I slept at 3am and was up again at 5.20 to catch the 6.20 train from Hull to London. At 6.19 I realised I had forgotten my passport. so ''jumped off the train just in time to go back and get it. went back to bed before getting the next train at 10. unfortunately I missed seeing Elina in London, as she went back to Finland, but I met with dino and had lunch with him. At home long enough to catch up with a few friends and family before heading off to Scandanavia.

Sweden is cold, but I was expecting colder. It gets light at 8am and dark at 3.30, so not that different from home either. I arrived in Stockholme at about 10pm after a two hour flight from Stanstead airport to Vesteras about 70 minutes east of Stockholme. I took a bus into the cente and Erika, who was also in Hall 1 with me in Singapore, met me from the bus. She is not studying at the moment and was visiting her dad, who lives on a small island to the east, only reachable by boat in the summer. As it is winter here now, a foot bridge is built across the water as the boats cannot cross if ice forms on the surface. Erika's dad is a scientist at Stockholm University and Kayak's to work, through the Baltic Sea every morning.

On Thursday I met up with Kat from Hull, who I hadn't seen in two years, her, myself and Erika went on a relaxing tram ride around stockholme before I got on a train at 13.00 to Varnamo in southern Sweden, where Emily met me from the station. Varnamo is quiet with not much going on, but it is nice to see Emily and her family and see how people live. Lots of christmas food here at the moment, i feel stuffed already.

The food I have really liked so far has been Janson's Temptation, with potatoes and anchovees (my mum has been making this for years, but I never realised that it was swedish). Caviar comes in a tube here, I really like that too. Glögg is a great christmas drink similar to Mulled wine, it comes in alcoholic and non alcoholic forms, both are very nice. good with almonds in too.

Alchohol can only be sold by the state owned company System Bolaget in Sweden. At most of these shops you take a ticket and wait for someone to serve you, you must be over 21 and the shops shut at 7pm. Bars and clubs can sell alcohol to over 18's. Home brew is popular, but owning a distillery for spirits is illegal. Snus is a popular tabacco here, even amongst young people who are notallowed to buy it until they are 18. It is rolled into a small ball and put under the upper lip.

Christmas is celebrated on the 24th December (christmas eve) here, which isa day of eating, presents and celebration with the family. Christmas day is spent with friends and people might go out, this is the opposite to the uk, where the 25th is the big day.

Everyone I have met has been exremely friendly here, which I expected after meeting so many nice Swedes travelling before.

Prices are about the same as the UK I think, some things a little cheaper, some a little more expensive. The swedish train company offers Sista minuten tickets, (last minute) from the web site at good prices. only available in Swedish, if you click the english button they disapear!

Tomorrow I am heading to meet Eden from Hull in Gothenburg, where I will spend two days, do some shopping, before taking a train to Oslo in Norway. All is going well, I like Sweden, everything is clean and nicely designed, a nice place to live I think. John