One Month

I must admit...I am a horrible blogger. I don't think that's such a bad thing when you're an exchange student though. It just means that I have been too busy having fun and enjoying my time in Sweden.  It’s hard to believe that as of yesterday, I have been in Sweden for exactly one month. Wow.  In the past few weeks since my last update, I have been kept very busy here in Sweden. I began by moving into my house and getting used to living here.

This is my house:

And this is my room:

We also have a pool:

But I have only been swimming in it once, and it was not for very long. Why? Because it is not heated, so it is very cold. It was 16 degrees Celsius (about 60 Fahrenheit) when I swam in it. Burr…

I have also been to a week-long language camp. Having 51 exchange students from all over the world made it a very fun and exciting week. There were a lot of Americans, but there were also people from Japan, Brazil, France, Italy, Austria, Taiwan, Canada, and Colombia. I think I'm missing a few countries though. Anyway, we had a fantastic time getting to know each other, trading pins, and doing some pretty crazy things. For the language learning part of the camp, I didn't actually learn anything since my host family has been very helpful in helping me learn Swedish as quickly as possible. Due to that, I already knew everything that they tried to teach us. We didn't have language lessons everyday though. A few other things we did include: Learning a African Afro dance that we performed for some local Rotary members, playing soccer with/against another exchange group called Erasmus (they only came for the day and they are with a university exchange program in Europe), and attempting to cook sausages on a "one time use grill" that is really just an aluminum tin with charcoal in it. Overall, it was a very fun camp experience. I left this camp feeling like a real exchange student now.

I have also begun school here in Sweden. I have found many, many differences between American high school and Swedish gymnasiet. First of all, after grade nine, each student chooses which “line” he or she wants to go to. Each line is specifically designed to point you in the right direction in the future. For example, a student may choose to enter the hair dresser track if that’s what they want to do in the future. You can also choose tracks such as linguistics, social science, restaurant, nursing, mechanics, and many others I have not listed. I am in the naturvetenskap (nature science) program. That means that I take classes such as Math, Physics, World Religion, Chemistry, History, Swedish, Biology, Idrotts (gym) and Spanish. (My classmates take English instead of Spanish). In my class, there are 22 students. Since we are all in the same line, we all have every single class together. Since they began the naturvetenskap line, they have all been together. They have also had the same teachers every year.

Every day, we have a different schedule. For example, on Monday, I begin school at 8:00 where I have Swedish, Math, Biology, and History. I end the day at 3:30. Tomorrow, I begin at 9:25 and have Math, Physics, Religion, and Biology again. I will end my day at 2:10. I have two mornings where I begin at 8:00, two where I begin at 9:25, and one that I begin at 9:40. Each class is at different times too. I may have math in the morning one day, then the afternoon the next. I have also learned that each class is different lengths. They range from 40 minutes to 90 minutes. We also have different amounts of time for lunch every day. Today we had over an hour for lunch, but tomorrow we only have 25 minutes. To get to the cafeteria, we also have to walk outside and across the street to go to a different building.

Here are some other differences I have found:

·         There are no bells to end class. You just walk out when it’s time to leave

·         Students call the teachers by their first names, not last

·         School lunch is free (and good)

·         If a teacher is absent, there is no substitute teacher. Class is just canceled. (I get to experience this first hand on Thursday since my Spanish teacher can’t come. Yay!)

·         Snow days do not exist.

·         About 95% of all students either walk, ride a bike, or take a public bus to school every day

·         Bathrooms are not marked. You just need to know/remember where they are. Bathrooms are also unisex, and individual

·         It is completely normal to wear the same outfit two, even three days in a row.

·         Nothing is blocked on school computer

·         In chemistry labs, we wear lab coats and glasses.

Despite all these differences, I am having a fantastic time with my new classmates.

Last Saturday, I got the pleasure to go to the Nobel Museum here in town. Back in the day, Alfred Nobel created the city of Karlskoga, Sweden. Even though he only lived in Sweden for three years, his house in Karlskoga is where he considers his home. While he was living in Karlskoga, he wrote his will, which stated that he wanted his estate of 31 million Swedish Kronor to go to the creation of 5 Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, and Peace. There is also an Economic prize that is in honor of Alfred Nobel that is given at the same time.  On December 10^th of every year, the Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm (the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo though). After they receive their awards, many of the winners will travel to Karlskoga to see that town that Alfred Nobel himself created. Many people will also go to the house in which he lived (the museum).  While I was there, the tour guide was Alfred Nobel “himself”. It was a local resident that looks almost identical to Alfred Nobel when he dresses up, puts on some makeup, and has his beard. It was very exciting to be in a place of such importance in our history.   

This past weekend, I also got to spend some quality time with my fourth host family. I spent the night at their house on Saturday, where I got to sleep in my future room. While I was there, I spent a lot of time getting to know Louise and Victoria, my future host sisters. We ordered two pizzas, one Hawaiian and one pizza with sauce, cheese, banana slices, pineapple, chicken, and curry sauce on it. I don’t remember the name of it but it was very delicious. We also watched two movies, ate some godis (Swedish candy), and then decided to walk to the soccer field nearby and play soccer in the middle of the night. In the morning, we ate breakfast, and then baked a cake as a surprise for one of Louise’s friends. Swedish cake is very different from American cake since it is split into three layers. One layer, we filled with jam and whipped cream (which you have to whip yourself). The other layer we filled with chocolate. We then surrounded the entire cake with whipped cream and decorated it. After surprising her friend, we made lunch, and then I went home for a while before going back into town to play soccer.

