Hannah

Let's get lost

2012-02-14T23:49:00.002-08:00

Hey!

Today it's Valentine's Day! If you've met me you know that I absolutely love Valentine's Day.

It's just such a lovely day. I like that it's cheesy and tacky and commercialized. I like that people either love their darling or hate everyone (it's Single Awareness Day!) or hate everyone hating on Valentine's day or just being totally neutral. I like that people get so obsessed with this during this one particular day during the year. All in all, I think Valentine's Day is hilarious.

O maybe it's just because I love spreading love and liking other people and that is why this day makes me happy.

As you see I've done heart-themed nails in honour of this wonderful day. I was also wearing heart shaped earrings, a heart bracelet, pink socks and cardigan and lastly my "All you need is love" shirt.

So, summarizing: lots of kisses to all my friends and to my family who I miss very much on this particular day!

Much love,
Hannah

Svenskt tema

2012-02-11T12:11:00.000-08:00

Hi!

Today's update has a Swedish theme. Below are some examples of Swedish things I miss/like

Swedish things I miss

Swedish milk.

Svensk mjölk smakar mycket bättre.

My house and my family

My friends

Semla

Swedish things I like that I have here

Lakrits

Axel.

Axel is probably my favorite Swedish person here, this clearly shows how awesome he is because if you know me, I usually don't have favorites. It's his birthday today so I thought I'd give him a little shout out. I have also written a poem (lies: I'm going to make one up on the fly below) in ~~his~~ your honor. This part is now directed directly at Axel.

Axel, nu har du gått från kille till man

Du kan göra saker vi yngre inte kan.

För du har inte längre det där problemet

eftersom du nu kan gå till Systemet!

I'm a poetic genius. An artist. I should drop out of university and start writing full time.

Grattis på födelsedagen!

---

Also, a quick mention of Charlotte who although she isn't Swedish, she is blonde! And she's my friend. And it was her birthday yesterday. So, Charblonde, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

---

Now I am going to start a productive day and go check on my bread that is rising.

Hejdå!

Hipster for a day

2012-02-07T23:25:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Sometimes you have absolutely no plans for the day (apart from studying). And sometimes, those days turns out to be wonderful, fantastical and adventurous days. Like today, when I tried being hipster.

Mid-afternoon I met up with Axel (who I've written about before) and our friends Blair, Hunter and Cathy. They are all coffee fanatics and were going to a so called brew bar and I decided to tag along. Not because I like coffee, I don't, but because of the lovely company.

Café Revolver. 325 Cambie St. Gastown, Vancouver

Well there, I couldn't very well not have coffee, so I did. I will be honest with you guys. I am probably the first person to walk into that place and (politely) say,

"Hey, I'm actually not a big coffee fan, so which coffee would you recommend to someone who doesn't really like coffee? And I realize I am probably in the wrong place..."

However, the man was nice and told me which coffee to get. It was... ok.

Hipster activity #1: ~~Coffee shop~~ Brew bar

Next, we walked to a thrift shop because Blair wanted to buy some clothes. Unfortunately he didn't find any he liked so we moved on pretty quickly. Most exciting things at the store: big "diamonds", expensive vintage Chanel purse and Axel almost making a mannequin fall over.

Hipster activity #2: Thrift shop. Vintage!

We said goodbye to Blair who wanted to go home and headed towards a restaurant for dinner. We went to The Naam, a totally vegetarian restaurant. We discovered that Hunter was impatient and didn't want to wait in line, but in the end the food was worth waiting for. We all had a delicious meal and to finish it of me and Cathy shared a yummy chocolate dessert. I do love chocolate.

If I had to give The Naam a review I'd have to say it's NAM NAM. So if you're close, make sure to stop by. By "stop by" I mean sit down for almost two hours to savor and enjoy the meal.

Hipster activity #3: Vegetarian Restaurant

Then I took the 99 home. We were packed like sardines.

End of day, time to study!

This is how hipster we were.

That song, so exclusive.

Sick.

I really have to study now.

Bread baking

2012-02-05T23:38:00.000-08:00

Hello!

What might have happened in the exciting life of Hannah you may ask? Well, not much. Most of the week I spent studying like the good student I am. But Friday afternoon, after we had taken our first Psychology midterm of the semester I decided to take a break.

I like this guy. He's cool.

Also I like this song.

I'll let it represent the adventure I've written about below.

Except. You know. Without being chased by the law and so on. Because that's not how I roll.

Also, consider watching "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" if you haven't already.

So me and Kiki decided to go on an adventure, just as we always do when we hang out. Off we went, into the unknown wilderness. Emphasis on unknown because it was not exactly what would be considered wilderness. However, we did find a quaint little cluster of houses known as Fairview Residence, explored the posh Hampton Place (complete with a stroll through private property looking for Grandma Anita, she does make the most wonderful cookies) and finally ending up in Westbrook Village.

I had never visited Westbrook Village before Friday and I found it quite delightful (I'm writing in such a strange manner today). Me and Kiki inspected the whole "village" and when we saw something called Sail we were intrigued. So we went inside, and turned out it was a presentation something or another. Either way, we ended up looking at how future apartments will look like. We kinda wanted to get one.

My Friday night incredibly exciting since I started baking my sour dough. Making sour dough bread is a very long process. First you make the pre-dough. And then you let it rest for 12 - 20 hours.

---

Bread yummy yummy. No not done yet!

