Adventures of a Swedish Exchange Student

Home Sweet Home

2010-08-06T15:27:00.001-07:00

I am so sorry guys for not updatingig soo long! It has been over a month. Things have been so crazy!

I guess I can start things off by saying I am back home in the US and it feels so weird. I felt so at home in Sweden and coming back home reminded me that I was on an amazing adventure but it had to end sometime. The first morning I woke up in my own bed it felt like my exchange year was a beautiful dream and I was so sad to wake up from it. Everything is the same here so it feels like I really did go to sleep and have this amazing dream. But as I swiped the sleep from my eyes I realized that it had been a year since I last woke up in my own house with my own parents there to greet me. Now that I am moved into my room again I can almost forget at times that I left, but there are traces of Sweden everywhere I look. The memoirs I have in my room, on the walls, the great friends I have made and a language that I never would have dreamed of learning. I am so grateful to have had this experience and I feel like now that I am soon to start school it is time to join the real world again, see people that I have known since 2nd grade. Exchange was a great adventure that most teenagers don't get the chance to do and I have a view of the world that most of the people at my school don't have.

For the last few weeks of my exchange I was on a Euro Tour. I am not going to describe it in full detail because it would take hours just to write up. All I will say is that those 17 days were the best in my life and I dont know if anything will ever top that. The reason is because of the friends I made on the tour, anyone can do a Euro Tour but not everyone has the amazing friends that exchange students become. I know people from all over the world, the closest person to me would be a 5ish hour drive. I bonded with these people like you would never believe. We became a family, everyone on the tour in near and dear in my heart and I can only hope to see them all again. =) If you would like to see what I did on the tour, go on to my facebook and I have all the pictures up. They say a picture is worth a thousand words!

Today, a new exchange student is coming to live with my family and I. Nini from Germany. I am very excited for her to come because I think it will keep me involved in exchange, I didn't want to come home and just be done with exchange students. Exchange students just have such a great bond with one another and make such great friends. =)

I am hoping that I will continue this blog but I just dont know if I will be able to find time to write. If I do continue, this will be the last post in english. Since I need to practice my swedish I figure this will be a really great way to do that. So for all of you out there that are just beginning your exchange, good luck! I really hope that you have a great year and just remember that this is your year and it is up to you to make it amazing! If you ever need any advice from a rebound don't hesitate to ask me, =) I would love to hear how other exchanges are going!

Kram, Haley

Euro Tour schedule

2010-06-30T01:53:00.000-07:00

So here is my schedule for my whole trip...

July 1st- Malmö, Sweden to Berlin, Germany
July 2nd- Berlin, Germany
July 3rd- Berlin, Germany to Cracow, Poland
July 4th- Cracow, Poland
July 5th- Cracow, Poland to Prauge, Czech Republic
July 6th- Prauge, Czech Rebublic
July 7th- Prauge, Czech Rebublic to Salzburg, Austria, to Zell Am See, Austria
July 8th- Zell Am See, Austria
July 9th- Zell Am See, Austria to Lido di Jesolo, Italy
July 10th- Lido di Jesolo, Italy
July 11th- Venice, Italy
July 12th- Lido di Jesolo, Italy to Chambery, France
July 13th- Chambery, France to Paris, France
July 14th- Paris, France
July 15th- Paris, France
July 16th- Paris, France to Brussels, Belgium to Hagen, Germany
July 17th- Hagen, Germany to Malmö, Sweden

So that is my exciting adventure for then next couple weeks!!! =)

A Midsommar Nights Dream...

2010-06-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

So a week has passed since my last post... you know what happened?!

MIDSOMMAR! =)

Midsommar is a huge thing in Sweden, it is almost as important and celebrated as Christmas. So if you dont know anything about it, the basic principle is that it is a celebration of the longest day of the year. We put up a midsommar pole and dance around it. As much as this pole may look like a christian symbol, it isn't! Haha it is actually very funny and innappropriate for small children to dance around. Google it! =)

I spent my Midsommar out with Michaels family, they have a huge party every year. So I was there early to help out and set everything up for the party. When the party started at 4 we ate a meal, one of 3 haha, then we decorated the pole with tree branches and flowers. I also made a head thing, look on my facebook at the picture of me with flowers on my head and someone tell me what that is called in english haha, I can't think of it for the life of me! Then we set up the pole and danced around it singing songs and having fun. When we were done with the pole we were split into teams and we played fun games. My team won!! =)

We got very lucky this year because we had beautiful weather, apparently it usually rains on Midsommar. After the games was food and music then grilling! Yumm.. We also had fireworks at midnight. =) The it got dark a bit after 11 and then it started getting light again at about 2, those are just estimates though. I finally went to bed at 3ish, I was tired but I was actually one of the earliest to go to sleep. Some of the people stayed up until 7.30, and by that time the sun was shining brightly.

So that was my midsommar adventure, the pictures explain it a lot better that I can type it haha. Now I am about to take a leave of absence because tomorrow I leave to go on EUROTOUR!!! I will be gone 18 days and i am going to have an amazing time! =) So I will not be able to get on the computer for a while, I might be able to check a little email, but chances are I wont have much time to be on the computer.

So farewell for now!! See you guys in a few weeks! =) =)

Kram, Haley

Holy bejeezes!

2010-06-22T10:39:00.001-07:00

I have only one month left!!! I literally can not wrap my mind around this concept. It had always seemed like I had all the time in the world to be here and enjoy myself with all my friends and family but I am almost DONE!

I dont even have the whole month in Sweden. 17 days of it will be spent on Eurotour. So really I have a little less than 2 weeks left in Sweden. My mind is spinning haha.

PLANS...

2010-06-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

Btw... I forgot to add that I have decided to continur this blog when I get home, but... wait for it........

IN SWEDISH!

So all of you who are in New Mexico reading this back home, that wont be so fun for you haha. Men.. alla i Sverige kan läsa om hur det är för mig när jag åker hem! Also all of the people that are about to go out on their exchange can practice their swedish a bit. =)

I wont update as often as I have this year, mostly because I wont be doing so much exciting stuff. When I write in here, I can talk about how it is for me adjusting to my old life again and the differences I notice between Sweden and the USA. I will also be able to practice my swedish and that is a huge plus!

SO... soon after I gte home you can look for a re-done blog! I will completly transform it to a swedish blog. =) Make-Over!!

Kram, Haley

I can hear the bells....

2010-06-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

So this past Saturday was the royal wedding! I actually sat don and watched it like a good little exchange student. Haha it was actually really interesting to watch, you could tell that they were very in love. Daniel (New prince of sweden) even cried a little! They are a cute couple. =)

So this past week I have had summer break! Yay! I haven't done much, hung out with my host sister and stuff. I think during summer break people should take it easy. =) Especially when I have a crazy trip coming up on the horizon. The weather was pretty nice up until friday, I have been out sunbathing and even..... yes..... swimming! In the crazy freezing lake. I am not kidding! My heart felt like it stopped for a secong there. On Friday, I went to Linköping with Lisa (Youtube video up! Lalalanddreamer21) we went and saw Sex and the City 2, it was very funny! I really liked it =) Today me and my host parents did some touristy stuff in a city about and hour from hear. It was nice, it was like a little mini vacation.

This whole next week I am the only one in my family that is not working haha, so I will just be chilling and hanging out with friends. Hopefully the weather holds up. =) Friday is Midsommar, a HUGE swedish holiday. I will post more about it once I learn more about it haha. It will definitly be a new experience!

Kram, Haley

Graduation!!

2010-06-14T01:53:00.000-07:00

Vi har tagit studenten
för vi har tagit studenten
Vi har tagit studenten!!!
Fy fan vad vi är BRA!!!

Haha just a little tune to say that I have graduated!! I haven't written in a while because I wanted to get all of the graduation stuff into one blog and grad lasts about a week here so here it goes....

At the beginning of the week was a carnival, it was more of a parade than a carnival I guess but it was definitly funny! All of the graduating classes chose a theme and dressed up for it then had a parade of all of them. There were so many great costumes and it was all very funny to watch. At the end, three of the classes won a money prize. My class (Well not my class technically but the grade above us) came in second place, they were dressed up as nuts! haha. That night I was over at Lisas and we had a Harry Potter marathon, the weird thing was that we saw it get dark and we also saw it get light! It gets dark here at aroung 11ish and then it started getting light at like 3 and by 4 it was completly light outside! Monday there was a race on the river, the classes had to build their own floats and then they raced. I felt pretty bad for them actually because it was really cold and kind of rainy. The whole week was pretty bad weather actually. =(

On Saturday was graduation!!! I got up and went to school at 9 and the ceremony started at 10. I was there earlier because I am in the choir and we got to perform. So the whole gradution was some singing and lots of talking about the future. There were no diplomas like back home and we werent allowed to put on out hats till the very end. Michael and I had to go up on stage and get introduced, he just said stuff about what we were doing and why exchange was such a great thing. I translated to Michael as the principal was talking and everyone thought that was pretty funny. =) After the ceremony all of the classes went into a room with their teachers and the teachers talked, gave out grades, and said goodbye, it was pretty emotional. At 12 we all raced out of the school and then went and found our families. Parents make posters with a baby picture on it so they can be found in the crowd, it was a really fun thing to see! Then after everyone said hi to their families we all piled into the float and drove around town with the music blasted and we were screaming and dancing. It was a blast!! After all of that I went around to houses with my host family for a few grad parties which are pretty much like back home I would say.

It was a very cool experience and really great that my school let me graduate, a lot of exchange students dont get to do that here. So now I am on summer break and I have 2 and a half weeks before Euro Tour to spend with my friends here! Now hopefully the weather gets nice again so I actually want to go outside haha.

Kram, Haley

JUNI!

2010-06-02T22:59:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I haven't written for over a week but that would be because NOTHING has happened since I returned from Germany.

All last week was normal school, I went into Linköping on saturday with a couple of my friends and we went shopping. I bought a dress for graduation because it is traditional that grads wear white. =) I also bought a bathing suit in preparation for the summer. =P

This week has been the most beautiful weather EVA! I have worn shorts and skirts all week, haha I need to get some color on this paleness! The weather has been over 20 degrees every day, celcius so you USA people should go translate that into fareinheit because Iäm too lazy to do it. It is almost summer break here, I have one week left of school.

It is actually pretty sad that school is almost over because that means my exchange is almost over =( I have about 50 days left but sooner to Eurotour.

Ok so next week I will have tons to write abut since it is the last week of school and tons of festivities =)

Kram, Haley

Germany!

2010-05-25T06:51:00.001-07:00

I got home from Germany on Sunday night and let me tell you... I was tired. I travelled 2 hours by car, 1.5 hours by plane, 1.5 hours by bus, 40 min by train and then another 40 min by car. So lots of travel. I had such a great time in Germany and I did so much stuff so I guess I will just have to take it day by day. =)

Wednesday- Same amount of travel as on Sunday, so about 6 hours. We drove from the airport to Lulus town, Bonn. I got to see Lulu after a little less than a year and that was really fun. I don't think we ran out of things to talk about the whole time I was there. For those of you who dont know, Lulu was an exchange student last year and she lived with me and my family. When I got there we went to the store to get food for dinner then came back and made a sallad. After we ate we got to catch up and just hang out till we decided it was bedtime.

Thursday- I got up early to go and get my parents from the train station and that was nice to see them again, even if it was only a week since I had last seen them. We went back to the house so they could get drop their stuff off before we made our way to Cologne. The first thing we did was go to this beautiful church. We first walked around the inside and then we took the 500ish stairs up to the top of the tower. It was a long walk, haha at the top was such a great view, you could see the whole skyline of Cologne. It was definitly a great experience. Then we went and ate, I also got my first starbucks in 10 months! I was so amazingly happy haha. We then went to a chocolate museum, it was basically just telling about the history of chocolate and how they made all the shapes and stuff. There were lots of cool antique chocolate realated things. It was pretty interesting to learn about, not to mention the free samples haha. Then we went back to the house and had a delicious dinner.

Friday- I got up early to go to school with Lulu but her class was cancelled so we just ended up going into the city and had a starbucks and sunbathed. The weather was so incredible! Everyone was in shorts and tank tops. We then met up with my parents and Lulus mom and went on a river boat tour of the Rhein river. It was very pretty, there were a few random castles and mansions where government leaders used to live since Bonn used to be the capitol of Germany. Then we stopped at a little city and had lunch before it was time to go back and go to a BBQ. We had real german Bratwurst and they were so yummy!

Saturday- I said goodbye to my parents until to end of the summer, but it's ok because I know that 2 months will fly by and I will be back home before I know it. Lulu and I went shopping in Cologne and I got some new things including some awesome zebra sunglasses haha. When we were all shopped out, we went back to Bonn and ate dinner at a family friends house and then went to hang out with some of Lulus friends on the Rhein river. It was fun and warm. As we were going home at midnight, it was still about 18 degrees! I was so happy! We then watched the notebook and did our nails haha.

