Snapshots

Here are some random samplings of life right now:

Thursday was the first snowfall. We drove home in complete darkness and it was only seven in the evening. The temperature was at the freezing point. The winter weather is arriving earlier than it typically does in Minnesota. Supposedly some years the snow doesn’t stick during the winter between snowfalls, but some years it does. Last year was a snowy year. I have noticed that homes are built from better materials here, including thicker, more efficient windows, so I have been staying warm. Monday, as I was taking a walk, the sun shone and the snow was gone. The weather in Sweden is unpredictable.

I now have evening kör/choir rehearsal because we are behind and have a concert in a few weeks.  We are singing ABBA, Stevie Wonder, and Beatles songs. None of them are in Swedish. The choir is not serious, but it is a class everyone enjoys.

The Beatles song “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” has been stuck in my head for two months. This is a bit unfortunate because the refrain is:

Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer

Came down upon her head.

Clang! Clang! Maxwell's silver hammer

Made sure that she was dead.

Last Wednesday, I joined twenty-two other exchange students for four days on the coastal city of Varberg. We stayed atop a fortress, built around 1300. There is an old prison turned youth hostel on the fortress. There were exactly enough rooms for everyone to have their own small prison cell.  There was little supervision and few activities planned besides preparing for a small performance during the Rotary district 2360 conference. We ended up singing the Swedish anthem, before a few students played the piano, a friend Felix played a Taiwanese instrument, and a few people sang. We toured the city, planned our talent, and hung out. It was nice to see the other exchange students again. We ate several very nice Rotary meals, including a fancy dinner on the last night which included champagne (they offered us non-alcoholic), salmon with a caviar sauce, a pork course, and finally a yogurt custard dessert with some tart berries. There were two wines paired with the dinner, but I had Fanta. 

This weekend I spend around 24 hours with 50 scouts ages seven through nine. They were from four surrounding villages including the scouts I work with each Wednesday in my village. The scouts program in my area is a mixture of outdoor activities but also slightly church-related (Lutheran). The weekend culminated with a musical. This year the theme was Noah’s Ark. It is good for me to be with children because they know little English. I often wished I could communicate better in Swedish, but if I keep working on the language, it will come. Even with the language barrier, I learned that smiles and laughter can go along way. There were about eight other people helping, but nonetheless, I left exhausted but happy I could help.

I am a bit shy in unfamiliar settings, and so one of my goals while on exchange was to learn to reach out to people and be a bit less shy and more relaxed in social settings. I still am shy, but I am learning. The first few weeks of school were exhausting from a social and language standpoint, but people at school were welcoming. I have also had a good deal of contact with other exchange students at school (from US, Germany, and the Netherlands) and in my Rotary district. I am thankful that I have fellow exchange students and Swedish friends to greet in the halls, talk to during free periods, eat lunch with, and see after school or on weekends. I have had some interesting conversations about anything from Swedish vs. American culture, to religion, and Harry Potter. I have been busy, yet I have also had time to relax, bake, and explore my village on foot. I am not the type of exchange student who is out and about every second of every day, but I have been plenty busy.

Jag har höstlov nästa vecka! I have fall break next week. It spans the entire week which is quite nice. I have less homework and no exams here and try to get enough sleep, so while it will be nice to be on break, I don't feel like I actually need a break because I am sleep-deprived, like I did back at home. I am not sure what I will do. I hope to go to Göteborg with some exchange friends.

I have been here nearly three months. Time is moving quickly. Sometimes it seems I just flew to Sweden, and other days it seems I have been here much longer. I find that I often get caught up in my life in Sweden, and it takes me a few moments to remember that I won’t always be here and see this scenery or these people that I have grown familiar with. This already makes me feel melancholy, because Sweden really feels like a home. It is a comfort to know I have a home to return to in Minnesota, but at times I feel a mixture of emotions. On bus rides to and from school, I often try to memorize the route and the scenery passing me. I don’t want to forget. I watch the trees go by, I try to memorize the houses spotting the countryside, and the curves of the road. I am trying to enjoy everyday. For the last couple of weeks I had a cold, which made me feel more tired than usual. I am relieved I am no longer so tired, because I know the days are limited and everyone of them is special.

Here are a few small things that I find give me great joy:

-Warm socks: There is a small factory and sock outlet in my little village called Bola. They produce socks for sale around Sweden, and they have managed to keep some of the production in Sweden. They are open every Thursday for business. I bought some striped socks and thick wool socks. They were between three and six dollars, and very good quality. When my feet are warm, my life is substantially better.

-Walks in the woods

-Fika with friends or my host family. On weekends/helger, we stop for a few moments and have coffee and kakor/cookies.

-Marabou chocolate: A Swedish brand that is far superior to any American chocolate. There are far too many godis/candies in Swedish grocery stores. They are all so tempting.