Diary in Sweden - April 2006

This is a diary that I wrote when I was in Sweden:

04-19-06

Today has been the first day, the travel by plane has not been so heavy, maybe because I fell asleep.
Upon arriving we collected the bags and mine was broken. I complained and then we saw Thomas. We went on a train with many amenities. Once there, Natalie has come first and then the others, until arrive Antoula.
Her mother has collected us and she has shown me her house (very nice). We ate at 5.00pm!! And then she showed me the neighbourhood and a beautiful lake (awesome). About 9 o'clock we arrived at Daniela's house. There were Ile, Héctor, Sanja and Eloy watching the football match. I have had a great time.


04-20-06

I woke up and it was snowing. It has been a cold day. Antoula and I have been by car with her father to the high school and there we have been to the cafeteria. There we have played cards, then we ate at 10.00. People had dinner at 3.00 in a McDonals but I was not hungry and I ate with Antoula at 9.00 (she and her family is Greek so their meal schedule is different). The food was delicious. We have seen two museums. The firs one was a weapon and spying museum, the second one was a biology museum. It had a movie player or something like L'hemisferic of Valencia.
In Antoula's house, we have seen a film played by Jennifer Lopez, Morgan Freeman and Robert Redford called An Unfinished Life with some friends of Antoula's sister (Katherine, known as Katta). Also, we have see a kind of Swedish concert but we could not understand anything!


04-21-06

I have woke up and it is sunny! Here the weather changes a lot. Today, we have gone to a Spanish class and we have seen a video where appeared Mariví Bilbao. Everyone seemed stupefied talking. Then Eloy, Sara, Héctor and I went to a high level English class (it was so difficult, I could not understand anything). I have ate cereals, so at 3.00 I was hungry. We went to McDonals although then I had dinner in Antoula's home.
We have seen an ancient ship that was so nice, the guide spoke with us in Spanish and we saw more Spanish people. We also crossed a large lake in a boat. In the afternoon we drunk a tea in an Arab cafeteria that was so hippie and beautiful. We were the half of the group. At night we went to another cafeteria but it I did not have a good time.

04-22-06

I have woke up and it is sunny again!
We travel by boat to a small town. Outside the bout it was cold. In the town we have had lunch and then we have returned to Stockholm by bus. After, we went to a mall where we have bought some things (2 T-shits, glasses, a bikini...) then we had dinner at home and there were Katta's friends. They were asking me. What a shame! Then Antoula was the whole afternoon planing our night, finally we went to the same cafeteria that the other night but we were divided in two groups: Spanish people and Sweden people.


04-23-06

Today I have got up at 11.00! Yeah! When I woke up here Katta's friend was here. We have had dinner at 2.00 (finally a good hour for have lunch) with her and a mother's friend. There was an open holiday in Sweden and we did a traditional thing there. It consist in is break painted eggs to each other. All the food was sinfully good. After eating I saw the video and the pictures of Antoula when she was in Spain. In the afternoon we have gone to buy souvenirs and then home again but it the daughter of the Antoula's mother friend. Besides we ate at a normal hour. The we went to Heron City to the bowling and we had fun. Raúl, Johana, Nerea, Louise, Robban and Alex were not there.
Tomorrow the Swedish have an exam.

04-24-06

Today Antoula had a Spanish exam while we were on the computers chatting with our families. Then, we went to the centre of the city to visit it and to buy souvenirs. There we have had dinner (a pizza) and later we visited an immigration zone. We went to Robban's house. I had fun speaking with Ile and Cynthia.
Afterwards I went to Gregor's (Antoula's father) restaurant to eat typical Greek food. Everything was SO good. At night we went to a laser game and my gun did not work at all. Now Antoula is having a shower and the we are going to watch a film with Katta and a friend and to eat crêpes.

