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.

“Sweetie, your shorts are shrinking by the second.”

I have been sitting here in front of the screen for 2 hours. Scratching my head trying to find something worth writing.

Some of you anonymous people might still follow me and read what i write. I could complete the adventures of the kid. I could make fun of things and tell you about my lazy sundays playing Hearthstone or simply fooling around with Jaime and his incredible dad. I could write a new story or share what happened last new year. I could write more from my memoirs regarding my past love or the dreaded army days. Or i could actually do something useful and tell you which bus goes where in Uppsala, how much the fares cost or the prices for food. I could teach you chemistry, statistics or how to write a proper report and then present it without death by PowerPoint.

These things are all good but the things that bother me are 2.

I always ask for support, a share, a like, a comment on what to do, what to write, if i suck or not. The last comments i received helped me regain my grip on reality and were a strong smack in the face. I want that. I need that. I don't want to be stale. So please, any suggestions would be nice. Hell i can vlog you through Uppsala sometime with a goPro camera.

A few months ago i published 2 informational interviews with two incredible women. Women that make a difference daily and were so interested in sharing their information with people like us, aspiring young students, professionals, ambitious people or people that needed guidance and to light up their spark. The interviews of Sandie Will and Sara Dolatshahi.

I posted them up in facebook, stumbleupon, vkontakte, google+ and any place i could think of. Because i thought it was worth it. I got 0 comments, a couple of likes and a very warm reception from these two women. I thank them very much.

Yesterday i was browsing the facebook news. I saw a girl i did not know, probably around 15 dressed in the most disgusting, repulsive and sexist way in a playboy style pose. She was probably a friend of someone i knew and represented everything that is wrong in the modern society. Objectification of women and the need that is instilled to them by social pressure and the modern woman of the 00's that they have to wear as less as possible to be attractive. I bet she feels nice about herself. I don't care, it's good that she does, but do i have, no wait, do i want to see the butt-cheeks of a 15 year old on my wall? Because that's how short were her pants.

But that is not the case, it's her life and the freedom they have been granted by their parents. But noooo kind sir, not only i will dress like that, i will post it on facebook so everyone can tell me how pretty i am and i can feed my ego and raise my self esteem. What the fuck is wrong? Where did the strong, independent, intellectually stimulating women go?

The rant stops here and i will get to my main point. That photo had 352 likes. Another one of my friends drinking vodka and being "skål bitches" had 200. And it kept going like this. Maybe they had more friends who knows but these photos have become so generic yet people continue to like them. But when there is a text that has something actually interesting to read and learn, they don't care.

Last week on new year's i was in Flogsta after seeing the most depressing fireworks in the world with my friend Elizabeth. It reminded me why i don't go out in clubs or party like mad. It was disgusting, funny at times and worth making a documentary about. Maybe you blokes would like to see a video in action. A man approaches me tilting his head like he was seeing Joan D'arc and he kisses me on the chick, then his first line was:

"I'm bisexual, no homo" 

I am really irritated because he smells like vodka and his behavior is repulsive. So my reply was:

"If you touch me again i will snap your dick and shove it up your ass"

Can you guess what his reply was just as i was about to punch him on the throat and break his kneecaps?

"Ok i will not talk about politics i am sorry". Like, my tiny little nipples have went to France and i like to do the cha cha like a sissy girl. Then he jumped on top of an asian dude lying dead on the couch.

I could post pictures or videos of these crap and get 50-100 likes per photo.  I don't want to. I want to escape from this. No wonder i have nothing interesting to write about. And YOU are going to help me do it i hope. Suggest something to write about. Something about politics? Greece? Info on Uppsala life? Info on my shitty masters program? Or maybe you would like to know how my idiotic colleague sent a report with the phrase "very crash, a lot of sad".

Peace out, goodnight Sweden.

Sadly i had to eat Rudolf.

PS. Elizabeth, i am going to miss you. Kevlar, you too man.

Destination Uppsala - The journey begins

Pack your things and move here.

Like seriously.

The weather is crap. I admit. But i expected it to be worse actually. It's the 23rd of August and i'm sitting here in my cozy new house preparing for a beer in the Norrlands Nation. And i am reflecting on what i saw so far today. Let's make a recap of what to expect.

I sat there on the single-gate terminal of Kalamata, waiting for flight 438 to commence boarding. Around me there were mostly swedish people, exactly what i expected of them too. Polite, low-profile but very loving with their children. There was also a guy that looked like the last samurai making changes in a 3d house in some sort of program. Blondes, blue eyes, generally skinny and tall.

I chatted a bit with some greek people i met there and i did not even think that the moment i stepped my foot outside i was an immigrant, that there was the point of no return.

The aircraft was an Airbus 319 with around 138 passengers and was like 99% full. Pretty impressive for a town of 60000 people like Kalamata.

I sat next to a swedish couple that were cuddling during the whole flight while i was watching outside the window, watching half of the Avengers movie, eating some half-baked wannabe bread with strawberry, listening to some music.

When i heard about the upcoming landing i dropped everything i was doing and was staggered from what i witnessed from the window.

Breathtaking landscapes, vast forests with tall trees, a lung of fresh air and escape from normality, so wild yet so tamed and peaceful. There were no wolves in this picture, apart from a few ravaged pieces of land attacked by mankind.

Then we landed at Arlanda Airport. It reminded me of an older version of Eleutherios Venizelos airport of Greece. I saw a big Ethiopian airliner and thought i would be scared to fly with it. Our aircraft actually made a very annoying noise from the left engine, but the flight was one of the smoothest i have been in. Thanks Cap.

I went at terminal 5 to pick up my luggage, they arrived around 10 minutes in and i was the only one left since i had to exchange my money into SEK from Euros. The old lady in the cashier seemed annoyed and confounded that i had only an ID card and not a passport.

I took the wrong turn, fired up my trusty tablet, sent a few messages and went outside to the welcome committee. Two girls, one swedish and one German, joined later by an Australian one. I took the necessary info, got to the cafe next and picked up my first Swedish filter coffee for 35 SEK. Quite cheap for an airport compared to our prices if you want my opinion.

My first fika!

So i met two exchange students, Phillip from Singapore and Maddie from Midlands in England. We had some friendly banter and then proceeded to the van that would take us to one of the nations to get started. They call the vans shuttles actually.

We got in and there we were, like 10 greeks, waiting in line for an internet account (which i did not need), a temporary ID student card, some information, a welcome package and a telephone sim card.

I signed up for the shuttle to take me home, then went a small walk into town to pick up a bus refillable card. You cant buy tickets here, nor pay with cash. So buy a ticket!

The town was staggering, the architecture of the buildings, giving a medieval look to the town. The streets were clean, bike lanes in both ways, a couple of beggars a stark contrast to the misery of Athens.

The whole town is like this. Breathtaking.

I bought my ticket, went back to the nation, and got in with some people into the shuttle to drive us home. All but me disembarked in Flogsta. I only remember one Bulgarian woman and one from Australia, Perth, where my favorite band, Pendulum resides. A dude called Alexander was driving us around, he is originated from a small swedish town of 5000 people, but he also has greek roots, from his uncles side methinks.

He told me some stories about the Flogsta scream and how it was used to relieve stress from the exams every Wednesday at 10 pm, but now they do it every night, while he also made fun of the stress factor since everything is way too "xalara" here.

So he dropped me at my new house, where an old lady with memory issues opened the door and had no recollection of my impending arrival. She was polite and nice, i showed her an email that confirmed my room and started unpacking. A nice room, a clean house.

Now i m all set, about to go for a beer. Because i can.

Laters! Welcome to Uppsala!