Review of my SMART Goals!

1. I will try not to be shy; I will talk to people and interact with them, whether or not they speak English. I will try and do this by introducing myself to at least 3 new people a week. I will also teach my host family a little bit about the American culture and let them teach me a bit about their culture. 


I did a great job of accomplishing this goal. It was not hard to meet new people in Sweden, especially during the school day. Just a few of the people I met within the first week were Emma Moen, Fillippa Moen, Sandra, Jennifer, Maria, and Ellen and later Hampus, Ida, Matilda, Sofia, Patrik, Johan, Emma, and Evelina. Also, Hanna's Mother and Father could understand most of what I said but they had trouble speaking English. It was a bit of a struggle at first but after a while it was easy to talk to one another. I taught both of my host families a lot about American culture from different words, to different foods, and even how to hold your fork like an American. It was all very exciting! 


2. I will try to learn the language and be able to hold a small conversation with someone. I will keep a list of all the words that I learn.


I kept a list of words that I learned throughout my trip, though it is impossible to write them all down, there were so many! I also now know enough Swedish to order off a menu at a restaurant, although I may or may not be able to understand their response. 


3. I will try every new food that I am offered, no matter how different they look. I don't need to finish it, just try it.


I tried a lot of new foods in Sweden, from a special kind of potatoes that grow in a sandy soil to Kokosrutor, to Glögg, and Julmust! It was all extremely delicious, except for one food in particular that Emma and Hanna made me try; caviar. I ate just a small bit off the end of a fork and it was utterly discussing. There is no way that I will be eating caviar in the near future. 


4. I will be respectful of everyone I meet and to myself by not doing anything that goes against my morals and values.


I was respectful of everyone I met and of my host family. I helped out as much as I could with the groceries and the cooking. I was also respectful of myself and my values and I did not do anything that went against them. 


5. I will write about my experiences every day in addition to what I am required to write. 



I tried to write about my experiences every day, and I was successful in the beginning, however things got really busy and I had less and less time to do extra writing. Overall I did write quite a bit.

Wait, is that Lauren!

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Plane trips! The first leg of our journey home was from Stockholm to Paris! We were both really excited to have a three-hour layover in Paris because it is such a cool airport. When we landed in Paris it was poring down rain. The airplane was not attached to a building so we had to walk across the tarmac to a bus that was waiting for us to take us to the terminal. However our bus had a big problem: two doors would not close! So, we spent 20 minutes or so on a crowded bus with a man yelling in three different languages "I need to go, I will miss my flight, I have a small child!" Finally they transferred us to another bus and we headed off the to terminal. We finally made it to the terminal and had to go through security before finding our way to yet another bus, which would take us to terminal M, the only terminal that was not connected to the rest of the airport, and the terminal that our flight would be leaving from.

Once there Austin ordered us lunch in French and we relaxed is some really comfortable big chairs for a while before exploring some of the shops in the airport. We got to our gate an hour ahead of time so we played on a huge computer screen set into a table with a bunch of games on it. When we returned to our gate they had just started boarding so we got in line. The whole day we had been joking around, what if Jad or Lauren were one our flight!? So, when Austin laughed and said in a shocked voice "hey look it's Lauren!" I thought he was joking. But sure enough there Lauren was, sitting in one of the chairs talking with one of the flight attendants. Apparently as she says "even though I am 16 they treat my like an underaged flyer, maybe because I am so short." It was so fun that Lauren was on our flight, and she ended up sitting just a couple sets way. Overall the flight was long, a total of 12 hours in the air and 15 hours of travel. We were extremely glad to land!

Overall I had an amazing experience in Sweden! I had the time of my life and made some amazing friends! If you ever get the chance to take a trip like mine or even go to Sweden jump on it, I promise, you will not regret it! Tack!!!!!!!!

Last day in Sweden! :(

Today was my last day in Sweden! :( I am really sad to leave all of these amazing people I have met and stayed with! They have made my life so much more exciting for the past three weeks. Tack!

Hannah let me sleep in again today because we got home so late last night. When I woke up this morning I took a look and my room and sighed. It was so messy. It seems that whenever I try to pack things get even messier. Shouldn't it be the opposite? I don't understand! But don't worry daddy, I made my bed. :)

After a breakfast/lunch Hanna and I went downtown to do some last minute shopping with Austin and Ida. We went to the small mall and some of the shops around the town square but many of them closed early or were not open today, but it was still fun. We met Sandra at 4ish and got fika with her at a small cafe. They have fika cafes in Sweden! It is amazing!

After eating fika, Hanna and I hurried home to change quickly before going to the pool house/gym to play floor ball with Ida, Austin, and Ida's youth group. There were less people this time so it was much more intense but still amazing! We should start a floor ball group at school.

After floor ball Hanna and I hurried home to take quick showers before Matilda, Frank, and Patrik came over for tacos. In Sweden the Friday night food is pizza, tacos, or Chinese food, all very delicious! It was so nice to spend my last night in Sweden with friends like these. We spent the time playing Mao which was really funny because Frank got really frustrated and Hanna and I were the only ones who had played before. Frank, Patrik, and Matilda also took the cinnamon challenge, which was really funny. Frank ended up running around in circles because some of it went down his throat. After Matilda, Frank, and Patrik went home at midnight Hanna went to sleep for three hours, we were waking up at three, when Hampus was driving us to the airport. I stayed up to pack. I finished just in time.

It has been amazing here in Sweden and I am so fortunate to have had this amazing opportunity! I am excited to go home but I am going to miss everybody here so much! Tack så mycket! 
 

"Surprise!!!!!!!!!!!"

11/16/2012

Today was the last day of school and it was bitter sweet. I am really excited to go home and see my family again but I am also really sad to leave everybody. Today classes went pretty much as they regularly do, with a few exceptions. Hanna did not have German class today so while Hanna had a free period and studied, I went to Spanish class with Evelina, a girl from Hanna's class. It was really cool to go to a Spanish class because I understood a lot of what they were saying. First off the students took a test and then we read a couple of questions that they would be talking about in small groups next week and we also read an article about chocolate! It was really fun! The rest of the day proceeded as normal: Swedish, lunch, Social Studies, math, chocolate ball, biology, except there was a substitute in math class. It was really sad to say goodbye to all of my fellow classmates, I am going to miss them a lot.

After school Hampus drove Matilda, Hanna, and me to the silver mine so I could get gifts for everybody. ;) Afterwards he dropped Matilda off at her house and then drove us home. Hanna and I spent the rest of the day, or until 6pm when we were going over to William's house with Austin and Ida, we watched what we though was the movie prison break, but when it ended abruptly at a cliff hanger and we freaked out we realized that is was a TV series and promptly continued to watch the next episode.