04-25-06

Today they have had an English exam and a few of us went to a beautiful lake to walk and to eat (allegedly) but finally we did not eat there. We went to the high school to watch a Spanish-Swedish football match (Spanish have won even if it seems impossible.)
Then at home I heard a Luis Fonsi song all afternoon (Antoula favorite singer) called "Imaginame sin ti" and I slept (I was very tired). Then we went to eat to the high school and there was a lot of food. Thomas has spoken and Raúl too (in from of everyone). Then, we went to a party. It was in a Johana's fathers fireman basement. We danced and drunk.

My experience in the States 2

Well Irene, you are in a foreign country, with people that you have never seen in your life and it is time to stop laying in the bed and get up. It is 10.00 o'clock in the morning (I have slept during 10 hours). I went downstairs and Jackie's parents were having breakfast but there was no sign of Jackie. Her father (a tall and friendly man called ?) told me that she was on the conservatory of New York because she plays the guitar there (Oh my god! What a level and how much money must the have?!).
We would go to New York to pick up her at 20.00 and at the same time the father would show me the famous city. The plan sounded good but I could not remedy the fact that I was scared.
Everything was becoming increasingly rare when Jackie's mother (I am sorry but I could not remember her name although she is a nice woman) told me that we would go to the Saddle River Park with two of the Jackie's sisters, Nikki and Sam. We would take the bikes and go through the park as we were characters of the famous Spanish series called 'Verano azul'.
I was very surprised but the experience was really good and I loved that day, every single minute of it. I fell in love with all of the Saddle River Park and then the father bought us the best vanilla ice cream that I have ever tasted, seriously, it was delicious.
After being in the park we went home and the father and I, traveled to New York to pick up Jackie. In the way we were talking and he was asking me some things about Spain, our traditions, my family, my city and more. He showed that he is an smart man.
Once we were in the city, we walked a little and he took me to a place that I wanted to be because I saw it in so many films and it seemed beautiful. The place, in fact, is Central Park. It was better than I imagined it. There were people playing football (well, American football or rugby), clowns, jugglers, bands singings and a lot of delight.
When it started getting dark and was time to meet with Jackie, we went to the conservatory. On the way, we passed through Broadway and elsewhere. I looked a little girl because I was looking at everything mouth open, bright eyes and thinking I was the star of an American film.
On Sunday the day was very, very strange. I only need to say that the family took me to pick up Macintosh apples in a field. Yes, it is completely true. I looked like a monkey when I climbed up the trees to take the apples.
There were more people apart from us and the day was funny.
On the way home I saw a town of Jewish people. They wore their traditional clothes, hair and hat. It was odd for me because I have never seen Jews dressed like that. The children were really cute.
When I arrived home I was tired but we had a party in the house of one American girl of the exchange.
I do not know what they think of a party or pizza-party is, but there is no resemblance to what I think. The best thing was to prove the jacuzzi, but I did not have my bikini because my baggage was lost so I had to fix it (I went into the jacuzzi with a long shirt that I had brought me on purpose so I could get on with no problem.
We went at 23.00 (it seemed to be that for them it is too late for a Sunday but for me it was too early, bit I did not say anything because I was in a foreign country and I am a polite person and also I was tired).





My partners and I went to New York. We visited the Metropolitan Museum, the MOMA, Central Park, the Sixth Avenue, Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Broadway, etc.
It was an interesting travel and I liked it.
We did a lot of things but right know I do not remember a lot, only the most important and those that surprised me.
I clearly remember the second weekend that I was in the States. I do not know why but I went with another family. It was the richest family of the exchange. They had a strange house full of white statues of marble. It was too creepy for me. By the other hand the family (specially the mother) was nice.
They invited me to attend to a musical called Thirteen in Broadway. I was exited and I really loved it. Then man that was sitting beside me looked at me weird, maybe because I was so happy.
At lunchtime, more or less at 12, they took us to a restaurant which I think is very famous in the United States. It's called Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. There, they served huge burgers that are delicious further that the décor is quite original, or at least not like any restaurant that I had seen earlier, as part of the spectacle of the place. Those who worked there tried to scare all the time, and the strangest thing was to find a Spanish waiter that started talking to us (we were all girls) he described his whole live and ask ourselves what we were doing there.
Later, we strolled around town and we went shopping. We enter to the most expensive shops of Manhattan just to take a view. There was also a big M&M'S store and a three-floor sweets store. In this one there were chewing gums, candy, chocolate bars, jellies, lollipops, cakes and more sweet stuff. And for every kind of sweet there were a lot of variations. It was like being in the chocolate factory of Willy Wonka.

