On That Blogging Craze

This is like my third post in a week. Sorry for the high frequency.

On Saturday I tried a fencing class which was fun and exciting. But I have to admit that my arm is still sore.

Saturday afternoon I began my 3 hour journey to Höllviken for a YFU dinner thing. I was super stressed abut getting there and especially getting back when it would be late and the trains wouldn't go as frequently. Luckily the travel went as smooth as it could and it was a really nice evening. There were about 10 of us there and it was a mix of just returned exchange students, current exchange students and a volunteer. The find of the night was talking to a Swedish girl who had just come back from here exchange year in Pendelton, IN. It's crazy to think that we lived so close to each other for a year without knowing it and now we live close to each other again. It really is a small world.
At the dinner we made our own pizza.

Yes I know, it is a bacon and egg pizza.

 Overall the food was good although I was not a fan of the plastic like coating that formed on the eggs. I'll pass on those next time. We all left around the same time and had to run about halfway (10 min) to the bus stop because we misjudged our time. Opps. Well it was no problem getting back. It was maybe a bit of a long trip to go just for pizza, but it's not like I had anything else going on!

This was my street late on Saturday night when I got home. Thought it looked pretty cool. 

After sleeping in, Sunday was a lazy day with homework and such. I made dinner at night which surprisingly went well. Since I wasn't home much the previous day my grill enthusiastic host Dad prepared the meat and did a great job. So we had pulled pork in taco bread with homemade guacamole (I think I really butchered the spice combination in the guac but once mixed with the meat you couldn't even tell). And for the grand finale I made lemon meringue pie! Though the meringue came out of the oven all nice and fluffy it shrunk a little by the time we ate it. And i think I put in a little but too much lemon juice because it was pretty sour. But overall I am pleased with my effort and I think my family really enjoyed it too!

Today was Monday which is always a struggle. Today I had Math, English,French and mentor time so it wasn't at all a bad day. I came home and went a run which I've been doing a lot since I got here. It's really nice and relaxing.

I'll end this post with some cat pictures.We have this kitten staying with us who is just the cutest thing ever.

School Differences

Okay, I know that I just posted so this one will be quick. I made a quick list of differences between school in the US and school here.

1. no bells - classes all start at different times so it's your own responsibility to be there on time
2. no tardies - as long as you meander in sometime within the first half hour of class no one really cares. (some teachers are more strict than others) But it's not exactly recomended to come in late everyday.
3. leave class when you want - if you have an important phone call to take or you left something in your locker, just get up and leave. You don't have to ask the teacher or anything.
4. 1:20 - classes are all 1 hour 20 min. Which is killer sometimes when you're used to 47 min or whatever we have at home.
5. 10/15/20 min breaks - breaks between classes can be 10, 15, or 20 minutes long. So you never have to carry books for more than one class at a time. There is also time for some last minute homework but otherwise we just sit in the hallway and talk and wait.
6. no substitute - teacher sick or at a meeting? class is cancelled, you either now get to sleep in, take a long break, or leave early. Really different from home.
7. no homework checks - Here all the answers to math/physics/chemistry assignments are in the back of the book. So it's your responsibility to do the assignments and check them yourself.
8. cell phones - cell phones are everywhere. People are always texting and checking facebook during class or listening to music.

Okay, that's it for now!

Busy Busy Busy

Hi! I can't believe that it's been 10 days since I last posted! It's just hard to find time these days.

I can't think of anything extraordinary that happened last week. I think it was pretty normal. We went to see Hamlet as a class which was...well interesting. Soccer practice, school, the usual, I honestly can't remember anything significant that happened last week although I'm sure lots of things did.

This week was pretty chill with school. We got out early everyday except for Wednesday. So that was nice.
Another girl and I were in charge of fika after soccer on Thursday. The usual fare for these after practice fikas are an assortment of breads, butter, ham, cheese, cucumber, and bell peppers. We brought all that and I also brought 2 freshly made apple pies. (Think I'm trying to win over friends with pie? You're probably right :)). I think everyone really appreciated some warm pies since during practice the skies opened up and it just poured. So I think some warmth did us good.
Besides that I've just had lots of little things to do this week which when you don't have things organized can be pretty overwhelming. But as soon as you have everything in a chronological, color coded list everything seems so much better.

After school today a friend and I went shopping which was fun. My score was finding two athletic shirts for the price of one. It was awesome and it totally made my day!

This weekend is pretty darn busy. Tomorrow I'm going into town for a free one hour girls ages 16-18 fencing class with a friend. Should be exciting :) Then I'm taking a 2 hour journey southward to a YFU pizza dinner thing with other exchange students in the area which will be fun. And then on Sunday the big test, serving some 'Merican food to my family. That's right, pulled pork fajitas better watch out. And maybe throw in some guacamole and lemon meringue pie. Let's all keep our fingers crossed and I'll see if I can provide some pictures of the finished product.

