Autumn in Sweden

Another week has passed, and October is halfway over already...why is time passing so quickly?

On Monday morning, I woke up at 6.40 and had breakfast with the family before getting ready for school. My first class on Monday mornings starts at 8.30, bright and early. We are learning about statues in my Kultur & Idehistoria class, so we looked at a lot of photos of sculptures, right here in Uppsala. In my Svenska class we are going to start reading a novel that falls under the genre of Realism. We had Swedish meatballs with lingonberry jam for lunch at school, which was delicious. I went to ICA with Cecilia and Frida during our break and then it was time for the final lesson of the day, Samhällskunskap. As soon as school ended, I took the bus home so I could go to Anna and Axel's riding lesson. Axel rode the pony Igloo and Anna rode the pony Maja. The weather was warm enough that the lesson was held in the outdoor arena. Bengt-Ove took some really cute photos of the kids and their ponies and I just love going to their riding lesson every week. When we got home, we had tuna-fish quesadillas with lime and avocado and after dinner, we made home made limeades. I read some more children's books after dinner. Monday was a very busy day, but a great start to a new week.

Tuesday, my day began as it usually does at 6.40, but this time instead of oatmeal we had something else for breakfast which was kind of like oatmeal but it was white and had a different texture. Whatever I ate for breakfast tasted really good when mixed with cinnamon and sugar. In my Film and TV class we have been watching the first five or ten minutes of a movie, and then talking about why the beginning of movies are significant. It's actually been really interesting. I didn't go to Religion and instead I went to a Rotary meeting for lunch. I sat at a table with five Rotarians that I had never met before, so that was interesting and the presentation was about an old mustard factory in Uppsala. I didn't understand very much of the presentation, but the photos were really interesting. I went to the open-air market with Cecilia and Frida during our two hour afternoon break and I bought mjukglass (soft-serve ice cream) for the last time until the spring. It is really hard to find ice cream in the winter in Sweden, unless you buy it at the grocery store. Bengt-Ove made really delicious cabbage soup for dinner, and I loved it. Ulrika made a delicious apple pie-type dessert and I struggled with the basic task of making chocolate milk. I had a really nice conversation with Ulrika and a really relaxing evening at home. 

Wednesday morning, I woke up and had breakfast with the family before heading off to school at 9.30. We had a really short Klassråd that lasted all of 10 minutes. I had a nice chat with my class mentor Sofie. We learned about something in Filosofi, I mean I have no idea what we talked about, but it looked interesting. I bought a delicious sandwich from the school cafe for lunch, because the school lunch looked inedible. In Kultur & Idehistoria we watched a tv show that was basically exactly like Project Runway, but instead of making clothes, people made art and it was called Work of Art, really quite interesting. After school I walked to Ulrika's parents' apartment near the city center. I had wonderful fika with Mormor and Morfar and we practiced my Swedish together. Mormor and I spent a lot of time trying to buy tickets to an opera at the Royal Stockholm Opera. We were ultimately successful and I am excited to go to the opera with Mormor. We picked up Axel from his orchestra practice and made sure that he got on the right bus home, but first we picked up at lot of chestnuts at the central station. I have absolutely no idea what Axel plans on doing with all of these chestnuts but he now has 110. I met Morfar's cousin from Switzerland and we had fika again. I said goodbye to everyone after a delightful afternoon and I left to meet my Rotary counselor at a restaurant. We went to The Texas Steakhouse in Uppsala and it was really good. I ordered baby-back ribs, which were so delicious and so hard to eat politely. Christer and I had a really great conversation together, and dinner was so so good. I took the bus home and Bengt-Ove drove me home from the bus stop in Sävja. 

On Thursday, I woke up at 7.00 and had breakfast and got ready for the day. My first class on Thursday mornings starts at 11.30, so I had a lot of time to relax at home. After spending a lot of time figuring out how to turn the TV on, I watched The Little Mermaid in Swedish, with Swedish subtitles. I completely understood the movie, I don't know if that is a sign that my Swedish is improving or that I just know the movie so well in English that I could just understand the Swedish, not sure but either way it was a nice way to spend my morning. In my Religion class, we took a field trip to the Domkyrkan and we had a tour from a Swedish tour guide. I think I understood bits and pieces of what he said, and it was really interesting to learn more about the largest cathedral in Scandinavia. In Film and TV I showed my class the first 10 minutes of Silver Linings Playbook which was pretty cool. Marie drove us all home from our Swedish lesson after school and it was nice to talk to her a bit. Simon built a fire in the living room fireplace so I happily laid down on the floor near the fire and did my analysis homework for Samhällskunskap. 

