, 1tequila,1rum) I had just bought in the dutty-free...

I had already tested all of the creams, stared at all of the Paris souvenirs, gone to the toilet, read magasins,... Beauvais is too small for more than 2h!!!!!! and more over, the boarding hall is toooooooo small to hold all of the passangers from 5 cancelled flights (Pisa, Rome, Oslo, Varsovia, Skavsta)... and still more ppl coming in! :S

They finally decided to "evacuate" the boarding hall and we were all in the checking area which is still too small for the amount of ppl we were... I finally got a new boarding pass for the flight to Skavsta which was departuring at 3.30pm... that means a delay of 6h!!!! I managed to sleep during the second period in the boarding hall and then again on the flight...
but the best was still to come: we arrived at Skavsta at 5.40pm whenever the shuttle to Linköping had left 10min ago, W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L having to wait 2h for the bus to come was just what I needed...

the best part of the day: having lovely friends who cook and are capable of saving a warm dish for you whenever you're hungry, too tired to prepare anything to cook :)))) and the best, the comforting chat u have after a couple of days away, I LOVE PARMIGIANO REGGIANO CORRIDOR!

ps.- please don't leave...

Routinary day in Linköping

2008-02-01T11:30:00.001+01:00

"early" in the morning: wake up in my lovely bedroom

further in the "early" morning: relaxed breakfast in the kitchen where I'll probably chat with at least one of my very sociable corridor-mates

after the breakfast: check e-mail and Spanish newspapers

once the e-mail has been checked: going to the University's library...

I'll be back home at around 7pm or so!

Have a nice day!

Leyre ;)

Luck is a chance happening, or that which happens beyond a person's control. Luck can be good or bad.

Why to be back in Linköping?

2008-01-27T15:25:00.000+01:00

You wake up on a Sunday morning and you see a lovely sunny day and snow all around... :))))

while queueing for the Lapland trip...

2008-01-21T04:32:00.001+01:00

¿Oye, cuál es tu concepción de la vida?

Pienso que cada uno de nosotros tiene muchas cosas dentro y que, entonces, la vida sirve para hacer salir todas estas cosas fuera. Lo que quiero decir que al final de mi vida seré feliz si todo lo que tenía en mí he podido hacerlo crecer y vivir. Luego pienso que estaremos muertos durante bastantes años, así que me parece importante aprovechar la vida a tope, disfrutando de todas las cosas bonitas que nos ofrece.

From the book "Las Voces del Deseo"...

What is ur own conception about life?

I'm writing this while Giulio is sleeping, Laura just gave up with her intent of falling asleep, the Aussies are beign quite noisy and the Spanish crew is just on the other side of the hall being very quiet... ;)

ps.- still 7h30 till the ticket selling starts... will we be able to see the Northen Lights once we're there?

Happy New Year to you too Linkoping!

2008-01-15T00:31:00.000+01:00

I'm back for the next 5 months!

HAPPY 2008!

2008-01-10T12:43:00.000+01:00

back in Madrid (wonderful & sunny!!), back home, back with my family, with my friends,...
It's been a lovely time here, very very relaxing (although I don't really understand this feeling cause I suffer no stress at all in Linköping... :P ) and very helpful to see my Swedish experience from another point of view :D I'm happy here but willing to go back to Linköping, a place that feels like home too! checking some photos from August b4 I left to Sweden I found some really nice ones with Conchi ;) having a lot of fun in Madrid... I specially like this one, so much time passed! I left Madrid on the 13th of August... now leaving again on the 11th of January! Am I excited about it? Well yes indeed! :)))))

btw.- just found out that Pablo (Alcalá) and I will be taking the same flight to Göteborg!

I love Parmigiano Reggiano Corridor!

2007-12-20T11:46:00.001+01:00

Everybody is going back home for Xmas... for some it's also the end of their exchange here: David, Pascal, Fabi, Mike,... It's been a wonderful semester I must say, thanx ORI for the mistake during the asigning procedure :P For my closest friends, most of us will be coming back after Xmas so tragedy is still to come... although Ali has been deeply missed ever since she left early December :( Anyway... our Parmigiano Reggiano Corridor (wonderful lasagne, amazing arrosto, delicious risotto and those "Family" Sunday lunches) would have never had existed if it wasn't for you....

