I am lightning, the rain transformed

I am lightning, the rain transformed. After shortcomings, depression, language barriers and issues everywhere i find myself ending this year on a high. Changed, confident. 

 Also i am addicted. I am addicted to the internet. We had a 6 day blackout at home the past week and it was terrible. I felt i had absolutely nothing to do. From studying to playing, to watching a video or simply surfing. I was nervous, annoyed and extremely sensitive and aggressive sometimes. I had to work in the university department for 3 days straight for over 8 hours to finish some 40 page papers.

Claire's latest post generated some funny responses and the mandatory hate mail, though everyone seemed to agree on the food part. Also i learned from an American girl that plants in Israel smell strange. I am as surprised and baffled as you are don't worry. Do you want to be like Claire? Send me a message and we can talk about more guest posts. My vision is to change this from the voice of Uppsala to the voice of students all around the world. Who knows...maybe one day.

Not much has happened since then. I am just preparing for my short trip in Finland and my unexciting return to Greece for the summer. I cooked a lot. I watched a 100 hour Metal Gear marathon in OHN (ohnBoss brothers!). Which is the only worthy channel for me in Twitch right now. I had great conversations with the guys there. And what surprised me the most is that when i said i cannot donate to support the channel, a complete stranger donated 2.5$ in my name. I have no words for that. Thank you kind sir.

Then its my dreams again. What on earth is going on there. Abductions, swingers, your girlfriend in black cape cult, you wearing the same cape in a different cult, a blue Mazda mx-5 that you could screw and unscrew like a Lego. Walking in a town straight from Grand Theft Auto or even Sim City and the guy next you suggesting you should build the church of Satan, a glowing building the size of a skyscraper with flames for doors and happy char-coaled bloodthirsty satanists.

"It will give you good discounts" the guy said. I guess he knew something.

And lets not forget the cult your girl came out from. A huge door with a flower and an arc above it. It had the writing "Marplethorpe" on it. To my horror and surprise i found out that Robert Marplethorpe was a controversial photographer and there was an actual collection called "the flowers of Robert Marplethorpe". Dafuq?

Some spooky shit going on here...

I have no idea what is going on. I am gonna go back to Twitch and my bread and cheese. Remember, it is your chance to join this small community of writers, leave a comment, share your experience with the world!

Bye Sweden for the last time this summer!

Avengers Reassemble! - Age of Ultron Review

Avengers - Assemble

I am not sure having mixed feelings after a movie is a good thing. Did i like it? Or did i not?

I am a huge marvel fan since the first Iron Man hit the theaters back in 2008. I watched the series take off, stumble on its feet and really launch with the Avengers (2012). I had a good time with Thor: The Dark World (2013) and that excitement culminated last year with the release of the excellent Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). This has led to Marvel announcing spin offs, a new 5 year plan and even considering bringing Spider-Man and god forbid Howard the Duck back in the big screen.

So how do you take the bar that was already set so high with the Avengers and the Winter Soldier and elevate it even higher? Is it possible? Can the same director do it? Because with sequels, come the pitfalls, where a film tries to surpass its self in a sense.

There will probably be minor spoilers ahead so read at your own risk!!!

First i will start with a quick summary and my feelings. The movie was good at least for my taste. Special effects, frequent action, humor, some character development, a few more moral issues raised. It is the way i like to be entertained. It is not Michael-Bayish ridiculous but still over the top action with my favorite heroes. My issues are not with the way the plot evolves, but more with how the tension is raised and how it was supposed to "explode" in the end scene.

The opening scene of the movie is amazing. It is breathtaking. It is some sort of dancing, a fast paced tango between the interchanging heroes that work as a team and destroy the helpless villains. They are assaulting some place where secrets are kept. The moment the villain's henchmen talk however i felt like they were taken from the casting pool of movies like Birdemic and that is either hilarious or tragic. Good thing they only have a few lines in the first few minutes.

The twins show up and i instantly have a great affection for Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver). He does not speak so much in the movie but his lines are killer. Smooth, like cap's "On your left" lines. The Avengers look like an actual team and they team up pretty well unleashing some interesting combos throughout the movie.

After that the usual stuff goes around. Stark finds out super intelligence, puts it into a machine, the machine goes rogue before you can say "Seoul" and all hell breaks loose. A bit of fighting there, a bit of more fighting in another place and in the end a bigger fight where it all started. Can't escape that type of script from such a franchise that has been cursed by call-of-duty-sm right? This sums up the movie, bad guy shows up, wants to destroy the world, starts by making the Avengers by turning on against each other, then they rally up and defeat him.