At a little bit before 6 we headed over to Ida's house so that we could all walk to William's house. At William's we played a game where you had partners and a set of cards. You were then given a topic and you had to pick out the top cards that described that topic, lay them out in order of most to least, and then try and get the same cards as your partner. It was William and Olivia against Ida and Hanna against Austin and me! It was a lot of fun.

After about one hour Ida got a text from her Mom saying that dessert was ready at their house and we could come over for ice cream if we wanted to. Who passes up ice cream?! So we all headed over to Ida's house for dessert. We had just reached the house when Austin said he had seen some people in one of the windows. His vision was explained away by, oh it's probably just one of the family. We hurried inside, took off our hats, coats, gloves, scarves, and shoes, putting them in the pile with all of the others, and then headed into the kitchen, where we were met with the shout "Surprise!" Ida and Hanna had organized a surprise going away party for Austin and me with all of our friends: people from school, people from church, and of course Emma! It was so amazing! Austin and I didn't even realize or suspect anything, although it might have been a little strange that there were people in the window and there were a lot of shoes at the front door. But in our defense, there are always people in the house and lots of shoes at the door! :) It was both Austin and my first surprise party ever, and it was perfect!!! There was tons of ice cream, games, and fun. We even played a game where you competed in groups of three to do silly activities like who can get the Swedish fish on a string into their mouth the fastest using only their tongue - Austin, and who can pick up a piece of paper folded in half with their mouth but no hands the most times as it gets smaller and smaller because of the many folds - a tie between Ida and Matilda (the 3rd grader, not the one in Hanna's class). It was so nice to just sit and talk and laugh with everybody on the night before our last night in Sweden. Tack så mycket everybody for an amazing surprise party! You are all so amazing and I am going to miss you so much. See you soon, I hope.

Three hour school day with a side of rhubarb pie!

11/15/2012

Today was an amazing day! Hanna's class did not start until 10 this morning so we got to sleep in! We had two options of getting to school, bike or walk. We choose the walk option although it would have been smarter to take the bike, even though there was only one bike we could use. We thought it wouldn't take us as long as it did to walk to school, but we got to class just in time. The first class of the day was chemistry! They did a lab in chemistry about molar mass and which metals were good conductors and which were not so great. It was really fun and I was able to understand most of it. After chemistry we ate a quick lunch before heading off to math. At the beginning of math class the Swedish teacher came in and said something and then walked out. Everybody looked really excited, I looked really confused. I still don't know what the Swedish teacher was doing there but he had delivered some exciting news. We no longer had our final classes of the day, just one period of math left, not two as usual followed by Swedish. Apparently this did not happen often, but when it did it usually happened on a day when they had a lab. It felt very weird to have been in school for only 3 hours, 45 minutes of which was lunch.

After school ended at 12:40 Austin came home with us, because Ida had a trombone lesson, along with Matilda and Sofia. We had to walk all the way home again but it was not that bad because we were not racing the clock. Once home we set forth to bake a rhubarb pie with vanilla sauce, a project we had been talking about ever since I tried describing Thanksgiving to them and pumpkin pie, which they have never had and we would have made it except for the lack of pumpkin in Sweden. We didn't read the recipe fully so we added melted butter to the dough instead of cold butter and we had to chop up a huge block of frozen rhubarb but it turned out great and very delicious!  We ate our pie, hung out, watched my big fat Greek wedding, from the beginning so the others could catch up, and played cards. Everybody went home before dinner and after the rhubarb pie had been demolished.

The rest of the night was spent eating a delicious dinner which contained an amazing potato, cheese, and cream casserole and watching movies. Over all a very relaxing day! Tack, tills imorgon!

There are two kinds of people - Greeks, and everyone else who wish they were Greek.

11/14/2012

Today was another wonderful day at Kungsängsgymnaset, I can almost say it properly! Today our class took the national English test and I got to take it too! I think it was one of the few test that I have taken and both enjoyed and laughed at. It was very fun to take the English test and think, is this how fluent Spanish speakers feel if they took my Spanish tests that I freak out about. It was also very funny because it was all British English and in the audio all of the voices had British accents. Also I learned two new words today: lorry, a truck, and Torry a conservative member of the British parliament. The test took up the whole morning so we did not have our usual two Wednesday morning classes, Swedish and English. After lunch we had only one class: German! In German class they did a worksheet with the teacher. At first I tried to understand what they were talking about but after a couple of minuets I was completely lost.

Once school was over, at 12:45! love their schedule!, Hampus drove us home and then returned to school to finish his classes, he had had a free period. Once home we dropped off some of our stuff before walking into town. We were on a ongoing search of a Dalahäst. Why did we not look in Sala before trying to find them all over Sweden? They had been right under our noses this whole time! We found a great selection of Dalahäst in a floral and home goods store in the mall! Mission complete! After walking around Sala for a couple of hours we headed over to Ida's house to try and Skype Saskia and Katharina however we just missed them and were unable to connect so instead we just hung out for a while and tried out Ida's game for a scout event tonight: you had to remake a Lego structure but the structure was in a shoe box with only a couple of holes. Hanna and I joined Ida's family for an amazing dinner of potato and leak soup and corn pancake, I had never had it before and it was delicious! After dinner Ida and her family left for their scout event while Hanna and I walked back home. Along the way we meet up with Linnea and we walked home together. It was so nice to see her again since last February when she came over to MV. The rest of the night was spent watching movies, Free Willy and My Big Fat Greek Weeding!, with a midnight (aka 8:30 but it felt later because it had been so dark outside for such a long time and because we were so tired) snack. Overall a very nice day! Tack så mycket, tills vidare.

The ultimate decision in life: Tryffelkaka or Kokosrutor?

11/13/2012

Austin and I were unable to go to Ekebyskolan today so we returned to Kungsängsgymnaset for another great day. In the morning Hanna and I went to English and Social Studies. In English class the teacher took two more groups out of the room to talk about their books, while the rest of the class stayed inside and read an article, if they had not already, about catching and eating tiger snakes. They also had time to prepare for a practice English test that they will be taking tomorrow. I will be taking the test tomorrow too and I am really excited. It will be on British English so things will be a bit different but very interesting and very fun! In Social Studies a couple more groups presented their presentations and then the teacher talked for the rest of the time. Next came a lunch of burritos and tacos that we quite delicious. Then came math! Yep, you guessed it, two whole hours of math! Ida had to take an English test which was writing an essay so Austin came with us to math class. After the math teacher had finished talking the students were given work time. Work time for Austin and I meant crafts time! I think we have perfected the art of making balloons and cranes out of graph paper! We grabbed our usual chocolate ball snack during our five minute break before returning to class. After math, the last class of the day, we met up with Ida and talked for a bit before parting our separate ways, we would be meeting up later for dinner at Lars's house, our sponsor!