Friday morning I woke up early, had breakfast, got ready and headed off to school for my first lesson at 8.30. In English class I went to the library with Louise and we just spoke Swedish together which is definitely helpful so I can learn more Swedish. In Swedish class, we got placed into book groups for our Realism project and in my group we are reading Två Städer ( A Tale of Two Cities) by Charles Dickens. I have a copy of the book in Swedish and I went to the city library and got a copy in English so hopefully that will help me with reading the book. I will read the novel in both Swedish and English, I think. Ulrika and I got home at the exact same time which was kind of funny and we listened to Spotify's weekly Digilistan together. I made cous cous with chicken curry for dinner which turned out really well, but it was pretty spicy. After dinner, we ate a delicious apple dessert that Ulrika had baked. For Fredagsmys my Swedish family watched the Sweden vs. Austria soccer game, and Sweden won. I talked to Ulrika and worked on my Swedish homework and watched maybe 20 minutes of the entire game.

On Saturday I woke up around 9.30 and watched a little tv with Anna and Axel and then we all ate breakfast together. I rode my bike to the gym at 10.30 and had a nice work out before riding my bike home. I had a quiet afternoon writing my essay for English class and watching Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. At 18.00 we left to go out to a restaurant for Anna's special birthday dinner, although her birthday was actually in August. We went to a super fancy restaurant in the building of the old train station. The menu was entirely in English so I helped explain what some of the choices were to Axel and Anna. I had citrus Ramlösa, fish and chips, and chocolate mousse. The dinner was good and it was a lot of fun to get dressed up and go out to a fancy dinner.I was so tired when I got home that I fell asleep almost immediately. 

I woke up on Sunday morning around 8.30 and I watched a cartoon with Anna and Axel before breakfast. Sunday was a very productive day for me and I got a lot of school work done, especially on my English essay. I helped Ulrika move the patio table down to the shed to put it away for winter storage which was bittersweet. At 15.30, Axel, Anna, and I left the house and we rode our bikes to Sunnersta to the Scout's meeting place. We watched Wreck-It Ralph in Swedish and ate popcorn. On the way home, Anna asked me if I understood the movie, and suprisingly I understood quite a bit of what the characters were saying, as long as they were just talking, but if they were yelling or singing it was a lot more difficult to understand. We had incredible lamb with this sauce for dinner, and it was so good. I skyped with my brother Scott, my parents, and my Grandma after dinner and it was nice to catch up with them, since it had been more than a month since I had skyped them. After skyping with my family in the United States, I watched Bron with Ulrika and Bengt-Ove which was a perfect ending to a busy week. 

Kanel Bullens Dag & Autumn

I feel like I just updated my blog, but another week has passed by, very quickly for that matter.

We had no school on Monday, so my great weekend was extended into a 3-day weekend. I woke up around 9.00 and Bemp and Ulrika had already left for work. I had breakfast, and at 11.00, Axel, Anna, and I headed to the bus stop near our neighborhood, which was just a short walk away. We took the " Mjuka Linjen" bus which roughly translates to the gentle or soft bus route. It is not very yfast, and there are many bus stops so it is actually quite a relaxing way to get somewhere, assuming you're not in a hurry. On our bus ride, I got to see parts of Uppsala that I haven't seen before which was neat. We finally arrived at our destination of choice: IKEA. I have now been to IKEA twice since I moved to Sweden, and let me tell you, it is wonderful. The prices are really reasonable, the food is cheap, and the selection of stuff you can buy there is unbelieveable. I had so much fun wandering around IKEA with my younger siblings, and we ended up buying two blankets, a pillow, a stuffed bunny rabbit, a teddy bear, and some clothes hangers. The IKEA restaurant had a long line, so we ate downstairs at the smaller food place and we had french hot dogs. A French hot dog is a hot dog with mustard and ketchup in a baguette instead of a hot dog bun. After our shopping adventure, we went to ridlektion at Lurbo. Monday's lesson was really fun because I got to lead Axel's pony while he lay down on the horse and while he sat backwards, way fun! After ridlektion, Ulrika and I went grocery shopping at ICA. For dinner, we had twirly pasta with hot dogs and ketchup. I never, ever thought about putting ketchup on noodles, but it is delicious. After dinner we watched The Lion King ( AKA my favorite movie of all time) in Swedish, which was different, but the Swedish dubbing was really well-done and Pumbaa and Scar sounded the same as they do in English. 

