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.
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