When we got home we thought it would be fun to bake something. We were going to make tryffelkaka until Hanna saw a link on the page to a recipe for a short cake-type backed good called kokosrutor. Change in plans, we are making kokosrutor! Kokosrutor os a type of thin, light, and fluffy chocolate cake covered in chocolate icing when it is hot so that the icing melts in a bit before hardening again and then it is covered in a light coating of shaved coconut. It was amazing!

Tonight Austin and I got to meet our sponsor for the first time: Lars! It was very exciting. We went over to his house for tapas and we brought our kokosrutor with us to share with the others. Hanna and Ida came along with the four girls who will be coming to the Toledo in February: Emma (my host sister), Hannah, Matilda, and Christina. It was very nice to meet all of the girls before they came over to Toledo. We talked about Maumee Valley and Lars told us stories of his travels. Afterwords, when Hanna and I got home, we collapsed on the couch to watch part of a movie before going to bed, completely exhausted. Tack, tills imorgon!

Swedish Meatballs, floor ball, and boxercise!

11/12/2012

Monday! It was hard to wake up this morning after being able to sleep in this weekend. When I came out of my bedroom and saw Hanna still in bed I got really excited because I thought we had a late start today, however I was mistaken, Hanna was just really tired just like me. We dragged ourselves out of bed, down the stairs and to breakfast before gathering our clothing for gym and getting in the car. The cold air woke me up a little bit as I stepped outside the house. This morning our first class was Biology! Hanna starts the week with biology and ends the week with biology, just like I do at MV! After biology we had German class where they did more translating, except this time they had to think of different types of clothing they did not know the name of in German and write them down in Swedish. Then they had to translate them into German. After German we had two hours of math, with our chocolate ball break half way through. I am kind of getting use to two hours of math right in a row. It seems like a lot, and it feels like a lot when it is at the end of the day, but when it is in the morning it is not that bad.

After math we had lunch. What was for lunch you may ask? Swedish Meatballs!!! My favorite! I think I am going to have to make them for my family over Thanksgiving break, along with chocolate balls, Kringlor, Kladdkaka, and bisquit! I am quite sure that apart from the people, the thing I am going to miss the second most is the food here! So delicious! After lunch we only had two classes left. First was gym! This was my third time in a Swedish gym class but my first time with Hanna, and I knew the routine of getting ready and changing clothing before hand. I was really worried that I would not get a chance to play floor ball, one of Sweden's very popular sports, while here. I should not have worried though, within the last three days I have played floor ball twice, once with Ida's youth group, and again today in gym class. The gym teacher was a bit surprised to see me at first because the first time I had met him I was in Ida's gym class. I love floor ball! I like lacrosse and soccer better but it is definitely up there with my favorite sports to play. Although just because I like it, does not mean that I am good at it. I need a bit more practice, though I love it and have a lot of fun playing it. After gym class we had chemistry! In chemistry they got their tests back from the huge two hour chemistry test they had taken on Wednesday, the one the fire drill had interrupted. I am pleased to report that Hanna did very well! Their grading system is a bit different. They get different types of points, a points, c points, and e points, for different questions of different difficulties. If you want to get an A then you would have to say get 8 a points, 12 c points, and 2 e points, maybe. I am pretty sure this is how it works, though I will confirm it with Hanna tomorrow. It is quite confusing!

As we walked out of school today to wait for Hanna's mom to pick us up, the sun was just setting over the skyline of trees, and it was only 3:30! I will never get use to the fact that it gets so dark here so early! We drove Matilda and Sofia home before returning home ourselves and stealing in to do a little homework and finish up a movie, another Cinderella story, that we had started watching the night before. After an amazing dinner of lamb with a red sauce, delicious!!!, Hanna and I headed over to the gym that Ekebyskolan uses to take a boxercise class! I had never been to one before but Emma loves them and convinced us to come along with her. It was a lot of fun! I am going to see if urban fitness, the gym that my family belongs to, has boxercise class. After boxercise it was quite late, the class lasted about one and a half hours from 7:15 to about 8:45, and it was 9:30 by the time we got home because we stopped at the school on the way home. At home Hanna and I collapsed into the kitchen chairs for a quick snack before taking showers and then heading off to bed.

Hopefully I will be visiting Ekebyskolan tomorrow with Austin though it is not clear if we are allowed to go yet. I hope we are! I had lot of fun there and would love to go back and see some more of their classes. Also Austin and I will meet Lars tomorrow, and along with Hanna, Ida, and the four girls coming to Toledo in February, including Emma, we will have dinner together. I am very excited to finally meet everyone! Tack så mycket, tills vidare.

Natalie Ann Booth, don't you dare buy a bookshelf at Ikea! ... plus it won't fit in your suitcase.

11/11/2012

Today Hanna, Ida, Austin, and I went to Avesta, a smallish city about thirty minuets north of Sala. Avesta is quite a bit bigger than Sala, so I am told, though we did not get to see much of it because we spent the day at the shopping center or more specifically at Ikea! Because Ikea is a Scandinavian company we though it would be the perfect place to spend our Sunday afternoon. Hanna's mom drove us to the the shopping center in Avtesta and we headed straight to Ikea. It was extremely fun walking around, in and out of the bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and living rooms pretending we lived there and trying to decide which one was our favorite. Ikea was a dangerous place to visit and Austin and I came out, arms full of the things that we had bought. However, we did not realize you had to pay for your bags and ended up at the end of the register, bag-less so we had to carry around all of the things that we had bought until we managed to grab bags from another store.

We also ate at Ikea, and what do you get when you go to Ikea?! Swedish meatballs of course! I had had them once before when my family went to the Ikea in Detroit to get my brother a desk and they were good, but I don't know if it was the fact that I was so hungry or the fact that I was in Sweden, or the combined efforts of both, but they were amazing! I also had lingonberry soda for the first time ever and it was amazing!

After Ikea we wondered around the mall for a while and then sat down to have a feka, the Swedish term for a sweet snack (why don't we have a term for this in English!?), before setting off again to find a miniature Dalahäst without any luck, we are going to try some of the shops in Sala now.

When we returned home from Avesta, Hanna and I, both exhausted, collapsed on the couch to watch a movie before dinner. After dinner Hanna drove her mom and me to her grandmother's apartment in an assisted living facility. Yes I said Hanna drove us. At the age of 16 you can get a piece of paper stating that you have the ability to drive if a family member is in the car with you. Hanna is a good driver so everything went well. Her grandmother was very nice and although she did not speak any English we had Hanna as a translator. On the way back from Hanna's grandmother's apartment we stopped at the store to buy groceries. We also ended up buying unique Swedish candy for me to try including kex, a Swedish chocolate bar. It was very delicious! We spent the rest of the night relaxing, watching movies, and eating our Swedish candy. Tack, tills vidare.