Another highlight of the week is that we are cat sitting! I've never had a cat before and this little kitten is just the cutest! I love playing with him and he is just so cozy. But let me tell you, a bird and a cat in the house at the same time sure is interesting to say the least! On Thursday the kitty is leaving and we are welcoming a dog into our home for a few days. We are quite the pet sitting service!

I have no ideas what else to write so here are some pictures instead!

 Gym class. Those who had the energy to play some soccer after running the Cooper Test.

 

Friday night sunset from my bedroom window.

Fika at the mall. Pretty classy compared to the US in my opinion.

 

I don't have anything insightful to report or anything else to report for that matter. Stay on the look out for a new post in the future!

50 degrees and raining

Hej!

It's time for another 'a picture is worth a thousand words' post because I don't have much new to report and it gives me an excuse to write less! So let's get to it!

The title of this post was in regards to the fall weather we have been having lately. Here is proof. And my host parents Jan and Yvonne left for a vacation to the French riviera just as the weather got bad...lucky them...

 

The weather as I was contemplating a run yesterday...did not look too inviting.

 

This is what my weekly schedule looks like. It's not 100% accurate but you get the idea. And sometimes we end a little early (no bells you know) and there are no substitutes so if one of your teachers is sick (like today) they email everyone and you just don't have that class that day. So today we got to end early!

 

Since everybody likes food, here is the school lunch menu for the week. All this information is found on a nifty app called Skolunch.

 

Here is the outside of my school...

 ...and here is the inside. The school is 3 stories and there is only one hallway per floor.

 

This pictures was taken from one of the windows in our school looking out. Across the street is Helsingborg arena where the soccer team plays.

 

This picture as well as the next three are all taken from my walk from school to the bus stop. There is a bus stop right outside the school but then I would have to change buses later and usually I want to walk. It's about a 12 min walk down to Helsingborg C which is where my bus goes from.

 This bakery is right behind my bus stop, it always smells so good and I'm always tempted to go in and grab something to eat.

 

 

My bus (no.8) goes every 15 minutes from town. Every other bus goes all the way to Domsten and the others go just to Hittarp. It's no problem because if it goes just to Hittarp my stop is the last one. So today I was on an only to Hittarp bus and was the only one going to the last stop so I had the whole bus to myself...for like a minute.

 

We have three apple trees in our front yard so everyday when I come home from school I go and grab one of these delicious apples!

 

Not much new going on. Our class is going to see Hamlet tomorrow night so that will be exciting...

 

I hope everyone has a great day!

Happy One Month in Sweden!

Today is September 14th and I arrived in Sweden on August 14th. I cannot believe that I have already been here a month! Time flies when you're having fun!

More pictures below with everyday stuff!

Here are 2 examples of what lunch might be. Way different than home. Here there is one entree per day. Lunch is free and nobody brings their own lunch. Some of the kids here complain about the school lunch not being good but I think that it's awesome compare to cafeteria food at home...Just sayin'

 This is where we get our lunch.

 

Gustavs birthday was this week. For his birthday dinner we had sushi.

 

 Here are the four Americans in Sweden this year with YFU. This picture was taken at the Frankfurt airport hours before our arrival in Sweden.

 

 This is another picture from our first day in Stockholm right outside of Drottningholm.

 

And this was the little villa that I stayed in during our days at the arrival orientation in Kärsögården.

 This is a random picture of the inside of my school.

 

These two pictures were taken Friday afternoon as I was walking home from the bus stop. What a glorious day!

 

The really good thing about school here is that it makes the weeks fly by. I feel like at home the weeks take an eternity. Here, I blink and it's Friday!

 

Also, this week we had our first PE class which is really different. We have PE once a week for an hour and a half. We have to walk a little ways to the sports complex for PE. We bring our own clothes and change inside a locker room before. And afterwards we shower before going back to school for the rest of the day. This week we played lacrosse which was really fun. Next week is conditioning which doesn't sound like much fun... But we have four more weeks of PE outside until we move inside. I think that once we move inside we will get to go the ice hall and try curling which really sounds like a lot of fun!

 

Another thing that I thought was really interesting was what we did in 'homeroom' on Monday. I know that in the beginning of the year at ZHS we go through the student handbook. Here we had a 'meeting' in which we went over the handbook rules as a class and if we had any suggestions for changing the rules we could voice our opinions and all of our ideas were sent to the principle. I just really think that it's interesting that we had a say in what we wanted the school rules to be.

 

One thing that I forgot to mention about the Norway trip was that I ate a living ant. Yup, a creepy crawly ant. It was a competition between classes, I don't think out class had a chance but I contributed by eating one. So that was interesting.

 

On one of my first Saturdays here the family took a day trip to Denmark, and last Saturday we took a day trip to Ystad and today we took another day trip...I see a trend. Today we went to Mölle.

There are hiking trails and some other things there. It was pretty popular today because of the nice weather. It was a really nice day all around. When we went to Ystad we brought a little stove and had hot dogs and today we brought a little grill and had hamburgers! Picnics all the time, I have not eaten out a single time since I came to Sweden. Shows a difference between here and the US, a good difference I think.

