Sommarstuga!

The day after the Re-entry Camp, my third host brother came home from his exchange year in Wyoming and I spent a weekend away with my best friends.

The only sibling I had yet to meet was Erlend, who had been on his exchange year in the thrilling desserts of Green River, Wyoming, USA.  I had heard various stories of him from the rest of the family and I wasn't sure what to think.  He is a year older than me, so I was hoping we could be friends for the month we would be living together.  He turned out to be a wonderful guy and it took about a day before it was clear we would get along just fine.  Picking him up from the airport with the family and seeing everyone's giddy expressions made me start to wonder about going home myself - the count down was now below the month mark.  Excited and anxious?  Yes.  Sad and desperate for more time?  Much more so. 

I had a busy schedule to keep my mind off departure day and first up on the list was a weekend trip to Johanna's summer house (or sommarstuga in Swedish) with Sofia to complete our trio.  It is common for Swedes to keep summer houses elsewhere in the country to steal away to when the weather gets nice.  Johanna's family keeps a small house about an hour and a half away from the city, right on the border between Sweden and Norway.  After a decent amount of planning our coming menu for the days, as well as packing about three times more clothes than we ended up needing, Johanna's dad drove us to the house during a rainstorm.  The girls and I cuddled up in the master bedroom and watched movie after movie while the rain kept pouring.  It was the definition of cozy.  Cold pasta and popcorn served as our meal and we cracked open more treats for another string of movies.

The rest of the weekend proved to serve us with good weather, although the temperature of the ocean didn't sit too well with us.  We went on a biking adventure to the closer towns in the area and figured out how to grill like men.  During the days we caught some sun and went down to the beach which was a five minute walk from the house.  We messed around in the yard and talked to the friendly old Norwegian neighbors and had some close calls in the kitchen with raw chicken.  We lived without rules that weekend - meals were never eaten at uniform times and proper coverage was basically optional.  I kicked myself for bringing so many cute outfits when we barely ever wore more than swim suits and pajamas.  Our table manners were horrific and it was a struggle to keep the house clean, but we had the most wonderful time.  All around us were beautiful ocean views and trees.  We savored our last month together and just enjoyed each other's company.  Life was easy, life was fun.

We ended our trip with another sea town exploration where we climbed up to the top of a large hill that I am told was a part of a children's movie based on a book by the famous Astrid Lindgren.  We got home just in time to participate in the church youth group meeting at my house.  The girls spent the night and went to school the next day.

I am so grateful for the friends I found in Sweden.  It can take courage to let yourself get close to someone who you know is only there for a year.  They have taught me more about their country and language than I ever thought I could learn.  They made me feel welcome in their homes and country.  I am lucky beyond belief to have such wonderful friends.