Also, side note, today is father's day in Sweden!

What likes Swedish dried flat bread, is fast, and says bah bah? Sheep!

11/10/2012

Today Hanna let me sleep in very late, I did not wake up until 1:30, though it was a gyrating week so I did need the sleep. After breakfast Hanna and I headed over to Ida's house. From there we walked down the street to William's house. William has his drivers license and was able to drive us to Ida's friend, Matilda's house. Matilda lives just outside of Sala in the countryside and her family owns sheep and chickens. When we got there we were met by her mom and their two seven week old kittens. They were adorable and they reminded me of when my family adopted a stray cat who gave birth to three kittens in a box in my parents closet. They were so cute and were at that stage where they wanted to explore everything. One of them even ended up on Ida's shoulder like parrot.

After playing with the kittens for quite a while we continued on to the sheep. Her family rises a special old Swedish species of sheep. Their fur is very thick, very long, and a mixture of different browns, blacks, and whites. We fed them Swedish dried flat bred and petted them when they came close enough. They were adorable! Ida decided that she was going to try and catch the smallest of the sheep. We spent several minuets running back and forth across the pasture trying to pin the sheep into a corner so we could catch it, with no luck. Sheep are fast. Some close friends of my families own a sheep farm in Wales. When I was very young my family went to visit them at their sheep farm over spring break. Lambing season is in March and we happened to come just in time to see the lambs being born. It was an incredible site, to see the babies trying to walk for the first time and the mothers licking them clean. At one pint during our stay we had to move some of the mothers and their babies to a different pasture. In order to do this we had to catch the mothers and put them in the trailer, the babies usually followed their mothers so we did not have to worry so much about them. We spent ages chasing the sheep around the pasture before we finally managed to get them into the trailer. It was quite a workout and an adventure.

After chasing the sheep round some more we went to see the chickens and then headed back into the house to warm up. We sat down in some very comfortable couches and played with Legos! I had not played with Legos in ages and we had a lot of fun, Ida even built an airplane equipped with everything you might need, including an umbrella. We ate a wonderful dinner of spaghetti and meet sauce at Matilda's house before heading back to Ida's house and then to the Rec. Center to play two hours of floor ball with Ida's youth group. Floor pall is kind of like indoor hockey and is played with shorter plastic hockey sticks and a wiffle ball. It was extremely fun to play!


After floor ball William drove Hanna and I home so that we could take quick showers, eat a little food, and then head back into downtown Sala to Ida's church. There we heard a short sermon and then split up into discussion groups. After about 20 minuets of talking we all gathered together to play a game. Ida's parents had set up an obstacle course called DTCH5 (or something like that). To complete the obstacle course you had to fill your mouth with pudding, climb over two chairs, onto a saucer, around a stool, around a group of cones, crawl under a table, climb over a set of chairs again, hop in and out of two hula hoops, and then spit the chocolate pudding out into a pitcher. The winners were the ones who's pitcher weighed the most after five minutes. However there was a trick: you could not let any part of your body touch the obstacle course directly, there always had to be a dish towel between you and the course, feet, hands, knees, everything! It was very fun to play and even more fun to watch. It would be a good idea for a pep rally; hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge, student council. After the obstacle course we played a quick game of sardines, a version of hide and seek, before returning home, watching a movie, and passing out in our beds. Today was a tiring and amazing day! Tack, tills imorgon!

I Think I will go for a walk...

11/9/2012

Friday! Today we woke up a bit late so we had to hurry to get to school on time, Hanna did not have time to eat breakfast so she had to buy something at school. Our first class of the day was German where they worked on translating words from Swedish to German and then finding the antonyms of those words. After German it was time for Swedish class. In Swedish class the teacher spent a short amount of time talking about a very big project that was assigned to them. They had to write a research paper on an animal of their choice. Part of the paper has to be in Swedish and the second half has to be in English. This project will count as part of their Swedish grade, English grade, and. Biology grade. After the Swedish teacher had finished talking Hanna, Matilda (a friend and one of Hanna's classmates) and I went to the library so they could do research for their project. Even though we had lunch next Hanna was starving so we ran down to the small cafe underneath the library and bought a sandwich for Hanna, it was a piece of bread with cheese and vegetables on top kind of like our open face sandwiches. Next came lunch! It was a special lunch today, pizza! They do not get pizza often so this was a special occasion and the pizza was delicious. It was the kind that has a really thick doughy crust like you are eating cheese, vegetables, and meet on top of a piece of bread. After lunch we went to Social Studies where we listened to a bunch of presentations, they had not finished them last class. After Social Studies we went to math however we were all felling a bit parched, Matilda, Sofia (another friend and classmate), Hanna, and I, so we hurried down to the cafe to buy something to drink. Hanna an I got this special cactus lime fizzy water that was delicious. In biology class the teacher, and the Swedish teacher who visited for a bit, talked about the big research project that they were doing and then game them all work time.

After school today Matilda, Sofia, Hanna, and I went to the store Willy's right across the street from school to buy chips, whipped cram (for the Kladdkaka cupcakes that Matilda made) and soda; we would be going over to her house a bit later when Frank and Patric got out of practice. Hampus drove us all home and Matilda walked home from our house to her house, a short walk, to set things up. Over at Hanna's house Sofia, Hanna, and I made chocolate balls to bring over to Matilda's house, though most of them were gone before we got there. ;) Matilda, Frank, and Patrik met us at Hanna's house and we all walked over to Matilda's house. We ordered Chinese food and then devoured the chocolate balls, always best before dinner. After we had eaten dinner we watched one of the movies Matilda had rented at the store, Canine In The Woods. It was a really freaky and really weird movie. After the movie ended and while we were playing cards Jonathan arrived, another friend and classmate. After a while playing 31 and go fish we decided to take a walk. Don't ask me why but we ventured out into the freezing cold air and took a walk telling ghost stories and freaking each other out into the freezing cold air. When we got back to Matilda's house we decide to watch a very funny movie, 21 Jump St. However we did not get a chance to finish the movie because it was so late that we had to head home. Nice school day, pizza, chocolate balls, movies, Chinese food, and friends. Over all I would say it was a great day. (Great pronounced with a Swedish rolled r sound) :)

What's stop, drop, and roll in Swedish? Stopp, släpp, och rulla!?

