Home Again - Relaxing Weekend

I just spent the past week in Åre, Sweden with a huge group of Rotary exchange students. We had a week of skiing and other shenanigans.

I got back from Åre at 6:30 on Friday morning and my host dad Stefan was waiting on the train platform to take me home.

 We drove home and I had breakfast with Karin and Stefan (my host parents) before they left for work. After eating breakfast, showering and doing a little laundry, I felt fully exhausted from my 10 hour journey on the night train so I spent most of Friday morning watching tv and taking a nap on the couch. Friday was a day of much-needed relaxation after an incredibly busy week. We had sushi for dinner on Friday evening and I provided my host parents with quite a bit of entertainment as they watched me attempt to eat sushi with chopsticks; laughter ensued. I also FaceTimed with my best friend Jae Jae and her little sister, and I introduced them to my host parents.

 After dinner, we ate pistachio ice cream,drank coffee and watched a black comedy film from 1978 starring Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase called Foul Play. The movie was very good, but there were quite a few scary moments that caused me to jump, also resulting in a lot of laughter on the part of Stefan and Karin. 

I'd never seen Chevy Chase or Goldie Hawn this young before.

Easily the scariest movie villain ever.

Saturday was also a very relaxing and fun-filled day. After a chill morning at home, we headed off to Gränby Centrum (the biggest mall in Uppsala). I'd heard a lot about Gränby Centrum before, and after 7 and a 1/2 months of living in Uppsala, it seemed like it was finally  time to go check this place out. 

The mall was two stories tall and filled with all of my favorite stores in Sweden including: Intersport, H&M, and ICA. Yes, one of my favorite stores is ICA. For those of you who don't know, ICA is a grocery store, on par with King Soopers. 

While visiting the wonder that is Gränby Centrum, it became apparent that something was missing from our shopping experience. To remedy the situation, Stefan, Karin and I made a necessary stop at the Naked Juice Bar to get some fruit smoothies. Obviously, I had to document this epic moment and send it to Cecilia. 

With my Very Berry smoothie, delicious!

Later on, we left the magic that is Gränby Centrum behind and drove to a chocolate/candy store in Boländerna where I picked up lots of lördagsgodis. Lördagsgodis directly translates to Saturday candy, and it's somewhat of a Swedish tradition to buy this kind of candy on Saturdays. I'll explain lördagsgodis in more detail another time. Once we returned home from shopping, we had a light lunch of sandwiches and coffee and then I spent the whole afternoon in the living room hanging out with my host parents and listening to E.L.O.'s Greatest Hits.

 I skyped with my parents for 15 minutes and just caught them up quickly on my week in Åre. We had superb hamburgers with homemade hamburger buns for dinner. Our evening plans consisted of going to Filmstaden and seeing 12 Years a Slave. I was very impressed by the movie, especially the skill of the actors in their roles and the  stark historic reality that the film portrayed. I was so focused on the movie that I completely forgot about my lördagsgodis.

This long weekend has been excellent . I've really enjoyed laughing and joking around with my host parents and just getting back to my regular life in Uppsala after an adventure-filled week in Åre. 

Åre Ski Trip 2014

This past week has been wonderful.Terrific.Great. Impossible to describe. I'm not even sure how to begin writing this blog post. I guess I'll just start from the beginning.

On Saturday March 15th, I took the night train from Uppsala to Undersåker (a town a few kilometers east of Åre). This trip was with a group of 34  exchange students from all over the world who live in all different parts of Sweden. There were exchange students from India, Japan, Italy, South Korea, Brazil, France, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, the USA, Argentina and Australia. Åre is the best-known ski resort in Sweden, and it is about a 12 hour train ride from where I live. The train arrived early on Sunday morning and there were Rotarians waiting to pick us up at the train station and transport us to the hotel we would be staying at. Upon arriving at the hotel, we ate breakfast, met exchange students who had arrived earlier than us, and picked our rooms. I shared a room with Sierra (Utah), Mili (Argentina), and Sofia (Italy). Sharing a room with these girls was such a blast (I absolutely adored our ABBA/Grease dance party). I had a lot of fun meeting new people and making new friends on this trip.

