The Wedding Party

I have had the most amazing week. I've been in Sweden and everything has been just perfect. T & J had their wedding party last Friday and Saturday, and it was just fantastic. It couldn't have been any better. There were 22 of us on the first night, and we all got along really well. It was such a great bonding experience. We drank, ate, played games and talked together. All of J's friends are awesome. The second night there were 44 people, and they too were fantastic. T & J had a song book, and they hired a band, and we just sang and danced all night. I learnt some Swedish songs too and the lyrics are bloody hillarious. The whole weekend was brilliant.

On Tuesday, T, J and I went to an island off the west coast of Sweden called Marstrand. We met J's best friend and his girlfriend. It was like being on a set of a movie. All the houses on the island were in a really old style. We stayed literally in a church. There was a tiny little room above the main room of the church, that may have been used by the pastor or someone like that at one stage. So, you had to enter the church and just at the back there was a small staircase that led up to the room. It was just gorgeous! I was playing the piano on the stage when the pastor walked in. I was so worried that I was going to get into trouble, but she said it was no problem, and then just started chatting about how long I was going to stay in Marstrands and stuff like that. She was lovely. We went for a walk around the island, it was just rocks but absolutely stunning. Had a BBQ on the rocks on the first night...the Swedish have an ingenious creation - the one time use BBQ. It's really cheap and light, and you can bring it anywhere and have a barbie! It was pretty cold and windy (even though it's supposed to be summer), but just lovely.

Now I'm in Gothenburg, and the five of us are staying at one of their friend's apartments. I seemed to have caught a bad cold, so didn't do so much today, but tomorrow, who knows what awaits...?

Really travelling now!

Just got back from an absolutely perfect day, wandering around Copenhagen with L and her boyfriend S. This is such a beautiful city. Have fallen in love with it! Spent a couple of days in London with S & A, and caught up with K & S. My last night there, I went back to the Museum hostel, 2 of my old friend were still working there and another 2 friends were still in London and got to catch up with them too! Had a fantastic night, got home at nearly 4am, didn't sleep as I had to get up at about 5am anyway, to get to the airport to fly to Denmark. Still, wouldn't have changed it for the world!!

L is fucking brilliant at Danish! She's only been living here for 8 months and she's just bloody fantastic. Still kicking myself that I didn't study harder while I was in Japan. I saw the Little Mermaid today, and it really is little!! But I wasn't disappointed as L had told me to prepare for that! Lots of little interesting rules and things in Denmark. Everything is extremely expensive, tax is really high, but you get free medical and dental care, and education. Students actually get free tuition and textbooks, and they get paid for studying. So, they don't need part-time jobs. Homeless people are almost non-existent as everyone can qualify for an allowance from the government (about the same as what students get). It seems like a great system.

Well, the sun is still high and it's just past 8pm. Lot's more to do!