New Year's Eve

Been a while since I updated, again, I know. Been doing a lot and nothing as usual. Couldn't really find time to write something, or I did and then forgot all about it. Shit happens.

As you might know, I've been snowboarding in Sälen for a roughly a week. You might remember me complaining about pain. Well that was nothing compared to the day after that. When you fall on your ass over and over again, craping the icy slopes with your behind, you come to realize what pain is all about. That is the day after and the day after that.

Despites these unconviences, I've been doing quite good in my opinion, without any help and such. The last couple of days I actually managed to go down the slope without falling. Woehoe.

                                                          And I actually went off-piste too.

Well you can't expect to be an all pro in just a week, right?

On the way to our ski paradise I got kinda bored. Bored with trees. Sweden has a lot of trees. Like...very much. More trees then chinese people. And when you've seen trees for over 2 hours, it's enough. Then the following trees become annoying. Combine that with being bored, results in bad jokes. Every time I saw a tree I said 'Hej ett träd.' (Somehow I become an 11 year old in the car) Then I saw trees on a car with paper on it. Treeception. It's not funny. At all. But then it was.

My new year's eve was spent in a pub in Sälen with a friend from my school and his friend whom were there too. Obviously. Prices run high. For example, I saw a beer costed 119 kr. That's like...almost 15 euro with the currency being a bitch. Can you imagine that norwegians actually go to Sweden because the alcohol is cheaper there?

Oh I went to norway too. Sälen is pretty close to norway, and our ski passes were valid there too. To be honest, norway and sweden are pretty much the same from the outside. They speak funny though.

                               (how I found my host family when I came home from new year's eve)

And the danish they produce sound. That is not a language. Seriously. There were a lot of danish peepz in Sälen and I eavesdropped to check if I can understand something. My finding were negative. God, danish is horrible. No offense.

-19 it was in Sälen once. New personal record. Actually saw a snow storm (a tiny one, but still) My toes froze off most of the time, since I forgot to bring my skiing socks.


When I arrived home with my host sister and host grand parents, I realized something else. I forgot my credit card. I'm really getting old.

So to conclude my short message, god nytt år!

Christmas and arriving in Sälen

On stage @Nordstan...

It’s a couple of days before new year’s eve. I am currently in Sälen, a ski resort located in the Swedish alps, close-ish to Norway. We’re here to do some high class skiing/snowboarding/cross country skiing (’langlaufen’). I have snowboarded twice in my life, both indoors, since my father does not like having cold toes(fact). We made one attempt to go skiing in Germany a couple of years ago, which was quite promising the first day, being the slopes being a merry white colour and snow was abundant. We arrived at 7 a.m that day, and went to bed early with excitement and joy just to wake up early to see the snow melted down, changing the slopes in a muddy brown disaster. I kept on raining for 2 weeks. I did not snowboard.

Now however there is snow. It’s shitty snow, yes, but it is snow. Snowboarding on ice is maybe not the best, but at least there is a downwards motion including both a snowboard and a mountain. And perhaps that summarizes my first day. I’m not quite a natural. At the moment I’m lying in my bed, bruises everywhere, sorrow fills my body. I’ve made a lot of face plants, I laughed, I cried (I didn’t, men don’t cry, though sometimes I felt like it), I fell with my snowboard, without my snowboards, I fell on ice, snow, solid ground, a lift. Lots of bruises prove my story. I cannot sit. Well I can, but it’s not really comfortable. Sleeping shall be quite a task too, even though I’m already fighting to keep my eyes open, it will resemble hell, or at least be rather uncomfortable. 

In the mean time I’ve been doing a lot, went out a bit and had some great times with some of my exchange buddies. It’s quite fun to hang around with people from all around the world, and those people are more social and warm. That’s a nice change sometimes, escaping the less social swedes. 

STS seems to have rather special policies, since some of my exchange friends return at home at christmas, and I’m not even allowed to travel more than 20 km from my house without asking permission. One of them, for example, will make a short tour through Europe, with friends. I cannot sleep alone at the house, even though I’m 18 years old. I mean, I can vote…..I can get my driver’s license…I can buy weed in Holland(legal)…I’m considered to be fully adult. But I, I need a babysitter here. 

My ’Jul’ has been good, spending time with my host family’s grandparents of mother’s side once, but did not go to the other side cause I was very tired that day + overslept. That was slightly depressing, spending time alone in an empty house. Luckily they came home soon, and I had some idiot coming over to give me company. Never met an idiot like that before. Good for my spanish though.

