It is hard to believe that about one year ago, I was rushing to finish my application, and at the same time, beginning to get nervous about my first interview in Northfield. It seems like that was such a long time ago. I really feel like I have adjusted very well into my new life as a Swede. Every day that I am here, I am beginning to feel more and more Swedish. The other morning, while I was bicycling to school, I realized how surreal my time here has been. I have had the opportunity to do so much. I have definitely learned always to say ‘yes’ too. Next week, I will be traveling to Riga, Latvia for three days with a few members of my Rotary club and a few members of Rotary clubs in the surrounding towns.
I have experienced so many things that I could not experience had I not chosen to become an exchange student. I wish all people could experience what I have so far. It is incredible that I am actually here, living a Swedish life!
Getting on to my life now….
My move took place on the first of October, and since then I have adjusted well to my new family. My new family consists of my host parents, Ann and Ronnie. I also have two host sisters, but the oldest, Felicia, is currently living in Northfield as an exchange student. My other host sister is Filippa, is only six years old, and she is adorable. She only speaks Swedish, so that is definitely good for forcing me to speak more Swedish. She has a lot of fun helping teach me Swedish too, so that is very good. She also has fun learning a few words in English.
My new family lives just 200 meters from the lake in Karlskoga and about the same distance to the center of town. For me, that is very nice since I can just walk or bike just about everywhere I need to go. I ride my bike to school every morning, and it takes me about 10 minutes to get there.
Recently, it has begun to really feel like fall. The temperature has dropped below zero (Celsius) during the night, and occasionally in the mornings too. The other day, it was -2 degrees when I biked to school. Time for mittens and a scarf! Soon time to break out the winter hat too!
It has also begun to be quite dark here too. By 6:30 PM, it is dark. When I say dark, I mean dark too. It is very different than what I am used to, and right now, it is only the beginning. It will only get darker from here. I have been told that it will be dark when I go to school and dark when I come home from school during part of the winter.
For the next month, I will be quite busy. That will definitely be good for me since it is beginning to be a little depressing with the dark and cold. Since I cannot guarantee that I will post again in the near future, this is what I will be up to.
Today: I had my very first test in school. Yes, I have been in school for two months now, and we are just having our first test. It was a math, so that was definitely good for me. This wasn’t any regular test though. It was a three hour long test that was over three chapters. Long chapters too. They learned most of the information last year too. Overall, I think I answered between half and three quarters of the questions on the test. After talking with my classmates after, I think I did pretty well by answering that many. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how it went…
Tomorrow: I will go to Linköpping Universitet with my class for a Popular Science day. Basically, it will be a day filled with lectures about current science topics as well as lunch and a few fikas thrown in. It is 2.5 hours away, so that means that we will leave school at 6:15 AM. It sounds as if it will be a fun day since we will have plenty of time to just relax and be with our class.
Wednesday thru Friday: I will be traveling to Riga, Latvia with a few Rotary members from my club, and a few from Rotary clubs in the neighboring towns. Most people are traveling separate, but I will be traveling with Nils, my Rotary counselor while I was living with the Frisks. We all plan to meet in Riga on Wednesday evening. To get there, I will leave my house in Karlskoga around 4:45 AM, and then go to Karlstad, about 45 minutes away, where we will catch the train to Oslo, Norway. From the Oslo airport, we will fly to Latvia. Upon our arrival in Riga, we will have a few hours to kill before we plan to meet up with the others. On Thursday, we will visit a senior citizen center, where 10 Rotary clubs have been working on a project. We also have a Rotary dinner, where an award will be given to a member of the Rotary Club of Riga. Late Friday morning, we will fly out of Riga, which means that we will be back in Karlskoga sometime in the evening.
Saturday: I will be going with Olof and a group of his friends into the woods for moose hunting. Yes, that’s right, I’m going moose hunting!
29-30 October: I will be traveling to Västerås, where I will attend the Rotary District conference (not just youth exchange, as there are only 7 or so in our district). On Saturday, we will have a day filled with various activities. On Sunday, there will be more activities for Rotary members, but the exchange students don’t have to go to this, which means we just get to hang out and do what we wish until we go home.
October 31 – November 4: We have no school due to the fact that it will be our fall break!
11th – 12th November: My host mom, Ann, and I will go to Stockholm where we will watch the Aqua Rapid Diving Competition. Our neighbor is on the junior national team, so we will watch her. We will also watch Anna Lindberg, who also lives and trains in Karlskoga. She is on Sweden’s national diving team and even won gold at the European Championships on 3 meter this year! It will be a fun filled weekend with lots of diving and a little shopping thrown in too!
26th – 27th November: I will be going to Stockholm again, but this time it is with Rotary. Nearly all of the exchange students in Sweden will get together in Stockholm, where we will do various different activities together.
Anyway…this is what I’ll be up to in the coming month!
Hej då!
Kristi