Sunday- Lulu and I slept in really late, we had to leave the house at 1.30 and then we had the long drive to my airport where we sain goodbye and I made my journey back home to Sweden where the weather isn't nearly as nice, but I'm hanging in there hoping for better weather by June. =)

Kram, Haley

Student ball =)

2010-05-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

This past saturday was the student ball for my school. The student ball is pretty much like prom but to make it even better they had a red carpet that the couples walked down and it seemed like the whole town was there to watch, haha there were soo many people! It was cool to see all the 3rd graders (senior equivalent) all dressed up and perty. =P

That was my exciting weekend haha, we had a four day weekend and that was the single most exciting thing that happened to me haha. It's ok because tomorrow morning, I am going to ......

GERMANY!!!

I will definitly keep you guys posted and tons of pictures will be on facebook, promise!

Kram, Haley

Part 3. Stockholm

2010-05-15T04:50:00.000-07:00

Before I get started on my trip to Stockholm I would just like to say that I just realized that it had been a year since I started this blog! Wow! The time has gone sooo crazy fast, this time last year I was just getting pumped up for exchange and now it is almost summer! Ahhh!

Anyways...

My trip started very early in the morning with a long bus ride. We stopped on the way at a castle and got a quick tour before we had to keep going on the bus. At about 11.30 we got to the National Museum in Stockholm! I was so excited to be in Swedens capitol! We took a tour of one of the art exibits there, it was very interesting. We got to see some of the artworks that we had seen in our text books!

After that tour, we were free to do whatever in the city. Of course, we went shopping haha. I saw a T.G.I. Fridays! I did not know that they had those here haha. We also ate Ben and Jerrys ice cream. The weather was beyond amazing all day, it was definitly the best weather of the year. Everyone was soo happy that the sun was shining. =)

We got a tour of the opera house and that was very interesting, we even go to go backstage and see that the stage was tilted! It was so weird, I couldnt believe that ballerinas have to dance on a tilted stage. I definitly learned a lot about the opera house. We then got a little more free time so we walked around the castle, everything was closed so we were just randomly walking around taking pictures but it was fun anyway.

Then we went to the opera house again but to actually see the opera this time. We saw Tosca, it was a new experience haha, it was my first time at the opera and I had to keep reminding myself that they did not have microphones on then haha. it was amazing, they sang sooo loud! After the opera, we had a very long bus ride all the way home again, we got back into ton around 2.30 so I jusy went a collapsed into bed!

Kram, Haley

Part 2. Parent Visit

2010-05-15T04:23:00.000-07:00

So saturday after I left Kalmar, I had a 3 hour train ride to Linköping where I met my parents! They actually suprised me because I thought that I would be getting in earlier than them and meet them as they got off their train so I was waiting in the waiting room for their train to come and they came up behind me and suprised me! It was really funny, I was so shocked but happy to see them. We then took the train down to Tranås and my host dad met us at the train station. We drove straight out to my house in the countryside so my parents could meet my host family. =)

We then went to the sauna! Haha if you remember my first post about the sauna, it was a pretty akward thing for me the first time so I thought it would be interesting for my parents to experience that. They got a warm welcome there and everyone was very nice. Haha Life experience =) After that we went back to my house and ate dinner then collapsed in bed.

Sunday we started out going to a nearby city named Gränna. We ate the famous polkagris candy and walked around the cutest little swedish village. I could definitly see myself owning a little summer cottage there. We had lunch at the golden otter, a resturant that has the most amazing view of the lake I have ever seen! It is so gorgeous. We then went back and had birthday cake, yummy! After we were all filled up on cake, we drove into the city to have dinner with Lisa! I was so excited to have my parents meet Lisa since she has been sich a big part of my exchange here. They loved her of course =) We watched a bit of Salongerna since Lisa had the DVD! I really need to buy one now. It was really fun for my parents to see that since that was about all they heard about for months. We ate dinner and walked around in huge fields of little white spring flowers. Then another cake haha. We were stuffed! Elisabeth then came and picked us up to go to her house where we would be staying. When we got there we talked a little then decided it was bedtime.

Monday we basically did a tour of my little town. We started off with the shops on the main street and had lunch with Elisabeth at a wonderful Italian resturant. We then walked to the school I help teach english at, we visited my 6th graders, then continued on to my school. I gave then a tour and they met a few of my classmates but most of them werent there because english class was cancelled! So once we were done with that we walked over to my First host family, we ate crayfish and some moose, then went to the stables where we watched Amalia in her horse riding lesson. Mom and Dad got to meet Tuva for a bit but then we had to go back to the house to eat another birthday cake! After that we went back to Elisabeths and had a nice chat until we were all to tired =)

Tuesday was the last day of my parents visit so we went into Linköping and shopped. My birthday present was a new outfit, I definitly needed the clothes =) It was a very nice day on Tuesday so we ate lunch outside then grabbed some ice cream with two of the exchange students living in linköping, Alex and David. When we got back to Tranås we went over to my second host family and had a little bite to eat before we went to "Open Stage" It was basically just like a talent show without it being a competition. I preformed in my choir. It was really fun. Then we just went back to Elisabeths and had some really yummy crayfish soup!

The next morning we had to say goodbye since I was off to Stockholm for the day. I will see then next week in Germany though!

Part 1. Kalmar

2010-05-15T04:03:00.000-07:00

Ok so last thursday and friday I didn't have to go to school. =) Very happy!

I left ( I was silly and accidently booked the wrong train ticket so I had to travel all alone! ) Tranås in the morning and was in Kalmar by 1. 30. Kalmar is a town on the east coast of Sweden, sadly it was very cold and windy because spring here is very weird. The weather can never make up its mind! When I got there, Fuzz (exchange student) picked me up and we walked to the hostel place we were staying at. We got a little lost and walked around a strange neighbourhood for a while but we eventually found the place and dumped my bags then walked back into town to meet more exchangies.

When we were all together, there are about 15 of us, we went bowling! It seems that at any exchange event I have been to, they take us bowling. In the US and here in Sweden haha. We all squeazed into a fruit van to get there, that was interesting. My team was awesome simply because of the fact that we are all terrible bowlers, we eventually get fed up with our bad scores and just changed it to all strikes =) After bowling, we went to an Italian resturant and waited for what seemed like forever to get our food. We were all starving since none of us really had the time for a real meal all day long. The food was dissappointing so afterwards, we all went to a grocery store and bought candy and junk, which was much more satisfying.

The next day was.....drumroll please.... My 17th Birthday! Finally! Haha, I got sung to a million times that day both in swedish and english. It was a fun day. The first thing we did was get transported to a high school in Kalmar and we were supposed to be giving brocures out about being an exchange student but no one wanted to talk to us! It was soo sad! We did find a few randoms dressed up as a cow and some guys with a beard to talk to so it wasnt completly pointless. =) After that we all went to a Billiard hall and had a 9 ball tournament. By some birthday luck, I beat Evan and made it to the semi-finals but then lost to Nora. Neither Evan or I could believe that I beat him, there was no skill involved haha it was just purely luck. After that we all walked back to the hostel where we got pizza and played mafia a million times. Whats more, Evan let me straighten his hair! It was hilarious and then David and Fuzz wanted it done too, it was very funny! We all finally had to go to bed though.

The next morning I had to leave earlier than everyone else to go meet my Parents! See part 2... =)

Wow!

2010-05-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

Its been a while! Like I said, I was B-U-S-Y, I barely had time to breath. So to prevent this blog from getting to crazy long I am going to split it up into 3 parts.

Part 1. Kalmar
Part 2. Parent visit
Part 3. Stockholm

I wouls also like to thank everyone for reading this blog because now my views have gone past 3,000! That is so amazing that people are interested in what I am doing here. =)

Kram, Haley

Ready for some fun?

2010-05-05T06:47:00.000-07:00

So this week so far has been average, nothing out of the norm. =) The exciting stuff will all be happening tomorrow and continue on for the next 2 weeks. So if I neglect my blog just a little, heres why...

Tomorrow I will be heading off to Kalmar, Sweden for a district gathering. I think most of the exchange students in my district will be there. we will be bowling, canoing (haha cuz the weather is so amazing, NOT!) and going to a school to talk about the exchange. This lasts until saturday, my birthday is also convenietntly in there too. =) That's right, Haley will be turning 17 in two days!

On Saturday is the big one..... drumroll please... The parents! Yup, My parents are finally making their trip here. I am super excited to see them since it has been over nine months since I last saw them. Can you believe it? Nine months? That is utterly ridiculous, I just can not fathom where all the time has gone. So we will meet up on saturday and they will saty until wednesday morning.

While my parents head off to their europe adventure, I will be somewhere a little closer to home. I get to go to Stockholm! My class is going to Stockholm on wednesday, we are going to the opera, a castle,the art museum and we also get to roam the town for the majority of the day. I am very excited for this because even though I have been in Sweden for 9 months, I haven't been to the capitol yet, shameful I know.

We then have thursday and friday off school for some random holiday, but hey, I'm not complaining.

The next week, I will be in school monday and tuesday but then I will be off to my biggest adventure yet on exchange, getting myself to Germany. Ya, I have to book all the correct plane and bus tickets, make sure I am there on time and not lost and arrive safely in Dusseldorf, Germany. I'm sure everything will be fine but I do have a tendency to get lost. I am going to Germany to once again meet up with my parents and also get to hang out with Lulu! The german exchange student my family hosted last year, I'm sure it will be a very fun visit. =)

Then I have only three short weeks until school finishes, 2 and a half weeks of break, 3 weeks of europe travel, four days of goodbyes, then tons of hellos =)

Kram, Haley

Valborg/ Dansens dag

2010-05-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

This past week was pretty fun, it was the last week of April so definitly a week of celebration here in Sweden.

On Wednesday, it was "Dansens Dag" which means the dance day. I preformed in a dance with my begining dance class and I think it went really well. Especially taking into consideration that we don't really know what we are doing. I posted the video up on my youtube if anyone is interested. You can find my account under lalalanddreamer21. It was also fun to watch ass of the other, more advanced dance classes preform, they were really really good. =)

Friday was the last day of April and a holiday in Sweden. It is called Valborg. Basically it is just celebrating the coming of spring. We picked stinging nettles and made a soup out of them. They do this because the nettles are the first fresh things that you can eat in the spring, even though I didn't even know they were edible. They actually tasted really really good, I would reccomend it. We also had fondu with 3 kinds of meat that were all a little different. There was lamb, ox and.... Ostrich! I was a little sceptical abuut the ostrich but it was really good! Also on Valborg, everyone lights big bonfires to rid off the witches and the winter. It is swedens formal way of welcoming spring. May I add that even though it was raining, we all stood outside and watched the fire. Then we got ot come in and eat dessert. We had 12 people at my house until about 12.30. It was a pretty fun party.

Today I went into Linköping with some exchange student friends and we messed around in the city and took lots of pictures and then we went to go see Iron Man 2! Go see that movie if you haven't already, it is soo amazing, I really enjoyed it.

So now I'm home just waiting for another exciting week to start. =)

Kram, Haley

Snow?!

2010-04-25T02:44:00.000-07:00

Nothing much happened this past week so this will be a short blog. =)

I have finally booked the train tickets for my trip to Kalmar. My whole rotary district is getting together May 6-8, and my birthday happens to fall into that visit! Yay! So for my birthday I get to hang out with all of my rotary friends. It's kind of ironic because the same thing happened last year to haha. So for the trip, we will be going to schools and talking about the exchange program, canoing anf bowling. It should be pretty fun. Then the saturday I get back, my parents will get into town! I am very excited haha, and they will stay for 3ish days. =)

There was unnecessary snow this week, it snowed three times! Terrible! It was always melted be noon but still, it is APRIL, there should be no snow! Other than that though the weather has been pretty nice, except for the wid but I can deal with that if its 15 degrees outside. (celcius)

On friday, we watched and particpated in a radio recording thing. It was some radio competition, we were the typical sudio audience, we were even told when to clap and how loud haha. After that I just went home for the weekend and havne't done anything since. =)

Kram, Haley

BBQ

2010-04-18T23:10:00.000-07:00

So to make up for the week of boringness, this past week was pretty busy. I already told you about what happened on Tuesday and wednesday.

On thursday, I had a rotary lunch as usual and everything was pretty calm. On friday, we had visitors from a school from Vetlanda. It was their seniors from the music program and they preformed for us.

I spent the weekend at my first host family this because I wanted to go into Linköping on saturday. It's kind of silly that I live so far out of the city that if I want to visit my friends over the weekend, I can't sleep in my own bed haha. So saturday afternoon, I took the train into Linköping and I met Evan, another exchange student from Canada. We hung out in the city for a while but then we got really hungry and being the broke exchange students we are, we didn't want to pay for food, so we walked all the way back to Evans house and cooked some pasta, yum =)We went over to another friends house for a BBQ! It was fun to meet a bunch of new people. There was a girl that moved here from Germany in august and her swedish was sooo good! But apparently, swedish is really easy to learn if german is your first language. There was also a girl at the party who is leaving for exchange in the US in July, so I had fun talking to them.