Then you wake up and it's Saturday! The first thing you think about is of course your wonderful bread that will be made. You mix in some things and let it rise for 2 hours and then you have this wonderful sunshine love.

Also, it's a wonderful day and the sun is shining and why am I suddenly writing in third person?!

My point is, I was polishing my shoes sitting outside. Wearing only stockings and a T-shirt (because that's how I dress when I'm at home) and not being cold! This is noteworthy because if you know me even the littlest tiniest bit you should know that I very easily get cold. I wore double layers all winter. In Vancouver! It's not even particularly cold here.

But yes, spring is coming and I love it! It will probably rain many-a-times again but sunny days like that for sure makes up for it.

"STOP!", you say. Yes, you just said that. Don't give me that innocent look, I heard you say "STOP!". You're tired of me speaking of the weather, because that's basically all I do in this blog. You want to know what happened with my bread. Fine! I'll tell you.

I took out the blob in the bowl, cut it into two and formed them into loaves. Yummeeeeh. Then you let them rise for another 2 hours or so. I told you, sour dough bread baking business is really quite time consuming.

After that you can finally put them in the oven and when they're done you have two delicious sour dough bread loaves! I might have forgotten to take a picture when they were fresh out of the oven so the picture is totally staged. There was another one but I had already put it away.

There it is! Looking beautiful isn't it. I have to say, I am rather proud of myself. If it was good? Yes, quite. But, practice makes perfect so next weekend I'll be at it again.

---

Finishing up this week's update I want to tell you all about a book I've been reading and just finished. It's not long, but it was the sort of good, that you don't want it to end. So I took my time and only read a little bit every night. The book is written by David Levithan and is called The Lover's Dictionary. You guys should seriously check out this book. I have a copy if you'll want to borrow it.

But now it's definitely my bed time.

Goodnight!

High

2012-01-30T23:57:00.001-08:00

Hi!

I'm on a study high. Yes, you read that correctly. I got really into taking psychology notes and now I'm so awake and I should really get to bed soon.

I took this picture today. End of January and there's already snowdrops (snödroppar) in Vancouver. Amazing isn't it!

This is a song I really like right now.

This is me pretending I haven't updated in a month or so. Nothing special going on.

But honestly, I might try updating a bit more often. Maybe every other week instead of every four weeks. We'll see how it goes, so no promises (who am I kidding, no one really cares).

Until next time and let's be realistic, who knows when that is?

Much love,

Hannah

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T02:59:00.000-08:00

and may it be a good one.

Love to you all, thank you for being a part of my life.

(A summary/review of 2011 may be in process)

Much love,
Hannah

After party

2011-12-23T01:50:00.000-08:00

Hello!

What has life offered since the last update? The answer is "a lot"!

First of all, there were Finals. They were... there. And that is about all. They were not particularly fun but they still had to be done. My last Final was a Saturday at 8.30 am so I decided to stay the night on campus with my friend Kiki.

The next morning, at 7 am we thought it would be a good time to get breakfast. Unfortunately the world did not seem to think it was a good time for us. The cafeteria was closed so we headed to SUB. But when we got there it seemed like everything was closed too. So walked towards the Village we finally ended up at the Boulevard Café (which was where we were we chilled together last time). We had the most amazing breakfast there. It was a good day.

After the Final my love Becca picked me up. We made grilled cheese sandwiches and I learnt what these were. Then I hung around until dinner time and it was decided that I'd stay for dinner. Lucky that, since it was Becca and I that made the dinner. It was pretty yummy if I may say so myself.

After dinner (and dessert) I headed back to campus to celebrate my dear friend Natasha who was turning 18 the next day. Good times were had by all and then I slept over in Laura's room.

The next day, which was Sunday I first went to cousin Sarah's dance recital. It was awesome! After that I went home and waited for my fav girls Tung and Laura for a sleepover. We ate some delicious tomato soup and then we made gingerbread cookies. Cuddly times were had by all.

On Monday I went with Uncle Chris to my first Canucks game! It was super exciting and there were tons and tons of people there. Because I was there watching them play, they (of course) won! Go Canucks!

Tuesday was another great day because I got to see my beloved Becca again. This time with the rest of her lovely crew of girls.

Wednesday night is a good night to go clubbing. So Laura, Claudia and I put on our fancy dresses and shoes, drank a glass (or so) of wine and headed downtown to Crystallize. We danced all night and had a great time. The night gets two thumbs up even though there were too many old creepy men and the guy to girl ration was not balanced.

Today, which is Thursday, was the day I started my shopping for the holidays. After some intense shopping I found Tung and Laura and together with their friends M and J we went for dinner at Café D'Lite. Yumyum.

Currently I'm sitting in Tung's living room chilling with my fav girls in our most relaxed outfits. Life is good. Tomorrow my family's arriving in Vancouver and I could not be more excited.

(Note: Amount of sleepovers in one week - 5. Pretty impressive I must say)

All in all, it's good to be back. Love to all. Happy holidays!

halfway

2011-12-12T23:10:00.000-08:00

3 down. 2 to go.

there's no stopping us right now

5 days

Le premier exam...

2011-12-07T08:31:00.001-08:00

...est en français. Oui. Foux du fafa.

Et voilà, une belle chanson que je l'aime.

Pas en français mais Yann Tiersen, l'homme dans la video, il est français.

Adieu.

Miel

2011-11-28T21:27:00.001-08:00

Hi!