Liseberg @christmas (Lapland)

As far as I’ve seen, Sälen is a small village up in the mountains in Sweden. I haven’t seen Sälen . I actually think my daily business will consist of snowboarding and returning home, to do some lovely practice of my swedish. My goal is to be fluent when we return in Mölndal. We shall see. I hope for the best. (but realize that that goal might be a bit too much)[Probably not] {9GAG}

Note: Apparently laptops/gameboys/nintendos are one of the most important things in life. Everyone is always playing a game or doing something with their electronic devices. Society has become truly addicted to this. We can’t spend time with family without these, in my opinion, unnecessary things. But I can’t judge, guess what I’m writing on right now…ironic.

18? Nah that's not the topic. Well maybe a bit. I dunno...now my title is too long..ffs

December always was my favorite month in Holland. Sinterklaas at the 3th, birthday at the 12th, and christmas and new year's eve. And yeah, it's a good month. And a frkn expensive one! I'm broke.

I've reached the age of 18. This means I've received some privileges for example voting(1), being able to buy overpriced low-alcoholic beers in Sweden(2)(FUKYEEEH), being able to buy weed in Holland(3) and getting a drivers license(4).

1.Okay.
2.Can't!
3. I'm in Sweden
4. Can't

How exciting is that?

Besides this lovely event, I can honestly say I'm enjoying my time in Sweden. It's been tough, especially the first months, but now I've settled down here. Adapting to a culture is not an easy thing to do. Trust me. I thought it would be much easier. Waaaay easier. And you wouldn't understand if you did not experience this yourself. And I know that sounds corny. Really corny. Corny things are true.

The more people I meet in Sweden the better Sweden gets. Not only meeting Swedes, but meeting other exchange students is amazing. Imagine walking in the city, somebody asks you something, discovers you are not swedish and asks you where you are from. 'Eh...Well I'm Dutch, he is Chilean, he is Italian, he's German and he's from Hungary...'. 'Okay'. (typical swedish answer)

A couple of days ago we had a 'jullunch' (christmas lunch)at school. That was one of those moments that you realize something. Like in movies. They do that in movies a lot. Or in scrubs. I realized I was part of the class. I wasn't that strange guy from that country next to germany any more. One of the things people told me about Swedes was that they need time to accept strangers, proved to be so true. They needed time, in my view too much, but now, I am. I've learnt to not give up, even though I have been close often, I have not. Queen moment.

So. Christmas is near. I do not really know what we will, my host family and I, and they don't seem to know either. Planning is not a quality given to them. I will go to Sälen for 2 weeks to go skiing with my host family. That's gonna be good. Even though I will probably break all my bones. At least I'll go down kickin'
 

Some Useless Facts & Comments.

Recently I've discovered Kid Cudi. That was better than losing my virginity. This guy is in fact one of the most talented artists I have ever had the pleasure to listening to. Just saying.

Besides this I have been thinking. Or actually, right now I'm forcing myself to think of smart things to say. The thing is that I have a lot to tell and share, but my problem is that I forget that shit. So I will just entertain you with some random stuff I found on the internet.

Did you know that there are a lot of different languages? About 6 to 7 thousand. Actually that is not that much if you consider there are 7 billion people on earth. That amount is too abstract. Imagine the Amsterdam Arena, football stadion for those whom are not Dutch or idiots. Fill this up 135357246 times with people. Oh. That's much.

And in this crowd alone, are probably nice people, bad people, annoying people, good people, shitty people, boring people, interesting people, people, people, people. And how many people will you meet, talk to, hang out with, flirt with, make out with, sit in the tram with, ignore, look at, shake hands with or just laugh at? Now that's a question. I'm just gonna guess you'll meet about less then one stadium, maybe if you try hard 2.

7 billion different personalities, appearances, handshakes. You won't even meet 1% of the people in the world. Somehow that makes one humble. Maybe even sad. I mean, of those 7 billion people, there must be the perfect girl. And don't tell me shit about faith, you'll never meet her. You'll suit yourself with something kinda close to her.

But if you travel, you will probably meet more people than average. Oh wait, let me define 'meet'.




1. (sometimes foll by up or (US) with) to come together (with), either by design or by accident; encounter I met him unexpectedly we met at the station
2. to come into or be in conjunction or contact with (something or each other) the roads meet in the town the sea meets the sky


(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/meet)

Meeting is defined as a coming together, or have some kind of contact. Still a bit vague to my taste. 'Contact?'

1. a. A coming together or touching, as of objects or surfaces. b. The state or condition of touching or of immediate proximity: Litmus paper turns red on contact with an acid. 2. a. Connection or interaction; communication: still in contact with my former employer.

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/contact)

Okay. Got it?

Sure?

Let's roll.

Last check.

Remember what the first definition was?

And the second?

Cool.