After the party, my saturday night turned a little sour. I left the party at 10 and cought a bus to the train station to catch my train at 10.30. I got there in plenty of time and everything was fine but then they said that my train was deleyed 10 minutes, so i wasn't too happy bout that but I realized it could have been worse, and then it got worse! Haha The train got cancelled! So they said the train was cancelled and they said that there would be a bus but they didn't give us any times or info. So we just waited for something to happen for an HOUR! Might I mention that it was freezing cold and the wind was crazy that night? Well it was, yay lucky Haley! I felt pretty bad for these three guys that were standing there because none of them had jackets, they just had their T-shirts, haha I have no clue why they thought it was warm enough for that. So eventually a bus came, but heres the other twist in the story, it didn't go to Tranås. So there were three people with no way to get home. They called a Taxi for us and we had to wait another 15 minutes outside for that. It was really ironic though because one of the people that was stuck with me was a girl who was leaving today for the US. She was a part of that nanny program where you go and live with a family for a year and they pay for living expenses and your salary. It was very fun to talk to her!

Anyways, I finally got home after an hour long but free Taxi ride. I pretty much just collapsed in bed, frozen haha. Sunday, my host dad nad brother came and got me at the Åsens and when I got home, it was time to relax!

I think this week will be a pretty normal week, but after that, it's crazy! So I wil lhave plenty to writea bout =)

Kram, Haley

Påsk Lov

2010-04-15T01:55:00.000-07:00

So I am finally sitting down and making myself write! The reason that it is so hard is because I did basically nothing over my week long break! So sad!

On the days when I didn't have a ride into town, I just hung around the house. You have to remember that I live a 20 minute drive from ANYWHERE. So yoo when you have no car available, you are pretty much stuck. I did go on a long walk in the forest one day, that was nice because you don't see anybody, just the forest. Haha I was kind of nervous to be walking alone at first because we have really mean wild pigs on out property! I figured I was safe though. For those of you that don't know, My current host family lives on 200 acres of land, so there's definitly some room to breathe. Other than walking in the forest I didn't do much outside because the weather last week was terrible, it seemed to be on the verge of rain all week. The weather is much better this week.

On friday, I went to Linköping with Michael and we went to the movie theatre and then to a really awesome 2nd hand shop. I got shoes for 50 crowns and a shirt for 45. That is ridiculous! Nothing in sweden is that cheap! BTW divide by 7 do get dollars.

The rest of the weekend I went to the sauna and weaited the return of school!

When we came back to school, Monday was a normal day but Tuesday and Wednesday were a little different.

Tuesday- We went on a field trip! Haha I haven't been on a field trip in forever! We went to a city called Örebro. It is about a 2 and a half hour drive from Tranås. We went to the music school there and we got a tour and learned all about the school. Then we were allowed about an hour to just hang out in the city, we got ice cream and soaked up some sun! =D

Wednesday- After lunch, we went to the movies! It is so funny that here a few times every year, you get to skip your classes and go to the movie theatre in town for free and see a movie. We saw a movie about a girl that wanted to be an actress but she was really big and everyone made fun of her. I was really proud of myself because the movie was in swedish and I understood everything. I remember how frusterated I was when I couldn't understand anything. It felt like I would never learn the language. A word to all future exchange students, it will be OK! You will learn the language, just give it some time. Don't let people tell you that you have to know the language after 3 months just because that's what the person before you did. Everyone is different and some people learn languages faster than others. I am fairly slow at learning languages but it came eventually. =)

So that was my break, now I'm just counting down till my birthday and my parents visit! My birthday is on the 7th of May and my parents come the day after that! Yay!

Kram, Haley

Påskkärring

2010-04-04T05:15:00.000-07:00

This is a picture I found of some cute little swedish witches!

Glad Påsk!

2010-04-04T04:55:00.000-07:00

Or.... Happy Easter!

So now that it's easter, I also have a break that many of you probably already know about and I have nothing to do all week. I did do some stuff for easter though. So I think I should tell you guys how the swedes celebrate Easter!

It is very similiar to the USA, except here, it is was bigger! Everyone celebrates it! One thing that I found very interesting is that on Easter, little girls dress up as witches and go trick-or-treating. I don't really know why so I looked it up! Here is the article I found on thelocal.se:

The local supermarkets in their weekly adverts also exploit the food associations of chicks, lamb, påskmust, eggs, sweets and the obligatory “påskkäring” or Easter witch to draw in customers gearing up for the upcoming gluttony of Påskafton.

Easter celebrations and traditions for the secular Swede are nearly as sacred as Christmas to the Swedish culture. Even devout atheists pay respect to the long-standing traditional norms that the holiday dictates in Sweden. Easter is a big deal to the entire country.

Religious Easter isn’t completely removed from the celebrations of the modern Swede. Swedes are traditionalists after all.

There will always be the group of churchgoers on Easter Sunday. Most likely they are the same gang who went to church for julotta Christmas morning. However, Easter today, has little to do with Christian beliefs for the majority of Swedes.

Children dressed as witches give a clear indication that Swedish Påsk origins predate Christianity. Folklore alleges that witches flew off on broomsticks to dance with the devil at Blåkulla.

In Sweden, this tale ties in with Easter. And so on skärtorsdag, Maundy Thursday, modern Swedish children dress up as påskkärringar (Easter hags) paint their faces, carry a broom and knock on neighbor’s doors for treats, much like American children do at Halloween.

Children also contribute to the tradition of Easter worldwide. What would Easter be without beautifully painted and adorned Easter eggs? Swedes just revere their Easter eggs –the decorative and the edible versions.

Semlor are still on sale despite the Lenten fast, and anticipation of the big day grows in the week beginning with Palm Sunday. In conservative communities there is an air of solemnity.

It would be taboo to get married or baptize a child during this week. And many die hard traditionalists still scowl at the modern disregard of a sober Good Friday and snort at the mention of potential merriment that evening.

Only in recent years are cinemas allowed to be open. Good Friday is more appropriately named in Swedish Långfredag – Long Friday, the most unhappening day of the calendar. Fun not allowed.

However, once the mourning of the crucifixion of Christ is over, the proverbial good times roll.

Saturday morning resembles a resurrection of sorts.

Spring is in the air, merriment is on the menu. The family will sit down to an ample feast in the afternoon on Påskafton, or the Eve of Easter. Eggs and lamb are the quintessential Easter fare that very nearly connote Påsk all by themselves. They represent the fertility of the spring and the rebirth of the year after the long winter.

Bonfires are lit in some regions of Sweden in the late afternoon.

Some say they are to scare off the evil influences of the Easter hags and their journey to Blåkulla. Others take the opportunity to clear gardens for the coming spring. For some regions, including the Stockholm area, the bonfires must wait until Valborgsmässafton or Walpurgis Night at the end of April to banish the remnants of winter.

Elizabeth Dacey-Fondelius

So I think the swedish celebration of easter is very interesting. I didn't do much on good friday, but unlike what the article says, it wasn't a day where you couldn't have fun. I did go to an orchestra concert that my host mom and brother were playing violin in and that was very good. On Easter eve, (Påskafton, it makes much more sense in swedish to say that haha.) My family, Michael and I went over to a friends house and had some fun. We Played darts, decorated eggs, and played croquet. Then we ate a big meal and waited until midnight mass at the church. My host brother sang in the choir, it was so good! After that, we were all really tired and collapsed in bed. Today we went out walking a little in the beautiful weather and now we are waiting for my host moms mom to come over for her birthday dinner, then we will go and see Shutter Island in Jönköping! Im excited!

P.S Sorry for the length, but I thought it was inportant for you guys to learn the importance of easter here in Sweden.

Kram, Haley

Springtime!

2010-03-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

So now that it it almost April it is definitly officially springtime! You can not imagine my happiness after this crazy long winter. Even though it is the end of March, we still have some snow on the ground but it is dissappearing fast! On friday, we had beautiful weather, 16 degrees celcius. I was so happy but then i looked at the weather for back home. Anywhere from 16 to 24 degrees! Crazy jealous! But we will get there soon enough.

This past weekend I had some fun. I spent the night at the Åsens because we were planning on going to one of Amalias hockey games but the game got cancelled so instead on saturday we went into Linköping. Amalia and I did some shopping. I bought some shorts. Haha I know this seems a little pre-mature but I wanted some, maybe owning shorts will make it get warmer faster... or maybe not haha. Then I met up with my exchange student friends. We went to Evans house and made muffins then went back into town for dinner. We wanted some kind of asian food but ended up with kebab haha. Then we walked back to Evans house and watched Mulan! Awesome! Haha then it was time to go home, so we went to the train station and when I got back to Tranås i walked to the Åsens and spent the night there. All in all, lots of walking that day haha.

Then Sunday was spent at home relaxing and pretty much doing nothing!

Youtube

2010-03-25T12:52:00.001-07:00

Hej hej! So I decided that instead of writing a blog this week, I would do a youtube video so you can go onto youtube and search my username to get to my chanel.

My username is lalalanddreamer21

Go look! =)

Kram, Haley

Grövelsjön/ Åre

2010-03-19T04:16:00.000-07:00

So as most of you know, I have been on vacation for the past two weeks and that is the reason for leaving my blog untouched for such a long time! There is so much to tell about the last few weeks so I am going to take it in cronological (spelling?) order.

The first week started off with a 10 hour drive through Norway to Grövelsjön. Boring and tiring so when we got there it was dark and we were exhausted. We got all settled into our cute little cabin. (Hjorten was the name) BTW On this trip was My host mom and dad, host brother, Michael and I. The next day we pretty much just tryed to get the feel of the cross country skiis. Not going to lie, I was pretty darn lousy haha. By the end of the day I did feel a bit better on the skiis though. The whole week was pretty much going through the same thing every day, we got up and ate lunch then went out to ski for a couple of hours then came back and chilled. On wednesday, we went downhill but I was on the bunny hill all day because I had no idea what I was doing! Also on wednesday, we went to a huge buffet. They had every type of meat and fish imaginable. Moose, elk, pig, cow, you name it. I was pretty adventurous and tryed most everything, even the raw fish but I did stay away from the moose heart. No thank you haha. Most days we would go anywhere from 5-10 kilometers so were were always pretty wiped out when we got back. I had a very good time, even though by the end I could barely lift my arms because they were so sore!

On Saturday, we had to get up at 3.45 in the morning! We had to drive 3 hours to a train station in Norway to catch a train to Trondheim, Norway. It was about a two hour train so it was still pretty much breakfast time when we got there. It was a very randon and funny day. Apparently the day we happen to be in that city is some huge event that happens every year. All the shops were having sales and there was free stuff everywhere. We found free Jesus waffles in the street, haha not kidding. A church set up a stand and they were making waffles and giving out juice to everyone. When they found out that we were foreigners, they asked for a picture! Very funny. There was a market and lots of crowds. There was also a few people dressed up in pink bunny suits giving out easter eggs, unfortunatly I did not manage to get a picture of them! Michael and i found an advertisement in the street where you just grabbed in and got free chips haha. Like I said, it was a very random day. Then we took a train to Åre and met up with Rod and his family. We were there a day earlier than everyone else so we just hung out at Rods house.

On sunday, everyone started arriving. There were people that I knew from my language camp wayyyy back in august and new people that I had never met before. When everyone was finally there, (There was at least 40 of us) we went and took a tour of the town. Then we went to the waterpark! It isn't really a waterpark it is more of saunas and pools, but there was a slide! This place was amazing! There was a sauna world complete with saunas, fog rooms, ice baths and a snow room. Then there was the pool section with the waterslide, hot tubs, pools and even an outdoor pool where you could go and swim in the blizzard. We jumped out and played in the snow in our bathing suits haha. The next day wa sout first day of skiing, it took forever to rent out stuff for 40 people but we got there eventually. The people who really didn't know what they were doing (me =) got instructors and they taught us how to ski. During the week I got good enough to make it down a blue slope and still have fun. Haha. Not very impressive but I'm pretty proud of myself! The whole day was spent with our teachers. After lunch, my ski buddy and I got a really awesome teacher and he took us skiing off the track and jumping and fun stuff like that. That day we got back and relaxed since we were all pretty tired. It pretty much went the same every day, ski, lunch, ski, hotel. I did get to the top of the mountain but we couldn't see anything when we got up there it was so crazy foggy! Still fun though, everyones hair was turning white because it was so cold up there! On wednesday, we had to do a rotary presentation in swedish haha, that was interesting to hear how everyones swedish is going. Yesterday, I skied till lunch then we turned in out skiis so we cound go in and explore the town. We walked around a little and got some touristy stuff. We came back and had dinner then I had to go catch a train. There were about 13 exchange students on my train so it wasn't too boring. We watched movies and played blackjack, basically we were the loud foreigners that everyone gets annoyed with haha. We encountered an interesting person on the train to say the least haha, so some of us avoided her and went into the cafe for a couple hours. I did not sleep well haha, it is hard to sleep on a train! I was freezing and uncomfertable! This morning we got to Linköping at about 5.30. Then Michael and I had to wait for our train so the others just decided to wait the half hour with us, then we all said goodbye till next time.

