Well, I am now back in reality and with that I think its also about time I get back to updating this blog :)

My time in Sweden was awesome and as usual time always passes fast when your having fun.

I want to say to all of you that I managed to see when I weas there: Thank you so much for making my visit worth while, I had so mych fun :)

To those of you that I unfortunately didn't manage to meet up with: I'm sorry I didn't get to see you, but there is another trip around Christmas geting planned as we speak :D So hopefully I'll get to see you then.

I also have to send a special thanks to my dear mum and sister whom without this trip would not have been possible. Thank you so much for your financial support and for your generosity, I can not thank you enough!

<3  Moments <3

I have now been back for 6 days and have already been through my first week at Uni. This semester we're learning a lot about the physics of creating a structure and we're also starting to creat buildings in a 3D modelling program. Really exciting stuff :D

xoxo

So I have now spend 3 days in my lovely home country and so far its been great :D Always keeping busy and this is actually the first time I'm having a few moments of quiet time.

On arrival we went for a lovley lunch at "the Alley" (haha, sounds funny in English, the name is much better in Swedish). But what a lovely lunch it was and the weather was absolutely amazing :D

I've so far spend most my time at the beach with different friends just doing my best to catch up with everyone. This has been affecting my sleep though :P So so busy to do stuff that sleep just sort of seems overrated :) But I'm sure I'll find some time to sleep and if not I guess I'll just have to sleep when I get back to Australia ;)

Aaaww, how awesome is the feeling when the last exam of the semester is finished and winter break is upon you and you wont have to think about another exam, assignment or essay for a whole month :D

The last exam that I have been worrying about soo much went really well. I was pretty lucky though, cause one of the things they provided was last years exam to practise. 1 Hour before the test I still had not used that resource, but during the last hour me and Peter focused on answering those and then it turned out that 5 out of the total 50 questions were taken straight from that exam. Plus the first 24 question were building recognision and I know I aced that :D The first 10 minutes was perusal time (just looking through the questions without writing) and straight away I knew I would be fine and now I'm finally relaxed and I am really looking forward to my trip, which feels awesome!!

The day before yesterday I went down to the beach with Sarah. took some nice pictures:)

Never seen the Australian Ocean sooo calm!

Sorry guys, I know its been a week... Its just lots and lots at the moment... Tomorrow I have my Global Environment exam and on Thursday I have my Architectural History exam, so there has been a lot of studying going on the altest week. But in one weeks time I will be somewhere up in the air on my way towards Sweden, which I am finally allowing myself to have a countdown to :) I have just had too much to focus on to actually allow myself to think too much about it, but I really can't wait :D

Thought I'd share some highlights from the gone week.

Went with Peter to IKEA, as he is moving the coming week he needed some good, quality Swedish stuff :) What better place to go to than IKEA?

Also, a very good "Swedish warm-up"

Last Friday I finished my Creating the Image course and they chose a few favorites from each studio group to be in an exhibition in the Architectural faculty, and my images got chosen :) Here are some of the stuff presented.

This Friday I decided to suprise my man with a nice candle dinner :) So we had "flygande Jacob" (without bananas, I know, not the real thing, but I just like it better that way), and then Cheesecake for dessert, mmmmm....

See you all SOOON.... xoxo

I was gonna write about my CTI presentation since that is what I did this morning... But when I got home I found one of my lovely birds dead on the floor of the cage :'( He, Arcus, had been very quiet lately and we are pretty sure he was getting old but since we did not know how old he was when we got him, it is really hard to say. But he is gone.... And I miss him already... So this is in remembrance of Arcus, my beautiful little bird. I might only have known him for a short time but that makes no difference to me.

This is for you my little one...

After studying ALL DAY yesterday a night out was well deserved. We went to Coolangatta for Teypaniaki (or how ever you spell it) with Chris and Jasmine and then we went out. On our way down to Cooli we saw the most amazing sunset. It was so pretty I made Carlos stop the car so I could get a few pictures:)

After the really really nice dinner we went to the bottle shop to buy something to drink before going to the pub. And what did I find in one of the fridges in the cider section if not REKORDERLIG skogsbars cider. I know it may seem like nothing, but when you are so far away from home and suddenly see something so familiar you get really excited, or at least I do :D

We had a lovely night with good friends and one of the guys I learned was an Architect, so I managed to get a bit of valuable inside information :)

Thought I better show you a few "highlights".

