Sweden VS Australia

I’m home in Sweden now but all I can think about is the warm sand on the beach and the salt water. It’s cold, dark and boring here in Sweden.

I’ve been thinking a bit about differences between Sweden and Australia and I found a lot of them. Even tough we’re all living on this planet, we have different traditions and doing things in different ways.

I was there in December, which means that every one were really excited for christmas. I think that christmas is one of the few things that most countries celebrate the same way. The Australian shopping centres had huge christmas trees and way too much decorations, just like the shopping centres in Sweden. Christmas is also seen as a time where the family comes in the first place in both countries, you give each other gifts and just enjoy spending time together. The only big difference is that the Australians celebrate the 25th of December and Swedes celebrate the 24th.

The school system is very different in Australia. In many schools in Australia you have to wear school uniforms and some schools even separate girls and boys in to different classes. Alison and Bryan go to a school where they need to wear uniforms but otherwise they think the school is pretty soft. I think it’s very nice that we don’t have to wear uniforms to school, I like that we can put on what we want to wear. 

I think the youths in Australia are kind of like the youths in Sweden. We are intrested about the same things and we argue with our parents about the same things. I would say that the Australian youths are a bit more open, like Chloe and Aiden who let me be with them for a whole day and they took good care of me. 

We don’t play the same sports because different sports are popular in different countries. Football is popular all around the world but football in Australia is not like the football in Sweden. The Australian football is like American football but without any protections. 

I would say that the Australian youths are a bit more open, like Chloe and Aiden who let me be with them for a whole day and they really took good care of me. 

Snow. That is a big difference. Aiden, Chloe, Alison and Bryan have all asked me about the snow and how cold it can be in Sweden. They don’t understand how we can live up in the north with all the snow. I think it’s insane that they don’t have any snow for christmas, it’s not a real christmas without snow! Alison also asked me if it’s true that we have wolfs everywhere in Sweden and that we’re used to see them. I told her that we have wolfs in the north of Sweden but they’re not running around in the cities and it’s not like we see a wolf every day.

We in Swede have something that the Australian don't have! We have a national dish! Our national dish is Swedish meatballs and very popular on the dinner tables all around Sweden. Australia doesn't have any national dish but of course they have a lot of meals that are popular there as well.

I’m going to bed now and trust me when I say that I will dream about a warmer country on the other side of the world.

//My

Video loooog

My Australian Family

In this video I'll talk about my Australian family beacuse I'm to lazy to write it. I'm going home tonight, can't belive it's already been two weeks! 

I'll see you soon

//My

In the land of dreams

Hiiii!!

I’m on the airport in Perth right now, waiting for my luggage to arrive. It has been some complication and I can’t say I’m thrilled about it. I’m going to my Australian family today but it doesn’t really start well. I called the mum of the family and told her that I’ll be late but it feels really awkward. 

Enough about the boring parts, I had a lot of fun yesterday! I’ve been visiting Dreamworld and it’s one of the best theme parks I’ve ever been to. It had everything you want to do on a sunny day when you’re ready for fun.

I started the day with taking a look on the tigers, they are really majestic animals. My mother will pass out when I tell her what I did, I took a picture with a real tiger. It was really cool and the fur was very soft and even tough I was shaky and nervous it was a really cool experience. 

This was really cool!!

After challenging my inner fears it was time to go to the waterland and have some fun. They had a lot of fun rides and I love water so this was a lot of fun. I even met some Swedes and talked to them for a while. They were from Dalarna and had been in Australia for two months, they were taking a year off to find themselves. A bit silly if you ask me but they seemed to be very cool and they were nice people. The waterland had a lot of fun rides and I could have been there the whole day.

I ate lunch on a taco restaurant, I was lucky and got a seat on a single table. If you’re a lot of people you probably won’t get a seat. It’s really packed with people.

After the lunch I went to the real Dreamworld and spent my afternoon in the fantastic amusement park. The most terrifying ride was Tower Of Terror, it is L-shaped and it is 100 meter free fall. You experience being weightless for a moment and it was really scary but a really nice feeling at the same time. I’ve never seen anything like it and I’m really disappointed that no amusement park in Sweden have a ride like that.

Scariest ride ever!

I’m really tired now but I’m ready to visit my Australian family and I’m really nervous. What if they don’t like me? What if I break something? What if I have to sleep outside? No, I think it will be awesome! I just want my luggage to arrive so I can go and meet them!

I’ll be home in a few days, take care until then!

//My

Under water

Hello again!

I’m sitting in my fantastic hotel room right now. I’m staying at the Hayman Island Resort Hotel. It’s great and I think it’s the nicest hotel I’ve every stayed at. 

My awesome hotel room!

I’ve been diving all day and I’ve seen a lot of colourful corals and fishes. I can’t belive it’s this beautiful under the water, I’ve never seen anything like that and I’ve been diving all around the world. 

I also got to see a huge fish with the size of a Volkswagen. The fish is called grouper and I was terrified that it was going to rip me to pieces! You don’t understand how big it is if you haven’t seen it with your own eyes, a fish should not be that big!

This is insane!!

I’m really tired right now, I’ve been in the water all day and I’m going down in the fantastic sea world again tomorrow. I have a great guide who was with me today and he was really good calming me down when I got stressed out. It’s important to not freak out under water, it takes a lot of oxygen and you can be a danger for yourself. Luckily, my guide is going to be with me tomorrow as well!

