Thursday 18th November

Oops... been a couple of weeks since I updated already! I've been fairly busy, though, preparing presentations and exams. One essay more and I will have finished 3 of my 5.5 classes for this semester. Woop! :)

Had my first exam in Sweden last weekend. Interesting experience. Firstly they gave us 4 hours to do an exam they expected us to finish in about 2 hours- not sure why, but it made it nice and relaxed, anyway! Secondly, the exam was at 9am on a Saturday morning- I believe the thinking behind this is that a lot of classes here in Sweden don't go on for the whole semester, so they put the exams at the weekend so that no one has to miss any classes to get to exams.

Just to add to the excitement of a 2-hour exam at 9am on a Saturday, the fire alarm went off in the middle of the exam; we just carried on regardless, but it was fairly hard to write anything for the next 20 minutes until they turned it off. The strange German girl was sat next to me too, complete with "provisions", which was weird as you'd think that at 9am on a Saturday you'd either eat before you start or after you finish, especially if you're only gonna be there for 2 hours! So anyway, halfway through the exam she starts pouring something (tea, I think) from her thermos into the lid/cup thing... I hate the sound of pouring tea- can explain it, but it drives me mad- and it made me want to do violent things with my biro... then she starts slurping said beverage... I didn't know what to do with myself!! Being British of course I let it go, gave her evil looks and walked a bit closer to her chair when I was leaving. The exam wasn't too hard, though, and I'm pretty sure I passed- only needed 60% and I reckon I probably got 80+

Apart from that, I'm starting to enjoy myself here in Sweden. I've found a pretty good group of friends, I've got stuff to do, I'm on top of my work (I think) and it's getting pretty close to Christmas and all that that brings with it- hoorah! Oh, and one of the exchange students in Hull last year is coming to see me in January! Hoorah! Any one else who wants to visit me and/or Sweden, send me a mail and I'll sort you out some v.cheap deals. I'd be more than glad to see you all.