Tuesday meant the end of my perfect weekend, and going back to school. I woke up at 6.40 and had my oatmeal the Swedish way (swimming in milk). In my Film & TV class we watched a movie called Hets (1944) which is the first film Ingmar Bergman ever directed. It was in black and white, and I found the Swedish quite difficult to understand, moreso than I find on a regular day-to-day basis. I went to ICA and bought a snack during my long afternoon break. I went home after school and Ulrika made red beet soup for dinner and jalapeño bread made from scratch. I never knew that I liked beets until I tried this soup, but it was so, so good. Mom, I like beets now, watch out. The new trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug came out and Axel and I sat by the fire in the living room and freaked out and watched it twice, I can't wait for that movie to come to theatres. 

On Wednesday, I woke up at 7.00 and had breakfast with everybody before going to school. I bought a gigantic ham, cheese, brie, tomato, and cucumber sandwich from the school café and ate that during Filosofi, which was a good idea, because the school lunch was not top notch that day. I met my friend Sara after school and we went on a hunt for mjukglass ( soft-serve ice cream), to no avail. All of the ice cream stands in Uppsala are closed for the fall & winter. We ended up buying ice cream from McDonald's which was good, but disappointing after our failure to find the ice cream I wanted. We went to the city library and The English Bookshop and had a nice walk around the city center before we parted ways. Choir practice was fun and we sang many interesting songs. I had a late dinner when I got home and had a pleasant conversation with Ulrika. 

Thursday morning, I woke up and went downstairs in my pajamas, still rubbing the sleep from my eyes and I had oatmeal for breakfast. I packed my gym bag and took the bus to the gym. I worked out for an hour and then got ready for school. Religion class was interesting, I'm sure, although I understood none of what we are learning. We had pancakes with lingon berry jam for lunch at school, and I was so full afterwards. After school, I went to the city library and returned some items and then I went to HemmaKväll (Swedish BlockBuster) and returned last week's movies. I introduced my friend Louise to the two Italian exchange students in my Swedish lesson and it was so cool to hear them speak Italian to each other. Louise was a Rotary exchange student to Italy last year, and I can only hope that my Swedish will be as good as her Italian at the end of my exchange year. I spoke a little Swedish to Marie ( Annalise's host mom) when she drove us home, the more practice, the better! I watched tv with Anna and Simon when I got home, and we ordered pizza for dinner. I got pizza Hawaii-style (Canadian bacon & pineapple), which is my favorite kind of pizza. Unfortunately, I dropped my pizza on the ground right before I got to the table, but I was hungry and not going to miss out on my favorite kind of pizza, so I followed the 5-second rule and ate it anyways. 

On Friday, I woke up at the same time I do every weekday and had the same breakfast I have every weekday, some people might find this kind of routine boring, but I think it's perfect. I am so settled in to my life in Sweden and I love having a morning routine to start my day. I made it to school on time for English class bright and early at 8.30. I chatted with Louise and worked on my essay, and we used Google Maps to look at her house and her school in Italy. During a break, I talked with Cecilia and her friend Alva and I practiced my Swedish more which is good! I have a tendency to compare my knowledge of Swedish with native speakers, and I always feel inadequate, but I have to remember that they have been speaking Swedish for their entire lives, just like I have been speaking English for mine, so our language abilities in Swedish are not even comparable. We wrote an essay on Candide for my Swedish class, I wrote my essay in English, but it was definitely difficult. I went to HemmaKväll with Cecilia after school and I rented 3 movies for the weekend. I cooked spaghetti and red sauce for dinner. I was really proud of my red sauce because I didn't use a recipe and I just improvised. I ended up cooking way too much spaghetti, so I filled the fridge with leftovers. We watched The Road to El Dorado in Swedish for Fredagsmys which was really entertaining. 