I make it sound like a bad movie don't i? It's not a bad movie. I was entertained, i felt that it was worth the 145 Swedish crowns i spent to watch it 10 days before everyone else in the world sitting next to 11 year old kids on a date and giggling on every cheesy line.

It is hard not to give any spoilers and i do not want to. So i will focus more on other parts of this movie. What i liked and what i did not like mostly.

During the first Avengers i felt Hawkeye was useless. He was a pawn for half of the movie, his "powers" seemed kinda pointless and he had limited screen time. After seeing this film he is my favorite right up there with Captain America. I liked Cap because he looked more human and more down to earth thinking about the people and not himself. But in the end i think he has an extreme side about that too, just as all the other characters in the movie. Hawkeye is portrayed differently in a very refreshing way and his inclusion finally feels justified 1/3rd in the movie. He makes up for his shortcomings by being agile, quick thinking and giving some nice speeches. And i think he has some of the best lines in the film.

Hawkeye - Refreshing this time.

What about the rest of the characters? Lets break them apart one by one. Tony Stark is a fool. Engulfed by his own fears and with a little help from the Scarlet Witch he creates Ultron, a robot fueled by AI that thinks that it will bring peace in the world by destroying humanity, just as the meteorites wiped the dinosaurs and life evolved again. But that decision is never justified or given any reason. You can see within the movie that Ultron looks like a darker side of Stark. His lines are as expected cheesy and he wears even more ridiculous t-shirts. And where is all that internal conflict that he has during Iron Man 3? He is back to his usual shitty arrogant self making even more robots. The Hulkbuster and Veronica though are amazing this has to be said.

Hulk vs Iron Man -An interesting fight with some laughs.

Thor. What to say about Thor. I like his character. Nordic mythology is great and i can relate him to our own greek Zeus. He has some conflicts of his own but the only memorable scene for me was the part that everyone tries to lift Mjolnir. No that is not a spoiler since there has been a clip with that. But there is something really interesting happening in the movie with Thor, Vision and the hammer. There is nothing really to elevate him to a new level but there are some cliffhangers that point to Thanos, the infinity stones and maybe Ragnarok. Of course he has the mandatory shirtless scene...

Thor - Is he worthy?

Next one up is Captain America. Nothing really. I think he is a victim to his own amazing Winter Soldier movie and he gets set up to lead the Avengers again in the end of the film. He still makes the strategy for the team and there is increasing tension between him and Stark, which will eventually lead up to the Civil War. Besides his cool fighting moves there is nothing great about him this time.

Captain Disappointing?

Black Widow and the Hulk. I almost forgot about these characters. They share a mutual attraction only to get cockblocked by Ultron. Apart from those scenes and the fight between Iron Man and Hulk they are virtually non existent in the movie, invisible. Especially in the last fight i think that Whedon forgot to add the Hulk in the fight. Disappointed me greatly. Not only that but Banner is depicted in this universe as a very intelligent man that cares about that world and thinks twice before doing anything. Yet he joins Stark in a project to create AI that smells like problems from the beginning. Weird really, but sadly there has to be a way to keep the plot going. There is also some exploration of the Widow's past but it is just a memory flash and something about her genitals. That's it. Oh she also has a shiny new blue lightning armor.

Nice guys finish last?

Did i forget about anyone? I will not talk about the guest characters or cameo's. Stan Lee has a really cool one though! Maybe i should talk a bit more about the newly introduced ones...

The Maximoff twins then. Scarlet Witch is pretty powerful and she plays an important role in the whole movie. However she is nothing more than a kid motivated by childish revenge. Pietro is amazing. From his lines to his powers to the climax and the twist in the end. The problem is that they both despise Stark. He technically killed their family because they died by bombs manufactured by him. But it is amazing how quickly they change sides and forget about everything when they discover Ultron's plans to eradicate mankind.

Funny when you both played couple in Godzilla.

Ultron is an interesting character. Ruthless, intelligent and with a dose of fear instilled in him he is hell bent on recreating a meteorite strike to destroy the dinosau...oh wait the humans. He is a good villain and looks and sounds cool. But.....having researched his character and the comics a bit he really looks like he lacks power in this film. In the first one there was a point in the ending fight where the team was on the brink of defeat before rallying to take the bad guys. Here they just do. There is not a single point where you are afraid they might lose. Gah.

I am free. There are no strings on me.

Last is the Vision. I am unsure about this guy. Except from the Thor-Hammer scene that's just it. Some lines here and there, just a bit of fighting there and there and that's all folks. I guess he will play a role in the future but for me he sort of felt like the Dinobots in that shitty Age of Extinction movie.