11/8/2012
Today was my 3rd day at  Kungsängsgymnaset and what a day it was. It all started off normal. I woke up, had breakfast, and then we headed off to school. Hanna had a three hour chemistry test this morning, she did well on it so it's all good, so I was going to go to Ida's classes in the morning. We met Ida in the locker area where Hanna left to go take her test, and Ida, Austin, and I went to Ida's first class, advisor time and her second class Biology. It just so happened that her advisor and her biology teacher were the same person so we did not have to change rooms. However, halfway through the biology class things began to get interesting: the fire alarms began to sound! Everybody was really surprised and not quite sure what to do. We made our way out of the classroom and as we headed to the door we looked around us. To our surprise a wall of smoke was rolling towards us from the direction of the natural science wing. It was quite scary and we all hurried out of the building. Outside in the freezing cold air nobody was sure what to do so we all huddled together for warmth in a group that consisted of the rest of our class. There were people yelling in Swedish, teachers running around, and students complaining about the cold, I was one of them. Shortly after we had gone outside a fire truck pulled up and one of the teachers announced that this was all a drill. One of the people in Ida's class explained to us that things were so messy and unorganized because they only had fire drills about once a year. Ida then explained to us that the fire department creates smoke in fire drills sometimes to force the students to exit the building in a different direction. Sure enough shortly after she had explained this we saw an entire class climb out a window. The whole fire department looked really disappointed and quite annoyed with the state of our fire drill. One of the students who had been in biology just went right into the building despite the calls from his teacher, the students in this class, and the firemen. The teacher had to go in and get him. We slowly made our way around the building to a separate building, connected by a walkway upstairs, though you have to go outside if you want to pass through downstairs. So after our teacher deemed it safe to reenter our classroom, we continued on with our class. The whole affair was an adventure and I know realize why we do fire drills once a month or so, though their fire drills had smoke.

The rest of the day proceed without any major hiccups, compared to the fire drill. I went to all of Ida's classes today, math, chemistry, and physics. Side note, thanks to Dr. Barnes and AP Biology, Austin and I understood everything the biology teacher wall talking about, photosynthesis, even though it was in Swedish. Austin and I also tried a yogurt like substance that was very sour. We ate it with corn flakes and sugar. Austin absolutely hated it but I thought it was kind of good, in small amounts and covered in cornflakes and sugar.

After school Austin came home with Hanna and me because Ida had a trombone lesson. We made Kringlor, a type of sweet pretzel, and formed them into many different shapes, covered them in butter and sugar, and then ate them. They were delicious though we did not give the dough enough time to rise so they were a little flat. We had so much fun baking that we did not keep track of the time and had to race over to Ida's house. We were going to an abs workout at the gym near Ekebyskolan had to drop Austin off to change, he would walk over with Ida while Hanna and I went to the gym to change because we did not want to walk to the gym in shorts, since it was freezing cold outside. However, Hanna thought that the class was in the gym near Kungsängsgymnaset and we were very confused when we arrived at the gym to find only a boys soccer team practicing and the doors locked. We called Ida for directions and made it to the class a little late. Guess who was there when we arrived: Emma's dad, Jonas Moen! The class was very fun and a great workout. Afterwords we rode our bikes home and ate an amazing dinner of schnitzel, a German dish I had never tasted before, it was amazing!  Then Hanna and I made hot chocolate and watched Avatar. Overall an eventful, exciting, and delicious day! Tack så mycket, tills vidare!

Snakes and MI6

11/7/2012
Today was my second day at Kungsängsgymnaset. Today I got to go to some more of Hanna's classes and two of Ida's classes. The first class of the day started at 8:45 and Hanna got out of school at 12:40! Hanna only had three classes today! I want her schedule so badly, but then there is the fact that the classes are really long, some of them are even 2 hours long and I think that that would get a bit boring and dull. The first class of the day was Swedish class, the equivalent of our English class. Today their teacher talked for a while and then they had to copy down sentences from a book and correct them, rewriting the correct version. It all seemed very complicated, but that might have been because it was in Swedish. :)

The second class of the day was English. In the spirit of the U.S. election the teacher played president Obama's acceptance speech. It felt weird to listen to it in class in a foreign country, I felt like all of the students were judging me, but it was still nice to hear the speech, I did not stay up all night to hear it, unlike Frank, one of the students who visited MV last year and who is in Hanna's class. We also talked about the 5th of November, a British holiday to remember Guy Fawkes, a man who tried to blow up parliament. The teacher had written a short poem that was written in memorial of November 5th:

"Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot.
We see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!"

The teacher also talked about Remembrance Day, November 11, a day to remember all of the soldiers from WW1. She even talked about the fact that people wear poppies on their jackets in recognition and support. Yesterday they wrote book reports about a book in English that they had read. Today the teacher took groups of five out of the room to talk about the books they had read. The teacher only got through one group of students because it took so long, I guess they all had a lot to say about the books. While the group of five students and the teacher were out of the room we took a short quiz on current events and then read a short story, individually, about eating snakes. The topic was a bit strange but it was really funny to read. This was because the students learn British English and the spelling and word choices that the book used were very different from what I would have used. For example the book used mate where as I would have used friend.

After English we had lunch in the cafeteria before going to Hanna's last class of the day: German. German class was very confusing and very complicated because I do not understand Swedish or German, but I helped Hanna translate some of the words and I learned a little bit of German. Now I know how to say not only ich liebe dich (i love you) Die hampater sprang über den Crockodile (the hamster jumped over the crocodile) which il learned from Kat last year, but also mein name ist... (my name is...), gesund (healthy), and geschwister(siblings). I had a lot of fun in German class and I wish that MV had German as a foreign language option, I would definitely take it.

After Hanna's final class we tried to find Ida because I was going to spend the rest of the day with Ida and Austin because Hanna had to go home and study for her 3 hour chemistry test tomorrow morning! It would hate to take a 3 hour test, even our exams are not 3 hours long! When we could not find her in the library we went back down to the common area where the lockers are and I sat down to wait for Ida and Austin to come pick me up while Hampus drove Hanna home to study. I did not have to wait very long because within 10 minuets Ida and Austin came by to pick me up before heading off to physics. If I had taken physics this year instead of AP Bio I think I would have been able to understand a lot of what he said and what he wrote on the board because he drew a lot of pictures, they were talking about Archimedes principle.

After physics we stopped by Ida's locker and picked up all of our stuff, coats, hats, scarves, and gloves included and headed off to gym class. We would not be coming back to her locker because we could go right from gym to Ida's home. Gym in Sweden is a bit different from gym at MV. In Sweden you are expected to change you clothing for gym class in the locker rooms and if you have another class after gym you can take a quick shower in between. Because I did not know Ida had gym class today I did not bring extra clothing to change into but it was still fun anyway. We spent most of our time, after a quick warm up, in the new weight room where the gym teach taught us all how to use the equipment and then gave us all a chance to try out each machine, except for one because we ran out of time.