Now we know where bullshit city lies on the Worldwide map,

now we now who Kings of Party (should I say farting??) are,

now we understand most of the things we had never understood (before we had listened to ur coherent explanations...),

now we know the meaning of "eres más puta que las gallinas [thx Alex!] (porque aprendieron a nadar para fol..... a los patos...)",

now we know that our Erasmus without u would had NEVER been the same ;)

GRACIAS POR TODOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GIULIOOOOOOOOOO!!

p.s.- ((((pero qué feo que eres!!!! """noooooooo, soy muy bonitooooooooooooo!!!"""))))

this is coming to an end---- THX TO ALL!!

2007-12-17T16:24:00.001+01:00

it's all about bullars...

2007-12-14T14:10:00.000+01:00

Kötbullar, kanelbullar, luciabullar,... here in Sweden it seems as if everything has to do with "buns, cakes, rolls" or at least that's how the Svenska-Engelska online dictionary translates it...
I remember my first supermarket experience back in August- kötbullar all over the place! I already knew from our GREAT IW's about this meatball-smashed potatoes-"marmalade" dish but I just couldn't imagine it was really that popular. Really shocking... This is the pic I took with my cellphone on that day, I had to! :P

Then came kanelbullars... look tasty, smell nice though in my opinion they turn out to be not that nice- the texture of the pastry, the amount of cinnamon... certainly not for me! for those who'd like to try, here u r: the original Swedish recipe in Swedish...

And now luciabullars... haven't tasted them yet and I don't think I will have the opportunity as traditions here in Sweden are strictly respected and Santa Lucia is over :( They look like "little tits" (they really do!) and surprisingly! they aren't made with cinnamon! hehe This is how they look like...
In Sweden, Santa Lucia is one of the big events: according to what I have read, Santa Lucia was said to be the first wife of Adan but she had some kind of special thing going on with the devil... Anyway, in the old calendar, Santa Lucia's day the 13th of December was the one with the longest night of the year. The tradition also says that day u have to take a plentiful breakfast :)
More about the Santa Lucia Festen: girls dress up in a white dress, boys as stars and everybody sings songs dedicated to this special event and, of course, get drunk! otherwise it wouldn't be Sweden :P
Lovely Sweden, cute tradition,... I didn't miss the stupid karaballen ( I never wan to go to one of those ever again) but I did miss this... s***!!

Laurita and the MiniMeal...

2007-12-09T16:40:00.000+01:00

Today I had my first almost "cocido" soup ;) Spanish will probably agree that whenever it's cold outside, there's nothing better than having a warm home made cocido! To prepare a proper cocido takes way more time than I did but at least I had something which resembled to what my father usually cooks back home... Anyway, I had invited Laura to enjoy lunch with me but she finally couldn't come cause she's too into her studies :P but I will forgive her... This post is dedicated to her, for the lovely time we spent together during our trip last week and because of being a true friend ;) but when speaking about laura u just CAN'T miss talking about her passion! MINIMEAL! This yoghurt+cereal thing drives Laura crazy, I think it can only be found in Sweden and Finland so Laura will be taking a truck full of minimeals to Germany for Xmas!! :P

But the thing is that she probably said no to my cocido soup and had a minimeallllllllllllllllllll
Te quiero mucho Laurita ;)

Se acerca la Navidad!

2007-12-08T17:17:00.000+01:00

I know... my frequency of updates is soooooooo terrible!!!! In my defense I can just say I've had a lot to do in the last month and PLUS! I haven't been in Linköping that much! Making a brief review this is how my last month went along...
from the 1st-6th November my parents visited me :) 4 days here in Linköping and then the MUST in Sweden: visiting beautiful Stockholm (my third time there btw...)
On the 9th we had the first big snow, so exciting!

Laura turned 21 on the next day... we had a wonderful party with special guests: her mother and her sister. A couple of Spanish omelettes and two delicious quiches as starters and then...
risotto!!! yummmmmmmmmyyyyyy!!! :D

Just 2days after, that's on the 9th, we departured to... Russiaaaaaaaaa!! a 9-day- road trip which lead us to Moscow droping by in Helsinki and St. Petesburg, amazing!

Without even time to go back to lessons, Tyler came over for a long w/e ;) by chance it was the same w/e as Kings of Party (Italy). We spent altoghether a couple of days here- incredible dinner at Stefano's!- and then to Stockholm once again ;)

On the 27th I had the exam of my last full-time course (Entrepreneurship and new Business development) but without any hope to pass it of course... but miracles sometimes exist and I did pass it! :) (just got to know 2days ago)...

Time goes by very quickly and farewells already started... the first to leave were Alice and Paolo. As we were going to Bratislava-Prague and Vienna for a 6-day-trip we decided to make the big party on the 28th... Strange feelings that night I must say...
(Stephanie Good also left pretty early, only two days ago- back in the US!)