My experience in the States.

Two years ago, I went to New Jersey. The reason for it was a student exchange. I went with some people of my high school (called IES Cid Campeador, in Valencia) that were younger than me.
We travelled by plane with the company Air France and then with Air Europe.
First, we went to Madrid by bus. It took 8 hours and was completely horrible and long. We had to got up at 2.00 o'clock in the morning but I decided to not to sleep because it is worse for me sleep three hours than not to sleep (I would have enough time in the bus and also in the plane).
When we arrived to Madrid's airport it was full of busy people. When we were looking for the plane's gates, we realized that we were so late so then we had to run a lot.
We flew from Madrid to Munich and the from Munich to the airport of Newark. The flight had a duration of 8 hours and was also long.
When we were there, in American floor, an unfriendly man asked us for our passports. Then a typical, yellow school bus was waiting for us. It was so cool.
It took us to the high school, it was called Saddle River. A group of people, formed by our hosts, their family and teachers, were with banners welcoming us.
Each one went with his American family in order to spend the weekend together. When I was in the car with the American girl, called Jackie, and her family, I was really scared.
Finally it was not so bad. At arriving home, I went to sleep because I was so tired and I did not want to think about problems, in fact only one problem. It is that my baggage was lost by the wonderful and nice airport workers...

What has become of them...?

CHAPTER THREE
Sabrina, the teenager witch-Melissa Joan Hart
It is an American sitcom based on comic books with the same name.
The first chapter was broadcast in late 1996 in North America by ABC, being moved to The WB television network when missing 3 seasons for the series finale, which ended on 24 April 2003.
It is about Sabrina Spellman, a teenager girl who discovers that is a witch in her 16th birthday.
Sabrina is learning to use her powers with the help of her aunts, Zelda and Hilda, and a bewitched cat called Salem.
There are more characters that appear from another dimension. The gate to go inside is in the towels wardrobe and there live witches. She is in love with Harvey and her enemy is Libby.
A lot of famous people appeared on the series as Avrile Lavinge, The Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears or Aaron Carter.
The main role is played by the actress Melissa Joan Hart. She grew up in Sayville, New York and started to work at the age of four as a children's model. When she was a teenager she belong to work in theatrical groups in New York in The Circle Repertory Company. In 1985 she first appeared on TV in the series 'Kane & Abel'.
She began to the exclusive club of famous American teenagers for his role, although he had already achieved success with 'Clarissa Explains It All'. She played it for seven years, until we saw her in her college years. After participated in films like 'Can not Hardly Wait' and 'Drive Me Crazy' (the clip that Britney Spears made and where it appears to DJ Melissa).
For the past few years, she has been juggling acting and attending New York University. She's now living in Connecticut with her two children, the fruit of her marriage with the musician Mark Wilkerson.
In May 2009 she opened her candy store called Sweetharts in Sherman Oaks, California. Melissa Hart commented that it had been her childhood dream to own a candy shop.

Times of...