I am not sure about you vision. I am not.

What is the conclusion on that movie? It is worth your time. I would give it a 3.5-4 out of 5. If you have seen the previous movies many times you will feel it was ok but not amazing. If you haven't you will really enjoy it. If you are not a fan of the MCU and just went to see it you will still have a good time. The special effects are good and they immerse you into the action, but there is way too much destruction and rubble flying around at all times. The 3d is really laughable and over-hyped, i don't remember a scene where i felt i would not be wowed apart from the intro. I really liked the movie and i would not change my decision to watch it on the premiere but i had toned my expectations down a bit. If you are over hyped about anything it is likely you will get disappointed. It sets up the sequels and future films nicely and i really liked the way Hawkeye evolved.

That's all folks! Go watch the movie and let me know what you think! Goodnight from sunny Sweden!

I'm not a snake...and you are not an ocelot

Good morning. 

Or wait, did i even sleep? No i didn't because i slept during the day. It was a rather peculiar day too. I had a computer lab that went just fine. But i misbehaved and i am very embarrassed by that. Me and Shahar had an assignment from the same course that was due in half a day. It was not really going great as it was hard an a completely unknown topic for both of us. I let my frustration and stress get to me and i almost lashed out completely. Shahar told me to calm down. I wonder how he can keep his calm so well. He is a good guy. I apologized to him multiple times.

I had also a Skype call with Jasper from the Netherlands. He is a newly admitted student in our master program and i have volunteered to greet them all. We had a lengthy chat and i tried to answered all his questions. It is really good to see how people are excited about coming here.

After that i headed to the train station to meet Silvia, a good friend from my economics class to catch up. We sat down and had ice cream, made fun of the lioness, the general public and the creepy guy drinking his milkshake gazing us every few minutes with a strange look on his face. I then had to return back to my cave and sleep because another nocturnal night was approaching. The day was so beautiful. The spring here is absolutely astonishing. How can this country be so beautiful and manage to surprise me pleasantly every single day...

I picked up the worlds biggest-calorie-infused teriyaki sandwich and headed back home. I had another Skype call with a greek girl looking for a place to stay next semester. Dimitra is migrating too and i felt for her. It would also be nice to have someone to speak your own language in the same house. We talked for an hour and i tried once more to answer any possible question. She is also super excited to be heading here. She will not disappointed. I am not sure i would pick any other place right now in the world for my permanent residence. After that i slept like a baby. A heavy docile baby.

Which brings me to the topic at hand once more. I get this question a lot.

"Why did you move to Sweden? Don't you miss home? Isn't it so cold and the weather is shit? Don't they have 5 hours of daylight?"

My god what the media or friends and people that have "heard something" can do to you. Let's try and answer these once and for all.

I have traveled in many many countries. I have had the good fortune of seeing every possible culture and immersing myself in them from a young age. I always said that i was either born in the wrong country or i was born to live in another. Saying that when i looked outside the window during my flight to Sweden for the first time i knew something unique was coming. I saw first hand that the swedish society is something different. Everything is moulded on the image that every person here is the perfect role-model citizen. Justice and living by the rules is important to them, as well as equality and freedom. And this is mostly true.

I frequently see my fellow students or acquaintances travel in the far ends of the earth. I saw a woman i used to like climbing the highest mountains in Uruguay and visiting Brazil. Another just went to California for a month. They work, but not without reward, luxuries and a nice life. A start contrast from my childhood. Freedom of speech is important. Every document of the country are publicly available, a cornerstone of their public life. They grow up to rely in teamwork, promoting recycling and environmental concerns and they work efficiently and effectively.

They will always form a sacred line and will not complain. Privacy is important so i guess that explains how introverted or reserved they are. I don't think you will see anywhere in the world such respect and patience in a line. We grew up in Greece trying to skip the line, being frustrated by the tons of bureaucracy and how to take advantage of situations. Here they do not think that someone will disturb their perfect society. You can see that in places where you have to weight your own fruits or food, nobody would expect you to do it.

What about justice? There is no back alley or windows here. I want to see  you try to complain to that officer that wrote you a ticket for not having lights on your bicycle. I remember once waiting in line of a nightclub and the officers were outside. A guy was drinking beer in the street and that is illegal. The officer grabs his beer and spurs it to the ground. Guy says "why give it back!" and the officer replies: "This is Sweden now. You will comply to the rules". I think this sums it up well. Of course there are incidents, of course there are back doors, of course there is corruption in some places, but it represents the minority. What a contrast.