So now... coming closer to today... our trip to Eastern Europe! Erasmus religion ihas very much to do with travelling around all of the countries that are close your host country but with Ryanair everything seems to be so close! & so cheap! :D Nobody said a trip with 9 ppl would be easy but it was nice to travel around (specially b/c of u Lauri) and discover new cities! The experience of taking a night train of 5h30 between Bratislava and Prague: highly advisable specially if ur suitcase is full of still not dryed clothes from last nights laundry! :P

Prague: amazingly beautiful- we had a wonderful bright sun the two days we spent there so we were able to enjoy all of the beauty of the city (and it's beer!). Don't miss the restaurant-pub "Il Provaznice" if u ever go...
Vienna: full of Xmas markets, we only missed the snow. I've never had so much warm wine in my life (Punsch!)
Bratislava: Small but nevertheless charming- mandatory visit to the Slovak pub! delicious pirogis!

Now back home... all the snow melt away... soon ppl who will not be here on the 2nd semester will have their farewell parties... can't imagine how this will be like without some of them in January... :S

TONIGHT! LUCIAKRABALLEN! said to be the best one though I've never been a great fan of them... looking foward to a good party!

Fields of Gold

2007-10-30T17:41:00.000+01:00

Hej hej!
back from Poland, whenever you hear the word Sea Battle believe they mean there will be a battle... I'll be posting some pics when I get them ;)
just posting the vid of Michele Kwan's exhibition performance in 2003, it made me fall in love with this song: Fields of Gold

Andreilla que te como la orejilla and Paul

2007-10-25T10:52:00.001+02:00

In this video appear Andrea (Italy) and Paul (France). They are two of my very special friends here... We had a terrible fright with Paul's accident in Goteborg but now it's obvious that he's recovering perfectly (we're going to Poland Paul!!!!!!)
I'm uploading our private foam party... hehe Everybody went to Platª except for us three, Ali and Lena and this is what we got :P despite it has no sound, I believe it is a very cute vid... enjoy!!
leyre from the library... I have my Project Management exam on Saturday...

CiAO GUAPO!!!!

2007-10-23T13:36:00.000+02:00

Saturday held one of the biggest parties ever in Linköping: Luca Dotti's Farewell party, most commonly known as "Last Party (here)". We had so much fun!
I must admit that despite not having been a close friend here, the goodbye to Luca was very moving... he certainly embodies the true Erasmus in all senses. Sweden and Linköping will deeply miss him, we will miss u too!
Ciao Guapo! and for sure we will be visiting u in Modena ;)
btw... today we had the first frost of the year, everything was covered by a light ice layer this morning although right now he have a wonderful sunshine and almost 8ºC ;)

ciaoooooooooooooooooooooooooo

cazzo! qué frío!!!

2007-10-20T18:06:00.000+02:00

Today we went downtown (Lena, Laurita, Giulio and me) to buy somethings for Luca's farewell party (if u want to join, u'r still on time and very welcomed! 3rd floor above Flamman tonight). I visited System Bolaget for the first time despite having been here for more than two months... For foreigners: in Sweden, normal supermarkets aren't allowed to sell alcoholic drinks so if you want some, even if it's just some wine of normal beer (over 3.2º...?¿?¿?¿) you must go to System Bolaget. I don't really know how many of them there are here in Linköping but we've been in the one next to the White Church (I still don't know the name!!). Some Cava and some wine, for tonight's dinner at as a gift for Luca.
Btw, the town looked really nice today: all of the shops were opened, there were many ppl in the streets, it was a very sunny day but... it was amazingly cold! right now we're just over 6ºC but it feels pretty cold... In order to make my room seem warmer I decided to change my desktop photo from the one of the Absolut Icebar in Stockholm to the lovely landscape of Tuscany... I love this pic sooooooooo much!!!

bumping into Happiness...

2007-10-18T22:54:00.000+02:00

Today while reading the blog of an old friend I met some lovely lines about "la felicidad", which is actually the same as happiness, but in Spanish sounds so much nicer ;) After having read it, I couldn't help it looking up in wikipedia.com (it's becoming one of my daily tools here) the definition of "felicidad"... situación involuntaria en la que los factores internos y externos interactuan activando el sistema límbico (does anybody know what this means?), que estimulado adecuadamente, informará de este estado anímico. I found this too technical so I kept on searching. I didn't actually find the definition but something rather more interesting: Satisfaction with Life Index: the average self-reported happiness in different nations, using direct measures of happiness as an alternative to traditional measures of policy success. Surprinsingly (or maybe not so surprinsingly) Sweden is amongst the list of the most "happy" countries in the World...

from the most happy to the less happy: green>blue>purple>orange>red

I'm finishing this brief thought about "la felicidad" with an interesting sentence from Henry Van Dyke: "La felicidad es interior, no exterior; por lo tanto, no depende de lo que tenemos, sino de lo que somos." TOTALLY AGREE. Happiness is born in our minds...