Saturday morning I woke up at 7.30 after a wonderful 10-hr night of sleep. I watched a tv show with Anna and Axel and from what I could understand, the show seemed to be about a Swedish celebrity baby-sitting a group of kids for a day, really funny, but confusing at first. After that, I rode my bike to the gym and worked out which was a nice way to work off some pent-up stress from a week at school and then I rode my bike home. After a quick lunch, Ulrika drove us ( Anna & me) to Sunnersta and from there we took the bus to Gottsunda Centrum, and then we took another bus to Norby. We spent the afternoon at Sierra's house baking traditional cinnamon rolls with her host parents Karin and Stefan. Annalise came over a little later in the day and helped us turn the dough we made into actual rolls. We made two batches with two different recipes, and they were both delightful. At 18.00, the rest of my family came over and Annalise's host parents came over and we had a nice dinner with soup and bread before our massive fika with the cinnamon rolls we had spent the majority of the day baking. I practiced my Swedish with Ulrika, Karin, and Mikael which was fun and the whole dinner was really interesting because I understood nearly all of the conversations we had and a few of the jokes! Compared to a dinner I had with Bengt-Ove's family in Vika the week I arrived, my Swedish comprehension has improved vastly. Who knew I could make jokes in Swedish? The dinner was great and I felt comfortable with the conversation and even participating, which was cool. I am feeling better about where my Swedish is now, although I am still frusturated because I have learned a lot of Swedish but it is a challenge to put it all together in coherent sentences. Lately, a few people have told me that I am "duktig" which is a word that is hard to directly translate to English, but it means good, so when people say " Du är så duktig! " it means something like " You are so good at Swedish, nice job! ". I was exhausted from a long day when I got home and I fell asleep at 11.00.

Sunday morning I slept in until 9.00, so I got 10 blissful hours of sleep. I left my phone at Sierra's house the night before, so we made plans to meet in the city center so I could get my cell phone and so we could check out the new American food store. I rode my bike all the way to the city center to meet Annalise and Sierra which is about 10 km (6 miles) north of my house. My bike ride into the city was really beautiful and scenic. Fall in Sweden is absolutely jaw-dropping. There are more deciduous trees here than in Colorado so when the leaves change color, there are way more trees to admire. Leaves range from deep reds, to bright oranges, to bold yellows and every shade in between. The bike ride took about 45 minutes. We walked around the city center and Sierra took photos of the Domkyrkan and then we had lunch at Kebab House. After lunch we sat by the river for awhile and chatted. I rode my bike home a different way than how I rode my bike into the city, so that was also beautiful. Suprisingly 12 miles of riding my bike was relaxing and not as challenging as I expected, I was able to go at a comfortable pace and my bike ride was definitely the highlight of my day. I had a wonderful conversation with Bengt-Ove and Ulrika when I got home in Swedish and they really understand me and my personality, which is fantastic. We had reindeer soup for dinner, and it was so good, but unfortunately I don't think it is possible to buy reindeer in Colorado. I spent the rest of my evening reading a Winne-the-Pooh book in Swedish which was a challenge. Pooh Bear is called Nalle Puh in Swedish and Eyeore is called I-or. Ulrika and I watched Bron which was dramatic and exciting. I can't wait to find out what happens on the show next week. 

I am really enjoying Fall in Sweden and I am definitely learning more Swedish! Maybe I'll start dreaming in Swedish soon! 

Living that V.I.P. Life

I have been in Sweden for two months, what even. I still feel like I got here yesterday and at the same time I feel like I have always lived in Sweden. Moving to a foregin country has been incredible, but the way time passes is so bizzare and difficult to explain. Anyways...

The bike ride to the bus stop on Monday morning was really cold and a little bit rainy, but after I got to school, it was just another regular day. After school, I went straight home and then it was off to horseback riding lessons with Axel and Anna. Anna rode a horse instead of a pony this week, named Cavaletti and Axel rode a pony named Bolle. The lesson was really cool because the kids got to ride bareback, and I got to run alongside and lead Bolle when Axel wanted to trot. Running along side a pony is definitely a lot of work, but it was so much fun! It's special experiences like these that really reinforce my love for my exchange year. Who would've guessed that I would have a little brother and a little sister and that I would get to go to horseback riding lessons with them every week? After the adventures at Lurbo, we returned home and had dinner. I helped Anna a little bit with her English homework, and I had an entire conversation in Swedish with Axel and Anna. I am so happy that I am able to practice my Swedish with my family here, they help me so much and I know that my Swedish is getting better day by day, and if I keep working hard, I will be fluent in Swedish.

