Okay, well my lifestyle here has had to rapidly change. I am poor as shit and need to do the mystical things called ‘budgeting’ and ‘work’. Two things I thought didn’t even exist. So now, I’m gonna be working at nations (for just over 2 quid-3 quid an hour, to compare to you Brits) to try and at least put food on the table, and (optimistically) beer in my hand.

So I started last Sunday; fika at Gotlands. This resulted in me pre-maturely ending my party-times at Flogsta at about 2:30 so I could get some sleep. I woke up at 7, needing to get there for 8am. From then until 12 it was all about sandwich preparation, and trying my best to cutting my fingers off. After that the rest of the afternoon (till about 4) was spent rushing around, refilling coffee pots, collecting dishes, washing, then sending them back up. Wasn’t too bad.

Then Monday rolled round, and I was working at Upplands. This place is great. It has a habit of having things break at just the wrong time. Rumoured, to be due to a ghost of some 16 year old swedish lad who died there or something. However, my first day wasn’t too bad! Starting at 5, moving kegs of beer and racks of bottles, cleaning tables etc.

After the place opened at 6, we had the joy of being told that there were 15 pub crawls coming by tonight. Tack sa mycket economics school -.-

I was first put of the door for a bit (checking id and nation card) before letting people in, and it definitely felt like the start of a new semester; drunk swedes going on about how ‘British’ I should while waiting in line. Definitely made the job fly by quicker! After a while I ended up running round the place serving people their food orders, before finishing the night up in my favourite place: The Bar. Successful night!

Last night however, shizzle hit the fan. Whist working the jazz bar there, while closing, a pipe decided to burst, flooding a room with boiling hot water. Most inte bra. Never a boring night there.

-Chris

Since I’ve returned, life has been fairly hectic and I’ve not had the chance to really write anything! After catching up with everyone, and saying some hard goodbyes to what was a shockingly larger number of people than I’d expected and hoped, I am now free and able to get a post (or two) up here.

For the start of this semester, I’ve had to pick two classes, rather than the standard one here. This has made my time table much more packed, and for both courses, I’m missing classes for the sake of the other. Passing these will definitely prove a challenge. The bright side however, the second half of the semester, I’ll get my loans, and have too much free time, that not even the internet can take up! That means one thing: travelling to see the people who left, to see them for one more time during this year before I head back home for good.

One of the two courses I’m taking is about something I’ve never done before: Climate Change: Politics, Leadership and Power. I’m so glad I picked it, I’ve been (un)fortunate enough to have only studied the hard sciences since 17. So this is a massive change of pace, interesting and the type of person you meet in these classes are different! It’s refreshing and I’m glad I’m doing it

Anyway I’ve been working in nations over the past few weeks to try and scrape a little more money so I’m not living on bread this entire year. I’ll write about it in my next post.

-Chris

We finally finished up the EP today! After an exhausting (but bloody brilliant) time with Nish and Riley, I think we’ve made something that’s worth showing to people It’ll hopefully be mixed and ready to be put on disc for all you lovely people in the next couple of months, so watch this space!

Final Tracklisting

1. Codeine
2. All You Know Is Distance
3. Scorpion

Hey guys, as some of you know, I’m recording my debut EP with the help of an old bandmate (Supernish!) and Riley who kindy travelled from Uppsala to join us. Just gotten back from the recording studio, and bloody hell, I’m exhausted.

Today we got up at about 7am (the earliest I’ve gotten up in about a month) to get ready, called a taxi to transport our gear to the studio… and in true British fashion. The driver didn’t show up on time, we call the company:

‘Hey mate, we called a taxi for <insert Nish’s address here>, where is it?’

‘He said he’s there waiting, this number right?’

‘You’re about 300 doors away.’

The driver is then apparently on his way, and another 20 mins later we call and he’d given up. Brilliant. We call another and arrive late.

However, recording went pretty well! My left hand is absolutely shredded due to playing guitar for the best part of 6 hours. But we got the rythmn guitar and bass finished for the tracks, which is exactly what we hoped to do. We’re also gonna try and make the lead track ‘Scorpion’ sound as epic as possible. The ideas we have will hopefully be stuff you all wanna hear

I was gonna do a VLog, but me, Riley, Nish and his housemates are about to watch a film before getting an early night. Ain’t no rest for the wicked, and we’ve got a busy day tomorrow.

Catch you guys later and I’ll provide updates tomorrow!

As I’m typing this, I have absolutely no idea where to start. I’ve also never written a blog before, so I don’t know how long these things are meant to be; so I’ll try (and fail) to keep it as short as possible without missing out on too much of the detail! I’m doing this to try and focus all the thoughts and feelings I’ll have during my year long stay in Uppsala at SLU (and according to Stina-lena, make a few krowns). I’ll try and make this as entertaining to read as possible, but I’ll just say now, I’m not the funniest guy you’ll meet! If I haven’t already bored you to death with this disclaimer; feel free to read the rest of the entries and enjoy it! I wish I had more pictures for this entry; but I’ve forgotten my camera almost everywhere I’ve been so far. I promise that there’ll be more in future and less writing!

Before I begin to try and explain everything that has happened since I’ve arrived here, I reckon that I should probably share a little about myself; I’ve heard that helps to connect the reader and writer, so here goes!

I’m Chris Turner, 20 years old, from Nottingham, England (Robin Hood country!) and I’m currently studying biotechnology at SLU. Back at home, I study biochemistry at Leeds university. One of the reasons that I decided to come to Sweden was because I’m terrified of the idea of growing up and by joining an exchange program, I’m gonna get to be a student for one year longer than I’d originally intended! Of course there were other reasons; like the desire to experience a new culture and I’ve rarely heard a bad thing about Sweden!

I’ve only left England once before (to Canada, where it didn’t feel that different from home) so the thought of leaving for a year was a scary one, but so far, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.

Other things about me you may want to know; I’m a massive sports fan (primarily Rugby, Football and American Football) and I’m also a musician (I’m a guitarist and vocalist). I may as well take advantage of the free advertising space, so please listen to some of the recordings I’ve made! www.soundcloud.com/christurnermusic and tell me what you think

-Chris