I'm of to Göteborg in Feb (Sweden) and having only been to Stockholm I have no idea what it is like - I got £42 return flights! Anyone been? I'm going for the regional heats of Melodifestivalen ( Swedish music competition)

Anyone got holidays planned?

"Holiday"??

What's that?

Never been, but bought a few of their players on Football Manager...

I was there 6 years ago! Actually I was on holiday in Oslo and did a 1-day trip to Gotenborg. It's a nice lovely Scandinavian city, I think it's called "the Swedish Venice" or something like that. I really don't have much tips about what to do apart from wandering through the streets and near to the river and canals, I was there for 1 day only. I also visited it in February and I don't think it's the best month because the days are really short and it's incredibly cold.

Hmm, yeah it is going to be around -10 in Feb! The Swedish Venice sounds nice.

A holiday? ULUG - you've got to have some kind of holiday at some point, I'm not one of these PhD's that are willing to burn themselves out. Esp. in the first year - I may as well go on a long weekend whilst I can.

Chris I completely agree - I am a big believer in holidays. I would rather spend money on going away than anything else, clothes, house stuff etc I can live with out.
I think it is very important to let loose & seek new horizons.

Yeah, holiday is always good (especially if it's longer than 2 weeks as scientific studies show that only then your mind and body will start to relax). However, I find it hard to take holiday in the middle of term, i.e. between September and June.

Over the summer I might take 4 weeks off (completely off which means no PhD, no supervision meetings, no reading, no PhD forum and no Internet access).

I didn't think BWO were participating this year?

I am going home (Athens,Greece) for 1 week and immediately afterwards I am going to Egypt (Cairo and Luxor) for 1 more week. Never been to Egypt before, I really can't wait!

Zingo!!!! Oh my god - somebody else who had heard of BWO!!!

No, sadly BWO are too busy touring - I was so peeved to have missed them by two days at Skansen during the sommar. Sigh.

So are you a fan of melodifestivalen by any chance? Apparently Jimmy Janssen and Jessica Andersson are playing in the Göteborg heat.

BTW: The new video to BWO's Chariots of Fire has been released.

hey...yeah im heading away for 5 days to spain in jan just after my first year talk! im all excited...will b cold but dont care...just heading for the break! yipee!

Scamp - before I started my PhD my parents took me to Egypt for two weeks (they got a cheap deal. Luxor was amazing, but I got sick from drinking mango juice from a market seller (to be fair-it was my fault drinking mango juice that had been warmed in the sun) - and couldn't leave the hotel room for a week. I lost about 6lb in weight that week from lack of food and water volume *ewwwww...*

But the Karnak temple complex at Luxor is amazing!

Have fun!

Chrisrolinski:
Oh, Melodifestivalen is the best! Andreas Johnson will be competing again this year - still a bit upset about him not winning last time.

Have you any connection to Sweden or did you get hooked because of BWO? (I'm Swedish myself but live in the UK).

Mmmmm, Swedish model...

Zingo...

Nej, jag kommer från England, men jag har varit Sverige förut!

Actually, a friend introduced my to Melodifestivalen, and I started getting into Schlager and then liked BWO and then decided to start learning Swedish. My vocab is currently at a few hundred words, and I hope one day to ...pratar Svensk flytande...

I was really impressed by the university of Stockholm and the museums in the city - I'm not suprised the PhD system is efficent too!