So here I am, still in Sweden, one year later. I'm sitting in our IKEA furnished apartment remembering my first day and trying to figure out when everything became so familiar. It's only natural, I suppose, that this time should be used for reflection.
Last year, I arrived on a warm summer morning, bleary-eyed and travel-stinky. Jochen came to the airport to relieve me of having to worry about public transport from Copenhagen to Lund (which is particularly easy, but you know me and public transport!). Once on the train we started to talk excitedly only to be hushed by other passengers who indicated that we were in the 'silent' section of the train. So after 7 months apart, 30 hours of trains, planes and airports, I wasn't allowed to speak to my boyfriend! This led me to the conclusion that I could sneak in a nap, which was not the same conclusion Jochen came to!
For the first time, I was in Europe, stepping down the cobbled streets of Lund, I looked around much like Alice did in Wonderland. From first glance, I liked what I saw, but then again I didn't want to see anything except the back of my eyelids, which didn't happen til many many hours later. The 'awake' strategy came down to stuffing in some vegemite toast (as if I would leave Australia without it!), unpacking and going to lunch and eating shrimp on bread drowned in mayonnaise and dill. This was not the best dish to try straight off the plane, but I was seizing the moment of trying new things (I'm not sure it lasted too long). We then met up with some of Jochen's friends, he chatted and I fell asleep to the soothing sounds of the World Cup (Soccer for Aussies, Football for the rest of you). Half time came, I stumbled, Jochen carried me back to the apartment and I slept soundly until 4am when the bloody sun came up and streamed through the non-light-resistant blinds. Two days later when my jet-lag really kicked in, we bought black curtains!
As I said, here I am, still in Sweden, one year later. When people tell you that going overseas will be a fantastic life-changing experience, and use my most-hated words "character fucking building", they are right. No matter where you are, you take yourself with you and you keep building. Fortunately, you make friends, then you realise that everyone is doing the same thing, building! We're all in this shit together and I reckon that without friends who become your family away from family, we'd all be stuffed.
If you can dedicate posts then this one is dedicated to Sam, a friend for life who made life in Lund an awesome adventure. For those of you who don't know Sam, don't worry she's not dead, she just moved back to the USA with her man Joaquin to start a new adventure. This brings me to the video you see below. As you know, one of the worst things about moving countries or even houses is the packing so the video below is our going-away present to Sam and Joaquin that doesn't take up any space in their luggage.
I should give you a little bit of background to this short short film. I was inspired to make a stop motion short short film, blissfully unaware of the amount of time and energy it would take. Jochen tried to warn me, but being the stubborn and sometimes optimist that I am, I thought four days would be heaps of time to make my first ever movie. Oh, how he laughed at me! However, nothing puts the pressure on like an immovable deadline. This video is based on true events. Jochen and Joaquin share an office and as Joaquin appropriately phrased it one day, Sam and I are Batman and Robin. As soon as the boys are at work, we are off having adventures. Sam is obviously Batman since she owns a Bat-mobile.
I would like to heartily thank Jochen for being the best techy ever. Thanks for knowing what stop motion is and explaining it to me........after I started when it was too late to start something new. Without him this movie would just be a boring soundless slow slideshow. I'd love to know what you think so please comment. (Don't forget to turn your sound on).
Now, I would like to raise a glass of homebrew in honour of surviving one year in Sweden, making great friends and feeling incredibly lucky......Skål!
