I return home to see the sights, meet the family, hang out with friends, cuddle dogs, buy some Swedish treats and make snowangels in the snow…

So far, the only sight I’ve really seen is my own bed. And the inside of a car. I’ve been sick since day one (something which is starting to become a tradition) and actually had one of my worst felt fevers to date when I woke up in the middle of the night in a soaked bed, instantly thinking: “Holy shit, have I peed myself in my sleep!?”. But no, I soon found out that the wet stuff was my own sweat, which both I and my sheets happened to be soaked in to the point of creating small puddles on me. Euughhh…!

Christmas was nice since it was at our house (this house being one of the biggest in the family, so it can fit all our relatives), so I didn’t have to move anywhere. I was still kind of fine during this time since I was too busy being social to actually sit down and start feeling yucky. The food was amazing with our salmon pie and “Jansons frestelse” as two examples of amazing fish dishes. We also had enough salmon left over to feed us up to today (still got some!). I’m eating as much fish as I can while I’m here. For some reason, it just tastes so much better. In England, the fruit tastes better, but the salmon is watery or gooey… Ew. In Sweden, the fruit hasn’t been too amazing so far, but the fish is to DIE for.

Yesterday my mum and dad decided that they wanted to get me one more christmas present that I could choose myself. A mobile phone. I was very happy about this (mine hardly works as friends probably have noticed. Know this line: “I’m out of batteries! If I disappear, I haven’t hung up on you!), but also slightly worried, seeing as they have already spent so much money on getting me here, renovating their house, helping my two brothers with various things, etc etc. So I instantly went for the cheapest phone I could find. Dad, being a Sony Ericsson fan, instantly told me that my choice (motorola) sucked and that I needed a proper phone that wouldn’t break. In the end, we got completely talked over and charmed by an old salesman in a small shop who sold us a quite expensive, but excellent mobile with an English plug(!) and a mobile rain jacket(!!) thrown in the moment he heard I was living in England! 

I love my mobile phone. It looks so sleek and nice. Now I just need to actually keep hold of it. I have a tendency of dropping my mobiles on the floor, down the stairs or in the sea (don’t ask).  

I’ve been here 5 days now and I haven’t even been able to leave my house other than driving to a store to buy a mobile phone. Without sounding proud, I have quite a lot of requests to meet up already and I don’t know if I will be able to meet everyone and attend everything that’s going on, so for that, apologies in advance.

Tom tells me I get sick whenever I’m on holiday because that’s the only time I let my body relax after long periods of stress, so my body goes into a state of “wtf!? You do naaathin’!?” and crashes all in once. Oh well. I don’t know if this is true, but I am seeing a doctor this summer when I return to Swedenland again. I don’t like seeing doctors in England. Trust my Swedenland more when it comes to healthcare. No offence NHS!

<3

Man, I’m spent. Hard to type on this keyboard too.

Relatives have left after many many hours of Christmas social stuff. I love the food and to check up on my big family. But I’m oh, so tired afterwards. Also need to remember to do some work tomorrow. Still need to write that essay and work on my final pieces for my project. Sheesh. You are never really free from the clutches of University!

Anyway. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew. I’m looking forward for some relaxing days after this huge feast.

Can’t write that much now due to stuff having to be done here at home before Xmas tomorrow. But I’m home, safe and well. :P Having troubles typing on a Swedish keyboard, blaghrh!

Stockholms airport, Arlanda, was utter chaos and confusion yesterday. Jesus. I’ll write more about that later. When I came back here, I slept for 18 hours.

Also spoke italian with an italian woman at Heathrow who looked at my art!

Anyway! Off I go to help mum and dad.

Merry Christmas! God Jul!

Well. I’m kind of done packing. It’s 5pm. I seriously need to kill some time.

*twiddles thumbs*

*hums a tune*

… Oh sod it. I’m going to make some food.

Photos of my ring:

Ring 1

As I might have been saying many times if you’ve been talking to me IRL, I’m going to the coachstation tomorrow to grab a bus to the airport. I’ve been working on projects to get them as prepared as possible for the holidays. I’ve been packing my bag this evening.

Last night me and Tom had our last meal together this year and decided to cook some nice beef with cream sauce and stuff. I wasn’t able to finish my huge plate and covered it in cling film to save for later (namely today). Everything went well… except I went off to bed without putting the plate in the fridge. Tom also forgot about it, and thus the plate was out on the table overnight. First thing in the morning, Tom put it in the fridge and let me know about it’s ordeal.

