MEETING TOMORROW! :D The day has finalled arrived...

[Ahava]

The falling asleep in one anothers arms is the BEST thing! (I really really miss that when we are apart)

Thanks for updating us and enjoy the rest of your time together!

We are having a black christmas too. It doesn't feel right. I hope it would get a little colder and the snow would come back!

[Tooki]

The pictures look awesome! It's very warm in Sweden for this time of year .

Also, I envy you for being able to watch Kalle Anka. Did you sing Swedish carols and dance around the table?

[Karringtyn]

BEAUTIFUL LOVE story!!! So glad things are going so well for you!!

[Inspirement]

[Post from Kylie]

Tooki - Noo, we didn't, but there were a lot of people in the house making it crowded. We've twice now seen people dancing around the Christmas trees in the squares though.

Oops... a post a week? More photos soon? Well, you know how it is with meetings and we've had limited internet access at his Mum's.

We've had an unexpected (sort of) spanner in the works, as Johan was accepted into some courses that he's studying which is great! That started yesterday, so we had to travel back to his Dad's on Sunday night which is a little disappointing as it has meant more money forked out in public transport, less time spent with him this week and I will now be leaving him on Thursday night to get back down to Stockholm early for my flight back on Friday, but we've had a great 6 weeks together nonetheless and I don't feel I have anything to complain about that. I am very grateful for my time spent here and we've tried to make the most of it with such expensive airfares, studying and job hunting, no idea when we'll meet again but I hope it won't be too long. In any case, we'll wait it out.

Like the snow! It only just arrived on Friday - just a tiny bit - before it fully came down again on the weekend which made me sooo happy! It's 5 weeks late, but hey, at least I get to enjoy it again before I leave! Poor Johan has put up with the cold for me whenever I've wanted to go out exploring or playing which has been almost every day, bless him. It's his birthday tomorrow so I may have to thank him a bit - any ideas? xD But seriously, we've had so much fun. We looked at the castle in Vadstena, which is by one of Sweden's largest natural lakes which was very pretty. Very nearly lost my LFAD bracelet that night and started panicking because I'm very fond of my pink one which kept falling off everytime I took my gloves off, but Johan found it just back about 10 metres.

In Stockholm, we arrived 15 mins late for the Historical Ghost Walk, but thoroughly enjoyed that experience - didn't see any ghosts but learnt a lot about Stockholm's history and made fun of the Swedes a bit xD Spent many a day on the subway and got off at a few stops to look at all the subway art they have at each station. Bought myself a Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Swedish, in the hopes that one day I'll be able to read it! And we went to a 3 day HP convention which was aweeeesome! We're both such nerds and we got to hang out with other nerds and was so much fun! We had a Yule Ball and danced and sang all night and Johan got up and performed a few songs too. We also made a bit of money selling our crafts - his wizard rock CDs, handmade wands and my wizard koalas! We still have leftovers if you want to buy any xD Got called the cute couple on numerous occasions, though didn't get nearly enough alone time at his Mum's - needless to say another pro to coming back here.

New Years we went to Skansen (an open air museum/zoo) where they have a stage and singing and stuff which gets televised before they let off their fireworks. And we then went back there during the day the next week when I found out it was open - literally all the other zoos are closed in the winter, and I was desperate to see the nordic animals and a reindeer! Very cold that day, but well worth it. Not as cold as it is now with the snow, we had -13 yesterday! Was lovely! XD The Swedes disagree. I guess that's all the major things though, can't think of much else right now and I just looked out the window and it's snowing again! <3 Yay! I do hope it warms up a bit though as I've learnt - when it's too cold, the snow is too soft to make snowballs - and I still want to make another snowman! Loving my SO so much. So much difference being together in real life, which has really made me love and appreciate him so much more now that we've met. He's taken very good care of me and helped me along with the language differences as I'm still so shy and don't like buying things from the store XD Will be very sad to leave, but at the same time we now know just how compatible we are (and in some cases, not, like getting out of bed xD), and we're not going to let this magic die. (Yes, nerd reference.) We've also agreed not to sit around and mope these last few days. We'll make every second count. Anyway, more pictures following in next post!

P.S. Considering how empty my bag was on the way here, my bag is looking pretty full now and close to the 30kg limit thanks to Christmas presents and souvenirs. Any tips on discarding things? Should I just wear 2 shirts and 2 socks and PJs and stuff on me and throw them in my carry-on bag after all my bags have been weighed? xD


Endless silliness together.