Tuesday, I woke up at 6.30 and had breakfast with my family. Bengt-Ove likes to eat his oatmeal with applesauce, and then he pours a lot of milk into the bowl, until the oatmeal is swimming in milk. I used to think this way of eating oatmeal was super weird, until I tried it one day. Now I can never go back, drowning oatmeal in milk with apple sauce is the only way to eat breakfast. In Film & TV, we have been watching a lot of clips from old silent movies, so that is what we did in class. I didn't go to Religion and instead I went to a Rotary meeting of my sponsoring Rotary club. All of the Rotarians I met were so welcoming and friendly, although it was only my second time coming to a Rotary meeting in Sweden. After Rotary, I went back to school, and when I got home, Simon made spaghetti with chicken curry for dinner which was delicious.

Wednesday, we had a 10 minute class meeting, and after that I bought a cheese sandwich from the cafe and went to my Philosophy class. When I got home from school, I started cooking American pancakes for dinner. One thing I miss about the United States is maple syrup. The pancakes turned out well and Ulrika helped me cook them so I would have time to eat dinner before going to choir practice. I rode my bike to Sävja, which is about 15 minutes away. The choir practice was a lot of fun and I met some new people. I rode my bike home after  choir practice and it was dark, so I got a beautiful view of the stars and the moon.

Thursday, I woke up at 7.00 and had breakfast with everybody. My first class was at 11.30 so I had a long time to relax at home and get ready for the day ahead. It was 32 degrees F when I rode my bike to the bus stop and that was at 10.30 in the morning. In Religion, we read part of the Bible and we watched the trailer for The Prince of Egypt, I love that movie. We had spaghetti for lunch at school, and in Film & TV we watched some funny clips of Charlie Chaplin. I went to Hemmakväll ( a video rental store) to rent some movies. After I ran some errands in the city center, I made it back to school on time for my weekly Swedish lesson. I had a delicious dinner and chat with my Swedish family and I watched the local news.

Friday began with my usual morning routine. In my Samhällskunskap (Civics) class, my group had to do our presentation and inform the rest of the class about the results we complied from a survey we conducted in the school about cyber bullying. I went to the gym after school and ran for an hour which was a really nice way to relieve the stress of the week. Axel and Ulrika made fantastic tortellini for dinner, and afterwards we watched Remember The Titans. I installed iOS7 on my iPad, which is pretty cool.

Saturday was a very long day. I woke up at 7.30 and read a book for most of the morning before we packed up and headed to Åland, a village near Uppsala, where Mormor and Morfar have a stuga (cottage). At the stuga, there was a wood burning sauna so we used the sauna, played Scrabble, ate delicious hot dogs and in general had a fun and pleasant afternoon. I met Ulrika's other sister Märta for the first time so that was nice. Ulrika and I took a yellow and a green bus to get back to Sävja and we rode our bikes home from there. I took a shower and then we got ready for the night ahead. We rode our bikes to Sävja and took the bus to the central station. Ulrika bought our train tickets online, so we when we got to the station, we got right onboard the train, we had perfect timing and got on the train 5 minutes before it departed. We took the train to Gävle, about 100 km north of Uppsala. We went to a club where Stefan W.'s band was playing. Simon and Bengt-Ove prepared a song to play as part of Stefan's set list, so we went to Gävle to see them perform. Our names were on the guest list and we got to go backstage before the show, so that was a little taste of the V.I.P. experience. The Rhythm Kings played really well, and after the show, we drove by the house Ulrika used to live in, when she lived in Gävle. We finally made it home around 2.00 and I was exhausted after a fun and very busy day.

On Sunday, I woke up at 9.00 despite having fallen asleep only a few hours before. I had breakfast and chatted with Ulrika and then I made sugar cookies from scratch. We had left overs for lunch and a quiet afternoon at home. I responded to some emails and worked on some paperwork and applications. Anna made cornflakes chicken for dinner which was so good! Ulrika drove me to the Sävja church for choir practice. We sang 3 songs during the Sunday evening service and Ulrika came to support me, which was so kind. 2 of the songs we sang were in English and one was in Swedish. When we got home, we watched the second episode of Bron. The show is so suspenseful and I think that I am able to understand most of the show although it is in Swedish and Danish. I had a delightfully busy and entertaining weekend with my family here, and overall it was just an awesome week.

2 months have flown by, and I am having the time of my life.