With just over one month left in Malmö, I am having a blast and my list of things that I want to do before I leave is growing! I am in the process of planning 2 weeks away in a few weeks, but really would be quite happy to stay in Sweden for that time; I really, really love it here. It has really warmed up now (to a whole 13 degrees on a warm day!) and everyone is happy and excitedly anticipating summer! Tomorrow is a big party festival in the neighbouring town of Lund, which is to ‘welcome spring’! I am on placement all day, but I’m really hoping that it will be quiet so I can leave early and join the festivities! If I am stuck at the hospital though, in the emergency observation ward, I suspect it will be to care for all of the casualties of the big day! It is forecast to rain but I doubt that will slow anybody down!
My svenska is coming along. Jag prate lite svenska, och jag älske talar svenska. Det är toppen! Det är mycket svårt. You can google translate that, but I can proudly declare that I wrote that without google translate! I just wasn’t sure how to spell ‘svårt’. I think I am getting better! It is really fun when you can say something, and I definitely can pick out more words these days. I think if I were to stay another 6 months I would learn a lot more. It was really hard for ages, but is starting to come together now and I remember a lot more. I love love love it. My Swedish nursing buddies are my primary teachers, I wish I could return the favour, but despite what they all say, their English is already practically perfect.
We have gotten to know our Swedish nurse classmates a lot more since finishing our base placement, which has been really good. We had them all over to Celsius for dinner one night a few weeks ago, which was such a good night. We had tonnes of food, and drinks! And I think everyone had a good time, we didn’t even feel the need to go out, the party was happening at Celsius!
Malmö is big, but quite small, and we often run into people we know, the Swedish nurses, Celsius people, nurses from the hospital etc, it makes us feel really like a part of the community here, it’s nice. It is a shame that when we leave, ‘our’ Malmö will no longer be here, as all of the exchange students will be gone. But having our Swedish nurse friends is really nice as it will give us a lasting link to Malmö.
Sophie, a fellow aussie, and I, have been going to the local gym a lot. It is such a great gym, and something that I will really miss. We go to kickboxing classes once or twice a week, with a few other classes squeezed in if we can. We tend to be a bit behind in the moves as we try to keep up with what the instructors are saying, but it is helpful with our Swedish, especially numbers! In kickboxing we are regulars, and so the instructors know we do not understand and sometimes will come and give us a personal translation. We run into people we know there all the time as well which makes it really fun!
Last weekend a very multicultural group celebrated Anzac Day at the beach. It was sunny, and we were happy running around and sunbaking in just t-shirts! We had aussie flags, tattoos, koalas and anzac biscuits. Four aussies plus many germans and a Mexican. We attempted to fly a kite, with limited success, and had heaps of fun reminiscing primary school days with ‘British Bulldogs’.
A few of us also headed to Lund for the day, where we followed the sun around and basically ‘fika-d’ all day. Fika is a Swedish word that refers to morning or afternoon tea, a coffee and maybe sweet bun. It is very popular and an essential part of every Swedes day! We have enthusiastically taken this habit on!