My friend Holger, who is an ignorant baboon with the attention span and the memory of an Alzheimer guy squared, managed to lose his wallet 3 times in a month. Every single time someone turned it in the police station untouched. Nothing was tampered, nothing was missing. How many of you can put your hand on your heart and say that you would not touch any money at all? I also grew up with the perception that "I" is more powerful than "we". Collective strength is important here.

Time to wrap up this monologue now as i need to get ready for another day in the office.

Good day Sweden, Good day world.

Welcome to my city.

ι η σουηδική κοινωνία είναι διαφορετική από όσες έχω δει και προσπαθήσει να καταλάβω. Η κοινωνία έχει φτιαχτεί πάνω στη στιβαρή παραδοχή ότι κάθε μέλος της είναι και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέλειος πολίτης. Καθένας προσωπικά νιώθει και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέτοιος. Είναι τρομερά σημαντικό γι’ αυτούς να υπάρχει ισότητα και δικαιοσύνη σε όλα.

Πηγή : Andro.gr [ http://www.andro.gr/apopsi/orismos-tou-eimai-politis/ ]

ι η σουηδική κοινωνία είναι διαφορετική από όσες έχω δει και προσπαθήσει να καταλάβω. Η κοινωνία έχει φτιαχτεί πάνω στη στιβαρή παραδοχή ότι κάθε μέλος της είναι και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέλειος πολίτης. Καθένας προσωπικά νιώθει και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέτοιος. Είναι τρομερά σημαντικό γι’ αυτούς να υπάρχει ισότητα και δικαιοσύνη σε όλα.

Πηγή : Andro.gr [ http://www.andro.gr/apopsi/orismos-tou-eimai-politis/ ]

Η κοινωνία έχει φτιαχτεί πάνω στη στιβαρή παραδοχή ότι κάθε μέλος της είναι και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέλειος πολίτης. Καθένας προσωπικά νιώθει και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέτοιος. Είναι τρομερά σημαντικό γι’ αυτούς να υπάρχει ισότητα και δικαιοσύνη σε όλα.

Πηγή : Andro.gr [ http://www.andro.gr/apopsi/orismos-tou-eimai-politis/ ]

A trip down memory lane

Hi. Welcome to another episode of Kostaswhinesalot.

I spent 2-3 days in complete solidarity after Friday's pizza marathon with Dimitris and Spyros which was not really a marathon. During these days i was actually productive in some sense. I completed my business plan for Entrepreneurship as well as a group assignment we had. I did the writing and my group members really liked it! Yay! Which makes my life much easier for the following 1.5 month, as the deadline is on March 9 and there are no exams.

Way to go Meowth!

Apart from that we were "blessed" with more good news from Greece, as one of our dogs died from rat poison today. More on that topic and how horrible human cruelty on animals can be later. I also watched a lot of HearthStone and CS:GO tournaments during the weekend to kill some time. I studied some hydrological processes. And i watched terrible movies and some shows that brought back many many memories.

I will go down on memory lane first. During my winter vacations i visited the house of a relative of the Fox in Espoo in Finland. We were talking and during that the kids were either ramming our heads or watching some sort of cartoons. With horror after 30 minutes we found out that the cartoon was supposed to be PacMan, armed with a terrible plot and terrible CGI. I thought on Friday, what happened to all the shows i used to watch as a kid? They looked so cool, so maybe that show looked cool to the kids now too!

I fired up on YouTube my finest childhood memories. First i watched some episodes of Dragonball. Hilarious, action paced, incredibly hard to follow, like a Michael Bay movie with tons of explosions, only not crappy and without slow motion. Then i spent almost the entire weekend watching Voltron: Defender of the Universe. I ended up watching 61 episodes of the GoLion version. There were some moments that looked idiotic and predictable now that i am all grown up, but i found myself absorbed as much as i was a little boy, watching the first two episodes on a VHS time and again. I still remember the sounds of victory, or when the blazing sword came out of those robot lions, ready to punish those evil Robeasts. There was a blend of action and morals, effects that i still value greatly compared to shitty CGI, nice fights and humor when it involved space mice and their leader Cheddar. Which reminded me that the evil witch in my house ate all my 8 slices of cheddar the other day. Nooooo not the cheddar!!!

Then on this glorious Sunday of February 2nd i remembered how cool Power Rangers looked. It was one of my favorite shows back then 20 years ago along with Goosebumps. Wow do you remember these two?

I got really curious so i watched the 1995 movie of Power Rangers. Oh my god what a mess. Terrible script and lets not talk about the CGI. I know CGI was so premature back then but even the TV show looked better. It was atrocious from the monsters and especially the giant robots. The only great part was the villain, who was absolutely hilarious. Which brings me back to today's cartoons. What do we have now? Is there any iconic cartoon left worth watching? What is your opinion?