I had a really ambitious plan for this post. It was going to be grand and spectacular. But as Robert Burns so nicely put it,

"The best laid schemes of mice and men

Go often askew"

(From the poem "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns, 1785)

Still I will give you a quick summary of the past two weeks. Enjoy.

---

A Tuesday: A birthday party

A Sunday: A celebration of the first of Advent with family and a friend. We made a traditional Swedish meal (meatballs, mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam) and glögg. It was a nice evening indeed.

A Thursday: One Acts Vanier. Good theatre

A Friday: Last day of classes. Time went unbelievably fast, it feels like I've barely been here. I was a part of the Lucia performance at UBC. After that: One Acts Totem. Also this night there was some amazing acting and directing. Then it was the last party (before finals).

---

Musical intermission: The Weepies with Be My Honeypie

This video will make you happy and if you're single - sad at the same time. It's adorable. And I like the song too!

---

The future: As I mentioned, Finals (yes, they deserve a capital F) are coming up. Meaning, there won't be any major updates until I'm done. So mark the 17th of December in your calendars because that's the earliest that I'll be back!

Much love to all my honeypies,

Hannah

Hannah Returns

2011-11-21T21:20:00.001-08:00

Hi!

So... It was a while ago, wasn't it. Recently, I've been hearing complaints about me not being active on my blog. Yes, I'll admit it. I abandoned and ignored the blog for no good reason at all. But today is the day I, Hannah, returns. This is my great comeback!

So I hope you are sitting on a comfortable chair and that you're ready to read... Because here we go!

Since there is no way I can ~~remember~~ summarize everything that has happened since the last update I will just have to highlight some extra memorable moments.

--- HALLOWEEN ---

I was at first a bit hesitant, because Halloween seemed like such a hyped up holiday. People were starting to talk about costumes already in the first days of October. But it turned out to be a great holiday and I had a good time. On the Friday (which was 3 days before Halloween), I went to a club event with CVC. Lovely! I was a party-animal AKA I was wearing some type of leopard print ears with sequins on them. We had fun times.

Monday, the actual day of Halloween I went trick-or-treating for the first time in my life! Oh, how deprived I have been. Not really actually. It was quite fun but would probably have been better had I been a little child.

I was amazed at how ambitiously some people decorated their houses. There were also some pretty cool pumpkin carvings. There were also those that had fake pumpkins... Not OK!

--- A DAY ---

There was one day when there was cool weather. I saw

1 thunder and lightning
1 double rainbow (!!!) [Should this be "2 rainbows"?]
1 wind blowing up a storm
Lots of hail. On me.

Matt's yummy soup

Then I went to meet Matt and Michelle. They'd just gotten married that day. We celebrated this with:

1 adventure on East Hastings
1 visit to a Gourmet Warehouse (at above location)
2 long bus trips
a few visits to different stores
1 delicious chicken soup
too many buns and chocolate chip cookies

--- THIS WEEKEND ---

Wow! Time went fast! We're already at this weekend and more specifically at Saturday. I woke up really early and did important things such as cleaning, dishes and laundry. It was a gorgeously crisp and fresh winter day outside and I was longing to get some fresh air. (I should probably add somewhere that it snowed in Vancouver, and there was still snow on the ground on Saturday). After trying to find someone who was awake/wasn't afraid of some chilly weather I finally found someone who fitted into both of these categories.

Around noon I met up with the lovely Laura at Granville island and we walked around and looked at food for a few hours. Yes, it was a few hours. An exciting thing that happened was when we were eating our lunch a bird flew right onto my hand holding my food, probably trying to grab a piece. Greedy little birdie.

Eventually we decided that we'd looked at food enough and we headed downtown to meet Tung. Since she was busy shopping with her ma and sis me and Laura inspected the selection of sparkly things in every store we passed. When we finally were joined by Tung we continued our search for sparkly awesomeness.

Then I went home and chilled for a while. I baked together with Auntie M. Then my girl Claudia came over to watch SNL. I don't have any pictures of that. I do however have a picture of her spray painting golden bananas.

Gold CVC bananas

Other interesting things that happened Saturday: Conor got a jacket and he liked it. I told you so.

Summary: I know some amazing girls.

--- TODAY ---

The day that was today, when today was today, is Monday. It was a relatively good day. A surprisingly good day perhaps. After my last class I met up with my Swedish homeboy Axel to do important things. We stood in line for 40 minutes to get a stamp and a signature on important papers. Then we posted them. I felt like I was on top of things (for once).

When I got home another pleasant surprise awaited me. A longed-for package from my lovely family finally arrived. It contained a nice ceramic refrigerator magnet from Spain, a cute postcard and DJUNGELVRÅL! I am unbelievably excited. I am saving them.

Om nom nom

--- FUTURE ---

Hopefully this long post will be some sorts of redemption. I am truly sorry for my neglect of the blog. This brings me to my next point. Finals are coming up. I am probably not going to have time to do these long updates.

My last exam is the 17th of December, mark that date. Hopefully I will blog after that! I am not saying that I won't blog until the 17th of Dec. But... If I don't. You all know why!

Thanks for not giving up on me! I actually missed this.

Love,

Fall (again)

2011-10-26T23:22:00.000-07:00

Hi!

This time it was a different type of fall then the one I talked about last time.

I literally fell. Down. On my face. When walking up the stairs in Buchanan D. It was a graceful moment. Me sprawled out on the stairs and people rushing by to get to their next classes. I tried to get up, somehow got stuck and ended up still being on the ground. My next try was more successful and as I stood up some random guy walking down the stairs actually asked me if I was ok. I said yes. Then I went to class.