When Michael and I got off the train in Tranås, we noticed a dramatic difference in our little town... It's SPRING!! The long winter is finally over and it is warming up and getting lighter. You an not imagine how happy I am that it is about 6 degrees celcius out. The snow has dramatically decreased and it is only a matter of time before it is gone! =) I've had a good swedish winter but I think it is time to move on now... Ready for the sun!

Kram, Haley

P.S Plently of pictures up on facebook soon.

Spännande!!

2010-03-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

I am so excited for these next two weeks! I wont be on the computer much, so I definitly won't have time to write a blog till I get back. I will tell you guys all about my trip and there will be pictures on y facebook page!

This week was nice and relaxed, since I knew I had a two week break after this week. The 3rd grade at my school was putting on preformances in their groups. So my program in school is the fine arts program and in that program we all chose our "major" There is dance, theatre and music. So everyone made a show for their groups. It was very fun to watch and everyone is so talented in this program! The dance people had to made all of their own choerography, (spelled wrong I know haha) their show was about 45 miunutes. Then there was theatre and their show was a little hard to understand for me, haha, but great all the same. I really enjoyed the music performance since that is the program I go into in my grade. They played a bunch of songs for over an hour. . Every grade in the music program has a big project. 1st grade is a musical, 2nd Salongerna, and 3rd is this, it is called tour.

So that was pretty much all that happened this week! Haha

See you in 2 weeks! =)
Haley

Mars! (Not the planet!! =)

2010-03-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

So now that it is March, (Mars in Swedish) I realized how fast time has gone. Months go by so fast and I only have a little less than 5 of them left. March is going to be gone really fast because next week, I am going to Grövelsjön with my family and then Åre with rotary.

I will be leaving on Saturday and we will drive 10 hours to Grövelsjön and then we will be spending that week cross country skiing. Then on the next saturday, we (Michael and I) will board a train to Åre for the rotary ski trip. I wont we skiing though, I decided to try snowboarding. We will get back early friday morning after spendind the night on the train.

This past week was a pretty normal week. On thursday, I had my rotary speech, it is nice to finally have it over with! I basically just did a powerpoint on New Mexico and my family and friends. It was in swedish and english haha. Michael also did his speech, but he got to speak english obviously. On friday I was at the stables working in the cafe, saturday and sunday were spent relaxing and staying at home. Reading also, I read the notebook and it was soo good. I still really like the movie version though.

If any of you dont know, I have a youtube and I have been putting up videos in between blogs. I also have been putting up random videos of what happens during the day with my friends. My friend Lisa and I had thought that it would be fun if we cound do some swedish language cideos, to get you guys talking swedish! Then when I come back, we can talk to each other in swedish! That would be awesome haha. Anyways, if you just type in lalalanddreamer21 into youtube you will get to all of my videos. Go and check them out! =)

Kram, Haley

Sport Lov!

2010-02-23T02:30:00.000-08:00

Ok so I know that I haven't written in over a week but nothing much happened over my break. As I said before, I had a week off of school called Sport Lov. I didn't go do anything "Sporty" because I am going skiing for 2 weeks at the beginning of March.

I got my computer finally! Very ironic time to finally get it to because right now I have no internet acess at my house haha. The crazy amount of snow we have gotten in the past few days completly messed up the lines! Hopefully that will be fixed today. The snow is now up to my hips in some places out in the forest and where the all the shoveled snow is put (on the sides of the streets) the piles are wayyy taller then I am. There is just no where to put at all! haha It is definitly an interesting experience.

On Valentines day, after I wrote, I went over to Lisa's house and we and a few other girls hung out and made food before we went to youth group and hung out there. We didn't get home till about 1 so I spent the night at Lisas. Then I didn't do anything until Thursday. I went to Linköping with Lisa and we met up with Evan and saw Valentines day. It was an Ok movie. Better than I thought it would be haha. We gave Evan the awesome princess cupcakes we made him for winning a bet we made. =) I spent the night at Lisas again, haha transportation is a bit of a problem now because it is kind of a long drive back home and I can't make my host parents drive into town at midnight and bring me back home so it is way easier to just stay in town.

Now I am back at school for 2 weeks before I go to Grövelsjön and Åre. Super pumped!!

Kram, Haley

P.S More pictures when I get my internet acess back!

Happy Valentines day!!!

2010-02-14T02:19:00.000-08:00

So since I last posted not a lot has gone on in my new country life haha. Today is Valentines day and I'm in a happy mood, but it's a little dissappointing because no one here really celebrates Valentines day. No Valentine exchanging with tons of chocolate and candy this year. That's ok though =).

Friluftsdag--
This past wednesday, we had a friluftsdag. Which basically translated means fresh air day. It is the day where you get out of school to go do stuff outdoors and get some good 'ol winter air. You could choose from skiing, ice skating, ice fishing, hiking and various other things. My friends and I chose to go ice skating. The ironic thing as that it was snowing so much that we had to go to the indoor arena instead of the out doors one. Kind of defeats the purpose of fresh air, but it was fun all the same. We skated around and goofed off. =) After lunch the snow had stopped so we went outside and played a gameof Bandy (Kind of like hocky but faster and with a little ball) When we were done with that I went over to the Åsens and baked a little before it was time to pick Evan up from the train station. We then went and watched a game of real Bandy. It was fun but so cold. We had to stand outsidefor the 2 hour game and we froze haha.

This week I am on Sport Lov, the week you get off school to go on skiing trips and stuff. I am not going anywhere because I am going on two skiing trips in the beginning of March. So I will tell you what I did after the break, but it wont be too exciting. =)

Till next time, Haley

Sauna.

2010-02-09T02:18:00.000-08:00

Even though nothing much has happened since my last post. I though I would write in here a little because I have a bit of time to kill.

First of all, my views on here got to 2000! Thank you guys so much for reading my blog, I really like sharing what is happening on exchange and I hope you enjoy reading it. =)

Second of all, I promise pictures will be up on facebook soon. It's just a matter of taking the time to put them up.

Third of all, this weekend the new exchange student, Michael, stayed the weekend at my house in the country. He will be staying with them after I leave around the 22 of July. So on Saturday, we practiced our cross country skiing skills for a while since we will be doing it for a week up in Grövelsjön. Then later in the day we went to a family friends house to join in on the sauna club. As most of you know sauna is a big thing here in scandinavia. Not nearly as big in Sweden as it is in Finland, but you get the point. The basic idea of sauna is to be in there for a long time to cleanse your skin and your body. I had never done it before this past weekend so this was all new to me. When we got there, it was a tad akward for me being the only young lady and one out of the 3 that had a bathing suit on. The women had towels but the men... Nada. A little weird at first but after an hour the weirdness kind of goes away especially since I was expected to have conversations with these men. They all got a little chuckle out of me being there. haha. The next thing we did after about 20 minutes was go and roll in the snow in only our bathing suits. COLD!! But really fun, I kind of dive bombed in and then crawled out really fast and sprinted to to sauna again. Then after about another 20 minutes we decided we were brave enough to take a dip in the freezing river. I mean this literally too, there was a hole cut in the ice so we could jump and get out really fast. It felt kind of good actually because we were so sweaty from the sauna that we wanted the cold water. So that was my adventure for Saturday. Of course Sunday was a resting day, and boy did we need it!

Kram, Haley

Side Note...

2010-02-05T05:38:00.000-08:00

I just realized that my page view counter is at the year I was born, 1993, haha just thought it was cool. Come on 2000! =)

Continuation...

2010-02-03T03:20:00.001-08:00

Sorry last time I got cut off because I had to go to lunch so I can finish now...

So after we got to get aquainted with the new ones, we got out on the ice. The rotarians tried to teach us how to curl but no one ended up being very good but it was so much fun! I promise pictures soon! The basic idea of the game is to slide a huge granite rock across the court and make it stop in the target. Herder than it seems because there is a lot of tecnique to it. After we were done with the curling and sufficiantly bruised up =), we went over to Lorena's (Mexican exchange student) house and hung out till it was time for us to either take a train home or go to the house we were sleeping at. Michael and I stayed at a rebound exchange students house who was in Australia last year. It was fun to talk about his experience with him. The next morning, we went to the train station and left Norrköping at 10. Later that day I moved families. I moved about a month and a half earlier than I was originally supposed to but it is for the better, I promise. My new family is out in the countryside about 45 minutes from the city. So there is a bit of a drive in the morning before school, that means I'm back to waking up at 6, just like at school back home. I will definitly tell you guys more about them when I get to know them better! =)

Ciao!
Haley

SO much fun!

2010-02-02T01:34:00.000-08:00

Sorry that it's been a week since I last wrote but on top of not really having a computer at home, I was crazy busy. After I wrote I was over at either the Åsens or Lisas house everyday baking and what not.

On Thursday I went over to Lisas and we had a sleepover with a few other girls because we had a free day on Friday. So I made some brownies from home and biked over. It was so great because the theme was American night! Everything was red white and blue and we ate all american food. For dinner we had buffalo wings and fries. For dessert we had Ben & Jerrys and brownies and doughnuts. So yummy! I was so happy, I hadn't had buffalo wings in 6 months! Then we watched Benjamin Button and fell asleep.

On friday it got even better because we had an American breakfast! Talk about good! There were pancakes, eggs and bacon and bagels. After everyone left Lisa and I went into town to Fika with Michael. When we were done with that I went home for a little while then Lisa came and picked me up for a Sex and the City Marathon Party. There were about 5 or 6 of us and we just sat around watching TV. We even had tacos!

Saturday we had to wake up and get on the train right away. Michael and I met up with Evan on the way. When we got to Norrköping we went to the curling hall and got to meet the other exchange students that came from Australia and New Zealand

Hola, Hej, Hello, Ciao!!

2010-01-26T01:47:00.001-08:00

I am still without a computer of my own so I am chilling in the school library. This weekend was fun! Wanna know why? Well because we got a new exchange student here in Tranås! His name is Michael and he is from Australia.

On friday I went over to the Åsens and we went into Jönköping for Amalias hockey game. By the time we got home it was really late so we just went to bed. Early saturday morning, we had to drive all the way to Gothenberg. We got there aroung 10, and Michael came out about 15 minutes later. We got his stuff and then drove all the way back home. I am now officially the old exchange student, haha old news. On sunday I went to the stables with Amalia and got to ride a bit and then we went back to the house and Hjalmar and Sven came over and we went ice skating in the back yard after going into town to show Michael the town and getting some candy of course.

One more exciting detail, he is going to be in my class at school. The music program! =) He starts a few classes this week then he gets to go to Vimmerby for language camp. (deeply jealous!) This weekend we get to go to Norrköping and go curling so i will let you know how that goes.... haha I barely even know what curling is and now i'm going to play it. That will be interesting to say the least.

Kram, Haley

NEJ!!

2010-01-22T02:09:00.000-08:00

Jag är jätte arg!!
I am very angry right now because my computer broke down!! I don't know how it happened but it just stopped working one day. So right now I am sitting in my schools library on on of the computers to tell you about my week.

Not much happened actually besides the disaster. On Tuesday I went to my dance class and the teacher told us that we has a preformance the same week that I am supposed to go skiing with my third host family so I am a little torn about that. I will probably end up going skiing even though that really isn't my forte. I think it would be worth it though to risk injury and frostbite to to go where they would be taking me. It is apparently way up north anc we have to drive through norway to get there. We would be cross country skiing and I have never done that before but hey it's worth a try right? Today I an going to Jönköping (There definitly an advantage to using the school computers!! öåä!! Haha I can spell now!) with my first host family for Amalias hockey game then tomorrow we are getting up bright and early to go to Goteberg to get the new exchange student from Australia so that's exciting! I will write in here after the weekend and more stuff happens..

Hej då!

First week back at school.

2010-01-18T08:20:00.000-08:00

I was soo terrible about posting this week! I was too lazy to write a blog and then this weekend I was out in the countryside and I didn't have my computer with me. But now I am sitting down and forcing myself to write haha.

The week started off really slow. Everyone was tired and not ready to come back to school . So it was all pretty relaxed. I got a new schedule! I am now always with my class because I am done with my swedish lessons. I am really excited to be with my class all the time because they are so great! So here is what my schedule is like now...

Monday:
Swedish 8-9.00
History 9.20-10
Ensemble 10.05- 11.05
Piano 11.35-11.55
Go to Amalias school to help teach 12- 2
Italian 2.10-3.20

Tuesday:
Music 8-9.
Choir 9.20- 10.
Governmental stuff? 11.55-1.25
Swedish 1.35-2.20
Math 2.30-3.20

Wednesday
Italian 9.20-10.30
Math 10.40- 11.30
??? 12.25- 1.30
History 1.40- 3.20

Thursday:
Governmental stuff? 9.05- 10.15
Audio (Tech) 12.50- 2.00
Dance 2.10- 3.20

Friday:
Audio (Tech) 8- 9.10
Dance 9.25- 10.35
Gym 12.50- 1.40
Singing 1.55- 2.30

So it is quite a bit more full than last semester. On Friday, I went out to my third host family for the weekend. We cooked foos and we also drove to another town to look at goats since they are looking to buy a few to keep the grass trimmed haha. The babies were so amazingly cute I wanted to get one! It was nice to be with my third host family fo the weekend. It is a little weird to be so far out of the city but I think it will be just fine.