Moving on i don't know why but i prefer watching professional players play HearthStone more than me playing lately. If you take a walk in Twitch you will find countless of random players, from good to bad. Some of them are terrible casters, some make you sleep, some make you giggle all the time like Amaz does. Some actually read the chat and respond and that is hilarious. But i think i keep going back there because of Twitch chat. That thing is stupendous. Every player has his own fan base and if their favorite streamer is not streaming they just go into another famous player's stream and cause mayhem. It is absolutely fun. Thousands of players spamming every second, people writing lines like "I am gay but no one will notice here!", riot, take some salt, asking the streamer to roleplay so when their character takes damage in game they pretend to take damage in real life. It is worth a visit. I was watching another bearded guy playing a shitty zombie apocalypse game called H1Z1 (which sounds like the H1N1 virus...) and for every sub, kill or death he drank more beer. The end result was ridiculous as he was smashed beyond imagination.

To end this, i watched a review and played a game considered to be one of the worst ever made, a game that has become so viral and being so bad its good. It is called Hong Kong 97. The plot is incredible. It starts with some text that greets you with the phrase: "The year 1997 has arrived. A herd of fuckin' ugly reds. are rushing from the mainland". Then it shows you the picture of a man that looks like Bill Clinton, telling you, the player to eliminate 1.2 billion Chinese. Oh you are supposed to be Chin, a relevant of Bruce Lee. There is nothing to talk about the gameplay, you just shoot some bad guys, avoid picking up things because you die instantly and then you face off with a giant head. I haven't laughed so hard since i reviewed Baboon Simulator.

Which brings me to the original topic. Last week we tackled why people hurt each other. Now it is time for why do people hurt animals. Animal cruelty is reaching a peak in Greece it is disgusting. In this occasion the cause seems to be accidental. But we have seen so much poisoning of poor animals all over the country. On my back yard right outside my home a whole pack of cats and dogs were poisoned withing a few months. Another one was shot with a shotgun in the rear legs from a hunter. We saved that one. A stray unknown dog with an operation that cost more than 500 euros. Back at thessaloniki there was a massive poisoning of dogs in Touba when i had my own little one there. A golder retriever named Alfie died in front of everyone slowly and painfully. I remember in the shotgun case the animal welfare organization that is supposed to help lied to me, telling me that the operation had a 10% success and would cost over 1000 euros. Just to save the money. I might as well turn into a vegan in the end.

New month, new week ahead of us tomorrow. Brace yourselves for the ride.

Goodnight Sweden.

This is Rallou. She was only 3 months old.

I am not hurting people, they just make me do it

Why do people hurt each other? Is it in our genes? A desire to say and do things that make others lose their temper and say extraordinary words they would not say in any parallel universe?

Maybe it is like a virus, like an alien, hidden dormant within us and waits for the moment to crawl its way out of your mouth and poison your thoughts, your imagination, your judgement and turn you into a savage beast that hungers for revenge.

Or maybe it is purpose. Cause and effect. Purpose defines us, binds us, guides us. Cause and effect is everywhere as well. You say something that you didn't give much thought, or phrased it wrong, or maybe someone transferred your words wrongly and paraphrased them and now the angry pack of wolves is out to hunt you down, make you cower in a hellish corner and wait for the impending doom.

Choice. Talk about that. What is democracy? A way for some others to enforce their opinion in the end? Or is it the choice of many? It is always about choice. Someone will always be dissatisfied. As i looked outside my frozen window today i saw choice. The choice to be where i want to be, struggling for existence but under my own rules. And nobody will ever take that away from me.

It is my choice to make whom i trust and where i share my secrets. Until Saturday that was around 5 people. Today it is only 3. When i do something wrong i realize it and accept it. However there are times when you know that trying to present your arguments even if they are valid will not make a difference. Watch out who you share your thoughts with. It is like a broken telephone and in the end, you will be fixing both the line and the device.

This reminded me of a story i was involved with back when i was around 10 years old. As a little child i had to conjure a lot of lies in order to keep secrets or fool my father. That however followed me in my life outside our house, as i tended not to keep secrets, fabricate stories and spread rumors in order to hide my own insecurities and have a false hope of at least appearing popular to the rest in class.

I had that really good friend Stavros with whom i seldom talk once every year now during his birthday. We lost each other after i went to university. His father's passing affected him greatly and he was caught in a spiral of self conflict for years. I am glad to see that now he is a straight A scholarship student in Athens and is very passionate about public speaking and his political beliefs.

