Skolan

So, school has finally started and I am finally updating my blog.  I started writing this update awhile ago but was always found busy doing something else instead.  Anyway, school started on Tuesday, August 24th at 8:00am.  I got on the bus at 7:30 and was in art classroom 28 right on time!  The first week was really more of an orientation week and we didn't have any classes.   I go to Solbergagymnastiet which translates to Sunny Mountain High School and I am taking the Estet line and specifically bild, which means the art line and am in the 3rd class aka a senior.  There are 8 of us (including me) in my class by choosing the art line we have a heavier class load of art classes and a lighter load of math, science, and gym classes.


The first day they passed out schedules to everyone in my class except me because I don't have a schedule yet.  Next week when classes start I will go to classes with my classmates and after the week I will choose which ones I liked the best. We have a different schedule every day and run on a trimester year.  It's likely that some school days will be longer than others and there is at least a 15 min break between every class.  On breaks students usually go to the cafe in the school to buy coffee and play cards.  Schools in Sweden are not as strict as schools in the US, most of the students in my class snus and smoke, they snus in school all the time, even right in front of teachers and it's completely acceptable. They are free to go outside of the school and smoke on their breaks.  In the lunchroom there is a specified bucket for snus and gum.  It's so different.  They also call their teachers by their first names, which I actually like.


I'm really excited to get started on my classes.  I'm most excited for the fact that I was told that I don't have to do the 100pt senior project.  I look forward to school every day, mostly because my new classmates have been so welcoming to me, I really like them! I'm having so much fun here, I can't believe a whole month has already gone by!
I miss and love you all!
//Carina (:

Stockholm

On the tunnelbana (subway) in Stockholm

Things have been going really great here in Sweden.  I went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream in Swedish.  The play was in Sunne which is about a 45 min drive away, instead of a theater it was in a barn which had been revamped inside so that the was a stage and seating.  I understood the majority of the play, it really helped that I was familiar with it in the first place, though. It was really funny and I am so grateful that I got to go and see it, it was an amazing experience.  Mom, you would have absolutely LOVED it, I thought about you the whole time!

The next day we dropped off Mikaela at the train station so that she could go to a church camp for 5 days.  Then we hit the road to drive to Stockholm for the weekend.  Ulf and Bente needed to pick up an aquarium for their office and we decided to make a weekend out of the trip, since the drive to Stockholm is so long (6 hours)!  Half way to Stockholm we stopped in a town called Örebro and had lunch on a bench in front of a castle.  It was a beautiful day out and we took a small walk around the castle and then hopped back in the car to go on to Stockholm to pick up the aquarium. After we picked up the aquarium we checked into our hotel and then when out to dinner.  We picked a nice Persian restaurant, they had delicious food! We had a busy day on Saturday, we started out with shopping at Zara, a clothing store that I particularly like, then we went to the church where the Crown Princess Victoria got married to Daniel earlier this summer.  Later we went to the Moderna Museet, a modern art museum, which was awesome and a major highlight of the trip! We ate lunch at a vegetarian cafe which was also delicious. We spent the rest of the day wondering into shops in Gamla Stan, the old part of Stockholm and had Ben and Jerrys ice cream and people watched.  Last, we took a walk in the animal park in Skansen with Ulf's brother Kimmo and his wife.  We drove back home on Sunday.  I had such an amazing time in Stockholm and I can't wait to go back!

This week Ulf and Bente have gone back to work after their 6 week holiday, I have been home alone because Mikaela is still at camp, on Monday I went into town for a couple hours to look in shops and go to the library to check out a new book to read.  The library is very nice here and has a lot of interesting books in English, I think that I will be spending a lot of time there during this year.  After dinner I asked Bente to teach me how to knit, she spends a lot of time knitting and it looks really fun.  So, I have started to knit and am working on a light blue hat, which I hope to finish by fall.

I went into town today to meet with some of my classmates, they seemed pretty nice.  They showed me around the school and then we went to get ice cream.  

I'm really excited to start school! Tomorrow Bente and I will be going in to set up my class schedule and to meet some of my teachers!

I love and miss you all, Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy!

//Carina

Busy, Busy, Busy

I'm sorry that I'm so awful at updating my blog! So much stuff has been happening and I'll start at the beginning.  Monday August 2nd we went off on the boat to Vänern it took about 6 hours via boat to get there through all the channels, because most of the way we had to slow down to 4 knots.  We "parked" the boat at an island and we took a walk around the island to stretch our legs, we took walks everyday, but it was more like hiking.  We slept on the boat, cooked on the boat, went in the sauna on the island, and most of all just kicked back and took it easy for a couple days. On Wednesday we took a trip to Åmal, a city not far away from where we stayed and we walked around in the cute town. There we went to a museum showing a bunch of old stuff and creepy mannequins and we ate great pizza!  We went back home on Thursday.


Last weekend was Hamnfest in Arvika.  It's a two day music festival and carnival.  We went both days, I wasn't exactly a huge fan of the music, but it was a good experience to get a better grasp of the town. The acts the I saw were: Amanda Jensson, The Baseballs, a local band and Darin. I liked Amanda best and The Baseballs the worst. Check them out on YouTube and you can probably see why. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S_dV8c25-4


On Sunday I met one of my host brothers, Patrik and his girlfriend Emma, we (Ulf, Bente, Patrik, Emma) went to Vild Hjärta which is an artists house that she opens up as her own museum.  She sets out all her work for every one to see and has her 2 cats and 6 kittens running around.  Everything she makes is from the earth and hand-crafted. It was really cool to see her work.  She writes little stories to go along with each character she makes and the most of the are very funny.  On the drive to her house she put out a sign that translates to "Drive Carefully, There Are Cats in The Road. . . sometimes"  I'm so glad that I got to see everything and that it was a gorgeous day when we went.


I got to go into town and see all the stores and get adjusted.  I'm starting to feel really comfortable, I got a Swedish cell phone, got a library card, and some new clothes.


Tomorrow I'm going to go to one of my classmates house and she is going to show me a picture of everyone in our class.  And give me some tips about my school.


Thursday we are going to go to a play, A Midsummer Nights Dream!
Much Love, Carina

Sverige

The view from the porch off the second level. So gorgeous!

I finally arrived in Sweden at 12:30pm local time! Which would be 5:30am Minnesota time, I was so tired.  I was able to sleep the majority of the time on the plane to Oslo.  I was exhausted after the 6 hour layover in Philadelphia.  There was problems with the airplane that we were supposed to take so our flight got postponed 2 hours.  When I arrived I went through customs with no problems, and no questions even asked.  It's so much harder to go through customs in America. The only problem was that it took 45 min to wait for my bags to be unloaded.  Then I met with the Mörnesten Family.  We had to drive 3 hours from the airport to their house and I slept half the time.  Mostly we speak Swedish to each other, except when there are some words that I don't understand.  They told me my Swedish is a lot better than they expected.  Tomorrow morning we will be heading out to go on the boat which we will be on until Thursday or Friday.  Then next weekend there is Hamnfestival which to my understanding is a music festival.  I'm very excited to go on the boat. I love being on the water!  I am going to post the few pictures I just took on facebook and on Picasa as well!  I was surprised and happy to hear that my family is vegetarian.  I wish I would have known that sooner, so that I didn't have to get used to eating meat again!  I have unpacked all my things, and started to pack my travel bag for going on the boat.  Although it should seem as if I'm well rested, I am still very tired and am going to go to bed early tonight. I love all of you so much and miss you.

love, Carina