Some old posts

Day 33:

"One month in Sweden"

As it was last week that we came here .. The weeks pass like days, unfortunately, Friday comes, when you say “f##k”! already;!

Totally different way of life, calmer. People here study from Monday through Thursday, but when I say study, I mean it! Many assignments every week (not so in our lessons: P). The city is empty after 7 pm, full wilderness! People are not hanging out, they sit inside and study!.. But when Friday arrives, the city removes the mask of respectability and the party begins! Uninvited all literally, when one ear (ours and others) caught the word “PARTY” that was it. No need to say anything about what to do tonight! The beer in your pocket and go for the party.!

We started to get used here .. And we know that the moment will come, when we should go back to the suffering! For us here is like vacations. Wedon’t have many courses, only 3 until the end of October and then  just one until the end of the semester. We got used to thinking about what to cook tomorrow, go to the supermarket to go to university that are 3-4 lectures a week, to gather for movies…

4 months left and will drink them until the last drop!

Day 35

"European on Loan - TV stars!"

Since nothing escapes from us, we took part in the program called “European on Loan”. Students from different European countries go to Swedish schools (with students 15-17 years old) – cafes – concentrations and discuss issues concerning their country with their daily lives with language and various other .

We were sent into a Cafe in Ronneby (a small town near Karlskrona) and told us just to get down to talk with customers! What normal person, that calmly drinking his coffee, would like to be annoyed by 2 silly students with black shirts that distribute leaflets with fancy words and phrases in Greek??! However, that was our goal and we have done.! We found a group of men, gave them leaflets and explained some things: how to pronounce a few letters and such. They seemed to be interested, talked for a while and then they left! the shop was empty, so we decided to go to another cafe where there was the coordinator of our school. And once we got there …We met the media!! The video is rediculous!!

We were interviewed by a Swedish channel asking us how we spend our week, how important it is to learn foreign languages and if it is easy to learn the Greek language. Strange, but interesting.! We ate for free from an Italian dish of the restaurant and returned home. Everyone who saw us on television and the internet are making fun of us, tv stars and so! Also Jannike! (Erasmus coordinator)

Another activity of this project was students to read a part from the book “The Pipi Longstocking”, each one in his own language. So in the middle of the shopping centre, speakers were set up, and one by one was reading his part. There were languages like German, Greek (of course), Turkish, English, Spanish, Lithuanian and others. While I was reading my own part, Glykeria of course attracted on her the spotlight and answered a few questions to a correspondent for a radio station. The celebrity is overflowing now!
The good thing about this program is that in the end we will receive a Certificate for having participated in it and told us that we can use it in our CV from now on. There is also a possibility, if there are at least 7 people who want to learn Greek, to teach them, me and Glykeria (with reward of course!). But where to find 7 crazy that want to learn Greek!?

Anyway, we’re everywhere!

Day 49

"Ice-Hockey"!

Day 49 in Sweden and the university gave 30 free tickets to watch a match ice-hockey! Of course,we should support the team of Karlskrona. The experience for me was much more beautiful than a soccer match or basketball!

After sending e-mail a few days before, to register for free tickets, we gathered the afternoon of 13/10 out of Telenor Arena Karlskrona (arena which was built by order of the new Mayor of Karlskrona, because his son plays hockey).

The time that we all learned the motto “DET ÄR VI SOM ÄR KHK” (where is KIK [Karlskrona Hockey Klub] we follow!), we entered the building for our tour. Most of us had no idea about hockey. The only information we knew was from American movies ..! 6 players from each team with sticks to chase the puck! The show was fantastic! As well as the opening ceremony! Click here!

Although the cold, the atmosphere and people were very warm! The announcer of the game, welcomed to us (international students BTH) and 4.000 spectators applauded us with the headlights pointing at us! One of the nicest moments of the evening! The next most beautiful was the first goal of our team! (See video) The whole stadium stood up celebrating!