So our moms were very close too. I overheard something on the phone and i thought i heard the words Kalashnikov and chase. I presumed that his dad had chased his mom with a gun like this.

I told many people in class and school. And you know that especially in these ages and those environments rumors spread quite easily. It was a Friday night when we were all outside in the center playing. I miss those days. I learned that he was looking for me and then i realized what i had done. I was so afraid to face him and so ashamed as well. So i went to another friend's printing press building and he hid me there. Stavros arrived and i was hidden right behind him under a desk. My friend did not rat me out.

The outcome? A memory and shame that i will carry with me for the rest of my life. It took him years to talk to me again. And you know how we talked again? In a computer class outside school. Through Pokemon. He said "No matter what you did i could never hold a grudge against you". I will remember that day until i die.

Since then i tried not to hurt other people and tried to be overcautious with things i say. But thinking too much sometimes makes things worse. Sometimes you just care for someone and you ask them what are their plans for the future and it sounds so bad like you are judging them. I am not judgmental. I am not a sinner nor a saint.

This is simply some food for thought. And i am fairly sure that if this is read by the wrong people it will sound equally bad. But that is not my intention. I just want to get this out of my system. For i have clear conscience and i explained my points, even though apparently they never reached the target.

And remember, people will fail you. They will always do. Even the ones that you consider closest to you. But when you find that person that sticks by you in the hard times and instead of bashing you relentlessly when you do a mistake he holds your hand, criticizes you with justified arguments and then picks you up and gives you a pat on the back, keep him/her. It is funny how i wrote that article about friendship a few days ago and now i have to write this. I will still give my left arm and leg for some people. That number just got lower that's all.

I will leave you with a beautiful picture a friend of mine took from the Canaries.

Goodnight Sweden. I would like to hear your thoughts or stories down below in the comment section.

I wish i was there right now.

The King is happy - All hail the King!

I have a great sense of excitement for the past few days.

The weather is still great, i love the snow, the day is becoming bigger and i am starting to come out of hibernation. 

Was i complaining about the lack of friends before? You know what? I have all the friends and important people i need. I have Katerina, my dearest friend of all in Kalamata. We have few discussions due to the distance, but i know and she knows that we are here for everything the other one needs. The same applies to our mutual friend Aggeliki. She is always so happy when i am there and so sad when i leave and she has nobody to make those horrible sexist jokes i do. Afroditi has her own struggles with her new life and i miss the fun we had in those ridiculous greek night clubs. And here i have that Portuguese baboon Jaime. He has helped me so much and i would give my left arm and right leg for him (could i give just a kidney mate? I am too handsome for 1 leg and 1 arm! :D). And i have the best friends in Thessaloniki as well, were Xaris is my savior during New Year's and Mary and Viktoria are the best friends, travel partners and sisters a man could ask for.

Tack sa mycket then friends! Thanks for getting me through these tough times here.

What about the boring classes i had last semester? Oh these are gone too. Yesterday for the first time in my life i approached the professor of Entrepreneurship, Katarina Lundqvist and told her that i have not been excited for a class for over 10 years. I felt like i was the jury or a lawyer in an important case or a soap opera called "Just or Unjust" learning valuable and interesting things, historic facts about business that i love and i was handed the freedom to choose a project to write about, a project that excites me and stimulates me. It was very interesting how most people there were dressed so formally or like going to a fashion show coupled with ties and suits and an apple computer.

The semester started yesterday and i got in touch with my other 2 classes and especially the one today was so interesting, the professors so cool and the historical facts great. I learned the story behind the L'Aquila earthquakes of 2009 and the ongoing trials, or how i successfully researched the storage of nuclear waste in the crystalline bedrock under Sweden and Finland. I am also one step closer to moving to Turku with my beloved Fox. My life could not be more exciting right now.

A new beginning, a new hope.

Well there is one thing! I love your comments, i want them! I want your suggestions and your criticism! So drop a nice little comment below, leave a like, follow, subscribe, it is all in the panel on your right!

Since i am all feeling pumped up and happy right now i will provide some info that someone that lives in Uppsala or in Stockholm might find it useful. I had to go to Stockholm the other day and i needed to know what is the cheapest way for me.

I have a monthly student yellow card that is valid for the whole of Uppsala up to Arlanda airport. That is 550 crowns per month, or around 60 euros. I would stay in Stockholm a day or so, so a 24 hour pass would suit me well. Therefore, a 130 crown SL card lasts 24 hours and is valid for every transport in Stockholm until Arlanda. So if you have one of those monthly cards, a 24 hour, 3 day or weekly card in the respective city will be enough and will help you save some costs!

