Five days to go!

I can’t believe these are my last five days in Newcastle. It all went incredibly fast and I feel like I wanted to blog more; I should have blogged more. I have so many things to say, so many blog posts drafts started and never finished, so many ideas on what to write. Without wanting to sound cliché, time was, and is, not on my side. My staying here was never boring and I was always occupied with doing something, that being either studying, seeing places, talking with my family and friends, hanging out with my housemate, etc.

 

My exchange here exceeded all my expectations. I will continue to blog about this until I won’t have anything to say. I will go back to all my drafts and write about the places I loved visiting, people I’ve met, things I’ve learned (because I’ve learned a lot especially about myself). I feel like I’ve grown to be more responsible, more tidy, and definitely more confident. Living in a foreign country where you start with no friends and no idea where the train metro is, brings out the best and worst in you. And then you have to choose between being afraid of going out of the house or just go out, ask questions, get responses, make friends, and get going. There is no choice, really. You have to do these things. Personal growth will not give you academic credits but looking at things in the long run, it’s the main thing one can gain from an exchange semester.

Right now I am wrapping up my affairs here. I have one essay to finish and hand in, and one sit-in exam and then it’s all done. Then packing, crying, saying my goodbyes. Then taking my plane to Sweden, doing more crying, this time out of joy (because as great as this was I do miss my home, boyfriend, friends, etc.). I can’t believe Monday I will meet my three best friends who I’ve missed like I’ve lost my limbs. All I’m thinking is if they will find me changed, if they will understand how much this meant for me, if they will still like me. I wonder if this is a common thing that runs through every exchange student’s head before they go back home.

 

My plan for my blog is simple: keep on writing. I want to write about the things that have been great and not so great. I would love it if prospective exchange students would read my blog and find interesting information. I want to write about the things I would have done differently and about the things that I’ve done well. The do’s and don’ts. I’ll try and write relevant advises for anyone considering applying for an exchange semester.

 

I don’t think I will have time to write anything until Friday when I will officially be done with my exams. So I guess this is goodbye, England. You’ve been magnificent. Goodbye Newcastle University. You’ve been one of the most inspirational places I’ve ever stepped in. Goodbye exchange semester. You’ve been one of my best (if not the best) decisions in my student life.  And Sweden: Vi ses snart!

I was in Newcastle for the whole period of the holidays. Best. Decision. Ever. Although I’m starting to feel slightly homesick and there was a small temptation to go home for Christmas, it seemed weird to do that and then have to come back for 2 and a half weeks and then go home again. So instead, my boyfriend came here for two weeks and we had a great time. I got to show him all my favorite places and discovered new ones. We had a great time with my housemate and her boyfriend, who I hope will both come visit us in Sweden soon. It was a half Swedish, half British Christmas, the best of two worlds. Me and my boyfriend cooked Swedish food and had crackers. Oh crackers…I intend to order a box of crackers from the Internet next Christmas. They are basically “things” (for lack of a better word), that two people pull at each end, and when they break the part in the middle remains attached to only one side. Whoever is holding that side, gets to keep the “loot”. There are basically small puzzles, key rings, and small stuff like that. All crackers have a Christmas paper hat you wear at the table and a short joke. My favorite was “ What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back? A stick”. He he he.

My housemate, Laura, and my boyfrend, who is very focused on getting his hands on the cracker’s contents.

We saw Pantomime at the Theatre Royal. It was simply amazing- the most hilarious thing I saw in my life. My whole face was hurting from the laughter. We saw “ Jack and the Beanstalk”. The Royal exceeded my expectations in every way. It’s probably the last play I will see at the Royal Theatre (this year at least) and I have reserved a separate post for this magnificent theatre.   More info on the history of panto here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantomime#United_Kingdom_and_Ireland

My housemate survived food poisoning. The mighty curry got her right on Christmas Eve. But she made it out alive and she is stronger now, if only afraid of curry I suspect.

We all survived the storm that Leo was. Leo is a golden doodle puppy that finds it very difficult to sit still. He constantly played with my housemate’s dogs, jumped, pooped, peed (more like a flood), barked, chewed furniture, and got away with everything because he is so cute. I mean look at him. Just look at him. Awww….

