School!

Want to know the good side about living in Sweden?



Well the flag is a big plus :)

That was a pun, I hope you get it!

These past few days have been quite crazy - trying to get over jet lag, settling in, and getting used to being the most clueless one in the room.  Slowly, ever slowly, I am learning more every day and I am doing my best to study in my free time and pick up a few new words daily.  I'm starting to get a better feel for the culture as well, so that's a plus.

This, my friends, is an interesting place to be.  They put the contents of our refrigerator condiments drawer in these big metal toothpaste-like tubes and sell them in bulk.  Ever had bacon cheese in a tube?  I have.  Oh but don't worry there's shrimp flavor too.  Maybe you want some caviar with your cracker bread?  Here let me squeeze some out for you.  There's even a little tube-holder in most refrigerators!  But this is the country who invented Tetra-Pak so perhaps they are ahead of the game.

Regardless, let me tell you, Swedish food:  On point.  Especially the food my host dad makes, he is an amazing cook and dinner has become my favorite part of the day.  I love that Swedish food is generally pretty simple and healthy, but hardy and very energizing.  I eat a lot but it's healthy food so let's be real, no shame.  Junk food doesn't even include the Swedish chocolate because that stuff is soul food brought down from a loving God, amen.  I've come to love Swedish breakfast as well!  I have never been a breakfast person, but now I love it with the variety of different breads and crackers and spreads and fruit that makes me happy.  The milk as well!  I am usually a die hard skim milk kind of person but there must be something wacky with these cows because this 1.5% milk is divine.  The butter is pretty delicious too.

There has been some success regarding the cat as well, she likes to come and lay on or beside me in the evenings before dinner when I am just chilling on the couch.  She will usually sleep or ask for attention, but she never fails to get in the way.  When my family and I are just sitting around on the couches and she is curled up next someone, every so often you will see a hand shoot up and flinch away from an attack.  She leaves her mark.  That's ok, I just want her to like me.... My host brother and I recently discovered that she does indeed love bacon cheese in a tube.

My love for fika grows yet still.  My host family and I will sometimes sit at the table after reading an excerpt from a church magazine and have fika for a while before bed.  It's really mostly just dessert and lots of fun talking, but I feel Swedish calling it fika.

So I started school today!  Yesterday was the orientation sort of day where they give you some information and you meet your klass (the group of students who you will be with throughout almost all of your subjects) and your teachers.  You stay for a couple hours and then you're free.  So it was yesterday that I saw my school for the first time!  It is in the center of Gothenburg in a beautiful old building on the side of a canal that used to be a bank.  It is kind of modern on the inside with spiral staircases that could kill you and marble finishes and such.  There were lots of windows (a trend I'm starting to see in most Swedish structures) and a glass ceiling and a very modern feel.  The school has a strong aesthetics program (which is really art and design and such) and it is pretty hard to get into, but the program I am in is the social sciences program which has only my class in the grade.

My school is very very small - 310 students in the entire place.  High school in Sweden is 10-12 grade, but even then, that's tiny.  The building is small as well, so it makes sense.  My klass consists of 25 students, 5 boys and the rest girls.  I was given a welcome as the exchange student so I think everyone pretty much knew me.  Overall, I was very optimistic.

Today I went to the first official day.  ALL BY MYSELF I walked from my house to the public bus station and took the bus to the center of the city where I walked about 10 minutes to the school.  How's that for independent!  *Shout out to all the people who make fun of me for my old fear of public transportation and horrible sense of direction.*  They started by dividing us up into groups of five and giving us a paper with instructions on places we need to find throughout the city.  They literally just let us loose for a few hours and told us to be back at a certain time.  It's so strange to be in a country where they're allowed to do that and the teachers are funny and you call them by their first name and take embarrassing pictures with them.

I've been warned many times that people will most likely not be all too friendly at first; Swedes are very reserved and will not likely approach me.  They may also be a bit shy about speaking English with me.  My small group of five were friendly, however, and we got along splendidly.  From there I met a few other students and I even made plans with a couple to go fika next week :) I'd say it was a successful day.  I'm pretty proud of myself, I must say.  I'm not going to say that it was easy, but I realize now that people were preparing me for the worst.

When we all got back in time (Swedes are always punctual), we crossed the canal and walked up some cobblestone alley ways to the school's other location.  This school was the technical one, so it was mostly boys versus my school which was mostly girls.  We went there for lunch because that's where the tiny little cafeteria is.  The wifi name and password was taped to the wall so that occupied us for a while before we lazily made our way back to the classroom.  They took some pictures of us and then decided to let us out two hours early.  Sweden: 1, America: 0

So just some tips to anyone who may be interested in going abroad:

1.)  It is so hard.  They tell you it will be hard but trust me, it is ten times that.  Going in with confidence is fine and all, just know that it will be shattered pretty quickly.  I can't even begin to list the number of things that will be tugging on your heartstrings and messing with your head.  I was an emotional wreck for the first week (It's been a week and a day so I figured I could say it in past tense) and it was rough.

2.)  You're going to be homesick, even if you think you won't be.  It's worse when you are sad, but when you are occupied and happy it is not bad.

3.)  A tip is to write things down or express them in some way.  Not only does it help you but it will be valuable to look back on.  I'm not even kidding when I say I have already written 25 pages in my journal this early in.

4.)  Also, don't ever be alone.  When you're alone you are sad and that's never a good thing.  Try to be busy and don't really think.  A good routine helps a lot.

5.)  Try your absolute very best!  Throw your whole self into studying your language and everything works out.

6.)  Make it a rule to only go on social media and talk with people from home when you are really happy and nothing will get you down.  It is the opposite of a good idea to do that when you are sad.

7.)  Most importantly, however, know what stands behind you.  You don't need to talk to your parents to feel their support.  You should know that people have confidence in you, otherwise you wouldn't be there.  The organization who accepted you, your parents, your friends, your church, your host family, etc.

It must sound pretentious that I'm giving out advice a week and a day into my exchange, but this has been the most incredible week of my life.  Crazy ups and downs and tons of memories.  Every day feels longer, which is usually a good thing.  I feel that I have grown in my days here and I am already well on my way to knowing myself on a new level.  I recommend an exchange to everyone, but not anyone will like it because it really does take a key attitude in a person to make it a successful year.  Let's hope I have that!!

Misha

The cat only uses me </3 me with my journal of course

Creeping on the host family

One of the buildings my group came across wandering around the city

A cute little bistro or something in a quiet corner tucked away in the city

First day of school