The best guide ever

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef and it can be seen from outer space. You can find 1500 different kinds of fishes in the reef and six different kinds of turtles come to reef to breed. I think I know like ten different Swedish fishes and in this reef it’s 1500, that’s mind blowing!

The next stop for me in Australia will be in Brisbane, I’ll visit Dreamworld which is the biggest amusment park in Australia. I love amusment parks so I really hope this lives up to my expectations but everything here in Australia have done that so I’m not worried at all.

Me, diving in the blue

Don’t miss me too much, (unfortunantely) I’ll be home in a week!!

//My

Out in the wild

Hello again!

I just got to my hotel after spending two days out in the wild. These two days have been amazing and I’ve learned so much!

I packed a bag, rented a tent and went out in the Australian nature. Well, not all by myself of course. We were a group of six people who went out on this exciting adventure together with a guide who was an expert when it came to the Australian wildlife. 

We walked in the outback and our base camp was the huge rock called Uluru. After we set up our tents we began to walk around in the area. Our guide was awesome and I learned a lot about the Australian wildlife. I learned that Australia has been separated from the other continents for thousands of years and that’s why their animals are so different if you compare it to the ones on other continents.

I got to see a lot of animals but the one I’m really happy that I got to see is the kangaroo. They are really cool animals and very big, I did not expect it to be two meters tall. I really wish I could jump like they do, that would be useful when I jump long jump and high jump.

After a day full of walking we went back to our base camp and made some food. We all got different directions of what to do and I had the luck to get the food station. It was very easy actually, we served grilled hot dogs and boiled potatoes. When we had eaten we just sat down next to fire and got to know each other. 

After a long night with not much sleep, we packed our things together and started the walk back to the place we started. We made few stopped along the way and our guide told us some interesting things about the Aboriginals. The Aboriginals are the people who lived in Australia before Europeans came and took over, the Aboriginals had the whole continent all by themselves for 50.000 years. Now it’s just 3 percent fo the population that’s Aboriginals and they continue to disappear more and more. 

I’ve had a fantastic time out in the wild and it was much better than I expected it to be. I’m not really the girl who likes these kinds of adventures but this was fantastic. If I ever come to Australia again I’m going to go on this kind of tour one more time.

The next stop on my journey is the Great Barrier Reef, I love to dive and I’m sure this will be an adventure I’ll never forget. I really want to see if the reef is as fantastic as people describe it.

I hope you have good time in Sweden because I have it fantastic here in Australia.

//My

•Like a dream•

I’ve been in Australia for two days now. I haven’t had any time to blog at all, I’ve had so much fun. Yesterday was a day full of sightseeing and shopping. I walked in Westfield shopping center for almost six hours before I decided to eat lunch and rest for a bit. The time difference is really big but I’ve been able to handle it pretty good anyway. 

Today I’ve spent the whole day on the beach. I tried surfing and trust me when I say that it’s much harder than it looks! At first I tried to do it by myself, I just rented a surfing board and threw myself out in the waves. It was not a very good idea, I fell off all the time and efter a while I just got irritated. Just when I was about to give up, a guy in my age passed by and asked if I wanted help. He helped me and after an hour I could stand on the board without falling off, I even surfed on a small wave. I surfed in about two hours before the very nice (and very good looking) guy named Nathan had to leave. 

I made it!!

I was way to tired to walk across Sydney and do more sightseeing so I laid down on the beach and enjoyed the warm weather and the sound of the waves. It was so relaxing and I really wish we had this kind of weather in Sweden. It will be very cold when I come home to the snow, instead of lying on the warm sand on the beach. 

When I had eaten lunch, I decided to go back to the beach and find some Australian youths. I really wanted to get to know some Australians and see how they are compared to us in Sweden. I found a couple of youths who seemed to be in my age playing beach volleyball and I joined them. They were really nice and after the game they asked me if I wanted to take a swim with them. I talked a lot with them and when they heard that I was from Sweden their first question was how snow is. They really couldn’t understand how I manage to live in such a cold land as Sweden.

I learned a lot from them too. They love sports and rugby is something most boys tried when they were younger. I also learned they go to school just like us, from Monday to Friday every week. They also told me that they’re going in a very chill school if you compare it to some of the others in the area. In a lot of schools in Australia, you need to wear a school uniform and some schools even seperate girls and boys. I’m really happy that I don’t need to wear any uniform and go in a class full of girls!

I hanged out with my new friends the whole day, we went to dinner and then they took me out on the Harbour bridge late at night. They told me that it was a much cooler sight if you looked out at Sydney in the dark. I stood there for a long time and just watched the beautiful city being light up, no picture in the world can describe how cool and beautiful it looks. 

Sydney by night

After walking around a bit more in Sydney, I decided that I needed to go back to my hotel room. I changed number with Aiden and Chloe and hopefully we’ll keep contact, that would be really awesome!

Me, Aiden and Chloe 

I’ll go to bed now, I have some more sightseeing to do tomorrow. I’ll also go to a musical in Sydney Opera House tomorrow night! The musical is called The comedy of errors, I think it’ll be great!

Sleep well and the next time you’ll hear from me I’ll probably be in the outback in Alice Springs which is my second destination.

//My