I returned to my favorite place in the whole wide world: Alnwick bookshop. The thought that it will be a long time until I get to go there again makes me really sad… But I have precious memories of that place. I dream to retire in Alnwick and go to the bookshop every day. I really do.

 

We went to the Tynemouth Market, where we meet the talented and passionate people of “ Turn it Up”, who make amazing things out of wood. They told us about their work and the little oak saucer we bought from them (basically the tree had a nail in it a long time ago, around which it kept growing, therefore leaving a dark bluish mark in the wood, beautifully visible now in our little saucer).The saucer is already in Sweden, where me and my boyfriend intend to share its story with everyone who takes a look at it. They were also very nice to want to take a pic with me, which I’m very happy to share. I think my exchange experience can’t get better than this and then I meet these people. A very hard to forget day and people.

Their Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/kjturnitup   If you every have the opportunity to go to the Tynemouth Market please stop by their stand and take a look at their amazing craft.

Now all the fun time is over and I’m trying to get back on track with studying. I have two essay deadlines coming my way on the 16^th and 17^th January. Then I have a sit-in exam on the 23^rd that I am somewhat terrified of, and a last essay on the 23^rd. And then I’m off to Sweden where I will start writing my BA thesis. And missing England. And missing my housemate and her dogs. Well this escalated fast….

Christmaaaaaaaas!

Our Christmas Tree.

December is my favorite month (lots of things happening: Christmas, New Year, my birthday, vacation, etc.) If there is anyone who really gets into the spirit of Christmas, that’s me. This year I decided not to go home to Sweden for the holidays and instead have my first Christmas in England. My boyfriend is flying over on Monday and he will stay until the 5^th January, perfectly timed as I start my classes on the 6^th. We will make a nice Swedish Christmas dinner to enjoy together with my housemate and exchange gifts. We all three have a list of things to do here, like going to see panto at the Royal Theatre ( another first), visiting the Alnwick Castle, and generally making sure to have tons of fun.

My vacation is extra fun as we are taking care of a lovely 4 months puppy called Leo who is the sweetest thing when he is not busy chewing furniture. He is crazy about my housemate’s dogs (who deserve and will soon get a post of their own) and I could just sit and watch them play for hours.

There is no snow yet and I’m not sure how I feel about that. On one hand I would love some nice pretty snow for my pictures, and I’ve always been a fan of a white Christmas. On the other hand it does  messes up traffic and I would like to show my boyfriend all the nice places here.

Besides spending my evenings with my housemate loudly singing carols and keeping up the spirits, I’m also studying hard for my finals. I have 3 essays due in January and one sit in exam that is probably much easier than I imagine it to be. Even so, that is the reason why I haven’t been able to write that much lately (although, to be fair, not much has happened). I have many drafts that are waiting to be polished and published here, many plans for this blog even after I finish my semester here. But, until then, I will occupy myself with cooking and eating yummy food, showing my boyfriend all my favorite places in Newcastle, and spending some lovely time with my friends here.

Happy holidays everyone!

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Grand

Angel of The North scultpure, located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England.

I never entered any challenge on WordPress, but when I saw this week’s theme, Grand, I immediately thought of one of the most magical evening I ever had. Ever. Me and my friend were driving for a dinner (my first Sunday roast for the matter) and we experienced a extraordinary explosion of colors in the sky. On our way we passed the Angel of the North. Which is…Grand. The statue welcomes visitors to the North-East part of England. It’s amazing at any time of the day but that evening that sky made it so dramatic. I love this picture because of all the people at the base that make you really tell how big it is- 20 meter tall and 54 across ( 66ft tall and 177ft across).

If you want to know more about the Angel of the North I am providing a wiki link here, it’s worth reading, as it is one of the most iconic sculptures of the North-East England. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_the_North

Front view.

The Alnwick Garden.

The Bold and the Italic.

Seeing as winter is almost here (we had all sorts of weather lately except good), my mind wonders to all the magic places I’ve been in the last past months. I wanted to write about Alnwick Garden sometime late December when I will visit Alnwick Castle. However, I have much to say about the garden only. Even though I went to see the wonderful Alnwick Garden in November, I think it will be a welcomed post seeing as all there is outside these days is just wind, rain, hail, and other horrible things. So let’s cheer up and hope for a real December with real snow soon!