After gym, the last class of the day, we walked home to Ida's house and watched the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which was about a mole in the upper rankings of MI6. It was very good and interesting. Because they had rented the movie from the library and it was due that night, Austin, Ida, and I hurried down to the library after the movie to return it. Hanna met us there and as Ida and Austin headed home to a scout meeting, Hanna and I rode home on Hanna's bike. Overall, a great day!

Kungsängsgymnaset and Kladdkaka; now try saying that mouthful!

11/6/2012

Today was my first day at Kungsängsgymnaset, the high school, grades 10-12, that Hanna, Ida, and Hampus, Hanna's older brother, go to. We woke up at about 7 this morning to get ready for school and I had cornflakes for breakfast; they bought them for me so I could have something familiar for breakfast and everybody was really excited because they all like them but never buy them. We got to school by 8 but Hanna did not have a class until 9:10 so we went to the principal's office to check in and they gave me a small plastic holder for a name tag. Then we went back to Hanna's locker, I made a name tag to fit in the plastic holder out of some lined paper I had with me, maybe I will add some color to it tomorrow. I met one of Hanna's friends Sofia and the two of them gave me a tour of the school. It is quite big, or at lest it seemed that way to me, but that may be because I did not know where anything was, and it's a bit confusing. Hanna assures me that I will learn my way around in no time; I am a bit skeptical but I will trust the pros for now.

The first class we went to was English class. They had had to reed a book outside of class on their own and today in class they had to write a book report on the book. Hanna read The Gift; "a Christmas story with a good life lesson at the end" according to Hanna. It seemed very intense and Hanna was very nervous that she had forgotten the book over vacation, but she seemed to have no trouble writing pages and pages on the topic. It all seemed very intense. The teacher gave me the prompt for the book report and is was quite long and included many writing points along with a short list of grammatical writing tips and English words that get mixed up often.

The next class we went to was Social Study or Society, I am not sure what we would call it that in the U.S. The class was quite long, 90, minutes and it was all in Swedish, though I understood a little bit because Hanna translated a few of the words for me. They were comparing the Swedish government to the U.S. government. They also talked a little bit about the election, because it is today, and how the electoral system works. I smiled when the teacher said Ohio and swing state in the same sentence and thought about what my parents were doing just then, had the voted yet? Because it was only 11am, or so my time, my parents were probably still asleep. I also got to listen to some students give presentations in class, though I had no idea what they were talking about, it was still cool to recognize a word here and their and make up different meanings for different words.

After Social Studies we ate lunch in the cafeteria. Like at Ekebyskolan lunch was free and today it was fish in a tomato sauce and to Hanna and my surprise, it tasted a lot better then it looked.

After lunch we had our third and final class of the day. Two whole hours of math! Granted there was a break in the middle, where a good portion of the class ran down to the cafe to buy a snack, most of us got chocolate balls. I think I am addicted to chocolate balls and I am going to go through withdrawal when I come back home where I won't be able to find them anywhere.  Good thing Ida wrote down the recipe for me last year when she was in the U.S. Even though math was really long, Hanna has 7 hours of math a week (my dad would love it), it was still really fun. I was able to understand a little bit of what was going on and when I didn't understand one of the words on the board I used Google translate. Hanna caught me one time and laughed but she said it was a good idea, even though Google translate is not that reliable. I was able to learn many of the Swedish numbers today just by listening to the teacher talk and write on the board.




It was a very exciting day at school. When we came home from school, Hanna's mom ordered pizza and we had a very yummy snack before starting our homework. The pizza here has a very thin crust, even thinner than most of our thin crust pizzas, and it was delicious! While Hanna did her homework I wrote my blog and listened to music. Apparently I was extremely tired because without meaning to I fell completely asleep. Hanna woke me up in time to get ready to go to the gym, we were going to meet Ida and Austin to take a step class, but when we got there the class was full so we returned home and hung out a bit before dinner. After a delicious dinner of salmon and potatoes I taught Hanna how to shuffle cards, and she taught me how to bake an amazing chocolaty goodness: Kladdkaka! Kladdkaka is kind of like a cross between a thin brownie and a thin chocolate cake, but much more gooey and delicious! We ate ours with fresh whipped cream and tea! It was amazing! Why don't we have chocolate balls and Kladdkaka in the U.S.?!?!?! Tack så mycket, tills vidare.

Ekebyskolan!

11/5/2012

Today was my first day in a Swedish school. I spent the day in Ekebyskolan, Emma's school, it is the equivalent of our middle school plus 9th grade. Emma is in 9th grade so she is one of the oldest in the school. It was extremely fun following her around and visiting all of her classes. We went to history and sports in the morning before lunch and then English, math, and technology in the afternoon. Everybody at the school was very nice and all the teachers were very welcoming. It was a bit confusing because all of the classes were in Swedish except for a bit of the English class.

Their school is very different from the schools in the U.S. First of all they have a lot of free time in between their classes to hangout and talk. Second, the school has a free lunch program where you can go to the cafeteria and eat lunch, no extra charge. Also, something that was different for me but not necessarily different from the U.S. was that Ekebyskolan is made up of several buildings, we went to 4 of them including the cafeteria. I have never been to a school before that has had gym in one building, technology and history in another, the cafeteria in yet another, and Spanish and handicraft in yet another! It was all very confusing to wrap my head around in the beginning, but after a while I got the hang of it, sort of. Also they have every class with about the same people, math and sports were a bit different and had many different people but many of the same people too.

When Emma and I came home we had some tea to warm ourselves up from the cold air outside and then she helped me pack my suitcase for the move to Hanna's house. I am staying with Hanna for the the next two weeks and I am very excited, although I am sad to leave Emma and her family, though I will probably see them again within the next two weeks. When we got to Hanna's house both Emma and Hanna helped me bring my stuff up to Hanna's room where I will be sleeping (thank you so much Hanna!) and settle in. We then ate an amazing dinner of delicious chicken with a banana bread cake for dessert. Emma had to go home soon after, but Hanna and I hung out a bit longer before getting ready for bed. I am so excited to go to Hanna's school tomorrow! Tack, tills imorgon!

The RUN 😜

11/4/2012

Today Emma took me on a tour of Sala in a different kind of way: we went for a run.

"You don't stand in front
of a mirror before a run...

and wonder what the road
will think of your outfit.

You don't have to listen to its
jokes and pretend they're funny.

It would not be easier to run
if you dressed sexier.

The road doesn't notice
if you're not wearing lipstick.

It does not care
how old you are.

You do not feel
uncomfortable...

because you make more money
than the road.