The amazing sunset

Today was the last class of the semester :) Feels pretty good, at the same time a bit scary, because now it is just the big presentations and end of semester exams left... Monday is the first presentation, which is in Introduction to Architecture. For this project we have to create a model in1:25 scale + present our design proposal on 4 A3 pages infront of the whole class for 15 minutes (60 students). You can imagine how much I am looking forward to this, or rather how much I am looking forward to AFTER it is done :D

So the weekend schedule reads: Friday evening - model creating, Saturday - model creating (cinema at 8pm to see new Xmen movie) and Sunday - create A3 presentation (providing that the model is done of course). So the two most important ingredients this weekend are: Creativity and Patience.   :)

Wish me luck

xoxo

Today is my long day at Uni, finishing at 7 pm... I have half of all my classes on this day, plus 1-2 hour breaks inbetween all of them. So I thought since it now is 5.30pm, I needed a study-break before the last session. Next week we have our last lectures, the week after that is final presentations and the two weeks after that final examination... Getting hectic hectic hectic now! Working really hard with my CTI images, here comes a few more, let me know what you think :)

Before - - - - - -After

My last assignment for CTI (Creating The Image) is working with a site somehow and sort of investigating and coming up with a good concept. My site is the Evandale Park which is a park with a lake to go swimming in and it is situated in the middle of everything, but it is still a very calm and beautiful place. I am working with the idea of a journey taking you from the chaotic surroundings of trafic, stress and noice, arriving at the calm lake, then playing with the idea of the water being another world taking you to an even calmer place. So last week I got a waterproof camera from one of Carlo's friends and went for a swim...

The latest week has been pretty full on, assignments needing to get done and a 2500 word essay to get done... The essay has been taking up most of my time to be honest. This essay was for Architectural History where we got to choose a historcal building from a list and then research it and come up with our own essay question/ statement. I chose Piazza Dei Miracoli, which most of you probably know as "the leaning tower of Pisa", which is only one of the four buildings on this site. Anyway, this is not gonna become a history lesson, my point is I am FINALLY done with the essay and tomorrow I am submitting it :D One thing I can tick off my to do list :D Only 2 projects, 1 assignment, a visual diary and 2 end of semester tests left which will be finalised in the coming 5 weeks. And after that I am coming for a visit to Swedenland :D It is not quite official, since the ticket has not been paid for yet, but if things go according to plan I will be on Swedish soil on Monday the 27th of June and stay until Thursday the 21st of July. So people back home, make sure you have some available time !!!

Hmm..what else is new? The so called "winter" has arrived, all this means really is that the sun is a bit less predictable and that the nights and the mornings are a bit cold. Now I know, it is not cold as we know it in Sweden, its just the kind of cold where you prefer to wear socks and a hoody :) June is the coldest month in the Australien year and probably the only time Sweden is hotter than Australia.

Here is an image of my chosen site for my final assignment for the course "Creating the Image". Awsome place...

I know I have showed you this place before, but I just love this image :)

We are now closing in on end of semester and lots of projects, essays and assignments are due. Yesterday I had a 20 minute presentation with my Global Environment group, about air pollution. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous, but still quite focused on the task. I had also been lucky when we were paired up into groups, because I ended up working with 2 girls who were just as devoted as me:) One from New York and one from South Africa, talk about an international team :)

After the presentation we had to wait for 5 minutes, because we were gonna get our grades straight away. So our teacher came over and she said: "your presentation was great, all of you presented really well and were engaged in the subject. However, I will have to give you half a marks deduction for going over time.......

so you get 14,5 out of 15 marking points."

We just sort of looked at eachother thinking "is this really how good we were" :P Such a relief to have it over and done with, and to get a good grade of course. :)

This week I have also managed to get another one of my "famous" UTI's, although it was a long time ago now. Anyway, the reason I am writing about is because when I got the antibiotics my first thought was: "is this really what's supposed to make me better?" And looking at the picture below; I am sure you understand why.

(Iam getting better though, so I guess they do work)

Why does breaks always fly by? Well... all I know is that they do... And then of course you always have that optimistic feeling before the break of how many things you're gonna get done during the break, and everything you feel like you need to catch up on, will get done... Yeah right, how many times does that actually happen? Not too many times for me at least. Not that I have heaps and heaps of catching up to do, but I had this vision that I would be ahead by now. Strangely though, the work does not get done by itself, who knew? :P But I am gonna spend my last day of the break studying, just to make me feel a bit better:)

Tomorrow it is time to get back to Uni and reality. Only another month of lectures, then 3 weeks of examination and then of to Sweden for a visit :D It has been said many times, but seriously, wow time passes fast!!!

My Vitruvian/Da Vinci man :)

There is a so called mid-semester break going on :) However, this "break" involves quite a bit of studying, at least if you want to keep up with the work...

I have managed to catch a bit of a could :( But nothing too bad.

Just before the break we got our first essay back, which was our history essay. And I am very glad to say it went well :) I got 12 out of 15 points, which if you change it into % is 80%, which gets you the next best grade, which is a 6.

The grade scale is:

0= fail (not attended)

1,5= fail (attended, but failed handing things in etc.)

3 = the worst grade you can get, like G-

4= pass (50%)

5=credit (65%)

6=destinction (75%)

7=high distinction (85%)

So for being my first ever academically correct essay in English I am very proud to have managed a high 6 :D This was only a 1500 word essay though, the next one is 2500 words, but hopefully I'll do good :)

Yesterday I went with Sarah to "the lake", mine and Sarahs spot from last year which is absolutely awesome! It's a lake just behind the center of Surfers, it's so close to civilization, and yet it is in a spot where it feels like your so far away. It's hidden away behind the art center and it's always very calm and barely any people there:)

I have just spend my whole weekend preparing for the last project presentation before my mid-semester break. The project was to add some sort of structure to a site. So I created a outside workout area for the public. The biggest part of my project was the modell I decided to create. I spend about 12 hours on it... Here are a few images.