Sundmans Fjällgård (Our hotel, or is it a lodge?)

On the first full day of the trip, we settled into our rooms at the lodge and went out for a walk to a frozen waterfall. I wore my boots that don't have sturdy soles with a lot of traction, so I slipped and fell maybe 20 different times on the walk both to and from the waterfall. Embarassing. The frozen waterfall was definitely worth the walk, though. 

Frozen Waterfall.

The hotel had a large living room and a fireplace which made for some relaxing evenings after long days of skiing. There was also a game room downstairs with a pool table and ping pong table, and a sauna. The sauna wasn't in the game room, but you get the point. Every morning, a large charter bus arrived at 8:45 to pick us up and it was about a 20 minute drive between the hotel and the ski resort. The bus rides were often entertaining with loud music ,yelling, and lots of laughter. Anytime you put 34 exchange students in one place it's going to get loud and crazy.

On the bus.

Jiul (South Korea) and me. Bus buddies!

Overall I thought our accomodations were just fine. But enough of the hotel and the bus...now for the reason we were in Åre in the first place: THE SKIING.

Map of the Åre ski resort.

Skiing!

On Monday morning, we stopped at a rental shop and rented everyone's skis, boots, helmets, poles, snowboards etc. Then we headed over to Rödkullen, an area of the Åre ski resort. We went inside the värmestuga  (ski lodge) which was where we put on our boots, relaxed, and ate lunch everyday. For our first two days skiing at Åre (Monday and Tuesday) we spent the morning in ski school, with lessons and instructors. I was in a very small ski school group. There was just Mai (Japan) and I, and our two instructors Linus and Adam.

From the left: Linus, me, Mai, and Adam.

On our first day with the ski instructors we worked mostly on our technique since both Mai and I already knew how to ski. We worked on technique with turns, as well as learning two new skills: doing a pirouette on skis, and skiing backwards. Monday afternoon was free skiing, so I just went out skiing with a group of exchange students and had fun.

Selfie with our instructors, they were so funny.

On our second (and last) day with our ski instructors we decided to explore the mountain and we just did the runs we wanted to do, rode different chair lifts impulsively, and overall had a great time. Adam and Linus took us to a part of the mountain with fresh powder which was a lot of fun, and I spent a better part of the morning trying to throw snow on Linus every time we stopped (just with the force of my skis, like a hockey stop).  I had a lot of fun skiing on Tuesday afternoon with Miyeon and Jiul (South Korea) and Mai (Japan). 

I had so much fun skiing with Linus, Mai, and Adam on Monday and Tuesday.

On Wednesday and Thursday we didn't  have any ski school, so we had two full days of free skiing. I skied with too many people to remember really, but I know that I skied with Natalie (Australia) and Mai (Japan) on Thursday. The weather was pretty good the whole time we were in Åre and it snowed while we were there as well.

During our ski lesson on Tuesday.

Skiing with Mai on Wednesday.

Skiing with Mai.

Mai and I found some trees that looked like frozen elephants.

Reading the map. We may or may not have been completely lost at this point. (Okay, we were lost).

Ski lift selfie: Mai, Natalie, and me.

Selfie with the Swedish flag: Mai, Natalie and me.

On Wednesday night, about 10 Rotarians came over to our hotel for dinner. We had a three-course meal with delightful chocolate cake and raspberries for dessert. The dinner was great and it was really interesting to meet the Rotarians who organized this trip and made it possible.

At the Rotary dinner: Ashley (California), Bronte (New Zealand), and me.

After the dinner, all of the exchange students divided themselves  into country groups and each group did a presentation about their country. The Americans performed the Pledge of Allegiance. The Australians sang a song called Give Me a home among the Gumtrees. The Canadians sang a sort of joke national anthem. The New Zealanders showed a video of the traditonal haka dance. Fish presented a powerpoint about his country, India. The Latinos (Argentina, Mexico and Brazil) danced and played the harmonica. The South Koreans explained Gangnam Style and performed the dance. And the girls from France, Italy, and Japan did a short skit using sterotypical accents from their countries. The presentations were ridiculously funny. 

