Spinning Words

It’s the noise the ball makes when it leaves the racket and the noise the racket makes when it’s swung through the air. The rhythm of a point and the sudden change in the pace, the sound of the footsteps, slipping on the surface, the sigh for a lost point or the confident encouragement for a winner. And knowing what’s happening on the court by keeping your eyes closed and just listening to the game. And then there’s the fist. And pointing for the towel and raising the racket to ask for balls when serving. The perfect elegant swing of a forehand, the force of a backhand, the beauty of a one-handed backhand, the velocity of a volley, the speed in the serve and the gaze at the place where the ball fell. The long rally that you have to follow because you have to see how the point ends. And you know them all cause you’ve seen them so many times yet they are never the same. And that moment when you hold your breath and the second you open your fist and see traces of nails in your palm, and the butterflies and the clapping and the beauty and the passion of the game. And the silence. And all things that can’t be put to words. That’s why I love tennis!

Gustaf Adolfskyrkan

I am a little behind with my writing mostly because it was time to go back to class and work on projects. Plus we had quite a few clear and warm days and I spent some time wandering the streets of Stockholm. Unfortunately not as much time as I would have wanted and now it’s gray and raining.  So far Stockholm looks great in October, there are so many colors everywhere you look, it’s really pretty. I had the pleasure of spending some days in the company of some really nice people and we all had some evenings full of laughter and good time. Thank you all, it was great meeting you and I really hope we’re gonna do it again cause it was great fun!

Drottningholms Slott

I also played tourist a bit and went to visit Drottningholms Slott which is The Royal Palace of Sweden where the Royal Family still resides. You can go there either by boat or by buss. I took the bus because the journey is included in my SL card but for the full meal maybe the boat is a better idea though it’s a bit more expensive. The palace has a lovely garden where it’s really nice to walk around, a maze and, the best part, when going inside you have student discounts. And I also got a guided tour in English. Plus I had a nice company for the visit.

I am still a bit amazed when I see deer every day on my way to school, I guess I have to get used to that. I am probably most happy that I don’t have to take the subway to school everyday but I will have to see how I am going to feel about that in Winter. Half of the journey is on the highway the other half is in the woods.

The rest of my time has been spent wandering the streets and, as I already said, taking advantage of some really nice sunny days and also listening to music, Swedish music (because I will never learn Swedish words without putting them into context and music seems the best thing I could think about) and Finnish music, simply because I love it. I spent all morning today looking for some Moonsorrow songs that I used to listen to a lot some time ago, it was a bit hard to find them, I only ran across one, but I listened to more of their tracks and I really like the way they sound. They give a nice boost of energy in the morning. I should switch to Fintroll though. Just for the record, I am using headphones so I am not torturing my flat mates/ neighbors.

I have a busy schedule ahead with lots of exciting things coming up and I will try to make the best out of every moment. I am lucky to be a part of a great  team in school, so I have to do my reading so we can make a good job, will have to practice my cooking skills and maybe learn to make kanelbulle at home and most of all I really have to work on my time management. Looking forward to the tennis doubles final in Beijing tomorrow. Hai Horia/Max!

And to close up, my morning sounded a bit like this:

Hello everybody! Sorry for being so quiet, nothing much happened since I last wrote something here. Well, ok, nothing is not the proper word to describe what’s been happening around here. A lot of stuff was or still is going on. For example I turned in my first course paper. On short, the final grade of my first course will be made of class activity plus first assignment (comparing two public lectures held at JMK Department by two guest teachers) plus a course paper in which I cheerfully wrote about Roger Federer. I hope I pass.