Then I realized my pants were broken. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have brutal bruises tomorrow. Whatevs. I've been getting a good laugh from the story.

So why did I fall? Probably because of my new and awesome rubber boots. Dey sow naice! I luuurve dem.

---

Other exciting things. As I was leaving Angus after looking for T (who wasn't there!) I saw tons of people outside of Chem building. Me, being the curious girl I've always been, started walking towards Chem. As I got closer in reality I got no closer to figuring out what was happening. When I realized I probably couldn't walk through all the people I decided to just walk around the buildings.

Not until I had been on Facebook did I realize what was going on. Famous people! On campus! Whaaat. So apparently they are filming a new movie with stars such as Shia LaBeouf and Anna Kendrick. Director is Robert Redford. I actually know nothing about these people except LaBeouf who's been in a fight and in Transformers. Kendrick's name sounds familiar and I definitely recognize Redford's face.

Interesting!

---

I also went to dinner with family? family friends? awesome people. It was grrreat!

---

Halloween's coming up! Excited. Yes! Now I have to sleep. Or study. Don't know. Whatevs.

Baiii <3

Fall

2011-10-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

Well hello there.

It's been a while since I last updated. Have I been too busy? Have I been to lazy? Maybe it's a little bit of both.

I would give you a quick update on what has happened during the time that has passed, but all days kind of float together and it's hard to tell what happened two weeks ago and what happened three weeks ago. But, I can definitely give you some of the highlights.

---

As some of you might know I'm a member of UBC CVC which might only be the greatest and best club ever. I was honoured by being chosen as the Member of the Month! If you click above link and scroll down you will see a picture of me and a small interview.

---

Last weekend I took a few walks and I actually brought my camera along for one of them. It was absolutely gorgeous outside and I shared that fact on Facebook. But since one of my kind friends, no names mentioned, told me "Pics or it was ugly as hell", I guess I'll have to post some pictures here.

People are starting to decorate for Halloween

Sunshine

A big spider in the sink

The sign on both sides of the car read:
"No parking"

It's so pretty! I'm so happy for sunshine.

---

Yesterday the UBC Ski and Board club had brought snow to the Knoll. It was amazing. Because 1) there was snow on the Knoll in October 2) There were lots of snowboarders and skiiers. Need I say more? I don't think so. My and Kiki watched for an hour, then we went and got coffee and hot chocolate.

Our drinks! They so pwetty.

Then we drank them and talked about everything and anything. We also did some serious people watching. Which was cool. Because I love people watching and finally I've found someone that understands the greatness in people watching.

---

Today a lot of exciting fun things are happening too. But first I have to do lots of homework. Lots and lots of homework. It's ok though. Next week is Halloween. I'll try to not forget the blog.

Bye!

gratitude

2011-10-10T23:19:00.001-07:00

Things I am thankful for:

Having people that I love; having people loving me back; my mother, father and sister; all my other family, closely related or really distantly related or just anyone I consider family; mina fina vänner; my wonderful friends; my UBC family; music; unicorns; TA hours; sunshine; rain; the two Thanksgiving dinners I've had this weekend.

There are a few more things I'm sure but I don't have all night. Really, I'm thankful for everything good in my life and some of the bad things too. Because really. It shapes you as a human being. (<- Not cliché, nope, not at all.)

---

I found this music video today. I fell in love. Then I shed a few tears because it was that beautiful.

The following citation is from the video description box.

"After the concert I finally dared to ask her what I wanted to ask her that morning, to sing us this lullaby that struck me down. It's Sunday morning, a morning of hangovers. The whole hotel seems suspended in the air. We ask her to get to the bar, to make it sing for her, to sing for her son (for whom she had written this song). We erase ourselves. She, she doesn't. After we're done filming, I cry. She cries too."

---

Don't forget to be thankful and appreciate what life gives you. Smile!

Hearts!

After rain comes shine

2011-10-08T14:56:00.002-07:00

Hi!

Do you know how I know that I'm really liking it here in Vancouver and at UBC? I have had a week with midterms and papers but I still had such a good time. It has been stressful but every day I found that there was at least something I could smile about.

Done is done, I'm sure no one wants to hear about my school work. Except computer sciences. In our lab we were going to make snake. (You know that game where a snake eats food and grows. No one who reads this should be so young they do not know what it is.) It did not go well. Whatever.

But what really made my week was Friday, which, generally is a really good day. When I left the building of my last class, it was sunshine. Lots of it! I had earlier ~~forced~~ ~~convinced~~ asked my friend Michelle if she wanted to go for a walk with me. Since it was sunny (but still rather cold) we headed down to Wreck Beach. After hundreds of stairs we came across this funny sign.

Avoid staring and gawking

In case you didn't know Wreck Beach is a nude beach. Michelle didn't know the first time she went. When it was warm. Apparently the sight of lots of old naked men was not as enjoyable as it sounds like. Because it had not been a nice day earlier and maybe because it's October there was only one naked old man. Eyes on the ground...

Wreck beach with mountains in the background

But it was nice and sunny and we had a good time. After a while we decided to keep going. So we went back. Up all the stairs (which by now were thousands of stairs!). I hadn't checked out Nitobe Garden which is a Japanese garden on campus. So we decided to go there. It was very peaceful. Then we visited Milkshake. He was tired.