The Americans performing the Pledge of Allegiance (I still know it by heart, thanks elementary school).

After the presentations ended, we took two of the greatest group photos ever taken.

The group.

Completely serious. ;)

On Thursday night, we got to the train station about 30 minutes before our train departed, so to pass the time we took selfies with our wonderful group leaders: Rolland, Madde, and Agnes.

From the left: Sofia (Italy), me, Agnes (our group leader, wearing the sombrero), and Mili (Argentina).

Sofia, me, Agnes, and Mili.

From the left: Sofia (Italy), Ashley (California), Madde, Bronte (New Zealand), me, Rolland, Mili (Argentina), and Agnes.

My International Family. 

We had four really great days of skiing at Åre. I had so much fun getting to know new people. I also had a blast skiing with friends from all over the world. I am so happy that I decided to go on Rotary's Åre trip this year, and I am very thankful for that opportunity. I've made memories I'll never forget. I just want to give a special thanks to our three group leaders: Madde,Agnes, and Rolland, the Åre Rotaryklubb, Sundmans Fjällgård, the Åre ski resort, the internet Mai and Sofia for providing all of these photos, and last but not least, to all of you 34 exchange students for making this a trip that I will always cherish and never forget. :)

<3 Åre Ski Trip 2014 <3 

Differences between the U.S. and Sweden

Before moving to Sweden, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I thought the scenery would be just like in The Sound of Music (even though that movie takes place in Austria) with lush green rolling hills and gigantic mountains and bright blue lakes. I also thought that Swedish would sound exactly like the language the Swedish Chef speaks on The Muppets (that's sometimes true). Anyways, I thought I would make a list of just a few of the differences that I've noticed about Sweden. (These might not be true throughout the entire country, this is all just from my personal experience).

Heavy/Tricky Doors: The doors at my school are crazy heavy. They have large silver handles on both sides so it is almost always impossible for me to figure out if I need to push or pull the door open, this results in me running into a lot of doors that pull open instead of push open, quite the entertainment for my friends.

Wooden Floors (un-carpeted floors): In the U.S. ( at least at my house) most of the hallways, the tv room, the living room, and bedrooms are carpeted. In Sweden, I have yet to see a single carpeted room in a home. Most floors are wooden, tile, or vinyl. However, I have seen more area rugs than ever before.  I quite like wooden flooring, but it was definitely a strange experience to vacuum a wooden floor for the first time.

Something Fishy: Kalles Kaviar and Sill. Kalles Kaviar is salted fish paste that comes in a tube that bears a strong resemblance to a toothpaste tube. For the life of me I cannot figure out why some Swedes find this to be an appealing food, but I am told that it is very delicious on hard-boiled eggs. Kalles Kaviar is something that I will probably never like, but something that I've found that is actually pretty good is sill. Sill is jarred herring that is eaten with potatoes and comes in a variety of flavors. By far the best flavor of sill in my opinion is mustard sill. Sill is often enjoyed as a traditional Christmas, Easter, and Mid Summer food and is best when served with potatoes.

School: I think school in Sweden is fantastic, at least in my experience. The school lunch is free and usually pretty good, and it's nice to have a hot meal for every lunch, and on the rare occassion that the school lunch isn't great, there's always a delicious salad bar. Besides lunch, Swedish high schools also provide their students with laptops. Teachers in Sweden are always addressed by their first names instead of Mr. or Mrs. and teachers are a lot more connected to their students here. Something else that is different about school in Sweden is that in high school here, you get to pick a program (Languages, Science, Social Studies etc.) and more of your classes are focused on that area of interest. Everyone is divided into classes of about 30 people each and each class goes to all of their lessons together. It's really cool to get to know a small group of people better rather than always going to class with different people for every different lesson. High school in Sweden is 3 years instead of 4 and it's called gymnasium. The years of schooling also have different numbers instead of 10th, 11th, and 12th, grades there's Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3. I am currently enrolled in Year 3 which means that I get to "graduate" with my class in June, I am really looking forward to that experience! 

