The sun is getting warmer, the days stretching longer, and the smell of spring is in the air!
It's been two months since my last update and not that much has changed. Life has been pretty busy, filled with classmates final concerts lately sometimes 2 a week, preparing for an art exhibition that my class is going to have in May, and my birthday.
Art exhibition:
We are working on themes for our class final exhibition. We're going to have a small theme of the 7 Deadly Sins and get to express the sin we choose in whatever method speaks to us. The sin I chose was Sloth and I'm going to take a picture describing what I think it is to be sloth. We are also working on individual installation art projects that expresses ourselves/who we are.
Birthday:
It was my birthday on March 4th, I turned 19! On my birthday I went with Camilla and Johanne to Mora a town in Sweden and watch the Vasaloppet ski race. It was the relay version of the 90km long cross-country ski race and my host dad, Arne participated in it. It was a 3 hour drive to get there! We had to leave at 6:30 in the morning on my birthday and watched him do his part of the race, and then we ate pizza and then watched the last team member cross the finish line, and started our 3 hour journey back home at 7pm. So it was a really long day with many hours in the car, but was a cool experience to see the ski race. On saturday I celebrated my birthday with my friends by having a small party at Peter's house and then went to a dance club called Tiki. It was a great night and around 20 of my friends came!
Soon I will be going to Kiruna, the (if I'm not mistaken) most northern city in Sweden. So it won't be too until another blog update!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
5 Months in Sweden
As of January 1st, I have been in Sweden for 5 months! Wow! Time has really flown by. I have been trying to live as much in the present and experience as much as I can while I'm here and therefore haven't been so concerned about updating my blog. However, I made a New Years Resolution to be better about updating my blog. Unfortunately, it would take forever to update all of you on everything that has happened since my last update, which was about 3 months ago, so I'm going to do the best that I can to fill you in on the most important and recent events!
New Family
I moved in with Camilla and Arne in the end of October and absolutely am loving life here! They are a great fit for me! I have a 7 year old sister, Johanne, 19 year old brother Patrik, 23 year old brother Fredrik, and a 29 year old brother Benneth. Johanne is the only one of the four that still live in the house, and we get along really well. I have always wanted a little sister and am really enjoying having her around! We do many activites together and enjoy each others company. The house I'm living in now is 20km out of Arvika where I go to school and where most of my friends live. The commute from Växvik is sometimes a hassle, but there are busses that go during the weekdays that make it a little easier. On the downside there is only one bus on the weekends and it is on Sunday night, so I am dependent on rides into town on the weekends. I solve this problem by staying over at friends houses that live in town when I go out late.
Free Time
I try to fill my free time with as many activities as possible, especially in the winter because it's so dark and people can get easily depressed if they stay inside all day. During the week I hang out with my friends, go to the library, or on Tuesdays I help out at an after-school program at an elementary school. Things that I do with my friends are: having fika (going out for coffee and cinnamon rolls), playing pool, watching movies, making dinner, going on walks, going out to movies, going shopping, or going to clubs and parties. In Sweden the drinking age is 18 so many of my friends go out on the weekends, I enjoy following along and being able to dance and socialize. Swedes tend to be pretty shy, so the best way to meet new people is out at night on the weekends.
Friends
I have been making friends very easily, and am glad that I have such a great class at school. I don't think that I could have been placed any better! I have a main group of friends that are from my class (Bild Estet) but I try to branch out and hang out with the other people that I have met as well. I finally feel like I'm at home here. I'm not spending as much time on Skype calling home with all my problems, I'm turning to my host family and friends here, and feel comfortable doing so. That was a huge step for me and I'm really glad that I've accomplished it.
Language
I don't want to say that I'm fluent, because I still struggle with little things, but I'm told almost every day that I am. People don't believe me when I say that I've only been here 5 months, of course I did study Swedish before, but I learned the most here. I am more and more comfortable with Swedish everyday. Even with the other exchange students who I speak English with I find Swedish slipping out instead. I am also told that I am speaking with a "Värmland" dialect. Which is the Swedish province that I'm living in. I am not so sure how I feel about that, because "Värmlandska" as it's called is one of the most made fun of dialects in Sweden. When I'm in Stockholm, people joke and say that they almost don't understand me because of my strong dialect.
