Stream of consciousness

Sometimes I get asked the question what language my stream of consciousness is speaking. Often the answer is English, other times I say it's Swedish, and sometimes even Italian. When I'm angry or frustrated, I express myself a lot better in English, and so my thoughts are naturally in English. When I count to myself, I count in Swedish, odd. When I'm in a social setting where it's not exactly appropriate to swear, I swear in Italian, and sometimes Danish. Why Danish, you may wonder, truthfully I find it extremely satisfying to swear in Danish. I don't know why exactly, I just do.

Something quite interesting, which I thought of just now, is that my stream of consciousness has an American accent, whereas when I speak in English, my accent varies depending on who I'm speaking to. But I think my accent is predominantly American/Canadian, but has changed over the course of the two years that I have been living here. I now pronounce certain words with a Scottish accent, and other words with an English accent. Sometimes I even throw in a word or two in an Australian accent, just for the hell of it!

Ben Howard

I have listened to this famous singer-songwriter from London for a good long while now. Several songs from his first album "Every Kingdom" have been played many a time on my Spotify, as well as many of his singles that were released prior to the album. This includes songs such as The Wolves and Keep Your Head Up and Depth Over Distance.

Whilst browsing around on iTunes the other day, I came across the new album "I Forger Where We Were" that was to be released two days after. I immediately pre-ordered it, before even thinking twice about it, as I was sure I would love it. After two days of waiting, it appeared in my iTunes library, and I have been listening to the songs on repeat ever since.

Music Monday #92

If only I could spend a couple of days on Santorini, absorbing it's beauty!

Bucket list

I believe that every person has something they want to do before they die, whether that be sky-diving or bungy-jumping, or mayhaps witnessing the beauty of the Taj Mahal in the early hours of the morning, just as the sun breaks through the horizon.
I know that I have a few things that I want to to before I die. Some are a little more ostentatious and crazy, whereas others may not seem as outrageous, but nevertheless incredible. Here are a few things on my bucket list:

One of the things on my bucket list, which I will be able to tick off the list sooner than I expected, is celebrate New Years in Sydney. On New Year's Eve, roughly 1.6million people congregate in the metropolis of Syndey, New south Wales, Australia, to witness the 7 tonnes of fireworks explode in the night sky.

Even though it might be a chilly night, I would absolutely love to spend a night in the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. Th whole concept of actually building an entire hotel of pure ice, mesmerizes me.

Planning a trip to Iceland has been on my mind for months now, and it may be happening sooner than I expected. Stefanie and I are really keen to go in January, to witness the beauty of the Aurora Borealis. Visiting the Blue Lagoon, Eyafjällajökull (I managed to spell that without using google!!), and hiking in the mountains is also on my list of things to do in Iceland.

When I really got into watching short documentaries of surfer girls such as Alana Blanchard, Lakey Peterson and Bethany Hamilton among others on YouTube, I was completely blown away by the beauty of Hawaii and its many islands. Above is a picture of Kauai; no words are needed. But what I really want to do is surf the waves on the coast of Kauai, even though I'm a rookie...

This is a very recent addition to my "Things to do before I die"-list. The Inca Trail is one of the most, if not the most, famous treks in South America. It starts in Chillca and follows a route up to Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas. I've always thought that the ruins at Machu Picchu seem unreal, perched up on that mountain, almost as if they belong to a folk-tale, but to witness them with my own eyes would be incredible.

Ever since I saw the Pippi Longstocking movie where she flies a hot air balloon, I've wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride. The location for my ideal hot air balloon ride would be over the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, East Africa. However, I am a little skeptical towards the landing, or should I say "crash-landing" of the hot air balloons...

Over the summer, my brother and I had a conversation about visiting Toronto, Canada. Toronto is a city made up of great cultural diversity, as it has one of the highest percentages of foreign-born populations. I don't just want to visit Toronto, I would actually like to live there. Something about the city just appeals to me

To make the big move down under, a.k.a. Australia, has been on my list for the longest time! People always ask me why I like Australia so much, and first of all, the accent is my favourite accent of all times, but also it's diversity in natural beauty, the food, the people, the lifestyle, the beaches, the desert, the animal life, the list goes on. I'll be visiting Aus in December, and I literally could not be happier :D Ultimately, I want to move out there on my own; get a flat, a job, live life, meet awesome people, and travel around the ginormous country!

My list is long, but these are 8 things I really want to do right now!!

Song from Memories - part 5

I thought I would do another one of these posts as I got inspired whilst listening to my shuffled Spotify playlist!

Dance our tears away - John de Sohn, Kristin Amparo

This first song reminds me so much of when my dad and I were skiing down the moutain of Trysil in Norway, back in April 2013. I remember so clearly how much I wanted to know what the song was called and I kept humming the tune for the rest of the day so I wouldn't forget what it sounded like, as I was already obsessed with it and needed it in my playlist, haha

Younger - Seinabo Sey (Kygo remix)

I think this song will almost always remind me of my workplace from this summer. I remember my work colleague would always turn up the volume on the radio when this came on as we both really liked it.