Of course we didn’t miss the fights!

Unfortunately our team lost, and there was a disappointment on peoples faces when we were leaving, but now we can say we went at Ice Hockey game!

ERASMUS ROCKS!

 

Goodbye sayings

I gathered some goodbye and farewell quotes and I want to dedicate them to my erasmus friends:

Don’t be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetime, is certain for those who are friends. (Richard Bach)

 
Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it’s one day further from the last time you saw each other, it’s one day closer to the next time you will.  (Unknown)

 

We only part to meet again. (John Gay)

 

Man’s feelings are always purest and most glowing in the hour of meeting and of farewell.  (Jean Paul Richter)

 

Sweet is the memory of distant friends!  Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart.  (Washington Irving)

 

Why does it take a minute to say hello and forever to say goodbye?  (Unknown)

Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.  (Henry David Thoreau)

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.  (Carol Sobieski and Thomas Meehan, Annie)

Goodbyes are not forever.
Goodbyes are not the end.
They simply mean I’ll miss you
Until we meet again!        (Unknown)

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.  (Ivy Baker Priest)

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back.  May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.  And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.  (Irish Blessing)

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It’s the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here’s a happy one for you.
(Dale Evans)

No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth. ~Robert Southey

Can miles truly separate you from friends…. If you want to be with someone you love, aren’t you already there?  (Richard Bach)

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.  (Garrison Keillor)

Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love.  (George Eliot)

Love is missing someone whenever you’re apart, but somehow feeling warm inside because you’re close in heart.  (Kay Knudsen)

The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected.  (Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook)

You and I will meet again
When we’re least expecting it
One day in some far off place
I will recognize your face
I won’t say goodbye my friend
For you and I will meet again
(Tom Petty)

Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.  (William Shakespeare)

Some people come into our lives and quickly go.  Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.  (Flavia Weedn,Forever)

But fate ordains that dearest friends must part.  (Edward Young)

Promise me you’ll never forget me because if I thought you would, I’d never leave.  (A.A. Milne)

Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven. (Tryon Edwards)

Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.  (Kahlil Gibran)

You’re searching…
For things that don’t exist; I mean beginnings.
Ends and beginnings – there are no such things.
There are only middles.
(Robert Frost, Mountain Interval, “In the Home Stretch”)
If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden.  (Attributed to Claudia Ghandi)

The best things said come last.  People will talk for hours saying nothing much and then at the door with words that come with a rush from the heart.  (Alan Alda)

The joy of meeting pays the pangs of absence; else who could bear it?  (Nicholas Rowe)

I wanted a perfect ending.  Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end.  Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.  (Gilda Radner)

Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. (Theodor Seuss Geisel, attributed)

 

I don’t like “goodbyes”. I prefer the “see you soon”s   (Me )

LipDub Erasmus BTH 2010-11!

Just before everybody leaves from the paradise called “Karlskrona”, all the erasmus student gathered at night at the university to record a video.. No one can say it was easy, special for the video director/camera man and his assistant! It last 4 hours, but the result is amazing! Enjoy!

Watching this video, I will remember not only the last (awesome) day, but every moment of pure happiness that I had during my Erasmus in Karlskrona. Congratulations to the director and to everybody that participated! See you guys!

§§§§§§ I ‘ll be there for you…! §§§§§§

Leaving Karlskrona

I left Karlskrona and Sweden and I am on my way back home. In 9 hours probably I’ll be there. The feelings are so messed up. I am so happy that I sill see my family again after 5 months, I’ve missed them very much! On the other hand, I feel very sad cause I don’t know when am I going to see that place again.
Karlskrona.. I remember myself looking information about this place, long time before I come here. It feels so strange. I cannot really realise that I will not live there anymore. I felt it like my real home. Even when I was away for trips, I was always happy when I was coming back to the famous “Kungsmarksvägen”! That’s why it feels so strange now.. Cause after this trip back home in Greece, there will be no trip back to Karlskrona. Not very soon at least!
Exept from feeling sad, I also have a feeling of big appreciation and I want to say thank you to Sweden and thank you to my university that gave me the chance to leave in a city 2500km away from home, to visit 5 different countries, 11 cities and use all the kind of transport! It was a really pleased journey and my life has been changed for once again. Now I now how it is too live outside of Greece, and for sure this is my next station now: get ready for more experiences like this one! This was just the beginning! My exploring of the world has just been started! And I am so enthusiast about it!

