Galapagos

Summer blues do kick in also, so I ve realized. Many have moved back home to avoid the Ghost town it can be- Uppsala. Everything dies, I mean, student nations where many hung out to kill time, meet people and chill out. Not to mention, the jobs are gone- serving, cooking and attending the drunks by the drinks.

For those left back in Uppsala there may not be much to do apart from reading and cycling out on sunny days. They do. It gets boring after a while. Theres only so many places and activities you can do without your friends, that have flown to their original nests for summer. People indulge in Facebooking, if at all there is a word like it. Movies and music become their best friends. The bicycle becomes their getaway vehicle. One such trips led me to a new indulgence- a public library. Its very easy to forget, if there was ever such a beauty. A place where you have a collage of covers, an organised scramble of ideas, articulate works or even a galore of graphic documentation, movies included.

Situated in the city centre is this new discovered sanctuary of mine, the city library or Stadsbibliotek. Got there just before quarter to closing time. Monday to thurdsdays holding it open till 7PM. At the desk a lovely receptionist asked me if I wanted to get a membership card done. Not knowing what documents I would need to pass this test, I said, " Yes, Ma'm!". I got it done in a minute after I leaked my personal details on a piece of paper- Contact number, address and email address. All this done with after a glance on my drivers license. A barcoded plastic card was handed to me with a pin code to borrow out my interests. I saw another helper sort out some music discs. They lent out dvds of  rare concerts by some of my favourite artistes. Considering the seriousness of my reading interests or the lack of time I had to check out the array, I thought I d have barely enough to select a few multimedia disks to check out. And boy, did I find a collection that impressed the Bejesus out of me! From movies to Woodstock concerts, from Natgeo documentaries to 'Teach yourself _____' kind.

One could check out a maximum of 5 dvds at a time for a loan period of a week. Late fee being 2SEK a day past the due date. Termination of membership if the late fee accumulated to 100 SEK. There is no charge otherwise. I quickly was able to check out a David Gilmore performance captured from the Royal Concert Hall from 2002, a Woodstock recording from 50s and a foreign movie from the Oscars selected section.

Next time though, I would love to see if they had a 'Rosetta Stone: Svenska' for my summer assignment. I want to sound like a Nordic god, or a hiccup-ing light haired native. Also, check out the entire catalogue of the multimedia section and see if they had DC comic books in English. That might be a too much to ask. I was like Charles Darwin when he researched in the isle of Galapagos, probably. A library like this is a must use for everyone who is tired of downloading pirated movies/ music or reading on their (max)Ipads. Much love to all readers or it too much of a pun. Intended.

Au revoir

End of term and the end of Uppsala for all the Erasmus students. Wonder why I write so many blogs about Erasmus students?  For one, there were many in my class the last few courses of the term. Two, they were most outspoken and active.

Swedish population in my class was still the majority. Never really got to know many of them except a couple. They are reserved, which was my initial observation. They keep to themselves but are great students, ask questions, proactive in finding something to keep their time productive. Anyway, the last few weeks we had great weather averaging a high of 30Celcius and low in teens. The favourite choice of hanging out was this place near Sunnersta, a retreat for sailboat owners by the lake Malaren. Located 25 minutes away from where I dwell if you cycle there. A beach is what the people call it- grassy or a gravel patch by the water body where people spend time either sunbathing or barbequing. A very popular spot was what we chose. The spot is perfect for a swim also if you found the water cold enough for a dip.

A quick view of where we were. Cloudy day, with a cool lake. Half the people couldnt find it to begin with, cost most were living not very far from the city. We got there finally, after a few calls to the friendlies.

Many were in the mood for a dip and off they ran in thier bikinis and swimsuits.





We started a fire by the place. There were a good few logs at our disposal to make a coal bed for a barbeque.

While many only a selection of wine and beer to make it an evening before leaving to their homes. We had some marinated chicken fillet, marinated Hungarian style, with mustard and spice blend.


Thats when a friend, Manuel Bazan joined us from nowhere. He was camping in the forest nearby for a week. He had his lease ended at the place where he stayed and decided to avoid an entire months rent by camping up in the forest. A very resourceful guy, Manuel. Charged his phone at his friends corridor, checked and replied to his emails during the day when he had to. Showered at the same corridor. In turn, saved some cash and an experience before leaving Sweden, for Spain.

Manuel was more than happy to pose with his multipurpose knife. Dressed in cargos and fleece with walking boots, he told us his story of how he camped with some Swedes who taught him more about landscape and camping skill.

Then it was mosquitoes that were out for their juice, our juice. Everyone got closer to the fireplace to repel the nasty pests.

It was then music time and scrap book exchange. Some had a novel idea of marking this experience- a Swedish flag and marker for friends to write some parting words. Also, make sure that we stayed knit on Facebook.

Many felt that they could ve had more moments of hanging out like that day. But as we all now it, only when you know you are going away will you realise how hard it is to say 'Au revoir' to your friends, your love- Uppsala.