It is almost completely made out of cardboard. The most important ingredients in this project: PATIENCE... :)

Time to get the presentation done in a few hours...

xoxo

Time passes fast... so so fast... In a few weeks it's mid-semester break! How can half the semester already be gone?!?!?! But like I said, another few weeks... And those weeks are quite busy, one 30 % essay submission, one 35% presentation and one 25% project... Big stuff!!

Here are a few images from my "what it is to be human" project.

"Intelligent beings"

"Mankind as one with "Nature"

Yesterday was an awesome and very interesting day, spend in Brisbane. All the first year Architects went there for "Introduction to Architecture", to have a look at a couple of different buildings and visit two architectural firms.

We went to the Powerhouse, which used to be exactly that, but then when they stoped using it, instead of destroying it, they turned it into a performance center. Such a cool building, because they have kept so much of its history and its an awesome feeling to be inside.

After the Powerhouse we went into the city and visited APA (Architectural Practice Academy). Which is a architectural firm that only takes newly graduates. Every year they take 6 new graduates who stay for 2 years, so in total they are 12 Graduates there. Its a way of helping new architects getting into the industry.

After that interesting visit we went for a walk around CBD and looked at a couple of different buildings. One of the places we visited, and probably my favorite was the GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art). It was so much fun and very interesting, and FOR FREE :)

My two favorites from GOMA were The Michael Jackson room and the LEGO room. The MJ room was a totally black room with 16 screens. On the screens were 16 very different people all singing MJ songs. They had obviously been having MJ songs on really loud and they were all singing and some were dancing, but when you got to hear it, all you heard was these 16 people singing, without any music. It was a pretty cool and fun experience, to see how different people interpretate the same song.

When it came to the LEGO room, I just never wanted to leave. I spend most of the day with my Swedish friends Pontus and Peter, and they did not want to leave either, at one point we were considering missing the bus :)

It was a looooong table, with heaps and heaps of white lego, in the middle were all these buildings that different people had created and you could just sit down and start creating. I know my birthday are a few months away, but I really really would like some WHITE LEGO :D And a better camera would be good too :)

Last but not least we went to Hassel, whcih is a huge Architectural firm, actually thay have a bit of everything, they have architects, landscapers, interior designers, planners and urban designers. I would have ABSOLUTELY LOVED working there. They evey have a modelling room! A big room with just heaps of things to create your own modell :)

Life is hard sometimes... Especially when this is what you do between study sessions :)

So... The testing has started for real, had my first presentation for my first project yesterday and for the first time in my life I went up first. I have always been the one in the class that goes last, just because I don't like speaking in front of people (I know, hard to imagine:P). But I have realised that what gets me the most nervous is the waiting and me being able to thank about what to say and about what things that could possible go wrong... But no, I was the first one up there and I have to say I am pretty pleased with how it went. And strangely enough, I seem to get less nervous when it's in English then I was doing presentations in Swedish. I have no idea if it actually has to do with the language or if it's just me growing out of being nervous (if you can do that) or why it is, but it is fine by me :) The presentation was about our first project in "Introduction to Architecture" which was a Surf Lifesaving Memorial proposal. And so now I just have to finish my final submission and submit it of course:)

Don't know what else to tell you, it's mostly study study study over here. Have 2 essays to finish in the coming 2 and a half weeks and 2 new projects to work on...

Today I actually managed to give myself a break for like 3 hours and just relaxed in the sun by the pool, it's been a hot day so it's quite hard to focus anyway...

As I have promised to show some of my work, here are some pictures from our work on the human body :)

Ok, I really do wish I was better at writing more often, like every day or at least every other day. But to be honest, this degree is pretty intense and TIME CONSUMING. I wish a day had more then just 24 hours, so I could get more things done. But hey, all I can do is my best :)

Today we're having a debate and the subject is : is the environment really in a poor condition? And I'm on the team that's for. A bit daunting, being the first debate I've ever had in English, but I'm sure that as soon as we get started I'll find something to say, I usually do :P Next week I have to hold a 5 minute presentation about my Life Saving Monument. When I've finished the project I'll show you some pictures, as I know that there are a few of you that are quite interested about what we actually get to do in our classes.

Me, after a looong day at Uni...HOT and TIRED

Today I finally got a school bag :)

I was thinking about ordering another one over the internet, but then thinking about the fact that it would probably at least be another week or two before it would arrive, and that is IF they would actually send it... I decided it would be better to just go out and have a look around for one, it was a bit hard finding one with enough pockets and that could hold my laptop and books, as well as my design diaries and pens. But I am pretty happy with my choice :) I forgot to bring my laptop along, so I was a little bit worried that I wasn't gonna be able to fit it in there, but as soon as I got home I tried, and IT FITS :)