It was then time for me to leave these friends because I was finally getting reunited with my Becca. When we finally found each other it was great. More then a year since we last saw each other it was like coming home.

We made chocolate cookies and realized that we would probably have the greatest cooking show ever. Then we made dinner and lots of her lovely friends came. I heard a thousand stories about people I don't know. It was great. Becca, I'm coming to visit you in Montreal.

Then I slept. Now I'm finished writing for today. I want boots.

Byeeee!

Ps. I like this song

Phase 2

2011-10-03T00:00:00.001-07:00

Hi

I had a great birthday celebration on Saturday. Thank you all my darling who came and celebrated me. Extra thanks to David that cooked for me and to Michelle who made everything looks spotless. You both rock.

But now. The honeymoon is over. I have so much work to do. I think everyone is starting to feel the pressure. When this week is over I will be so happy. Maybe because it's finally the weekend and an awful week will be over. Or maybe it's because I finally will see Becca. Honestly can't wait. Saturday cannot come fast enough.

Tip of the day: don't mention philosophy around me. Please!

Excitement

2011-10-01T01:33:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

I have so much to tell you and so little time. I'll dive right into it.

Wednesday I had my first midterm. It was kinda scary and kinda exciting. But what's even more exciting is that when I got home it turned out I'd gotten a package from my lovely family. There were not only a couple of awesome letters but also this lovely dress/top.

Lovely wednesday surprise!

The next day I had classes as usual (and a lab that killed everyone. CPSC. Whyyyy?) which was relatively interesting/fun, just a normal Thursday. But after school me and Tyler (I talked about him in this post) went to the CSS (Cognitive Systems Society) barbecue! It was great fun and we met some really cool people and all that jazz.

Friday's are always good days because well, it's a Friday! But this one has been exceptionally good. A normal school day but I had lunch with my friend B who is really great and I haven't really seen her since Imagine Day which was ages ago! So it was nice catching up and just relaxing. Later the same day I went with my family to our favorite (not really. Most often visited, at least) restaurant. Why? To celebrate my birthday (a day early).

We ate so much food and we even had chocolate cake for dessert. Everything was so yummy and I'm pretty sure we all ate too much. I also got some really nice presents from my lovely relatives. A scarf/wrap/poncho/thingy thing from W&M and a cup, earrings and a baseball bat* from V&D + crew. Thank you so much!

You think the night was over already? Not so fast. Me and Uncle Chris went to an amazing concert. It's quite hard to describe the music but I would say that it is something like unicorns grazing in a meadow during sunrise. It was that magic. Please, if you ever get the chance, definitely check out Music on Main. It's so awesome. Music people. This is for you. If you are interested about the concert I went to you can read about it here.

Then I went home and that is where the night ended. Except the writing of this very blog entry. Which is happening right now. As you noticed I found the function for inserting links in the text. But really, please check these last links out. They're pretty cool.

Tomorrow (which really is today already) is going to be a great day! I'm hoping to get a guest blogger or two so definitely keep an eye out for that. Now I really have to get to bed!

If you've read this far. Thank you! You're a star. That's pretty amazing. You have a beautiful smile. Goodnight! :)

*this is not for playing baseball but for protecting myself against possible intruders. hide yo kids hide yo wives. except I don't have to. cause now I have a baseball bat.

Raining Cats and Dogs

2011-09-26T23:32:00.000-07:00

Today it was really rainy. I had to do some scary things like write an important summary and do a quiz. But the day really was not too bad. Even though it was raining cats and dogs.

When I got to my psychology class a lovely song was playing. It was a song called Lost In My Mind and the band is called The Head and the Heart. They really are great.

Anyways, thought this song might be more fitting for a day like this. Cats and Dogs.

Cheers from a rainy (like buckets of rain falling from the sky) Vancouver.

Time

2011-09-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

Hi!

Today there's going to be a super quick update because I want to update but don't really have time!

There is a lot to do, suddenly there are midterms and papers and so on. I am doing the best I can but studying is just as fun as it's always been. Not really that much fun at all.

Coming 2 weeks are going to be crazy, so much work and so much fun. I just know it. My birthday is next week which means partaaaay. Yay. The week after that I will finally get to see my friend B and it's really been too long. More then a year?! She's the best and I can hardly wait.

But one thing at a time which means that I really have to get back to studying. Jag saknar er i Sverige lite. Bara så att ni vet.

I'm a little bit in love with this song at the moment. Maybe you'll like it?

Bye!

Piñata

2011-09-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. I was sitting on the Knoll with a phil-friend when suddenly - something amazing, wonderful and spectacular happened. These people (angels? heroes?) appear out of nowhere (read: just around the corner). They were trying advertise their cause and they did this with a BANG! Yes. They had PIÑATAS!

Not even kidding about how excited I was! Me and S both tried to kill it but didn't quite succeed. Many other's also had a go at it and 2 minutes after we should have started heading towards class someone (really great and strong and wonderful!) finally manages to crack it open. Quickly grabbing some candy we then hurried to class.

End of exciting day! Below is good song. Bonus points if you understand how it is connected to piñatas. It's not that far-fetched.

And it's sunny again :)

One Week

2011-09-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

Cha cha bloggen! (<- Would in English be what?)

I've been so bad at updating but what can I say, must be a sign that I actually have a life outside of the internet. Which is a positive thing, right? Well, what can I say about my week?

