Row Your Boat

My second to last week in Sweden was spent down south, celebrating a graduation and enjoying time on the water with my host family.

My host mom's youngest daughter, Ida, graduated from three years of high school at a maritime school in a town down south.  After my last day of school, we drove down to Eva's mother's summer house and relaxed before the big party the next day.  The house was straight across the road from the ocean which, as a native New Mexican, was incredibly exciting.  

In Sweden, high school graduations are an even bigger celebration bringing together friends and family from all over.  The traditions seem strange, but what is usual is for the students, dressed in white dresses and fancy suits with their special hats, run out of their high schools cheering and blowing whistles to basically make as much noise as they can.  As they run they will find their parents and family who gathered to see the party, holding big signs with the student's baby picture serving as background to a huge congratulations and name.  They find each other, take pictures, and then the student goes back to his or her class and, in the case of Gothenburg, will drive around in big trucks dancing and drinking and causing havoc.  It's all such chaos and noise until later when the student will come back to an intimate party with lots of food and care put on by his or her family.  Friends, family, neighbors and more come to celebrate the single student and an afternoon of laughter, heart-warming speeches, presents and food ensues until the student typically meets up with his or her class again to party the night away and celebrate the new freedom.  

The amount of love and care put into everything by those gathered for the sole purpose of supporting a loved one is wonderful.  A huge rain storm came exactly when the students were scheduled to run out of the school, so everyone crammed into the courtyard and the students paused, dancing, on the steps of the building before running out to meet their family in the crowd.  I have to say it was miserable to huddle underneath an umbrella, standing in a puddle with your nice shoes, and avoiding touching the other wet, expectant folks.  After Ida came to see us, we drove to the party destination and prepared everything.  Apart from the food, my favorite part of the party were the lovely speeches given.  Hearing grandparents, aunts and friends talk so highly of Ida was so beautiful and I realized I would take this sort of graduation party over any other.  

Our vacation really started after the graduation party.  I went out on a row boat with Lars and Erlend (I even rowed a little while, imagine that!) and we played mini golf and lawn games together in between eating party left overs.  It was relaxing and I loved spending some quality times with my host brothers.  A source of great amusement to me was getting to meet Eva's side of the family.  They were so funny and interesting to talk to.  It feels like now that I have met as much extended family as I have, it's a successful year! 

We left for our canoe trip on Monday.  Two canoes and one kayak were packed with sleeping bags and food for the coming week before being pushed off into the backs of a river in Småland, an area to the bottom right corner of the country.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Green beyond your wildest dreams with water stretching out far from shore to shore.  It was my first time in a canoe, so I loved the idea of paddling away to adventure and discovery with my host brother right beside me.  Our trip lasted for four days, four blissful days of sunshine and clouds, wind and waves.  We would stop for lunch at various spots before heading out to find a place to camp for the rest of the night.  One of my favorite spots was the second night.  We shared the lot with a group of Germans on a Christian camp trip.  They were friendly and spoke very little English, save it were the leader.  Once we got the tent up, my brothers and I sat and talked, ignorant to what was going on outside.  As it got later we heard the Germans playing guitar and singing softly amongst themselves.  Impulsively, Erlend and I stepped out into the fresh air and the first thing that hit me was the gorgeous sunset that we had been missing.  It was breathtaking, with pinks and purples and oranges reflecting off the water.  We sat down with the Germans and they welcomed us.  We all sang together around the camp fire while the sun disappeared behind us.  I went to sleep that night so happy I had stepped out when I did.

Vegard looking like a wet cat

Colder than the warm up pool at the New Mexico State Championships

Our champion!

Erlend wasn't doing so great...

Right across the road from the summer house

Cutie :)

Me taking selfies while the boys try to row

LARS <3

I wasn't all that great

But it was fun anyways!

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.