My thoughts about meat tends to be: “If it’s been cooked once, it’s FINE.” As long as you don’t eat it raw, nothing can go wrong!

So an hour ago, I took out the plate that had been in room temperature for 7+ hours and heated it in the microwave. I’m not picky with my food, and besides, Tom’s cooking is yuuuuummmyyy.

After finishing my meal I checked the internet for information on beef… out of curiosity. I found out that beef left outside for more than 2 hours is a hazard and can cause food poisoning because of the bacteria growth.

Oops. Normally, this is something I probably would shrug at, but I’m travelling tomorrow! Please don’t let me get sick!

I have my engagement ring! It’s just what I wanted. It’s simple, sleek and shiny. So beautiful! It also won’t get in the way when I’m working because of the really really simple design.

The diamonds look a lot bigger than I thought they would. Wooow. Big eyes on my yin yang birds. :D Will take pictures when camera is charged.

I’ve now made a list of things to do each day of this week. Mainly so I don’t forget about anything.

I really can’t wait to come home.

Today is last tutorial at Uni before Christmas break. Then some essential last minute shopping. In the evening I’m going for a last meal out with Tom before Christmas. <3
Tuesday is the day of Etching at the print studio. Then in the evening a friend in my class has organised an Illustration Dinner which I will be attending and have pie!

On Wednesday I will focus on getting things done project wise. In the evening I’m going for my last Kung Fu class before Christmas.

Thursday I will possibly hang out with Nik and Nadia for the last time this year. They are going to show me a place where you can buy ground cardamom (wow!) and speciality coffee :DDDD. In the evening I have to pack.

Friday is packing and preparing. Then in the middle of the night I will be escorted by Luke (thank you so much Luke! I owe you one) to the busstation through the centre. Tom didn’t want me to go on my own. He will already have returned to Wales at this point, so he can’t see me off at the station. :(

Friday night I will sleep at Heathrow. Probably not really sleep. Gonna drink lotsa coffee and do some people drawing.

Saturday morning I take the first plane to Swedenland!

THAT’s my list. Pheeww!

Christmas rush is here, and boy did it feel rushy yesterday. I was out in town with Tom to buy some xmas gifts. The centre was PACKED. The mall was so crowded I had urges to elbow my way forward, past many groups of chavs and old people walking very very very sloooooowly…

In the end, we got what we wanted, except one thing.

My Ring.

Tom had run off secretly to get it out for me as a surprise, but the jewelers said it still wasn’t done, and maybe it won’t be done before Christmas. That, if anything, makes me angry. I have been waiting for that ring to be made for months. No joke. Months! Tom is also going to issue a formal complaint to the store because of their awful handling of our engagement ring. Poor Tom was apologizing to me yesterday, but it’s not HIS fault! He feels really bad about the entire thing, so I try to keep my mood up whenever we talk about it. I can’t say I’m not disappointed though. I would never have expected a jewelers store to handle an engagement ring so thoughtlessly.

Anyway! On to more cheerful subjects!

It is about 6 days until I return to zeh Swedenland, full of snow, moose’s and salty liquorice! I can’t wait to see my friends and family to catch up. And I’m also going to meet two DOGS :D Wooppee! I haven’t had dogs for proper company in ages. The last dog I saw was the amazing little terrier in the local pub. A very experienced pub dog who knew exactly what he needed to do to get some food from the guests. Amazingly cute and furry. He got up on his hind legs in a sitting position while I was scratching his front. <3 <3

At uni I’m getting closer to where I want to be with my projects before Christmas. I wish I would have been able to finish the essay before going on holiday, but that will be impossible. I will have to bring it with me to Sweden. Yayness.

I’m working more with the big manual print machines at University though. I’m not that good yet (tried to make some christmas presents with the Lithography stuff, but failed :P), but I’m practicing and enjoying it. Also finished my etching plate at home. When you prepare the plate, you basically do exactly what the artists did waaaay back in the days when etching was being used. 1800s or something. :D You even use candle soot to blacken the plate before scratching into it with your needle. It’s very interesting.

Anyway. Now I have to call two buddies about dinner tonight. We are having a little “bye bye” get together before I go home to Swedenland. Stirfry and Wii! What more can you ask for?