 

I have also been getting some packages from home with I love. My dad sent a large assortment of cookies and my clear favorite is Nutter Butters so its good that Yvonne and Gustav backed away at the sight of peanut butter! Also my mom sent my all time favorite mechanical pencil. It may be silly but those pencils really do make me feel much more at home.

 

I've realized that having the same people in every class all day comes with it's disadvantages. For example if you're an exchange student to the US you're exposed to 150 people everyday just by going to class. Here you're expose to the same 23 people all day every day. Maybe good in someways but if you don't find a lot of friends in your class then your kind of stuck. I received some information about a scout group that I can join so that is my next step in my friend networking project!

 

I received some information a few days ago about the next YFU meeting! This will be during 4 days of fall break. I was really enthusiastic about it even though I've already seen most of the sights that will be included I'm just excited to see all the people again! We all had so much fun together at the arrival orientation. I hope a lot of people come!

 

My next job as a good exchange student is to make homemade guacamole for my family. I said that we make it at home and now they want to try it, well I've never made it before so we'll see how it goes haha

 

Everything good here as we brace ourselves for the rain coming tomorrow that signals the beginning of fall.

 

 

Have a good day!

Everyday Life

Since my last post was all about an extraordinary thing, I thought that it was high time that I share some ordinary things about my new life.

Here we have a panorama from a dock a little way from my house. This is where my run took me on one of my first days in Hittarp.

 

Here is a view from our upstairs living room. The land on the other side is Denmark.

And here we have a panorama view of Helsingborg.

 

This is the front of my house.

And here you can see the front of the house, the road, and then the rest of the front yard which borders the ocean.

The front yard.

This is a picture I took on Sunday while we were on a mini road trip to Ystad.

 

I don't really think that I have anything else too exciting to report. Hopefully you like these pictures and get a glimpse into the wonderful place that I get to spend the rest of this year!



 

I'm gonna climb this insanely high mountain, watch me

Hi everyone!
As some of you may know, I have spent the last week on a class trip in Krossbu Norway! It was so much fun!

Let's start from the beginning. We left Helsingborg Sunday night. We drove for about 15 hours and arrived at our destination early Monday morning.

We ate breakfast, geared up, and headed out by 10:15. We hiked for a while and then enjoyed the lunches we had packed earlier that morning. We then hiked to the top of a mountain. It was a pretty intense climb and as a group we kept thinking that we had reached the top only to hear that we were maybe a third of the way there. But once we reached the summit it was worth it!

 

On Tuesday we went on our cave tour. There were 5 or 6 caves that we went into. To get there we took the bus but then we walked home which took probably about 4 hours but it was probably one of the nicest parts of the trip!

 

Wednesday was an 'easy' day. First we drove to a popular tourist spot where a lot of people swam. It was nice to just relax there. Then we drove back in the other direction. We then hiked to a lovely waterfall and then continued up until we got above the treeline and found Santa's mailbox. :)

Once everyone got to the bottom again we were supposed to leave at 5. But three students from the other class had gotten lost. So we didn't leave until 5:45 and didn't get back until 6:20. Since dinner is promptly at 7 there was a mad dash to the showers. What I haven't mentioned about the showers is that they are 3  minutes long. That's right. Every evening you were given a coin that you would deposit into a little box in the shower to unleash your 3 minutes of hot water. Shower longer than 3 minutes? No problem, only that everything before or after those 3 minutes is positively ice cold. Good thing was that there was never a long wait for a shower. :)

 

Thursday was our glacier tour day. We walked 45 minutes to the base of the glacier and were then divided into 2 rope teams. While on the glacier we walked to the top, climbed, and jumped. It was super cool to do something that I had never done before!

 

Friday morning we packed and then we were let loose to choose our own iteneraries for the day. We had to get it approved and then fill out this form that said who we were and where we were going. After picking a good route my friend and I headed out. We made sure that our route would pass by a lake because we were both determined to get a swim in. We headed out at 9:15 and maybe 30 min later it starts raining. And the wind picks up. And it does not stop all day. We made it to our swimming lake, braced ourselves and got in the water and then out as quickly as we could. We stayed there for a while to warm up. But when we left the weather had just gotten worse and we decided that it was not worth continuing on and that we should just head back. So that is what we did and we got back at 1:15. It was really a shame that what could have been a wonderful day got cut short. But there were a lot of people like us who had come back and it was actually quiet nice to come back, clean up and just relax in the common room as people played cards and what not.

 

Finally, that night we headed home after a wonderful week. The weather had been amazing. We heard horror stories of groups who had rain all week. We had rain on one day and all the other days the sun shined and it had been absolutely gorgeous.

 

We drove through the night again and arrived back  in Helsingborg this morning. By 10am I had eaten and showered so I took a nap. I woke up at 2 o'clock and was shocked that I had slept so much of the day away. But it was probably good. Let's just see if I can sleep tonight...

 

Here is my room while I was packing :)

 



I'm sure that there is lots more to share about this lovely trip that I have left out for the time being. But I hope this gives you a glimpse into the lovely week I had.

Thanks!