...getting a better experience of Helsingborg

Hej!

Firstly, Happy Easter! I hope you are all having a very nice long weekend :)

Well I am going to start with last weekend, as that is where I left the last blog...
I was meant to be going Swedish clubbing...it didn’t really happen. I had a really nice evening with the expat crowd, Keri, Jif, Helgi, Nuno and Laura, and we made it to a couple of bars, but we never actually made it to the club!

Then on Sunday I met up with Mark, Tom, Jon and Gwen as Gwen was visiting from Gothenburg. We had a nice afternoon trip on the ferry, and then a few beers in one of the 'English' bars in Helsingborg. After that Mark and his band had a rehearsal...so we all went along to watch that too! Was really good fun...a very good day.

Then this week I have had a very workless week! Monday I was in Almhult again, this tie to sit with the customer services people, and learn about how they use my computer systems. This was a really good day too, most of my team were with me and it was a really good day of building friendships outside of the normal work place. We also got ice cream and sat outside in the gorgeous sunshine, so I was happy!

Tuesday and Wednesday I was on a Team Building couple of days...and it was actually much more fun then I thought it was going to be! We did some hard work, had some really good discussions about were we wanted our system and the team to go over the next few years. We also had a very fun team challenge, which involved 5 different things; putting (golf), archery, bowls, blow darting and then some Swedish rock throwing thing. Of course my team won all 5! :)
This was also a really good way of spending time with the whole team in another setting, we had a really nice evening of talking and watching the football and playing a game of guess the song...I think I lost that one, being the youngest and also because they kept on putting in random Swedish songs!

So Thursday was my first and only day in the office this week, and so was VERY busy, trying to catch up on stuff as well as doing stuff for next week...as I'm not in the office at all!

So anyway, to the clubbing experience...yes, we had one! We went out last night, and made sure we made it to the club this time. Helsingborg doesn't really come to life until after about 11, so that’s when we went out. Now normally Swedish people are quite polite, and aware of personal space...apparently that goes completely out of the window when they have had a drink or when in a bar or club! I was bashed into many many times over the night, with maybe 1 or 2 times someone saying sorry. The rest of the time it just seems to be taken for granted that its ok. So I spent a ton of money getting in, a ton of money on every drink to listen to pretty poor music and get bashed about! Brilliant! But saying all that, it was actually an ok night.

This week Sarah has been away on a cruise, and I have really missed talking to her! We normally talk almost every night, and with her away we haven't been able to. But she is back today, so hopefully we should get a good catch up :)
Its strange, she lives in another country most of the time, and yet when she goes away it gets really lonely! Awww, poor little me. Oh well, hopefully we shall have a very good couple of days catching up now.

So what I have learnt this week:
Swedish people change when they have a drink
Personal space does not exist in night clubs
Missing people is a very strange thing...and gets stronger for strange reasons!

PS. Its amazing how much missing someone can hurt, and yet it makes things so much clearer. You get time to think through all the feelings, and realise how strong they actually are. It also just makes the thought of being back with them even better, and the thought of talking to them for hours really really inviting. I love wot.