My beautiful school.

Cars: The cars in Sweden are generally smaller than the cars in America, and I have yet to see a single pick-up truck. There is also a much higher percentage of cars with a manual transmission as opposed to an automatic transmission. The cars in Sweden are generally Saab or Volvo (both Swedish companies) but I have seen other brands such as BMW and Volkswagen as well. 

This is a typical Swedish car in my opinion, many of the cars here are station wagons.

Fil: Fil is a Swedish dairy product that is quite similar to yoghurt. I think in English it would be called "sour milk" but it's not sour, it's basically like yoghurt, but it is in more of a liquid state, so you can easily pour fil into a bowl. Fil is a product that can be found in almost any home in Sweden. Fil is delicious with müsli or fruit.

Knäckebröd: Knäckebröd is a Swedish bread that I think would be called something like "crisp bread" in English. When  I first moved to Sweden, I had a hard time believing that this was bread, to me the texture and consistency is more similar to crackers rather than bread. However, I have learned to love this bread and I don't know what I'll do without it back in America. Knäckebröd is best when served with butter and cheese. 

Kronor: Kronor (SEK) is the national currency in Sweden. It would be translated as "crowns" in English. The equivalent of $1.00 (USD) in crowns is roughly 6.4 crowns. So there are approximately 6.4 crowns for every dollar, however that is just a rough estimate because currency values fluctuate. This kind of currency conversion can be confusing because prices appear to be much higher than they actually are. For example a shirt from H&M in Sweden can be priced around 129 SEK, but it that is  $20.00. Buying a snack at the grocery store might cost around 50 SEK which is around $8.00. I remember on my first full day in Sweden, I went to MAX (Swedish fast-food restaurant similar to McDonald's) with Simon and Hannes, and the burger I ordered cost 85 SEK ($13.00) and they bought my lunch for me, and I was so panicked and I thought that they had spent the equivalent of $85.00 on a hamburger meal for me.

Language: This is a pretty obvious difference. In the United States, English is the de facto national language. In Sweden, Swedish is the national language. Swedish is a Germanic language with an interesting history. Swedish has many words borrowed from German, English, and French. Swedish also has three additional letters that are not in the English alphabet: Å. Ä, Ö. Swedish is a mutually intelligible lanugage for speakers of Danish and Norwegian. 

Movie Theatres: Going to the movies in Sweden is a lot fun but it can also be quite expensive. A typical movie ticket costs around 110 SEK ($17.00) and that's just the ticket price, not including snacks. Something else that is different about movie theatres in Sweden is that when you purchase your ticket, you also book your seat. This is good system if you think in advance, you can book a really nice seat, however if you are more impulsive like me, you'll often find yourself sitting in Row 2. 

Bus Etiquette: Bus  etiquette in Sweden is quite different than bus etiquette in the United States. Bus etiquette in the U.S. doesn't really exist, because most people drive cars. I digress. Bus etiquette in Sweden involves standing as far away as you can from the other people waiting for the bus. Swedes are very respectful people and they don't want to invade your personal space, just as they would not like for you to invade theirs. It's best to keep a distance of at least 2 meters (6.5 feet) between you and the person beside you. 

I could write more about all of the difference between Sweden and the United States, these are just some of the differences that I've noticed since moving here. The United States and Sweden also have many similarities, maybe I'll address that in another blog post. 

My friend Cecilia would like me to mention that we Americans pronounce IKEA wrong, very, very, very wrong. IKEA is a Swedish furniture store and it is very near and dear to Cecilia. IKEA is properly prounounced like this E(ee)-(KEA) not I(i)-KEA- Now you know. And if you don't pronounce it right....the IKEA Warriors will pay you a visit. You've been warned.