Winter break... (revised)

2010-01-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

So now winter break is almost over, I go back to school on Monday. I am definitly ready to go back to school. There isn't much to do when I don't have school everyday so it will be very nice to get back into the swing of school again.

We will be getting a new exchange student in a few weeks, from Australia. I am very excited for him to come, I won't be the new exchange student anymore! A few exchange students I know from Australia are getting ready to go home and I am going to miss them. =(

This past week of break I have been just hanging out around the house. One really cool thing that I did was go ice fishing, I went to my third host family and tryed it out. I was pretty freaky to be out on top of a lake at first but after a while you kind of forgot. So we had about 10 holes in the ice and cought 5 or 6 fish. It was funny because whenever you saw that a hole had a fish you had to run to it really fast and the ice was a bit slippery in places. I also got to try out snowboarding and skiing. I love the snowboarding, I was very sore by the end of the day but it was fun. Skiing wasn't my favorite thing in the world but it wasn't so bad. I have been to a few parties, last night I went to a really fun birthday party and a lot of my friends were there. It's definitly more fun to go to parties now, since i can speak a lot more swedish than a few months ago. I am trying so hard to talk only swedish but sometimes it can be so frusterating. Haha that's what you get when you try to learn a whole new language and speak it in 5 months!

Kram, Haley

Happy New Year!! 2010!!!

2010-01-02T06:21:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that it is 2010 already, seriously where did the time go? It doesn't seem like I left New Mexico 5 months ago, I mean seriously I am almost halfway done with my exchange. So I thought I could do a recap of the year 2009....

January-March: Everything was going as normal, school and I also was involved in Grease! I had so much fun with that! But other than that, nothing much happened. Exchange seemed so far away!

April-May: This is when things started to get really exciting, school was coming to an end, I turned 16! (haha woot!) I also had to seriously start thinking about exchange. Everything started to go so fast, I never had time to think haha. I had to take the AP test the day Obama came to my school! Haha but when school came to an end, it was a little sad because I knew there were a lot of people I wouldn't see till senior year.

June-July: The summer. Haha I did a lot of work over the summer. I had to skip camp this year because I needed more credits for school to graduate on time. So I decided that even though i didn't want to I had to take a college course. So I enrolled in a public speaking class and went to that 2 times a week over the whole summer. I went to my Aunt Renees wedding and that was so much fun! I also worked at my dads office a few days a week. When my last few weeks came around, I had a few going away parties and said goodbye to all my friends. By the time the 29th of July came I was so excited to leave but sad to leave my friends and family behind.

August: So much happened in August, I found myself in a completly unfamiliar place. I met so many people, it was such an overload of information that I was tired all the time bet I was also always excited and I had to keep telling myself that this was all real. I went to Vimmerby and met a bunch of other exhange students, and some of those are still my good friends.

September-October: I was getting used to my new home, school and friends. I was so lost in the language but I was trying really hard to understand. School was the most confused I have ever been in my life because I didn't understand anything! I started making good friends though. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have the friends I have now.

November: I was finally very comfertable in my home, but then I had to change host families! It was so weird going to a different house after school everyday. I got used to that very quickly, I soon felt like a member of the family. I was a little homesick, but I knew that would come eventually.

December: So much fun! Haha I did so much stuff in December, the Holidays were great even though they were completly different than I am used to. We celebrated christmas on the 24th and watched Donald Duck and everything. It was very fun to see how everything went for christmas here. Once new years came, I didn't know what to think. i was nervous for a new year because I know that now everything was going to change. The first half of my exchange is when I get used to everything, learn the language, and meet everything. The second half is when I can really enjoy all of it. I am looking forward to a great year! On New years, I went to a party at the church I go to for youth group and we had dinner then went into town for fireworks at midnight! After the clock struck 12, we went back to the church and danced till 4 when it wa finally time to get home. =) It was such a fun night, a great way to kick off the new year!

JUL!!!

2009-12-26T07:11:00.000-08:00

Yay! I had such an amazing christmas and I am so grateful that I was able to experience a Swedish christmas. =) Now the first difference is that in Sweden, they celebratae christmas mostly on the 24th. That was a little weird for me haha. So we all had a nice breakfast together then we opened our stockings. After that we went and delivered some presents to some friends. When we got back from that we had lunch and then we all sat around the TV and watched this special Donald Duck program on the tv. What it is is a disney christmas show. They show a bunch of clips from famous disney movies. It was very entertaining to watch because all the voices were changed to swedish. After that, Karro and I had to entertain ourselves till we opened our presents at 5. After presents, we had a big dinner then played games and watched a movie.

Even though the 24th is the main day, they still have 25th as a holiday too. They say that this is the day to enjoy all of the stuff you got the day before. First thing we did was go outside and make the biggest snowman ever! Planning on putting pictures up. Then we played games together until I went over to my first host family for dinner. When i came back home we watched movies till it was bed time. All in all it was a very relaxing christmas. Now all I have to do is enjoy the rest of my christmas break!

Kram- Haley

Salongerna/ Lucia

2009-12-18T06:35:00.000-08:00

So this past week was crazy! Mostly because of Salongerna. On Sunday (which was Lucia day) we went to school at 10 and didn't get home until about 7 because of practice. On Monday we practiced all day again but started at 8 and didn't get to leave until about 11. Then Tuesdau was our premier day and that was a blast! All of the hard work was worth it because we were so great and I had so much fun. It was a real great way to bond with my classmates. We only got to do 4 shows which was sad but they all went really well. For those of you confused about what Salongerna is... It was a class at school and everyone got graded on their preformance. Way back in August, we chose a bunch of songs and skits that we would like to preform. Then once everything was chosen, we had to write out the music for most of the songs ourselves and the dancers had to make the dances. Then we were all given our roles, what I liked about it is that everyone had a chance to be in the spotlight at least once, there was no one star of the show. Then we practiced twice a week until last week then we had the extra practices. So the final result was 4 acts with food in between provided by the resturant program. It was a great experience!

Lucia!! So even though I could not attend the citys Lucia festival, I did get to see the one for my school. It was really cool to see such a famous swedish tradition and hear them singing the christmas songs. I felt kind of bad for the Lucia because she had to wear a candle hat! I could never have done that, haha I am way too clumsy. So props to her for keeping it on her head and nothing on fire. =) I took a few pictures and hope to have them up soon!

Looking forward to a swedish christmas!

Kram, Haley

Differences...

2009-12-09T06:04:00.000-08:00

Since I have been in Sweden I have noticed so many differences between Swedish living and American living. Here are some of the things that I have taken notice of so far.

School- School is a big one, there are so many differences here. In Sweden, we are all in groups and we take classes mostly with the people in our group, in the US everyone mixes up for our classes. Here I take a lot less classes, my schedule is so relaxed. I have an hour break to do whatever on most days, some days more than that. In the US you have a certain amount of classes everyday and 5 minutes in between every class, it is a lot more stressful. Swedish students are a lot more motivated to do work than students in the US, people here study SO much! In swedish schools you have a warm cooked meal everyday, usually it s good but if you don't like it you can go to the cafe and buy a sandwich. In the US you have to buy food or bring it from home, if you buy it, it is usually a very unhealthy meal. In the US I would be driving my car to school and no one does that here! Everyone either bikes or walks to school, which doesn't work out well for me because me and my bike have had a few fights =). If theres anything else about school in either country just ask.

Food- I actually havent noticed a big difference in the food here except for when it is eaten. Here are typical meals in both countries.
Breakfast (Sweden)- A sandwich, (like a slice of bread with butter, meat and cheese) tea or coffee, milk or some type of juice, sometimes an egg or fruit.
Breakfast (US)- Milk or juice, and something warm like eggs and bacon, pancakes, (with butter and syrup) waffles, (with butter and syrup) sausages and toast.

Lunch (Sweden)- Warm meal with milk or water. Soup with bread, meatballs, fish, pasta. Anything warm and filling, could be compared to a dinner in the US.
Lunch (US)- School lunch with soda or various drinks, hamburger, nachos, chicken nuggets, sandwich, (peanut butter and jelly or meat) or something not too heavy at home, can be a left over meal.

Afterschool (Sweden)- Pancakes, (with jelly and cream) waffles, (with jelly and cream also) very similiar to lunch. Fruit and milk also.
Afterschool (US)- Not much just random snacks you can find in the food pantry. Usually not healthy! =)

Dinner (Sweden)- Heavy, also similiar to lunch, but heavier than the afterschool meal. Meats, fish, pasta. basicaly carbs and protein. Healthy, usually not fried.
Dinner (US)- Very similiar to the dinners in Sweden except we have fried stuff sometimes.

Teenagers- Teenagers here are a lot more free than in the US. Probably because it is fairly safe to be biking around my city late at night. You can get everywhere on your bike so you can just go to the store and grab something really fast. On the weekends it is kind of weird if you go out and are back before 12. Everyone is used to staying out away from home, where I'm not really used to that. In the US if your out of your house at 12 you are most likely staying the night at a friends house. Here, you just stay out with friends really late, and go back home.

Again if you have any other questions for me, ask! =)

My Family

2009-12-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

So since I got a request I am going to go into a little bit more detail about the families I have. Here it is, just the two families I know very well, my third family I don't know too much about.

So the first family- They were very nice and easy going. I had a host mom named Ursula and a host dad named Kjell and also a host sister, Amalia. Ursula is a teacher at my school, Holavedsgymnasiet. I actually have her for my history class which is benificial because she knows when I need help which makes that class easier then it would have been. Kjell works at a company called LRF Konsult. Im pretty sure he deals with a lot of numbers, he is also a rotary member so I still see him every once in a while at meetings. Amalia is 13 years old and we got along very well, it literally feels like she is my actual sister. We fight like sisters and get along also. I still see her at her school where I help with english classes and sometimes at the stables. They have a horse that I get to ride occasionally, =), they also have a dog and amazing cat that I miss very much haha. Amalia rides horses in competitions and also plays hockey so I got to go to a lot of small cities for away hockey games when I was living with them. I had a good time with them and I am very thankful for everything they did for me.

The second family (the Valaszkais)- They are originaly not swedish, they moved here about 20 years ago from Romania (I think). I live with Julia and Laszlo and their daughter Karro. They also have a son Peter but he doesn't live at home and I haven't met him yet. They are a very busy family, there is always something happening here! Julia works as a teacher and Laszlo is an engineer and also, like Kjell, a rotary member. Laszlo works in Italy 3 weeks out of the month so he isn't home very often which is a little weird when its just us girls haha. Karro is 15 and in 9th grade so she's a bit older than Amalia. So far we get along well so fingers crossed that it stays that way, I believe it will. She plays the saxophone and the piano. She plays sax in a few bands and she is really good! We also go to dance classes together and that it fun. I got to know Karro very well before I moved in and I think that really helped a lot. Im excited for christmas with this family, I think it will be quite an experience!

Kram, Haley

DECEMBER!!!

2009-12-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

Oh My goodness!!! It's December!! Do you know what that means? Well I guess it means a lot of stuff. It means I have been in Sweden for 4 months, Christmas is in 23 days, there are christmas lights everywhere (including my room), theres Lucia and Solongerna soon! Wow it's gonna be a crazy month! I can't believe that it has been 4 months since I left New Mexico, the time seems to be going by soooo fast.

I guess I should explain Salongerna to you. =) So my class, ES2 is doing a winter preformance. Basically what it is is that we team up with the cooking program, we provide the entertainment, they provide the food for our audience. Between acts, the audience eats different courses of a meal. In the acts, we preform random songs and theatre, complete with singing and dancing. I am definitly planning to record this and put it on youtube. Not all of it but some of the better songs.

So since I last wrote, I went down to a city in the south of Sweden for a night. We left on Saturday and drove for about 3 or 4 hours. First, I got to meet Laszlo's parents and I didn't understand anything that was happening because they were all speaking hungarian! Then we went to a close family friends house where Karro and I would be staying the night. Karro was so excited to see her friend, and we made gingerbread houses and watched a movie. In the morning, we went to a christmas craft sale and it was fun to see all of the things. It wasn't only crafts though, there was homemade bread and chocolate, all kinds of stuff. And they were also having their Lucia competition then. I would explain what Lucia is but I don't really know so I will wait until I get to actually experience it then you will get a full explanation. After that we drove homw and we were very tired by the time we got back.

So that's whats been happening with me this past week. =)

My weekend...

2009-11-23T08:34:00.000-08:00

Well, this blog was not exactly as I would have planned it to be. I was supposed to be so busy this weekend. This was the original plan:

1. Choir practice then teen night on Friday.
2. Possibly Linkoping on Saturday .
3. Concert with my friends in it Saturday night.
4. Linkoping on Sunday to see New Moon.