Winter Break
For winter break my Mom and brother came to visit me! It was weird having them here, it made my life feel like a vacation again, but it was nice to have them here for the holidays! We had a great Christmas at my host grandparents house and Santa came to hand out all the presents! Then we took a trip to Stockholm so that I could show them "my" view of the city and we had fika with my friend Riley who is also an exchange student living in Stockholm. We were in Stockholm for one night and then went to Borlänge to visit relatives. For New Years I was with my friends and went to 3 different parties, and was at the town center for fireworks at Midnight! It was really a great New Years Experience! Mom and Robby were here for 2 weeks. I had one more week off until school started again. I was mostly with my friend Peter, we went to Karlstad to go shopping and then to Årjäng, his hometown to see how his life was growing up on a farm. I start school again on Tuesday, and am ending the winter break with a movie night with my girlfriends!
I am truly loving my life here, it is better than I could have expected. I am happy, and living every day to the fullest. Carpe Diem. Fånga Dagen. Seize the Day.
New Family
I moved in with Camilla and Arne in the end of October and absolutely am loving life here! They are a great fit for me! I have a 7 year old sister, Johanne, 19 year old brother Patrik, 23 year old brother Fredrik, and a 29 year old brother Benneth. Johanne is the only one of the four that still live in the house, and we get along really well. I have always wanted a little sister and am really enjoying having her around! We do many activites together and enjoy each others company. The house I'm living in now is 20km out of Arvika where I go to school and where most of my friends live. The commute from Växvik is sometimes a hassle, but there are busses that go during the weekdays that make it a little easier. On the downside there is only one bus on the weekends and it is on Sunday night, so I am dependent on rides into town on the weekends. I solve this problem by staying over at friends houses that live in town when I go out late.
Free Time
I try to fill my free time with as many activities as possible, especially in the winter because it's so dark and people can get easily depressed if they stay inside all day. During the week I hang out with my friends, go to the library, or on Tuesdays I help out at an after-school program at an elementary school. Things that I do with my friends are: having fika (going out for coffee and cinnamon rolls), playing pool, watching movies, making dinner, going on walks, going out to movies, going shopping, or going to clubs and parties. In Sweden the drinking age is 18 so many of my friends go out on the weekends, I enjoy following along and being able to dance and socialize. Swedes tend to be pretty shy, so the best way to meet new people is out at night on the weekends.
Friends
I have been making friends very easily, and am glad that I have such a great class at school. I don't think that I could have been placed any better! I have a main group of friends that are from my class (Bild Estet) but I try to branch out and hang out with the other people that I have met as well. I finally feel like I'm at home here. I'm not spending as much time on Skype calling home with all my problems, I'm turning to my host family and friends here, and feel comfortable doing so. That was a huge step for me and I'm really glad that I've accomplished it.
Language
I don't want to say that I'm fluent, because I still struggle with little things, but I'm told almost every day that I am. People don't believe me when I say that I've only been here 5 months, of course I did study Swedish before, but I learned the most here. I am more and more comfortable with Swedish everyday. Even with the other exchange students who I speak English with I find Swedish slipping out instead. I am also told that I am speaking with a "Värmland" dialect. Which is the Swedish province that I'm living in. I am not so sure how I feel about that, because "Värmlandska" as it's called is one of the most made fun of dialects in Sweden. When I'm in Stockholm, people joke and say that they almost don't understand me because of my strong dialect.
Winter Break
For winter break my Mom and brother came to visit me! It was weird having them here, it made my life feel like a vacation again, but it was nice to have them here for the holidays! We had a great Christmas at my host grandparents house and Santa came to hand out all the presents! Then we took a trip to Stockholm so that I could show them "my" view of the city and we had fika with my friend Riley who is also an exchange student living in Stockholm. We were in Stockholm for one night and then went to Borlänge to visit relatives. For New Years I was with my friends and went to 3 different parties, and was at the town center for fireworks at Midnight! It was really a great New Years Experience! Mom and Robby were here for 2 weeks. I had one more week off until school started again. I was mostly with my friend Peter, we went to Karlstad to go shopping and then to Årjäng, his hometown to see how his life was growing up on a farm. I start school again on Tuesday, and am ending the winter break with a movie night with my girlfriends!
