Paul Georges . Alterego Construction

My first weekend since I’m back at school has officially come to an end. Fortunately the weekend was quite restful yet entertaining and memorable. Friday night after class my peer student Anders, the French enthousiast, invited the three of his protégés to his place for drinks and a little pre-party to prepare for our outting to the Flamman Club downstairs from his corridor. Flamman was nice but the music was old and cheesy. I didn’t get in very late.

The next day was a lazy morning spent researching Copenhagen and Barcelona. I’m slowly beginning to plan my trips within Europe. The more I plan the more I notice how little time is available for travelling once school has taken it’s toll on my schedule. Not to worry, where there’s a will there’s a way. If it was up to me, I would be all over the place all the time. Copenhagen, Oslo, Barcelona, Venice and Rome, Paris, Edinburgh, Helsinki, St. Petersburg… the possibilities are endless. I will get acquainted with Europe one city at a time. In fact, Oslo is actually in the works for next weekend. Two cars, one weekend. Lots of fun.

Saturday afternoon was ultimate frisbee. I’m not a great player. I tend to make a lot of faults (sorry Loic, next time I will play on your team) and I have the shittiest eye for passes. When I do see an opportunity to pass, my attempts usually turn out to be quite innacurate. Practice makes perfect.

Saturday night was supper at Loïc’s. The poor guy wasn’t expecting 14 slovenian, spanish, german, swedish and canadian guests to show up. However, he pulled off the entire thing wonderfully, filling our mouths with pasta, baguette, cheese, “profiteroles” and, last but not the least, some red wine. It’s great to find yourself at a table with such an eclectic crowd, sharing and soaking up anecdotes and fragments of international culture. I’ve come to understand that this is what student exchanges are about: the mutual sharing of personal and cultural knowledge in order to learn more about yourself as well as those surrounding you. The speakers at our orientation program said it best, Erasmus is not just about learning the skills needed to perform in one’s area of study and in the workplace, it is moreover about getting in touch with thyself through one’s peers and one’s surrounding environment. Thanks Chewbie, we owe you one mate.

I slept in this morning. Thor’s wrath did it’s best to wake me but to no avail. When the clock struck 11h00 I decided that it was time to make use of the time that the weekend offered. Through the rolling thunder and wicked blasts of lightning at my window I succeeded to do a bit of reading and some lab work; almost negligable. By the time that I had gotten hardly anything done, Emanuel was knocking at my door reminding me that Baroque Choir was going on at 16:00. Answer some e-mails, take a shower, get dressed. Off we go to the cathedral in the pouring rain.

Linköpings domkyrka was full for Sunday’s concert. The Barock was composed of 11 musicians performing before an audience of all ages; 5 violins, 1 viola, 2 flutes, 1 cello, 1 contrebass, and 1 cembalo. Everything was just so perfect… the instruments sounding out all in synchro, thunder in the background, a beautiful cathedral. I closed my eyes and so many things came to mind. A million thoughts ran through my head: Sweden, home, friends and family, travelling, school, love, work, life, standards, injustice, plans, decisions, truth, hopes, fears. Every once in a while a string would catch my attention and refocus my concentration on the music floating in the air. Music… paradoxically simple yet so complex. Truly a wonderful experience…

On our way back from the cathedral, soaked from the pouring rain, Emanuel, Camilla and I stopped into Hemköps (the local grocery store) to pick up the ingredients for our planned evening Fika session. Au menu: tea, coffee, Negerbollar (or the more politically correct Chokladbollar) and Sugercake (I can’t remember the Swedish counterpart). Camilla, Ulrike and Emanuel took care of preparing and baking the traditional Swedish treats while Harry and I just kind of admired and entertained the cooks. At 21h30 we were ready to Fika. Fika should be adopted everywhere… JR, candles, guitar, singing, and sweets. What more can a Canadian like me ask for?

So there you have it, excellent weekend. Now I’ve got to prepare for the next! I plan on studying hard this week to have the time to profit of Oslo.

Wow… I used a lot of enumerations in this post. Not too pretty, but hey, it works!