So most of those things didn't happen because Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I was sick! I was so bored for those days, I didn't get to do anything. So most of my weekend consisted of sleeping, T.V., movies. Woohoo...not! Lol. So even though I was sick I still made it to Linkoping on Sunday. I got in around 12.30 and met up with Meg and we went into town to try to go shopping but found nothing because we forgot that since it was Sunday most of the stores would be closed. Then we met up with all the other people and we just hung out and talked until it was time to see New Moon. I was so excited to see this movie! I did really like it but I thought that it was too scattered and not put together well enough. Nothing was explained in great detail at all, the acting was good though, so I did like the movie just not the way it was put together. Then I had to go home and that concluded my weekend, at least I got to do one exciting thing. =)

Kram, Haley

New Moon!!!

2009-11-17T07:59:00.000-08:00

OMG!! I am so excited because I just realized that New Moon comes out this weekend, I really hope I will be able to go and see it!!!

So nothing much happened since the last time I posted. Just getting settled in to the new house. I am all unpacked now and moved into my room! So yay! It warmed up this week to about 7 degrees celcius, which is really confusing and frusterating. I want it to snow!! =( I went ice skating again with Amalia and Nina on sunday, and that was really fun except that I have so many bruises now! So I will keep you posted if anything new happens...

Kram, Haley

New Family!

2009-11-14T08:32:00.000-08:00

So sorry that I haven't written for over a week but things have been so crazy because of the move. I moved on thursday night into my new family. They are very nice, everything is new and different but it's not bad at all. It feels weird going to a new house after school now, but that will get better just as in the very beginning of my exchange.

Last weekend was very fun, I did lots of stuff and I was so tired by monday. On Saturday I went to a city 4 hours away for Amalias away hockey game. It was a city on the ocean and it was very cool, but I would have liked to see it in the summer. I bet it would be amazing there in the summer. Then on sunday I went to go see a play, cabaret, with Karro and a few friends. It was a great play. The singers were awesome and even though I couldn't understand most of it, I enjoyed myself. After that I went ice skating with Amalia and Kjell, it was...interesting. Haha I fell quite a few times when I had to play hockey, but it was really fun . I also saw a few of the girls from one of the english classes I help teach.

The school week went pretty normally, nothing too exciting happened except for the move. Today was my schools open house and that went really well. I preformed in the choir, an ensemble and a dance. So I did everything! Haha so now I am completly exhausted!

Promise there will be pictures on facebook soon!

Kram, Haley

Snow!!

2009-11-04T05:10:00.000-08:00

YAY! It has finally snowed here! I was so happy today when I was biking and I saw that it had started to snow, it probably wont stick until later in the week, but I'm happy all the same.

So since the last time I posted nothing much happened except that I started school again. Pretty boring haha. Monday was a slow day because everyone was tired after the break. Amalia and I made some really amazing Halloween themed cupcakes, a few days too late but all well haha. Then yesterday, after school I had a dance class and that's about it. Today I got to come home way earlier than usual because my History class is taking a test and I don't have to take it. Oh the beauty of being an exchange student! Haha no grades!

Kram, Haley

Aww....

2009-11-01T05:07:00.000-08:00

Back to school tomorrow! =( But that's ok because I had an awesome week. Hmm, where to start?

Finland trip! So On Tuesday, we drove to a nearby city called Mjölby then took a bus from there to Stockholm. When we got to Stockhom, we immedietly boarded out boat. The boat was so huge! It was called the Mariella and it was complete with resturants, a disco, arcade, decks and various other stuff. We got on and explored! The first thing we did was go to out rooms and Amalia and I couldn't stop from laughing because it was sooo small! Haha. Then we went all around the boat. For dinner that night we had Tapas and the smörgåsbord, which is pretty much like a buffet and it was yummay!! Haha. The next day we got into Helsinki around 9 and the first thing we did was take a bus tour around to see the major landmarks. (Pictures on Facebook). We saw all of the major buildings in Helsinki then we got off and I found some pins for my Rotary blazer, woohoo! Then w just walked around the very cold city! It was a very pretty city and I am very happy that I got to go there. =) We had to get back on the boat around 5 and we were so tired that we all took a little nap. Amalia and I then went around the boat and hung out for the rest of the night. We made a youtube video haha, but it wouldn't upload on the internet! Darn! The next day we got up and took the bus back to Mjölby and then drove home.

On Friday, I took the train up to Linköping for Evan's 18th birthday. =) Happy Birthday Evan! We hung out in the city and took pictures, and just had random fun! That's what happens when a bunch of exchange students get together, we will always have fun together. Then we went back to Evan's house to have Pizza and watch movies. The next day, we woke up and had pancakes (YUMMM) and then we all missed the bus so we had to wait 20 minutes for the next one, which made us all miss our trains home. So we got to the train station and hung out at the cafe. Te Norrköping girls all had a train an hour before mine left so after seeing them off Evan and I killed some more time in the cafe with a hot chocolate and a sprite. =) We forgot to look at the time and needless to say, I missed my second train of the day. We looked up the time of the next train and it was 2 hours from then, so we went into the city and went shoe shopping for Evan. Haha, Evan needed to be home by 4, so I spent the last 45 minutes waiting at the train station alone and bored. I did not miss this train and by the time I got home I was in a rush to get ready for the halloween party that night.

When I was finally ready I went over to Lisa's house and we left for the party in a big group. The party was a bunch of people from the church and we ate food and had dessert and did a lot of talking. We also played a really funny confusing game involving noises and hand movememts, made all the more confusing by the swedish explanation. But fun none the less. I finally got home a little after one and so today I am wiped out!

I have now officially been here for 3 months and that is really weird to think of. I can't believe that the time has gone by so fast! I am about to switch host families in less than 2 weeks which is a little scary but it is definitly comforting that I know the family and they are really nice. So for now I am starting to get my room ready to pack, it is kind of sad because that room feels like home now, and I have to start all over in a new house but I know everythings going to be ok. =)

Höst Lov!

2009-10-25T04:26:00.000-07:00

Yay it's finally fall break! That means Finland in a few days =) Very exciting! This past week I haven't been doing much. I finally got to start dancing again, I tell you, dance class was not very exciting to watch for 2 weeks. I finally got my move date, the 13 of November, so it's going to be pretty busy in the next few weeks getting ready for that. I got my package! Packed full of Halloween candy! So fun! Amalia was so amused with all the crazy and fun stuff that I recieved. I finally got to have beef jerkey, and I got Amalia hooked on it too. Haha. I will be so sad when I run out =( We made the brownies the night I got the package and I just made the pancakes for my family and they were very good.

Yesterday, I finally went to Ikea! Lisa insisted that I just had to go. So we met up with Evan in Linkoping and went to Ikea. It is sooooo Huge! I couldn't believe how big it was, It was like a maze to get to the resturant. I though it was very funny that there was a resturant in a furniture store and when I asked Lisa why, she said "Well you buy a bunch of stuff and it takes so long to go through the whole store that you get hungry and tired." Haha that was so funny!

So My plans for this week are
1) Finland from Tuesday to Thursday.
2) Night with Lisa on Thursday.
3) Evans Birthday party from Friday to Saturday.
4) Halloween party on Saturday.

It's gonna be a busy week!

Oops...

2009-10-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy and tired from being busy that I haven't written in a week but now I am making myself do it because some pretty interesting things happened this past week.

Thursday- The day was normal but what was exciting was at night there was what they call Inspark. It was like initation into the music program. The whole poing was to scare the living daylights out of us, and it worked pretty well I must say. They first had us all together in a room and told us a story of how a mental hospital burned down and the patients were running all over the place. Then they separated us and one by one we had to go on this trail is the middle of no where. It was so dark you couldn't see anything but the next candle on the path. The candles were at least 50 feet from each other and it was pitch black in between. The perfect oppurtunity for them to scare you. It was such a fun night and now I am officially a part of the program.

Friday- I was out again at night, I went to a church teen night with Karro and Lisa. I was a little hesitant at first but it turned out to be so much fun and I am definitly going back! We started by singing a few gospel songs (in Swedish haha) then we had Fika. After the Fika, we played a very confusing game called the blue room and I am not going to try to explain it, but it was fun even though I lost almost right away.

Saturday- I got to sleep in so that was very nice. We left around 1 for a town that I can't remember the name of but I know it was on the other side of the second largest lake in Sweden. When we got there, we dropped Amalia and Nina off at the Hockey rink then Kjell, Cici and I tryed to find pins and a place to fika. We were unsuccessful and resorted to the rinks cafe. We watched the hockey game and I really enjoyed myself, mostly because Amalia's team won 9-0. So that was definitly good. When the game was over we had to leave and we didn't get home till late that night.

Sunday- i didn't get to sleep in, as much as I would have loved to. We had to leave a little after 6 for Amalia's horse jumping competition. We went to the stables first and gave the horses their morning meal then we packed up Tuva and left. The competition was in a town near Granna. We watched some then went into town to try to find pins and a place to fika again. This time we found place to fika , but still no pins. =( That's ok, there's going to be plenty of pins in Finland next week. We got home from the competition and then Amalia and I were really bored so we went out into the yard and got all the apples from the apple tree, then played baseball with the bad ones. Very fun.

Today- After school, Lisa came over and we made a pie from all the apples we got yesterday. I had my doubts about it, but it actually turned out very yummy, even if it does look like cole slaw. Haha.

So I will try to post more often. I can promise once a week at least but hopefullt at least 2 times a week would be nice.

-Haley

The last week...

2009-10-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

Oops! I forgot to update for almost a whole week, thats ok though because nothing much happened after my accident. I had the esperience of being on crutches for four days. let me tell you that that is something I do not want to repeat. My hands were so sore all of the time because of the type of crutches I was on. It was also not fun being so slow! It felt like I was getting no where. I didn't get to do much when I was on the crutches because a lot of the stuff I do is dance and theatre stuff so I watched other people have fun.

I was off the crutches by Saturday because Lisa had invited me to go shopping in Linkoping and I really wanted to go! It was so much fun to go shopping in downtown Linkoping. I got some new shirts and a winter jacket! Yay! I won't freeze this winter. Well I probably will because the cold and I don't mix very well, but I will have a warm jacket.

Sunday was a realxing day! I got to sleep in for the first time in forever, and I still didn't sleep past 10! Oh My! I don't know if I am capable of sleeping past 11 anymore. Amalia and I cooked a southeast asia meal yesterday and the chicken came out so yummy!

Today, I rode my bike to school again and did NOT crash! Yay me! Haha. I got to help teach the english classes again and that is always really fun to do. I also had an Italian class today and that is getting better and better as I am learning swedish.

Haley

BTW

2009-10-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

Oh and by the way.... on the way to school I realized that I didn't have my pencils and turned back. I tryed to get back on the sidwalk and totally biffed it! I gashed my left knee and tore a ligament in my right ankle. I had to go to the hospital and get X-rays. So it's crutches for me for a few days!

District Meeting!

2009-10-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went to my Rotarys district meeting in a small town near Kalmar. On friday, a few exchange students from Linköping came down and stayed at my house for the night since we had to wae up at 5 the next morning. So we had tacos and a movie with Lisa and we didn't get to bed till 1, oops! So after 4 hours of sleep, my counselor picked us up and we were off! When we got to the hotel where the meeting was at, we started practicing the skit we had to preform later that day. Out skit was about the stereotypes of out countries, and after we anwsered a few questions and pretended to be that stereotype, we had the audience guess what country we are from. After that, we anwsered the questions for real and showed people that we were not the stereotype. When the skit was over we hung out in the hotel spa, then went to the houses we were staying at to get all dressed up for the dinner. At the dinner we just talked to all of the rotarians. There were Tapas for appetizers, they consisted of Anchovies and Herring on Bread, Eel, some weird white stuff, and salmon rolls. Guess which one I really liked? The Eel! I know! It was pretty good. After the dinner, there was a band and we all danced with rotarians and had lot of fun! When that was over we all went back to the house I was staying at and talked till 1. Then the people not staying at my house had to leave. i ended up not sleeping till 2 and I was so tired!

The next day, we woke up and our host showed us aroung the small town then we went to the hotel to have lunch. We left after lunch and by the time I got home, I was so tired. I am still recovering!

Rotary

2009-09-29T22:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I got to hang out with all the people from my Rotary district, we had a blast! I left Tranas after school on friday, (after trying out orienteering in Gym, haha), and got on the train. After about an hour I met Evan from Linkoping and then we continued on to Norrkoping. When we got off the train, we were met by our host for the weekend and Meg, the Australian that we didn't know yet. Then we met all of the other exchangers that we already knew from orientation weekend. It was great to see htne again. Alltogether my distrist has 9 inbounds in it. People from the U.S, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Japan, and Austria. The first night we went bowling! None of us were very good but we had a blast! They even had the neon backlight type bowling! The next day, we got up and went to the Norrkoping government building (I have no idea what to call it.) ans we took a tour and got to go up in the bell tower, very cold and windy but a beautiful view of the city! Then we walked around town. It was very interesting because that night was culture night so there was a lot going on. When we were done with that, we went back to the house we were staying at and planned our skit for this weekend. I think the skit will turn out very funny! Then we all cooked a meal together! That night Meg, Evan and I stayed up ridiculously late talking and watching youtube. We all went home on Sunday but we are getting together again this weekend so no worries! =)

Post- Norway!!