So I believe it is time to talk about school. I am a student at Stockholm University, happily studying Media and Communication at JMK Department (Enheten för journalistik, medier och kommunikation). Of course that after being away from school for so long I find everything here amazing, and in a way it is. First of all I have the opportunity to study something that I always wanted to, second of all, if I make a comparison between what I saw here and what I saw in Romania, the difference is huge. We barely began having classes that we woke up with guest professors. Cool! Or not. Cool because you don’t always get to hear internationally renowned teachers talking two meters in front of you, not cool because it can be very confusing having 3 new teachers talking to you in the first two weeks of school. Each has his/her own style, ideas and ways of approaching media theory so in the end there’s a bit too much information to deal with. But here comes the solution to that: write a first assignment comparing the two public lectures, that should put some order into your ideas… or prove that you didn’t exactly get it. I didn’t get my results yet so I don’t know if I got it or not. So after things calmed down and the guest left it was time to finish reading the course literature (about 5 books) and write the final assignment using a newspaper article, some news you saw on TV, anything that can be interpreted using the theoretical background we gathered in these weeks. So of course I found two brand new articles on Roger Federer and wrote about him. I hope I understood the theory and the guidelines for the paper well enough to get a passing grade.

Other exciting things: people here create all conditions for students so that you don’t want to stay home, you want to go to school: you have libraries, study rooms, public spaces with sofas and tables, lots of cafeterias, just grab a cup of coffee and a kanelbulle and start reading, writing, debating with class mates or whatever you want. The best part comes now: what better way to celebrate (at least till we get our results) turning in the first paper than going out for fika with your classmates? Today we went to Citykyrkan and I had a delicious slice of Prinsesstårta. Swedish sweets rock!!

I am looking forward to the new course starting in about 10 days and I am also getting ready for my Swedish exam. Which reminds me, I have to go study now. I will come back later these days with another story that I am already knitting on.

Finally some time to sit down and talk about the city I currently live in and the things I do here. On brief: I am in Stockholm and I got back to school. Oh, how I missed it! It wasn’t exactly the strong desire to be a student again that determined me to do that but the wish to study Media and to do it somewhere up North. So I moved to Sweden.  Of course first I had to get my admission results, plan my trip, worry, stress, nag people, put everything on paper, draw the line and get the result which was a plane ticket with my name on it, destination Stockholm.

Stockholm from Above

I arrived here at the end of Summer, theoretically, but got 3 more weeks of it. As a first impression everything here seemed blue, maybe because they’re by the sea? And if it’s not blue, it’s green, because the city is full of parks, squares with trees and benches. Lovely! My favourite place to sit, hang around or call it whatever, is on the sidewalk next to the sea. However, I spend most of my time in school, in the study rooms or in class with a pen and notebook, a pile of books and a hot cup of coffee. And with a lot of people that I just met, people that come from many countries with different views and each having an interesting story to tell, or two or more. You just need time to listen, and again, a cup of coffee. And a kanelbulle.

A Youth Hostel

After long walks, boat rides, worries about not getting your student card in time, finding a place to live, papers you have to submit to live legally here, walks with the classmates, bus timetables, papers to turn in, Sweden’s tennis matches to watch and the instinct to look at 3 different things in the same time, things that are in 3 different directions, one takes a break and… visits the King’s palace. Last weekend was the anniversary of 40 years or Reign for King Carl XVI Gustaf and there was free entrance at the palace (will have to revisit it when it’s less crowded and there is time to sit and read every label) plus the Royal family greeted the audience from the front of the palace. The event itself was pretty impressive and a bit overwhelming for someone who comes from a country that has no Monarchy (theoretically, because yes, we do have a Royal family). As much as I was enjoying this event, I left it to go to the protest for Rosia Montana. So I spent a few hours freezing on the streets of Stockholm, together with other Romanians, all of them pretty cool people that I am very happy to have met.

So after all the excitement one has a reality check: nope, still seems unreal. Better to just go back to school and enjoy all the interesting things that are discussed in classes, all the books in the library, the study rooms, the huge campus, hot coffee, great company, and yes, even the Swedish lessons are enjoyable though they give me a headache. And dig deep to find some good Swedish music.