This is the end.. NOT! :D

So fellows, I guess this is it! January is here, erasmus is almost over! In less that a two weeks, almost everybody will be in his/her home country, to continue his studies or find an intership or even a job! Everybody will get back to their old life. But  one thing is sure. Nothing is the same.

Erasmus. Which words should I use to describe the feeling. Is it a feeling of happiness and appreciation of what I had the chance to experience in Karlskrona and general in Sweden? Is it a feeling of melancholy that I will return home to my “old way of living”? The feelings are very mixed up and I am sure that I am not the only one.

I read posts on facebook from friends, from friends that are still here in Karlskrona and from others that already are gone. Pretty much, the feeling is the same for all of us: We will miss our time in K! It’s seems almost impossible to realise that the whole thing is ending! I sit on the chair in my room, watching the white view out of my window, thinking all the great times that I had here with friends: camping, parties, cooking, trips, laughs, cries, studying, and I really cannot realise that this time has expired! The mind cannot follow the reality. Feels like nothing is over, that “yes, it’s Friday, someone is going to call and invite me to a party”. “It’s Sunday, someone is going to have the idea for a trip somewhere!” It really sucks when you realise that this is not going to happen anymore… It’s hard to say goodbye to everything. Hard to say goodbye to your room, to your library, to your bus(!),……. to your friends…… The friends. In my opinion, the most important part of the erasmus. The friendships that I created. I said this before, I’m gonna say it again, I have a home in every corner of the Europe now. And this is the only thing that can hold me together at this moment. That I know, there will be days through the next months/years that I will see everybody again! We will organise trips all together! We will keep in touch! We will have each other.. Maybe not physically the most times, but it’s a nice feeling, knowing that there are people in the world who care about you, about how are you doing, and they really can’t wait till they see you again! At least that’s how I feel. I love you guys! Nothing is over! This was just the beginning!

I did not lose anything. Or I should better say YOU did not lose anything. Cause I know, a lot of you that you are reading this, probably feel the same. In fact, you gained everything. You gained the experience of living abroad, of studying in other country, of living alone or with roommates, you saw a lot of new places, you did a bunch of crazy things, you made a lot of friends, you fall in love.. I would give everything to turn the time back, and have one more semester with the people here…

But, this is life! And life goes on! It was a remarkable-unforgettable experience that will keep me company for the rest of my life. And I am telling you….:  This was just the beginning.

ERAMSUS F###ING ROcKs!

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Christmas time in BTH!

Χορωδία φοιτητών και καθηγητών του ΒΤΗ ψέλνει χριστουγεννιάτικα κάλαντα

Snow evolution!

Saint Nicholas 6/12

It’s the Nicholas Day and some German friends (and one Austrian:P) prepared a delicious meal for us! Apples filled with nuts and sweets in the oven, christmas cookies, nuts, gluhwein (with vodka for more alcohol!) and chestnuts were the specialities of the evening! People from Germany, Austria, Greece, France, Spain and China celebrated all together the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas.!

It’s really great and interesting to discover the traditions and the different ways of celebrating Christmas between the countries! Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas and Basil of Caesarea, different names for the Saint who brings gifts. “Santa” ! 