The good weather has unfortunately passed and it is now rather cold, rainy and grey outside. My week of classes has been pretty good, a lot of reading but what else is new? I actually can't remember if I did anything special during the week so I'll just go ahead and say it was a normal week. It passed so quickly though!

Friday we went out again, this time to a restaurant called Au Petit Chavignol which was a cool restaurant in a pretty tough neighborhood. Most things on the menu were connected to cheese which I really liked. After that I headed out to meet my cousin who dragged me to a frat party! Woho, so exciting not at all. It was seriously the LAMEST thing ever. I'm sorry, but it was so boring and yes, I was somewhat disappointed.

The next day I had lots of new exciting things to do. First I had lunch with my grandma and then I vacuumed. Then I made then spontaneous decision to invite my friend Tyler (not the creator though) over for dinner. He didn't get food poisoning which must mean that I am an awesome cook. We were choosing between a party and watching Donnie Darko with all our other friends. Obviously, we chose the latter. It was kinda scary I don't care what you all say!

Sunday, today, was homework day. A very unfocused homework day. I also picked up my violin for the first time in a looong time. It was nice. ALSO! It's my mom's birthday. Happy birthday mamma!

I've been listening to Marina & the Diamonds. She's awesome. You should check her out. Start here but make sure to check out some of her older music as well.

Until I write next time, hopefully during the week, I bid you all farewell. Have a good week and you are all wonderful!

Baiiii

Nice nights and sunny days

2011-09-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

Hi!

What a weekend! It's just been great hasn't it? What happened you ask? Ok here it goes...

Friday (after my last update): First I went to this great pizzeria called Pizzeria Farina with my relatives. It was so good, definitely give it a try if you like good italian style pizza. (their website has link to both their facebook and twitter http://www.pizzeriafarina.com/).

Not only was the pizza delicious but it was also in this cool neighborhood which meant that a lot of hipsters were there. I also saw a man with a unbuttoned Hawaii-shirt walk by. But my fashion pick of the night was a lady who wasn't too young, but not too old either. She had blond hair and a huge, wide-brimmed straw hat in bright colours like blue and pink. Her pink wide pants had some strange strings that was tied around her back like an apron. Her main accessory was a small, white, fluffy dog. She only wore a camouflage bikini top with that. Holy moly. Crazy fashion.

After a quick trip to some other relatives I headed out to UBC. I wasn't sure where I would end up (and I had a lot of trouble finding my way too! Stupid building that are hard to find...) but it turned out to be a sleepover cozy time party chill. I had a great time and I have to say, my new friends are so awesome.

On Saturday morning I got a text from my parents who wanted to Skype with me. I decided to go home so I could make the time. Mostly everyone else was sleeping soundly (so cute. No drooling either) so I snuck away in the early morning hours into the sunlight.

The other exciting this I did yesterday was go shopping at this Italian food store called Bosa Foods. Yum. I like food. Oh! And I also got my mattress which is reaaaally nice and comfy and I want to go to bed so I can sleep on it.

After a long and nice sleep I woke up to a sunny Sunday. The day was mostly spent reading/soaking up sunshine. I also did laundry. Very good myself. I went for dinner at my (you guessed it) relatives house. It was good. I am so full right now.

Soon I will go to bed because tomorrow is a new day and I have classes. But first I want to share a music video I saw last week with all of you. I just like the video

But don't do this to anyone! It's not nice.

Good night!

Ready for the weekend (after a good week!)

2011-09-09T16:36:00.001-07:00

Hi!

I have been so busy/tired that I have not updated the blog but today I finally am! There also is a lot to write so here it goes.

First I will show some pictures from Imagine Day (because I read the user manual for my phone and figured out how to move them to the computer).

Go ARTS! Purple power and what not. We rule

Kinesiology were wild and crazy and so loud

Cheerleaders! Go UBC Thunderbirds

Also, basically every single club there is
(only like 200+ had booth to get new members).
Quidditch anyone?

But this was just playing before we actually started. For those that don't know I am this term taking Arts Studies in Writing, French, Psychology, Computer Sciences and Philosophy! So far I have had all these classes (and homework/reading in every single one) and I like them all.

I am so happy with my choice of subject and also I seem to have been really lucky with who's instructing the course. My only concern so far is running from one end of campus to the other end in less then 10 min (time between classes). Hopefully it will work out otherwise I'll have to bring my private helicopter to school and that's just to much hassle!

Fridays are so nice because I finish early! But I can't spend all day here, in front of the computer, so now I will be off to do important things! Like buying groceries and doing dishes. Also I will enjoy the sunshine because who knows how long it'll last.

Hope to see you? Talk to you? Write again soon!

Band playing in the Buchanan court yard. I like Arts.

Imagine that

2011-09-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

Today was Imagine Day and it was amazing. So many people, so much pep and cheer and so much inspiration. It's hard to summarize but I had a great time.

We were almost 6000 first year (+ some second and third year) students that attended Imagine Day. We filled the whole Thunderbird Arena. I took some pictures but unfortunately I can't seem to figure out how to move pictures from my phone to the computer. And I'm too lazy to look it up. Maybe another day. Instead I will treat you with a picture of me and two purple pep towel I got at the pep rally today

Me and the awesome I AM UBC towel.

I'm wondering if anyone can guess what our faculty colour was?

Tomorrow is first day of classes and I'm nervous and excited! Everything will probably be just great though! Don't really know what clubs to join yet. Maybe Quidditch.