As I said one will meet more people when traveling. Unique people that is. Living in one city your entire life will inevitably lead to meeting people more than once, making them useless for this example. Maybe they were really nice, but I don't give a shit. You will effectively enlarge the odds of finding more interesting people, hot girls, nice people, drunk people, stupid people, fat people, stupid/fat people(A.K.A Amer...ns), emo's, nerds, people x^y.

To be continued...

Did you know that in the state of Louisiana (USA), french is one of the official languages? And that there is no official language in the USA? And in some parts of the USA, roadsigns are written in spanish only? Or that the USA has one of the biggest spanish speaking communities, the 5th in the world. The state of Pennsylvania was bilingual, speaking English and Pennsylvanian Dutch until the 50's. This was actually not Dutch, but German. And the state of New York wrote their official documents in Dutch(the real one) until the 20's. The Swedes had a colony in the states, which was taken over by the Dutch. Ha-Ha. Oh, and George Bush probably had Swedish ancestors. Now that's something to be proud of!

To be continued(^2)

It's been a while ago since I updated my blog. Consequently, a lot has happened, but I won't go back in time too much since my memory is limited, and my inspiration to write decreased.

When I started writing this 2 days ago, I had quite a different concept. I'm starting to realize I have some pregnant-women-like mood swings or something, cause my original concept was dark tainted and pessimistic. Somehow there are 2 parts battling inside me, read pessimistic/optimistic, and the last couple of weeks the pessimistic side had taken over control, partly strengthened by several things going on in my life, but strongly enforced by the weather and the hangover-like tiredness that is a inevitably a case of 'glandular fever'. It should've been dealt with a while ago, but sometimes it still kicks in, resulting in waking up at 6.20 a.m, deciding to put the snooze mode on, and waking up at 2 o'clock in the day. Since that leads to having 1,5 hours of sunshine a day, that is not really motivating.

My swedish is, prepare for an understatement, rather creative/pathetic. If everything went according to plan, I would've been speaking swedish all the time, being as fluent as one could be in a different tongue. My expectations were that everything will just work out, putting practically no effort in, and gaining maximum result. This is, obviously, not attainable. One could actually say I'm doing (relatively) bad in mastering swedish. This week will be the kick-off for a new season, a season of swedish speech.

It's hard to apply my swedish in everyday situations. Purchasing items is still being done in English only. And I know I shouldn't. But the thing is that if you address someone in creative swedish, they assume you do not speak english. The swedes love everyone from english speaking countries (no clue why) and I'd prefer to be loved then looked at silly.

I have commenced doing tests and essays at school. As far as I know, I've done okay, not wanting to brag about grades. I have noticed that the swedish schools are not as strict in grading, and there is a lot of space to express your own opinion. That actually seems to be extremely important for the swedish school system. They actually try to raise reasonable and independent people. That's their main focus. For example, your grade is related to you being present often(it's not obligatory to be at school) From that angle, I should've received crappy grades, but I guess they just don't me to feel bad or something.

It's still hard to get accustomed to the swedish culture. Where making friends in Holland was just a matter of being somewhere, you have to earn your spot here. It takes time. I might remember I told you patience isn't one of my strongest points. It's hard to tell what people want, and nobody dares to take the first step. Asking to hang out seems to be a violation of one's privacy. Makes me want to smash my head to random things sometimes.

One of my recent events has been dancing with 80 swedes circling around a fire, singing about a pig and a wolf, honouring some christmas tradition. That was....interesting and fun. First we lit torches and walked a bit through the forest, then had some (fake) glögg and pepparkakor(for the Dutchies, pepernoten maar dan in een hartje gevormd) It actually was fun. These events bind people for just a small period, making them one collective body and mind. According to my host mother, the grown-ups like to do the dancing part even more than the kids, using them as a excuse to act like an idiot. Good stuff.

Last weekend we had a meeting of exchange students living in, or close by, Gothenburg. After some casual fika, we went iceskating and I can honestly say it was fun. It's a strange idea to be with about 40 people, but almost everybody came from a different country. I realized at that time I was doing what I love, meeting people from all around the world. Some things are universal.

My 18th birthday is coming soon, and to be honest, I feared for the worst. Let's just say the celebration is going to be slightly different then in Holland. One could say it will be slightly less wild then in Holland.

Tomorrow I will visit the dentist, and figuring things out with the insurance might become challenging. Though European law is on my side, it's going to be interesting. Let's just hope the dentist speaks english. Oh god.

From now on I will update my blog more often, and try to keep you guys updated/entertained.

That's it for now!

Grass and other green stuff.

It's halloween today, which meant that last weekend the weekend was slightly different than usual. People were obviously dressed up. The rest was the same, Swedes getting drunk, puking their guts out, you know the deal.