A short abstract from wikipedia: “Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or simply “Santa“, is a figure which was derived from the Dutch figure ofSinterklaas, a historical, legendary figure who in many Western cultures, is said to bring gifts to the homes of the good children during the late evening and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24 or on his Feast Day, December 6 (Saint Nicholas Day). The legend may have part of its basis inhagiographical tales concerning the historical figure of gift giver Saint Nicholas. A nearly identical story is attributed by Greek and Byzantine folklore to Basil of Caesarea. Basil’s feast day on January 1 is considered the time of exchanging gifts in Greece.” (read more)

Snow Fight!

I’ve never created – through -and specially ate(!!) , so many snowballs in my life! Obviously, because I am from Greece and the temperature at this season is 20 degrees!!  Everyday here is like ski-resort! The snow still keeps falling for the 4th day in a row and all the place is just b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l…

94th day in Sweden and we had the Biggest Snow-Fight since it first snowed here.! There were no teams, everybody against everybody! Close to 40 people with snowballs on their hands, fighting each other! You had to watch out from every corner, otherwise you would end up with a snowball in your face! Ζωντανό παράδειγμα: η Γλυκερία!

After one and a half hour our bodies were not responding to the brain any more and we had to go home for warm clothes and hot chocolate But it was AWESOME! I am sure that there will be again an event like this..Soon!

And the s(n)ow goes on…..!

Please don’t take our sunshine away

You just don’t wanna leave this place.. You have your friends here, you have your courses, your apartment. You take the bus, you know the driver. Hej hej….  You dont want this to end. It’s just something more than a month still and only with the thought that it’s ending you start having the feeling of  nostalgia for this place.. You know from now, that you will return to your city, to your room, staring at the computer screen, pictures, videos, messages from friends that are miles away now. Away from the city that you experienced so many things in such a short time. 3 months past so fast.. You are addicted here. I really cannot understand and maybe I dont want to understand anymore, the people who think that erasmus is just a waste of time.. I am so sick of them. Stay there. Stay behind. At the end we will see who gained more. I will always be one step in frond. One semester in front, no matter how strange it may seem. Erasmus has it’s own sweet sense. It cannot be compared with other studies aboard cause you know that its going to last short and you have to leave it’s single moment of it. You have to enjoy the experience of having lectures in English, make assignments in English, speak to everybody only in English. It is great to be in such an unfamiliar place, everything is different, at least from Greece as I can say, specially from Thessaloniki. I just love my life here. I dont want to leave it, I dont wanna go back. We know how much work is waiting for us when we return.. Missing courses, exams the next day we arrive, english lessons, a very very very full schedule. But I would prefer 100% to have this heavy schedule here. I am just addicted here! I feel this place like a part of me. May all these sound like bullshits. “How could he/she be attached there so quickly? Not possible”. But still… If you dont live it, you cannot fully understand.

I like my sit in the bus, I like my bed, I like my friends, I like the people, I like the streets, I like the trees, the nature that is missing from Thessaloniki.. I like the souper market, I like cooking, I like washing my clothes.. The feeling of being here is unique. It’s not the same as living alone in Thessaloniki. Living alone here is different. First of all you are never alone.! You have your room mates, everybody is welcomed in everyones apartment, every student is so exited and happy, we are friends with everybody.. I am gonna miss that. I am gonna miss everything. Erasmus may take some things away for a little bit, family, friends, relationships, courses… But all these cannot be compared with the things that erasmus creates. New strong friendships, experiences of leaving aboard, and for many like me, experiences of leaving alone and take care yourself. Erasmus gives you also something more important.. When all this dream goes away, you will end up with a home all over the world. You book from now still, airplane tickets to visit your new friends in France, Germany, Austria, Spain even in China.. The world is big. And you have just started the exploring.

Your horizons are broaden. You think different. You act different. Your life change. Erasmus has changed you. Try it. If I could, I would do anything to turn the time back to September. Maybe better at 25th of August..

But I’m still here. We are not done yet. Nothing is finished. We have to create much more memories to remember. It’s just thoughts and feelings. We keep on

Erasmus is our sunshine