That we are in troubles is a fact. The economical crisis is affecting all the world. Because of that, there are growing many aid groups that try to fix the situation.
One of these groups is The Keep Walking Project. The meaning of the organization is very clear and explains what they want: “Keep walking and everything will be okay, do not worry about trivial things and be happy because if you work on what you really believe and you believe 100% in it, you will make it”. The first time I saw it was when I was walking down the train station, looking for a friend (she came to visit me and discover the fantastic world of Valencia in Fallas). There was a picture of an elegant man with a walking stick. I am a very curious girl so I decided to have a look on the website. The URL is http://www.johnniewalker.es/Index.aspx and you can find stories of evidences and experiences from famous people. They tell us how they got their success and young entrepreneurs can be sponsored by them. The only thing that you need is to register yourself into the contest.
One of the famous people that we can find there is Ozwald Boatend, the first tailor who participate in the Paris catwalk. His life was not easy but nowadays he is very famous and accepted in the fashion world.
The site is created by the Johnnie Walker group, a whiskey company.
Another group is estosololoarreglamosentretodos.org. It is formed by journalists, singers, football players, writers etc. as Juan José Millás or Ferran Adriá.
It is a movement for making people aware that the fact that we ourselves can emerge from this economic crisis and we do not need the aid of the government.
On the web we can find many ideas that users provide or show by videos. Moreover, there are tricks to safe money when you go to the supermarket or when you go to buy clothes, accessories or home furnishings. The truth is that the ideas that they offer are quite interesting. They also show you the reality of other people that do not have anything.
Take an example: online fashion, renewable energy, an old Franciscan gives aid to poor people or programmes to re-educate conflictive children.

Happy night, dirty streets: God bless the dustmen!

In the last month and this one, there have been a lot of parties and celebrations.
The first one was The Paellas at the UJI campus. The party was really good but the way in which we leave the campus was embarrassing.
There was dirtiness by everywhere and a lot of people left it there without think of what they where doing.
They also left some of their stuff there.
But... What happens? Nothing, because everybody was happy and drunk. Even there were groups stealing the abandoned paellas and the gridirons. Well, shameful.
The second one was the party of my students residence but it was quite calm.
The last and worst one is The Fallas. Even thought the dustmen of Valencia were doing an excellent job, there were still dirt by everywhere. But it is normal because the number of people these days was multiplied. So Valencia was plenty of tens of thousands of people.

Fallas

Since many years ago The Fallas are increasing the number of people that come to Valencia to visit our “party”.
Most of them love The Fallas because we have the tradicional “churros” and “buñuelos” with chocolate, our amazing monuments around the city, the concerts, the fireworks, the “mascletás” and above all, the alcohol.
When you know what The Fallas are is easy to understand what The Fallas are about but... How could you explain in to a tourist or a foreign person?
Uhmm this is so difficult and when they understand more or less the meaning of The Fallas and what The Fallas are about (with the help of google images) they always say “and all this job for nothing? You really burn The Falla? Are you Valencian people crazy or something?
Yeah, it is so funny but all the people that I tried to teach what The Fallas are want to come to Valencia to see it and have fun!

What has become of them?

CHAPTER TWO

What has become of them?
This is my question about some people of our past.
Punky Brewster- Soleil Moon Frye
It was a famous sitcom. The main character was a little girl called Penelope 'Punky' Brewster. She is funny and vital. She was abandoned by her mother so she goes to live to an apartment apparently abandoned but it is administrated by Henry, a single, old and grumpy man.
The relationship between them grows up and he decides to adopt Penelope.
She met a lot of friends and everyone loves her.
The main character is played by Soleil Moon Frye. She did it with six years-old. The sitcom was so successful. Because of that Soleil become a children's idol. Her success continued along four seasons until 1988, when the sitcom was cancelled.
Moreover there was created a cartoon based on the sitcom with the voices of the real actors.
She was graduated in a private high school in California's San Diego Valley and then she attended New School University in New York for one year.
At the age of 22 she directed the film “Wild Horses” but it was not very successful.
She really turn famous again when she appears in 1984 at “Sabrina, the teenager witch”where she was the friend of the main character.
In 2004 she directed documentary film 'Sonny Boy'. She won the reward for the best documentary in the San Diego Film Festival. It was about a two-week trip with her father (he has Alzheimer)
Nowadays she has two children and she is working in movies that are not so known.
A few days ago, she uploaded a video in her twitter dressed as Punky Brewster for her fans. The reason of it was that she reached the amount of one million of friends on this website.