Whilst standing in the train, some small kids were looking at me. I guess it had something to do with having a blood trail on my neck and t-shirt. I have to say that I loved the parties. Somehow people are so much funnier when dressed up, in appearance and speech. The last could be blamed on the booze by the way...

I'm beginning to get used to life here. I am becoming swedish. And that terrifies me in a way. Recently I heard a fellow dutch exchange student in the bus(the accent is easy to recognize), and 2 months ago, I would've walked to him, and spoken with him. But now, now I feel that that would be strange.

While listening to swedish music, I realize how difficult swedish actually is. And for me, being Dutch, it should be easy. At least easier. Swedish sounds like singing, and I'm not such a great singer. You get the problem. I can understand some swedish, as long as it's small talk. My accent is grand and vocabulary small.

The question of 'Why the hell are you is Sweden whilst you could be smoking...' is one I heard a lot. I answered a lot. But somehow people don't see what they have. I mean that as in one's country. It's like a trend to not like your country, and want to go to either America,Australia, New Zealand, etc. And I'm doing the same thing, right now. I have never realized how nice we Dutchies are, till I got here. We are open, interested and kind. But there are some negative things as well, I never realized we are aggressive, stupid and unintelligent. I thought Holland is boring, and Sweden interesting. The Swedes find Holland more interesting than Sweden. And now, I finally know why the hell everyone in the world knows Amsterdam, and wants to go there. It is, in fact, quite good. Holland ain't that bad, but it's just different. (it rains more often here, imagine that) Somehow living abroad lives up to it's cheesy expectations, and you actually do learn more about your own culture, yourself, and a new culture of course...

And actually it's the same thing with the rest of your life. Whilst thinking about how other people's grass is greener than yours, you forget how good your life is in fact. We humans are whiners, complaining all the time. People are starving in Africa, and we complain about a bad hair day...One should open his eyes more often, and realize that (one's) life isn't that bad. Seriously, do it.

The Patriot Inside Me

Cycling


How often have I thought of Holland while cycling up the hill. Every time I take the bike to the station, I ride through the lonely darkness of Mölndal. I feel the cold wind of the morning dawn while cruising downhill, see the depressed people waiting for their busses, trams or trains, and smell the night. The nights are long, cold and short (in my case). When I meet up with my bike in the day again, I already feel a bit deprived. That is because I life, of course, on top of a hill. The road is steep, long and trough fully depressing. And that is when I think of Holland and it's flatness.


Flatness


People seem to be shocked when they hear the highest mountain(or preferably hill) in holland is 332,7 meters high. When I mention the number of inhabitants, they stare at me, looking as if I just told them I like Bush(read it with or without capital, what ever suits you). Sweden is 11 times as big as Holland, though there are only 9,x million Swedes. Holland has 16,4 million inhabitants.


3-2


The wounds of losing from the Swedish national football team haven't healed yet. I feel ashamed of MY 'lions'. We were the 2th best team of the world. And we lost against Sweden. I remember sitting on the couch with my orange shirt on, completely confident that Holland would win. We would've humiliated them, played around with them, made fun of them. And, oh, I couldn't have been more wrong. The 3-2 gestures sting me every time. But let's forget about it, shall we?

70-year-olds

A thing that is often related to Holland is drugs. But somehow people think that the Dutch practice the art of smoking marihuana every single day, no matter what age. Like you will find 70 year olds walking down the streets in Amsterdam, left hand strapped tightly on their walker, right hand holding a joint. You won't. Well they are there, but you probably won't find them. Let's just say it's not that common. We're not druggies!

My name is Jelle and I'm an immigrant.

Though it might not be political correct, I am proud of what our tiny country accomplished a couple of centuries ago. And I find myself talking about it. Often. The thing is that I wasn't that proud of those accomplishments before. Somehow it feels comforting to hold on to your culture. And that made me realize something. I am foreign here. Wait, don't get me wrong, I knew that before. But here, I am the odd one, the minority. And that IS something new. I think that everybody should do something that resembles what I am doing right now. Cause it makes some things so clear. In Holland, we love to complain a lot. Especially about immigrants. 'They don't want to be part of the society, they won't learn the language, they form an own society within a society, etc'. But now I completely understand. I know.

Deutsch

People often confuse the fact them I'm from Holland, and therefor speak Dutch. Dutch sounds like 'Deutsch'. So some people think I'm german. And with such a bold statement, the patriot inside me rises. I remember them about Amsterdam, marihuana, the DJs, New York,(we found it!)[and sold it], bicycles, football. And they will never forget, but they will. The queen should be proud with me, defending one's country. Or at least attempting to.