News

I guess I am worse at keeping my blog up to date than I expected. I start blogs and then don't finish them because I get sidetracked. That explains why I have two rather long blogs in two days.

Denmark: On September 8^th I went to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, next to the eastern coast of Denmark. The journey took around three hours and I arrived and left the same day. I went with the people in my school in the art, music, and theater tracks. I enjoyed watching the change of scenery from my home in the Västra Götland region of Sweden down to Skåne. It seemed the most southern region of Sweden was mainly farmland, and somewhat less forested and more flat than where I come from. We took a giant ferry to Denmark that fit our bus as well as many other vehicles, cargo trucks, and buses. We entered Denmark at Helsingbørg, about 40 kilometers from Copenhagen. It was exciting to visit another country, and the main difference I noticed was the architecture differed slightly. The roof pitch seemed a bit steeper. Most roofs in Sweden are tiled and I noticed they were in Denmark as well, but I also noticed straw roofs. The exhibit we went to see was called Warhol after Munch. It started in one room showing prints Munch made (the Norwegion artist who is well known for “The Scream”), and then ended in an exhibit of Warhol prints, some of which were Warhol’s adaptations of Munch’s work.  The exhibit was smaller than what I expected, but interesting none the less. I was struck more by the architecture and setting of the museum, however. The entrance was a stately white home with ivy growing on the siding, and in the back was a sculpture garden overlooking the sea. Separate buildings with views of the sea seemed to be Frank Lloyd Wright inspired in the Prairie style. It was beautiful.

Göteborg: Last weekend, Naomi and I took a two hour bus to Göteborg to meet up with other exchange students. It was my first time in the city, which is the second largest in Sweden. We met at Central Station and took the tram to Liseberg which is an amusement park. While I tend to get headaches on rides and don’t really like spending loads of money to be flung from side to side on roller coasters, I had an enjoyable time with the exchange students. Even though we all come from different places like Canada, Australia Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, Italy, and USA, we now have a lot in common and it is helpful to see these people, not only to have fun, but to talk about our school and host family experiences and how the Swedish learning is coming along. To end the day, my friends Maggie, Surya, and I played a game where we paid about three dollars to see if we could win a giant box of Toblerone chocolate bars at a booth. The idea of paying money to try and win something sickens me a bit, but I feel like if you are going to play games at amusement parks, trying to win chocolate is much more justified than trying to win a giant stuffed animal. I felt like three dollars was a small price to pay for a giant box of Toblerone bars and we were feeling lucky. Sure enough, Maggie had a winning number, and she was nice enough to split her chocolate. Naomi and I slept over at our friend Surya’s house. It turns out her host sister Bea on exchange in New Prague, Minnesota, not far from Northfield. It worked out well to stay there because the host mom works halfway between where my school is and where she lives. We saved money and arrived in our city just in time for class on Monday.

Grönahögs kryka: I have joined the youth group at my village church. The little village I live in is small but the longer I live here the more I appreciate the simplicity as well as the community of friendly people. The youth meet for youth group twice a month, and I attended last Thursday. Sweden is not considered a terribly religious country, but youth groups are popular in some communities. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but we played games, had fika (kaffe, smorgås, och glass torta/coffee, sandwiches, and ice cream cake), and ended with a short singing and worship service. The whole gathering lasted three hours and I met some very caring people. Yesterday I volunteered again with the church, this time helping with scouts, which is the youth group for the children. It is a affliated with the church, but mostly comparable to scouts in the States. The children don’t know any English, so it is an opportunity for me to learn and practice Swedish. I will help every Wed. for several hours after school. There is song time, craft time, and playtime. The families and teenagers within this church group are welcoming and friendly to us. I am beginning to feel part of the community. I have a hard time grasping my faith and I continually question whether there is a higher power, yet I feel that joining these groups will not only help me think about faith, but they will help me to become involved, learn more about my community, and meet kind people.

Liv: I think I have passed what Rotary called the honeymoon phase. I know longer wake up and feel a thrill in my stomach as I remember I am in Sweden. Instead, I feel comfortable and content where I am. I feel grateful to be here. When I first arrived in Sweden, all the differences jumped out at me, such as the different street signs, the flags, the license plates, the language, the food, etc. Now I am accustomed to these things. My Swedish is still not good, but I am understanding more and more, and have begun to feel comfortable speaking more Swedish with my host family and peers. Swedish no longer sounds foreign to me, and while I cannot understand many things, it sounds familiar. Depending on the context, I can pick out main ideas some of the time. People are losing interest in speaking English with me and I have gotten involved with helping little children who know no English. This is good.  My friendships will become much deeper when I can communicate entirely or at least mostly Swedish. For a while I was feeling a bit discouraged the fact that I wasn’t picking up Swedish as fast as I expected. I realize it takes time and practice, and now I have stopped worrying as much, and I am just trying to study, speak, and absorb as much as possible.

I like that several other youth exchange friends wrote a bit about their daily routine, so I will do this as well.

At around 6:15 I wake up. I take a shower then I go upstairs from my room in the basement and eat breakfast. I have yogurt or lättmjölk/sour milk for breakfast. It is basically a thinner version of yogurt with a slightly different taste. My host mom always gets fruit flavors. It comes in a carton. I have müsli with it. At 7 I walk ten minutes to the bus stop. I walk on a small road next to woods and meadows with cows. I get on the bus and arrive as school around 7:30. My schedule changes everyday, but yesterday, on Friday, I had calculus, photography, lunch, musical rehearsal, followed by digital art where I am learning how to manipulate pictures in Photoshop. My classes last between one to three hours each. After, I generally take the 4:20 (pm) bus home, unless I get out earlier, and in that case, I take the 3 pm bus. I arrive home around 4:45 pm. My school days are quite long and the fact that I live out in the village means I cannot stay in town past the time my bus leaves. In the evenings I generally read, study a bit, and watch TV with my host mom and Naomi, or perhaps get together with friends from the village. On Thursdays I have youth group, twice a month, and every Wednesday I will be helping out at scouts in my village. On the weekends I may go shopping in bigger cities like Jönköping or Borås, go to youth exchange events throughout southwestern Sweden, hang out with friends, or relax. At around six or seven we eat dinner. My host mom makes delicious meals such as meat stews, boiled potatoes, pasta dishes, sausage, or salmon. It always tastes delicious after a busy day. I generally go to sleep at around 10 or 11. I live with Naomi and my host mom all the time, but my host dad lives in Romania half the time to run his knitting factory, which produces knit shirts and sweaters. It is always a treat when he drives into the driveway for about a week at a time before flying back to Romania. Even though I live in a small village, it seems I rarely go the whole day without leaving the village for school or for some activity on the weekend. I like my downtime, but it is good for me to stay busy and involved, so I can enjoy as many experiences as possible.

  

I am doing well, yet I have reached a point where events, classes, or people remind me of home. The other day in calculus, some boys asked the math teacher, Gunnar, if we could watch a YouTube video called “I Will Derive,” a play on the song “I Will Survive.” Last year, my calc teacher and friends loved that, and I suddenly felt quite nostalgic for a few minutes. Even though I have little spurts where I miss friends, family, and home, I am having a fabulous time.