Ice Hockey!

Ice Hockey and Bandy (played in a bigger field, with no hockey puck but a tiny ball) for the Swedish are what Football is for us in Turkey. People here are crazy about these two games. Vasteras is home to all-time bandy champions VSK team. There's a huge ice sports complex called ABB arena, and it's only 20 minutes walk from our dormitories. As we heard that there was an ice hockey match (the last game of the season), we did not want to miss it. It was my first ice hockey match and I enjoyed it a lot. The game was between Vasteras and Sundsvall. 

The tickets were 100 kronas (11 euros) and 50 kronas for adults and students respectively. One of my friends, Zach, asked the security guy where we could get the tickets. The security guy, in return, asked him where he was from, and we got the tickets for free when his answer was "Canada" =)

ABB Arena:

Hockey is a tough sport like American football. I used to play American football for the university team back home. When it was certain that I'm coming to Sweden for the exchange programme, I sent an e-mail to the university, asking whether they had an American football team or not. They didn't have any, and I was recommended to play Ice hockey instead. I have to learn how to skate first though.. it looks so much fun.

Hockey supporters:

 

Some more from the field:

    

When the game was about to start:

Some Swedish fan doing his funny dance:

The most valuable player got a guitar, while the second had a hockey stick for the hard work:

Berit's Geburtstag!

Last week we celebrated Berit's birthday in Junior. We had a chance to taste some German bakery, awesome! Special thanks to Arno and Marc for the preparations. Not much to say, the pictures speak for themselves. You can find a video at the bottom of the post. (Edit: The quality was HD, now it's crappy thx to blogspot's video uploader & converter)

Alles Gute zum deinem Geburtstag Berit!

Turkish Breakfast @Folkets Hus

We had a delicious Turkish breakfast at Pınar's place. Pınar lives in "Folkets Hus". It's another student accommodation by Bostad Vasteras (a subcontractor company that places exchange students to various accomodations every semester). This accommodation is way too expensive, but it's nicely located in the city center and their rooms are bigger in size (3 times of what we have in Junior) and well equipped (She even has a couch of her own for Sweden's sake!)

The view from her window:

This building is called "Skrapan" (Skyscraper?), and it's the tallest building in the city. You can find some really pricey stores in it, and one of the three supermarkets here: ICA. There is also a disco club and a sky restaurant at the top of the building. (Being a crazy amateur photographer, I have taken some pictures at the top indeed, but you'll have to be patient and wait for the upcoming posts)

 

I've brought some "sucuk" (Some kind of garlic sausage), Turkish delights and Turkish coffee from home, and it was the time we finally made something useful out of them before they eventually expired. The girls were so kind to prepare the breakfast for us, brew the coffee and serve it all. We filled in our bellies and feasted on tastes from home, spending the minimum amount of effort (Me cooking the eggs doesn't count).

 

Our Greek friends were late to join us, and they eventually missed the Turkish coffee! (Istanbul is not that far from Thessaloniki, they can always visit us and we'll make it up for them)

=)

Eskilstuna

 

 As I've mentioned in my previous posts, there are 2 cities situated on the two sides of Lake Malaren. The university I'm attending here, Malardalens Högskola, has faculties in both of these cities. Since I only have 8 hours of classes (monday: 16.00-21.00, wednesday: 18.00-21.00, and my Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays are free, I took this opportunity to take the free shuttles from Vasteras campus to Eskilstuna in the morning. It takes approximately 45 minutes with the shuttle to get to the other side of the lake (Same as taking the shuttles from Sabanci campus to Kadiköy). My university doesn't have some sort of a campus here, but instead it's a combination of seperate buildings, which are really close to each other. I've found my way to the library and studied 3 hours there. Following that, I spent some 5 hours in the city to see what it's like.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that it's less populated than Vasteras, I had this feeling of being in a more active and lively city in Eskilstuna. There's a total of 60.000 inhabitants living here (maybe 1/3 of that in Vasteras).I took a walk in the city center after a short break at McDonald's and Clas Ohlson (Clas Ohlson is like the Electroworld or MediaMarkt of Sweden, selling not only electronics but hardware and stationary etc. with reasonable price tags). In the pictures below, you can see the city center and the main square.

  

In Sweden, a whole academic year consists of 4 study periods. We're only here for 3rd and 4th. In each period (periods correspond to almost 2 months time duration), students usually take 2 courses. I will have Production Quality Management Course and Supply Chain Course in Eskilstuna in my 4th study period, and I'll be in this city more often.

I was startled by the accuracy of bus hours. I was waiting for my shuttle next to a bus station, I've noticed that the schedules for buses were full of weird arrival times like 15.23, 16.48 etc. And they arrive precisely on the given time. That's also something we're not used to in Istanbul (But it's acceptable as the traffic in Eskilstuna is nothing compared to Istanbul).

Partying @Norra

 

Norra Allegatan is another student accommodation in Vasteras. It's only 5 mins walk from the campus and our dorms, Junior. The security is too strict. There's only one common room for all the students, and it's locked up after 11pm. They have their kitchen in their rooms (we in Junior have them on each floor, and they're great to socialize with other students), and their rooms are somewhat bigger than ours, but it's relatively far (Not as far as Park accommodation though). 5 of us (The Turkish gang) live in Norra, and I often walk there from Junior. The building seems to be dominated by Spanish erasmus students, or at least the 2nd and 3rd floors do.

 Norra Rooms:

We had a party in Norra the other day. The common room is big enough to host many people, but it's available only until 11pm (if it's wednesday or friday, pluto can follow the party). Here are some pictures from the party, and they're good examples of the student life we're having here in Vasteras, Sweden.

 Zach (Canada) and Robbie (States)

 Şebnem, Can and Gözde

 Batu

 Claudia and Marco from Italia

The guys discovered a Turkish kebab place very close to Norra by the end of the party. The taste of some real döner was what we were longing for some time here. We got a pizza with some good amount of döner meat on it. Before I could even take a picture, it was gone =)

Taco Buffet @Karen

I really admire how the international committee at this university works. They organize events and activities for us erasmus students to keep us away from the dullness of this small town, and help us get away from our studies once in a while. We had one of those nights in Karen: A Taco Buffet Night..

Karen = Student Union.. In Sweden it's obligatory to be a part of the student union, to be considered as a full-time student and be offered it's benefits. Our Karen building is right across the university entrance. We had our "welcome mingle" in there, which was really nice. During the daytime they serve food in there. They also have some sort of a pub for us students to drink, and a pretty dance floor. The best part is that it's run by volunteers. it's "for students, by students" type of thing. You can get to serve some meals and drinks for an event, and in return you can have a free meal and the chance to be a part of the after-chats, which sounds really cool!. I think we'll be visiting (and serving?) Karen more often in the following months for various occasions.

  

Me and Elif eating Tacos at Karen with our Greek friends:

 

The buffet itself:

P.S. I just realized that the girl in the above picture wears a shirt that says: "Feel safe tonight, sleep with a nurse" =)