Now I have to do the dishes, shower and go to bed.

Night!

Tomorrow

2011-09-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

is an exciting day. Tomorrow will be another day on campus, no classes, but yet another orientation. But really, tomorrow is the start of my university days. So exciting. What I am not excited about is having to wake up super early. I'm going to bed pretty soon, even though it's still early.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day but I think it will. Weather's been so good here and tomorrow will probably be another hot day. Today I did dishes (I should stop writing about it because I have to do dishes every day), chilled and took a walk to Main Street. It was great and I found the nicest store ever. Absolutely loved everything. Almost. (Can't love everything, right?)

In the evening I had dinner with my lovely relatives (not the ones I'm living with though) at some place. With really good chicken wings. As always nice to see them too! We also stopped by Sweet Obsession for dessert which was yum.

I should really get to bed now since I have to get up super early tomorrow morning but I'll leave you with a song I like.

Lana del Rey - Video Games

Wonderful, dreamy yet a sense of sadness.

Hope you like it!

Freddie Mercury 65th bday

2011-09-04T23:24:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to Freddie Mercury. Google honours him with a doodle.

That's all. Rock on

Shopping spree

2011-09-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Yesterday was Saturday (and today is Sunday. hehe) which also was the last day of GALA. Our group kept shrinking for each day and it turned out that the last day was only me and Helen (our wonderful group leader!). But no worries, we had a great time together and saw both familiar and (but mostly) new faces. Also, we got some good blueberry pancakes. So can't really complain.

I returned home right around lunchtime and after we had eaten, my aunt, my cousin and I drove to IKEA. Just like home. We bought lots of new things but the most important was probably my new desk! Yay, I like it. I also couldn't resist buying a jar of herring (sill!) so yeah... That will be dinner one day. Köpte också skumsvampar! Om nom nom.

Assembling the desk was not an easy task and I got my wonderful cousin to help me. It probably took 2 hours or more but we didn't make any (major) mistakes so I'm super happy. Miles was not very happy when he realized he's spent all that time on assembling my desk but oh well.

Work in progress.
Us and a thousand IKEA pieces that will make one beautiful desk

Aaaaand we're done! Look what a good job we did.
(The garbage can is also new!)

Today has also been an exciting day. I finally got a new phone which wasn't as easy as it sounds. Both of my cousins were also shopping and we probably spent 3 hours or so in the store getting help from the same guy. I feel a bit sorry for him but we all got our phones so yay!

After a quick trip downtown to look at beds (which we also ordered) we finally went home. Now it's family dinner time with my lovely grandma + cousins/uncle/aunt. Actually, I'm going to go and socialize. Right now.

Bye!

Dreams under pillows

2011-09-02T23:11:00.001-07:00

Hi!

Second day of GALA and we had lots of activities. Some quite fun and interesting, some not quite as much. Unfortunately we seem to be losing people every day. Tomorrow we'll be an even smaller group! On the other hand we've been recruiting people from all over the place to join our group. They do for a while usually, which is fun. Met some cool people today as well, from different countries. Haven't really met any canadians yet* (it is after all international student orientation) but hopefully I'll make some canadian friends soon. But I'll definitely remember, I am not alone! (As we've been hearing a thousand times these past couple days.)

*EDIT! I have made a canadian friend. He's cool and he plays the double bass which is way cool. So yeah, sorry I lied ('cause I totally didn't forget about him)

Don't really know what else to say. Too bad I couldn't go partay (darn all these 19+ events!) but I've had a great time anyways. Looking forward to the weekend, we'll see what it has in store for me.

I'll end of this post with a music video I like. It's cool.

Watch this video, enjoy and then go look at nature. Or something.

Bai!

Firsts

2011-09-01T18:18:00.000-07:00

Haiii!

So last time I updates was a couple days ago and a lot of things have happened since then. Or a few at least. So here it goes

Tuesday night I was at a barbecue with tons of family and friends. It was so great seeing everyone again and there were a lot of people there that I know. Also, there was delicious food which always is a plus.

Wednesday was on the other hand quite unexciting, the only thing I did was clean up my apartment and finally all my clothes are packed away. I think mostly everything's settled with my apartment so now I just have to get settled. I'm sure it'll be easier when classes start and so on.

Today was pretty exciting though! I am attending something called International GALA Orientation which is a student orientation for international students. It was pretty exciting going to campus and finding the way all by myself. I met my group and we had a super nice group leader. The group was me, a norwegian guy, a guy from US and one from Hong Kong. Then there were 2 girls from Indonesia, one from St Vincent Grenadines and one girl from Pakistan. Then there joined another guy from Singapore. So we were a pretty diverse group but we all got along.

We mostly walked around and also listened to some seminars. Then we listened to some speeches and some musical performances. Tomorrow we are having some more activities which will be great!

Now I'm super tired and kinda thinking about taking a nap. Except I can't because there's a musical gathering in the room beside my bedroom. Oh well. I better find something useful to do!

Cheers! Hopefully I'll post something soon again.

A picture of UBC I stole from the internet (ubc.ca)

Cleaning

2011-08-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I finally moved into my apartment! I'm going to make it so nice and totally awesome. But before I can start doing that I have to move my clothes out of my suitcases and into the closet! I know a lot of people are curious about my life here in Canada and I feel like I'm letting you down because not that many exciting things have happened.

Yesterday I went to lunch with my grandma and my cousin. I also wanted to buy nail polish remover but they were out.