Love knows no distance.

[Inspirement]

Christmas morning.


In Vadstena.


Playing on stage at the convention.


Wizard duels.


Nawww.


So much love.


Views from Skansen.


Reindeer!


Padlock bridge! We didn't do this as we were freezing, would have needed to buy a lock, were already short on cash and generally just wanted to get home. Next time?


The snow returns!


One enjoying it, and one not so much. xD


Kissing in the snow. <3

[Ahava]

Awwwww!
Loved reading the update and seeing the pics!
Have you guys got matching scarfs?

[Tooki]

The panorama picture is so gorgeous.

[Inspirement]

Have you guys got matching scarfs?

Pretty close - in any case both Harry Potter scarves for our respective houses.

[SmileyK]

All home now. I think we're both in a little bit of denial as it all seemed like such a fairytale. Didn't do much for his birthday as he had his study and I then waited about 2 hours for him out in the cold to get home with missed and delayed trains, but we treated ourselves to his favourite cake, and cuddled and watched a long awaited new episode of Supernatural. He managed to get off early on Thursday too which was good, as it provided just enough time for him to get home, have some dinner before we left, say goodbye to his little sisters and head to the train station where he would take me half of the journey back to Stockholm (which was just as well, as we had some trouble with the ticket machines!).

We shared a bucket of lollies and remembered all the fun times we had and the fun times still to come and I talked myself through how I would get to the airport by myself the next day and all too soon we were off the train there was barely half hour left. I managed to drag him out in the snow one last time, but we were both cold so headed back to the warm station for a coke, after which I broke down in tears and we stood and hugged and I could bury my face in his shoulder - one moment I'll never forget with his arms wrapped so tightly around me - I'm sure we've all had similar goodbyes. And suddenly having lost track of the time, my train was already on the platform and leaving in like 2 minutes. So we ran up to it, and I jumped on board, turned back and looked at him. And it was just like a movie scene - I leant down to kiss him a final time, and just managed to pull away and get my head back inside as the doors shut - instant tears. I rushed to get out my camera as we had said we'd both film our parting of ways, but he was having trouble getting his to work, and regrettably the last thing I saw was his back turned as I rushed off for a better look out the window which turned out to be worse. xD Anyway, with an empty seat beside me I managed to bawl a bit to myself, and again on my first flight back as I'm leaving Stockholm (I had two stopovers). I think I became too exhausted and cried out by then, as I left home at 7.30am that morning, and got back to my home some 33 hours later with barely 5 hours sleep.

Already hating the heat, hating the dead brown grass, and wishing I was back in the freezing snow. So far, nothing tastes as good at home as I remember it to be - from my cereal, to my favourite pasta dish, to the juice, milk and water - despite not tasting a real difference when I was over there. I think I must be imagining things. Meanwhile my cat has been all over me since I arrived home and all over my suitcase to ensure I never leave again. xD Already looking at options for photobooks as I really want to design one for my first overseas holiday and meeting my SO, but there's so many options and prices to look at -.- And dreading going through all 2672 photos and videos I took, because being my creative self I wanna make videos with them and there's just so much material there that is going to crash my video program. xD But for now I guess it's back to my boring mundane life, trying to find work and money to get back with my SO no matter how long it takes. It'll be long and hard, but it's like that for everybody in a LDR, and we do it out of love and compassion which makes it all worth it in the end. <3

[BagOfPenguins]

D'aaw sounds like you had a great trip! (Btw, I hope people tell you that your hair is pretty amazing often, because it is^^)

[SmileyK]

D'aaw sounds like you had a great trip! (Btw, I hope people tell you that your hair is pretty amazing often, because it is^^)

Thanks Generally yes, I do, and people can't get over how long it is, but everyone in my family wants me to cut it because I don't do anything fancy with it and I've had it in the same 4 ways for the past 10 years (1 plait, 2 plaits, 1 ponytail or left out). It also becomes very greasy if I don't wash it every 2-3 days - a problem I noticed I didn't have for 6 weeks in Sweden because it was so cold and I wasn't sweating as much and stuff I guess. Hair was the best its been in years.

Also forgot to mention, before I left I placed 50 notes around his bedroom. He'll be finding them for months. Notes like "sleep well", "play me a song" and "dust me".