Gothenburg

Gothenburg is quite a nice little town but its a lot bigger that i thought it was going to be. i was expecting a quaint little fishing village or something, geez, i was wrong! its still quite quaint with beautiful little shops, tree lined streets, cute little gardens and laneways. overall its quite a tradional town, you don't see many really new Über (thought i'd pop that word in somewhere because its swedish) modern buildings which is nice. i was staying near the old town, all the roads there are cobble stoned and on the top of a hill is an old military tower, from there i got a great view of the city.
Gothenburg is well known for the Liseberg, which is there amusement park (i think its the biggest in Sweden) but it was closed until Christmas, because i think they decorated it for the Christmas period, which was a bit of a shame but i'm not really that shattered.
I met some people in my hostel that recognized me from the hostel in Hamburg, the group of them are from all over the world, the girls are from Austria, France and Portugal and the guys are from Spain and Poland. and they are all studying in Denmark. which made me think, i should've studied abroad, it would've been awesome! but i don't think it was offered in my course, oh well. they are all really friendly and one day we went to Sweden's biggest park, Slottsskogen. which was a bit of a highlight. it was really beautiful even though it rained a little bit. the park has a zoo in it and everything, i saw seals (who were such show pony's, once they knew you were watching they would show off and do tricks), penguins, dear, moose and many more. it was strange because there didn't seem to be anyone official around so it didn't really feel like a zoo, if there were a zoo like this in Australia i'm sure people would try and climb in and swim with the seals... i was tempted! the park itself had a few lakes and the golden leaves on the ground made it look picturesque!

you might remember how i wrote in my last blog about Scandinavians getting depressed from not getting much sunlight. in Gothenburg there are heaps on solarium's, there everywhere, theres even one in my hostel! i think this is there way of trying to fix the problem. so everyone here seems to have a great tan or at least some horrible tan lines - its a very fine line. while i'm on the topic of sunlight, it gets dark around 4:00pm here. which is so strange for me. and it kind of makes you feel tired, i was exhausted last night and it was only 9:00pm, i'm turning into a Nanna! soon i'll be having my dinner and 4:00pm!

I met a girl from Melbourne while i was here, her name was Eleni (i asked her about here name because i'd never heard of an Eleni before, i thought it might have been short for Melanie or something, she told me it was Greek and translated it means Helen) anyway, we checked out 'Cafe Publik', which was a cool, low key bar, just down the road from us. everyone that was drinking there was ridiculously cool, there's just something about the Scandinavians and i can't put my finger on it. it might be that everyone is really good looking and that they all dress really well, hopefully they all have terrible personalities so there is still a chance for people like myself.
an interesting fact about Sweden is they have restrictions on alcohol, for example: you can't buy highly alcoholic drinks in bars, you have to go to a special shop to buy it and regardless of how old you are (even if your 70!) you need to show ID. i'm pretty sure the government introduced it, pretty crazy, but i don't see many drunks wandering the streets.
one night when i was on my own i ran into a gallery openning, so i went inside and had a bit of a look around. the artwork was a bit out there. all the works were made out of fluro squares and triangles. i think if you had it hanging on your wall you would have a seizure every time you entered the room. but in the gallery they had some amazing chairs and furniture, which reminds me, there are some great furniture shops here, really interesting designs.

One thing i like about, not only Gothenburg but Europe in general is (this is really nerdy of me to say) its recycling. they have bins that are broken up into paper, plastic and general rubbish, which obviously makes it easier to recycle but also when you buy, for example, a coke you pay a little bit extra and then when your finished you bring it to any place that sells coke and you get a refund. its brilliant! i know they do it in Adelaide (i never thought i'd think Adelaide was cutting edge) why not do it all over Australia? its actually really good for homeless people also, i always see them picking up cans and bottles and recycling them for cash. sure beats them begging for money on the street.

a thing i found funny about Sweden is the Grey army here don't just one walking stick, they have TWO! so when they are walking down the street they look like they are skiing cross country. i think its called 'Nordic walking' keep a watch out for it Nanna, its coming to an RSL near you!

Overall i've found Sweden, so far, not to be that expensive which is really good, but all that is about to change, i'm going to visit Norway, possibly one of the most expensive places on earth! anyway more from Oslo when i get there, hopefully the train ride is made easier with my new purchase, a book, the classic 'The Catcher in the Rye'. i have to say i'm kinda embarrassed that i've never read it before. its one of those must-read-before-you-die books. though i've never been much of a reader, except for those 'goosebumps' books when i was a kid, but i'm pretty sure on m ost of them i gave up half way and never fully read them. anyway, looking forward to reading this one. cheerio!