Week 1 In Sweden

DAY 6: August 19th 2017

Today was the day. I was moving into SVF and starting my semester in Sweden. We woke up in the country house, ate breakfast which consisted of a granola, yogurt, tea and a sandwich with butter cheese and salted cucumber (which tasted a lot like pickles but without the vinegar). We packed everything up and headed to Emilias uncles house for fika. We stopped by the grocery store for some quick things and then continued with our drive. We stopped in a little town for lunch. We walked around and stopped in a store where they make candy canes from scratch. We watched them make the candy canes for a while before heading to lunch. We stopped at this little café where I ordered Swedish pancakes with crème and lingonberries. I started texting Kajsa to see what time we should meet and where in SVF we should meet. WE finally made a plan and headed to Emilias Uncles house for fika. We got to her Uncles house and it was slightly raining. We walked to the back of the house where her aunt was with the chickens and said hello. She welcomed us into the house where we were greeted by the sound of children. We walked in to find three little boys on the couch two under the age of 10 and a baby of about a couple months old. Her uncle was cleaning the house getting ready for fika. We sat and talked with the children for a while (which I didn’t contribute much to because I didn’t understand the conversation), before heading to the table for fika. We had a banana cake, cinnamon buns (white pearl sugar instead of the frosting) and of course black tea. We talked some in English and some in Swedish which at this point was completely normal to me, just being with family was refreshing. After fika we got ready to head down to SVF. We drove up the hill, a knot in my stomach the entire time. We pulled up into the parking lot when Kajsa texting me saying she also just arrived at the school. We met right outside the entrance to the main building and walked in to figure registration out together. We walked to the front desk got our keys to our dorms, the Wi-Fi password and all the information happening for the next couple days. I found out that me and Kajsa were in separate dorms so we decided that we would help each other unpack. Emilias family drove me down this big hill and at the bottom of it was my dorm called Furugården. We unpacked all my luggage and then drove back up the hill to help Kajsa unpack first. Once we reached the top of the hill I said good-bye to Emilias family which was really sad for me. I had such an amazing week with Emilia and her family and I wouldn’t see her again until January at North Park. We said good-bye and they drove away. I helped Kajsa get all her luggage from her friend’s car and took it to her room in Hemgården (her dorm). We found out that Jack (one of the other Americans doing the College Line trip) lived directly across the hall from Kajsa. We met him and his roommate Jon and then met up with Rachelle (the North Park teacher). On our way to go back down the hill to help me unpack we ran into the last American (Olivia) who also only lived a couple doors down from everyone else. I was the only American living in a separate dorm. Kajsa walked down to my dorm to help me unpack, when we got to my room we found out that my roommate was also moving in at the same time. Her name was Linnea and her mother was helping her move in everything. We had a bathroom in our room but not a shower (all the other Americans got showers in their rooms, which I’m still bitter about). We decided to take a break from moving in to get some dinner in the cafeteria. It was pretty full considering they were having dinner open to everyone and their families. After both of our rooms were moved into (at like 9pm/21) we decided to go to bed. But first I wanted to facetime some people. I facetimed my best friend Kyle for a little bit and then facetimed my family for a little. Considering it was late here but only the afternoon there I had to cut both conversations short so I could get some sleep for the day tomorrow. I was finally here at SVF and all I wanted to do was sleep. The week previous was amazing in Stockholm and I was ready to start the semester, meeting new people and becoming closer with the other three students form North Park.

This was my day to day for my week in Stockholm. I will try now to post week by week instead