What makes me happy right now? To think about sunny lovely weather, just as the one we're having here this week despite the low temperatures (2.3ºC right now in Ryd, 23.44)...

Looking foward to tomorrow,

Have a good night ;)

de la polenta to panna cotta y from pastone erasmus al pastone erasmus vegetariano...

2007-10-14T20:37:00.000+02:00

partying, partying, partying... but also a lot of work! I am currently taking two courses: Project Management which is full-time and Linear Statistical Models. I must say I am quite happy with my work groups, on one side Thai, Derya and Bastien, and on the other Bilal. Keep it up pals!
Yesterday we (Laurita, Lena, Steffi and Ali) visited Uppsala for the day though we actually only spent 5 hours there... Sigtuna will have to wait for a future trip!
Days are getting not gradually but actually quite fast colder and colder as well as shorter... it's totally dark by 7pm.... Välkommen till Sverige!

Notes: Planned trips coming up soon...
1/ Poland: 28th-30th October
2/ Russia: 12th-21st November
3/ Bratislava-Prague-Vienna: 29th Novermber- 4th December

Football match (clasificatoria para Eurocopa): SPAIN vs SVERIGE 17th October!

Courses, exams, preparting and partying!

2007-09-26T11:02:00.000+02:00

Last night, of course, HG... ended in Nacho's corridor in a kind of after party (?¿) thought I'd lost my cell phone but I was finally at Mike's corridor, SOOOOOOOOO HAPPY TO HAVE FOUND IT! Laura and I are planing to visit Uppsala on Saturday, maybe visiting Gavle too but we still have to decide...
I'm posting a photo from Giulio's bday on Friday evening (auguri caro!), enjoy!

UPDATING!

2007-09-23T18:29:00.000+02:00

After not having writen anything at all ever since I got here, I have finally decided to make a new post.. It's not that I've been lazy but I've had soooooooooooo many things to do! From now onwards, I'll try to post a photo every 3-4 days and tell how things are going here... Promise!
Right now... well today we've had a really sunny day! the weather here has been like a cold February in Madrid so I can say that I haven't had any Summertime this year... Swedes say it's been the worst Summer in the past 50 years so I guess the Winter that's coming will be just as bad... but anyway, it's also part of the experience!
Yesterday I had my first exam here... not my best I must tell, not great expectations about it... but at least it's done! Tomorrow I'll be starting my next course, promise to work harder from the begining for this one! ;)

Hej Linköping!

2007-08-15T03:30:00.001+02:00

Right now I’m in my own room J Ryd Allé 15.115. For those of you who have heard they call the Ryd Allé “Beverly Ryd”, I must say there’s not much difference between my room and Ivan’s ( a Spanish guy I met at the airport in Copenhagen, actually, he found me and he’s helping me a lot! Cause he knows all the stuff we have to here the 1st days… and plus! Last night I slept in the sofa of his corridor cause when we arrived here in Linköping at 21h55 the renting company office was already closed… so, thx Iván!). He lives in Rydsvaggen, 2 minutes away from where I live.
Btw, I didn’t get my suitcase L I hope they lost it in Copenhagen, otherwise I think it’s going to take a while to get here to Linköping…
My room, well… it’s on the ground floor so that means less intimacy, that means much less: from my window I can even touch the bikes which are parked outside my building! Anyway… we’ve been doing some academical stuff such as getting our coordinators here to sign our arrival, paying the student fee (240kr ≈ 25€),… Today we’re having lovely weather! It’s approximately 25ºC and veeeeeeeeeeery sunny. Whenever Ivan comes, we’re going to set up the Internet connection and we’ll be going to the centre of town to buy a bike and some clothes for me, he loss of my suitcase is the perfect excuse to go shopping J

Hasta pronto Madrid...