2009-09-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took so long! haha I have been putting off writing in here, but now I'm getting it done! Ok so heres what happened over the weekend...

We left around 1.00 on Thursday and then made the 6 hour drive up to Varmland. Once we got there, Amalia and I got settled in out separate cabin and then I got to meet Kjell's parents! They are really nice even though they don't speak any english! Not much talking between me and them. The first day (Friday) we went fishing and I actually caught a fisk!! Yeah you heard me! It was a 2 or 3 kilo pike, haha yay! Then we went into Norway, a little skiing town called Trysil. I even got a pin =) The next day we went and took a long walk at the bottom of the mountains and it was so pretty! I promise to put the pictures on Facebook soon! The last day we went fishing again but we didn't catch anything, thats ok though because I did catch a fish the first day. We came home on Monday and I was so wiped out. Then I went back to school on Tuesday and things are normal now.

Friday I am going to Soderkoping for an exchange student weekend and I am so excited for that! Its gonna be a blast and we get to hang out again the next weekend. =)

Pre- Norway =)

2009-09-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow I am going to my family's cabin. It is right on the border of Norway so we are going to go into Norway!! I am so excited! So the last few days I have been just going along with my now normal schedule. It's amazing how fast I've gotten used to things. I am so used to the way things are here, I have even started to depend on a knife to eat! HAHA I feel so Swedish! Anyways.... I just wanted to write this blog to tell everyone that I won't be able to get on the internet the whole time I am there, so basically all weekend. The cabin is in the mountains so no signal! haha that's ok im pretty sure I can deal. I will be sure to post a blog afterwards and pictures on Facebook! =)

Sunday! YAY

2009-09-13T02:47:00.000-07:00

Haha I need to write in here more often!! Theres a whole week to catch up on, might as well take it day by day...

Saturday (after I wrote)- Cici and Amalia's friend Anna came over for a fun movie night, lots of laughing! We also had chocolate Fondue and that was soo yummy!

Sunday- Amalia had to show me how to get to her school so I woulnd't get lost the next day. We didn't want to go back home after that so we tryed to go to a few places in town but everything was closed! We forgot that it was sunday. We ended up eating at the Chinese food resturant, we ordered the cheapest things on the menu.

Monday- I had Swedish classes first thing in the morning but after those, I went to Amalia's achool to help teach some english classes. It was so fun! The teachers just had the kids ask me questions and some of them were really funny! A little boy asked me if I had a boyfriend! Haha they are so cute. I also had Italian that day so Mondays are now officially language days! Haha. When I got home I did some stuff with Kjell and Amalia and then I wanted to make cupcakes for Lisa's birthday the next day. So Amalia and I went to the store and came home any started cooking. The first batch came out discusting! They were hard as rocks! So I tryed again and they turned out ok.. They tasted more like muffins than cupcakes. So I ended up with 6 instead of 18.

Tuesday- I had Salong (like a play, kinda) then Choir! I had fun and then went to Vastra Vux. There ended up being no classes that day so I went back to school and got an Id and studyed a little then went home and watched House! I had Swedish lessons when I went back to school where I just worked in my V. Vux books. Then we had math and again I was really bored because I knew everything. Afterschool I met Robin (Australian exchange student) and we had Fika at the Goterriet. Yummy! It is nice to talk to her because she knows exactly how I'm feeling right now since she has been here for 6 months now. After that I went to a dance class with Karro!

Wednesday- I had Italian again, then I had math too. I also had my singing lesson and she gave me another swedish song, I dont liket this one as much but its still pretty. We had to take class pictures today, haha. I don't like school pictures too much. After school I met Amalia and we went to the stables and I rode Tuva for a while. When we got home we realized the Amalia had forgotten her phone at the Stables so we had to go back at night, we got to help take in a few really nice horses so I didn't complain!

Thursday- I went to a rotary meeting and met a really nice lady that was also really funny! She told me the speech wouldn't have been more interesting for me in English. Haha. I had a Horse Lesson with Camilla and it went really well! I was very happy afterwards!

Friday- I love fridays because I get to sleep in and then go to dance in the morning. Not too hard! I also had my ensemble class and we started practicing our songs. I had gym and I ran 2 Kilometers again and it was wat easier than last time. Afterschool, Amalia and I went to the stables again and took care of Tuva. afterwards, we got some movies.

Saturday- I went shopping with some girls from my class and had lots of fun! I got some candles for my room and a tan top and sweater. Lisa said that I looked very swedish! Haha. When I got home I helped with set up for the Crayfish party. People came over around 6.30 and I had a lot of fun. Plus the crayfish were delicious! Then we all went to my room for a movie!

Next weekend- A few days ago I found out that I will be going to The summer house next weekend with Kjell and Amalia. (Ursula will be at a teacher meeting in Finland) Their summer house is about 6 hours north of here and right on the border od NORWAY!!! So we get to go into Norway! I am so excited!

Marching band!

2009-09-05T06:34:00.001-07:00

I just got back from watching the youth marching band in town. I went with Lisa and we followed them around town and they sounded awesome! It was really cool to see! Then they played at my frined Ebba's house an we listened and had a Fika! =)

My week went very well! It was decided that I am going to help teach an english class at Amalia's school and that starts monday, so I am looking forward to that. I am starting to get adjusted to my schedule and school. Everything is less confusing, and less frusterating. I am also making lots of new friends. Everyone is so nice here! People I barely know just come up to me in the hallways and say hi to me! It makes me feel very accepted.

On thursday (torsdag), Amalia, Karro, Karro's friend and I went to a big market called Adelov. (the o should have 2 dots above it but my keyboard doesnt have that) It was basically just a HUGE flea market, there was lots of candy! YUM. It was raining though so that wasa kind of annoying, but no big deal. On friday we went fishing for crayfish again and ended up catching 53 this morning! Can't wait for the party next weekend so I can eat them!

Kram,
Haley

September....

2009-09-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

I cant believe a month has gone by so fast! Kjell told me that it was september and it completly threw me off. If feels like just yesterday that I got here. I have done so many new things in a month and I still have 10 more to go! =) I am so thankful that I can experience all of this and even though I get a little homesick sometimes I know it is worth it.

After I wrote the last time, I went to a karate class. I didnt really like it because it wasn't disiplined at all and we were just kind of jumping aroung doing nothing. I tryed it again on monday but it still didn't work out. I wish there was some martial arts class that I could take in Tranas but unfortunatly there isn't. So I think I will be taking exercise classes with my secong host sister Karro.

Yesterday I found out that one of my classes on mondays is something I don't have to go to so my counselor is trying to get me into an english class at Amalia's school, where I would help teachc the class! I think that would be really fun and I hope it works out. =) I also went to a rotary meeting on monday, it was not my host club but Kjell had to go so he invited me along!

Kram, Haley

The weekend! YAY

2009-08-30T01:57:00.000-07:00

So not a lot has happened since I last wrote on Tuesday, I still need to put up pictures! HAHA so lets move on to Wednesday (onsdag), I got to wake up late because Vestra Vux was cancelled for the day, I also had Private singing lessons that day. It wasa really nice because I have never had private lessons and the teacher gave me a song to learn IN SWEDISH! Its such an amazing song and it's about midsummer and how magical it is. I love that song! After that I had my history class and it was pretty hard to understand what was going on because we watched a movie. After school, I went shopping with a girl from my class, Matilda. It was really fun and also nice to get to know her better.

Thursday, I had a music theory class that I know I will be bad at! I am so bad at music theory and adding that it's in swedish doesn't help, but thats ok. =) I also had a private horse lesson and it was so amazing! I learned how to trot the proper english way! Amalia makes it look way easier than it actually is! After the lesson, I went to an exercise class with Karro (second host sister) and her friend.

Friday, I had a dance class in the morning and it was really fun! Even though Im a terrible dancer! Also on friday I had gym class anad we ran 2 kilometers, which is about 1.2 miles. I was so tired because I am definitly not a runner! I was very proud of myself though because I ran the whole way, I did not stop to walk. =) Amalia and I just Hung out the rest of the day.

Yesterday, Amalia and I went into town to see an art show and It was really interesting to see all the local artists with their art. I even bought a little painting that says live your dream! I thought it was perfect for me. Then we went home and baked some treats. We also had to go feed the horses at the stable.

This morning we had to get up at 6 and feed the horses, I was so tired! So when we got back I went to bed at watched a movie. Now were just relaxing before I go to my Karate class at 3!

Kram, Haley =)

Surstromming! (Fermented Herring)

2009-08-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

So I finally tryed the fermented Herring. On Saturday, we had to get everything set up for the perty. We got a tent and set that up (rained shortly after, thank goodness for the tent!) then we had to make all the non stinky food. LOL. People came around 5, some people that came were my 3rd host family and some teachers at my school that are friends of Ursulas. Everyone kept saying how discusting the smell was so I was all prepared by the time they opened the first can, but it didn't smell nearly as bad as they said it would! I tryed it too. What you do is take cracker bread and put some potatoes on, then the herring and maybe some onions. I didn't like it very much, it was way to salty for me but it wasn't as gross as everyone said it would be. I was very suprised. All in all, it was definitly an experience.

On Sunday, Amalia and I were both so bored so we decided to make desserts! It was so fun, we made fudge and something called ladies kisses which were so delicious! I want to make those agian sometime. We also gave some fudge to our neighbors just be be nice and they really appreciated it. =)

Monday, UGH crazy day! It started out normal but ended in a trip to the hospital! I got up and went to swedish and started my normal schedule, which is really nice. I started Italian and I can tell that class is going to give me a headache. Italian in swedish, great! It is helping me learn more swedish though! Right after school we had to go to Linkoping. When we got there, we dropped Amalia and her friend Nina off at Hockey practice then Kjell and I went to the Espresso House, I have found the swedish equivalent to starbucks!! YES!! When we were done we walked back to the Ice arena, when we walked in we saw Amalia sitting in the box. She had collided with a guy and hurt her hand. So she had to stop early, Kjell dropped Nina and I off at the place that I was going to a Karate class and then went to the Hospital with Amalia. It was soo nice to take that class, its way different than what I'm used to, but I felt so great after working out! When it was over, Kjell picked us up and we went to the hospital. We had to wait a few hours before we found out that her arm was broken in two places, so now she has to wear a cast. By the time we got out of the hospital it was almost midnight and we still had to drive an hour to get back to Tranas! We were all so tired!!

So this morning I was so sore from Karate and so tired from staying up till 1.30! To top it all off I had to go take a music test that determined whether I could stay in the music program or not! I had to sing for the teacher and take a music theory test (eWW) I passes so that was nice. Then we got to have choir and the song we are singing is so pretty!! Not like the kind of choir song im used to singing, it's like a pop song and they said thats the type of music the choir always sings! I have a feeling I am really going to like choir this year! =) Then I went to swedish lessons, and then went home for lunch. I have huge gaps in my schedule, I can come home almost everyday! I also started math today and found out that I learned what we are going to be doing this year in 8th grade! So that should be an easy class for me!

--MY SCHEDULE--

Monday-
8.30- 9.30 Swedish Lessons
10.05- 11.05 Music stuff (not sure what yet)
11.05- 2.00- Free time
2.10- 3.20 Italian

Tuesday
8.00- 9.10 Drama
9.20- 10.20 Choir
10.55- 11-55 Swedish lessons
12.00- 1.30 Free time
12.00- 1.30 Swedish (in school)
2.30- 3.20 Math

Wednesday
8.30- 9-30 Swedish Lessons
9.40- 10.30 Italian
10.40- 11.20 Math
11.30- 1.00 Free time
1.00- 1.30 Private singing lessons
1.40- 3.20 History

Thursday
8.30-10.25 Drama
10.35- 11.55 Music Theory
12.00- 12.50 Free time
12.50- 2.00 Dance

Friday
9.25- 10.35 Dance
10.45- 11.55 Ensemble
12.00- 12.50 Free time
12.50- 1.50 Gym

School =)

2009-08-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

So the other day, after I wrote a blog, my family took me to Granna! Thats the city where they make Polkagris! (YUMM Its like candy cane, but ten million times better!) We saw a demonstration on how to make the candy and I got an awesome elk crossing pin!

I have decided that I am going to try to sing and play the piano for a Rotary talent competition I'm doing in october! I am going to perform a song called New soul by Yeal Naim, Kjell and I went into a local music store and found a really great book with fun songs in it! YAY so we will see how that works out...

I started Vestra Vux a few days ago (Swedish classes) it was a really fun class, I really think I am going to learn a lot of swedish there. Hopefully fast too! Yesterday I started school and I was really nervous, but it turned out to be fine. I had fun, I met everyone and they all seamed really nice and happy that I was there. After school, Julia and Lazlo (second host family) and we went out on the lake in the icy water! It was fun though!

