This shit just got real...

There's no avoiding it now.

I've received the confirmation letter. I've confirmed the confirmation letter. I've received the letter confirming the confirmation of the confirmation letter. I've shown both letters to the Faculty Office, who confirmed both the confirmation and the confirmation of the confirmation.

And today, I bought a plane ticket - British Airways from Changi International to Heathrow to Stockholm Arlanda (and return).

It was actually remarkably cheap...about $1250 AUD. And with Simon covering the Singapore-Melbourne legs with his mountains of frequent-flier miles (thank-you rich generous uncles and BHP Biliton) that shaves a tidy little sum off my estimates for the trip.

Incredibly, despite all the planning and the research, and the months of talking about it and saving for it, and the small rainforest that was felled to provide all the paperwork, it's only this afternoon that it finally feels like I'm going.

And it's suddenly very, very real; exciting and terrifying in proportions I'm not sure I can pin down just yet...

There's still quite a lot to do: get tickets to and from Singapore, find insurance, confirm my scholarship, apply for a visa, work out what I'm taking, buy something to pack it in, find someone cheap to ship it there, frantically learn more Swedish...

All on top of studying for exams, writing my American History essay, working two jobs, eating, sleeping, organising a farewell party, and of course spend time with my family, girlfriend, friends and sundry others who might notice my absence from July to February.

Eight weeks and counting...

Welcome to Uppsalaphilia

Hello internet folks.

Because I am one of these hip new Gen-Y types who are all down with the tecknolography, I've decided to create a blog documenting my travel adventures over the next nine months or so, beginning with the crazy final weeks before departure (that's right now) and continuing through my time on exchange at Uppsala University, Sweden. It looks like this:

And it will be my home from August to January, in case I haven't had a chance to bore you backwards with the details of it yet.

But this blog will not be boring (I hope) but rather filled with insightful, witty and poignant observations of Swedish University life from the perspective of...well, me. But failing that, it will be a place where you can come to confirm that I am not, in fact, dead, a place to tell me that you share that fortunate condition, a place to watch Sally and Mat score points off each other in the comments section, and a place to contemplate how much funnier Joe's version of this would be...

Enjoy.