I am truly loving my life here, it is better than I could have expected. I am happy, and living every day to the fullest. Carpe Diem. Fånga Dagen. Seize the Day.
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| Stay forever young. |
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
September update!
Hello everyone!
As you might have guessed I have been VERY busy and have not had the time to update my blog lately, well here goes.
I did a lot in September and unfortunately I don't have time to describe every single detail, so I'm going to summarize the best and most important parts. Them being: Language Camp in Eskilstuna, getting used to School, Stockholm/Trosa Rotary weekend, and switching families.
Language Camp: in Eskilstuna (near Stockholm) Sept 5-10
I had a ton of fun at the language camp. I honestly learned nothing but I had a blast getting to know all the new exchange student in the two districts that were there. I made many friends and it was a relief to be able to speak English for an entire week. We had swedish lessons from 8:30am to 3:30pm every day with an hour and a half lunch break. In the evening we had activities planned including: barbeque, swimming, going to the zoo, and bowling. My favorite was going to the zoo. We had a private tour and I learned a lot about the animals that they have at the Eskilstuna zoo. I took a train alone to and from Eskilstuna. That was my first alone train trip and I thought it went well and very smooth, no complaints!
As you might have guessed I have been VERY busy and have not had the time to update my blog lately, well here goes.
I did a lot in September and unfortunately I don't have time to describe every single detail, so I'm going to summarize the best and most important parts. Them being: Language Camp in Eskilstuna, getting used to School, Stockholm/Trosa Rotary weekend, and switching families.
Language Camp: in Eskilstuna (near Stockholm) Sept 5-10
I had a ton of fun at the language camp. I honestly learned nothing but I had a blast getting to know all the new exchange student in the two districts that were there. I made many friends and it was a relief to be able to speak English for an entire week. We had swedish lessons from 8:30am to 3:30pm every day with an hour and a half lunch break. In the evening we had activities planned including: barbeque, swimming, going to the zoo, and bowling. My favorite was going to the zoo. We had a private tour and I learned a lot about the animals that they have at the Eskilstuna zoo. I took a train alone to and from Eskilstuna. That was my first alone train trip and I thought it went well and very smooth, no complaints!
Above is a picture of all of us at the language camp
School:
School has been going great! I love all my classes and all my classmates. They all are very nice and fun to be around. This month we took our Senior pictures. Senior pictures in Sweden are completely different in Sweden. There is no expensive private photographer, no 11 outfit changes, no wallet sized pictures we exchange. We took one class picture of all of us. In Sweden they take a picture of everyone in your line and they do it as a goofy picture. We chose to do Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I was Bashful, which was actually pretty hard for me to do. It was really fun though and I can't wait to see it in the Yearbook.
Here is our class picture:
Stockholm/Trosa:
I went to a Rotary camp in Trosa September 25-26. Trosa is a 40min drive from Stockholm, but a 5 hour train ride from Arvika, so I took the train to Stockholm Friday night and stayed with one of my friends that I met at the Eskilstuna language camp who is living in Stockholm. The weekend in Trosa was very fun and entertaining I'm so glad that I got to go and want to go back to Stockholm soon! Some of my favorite parts from the weekend was playing a charades game with the exchange students and another was talking with the Trosa boat rescue crew. We got to ask lots of questions and I got to make animal noises really loud using the microphone on the boat!
Switching Families:
Things aren't working out as planned with my current host family, that I was supposed to have for the whole year so at the end of the month I am switching host families to Camilla Gustafsson and Arne Andersson. I am very excited!!! Camilla has been good friends with my mom since the 90's. I will have a little sister Johanne, 6 and a brother Patrik, 18 that will be living in the house. Fredrik another son just moved out and I will get his room. Camilla is sick of the old wallpaper and how the room looks so they are going to re-do it and I get to help pick out the new wallpaper! I'm so excited to move. I think this host family will be a better fit for me. The only hard thing will be living 20 kilometers away from town. . . But I'm certain that everything will work out!
I love you and miss you all!
Carina :)
Saturday, August 28, 2010
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 (:
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 (:
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Stockholm
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| 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
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
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
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
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Sverige
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| 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
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