And you can call on the road
whenever you feel like it,

whether it's been a day...

or a couple of hours
since your last date.

The only thing
the road cares about...

is that you pay it a visit
once in a while.

Nike.
No games.
Just sports."
-what women want, a movie we watched the other night

This was definitely not how I ran. In the first place I am a horrible runner and running is not my preferred type of exercise. I think a combination of me being sick and the cold air made it a bit harder. However, it was extremely beautiful and that it made it all worth it. We went running through the "forest" of Sala on a path called the green way. The "forest" is right next to the pool house and surrounded by houses, but once inside you can loose yourself, it is so beautiful and peaceful. Did you know that if you squeeze twigs or stones in your hands while you run the pain of the cold on your ears goes away. I have no idea how it works, maybe it is a placebo affect, but I don't care, it was like magic and made the pain go away! Thanks Emma! :)

After we came back from our run we took it easy and just hung out downstairs. One of Filippa's friends came over and they played sing star. Emma and I sung once song, in Swedish, and it was a complete disaster, I had no idea what any of the words were or how to pronounce them. Only after we had sung our song did I learn that their were English songs that we could have sung too!

Tonight we had an early dinner, of delicious salmon and potatoes, because Emma, Austin, Ida, William, a friend who visited the U.S. for a short time last year when Ida was at MVCDS, and I were going to see Skyfall the new James bond movie at 7. After dinner Emma and I made chocolate balls: butter, chocolate, oatmeal, and coffee all mixed together and then covered in sugar beads. We then put them in the freezer to eat after the movie.

Skyfall was amazing! One main difference between movie theaters in the U.S. and in Sweden is that in Sweden you have assigned seating like you would have when you go to a play and you can buy your tickets online and pick out the seat that you want. When we came out of the movie theatre there was a spooky layer of thick fog over all over the city. It was kind of fun and scary to walk home in it. When we got home we ate the chocolate balls we had made previously, before going to bed. It was an amazing last night at Emma's house before I move to Hanna's. I am going to miss them very much but I will still be here for another two weeks so I will be able to see them all again, and I am excited to live with Hanna too.

All Saints Eve

11/3/2012

Today we went to one of Sweden's National Parks: Gysinge. First we ate lunch at a small cafe in Gysinge and then we went to visit the small museum there. It was a very cool museum. It had many pictures of the area in all seasons and a small pond and river running underneath the staircase. On the second level there were many blocks that you could open and inside them were animal furs, insects, or pictures of some of the animals that live or had lived in the area. After visiting the museum we walked around for a bit and saw the old flour and saw mill. All that was left of it was the foundation in the middle of the river and some older stone buildings. It was incredibly beautiful.

After we left the park, heading home, we made one stop along the way. We visited the graveyard next to a small church where Emma and Filippa's grandmother is buried. Today was a special holiday called All Saints Eve when you can put candles on the graves of your deceased loved ones. The light was just fading from the sky when we reached the graveyard and all of the lit candles were very pretty.

Shortly after we arrived back home, Katarin, Philip, and Johannes, Agnes's mother and younger brothers, came over for dinner. We had a special Swedish cake called kladdkaka for desert. It tasted kind of like a brownie only it was a bit thinner and chewier than a traditional brownie. After dinner we went for a walk through the main graveyard in Sala. This may seem a bit weird and spooky but because it was All Saints Eve there were many people there lighting candles for their relatives. It was incredibly beautiful to see all of the lights around the graves and around a small pond where they have put the ashes of some people, upon their request. Lotta's grandmother's ashes were scattered in the pond so Lotta lit a candle for her there too. I think it is a very special and nice thing to light candles for your loves ones who have died and put them on their graves. It is a nice way of remembering them and all of the candles that light the graveyards are very pretty.

Aguéli

11/2/2012

Today Emma, Austin, Ida, Ida's younger siblings, and I visited the cultural center of Sala. It is a small museum right next to the library. They had a roller coaster exhibit which consisted of a huge amusement park with a very long roller coaster, all made out of paper. The exhibit Also had two small tables with art supplies so that we could make our own miniature amusement parks. We spent quite a while at those two tables, painting and hot gluing card board to make pieces of art work. I tried to make a Dalahäst out of cardboard, it kinda of worked though it was nothing like the originals made out of wood.

The museum also had an exhibit with pieces of art by Aguéli, a famous Swedish painter, from Sala. His artwork had become very popular after he had died, and a man in Sala collected many of his pieces of artwork. Before he died he donated all of Aguéli's art that he had collected and donated it to the national museum, but with one request, that the art be kept on display in Sala. So, to this day the art work is kept in Sala and it is featured in the cultural center.

Emma, Austin, and I also made cookies today. They were special Swedish cookies called bisquit made out of almond paste, eggs, and sugar. Then the after they are baked you cover the flat side with a dome of chocolate butter cream and then cover that in a layer of chocolate. They were delicious, easily the best cookies I have ever had!

Tonight we went over to Emma's friend, Agnus's house for dinner. They live just outside of Sala on a farm next to Ida's grandparents house! They have 5 horses, which we visited, and hens which we saw from a distance. After dinner, Emma and I taught Agnus and one of her younger brothers, Philip, how to play Mao, a very cool card game. It was very fun and I was glad I was able to teach them an American card game, Austin, Ida, and I had taught Emma earlier on in the week.

Dalahäst!

11/1/2012

Today Emma, Jonas, Filippa, and I went to Avesta, a small town 30 minuets away from Sala, to visited the world's largest Dalahäst!    A Dalahäst is a giant wooden horse. The horse is painted in one base coat with a colorful saddle painted on top. The Dalahäst we visited was a bright red orange with a beautiful orange saddle. They are beautiful and the different colors mean different things. For example, the red orange color means power. We ate lunch at a small cafe next to the Dalahäst before traveling 30 more minutes to Norberg.

On our way to Norberg, and on the way to Avesta from Sala, we passed several small lakes all connected to each other by canals. These lakes were used to power the pumps that pumped water out of the silver mines. We also crossed one of Sweden's longest rivers, Dalälven, twice.

In Norberg we stopped at a very famous very small cafe called Elsa Andersson's Konditori. The cafe is in a very old house and it has many rooms filled with large wooden tables and big soft couches, sofas, and chairs. We met a man with his daughter who had moved to Sweden a few years ago from Kentucky. While we were at Elsa Andersson's Konditori we ate the famous tango cake. Tango cake is a light fluffy cake filled with whipped cream and pineapple with a thick fruity frosting on top that was kind of like fondant. It was quite good, nothing like I have ever tasted before. After we came home from Norberg, Emma gave me a tour of Sala. She ran and I biked around Sala. We passed the firehouse, Filippa's school and several of the neighborhoods. Tack så mycket, förrän senare.