On Sunday, Louise and Victoria invited me go play soccer. A new team was just being created, so I was warmly welcomed. Even though I was the only one who had never played soccer before, it was still a lot of fun. I now have soccer practice every Thursday night. That will be very fun and exciting for me.

This weekend I am going to Stockholm, so that should be very exciting as well.

Hej då!

Kristi



Gräsö, Kayaking, Hiking, and Karlskoga

Nine days ago, I finally arrived in Sweden. I had been waiting for this day to arrive since October 16^th, the day our Rotary application was due to Vicki Dilley in Northfield. After countless hours of having interviews, waiting to hear where we would be going, and many hours of orientation and preparation, I can finally say real fun has begun. Even though I have been here for nine days now, this is the first time that I really had time to sit down and write this…

I think I will try to go day by day with the first week and say what I did (This could be a long blog since I did A LOT over the first few days).

Day 1 – Friday July 29^th

I arrived to the Stockholm –Arlanda airport at 7:15 AM with Peter, Jon, and Marisa (fellow exchange students going to Sweden). I slept for maybe an hour or two during my 15 hours of travel, which means this first day felt like it took forever. After meeting my new family, the Frisks, at the airport our first order of business was to go grocery shopping in Uppsala since we would be heading to the summer home in Gräsö. Of course, I had to begin my adventure with unexpected delays. We arrived at the grocery store in Uppsala at 8:30 AM only to find that it didn’t open until 10 AM. To pass time, we decided to drive around Uppsala so I could have a short sightseeing tour of the town. After some quick sightseeing, we decided to have our first Swedish Fika (basically you drink coffee and eat some type of pastry/ sweet tasting bread product). This too, was somewhat difficult to do since almost no shop in the town was open. Apparently 9 AM was too early in the morning to open a coffee shop. After looking around, we did find one that was open. I really think the coffee helped me wake up, which was good. After our fika, we went grocery shopping and then drove to Öregrund (right outside Gräsö but on the mainland) where we had lunch. After this, we drove our car to the ferry so that we could go make our way to the island of Gräsö. It was only a 5 minute ferry ride to the island, but the ferry only leaves every half hour. When we arrived at the summer home, we unpacked our things and had a lovely rest of the day. Lena (mother), Nikolina (sister), and I then decided to go for a swim in the Baltic Sea. We began by hiking in the forest so we could go to a small cove where there was a secluded sandy beach. Little did I know, the water in the sea was extremely cold. (About 17.5 degrees Celsius or 64 degrees Fahrenheit) That too, woke me up for a while. On our walk back to the summer home, we picked a small bucket full of wild raspberries and blueberries which we had with dinner. Dinner was fabulous too. We had small pieces of chicken wrapped in bacon, yum! After this, we began to watch a movie (although I don’t even remember what it was since I was so tired), then it was 9 PM and I went to bed.

Day 2- Saturday

Saturday was a very active day, as we went kayaking in the archipelago just south of Gräsö (northern archipelago of Stockholm). In the morning, we had to decide if we would go or not due to the wind. I looked at the sea and thought ‘there is hardly any wind...how can they be saying it is too windy?’ I, of course, was thinking of Minnesota and Round Lake wind. We decided to go anyway, despite the wind.  Nikolina and I shared a kayak, while Olof and Lena shared one. We began kayaking mid-morning and went all through the afternoon. Again, little did I know how just a little wind can make it much more difficult to kayak in. We did stop at a small uninhabited island to eat lunch and play a short card game while Olof (father) took a short nap. After this, we kayaked around many more islands before heading back to the island we got them from. Our entire trip, we kayaked about 20 km. After we finished kayaking, we stopped for some glass( ice cream) at a little convenience store. The rest of the day consisted of a fabulous salmon dinner and another movie (which I actually stayed awake for).

Day 3- Sunday

On Sunday, we got to sleep in before leaving Gräsö and making a day trip to Singö (another island just south of Gräsö), where I would meet my third host family, the Herbrings, at their summer home. The Herbring family consists of five people; Lena (mother), father(name?), and three children, Carl(in my class), Oskar, and Emma. Oskar and Emma are older and living away from home, although they were both at the summer home. After having lunch, we walked to a spot where the boats were. Carl and I each took a kayak and went to where we would meet up with everyone and go swimming. The kayak ride took about 15 minutes, and then we met up with everyone else. After swimming/ throwing the water Frisbee around in the water for quite a while, we made our way back in the kayaks, then back to their summer home, where we ate a delicious blueberry pie. By this time, it was nearly time to leave. When we got back to Gräsö, we had dinner then went for a short ride in the rowboat. We then watched another movie and went to bed. (Can you begin to see a trend?)

