Week 3 At SVF

September 4th - September 10th

The third week of the semester approached in a dark, wet, cloud. The rain pounding against the windows of the classroom making me want to go out and dance while most people wanted to cuddle up in bed. Monday (Måndag) started with learning how to tell the time in Swedish and learning the numbers between 0-20. We continued to study for our test on Egypt that would be on Friday (Fredag). We went through the normal schedule and on Tuesday (Tisdag) we were going on a field trip to Östergötland. It was about an hour away from Jönköping and the bus was leaving early in the morning. We got on the bus and started our drive. First we went to an old medieval church with low arches and incredible statues. We had fika here and then got back in the bus and headed to a stone with ancient writing on it that was the oldest known form of writing in Sweden. The rain was still misting which gave the day a somber, calming feeling. After we went to lunch at a similar school to SVF. After lunch we walked to another church. This church was mile high and the architecture told infinite stories of the people of the time. We stayed at this church for a while and towards the end I decided I wanted to pray so I sat in one of the pews and talked to God. Nothing astounding happened it was just nice to sit and be with Him. We left and halfway back to the bus I realized I left my phone in the church on the pew, so Marianne and I (the Swedish teacher) walked as fast as we could back to the church to get it. Luckily it was still there. Our last stop was ancient ruins, where a famous female saint's husband was buried. We pulled up and the first thing I noticed was this tall sturdy tree. *Sidenote; trees have always been very important to me and I feel a very strong connection to the earth and God through trees. We got out to explore and the entire ruins were damp, abundant with lavender. I felt like I was falling in love. It had been a long time since man-made structures were considered beautiful to me. We stayed here a long time and I desperately did not want to leave. We quickly stopped at a famous candy store that Gränna is known for so we all bought a candy stick (mine was blueberry). We headed back to school just in time for dinner. Wednesday (Onsdag) came around and our Religion class was early in the morning. I was selected to lead a group and discuss some questions that was emailed to the class. My group decided to eat breakfast and then talk in the dining hall. My group included Axel, Klara, Mimmi and Me. We discussed religion, our personal beliefs, politics, the differences between Swedish politics and American politics. We talked about how in Sweden politics and religion are very separated whereas in America politics and religion are very much intertwined. I loved discussing the difference of culture and difference of perspectives. The class easily became one of my favorite classes. Friday (Fredag), along with P.E., came and today we were going to be playing badminton. It had been a long time since I played badminton, but it was fun to get back at it again. We were all more than happy for the weekend to come. Some of us decided to go out again on Saturday. We went to some of the same bars and made it home around midnight. Week 3 made this new place really feel like home and I was started to dread the day I would need to pack everything up again and go back to the similar routine I had in Chicago.