The Train!?

10/31/2012
Today I spent my second day in Stockholm before returning to Sala by train. Stockholm was so beautiful, and we spent today walking around the older parts with cobble stone streets. We even walked along a road that was only 90cm across! We spent the majority of our morning walking through the old part of Stockholm and visiting some of the small shops. One of the stores we went into had the largest collection of painted wooden horses. Tomorrow Emma and I are planning on visiting one of the largest of these painted wooden horses. They are incredibly beautiful!

We also saw the changing of the guard at the royal palace. The royal family no longer lives here but the royal guard is still posted outside and change shifts every day around noon. Today we got lucky. It was one of the few times each week when the royal guard is accompanied by the royal band who marched in along with the guard and after the changing of the guard they played a small concert. They we incredibly good and even had people playing the french horn and the bassoon, which are incredibly hard instruments to march with and still make them sound good!

After we watched the changing of the guard we visited a small museum that contained several royal artifacts from the palace throughout the ages, including many of the articles of clothing that the previous and current royal family had worn before. However we did not say long. Our stomachs, growling with hunger, soon led us to a small restaurant close by with delicious food. After lunch Ida headed off to pick up her younger brother and sister from the bus station, they would be traveling back to Sala with us that night, while Emma, Austin, and I visited the royal palace gift shop and the royal apartments within the palace. The apartments were huge, lavish rooms with extremely cool fern vases in each that looked like tall pillars made out of porcelain or clay covered in elaborate designs.

After visiting the royal apartments within the palace we went in search of the medieval museum where we were to meet Ida and her younger siblings, however we got desperately lost on the way and were only able to find the museum after we found Ida and asked a shop keeper for help. The medieval museum was extremely fun, mainly because it was a children's museum and contained life size replaces of the buildings that you might find in the real medieval Stockholm that you could climb around in. We were having so much fun in the museum that we lost track of time and had to rush to the train station in time to make our train, or try to at least. Austin, Ida, and her siblings already had their tickets and were able to make the train in time, however Emma and I, who did not have tickets yet, missed the train while trying to purchase tickets. However, there were several later trains that we could take and we made it home safe and sound with just a bit of excitement and adventure. Tack, tills imorgon!

Stockholm!

October 30, 2012

Today Emma, Filippa, Lotta, and I took the train to Stockholm. Filippa and Lotta went off to work and shop (they will be returning that night to Sala by train). Emma and I were greeted by Ida and Austin along with friends: Sandra, Jennifer, Maria, and Ellen. We spent the day walking around Stockholm and visiting some museums before returning to Ida's grandfathers house.

Stockholm is so beautiful! All of the buildings are painted bright colors, like red, yellow, and green and the river that runs right through Stockholm is gorgeous. Just like in Sala people walk everywhere but because Stockholm is the capital of Sweden it is quite a bit bigger, about 1 million people, they have many buses and ferries. But these buses are not like the buses in Toledo. For one thing, the majority of the people use them every day, and secondly they are extremely clean and comfortable! Nothing like the buses in Toledo. Sweden's transportation system is so much better than America's!

Today we visited two museums. The first museum we visited was the modern museum or Moderna Museet. Here we saw extraordinary art by Picasso and Duchamp. We also watched a short movie (felm) about an actress who was playing an actress and we saw a modern photography exhibit. Unfortunately Sandra, Jennifer, Maria, and Ellen had to leave us at the Moderna Museet. The next museum we visited was the national museum or National Museet. There we saw several art exhibits including a pride and prejudice exhibit and a slow art exhibit. The pride and prejudice exhibit included several amazing paintings of famous painters and royalty. My favorite painting was "The Lady with the Veil". The slow art exhibit featured art that took a really long time to make, for example a dress made out of glass and a rabbit made out of clay with each individual hair made out of an individual strand of clay.

For lunch, in between museums, we ate at Max, the Swedish equivalent of McDonalds. I don't know if it was the fact that I have not had a burger in ages or the fact that Max's burgers are a lot better than McDonald's, or a combination of both, but they were really, really good!

Emma and I are staying at Ida's grandparents house tonight. Tomorrow we will visit some more museums along with the Palace before we all head back to Sala. Tack, tills vidare.

Silvergruva

I am finally in Sweden! After a long day of traveling, an enjoyable trip, Madagascar 3, and a quick stop in Amsterdam, Austin and I reached Stockholm. Emma and Hanna were waiting for us at the airport when we arrived and Ida arrived shortly after. It was so nice to see Ida and Hanna again after such a long time away and it was amazing to meet my first host sister Emma finally after many conversations via Facebook.

I left Austin and Ida in Stockholm and Emma, Hanna, Emma's dad Jonas Moen, and I traveled to Sala where Emma and Hanna live. Lotta Moen, Emma's mother, and Filippa Moen, Emma's younger sister, we're waiting at the house when we arrived and they had made an amazing dinner of Swedish meatballs (Svenska köttbullar), potatoes (potatis), and salad(sallad) with apple pie (äppelpaj) and caramel ice cream (karamellglass) for dinner. Hanna stayed for quite a while but eventually had to leave because she and her family were going on vacation the next day and their flight left at 3am that next day. Because of the long flight and the 6 hour time difference I was very tired and went to bed soon after Hanna left.


The next day, today, we took a historical/ghost tour of the Salva Silver mine (Silvergruva) in Sala, "everybody who visits Sala must visit the silver mine." it was both scary and interesting at the same time. Sonny, one of Lotta's students, Ida, and Marita came with us to visit the silver mine. I learned a lot about the mine and how it was built. Because we it is close to Halloween, it was a ghost tour. We were all terrified afterwards, especially me and Filippa.

They celebrate Halloween differently here in Sweden. Not many people go trick or treating, though they use to maybe 5 or so years ago. Instead Halloween is more about scaring other people than about the candy. People at both Hanna's school and Emma's school dressed up in costumes last Friday and at Emma's school their was a contest for best costume.

The rest of the day Emma and I walked around the center square of Sala and visited the mall and the park. Even though it was cold and rainy out there were many people walking around, going to the store for food or going shopping at the mall. Lotta explained to me that everybody walks everywhere because the price of gas is so high, they have to be very careful and make sure they do not use the car when it is not necessary. I feel kind of silly for driving all the time at home now.

Today there was the first snow fall (snö fall) of the year. It was gorgeous to wake up to a blanket of snow on the ground and fat white flakes in the air, though the snö had stopped by lunch and it was all gone by dinner time.

We are planning on going to Stockholm tomorrow by train and I can't wait! I can't wait to see more of this amazing and beautiful country!  Tills imorgon.