Today a lot of exciting things are happening though! I am cleaning and then we're going out to look at cellphones. Hopefully I'll do some grocery shopping too. Tonight I'm going to a barbecue and that will be pretty fun I hope!

That's all for now, I have to continue cleaning. Thought I would share an awesome fashion/music/dancing video though!

You have to watch it on Youtube. Go on! Leave! Watch it!

Sundays

2011-08-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I decided that since I am in Canada now I should start writing in English. Maybe. I will today.

Yesterday I went shopping. How exciting you might think which I guess it was. But I didn't go shopping for clothes or shoes or anything you might think about. I went to the UBC Bookstore to get my books for classes. I also got my UBC Student Card and my U-pass (so I can go anywhere I want! = like a bus card). After that we went and got some school supplies. I got paper. Yup. That's all. Don't we all just looove shopping. It's so exciting!

Me in the morning with my student card! Yay.

Just had cheese muffins for breakfast. Delicious!

Baiiiii

(Äntligen) på väg

2011-08-26T03:09:00.000-07:00

Hej!

Nu sitter jag här, på Schiphol flygplats, and let me till you, det är ganska fint här!

Det sista packades ner i väskan i går kväll, ganska sent. Det kändes lite ledsamt att sova i sin egna säng en sista gång på sisådär ett år, men ja. Mitt plan gick på Linköping 6.15, skapligt tidigt så när jag kom fram till Amsterdam sov jag lite på en såndär liggande stol.

Den här flygplatsen är verkligen ganska fin, för att vara en flygplats. Det finns spa, affärer, restauranger, en flygel, massa tv-apparater. Jag såg t o m en innergård (som måste vara ny för jag kan svära att den inte var där innan!) men listade inte riktigt ut hur man tog sig dit.

Nu skriver jag i en rush eftersom jag ska springa bort till min gate om bara några minuter. Men jag tyckte att ni, mina trogna bloggläsare (lol! eller?) förtjänade en uppdatering. AJUSTE, sen var jag på museum också och luktade på drinkar från en TV. Schiphol = amazing!

Nu väntar en 9 h lång flygresa. Hoppas jag får sitta bredvid någon som är trevligt och inte luktar äckligt. Det vore jobbigt.

Bon voyage! Fast det är fel. För det är jag som reser. So long istället då!

Nästa hållplats: Vancouver

Puss!

Paradox

2011-08-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

Nu är det ungefär en dag kvar. På fredag åker jag. Tidig morgon, så man kan egentligen inte räkna den dagen. Det finns många känslor inför flytten.

Jag är:

Rädd, nyfiken, glad, ledsen, orolig, förväntansfull,

längtar men vill samtidigt att det aldrig ska bli fredag.

Många motsägande känslor. Men det är väl så det är. Ett virrvarr av ovisshet. Men det blir bra.

I morgon är det sista dagen i Sverige innan jag flyttar till Canada. Det är som att ta ett steg rakt ut i tomma luften. Fast det är faktiskt inte sant för jag har lite koll på vad som händer. Så det så!

God natt!

Farväl till sommaren

2011-08-23T03:26:00.000-07:00

Sakta men säkert inser vi alla att sommaren som inte känts som en sommar närmar sig sitt slut. För många har skolan börjat och vi återvänder till alla vardagliga sysslor.

Det finns också dem som har packat ner delar av sitt liv och flyttat till någon annanstans. Ett nytt ställe där de kommer att uppleva nya fantastiska saker, där de kommer utvecklas som människor, få en djupare inblick i vilka de är. Eller så kanske de inte gör det, vem vet egentligen. Only the future will tell.

Jag håller hursomhelst på att packa ihop allt mitt. Man måste få med sig så mycket som möjligt. Det känns galet att mitt liv ska packas ner i två resväskor på 23 kg var. Men så finns det också så mycket i livet som inte kan packas ner i väskor.

Men tillbaka till sommaren! Sommaren aldrig riktigt kändes som sommar. Fast samtidigt så var det sommar. Konstigt det där. Nu precis i slutet av den här sommaren måste jag dela med mig en låt av Håkan Hellström. För ingen sommar är riktigt sann utan honom. Så är det faktiskt bara.

Nu ska jag packa klart, städa, göra listor, hänga upp tvätten och kanske, om jag får lite tid över, titta på molnen.

Thoughts

2011-08-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Life is really just a long series of moments.

I found a new favorite band. They're awesome.

Now it's time to go back to packing and doing important things that have be done.

2011-08-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

Snart börjar nästa kapitel.

Fyra dagar kvar

Början och slutet

2011-08-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

Hej!

Mitt första blogginlägg. Varför skapar jag en blogg? För att jag inbillar mig att mitt liv är så pass intressant att andra vill höra om det.

Jag kan till exempel berätta om min Stockholmsresa. Jag träffade mina barndomsvänner som jag inte sett på många, många år. Det var roligt. Vi är nog världens coolaste gäng. (Hallå, våra mammor kallades barnvagnsmaffian! Gangster)

Jag träffade fina (och helt galna! på ett bra sätt) dansmänniskor. Det regnade men vi höll humöret uppe ändå. En dag senare var det fest. Och det var fest. Sen var resan slut. Slut!

Undrar om jag orkar skriva men nu när jag flyttar så kanske det finns någon som vill veta vad jag håller på med. Jag gör ett försök. Får även se vilket språk det blir på i framtiden.

Over and out,
Hannah