I am gunning up for my project in entrepreneurship, which will most likely be the way important people managed to secure capital for their economic ventures when they were actually broke. What else to expect? I am trying not to read the news anymore because all i see is things like how rich women party in Iran, or how a radio show can help you sleep with 3 pornstars and one of them looks like a combination of the Golum and the Bigfoot and the woman with addiction to breast implants. Or how innocent women are shot in the head in the name of Islam, or the orgies that happened in the Vatican or Monasteries. The last thing i read was that a man went on stage with his girlfriend and performed oral sex on her on stage during a Dead Kennedys concert. That was on the Huffington Post. Entertainment and news coverage on its finest. Good grief.

Is there something else to say? Nah i was just so excited i wanted to share my thoughts with you all! Help me grow more!

Goodnight Sweden!

Oops i ranted again - Living costs and F-bombs in Uppsala

My nickname should be night-owl, nightcrawler or something along these lines. I like to be in the dark, i study better in the dark, i play and write in the dark. And then i regret it in the morning and die on my uncomfortable bed.

I also had a presentation on statistics today which was done in 30 minutes with Jaime. So you can guess how basic it was.

"Hi, i am Kostas, i did this that and that, put some really incomprehensible graphs that made me cry like a little baby when i was making them, results are these and more research is needed."

After finally receiving a couple of comments on the last post i will address them here. Let's get going!

The comment was "tell us if everyday life, university and people there are what you expected before going and how much has your opinion changed now."

How can someone not appreciate this scenery?

First i will talk about what i expected before coming here. Everyone asks me why i chose Sweden.

• Best place to make a family
• Society respects you
• Multicultural with many greek expats
• Great salaries and strong economy
• Great quality of life
• Great education system
• Less corruption

Ok about the last one who am i kidding, i guess only Nigeria has more. Now what did i find here?

There is absolutely no regret over my decision, it was the correct one. The salaries are indeed outstanding, the economy is strong and the people are friendly (though reserved). The influx of Mediterraneans also makes it  feel like home some times in Uppsala.

But what about the things that i found completely different from what i expected?

• Monthly life is cheap in Uppsala, mainly due to the student nations offering affordable prices. Stockholm can be extremely expensive. I find myself spending 600-700 euros monthly without starving or staying at home all day. I will break this down later. However if you decide to go all out on fun and entertainment as i did on the first month you will soon find a hole in your pocket.
• The education is indeed great and they are always there for anything you need.
• My master's is absolutely atrocious. From the way the classes are structured, to my fellow students, to the teachers. I will go into detailed extent later as well. The bottom line is i expected more from a top 80 university in the world.
• The Swedes are cool people and will help you with anything, however i just don't feel like i want to meet them or get to know them.
• The women in Sweden are 10's and the women in Greece are 6's. True but i find them absolutely boring. I will pass. Swedes are absolutely shit at pick up as well. Extroverts have no competition here.
• I did not expect everyone to be so liberated in a fashion sense. Do you want to dress as a lobster? A ninja? A giant ball-sack? You can here sir, yes you can.
• I believed due to how equal people are here that i would see a lot of homosexual men and women here. However they are very subtle and discreet unless you are in a terrible Flogsta party and everyone is smashed. What i mean is i have not seen extreme stuff in public that someone not so open-minded might find offensive.
• Swedes speak great English but when they have to right i want to gouge my eyes out with a pitchfork. Along the lines of "give a birth to your own daughter".
• The music is absofuckinglutely shit. And the way kids dance here will make you get popcorn from the local movies and laugh at the C-movie on your live screen.
• Talking about music, for all of the Nordic countries and their death/black/heavy metal roots and bands there is not a single bar/pub that plays that sort of music. At least in Uppsala. And that makes me a very sad panda.
• The roads are so slippery and you will fall down or slide like a penguin many many times. I got offered a great bike by Jaime but last time i slid down for 15 meters outside his house. Finland at least is covered in snow all the time, not ice.
• The weather is not bad. This so far has been the best winter i have ever had. No rain, no showers, no humidity to penetrate my bones. The temperatures are more stable around the 0 mark which is ok, while on Greece we have havoc right now.

I believe that answers your questions Stavros and i will go in depth now. Also my love to Thessaloniki, i miss being there and in Anw Toumba.

Now i will make a breakdown of the economic side of living here in Uppsala.