Pippi Långstrump or Pippi Longstocking

CHAPTER ONE
The bibliography of Pippi Longstocking

If you have more than seventeen years old probably you will remember the fantastic stories of Pippi Largeshocks.
Pippi claims her full name is Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking. Many people know, but what they do not really know is who was behind the character.
It was played by the actress Inger Nilsson.
Nowadays nobody knows about Inger Nilsson but she was so famous.
Karin Inger Monica Nilsson was born 4 May 1959 in Kisa (Sweden). Her first appeared on television was at the age of 10 (1969) on a Swedish series. These series and also the stories of the books were compiled on a film that was very successful. Because of that there were more films. This success did not make her rich because it was not allowed to pay child actors more than once in Sweden.
She had another jobs besides of being Pippi Largershocks. She performed as a forensic pathologist on the German TV-channel ZDF and currently she is working as a secretary, away from all her fame.
The character of Nilson in interesting for me because I was so fanatical of the series for a while. I was all day dreaming about being like her. Living without parents in a big house, having a white horse with black spots, a lot of money and strength. But the most important for me was the way Pippi lived the life. So irresponsible,yes, but she was the happiest person in the world and according to me this is so important.
Through the role of Nilsson was not so easy.
The character broke also a lot of walls because on '70s and '80s, the society was very sexist and Pippi was not the common girl: she fought with boys and was rebel.
The success of Pippi ended the career of Inger Nilsson and she tried to be a singer. Then things were worse and worse. Finally she works as a doctor secretary as I said.
She says she never has regretted playing the part of Pippi and until now, people still recognize her.

AVATAR LOSE

Dear John, the new film based on a Nicholas Sparks' book as The Notebook (one of my favourites films) or A Walk to Remember has taken advantage from the invincible Avatar.
With the amount of 32.4 millions dollars, Dear John won the film of James Cameron, Avatar, after it was considered the number one in the American box-offices for seven weeks.
The director of The Titanic lost for another romantic film.
This one is about a couple in times of war and love. His story is a drama. Surelly we should see it with provisions of handkerchief for our tears and a large bowl of cheesecake (in my case) ice cream. I prefer another kind of movies but I love the director of this one and also the writer.
The first one directed Chocolat and Something to talk about.
The only thing that I hope is that the film won't be as too sweet and sickly as Sweet November.

Translation

Today, I was looking for some information for the press magazine that I am doing for Translation. We have to choose the most important news of the day. But this is not as easy as it seems. Every day there are tens of thousands of articles, news, bulletins and many more.
Then, when we will have done it, we are collecting the best news of the week for a month and finally collect all the results and end up our press magazine.
For example the best of today is:

-EU leaders are helping Greece with its economic problems.
-The celebration of Nelson Mandela's release in South Africa, a key step towards ending apartheid.
-A Spanish spy has been arrested due to the crime of treason.
-Judge Balsatar Garzón, is going to be suspended from duty.
-The OMS has reported that the alert of “a virus” pandemic will be finished by the end of the month.

The future: online

Nowadays there are a lot of programs and series episodes putted on the net. The truth is that I believe that it is something very intelligent. In this way we can continue to watch the series and do not have to wait to get the DVD to watch that chapter that we missed one day.
Even the matter goes further because the chapters are released first on the Internet and then on the TV.
I have to admit that I am a freak of TV series and the idea of watching it when I want is so good. Because if you are bored you can watch good series in your computer instead of a movie. This one is larger and sometimes we do not have enough time to watch it.

Tragedy

The Vatican is the richest country in the world. And because of that, I still don't understand why they have not given a single Euro of his fortune to the Haitians.
They need the money now and more than ever because their situation is very bad and tragic.
The Vatican has opened accounts only in order to collect money from the parishioners instead of use his own money. It seems like The Vatican has no money or he doesn't want to share it with the needy.
The fact is that I don't understand it. The Christians, well mostly The Vatican, should give example to the people and this behaviour is shameful and disappointing.
If they want to recruit some parishioners for their church, they should be better. Because if they follow this way their future will be darker and darker and darker...
When the Pope or any bishop go to Haiti and really help the victims I will believe in the church and his message.

Christmas+Study