Arrival

Yesterday at approximately 12:30 am, I arrived in the Göteborg airport. This was after ten hours on the airplane, and several more at the Chicago and London airports. Overall, the travel was not too difficult, but by the time I was finished I felt tired and nauseous. I also had a few embarrassing/awkward moments, but that is okay and to be expected. Gage and I travelled together, but we were in separate rows. On the way to London I did not have to sit near anyone. I tried to sleep on the seven hours to London, but couldn’t, so I just closed my eyes. There was a little two year old who would not go to sleep. As soon as I was about to sleep, they started serving breakfast which was unexpected and confusing with all the time changes. On that particular flight they served a snack, dinner, and then breakfast. After we arrived in London, we had to have our carry-on bags checked, which was annoying because I had electronics, a jacket, a backpack, and shoes to take off for the second time. The airport layout was different than in the States. We had to wait for a few hours at this central area surrounded by shopping areas and then later moved to a gate. The most interesting and awkward flight was on the way to Göteborg. The people on the flight were either Swedish or British. I think Gage and I were in business class for some reason. I don’t think the seats were different since it was a tiny plane, but we were offered breakfast. I had already eaten breakfast so I declined. They served some crackers or flat brad, meats, cheeses, and lettuce. They offered coffee and water. People were served in actual non-disposable cups. I was nervous after getting off the plane, but I did not have any reason to be because as soon as I arrived my host sister started taking pictures with and my mom gave me a big hug. My host dad was on his way back from Romania, since he runs a knitting factory there.

For the first sixth months of the exchange my host family is hosting another host student named Naomi. She is from California.  I was already aware of this, and we had been in correspondence. She is wonderful but we need to not speak English with one another after a few days! We waited six hours for her. We live far enough away from the airport that it did not make sense to go home. We went for a drive then out for lunch at a quant little restaurant. I had different pastas. After, we went to H&M to get a few last minute things for my host sister Elin. Then my host family decided to stop at a little park/rest area near the airport and my family decided to read books/sleep a bit. I slept the whole time we were there which was about two or three hours. By that time I was refreshed and we were ready to pick up Naomi. We met a few other Swedish families hosting students. In Sweden if you go on exchange, you must host if you are able, so two of the girls from these famiilies were going to the US. They seemed very nice.  After a few moments we saw Naomi come down the steps. It was wonderful to finally meet Naomi. The nap did not cause me to lose sleep and I slept until mid-morning.

I am now sitting in the family room area with some of my host sister Elin’s favorite Swedish music. Elin, Thomas, and Karin are very kind and wonderful hosts. I will miss Elin when she leaves for exchange in a few days. I have not yet met the other two host siblings.

I like the house I am living in. It is not huge like the “Mcmansions” in the USA. It is very Swedish with the tile roof. It seems every Swedish home has that. Homes seem to be either a mustard yellow or dark red. My house is grayish blue. It is surrounded by woods and wildflowers. I am currently in the guest room, but after Elin leaves, I will use her room while she is gone.  It is downstairs. Naomi is in the room right down the hall. Down a few steps are a bathroom and sauna.  The family room is also there. Upstairs there is a living room, kitchen and little dining nook, a guestroom, dining room, two bathrooms, the parents’ room, and a nice big glassed-in porch area. The decorations are very Swedish and uncluttered. I feel very welcome.

I live in a little village outside the town of Ulricehamn. It is hilly and there are a lot of trees and lakes. Ulricehamn is located next to a large lake called Åsunden. It is beautiful.

I am rambling. I am still a bit tired. I have made a few observations so far: 

-I really need to start speaking Swedish. Many packages and storefronts are in English. My host family is also good at English. They are going to start speaking more Swedish to us in a few days, after we are a little more used to the surroundings, and Elin has left. They speak Swedish at dinner and together, and already I can pick out a few more words than I could yesterday. My level of comprehension is horrible. I remember when I lived with a host family for ten days in Costa Rica. I was much better at Spanish, yet with the slang and fast speech, I still needed a few days to get used to understanding Spanish and my speaking wasn’t great. It takes time, and luckily I will be here a year.  My course focused mainly on grammar, now I need to work on vocabulary and constructing sentences of my own. I have started looking up a few words each day. It is not hard to ask my host parents what something means.

-I need to learn the metric system. Naomi and I refer to things in inches or miles, and it is hard for those used to the metric system to understand.

-Station wagons seem to be the vehicle of choice, preferably Volvos. I thought the cars would be more compact, but it could be the region I am in.

-Today at dinner we ate pizza. Elin’s favorite pizza was quite tasty. It had kabob meat with kabob sauce which was a garlic white sauce. Right before they give you the pizza at the pizzeria they sprinkled some french fries on top. It was a bit different but unexpectedly quite good.

-I went to the grocery store today. The layout was more compact, partly because I think there are fewer processed foods. There were also digital price tags and the digital labels next to the produce told  which country they were from. Most of the produce seemed to be from Sweden or Holland. 

-Prices are a bit higher. A smallish bottle of shampoo cost me around $4.00. A pizza costs around $20.00.

I have only been here around 24 hours, so I will have much more to add in the future. I feel very content.

Right before I left for the airport.