This is the first photo of Sweden that I took from the plane before landing at the airport. Sweden is very flat and there are many lakes and forests, what a beautiful view of my host country.
This is the lake that is about a 10 minute drive from where I live. The lake( Lake Ekoln) is actually quite large and it goes all the way to Stockholm ( 70 km south of Uppsala).
Closer view of Lake Ekoln.
This is the sun peeking through some trees. In Colorado I am used to seeing pine trees, but I don't see deciduous trees as often as I do in Sweden. I live in between two forests and my commute to school every day is gorgeous.
This is the Domkyrkan (Uppsala Cathedral). This is the largest church in Scandinavia. It is hard to tell just how big the cathedral is from this photo, but it is massive and lavishly decorated on the inside.
Pappa, this photo is for you. Gustav Vasa is buried in a crypt beneath the Domkyrkan and this monument marks his grave.
I went sailing on Lake Ekoln with Simon, Hannes, Ulrika, and Ulrika's sister/ her children on my 2nd day in Sweden. I haven't been sailing since I was 8 years old, so it was really fun to go sailing again. We also jumped into the lake from a dock and I quickly discovered just how cold the water is in Sweden.
This is a photo of me and my younger host siblings Axel and Anna, and the family's pet cat, Sniff, from my first week in Sweden. They are very helpful with teaching me Swedish and we read children's books together.
After a challenging reading lesson, we jumped on the trampoline together and I had a blast.
2 days after I arrived in Sweden, my host family took me to Darlarna County and we visited my host father, Bengt-Ove's home town. The day we arrived at this lake, we had a party with some of my host family's friends. The building on the left side of this photo is a wood-burning sauna. We went in a motor boat from the other side of the lake to reach this sauna/ camp fire. I spent the day swimming in the lake and enjoying the sauna.
This is the view from the cottage we stayed in while were visiting Darlarna County.
On the left side of this photo, you can see the wooden outhouse that accompanied the cottage we stayed in.
Another view from the cottage. Actually, part of the cottage is on the right side of this photo.
This is a photo of Anna and me from when we dropped off Hannes at the hotel the night before he left for his exchange year.
This is a photo of Hannes and me from when we dropped him off at the hotel.
Ulrika took me dancing at the city park in Uppsala. I had so much fun learning a new dance, and even though I am not a great dancer I laughed a lot and had a really great time.
Obviously, I did the cheesy tourist thing and asked for a photo with the dance instructor. He reminded me a lot of my brother Scott back in the United States.
This is a photo of my first host family and me together when we were at the airport saying goodbye to Hannes.
I did that instagram thing where I took pictures of my food, but actually I am really inconsistent about remembering to take pictures of my food, so I only have this one and the two below. This is chocolate chip cheesecake that I got when I had my first fika in Sweden with my friend Louise.
This is a photo of the Apple Betty that I made for my host family the day that Hannes left.
This is a photo of the Mackarutor that Simon made one day, it tastes kind of like brownies, but at the same time it's nothing like brownies, difficult to explain, and there is coconut on top. DELICIOUS.
This is Dag Hammarskjölds Väg. This road is completely straight and it goes directly into the city center of Uppsala. I live a few kilometers south of the city, but every day I take the bus from this road to school and home again. I am still learning how to find my way around Uppsala, but I have gotten to know this road pretty well.
This is a photo of what the Uppsala city buses look like. They are all bright green and they run on biogas. They are much cleaner than the buses in Colorado and here in Sweden, everyone takes the bus and it is a common mode of transportation.
This is a roof near my bus stop where I leave my bike each morning. From my host family's house it's about a 5 to 10 minute bike ride to get to the bus stop. I lock/leave my bike under this roof, take the city bus to school. I get off the city bus near the castle and from that bus stop it's about a 5 minute walk to my school.
This is the view from the bus stop I get off at near my school. Everyday, I see the Domkyrkan and the Uppsala Slott (castle). Uppsala is a beautiful city full of rich history and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world that I get to live here for a year.
On my 5 minute walk to school from the bus stop, I walk down a beautiful street full of old houses and university buildings.
This is a Uppsala Universitet building that I walk past every day on the way to and from school.
These are just some of the many old houses that I walk by on the way to school, most of the street is paved in cobblestones.
I apologize for these photos being out of order. Photo credits/ Special thanks to Ulrika for letting me use her photos on my blog.
I will try to most more photos in a few weeks, hopefully these photos can give you all just a peek of my life here in Sweden. Sweden is a beautiful and historic country and these photos cannot even begin to capture the beauty here.
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