2007-08-15T03:28:00.000+02:00

Right now I’m on my flight, destination Copenhagen J The time is 3:55pm and the temperature in Madrid was 20ºC J I’ll be posting this whenever I get to Linköping. Leaving Madrid wasn’t actually too sad, I mean I didn’t cry I guess it’s because I know I’ll be back in September to take a couple of exams and plus, my cousins have their tickets already booked for the 13th of September, even before I come back for my exams. Closing the suitcase was a total odyssey basically because of the fear of the overweight fee :S In the end I managed to have a suitcase of only 26 kg but I’m also taking a very heavy hand luggage despite last night I took many things from the big suitcase… I hope it will arrive to Linköping at the same time as me! It seems as if most of the ppl on the flight are Scandinavian, well they certainly are, they’re more tanned than I am!!!!!!! This is REALLY depressing… anyway, can’t wait to get to Linköping! I’ll watch the movie they’re playing right now, didn’t get to hear the title :P
Good bye Madrid!
Ps.- I hope that nice Miguel Adrian, one of the Mexicans who’s already in Linköping will have got my key from the Studentbostader office, otherwise I hope some nice student will lend me their sofa to sleep on it tonight… fingers crossed!

It’s now 6:20 pm, just about to reach Copenhagen! We’re 1946km away from Madrid and the temperature outside the plane is -36ºC!! That’s the temperature expected in Linköping in Winter-time… :S Now I’ll have to board for the flight to Linköping (at 8:20pm) from Copenhagen… I hope I won’t get lost in the airport… I’ll be writing again on the final flight! :D

Arrival to Copenhagen: 18h55, 20ºC… I’ll be boarding to Linköping in about an hour and a half, at 20h25 J I think I’m going to eat the lovely Spanish ham chapatti my mother prepared for me and then just wait at the boarding gate. Btw! Nice airport the one here in Copenhagen!

Mi casa en Linköping

2007-08-08T16:52:00.000+02:00

In Sweden, the most common thing for University students is to live in corridor rooms. In Linköping the biggest reantal company is Studentbostader. If you want to get an accomodation what u should do is apply through their website. Anyway, the procces is more or less easy but despite having been on their list for almost 3 months, I just got their response in mid-July. You can imagine the wiating wasn't precisely calm :S

You can decide in which area of Linköping you want to live. Amongst the exchange students, the most popular area is Ryd. My peer student, Daniel, advice me to take Ryd Allé cause it's just next to Ryd, well it's actually Ryd, but it's the newest part. I finally got Ryd Allé! So I'm actually quite happy about it :)

Here u'll see where I'll be living ( Google Earth): http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=58.409952,15.563207&spn=0.005200,0.015044&t=k&hl=en

The Stereotypes...

2007-08-05T20:46:00.001+02:00

This is not the 1st time I stop to think about stereotypes... Actually, I thought quite a lot about it before going to the IW Milan in April this year cause the topic of the week was "Fight against stereotypes". I guess it's something that always comes up to you whenever meeting foreign ppl, what's the idea they have aboutSpanish ppl? About Sweden... I believe it to be a very cold place, I thought the ppl were cold too but having had the opportunity to meet quite a few Swedes this year (wonderful IW's!), I think the stereotype I had was wrong. At first they can seem closed and distant but give them the chance and u'll see they are very nice ppl :D A fact: in Spain it is said that ALL Swedish girls are hot. True or false?
I've been speaking lately to 3 young nice Swedish guys (who will from now onwards be Mr. X, Mr. Y and Mr. Z) about the Spanish stereotype. I'll base this post on what they said. Hope the conclusions will be positive!
Well, according to Mr. X ( I promised to keep his identity hidden), Spanish ppl are darked haired and loud. Mmm, yes, that's true, we're quite loud, I should say noisy... but how are u supposed to be heared in a crowded bar plus high volume of music if u don't shout?
Mr. Z spoke about the warm character of Spaniards: "u like partying and drinking". Is that positive? The partying definitively,though the drinking not so sure if it's in terms of alcoholism. Anyway, who doesn't enjoy a lovely warm afternoon drinking a couple of beers with some friends or even better, with some tasty sangria? Come on! Nobody could ever resist! But he added somthing else, he believes Spanish ppl to be very friendly. That's nice Mr. Z! Thanks!
Mr. X added some other facts such as the language. He answered "yes" whenever I asked him if Spanish sounded sweet to him. :D Does Swedish sound sweet too?
Mr. Y knows too much about Spain. And more he'll get to know whenever his Erasmus here starts ;) To sum up all of his information, he thinks Spanish girls are nice.
So... I feel they didn't have a negative view on Spanish ppl, hope that all Swedes think the same!

I just found this pic in Google images... will we love Linköping at the end of the semester?

Countdown to Linköping!

2007-08-03T17:13:00.000+02:00

Hola a todos!
Primera entrada en mi blog Erasmus... todavia estoy ultimando los papeles de la universidad, la Carlos III no es muy eficiente que digamos... tengo hasta el día 13 para asegurarme de que todo está bien! Fingers crossed!!