The Alnwick Garden, together with the majestic Alnwick Castle (Harry Potter anyone?) are situated in the small but lovely market town Alnwick. The Duke of Northumberland lives in the castle together with his family, making this one of the few castles in UK…

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Shhhh! Seminar time…

Quiet Please! (Photo credit: bixentro)

Back at my home university (MAH), my course seminars have always been blessed with fellow students who liked to engage with one another in dialogue. We normally ask the teacher things that we find unclear from previous lectures, practical matters regarding assignments, etc. We don’t always know the topic of the seminar but often we assume it’s that of the current week’s lecture. We sometimes have readings that we must read, as the teacher often refers to them. At Newcastle things are really different. Unfortunately not in a good way.

Here seminars last one hour (as opposed to the two hours norm at MAH), which in my opinion is frustrating. I think two hours is a much better idea since from my own experience it takes everyone 10 minutes to settle in and start discussing the subject. Then another 10-15 minutes that the teacher spends talking about different things. Then someone asks a question or two so there goes another 10 minutes. And then the rest is spend on discussion. One hour is just enough to make people engage in the subject and then kick them out because we are out of time. Meh.

Zen meditation or my Globalization seminar? Could be both. (Photo credit: RelaxingMusic)

However, the duration of the seminars is not my major concern, but the silence. I’m not talking about a relaxing type of silence, but the awkward type, the one you feel it in your bones until all you can think about is how the hell to keep your act together and stop yourself from running out of the room. That is how I feel every seminar at one of my courses. I think my colleagues are one seminar away of achieving a Zen stage of meditation every time the teacher asks if we have comments or questions. Every time there is an opportunity for us to comment on something there is complete silence. You can heard the dust settle. You can hear us breathing. It’s getting weird, OK?

The Quayside Sunday Market: Amazing!

Going to the Quayside Sunday Market was something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. Week after week I would tell myself that I would finally go but deadlines or other spontaneous plans got in between. OK, so it was mostly deadlines. However, this week I managed to pack my camera and go to one of the most fun markets I’ve ever been.

The Quayside Sunday Market is held, as the name suggests, every Sunday along the quay of the river Tyne. It’s not huge, but it has stalls for everyone: food, jewelry, photography, paintings, candles, memorabilia, etc. I am planning to come back to get some presents for my friends in Sweden and maybe pick up some early Christmas gifts. Until then, these are my favorite things at the market:

Haunted Newcastle. And Yes, I Live Here.

The Bold and the Italic.

 One of the unavoidable things I did when I came to Newcastle was to find my way to a good bookshop. Some people would choose to locate the nearest hospital or police station. I need to locate the nearest bookshop. Priorities first, you know…

Once located, I started to slowly make my way through the shelves. I needed an England Lonely Planet guide, a notebook, and an hour or two of undisturbed browsing. And it turned out that the before mentioned hour of browsing had some surprises in store for me (see what I did here? In store? Right? Because I was in a store… OK never mind). Under local literature, other than the local tourist guides and historical books, there was an entire shelf dedicated to paranormal activity around Northumberland. And as you might have guessed, I started to worry. I am ready for whatever this exchange experience has…

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Sunny day at the beach in September? In England? In northern England?? Why not?!

Although I must confess I didn’t get too many days like this one ever since I landed on British soil, my first weekend in Newcastle is still fresh in my memory as ever. I know I should have posted this a while ago (say, in September) but you wouldn’t believe how much you have to do the first month on your exchange and every single drop of free time is fully dedicated to getting some sleep. On my first Sunday here, me and three friends spontaneously decided to take the metro to the coast and see what we heard was the best beach in Newcastle: Tynemouth.

See that sign that says” North Shields”? That’s the wrong way to reach the beach. Now guess what way we went.

After taking a wrong turn and only realizing it when we reached the previous metro station, we made our way back and managed to (correctly) find our way to the beach. It was a beautiful day, very sunny and warm; so, armed with excitement and newly purchased chips (French fries) we took our shoes off and had a nice walk on the beach.

The right way to the beach. Finally.

The view was absolutely breathtaking. We could see Whitley Bay in the distance and we had a seat on our coats, eat our chips, talked about everything, nothing, and all there is in between, took photos, laughed at the people who were brave enough to go in the water (I kid you not), and then decided to go home.

Yes, that is a couple rowing an inflatable boat. And yes, there was a man in a surfing suit walking in front of us in the previous picture. I know you are still thinking at it. Stop it.