Day 4- Monday

On Monday morning, Nikolina left with her friend Erik to go to Gothenburg, where Nikolina would meet up with her former host family (she was an exchange student to New Zealand). After breakfast, Olof, Lena, and I went for a walk in the forest. Again, little did I know, going for a walk meant speed walking for two and a half hours. Halfway through our “walk” we stopped for a drink of water and an apple for a snack. We walked for about 15 km total before returning home. After our return, Lena and I went for another swim in the Baltic. After sitting in the sun to warm up for a bit, we had lunch then went for another boat ride, though this time we used the trolling motor. We relaxed in the boat while Olof tried to catch a fish (he was unsuccessful). Apparently it is quite difficult to catch a fish where we were, but he tried anyway. Quite a few years ago Lena caught I huge 20 kg fish though. After this, we ate dinner, watched another movie, then went to bed.

Day 5- Tuesday

This morning, we decided to go for another walk. Although this one would be “much shorter”. This walk only lasted about 10.5 km. We walked with a pace of about 9 min/ km, which means our walk lasted a little longer than 1.5 hours. Upon our return, we had a much needed breakfast before taking the boat out again. This time, we went south of the summer home and found a small uninhabited island (nearly all were uninhabited and those that were, were quite scarce with the number of houses there). We did some exploring on the island, and then took a swim where it was a little warmer, and had some water and cookies. We also laid in the sun for a while, and did some more exploring. We spent a good chuck of our day there, before returning to prepare dinner. I got to have my very first Swedish hamburger. The hamburger meat was not from the typical cow, it was actually made with ground moose meat. It was actually very good. The meat was mixed with other things like an egg and other spices. I was surprised at how tasty it was. We also had an amazing dessert that Lena and I made from more wild blueberries and some wild raspberries. We had another pie that was amazing. (I will need to get the recipe…) After this, we got to see a beautiful sunset over the Baltic. Again, we watched another movie before bed.

Day 6- Wednesday

Wednesday was a travel day. In the late morning, we left the summer home and made our way to Karlskoga. On our way home, we had to pick up Annelise (sister) and her boyfriend in Stockholm, as well as pick up Nikolina in Örebro (about 30 minutes away from Karlskoga). Since we had two cars, the plan was to meet in Stockholm and make our way back home. Since Lena’s phone wouldn’t work, we had to change our plans. Olof picked everyone up while Lena and I did the grocery shopping. We first stopped at a grocery store in Stockholm where we bought meat and cheese (no joke..). The store reminded me of a Sam’s Club or Costco since all the food was in bulk. After shopping here, we continued driving and later stopped at a gas station to fill up the car and get some lunch. We had the Swedish version of fast food. This consisted of two sausages, mashed potatoes, an apple, and a beverage. I thought this was very tasty for it being “fast food”. After our meal, we then continued driving to Örebro where our next grocery stop was. Here, we got the bread, lettuce, potatoes, and other fresh food. We then drove to Karlskoga, where my new home for the next year is. After 5 hours of driving, we finally made it home. We then had steak that we bought at the store, watched another movie, and went to bed.

Day 7- Thursday

On Thursday, Nikolina and Annelise went to a hen (bridesmaids) party, which meant that I got to unpack and familiarize myself with my new home. After this, Olof cut the grass while Lena and I drove to town to have a fika with mormor (Lena’s 92 year old mother). I then got a short tour of the town before we had to go the grocery store again and head home. Olof and Lena’s best friends were coming over to spend the night. Hocka and Marlo (spelling??) live in Stockholm and were on their way back home so they stopped over for the night. They were a lot of fun to be around during the day.

Day 8- Friday

On Friday morning, after breakfast, all the girls (Lena, Marlo, Annelise, Nikolina, and I) went to Dagerfors (town just south of Karlskoga) so that Lena could buy a nice dress. After Lena found the dress she wanted, we made our way back to Karlskoga central, where we looked for some shoes. Although it was unsuccessful, we still bought some bread at a bakery for our afternoon fika. After the fika, our guests left to drive back to Stockholm. After they left, we had a little down time, where I decided to “read” (more like look at) some children’s books. We actually found some very helpful books that were picture books with both the Swedish and English word next to the picture. Although it is a bit silly, this may really help me learn some useful Swedish words as the book is more than 60 pages! In the evening, mormor (grandma) came over for dinner. It was nice to have her here since she doesn’t know any English, so everyone had to speak in Swedish all the time. After dinner, Annelise, Nikolina, and I went for a walk in the forest by their house. I really enjoyed their pace much more since we would often stop when we saw raspberry bushes so we could eat some. Mormor also spent the night and next morning with us, which was quite nice.

Day 9- Saturday (today)

Today was mostly a day of preparation for our party tomorrow. We are having a small welcome party for me so I can meet my other two host families. To prepare, we decided on recipes and I got to help make some biscuits, which was quite fun. Now, I finally had some time to turn on my computer, download pictures, and write this.

All in all, I am having the time of my life and I can’t wait to see what the rest of my year will bring. I hope to keep you informed throughout the year, but I have quickly found out that there is little time to spare with life as an exchange student.

Kristi