	My Costs	Average Costs
Rent	310	350-400
Food	200	200
Entertainment	50	100-150
Personal needs	50	50-100
University	0	0-50
Transport	55	0-55
Total (in euros)	665	700-955

To be more precise. I have found a great house with a great rent. Most houses here cost a bit more than mine. I make my own food and i visit the supermarket every 3 days. I spend around 15-20 euros per visit. I don't go out that much but i visit pubs with my friends or i eat Jaime's expensive salmon at his house. As you will probably be a student you will spend more at MAX fast food and dirty burgers that are delicious. Personal needs revolve around clothing, things that need to be fixed or replaced, unexpected costs etc. University costs nothing for me yet but it could cost a bit during times because some of the textbooks have to be bought or you will rent them through the library. In Uppsala everyone uses a bike. I don't because it's shit. No thanks. A bike like Marley will cost you around 30-50 euros while a better one around 100 euros. The monthly bus card for students costs 55 euros and if you decide to simply charge it it costs 2 euros per bus ride (2,5 if you use a credit/debit card). So if you have your daddy to sponsor you you are looking at the 900's and if you are an extra saver you can make it probably with 500-600 euros per month. Not so shabby isn't it? The best thing is that heating, internet, water, everything is included in your rent.

Bread will cost you from 1 to 3 euros depending on the quality, while sometimes they offer discounts if you buy two. Milk will cost you less than a euro and for 1.5 you can buy four cups of greek yogurt with honey. Bottled water is expensive around 1.5 euros but tap water is very good here. A homemade pizza will cost 2.5 euros and for less than 1 you can get the students favorite dish, pasta. A beer on a local student nation will cost from 2.5 euros to 3.5 and 5-10 depending on quality and origin in a normal pub. Pizza will cost around 7.5 euros. Going to the movies is expensive and you usually have to book a place. It costs around 12 euros for a seat. The quality is great though. Entering a nightclub has an age restriction at some places, from 21 to 25+. If you go to a studentnation club and you are not a member expect to pay 6-12 euros for the entrance. Coffee is shitty french filter and costs around 1 euro. Not bad is it?

Enough with the economic stuff. It reminds me of maths and that dreaded statistics course i have next week. University time.

The facilities are state of the art. There is no doubt about that. Everything is recycled and extremely clean. There are kitchens to make your food, multiple toilets with separate for disabled people. A cheap coffee/food place and decent computer rooms and labs. The library is quiet and great with a vast selection of books.

The staff is very friendly, polite and understanding. I found myself visiting the student adviser many times and she was always comforting or trying to assist me and find solutions to my problems. And boy i had many. The teachers are flexible with their deadlines and they will understand if you have a problem. The teachers are also fairly young, some have a good sense of humor and they will use colorful illustrations and cartoons so you understand something better.

Now for the bad stuff. When i start a completely strange new class that requires me to master a program i have no clue about and just thrusts you in the action, then teaches you this program on the next course next semester, there is something wrong here. Apparently the baboon that manages the course decided to go hunt polar bears and live with Mr. Poppers penguins in Antarctica so they switched the course. Not cool.

When i am in a master program classified as top 80 in the World and they expect from me to be punctual and proofread my essays and assignments, i expect the same from them. When the teacher fires up the lecture and on the first page you see something like "intrsuments" or "lithopshere" or "very crash, very sad" you wonder why do they expect it from you. Some teachers i have speak atrocious english. We are taking about making weird meditation sounds after ending a phrase or some ear-bleeding accent that will keep you unfocused.

Now while we have some great teachers, we also have some terrible choices. We had an asshole that tried to enforce his biased opinion about real researchers and phd's and how we master students are only motivated by money and we don't do true research. I got into a really heated discussion with him. Well fuck you Ala Al Muhadir Jihad or what the fuck was your name. There was no place to send our report, no feedback, no response from the teacher who was absent probably shoving dark matter in his asshole.

The other statistics course? We had to wait until 5 days before the exam to understand what we actually have to read for it. It was terrible. Oh also remember the course i told you about with the penguin man? Our supervisor sent us a mail 2 months after the course ended and said "I can't accept your paper". She corrected our mistakes and told us to be more formal and write better english while she is in need of some serious grammar lessons. Also fuck you Holger you are an idiot for leaving that phrase in our report. Did i mention that the 5th person of that report is missing baking cakes and dressing up as a cat? Fuck you too.

Well i think this concludes everything. To sum up, it has been a great experience coming here and i don't regret it. I think i will have a bright future here and so will you, potential reader if you decide to join me here. And if you do, send me a pm and we will go out for a fika. I did expect the level of teaching to be better. But i am getting valuable life lessons so far and how to deal in a group with complete imbeciles.

As always, please leave me a comment, subscribe, like and share! Also any more suggestions regarding future posts are greatly welcome!

Until we meet again, Goodnight Sweden.