Today at school I kind of realized how different it is here. Students have a lot more freedom. The first thing we did was go around the city looking for different stations with activities at them. We probably covered 2 miles a least! They also don't care if the students smoke, which really threw me off. We came up to a station and a girl was smoking as the teacher was explaining the activity! It was soo weird. I really like the people I have classes with and I know I am really going to enjoy this school year! =)

Kram, Haley

Mamma Mia! =)

2009-08-17T04:09:00.001-07:00

Hej Hej! Or good morning for those of you in New Mexico! Its about 1:00 here so that means that it is about 5 in the morning there! Haha

So the past few days since I got back from Vimmerby have been pretty relaxing. On saturday after I wrote we went to Linkoping and that was really awesome because after we dropped Amalia off at practice, we saw a martial arts demonstration in the street. We got a pamphlet and now I might be starting in that club in a few weeks. We also found a few clubs, one in Tranas and one in Mjolby (a city close to Yranas).

Yeterday I went out with my second host family and they showed me parts of town that I haven't seen yet. They also showed me their little boat, it so a really cute speed boat. I also got to see their house and it is so beautiful and modern looking. Everything is desined perfectly and they also have an indoor swimming pool right outside of their sauna! After that, I went with Kjell and Amalia to go pick mushrooms and that was really hard, I didn't find any. I found a lot of yummy wild berries though! When I got back, I went over to a girl named Lisa's house and met some more people my age and we had a movie night =) One the way home we saw two wild hedgehogs! They were soo cute but all the other girls were afraid of them. Haha.

Today, Amalia and I went into town and I got my school supplies. I start school on thursday at 8:00 in the morning. UGH. I also got a bike today and it's really big for me so I just need to grow a couple of inches and then it will be perfect! =)

P.S Sorry if there are some spelling mistakes. My spellchecker doesn't work because I'm on a swedish version of htis website! Haha so it trys to check it in Swedish and everything is highlighted!

Vimmerby!!

2009-08-15T00:51:00.000-07:00

So this past week, I have been in Vimmerby, Sweden. I went on monday morning and got back friday afternoon. The main reson for this was for language camp! =) I actually did learn some swedish! YAY!
The first day was kind of akward because noone knew each other but by wednesday, we were all having a blast! On wednesday, we went to Astrid Lingrens world! We had so much fun becaus eit is a childrens place so we got to act like we were five!! =) There were minature villages and everything! We got rained on though so that was a little annoying but we still had lots of fun. I got a Pippi Longstocking doll that I hooked to my rotary blazer so now I have a doll on there! I got so many new pins for my blazer, it's crazy! The whole front is almost full.
I met so many new friends from all around the world! Canada, Mexico, Austria and France! I had so much fun that I didn't want to leave! =(
When I got home on Friday, Amalia and I had to go to the stable and make Tuva look nice for the competition today. We took forever trying to do her hair. She has soo much of it so It is difficult to do anything with it! When we were done with that a few people came over and we had yummy mongolian barbque!
This morning was Amalias competition. We got up to watch her do Dressage (probably spelled wrong!) and after lunch we are going to Linkoping for Amalias Ice Hockey practice!! =)

Famous!! =)

2009-08-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

The other day I woke up early because someone from the local paper came. He came to interview Leonardro and I, i'm gonna be famous!! LOL JK. Everyone jokes about how exchange students are famous in this town because it's so small. =) So we got interviewed and he took some pictures and that was fun. I also took Tuva for a ride, I really like that horse, she is so sweet!

When I was done riding, we drove to Sven's house (my 3rd host family) and we set the traps for crayfish, we put a peice of dead fish (EWW) in the middle of this cage and dump it in the lake, we had a whole bunch of them. The next morning, we had to wae up early and be at Sven's house by 8 in the morning because you have to get them before they find a way out! We caught 27 crayfish, YUMM!! I got to meet Robin, the Australian exchange student. She has been here since January. She is so good at Swedish! She said it only took her a few months before she could talk to people, so that is comforting.

Last night I went to a music festival with Leonardo and Cece. There was an American car show and I thought that was pretty funny, especially because I saw one that had Iowa (DAD!! =) on its lisense plate. HAHA. We listened to some bands and it was funny because I couldn't really understand much, a few songs were in english but the majority in Swedish.

Now I'm just waiting for dinner, we are eating the crayfish we caught, so that means crayfish party!! With stupid hats and moose meat and everything! It should be fun.

Tuva!!!!

2009-08-07T04:32:00.000-07:00

Guess who now rides a miniture horse!!!! HALEY!! =) Tuva is my sister Amalias horse and she is very small, I'm taller than she is! In Sweden they ride horses English style so that is a big change for me, the cowboy style rider. I am currently borrowing Amalias riding pants, shoes and Helmet, but I willhopefully get my own soon. Amalia wants to teach me to jump the horse in exchange for Martial arts lessons, sounds like a good trade to me! =)

The meals are so different here! I am having a hard time getting used to them. They eat lunches that are as big at dinners then they eat an even bigger dinner! I have never been a big eater so I usually onlytake one serving and they find that so weird! LOL The food is good though, Very yummy!

A few days ago, Leo and his friend Cecilia and I took the train to a city called Nörköping (I think that ishow it's spelled!) We went shopping in this gigantic shopping mall type place, It's a bunch of buildings and you go from building to building and each has tons of stores! I had to buy some running shoes because Ursula told me that everyone is required to run an hour a week at school.

I had my first experience with hanging laundry! They dont dry their clothes in a dryer! I dont really mind that much but they have their drying line by thisbush with tons of bees so when I wentout to dry my clothes, I got stung! They are only little onethough, thank goodness! Also that day we went to a cottage in the woods that some friends of Ursulas own and it had to be the cutest must typical swedish house I have ever seen!! It wasso tiny, but it was on its own little island in the lake that you had to go across a bridge to get to. (I will post pictures later)

Yesterday I got to go see my school and I met the Headmaster. Then Kjell and I went to a rotary meeting. I couldnt understand anything!! I get to make my speech in 3 weeks so I better start practicing!

Pictures Part 2!!

2009-08-04T08:54:00.000-07:00

On a dock in Kalmar

Kalmar Castle

Amalia and Leonardo sideways, dont now how to change it. =)

A huge sailboat

A crab that Amalia caught!!

PIctures

2009-08-04T08:30:00.001-07:00

Amalia and I sunbathing =)

The Jellyfish! There were tons of them!!

The little Square

Me on the Ferry!

The Ferry ride. Its like a little hidden Valley...hmm mabe they make ranch there =)

The most busy 3 days of my life!!!

2009-08-03T11:08:00.000-07:00

WOW!!!!
I have been so busy these last days that I am exhausted!!

So I guess I should start with the west coast...
We went at about 6 in the morning (EARLY!!!) and drove about 4 hours to get to the city that I cant pronounce =) Better get used to that! We hadto take a ferry to get there and thats when I first saw the jellyfish , there are so many of them on the coast!! We went to Leonardos (my host brother) hockey game he was coaching. Then we went and walked through the city for a little while. It is a very cute city, very old looking... There were some pink houses, which made me very happy. We then met up with Leonardo and I got to meet him for the first time. He is going to canada on exchange next week so I will get to know him then he will leave! We went andhad lunch with some of Ursulas (host mother) friends. Then after that went down to the water, I was too afraid to go smimming!! I am terriffied of jellyfish!! I was so tired I fellasleep on the way home.

The next day was more of a relaxing day but we still did alot of stuff. First I met a few of Leonardos friends, which will be nice when school comes around on the 19th. Amalia and I took a quick dip in the lake!! Very cold. If you want to see pictures you can check my facebook because I am having a few computer problems at the moment!! Very frusterating!! Then we got to go visit Amalias forse, Tuva, she is a miniture pony and so adorable. Then we just relaxed the rest of the day, rented a few movies.

Today was very exhausting, probably because I was still tired fromthe days before. We went to the east coast, another 3 hour drive. We dropped Amalia off at her hockey camp then walked around the town, Kalmar. We also went to a castle and had a really cool tour, but I couldnttake pictures!! Aww... On out way back home, we went to a glass blowing demonstration and it was soo sad because he broke the ducks head!! Everyone jumped when it happened. I was so tired from the last 3 days that I slept the whole way home.

P.S. Hopefully I will eventually be able to put pictures on here, but for now I am having tonsof computer issues so I will have to settle for the pictures my host father took. Mine wont download anywhere!! I will let you know when that is all sorted out. =)

Hej Sweden!!!

2009-07-31T03:47:00.001-07:00

I have finally made it to Sweden! I am now officially an exchange student, so exciting!

I was awake for over 30 hours with only about a 30 minute nap so I bet that you could image how tired I was when I finally got to my new house. My family is very nice! There is Amalia (my little sister) Archie (the dog) Princess (the cat) Tuve (the horse) and my host parents Kjel (pronounced Shell) and Ursula. I got very lucky with my first host family!

The house where I am staying is very cute and the backyard is amazing! There is a lake in my backyard! So Beautiful!! I promise that I will post pictures in a few days, when I am unpacked and settled, but right now I dont even know where the chord is!

Today I woke up at 7 in the morning, I dont know when I have ever done that on my own, it was very odd. I unpacked a little and then fell back asleep till 10. We walked into town and had coffee after a HUGE breakfast. Cereal, yogurt, bread, grapefruit, ham, orange juice and tea!! I was so full. There are some shops that have really cute clothes that I want to go into, there was one called creme and it had the cutest clothes!! I could spend a ton of money there, but I wont. =)

Right now we aren't really doing anything, Kjell is making Swedish Meatballs for leter when Sven (my counsellor) comes and checks up on us. Maybe I'll go take a nap.....Hmmm.....ZzzzZzz

POP QUIZ!!!!
What is coffee break in Swedish??
Fika!! =)

Only 9 Days Left!!

2009-07-20T19:53:00.001-07:00

I am so excited to leave! It is coming up so fast and I am busy all the time which makes it seem faster. There are so many things to do before I get to leave, the main thing is to get my visa but that really isn't in my power to make it come faster. We just have to hope that it will get here before the 29Th so I can leave on time.

I have started packing and that is ridiculous! I have already filled up a HUGE suitcase with long sleeves and jackets (stuff I don't need at the moment, since it is about a hundred degrees her most days!) I have to make sure I don't go above 50 pounds per bag and that might be difficult because of all my shoes!

I got a Learn Swedish book thing and i was listening to the CD and I got so lost! In the book they said that Swedish is one of the easiest languages to learn, YA RIGHT!! I was so confused! I couldn't even tell where the words ended in the conversations on the CD. Hopefully it will be easier to learn once I am there immersed in the culture.

So for now I am still in New Mexico, just waiting... =)

5 Weeks and 2 days! (38 Days!)

2009-06-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

I am so pumped to leave! I know that may sound terrible but I really wish the summer would pass faster! I love my friends and family TONS but going on exchange is something that you just can't help but be super excited for.

I found out my leaving date. I am scheduled to leave July 29th! I also found out my allowance, 600 SEK a month! YAY! For those of you that dont know...

1. Rotary exchange student get an allowance every month from their hosting Rotary clubs. This money is mostly for necessary things, the kind of stuff your host family doesn't buy for you. Things like floss, toothpaste, face wash. Basically stuff that is more personal hygeine. You can also use it for your "fun" money, It doesn' really matter.

2. "SEK" is the Swedish currency. It can also be called Krona, Kronor, or the one most people have heard it called, Crown. The exchange rate for the Crown is about 1:7, maybe a little higher. So that means that every dollar is about 7 Crowns. In a nutshell that means my allowance roughly translates to 80 dollars a month, not too bad... plus i will have to money I make over the summer to help me out!
PEACE OUT!!

3 Months Left!!!

2009-05-12T16:58:00.001-07:00

I decided to get a blog since it is only three months till I leave for Sweden. Maybe I should start with the basics...
Hi, my name Is Haley Stephenson. I Currently live in Rio Rancho, New Mexico but I will be leaving as an exchange student to Sweden in early August. I have three host families so I will be staying with each for almost four months.

My First Family: They live in Tranas, Sweden. I will Have a little sister who is 13 and her name is Amalia. My host mother is a History teacher at the school I will be attending,(Holavedgymnasiet). They have a horse named Tuva! I love horses so I am very excited!

My Second Family: They also live in Tranas, Sweden and the mother is also a teacher, but she teaches math and physics. The father is an engineer. They have two kids, One is named Peter and he is 25 and in college and the other is named Karolin and she is 15.

My Third Family: I heard from them first. The Mother is a Doctor and the Father is a Dentist. They live in Jonkoping, Sweden. They have a daughter named Lovisa who is 16 and going on exchange next year to Melbourne, Australia, and a son who is 15.

I have been interested in going on an exchange year since about 5Th or 6Th grade. We always got the exchange student packets in the mail, and that's what got me started. We found Rotary in about September and I automatically liked their program. They cared about the students and I feel 100% safe with them.

I hope you will follow me and my adventure, I am very nervous but also excited to go. I know that I am ready to do this, now if the summer would pass just a little faster! =)