We went all the length of the beach to Whitley Bay where we proceeded to get lost (again) in our  attempt to find the metro station. Luckily, I remembered my sim card came with some free internet traffic. I would like to give my thanks (although they will never read this) to Google Maps for not letting four exchange students wonder the streets of Whitley Bay at night in a total wrong direction (although one with a great view).

Quick picture on our way home. The wrong way, that is.

 

Assessments- same, same but different.

Back at MAH (Malmö University), my assessments in two years of university have been divided in essays, sit-in exams, and presentations. Sometimes a portfolio makes an appearance but this has been pretty much it. I’m sure this can be very different depending what people are studying, but I will try and only talk about my experience. At Newcastle, things revolve around the same things: a presentation here, an essay there. However, there are certain differences in how this is executed.
You know…same, but different.

Armstrong building, where I have (some) courses. Yes, I know- amazing!

Yesterday I did my first (and last) presentation at my adoptive university. It was the first time I felt extremely confident about presenting. I’m not the type of person who takes assessments lightly. I don’t have the que sera, sera attitude. As a matter of fact, I get really nervous days before, thinking of all the worst case scenarios that could happen. This paranoia, although annoying to the people around me, helps me in a way. Having all this extremely bad scenarios in my mind, reality never proves to be as bad as I paint it in mind. I always do extensive research, much more than I would need to serve the purpose of a ten minutes PowerPoint presentation, so no question can ever take me by surprise. And they never really do. I’m always super early at school just in case the planets align that day and clog the traffic. And I’m never late. Things like that. But for this presentation I was there only ten minutes early, had a nice chat with the teacher before, started my slides, went through them very naturally, even affording myself the luxury to crack a joke or two on the subject of my presentation. And it went well. So how come? Why did I feel so confident about it? I think it has to do with what happened a day before. The teacher encourages us to come see him in his office and go through our presentation, tell him what we want to do, ask for advice, etc. I did that and I felt extremely confident knowing that I’m not blindly jumping in something like a twenty minutes presentation without knowing if I’m really on the right track. Of course after doing so many presentations back home I knew I was on the right track, but reassurance works wonders. Also, something interesting about the whole thing was the fact that it was an individual presentation (YES!) and not mandatory. Now, this is the different part. In this course, we could do a twenty minutes presentation only if we wanted. If we did it, it would count as 30% of the grade and we would have to write a 3000 words essay as part of the last 70% (due late January). If we decided we don’t want to do the presentation, we would have to write a 4000 words essay that would count as 100% of the grade. It’s debatable which would be the “best deal” but I can tell you that an hour seminar is much livelier with a presentation.

Original KCACO poster at Barter Books Bookshop. Yes, I was there. Yes, I find it fitting to this post.

Another interesting type of assessment that I will go through in December is a so-called individual presentation that is really nothing like it sounds. It is in fact a debate, done within a pre-established group, but graded individually. The teacher gives us three topics. We choose one and end up in a group with the other people in our seminar who also chose that topic. So we have the group. That group can meet as many times as it wants, or be spontaneous (and insane) and just go to the debate the day of the assessment. There, we have twenty minutes to talk about the subject. This can be as staged as we want it to be. We can have meetings before and script it, knowing who speaks when and what, so we don’t create chaos and talk over each other. If we want to talk more than twenty minutes we can have friends in the audience asking the questions we couldn’t fit in our time. Even though this is a group debate, it is graded individually. Even if you don’t say a thing at the debate, the teacher assigns 3 minutes for every students to say his/her own conclusions on the matter at the end so everyone gets to talk. The grade is all about the quality of what you say rather than the quantity. To me it sounds a bit chaotic at the moment, but I’m sure things will clearer with time. Next seminar we will do a mock debate and see how things will go.

The essays are the same everywhere, except the style of the house is Harvard, not MLA. It seems to be much more official though. To submit an essay I need to submit it online and as a physical copy that needs to be stamped by the department secretary before I can drop it in the teacher’s pigeon box. I also get a receipt as proof that I submitted my work.

So far my courses are going really well, I am very pleased with my decisions. Next assessment is on the 7^th November, a case study for the (amazing) Advertisement course. So I guess I should go back to my research now…

Have a nice weekend everyone!