Let me just move these seeds and kernels. Oh, hello there! #feedingbirds #LinneaAndGustav
One word: Amazed. #linneaandgustav
#stopkillingtheanimals #linneaandgustav
Off on new adventures in South Australia! Just landed, but for some reason it feels like we’ll fit in just fine #meatballtime #linneaandgustav
Back to the Future at Sydney Opera House (8 October)
This was a day long in the making. On 4 August, Sebastian, Hermione, and we booked tickets to a screening of the 1985 classic Back to the Future featuring live music performed by Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House.
The performance started at 2 pm, but we had to fetch the tickets at least half an hour before then. So we went on the train to Sydney at about 9:15 am.
We arrived in Sydney at 12:40 and walked to the Opera House where we fetched our tickets. Outside the Opera House, people were preparing a small market, so we bought lunch there to eat while we waited for Sebastian and Hermione. Across the bay, an enormous cruise ship was anchored. Next to it, some of the big structures in the city didn’t seem so big anymore.
We ate our lunch and after Linnea went to find a coffee. While she was away, Sebastian and Hermione arrived and the time until the performance was getting shorter. On her way back to the Opera House entrance with coffee in hand, Linnea was stopped by a guy probably in his thirties who was working as a fight scene coordinator for the television show Game of Thrones. The guy, or rather his friend, had apparently been ‘stunned’ when Linnea walked past them. So he felt like he had to talk to her. They wondered if she could meet up later for a coffee. Although it was a testament to how stunning Linnea is (Gustav writing here), it was not the right time to chat. She explained the situation and hurried back to the entrance.
A few minutes before the performance started, we hurried up the stairs to the Concert Hall to take our seats on row L. Because of the screen setup the stage had been extended to fit the whole orchestra. Since parts of the screen could have been obstructed by the orchestra from the point-of-view from row L, we got a good price when buying the tickets. Fortunately, we could all see the screen and some of the orchestra. Our seats were pretty much front and center.
The conductor was a man, probably in his thirties, who was charming and jokingly talked to the audience to introduce the performance. The orchestra started playing the main theme of the movie before it started. It was interesting to look at the conductor especially when the movie started. On a small screen next to the score the conductor could see the movie with cues appearing or moving across the screen to indicate when he should cue the orchestra.
In theater tradition, the performance had an intermission in the middle when we could go out and stretch our legs. We took the opportunity to go out and get a few photos of the four of us together. As we wanted to make this, our one, visit to Sydney Opera House special, we had dressed up for the occasion. A man aided us and took our pictures.
We went back in and took our seats when the signal started sounding. The second half was also very enjoyable. The four of us thought it was really nice to see the movie. Sebastian and the both of us had seen Back to the Future before while it was the first time for Hermione. But it was quite some time since the two of us had seen it, so it was nice to refresh our memories as well.
After the performance, we walked to an Italian restaurant called Fratelli Fresh where Hermione had made a reservation. We ordered pizzas and a pasta dish. The pizzas at the restaurant were a bit quirky, they had one with black truffles and an egg on it, which Linnea had to try. The food tasted really good and we had a lovely time talking to each other.
When we had finished dining, we couldn’t help but try out an ice cream place Hermione recommended for dessert. We bought some exotic flavours there as well, this time Gustav got popcorn ice cream with salted caramel flavour. Later we headed to the trains at Circular Quay, and the two of us started our journey back to Newcastle.
/ G & L
Swedish Dinner (7 October)
On Friday the 7th of October, we had been invited to a “Hat or cat” themed Swedish dinner by three of Linnea’s classmates: Anna, Hanna, and Greta.
In the evening, we took an Uber over to their house in Merewether (one of the suburbs in the Newcastle metropolitan area). We arrived there around 6:30 pm and were met by the rest of the Swedish students from Linköping which came walking to the dinner at the same time.
All in all, we were 14 people at the dinner. All except Gustav are studying the same programme as Linnea at Linköping University.
The dinner consisted of three courses. The appetiser was Gözleme, the main course was tacos or rather the Swedish version of tex-mex, and finally the dessert was Eton mess (similar to the Swedish dessert marängsviss) but also containing Baileys Irish cream. All three courses tasted really good, and the dessert containing Strawberries made us think of Swedish summer.
After the dinner, we were joined by more international students many of whom the two of us know. Most of the students were either from Sweden or Germany.
We spent the rest of the evening talking to the people there. One of the talking subjects led to that Linnea got to borrow the newly released Harry Potter sequel Harry Potter and the Cursed Child from Anna, which was really kind of her.
/ Gustav & Linnea
Paddle boarding in the hot Australian sun ? #sup #bucketlist #linneaandgustav
Wish every exam period would look like this ? #finals #linneaandgustav
Final presentations are finally over! Celebrating with crumpets for breakfast #timetoindulge #linneaandgustav
This is Not Art and going to the beach (2 October)
On the Sunday after getting back from New Zealand, we decided to go into the city to take a look at the art festival This is Not Art, also known as TiNA, as well as go to the beach and meet up with a few friends.
Our first stop was The Lock-Up, which used to be a jail but has in recent years been turned into a gallery. In many of the rooms and cells, there were art installations part of TiNA. There was also information about how the prison had been used before. It was striking to look into the isolation cell covered with thick layers of isolation on the walls and on the door with leather as the utmost material.
A few of the art installations were quite flashy and used bright neon colours in excess. Many of them were also made up in part or as a whole of video, like one piece that showed scenes of men shaving or being shaved from different movies.
After our visit to The Lock-Up, we went to Three Bears Kitchen where we ate lunch and Gustav also had a Nutella milkshake. We continued from there to Nobby’s Beach where we met up with our German friends Sil Ja, Nadine, and Svenja. We took a spot at the beach beyond Nobby’s Head and put our towels there. The German girls only wanted to sunbathe, but we wanted to go into the water, which we did. It was nice. The water wasn’t very warm, but since the air was so hot, it didn’t really matter.
We stayed at Nobby’s for almost two hours. The five of us then went to Six Degrees, a restaurant located at the Queen Wharf and the Queen Wharf Tower. We ordered coffees and smoothies. The waiter unfortunately messed up Linnea’s and Sil Ja’s order, but at least the smoothies were good.
After finishing our beverages, we headed to the bus and went back home.
/ G & L