Strövtåg i Hembygden - Mando Diao

The first time I ever heard this song was when I was watching TV with my dad and a Volvo commercial came on. I instantly fell in love with it. So I quickly flung myself over the sofa to where my laptop was laying and googled every possible song that I thought it could be. It took me a little while to find it, but when I did, I pressed the replay button over and over again. I think the lyrics are so incredibly beautiful.

All I do is win - DJ Khaled

Lol! This song just cracks me up, but it reminds me so much of when Helen and I were in Cyprus. We were sitting in a bar in Ayia Napa sipping our drinks one night, when this song suddenly came on. We didn't get up to dance or anything but I just have this very clear memory of me and Helen sitting next to each other listening to this song and laughing and joking around like we normally do - good times, good times!

Days like these...

It's days like these that I wonder why the heck I chose to live and study in Aberdeen of all the places in the world... No but seriously, I love it here but the weather... oh, the weather....

It was really nice for about a week, with sunshine and +15 degrees, but on Thursday the weather started getting worse. It started with being incredibly windy! I almost fell over outside the library because the wind was so strong, and when Matilda and I were heading over to 6° North for a beer with a few people in the evening, it felt like the wind had picked up even more. When we headed over to Oskar's flat on Friday, it was pissing it down with rain, resulting in Christel, Matilda and I arriving at his flat completely drenched as he lives quite far away. Saturday and Sunday were pretty bad as well, but I spent both days in the library writing my psychological assessment essay, so it didn't really bother me. Yesterday was when the weather really flipped out! The rain was chucking down all day and it was quite windy, just like today. Absolutely terrible.

It's a funny thing though. Almost every time I say that I live in Scotland, people ask me "Isn't the weather really bad!?" and I always respond "Not always... but when it's bad, it's really bad!" Truer words have never been spoken, haha

Aberdeen on a nicer day than this

Music Monday #91

Sir Duncan Rice library

I thought I would share my study music as I have spent a lot of time in the library these past two weeks.

Volunteering: Fresher's 2014

Saturday 6th of September:
The day after I arrived was the first day of my volunteering week for Fresher's 2014. I headed up to the student village, Hillhead, where I stayed in my first year at uni at 8.00. I was greeted by the lovely sun and a big group of other volunteers, ready for the hectic day to come.
Lucy and I got assigned to direct the cars at the entrance. We basically had to ask the people in the car which building they were heading to, and then told them which car park to drive to. We also stressed the issue that there was very limited parking space.
Lucy and I were there for about 3 hours, before James and Katie took over for us. I headed back to "the dome" and had some lunch. I was then asked to help out the students in "the dome", answering queries and general mingling. I also helped a few people find their way around Hillhead as well as telling a girl where to go in town to purchase bedding and the like.
I was then assigned to help people carry their bags from the drop-off point to their accommodation. This was fun, but also very tiring, as some of the people had loads of bags with them, and they were so heavy! I helped a girl from Romania (who I am now friends with), a guy all the way from India, a few girls from Edinburgh and a guy from Edinburgh.
I would also like to point out that it was chucking it down with rain for a few hours on Saturday as well, so I was soaked.
On my way home at 18.30 I stopped by my old accommodation (where I lived in 2nd year) to visit Hannah. She gave me a cup of tea and we spoke for about 45 minutes. It was so nice to finally sit down after having stood up for most of the day! I then headed back home where I collapsed onto my bed and didn't want to move because my joints hurt so much! But the annoying thing was that I was really hungry, which meant that I had to get up and make some food before I passed out.

Sunday 7th of September:
At nine I met up with Katie and Lina in the train station in town for the meet & greet. We were told to get the Fresher's from the trains and busses and bring them to the minibus which would take them to their accommodation. This day was not as hectic as Saturday which was good, but it was quite chilly in the train station. I was there unit about 14.30 when I headed off to meet Hannah outside the cinema. We had decided to watch "Before I go to Sleep" with Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth. I really enjoyed the movie as it had quite a few plot twists (which I love), however, the story is a little creepy. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about the movie.

Monday 8th of September:
I only did about an hour or so of volunteering which was nice as I got to relax a little for the first time since I got back. I then went out with Maria and Alice in the evening, although I can't for the life of me remember where we were pre-drinking….

Tuesday 9th of September:
I spent the whole day on King's Lawn in the marquee as it was the Sports Fayre. IT was a lot of fun but it was incredibly warm in that tent! Also, we had about 4000 students walking in throughout the whole day - that's pretty amazing. The polo club even had a horse there; a great incentive for people wanting to join.

Wednesday 10th of September:
Spent the whole day in the marquee as it was time for the Societies Fayre. As I am a committee member of the Nordic Society, I was there all day talking to people and recruiting new members. I was also outside doing some PR-ing in the form of sticking stickers on people, promoting our first event of the year, the free beer and crisps event!

Thursday 11th of September:
In the evening I had an event for a few hours but it wasn't at all tiring as there was hardly anything to do. However, after that I headed into town as I was volunteering in Garage (a nightclub). This is the night that Kristian Nairn (Hodor from Game of Thrones) was the DJ. I had so much fun and the music was really good as well! I got home at around 3.30 after I had helped all the Freshers get on their busses back to their accommodation.

That's all the volunteering I did for Fresher's week. It was exhausting but so much fun! I also met so many new people which is great :)