Christmas!

I know Christmas was about a week ago! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! I know that I had a life changing one. It may have been way different from how I celebrate it. But it was fun and different. And I just happen to like things that are different. That's basically the main reason I am doing my exchange. But the Swedish traditions for Jul (Christmas) are pretty amazing and a little strange.

First off, it isn't celebrated on the 25th like everywhere else. Instead it's celebrated on the 24th. This tradition dates back to Scandinavian/Germanic pagan rituals. Yuletide was celebrated on the 23th and the New Year was on the 25th. Yuletide was the special celebration for the god Odin, he and his 8 legged horse would visit the children's homes on the last day of the year (the 24th) The children would leave straw and carrots and water for the horse. Odin would replace those foodstuffs with sweet treats and small gifts This celebration lasted for up to 3 days. It is still celebrated this way today. 

The food is another thing. I am used to having prime rib with mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, popovers, and any amazing dessert my mother makes. Here in Sweden, that's not the case at all! It's cold Julskinka (Christmas Ham), boiled potatoes, different cheeses, Santa porridge, a Swedish sausage that tastes like hotdogs, herring in different types of sauce, and meatballs, of course!!!!! This is what I had for dinner on Christmas.

After you eat, you wait for Tomten (Santa) to come and give you gifts! The kids get over filled with joy and they wait for this all night. Tomten is usually the father. He says that he is going out to get something from the store, dresses up as Tomten, comes in with gifts for everyone, then he leaves. Then magically the father comes home almost right after he has left. The kids are disappointed that their father didn't get to meet Tomten, but get over it pretty quickly because it's JUL!!!! They open their gifts are quickly as they can. 

 

Of course, I didn't ask for much from my real parents or from my host parents. I already had gotten the biggest and best gift that anyone could ever give me. I got candy, goldfish crackers, three boxes of strawberry Poptarts,  two Tomten children, movie tickets, an iTunes card, dry roasted peanuts, candy canes, gloves, a hat, and two glass candle holders made in Sweden. It is going to be so hard to bring them back to the States. But if there is a will, there is a way. I have already double wrapped both in bubble wrap. They are going to go in my carry-on. I don't want them to break! 

Tis The Season

I know that I haven't written anything in awhile. And there is a reason for that. It is time for Christmas around the world. And in Sweden, Christmas is called Jul. I have to say, it may not be as big as it in the States, but it is still pretty big here. I have been spending the past couple of weeks going to see many different Lucia plays, buying things for my parents for Christmas, going sledding with my host siblings, Christmas Tree hunting, baking gingerbread cookies and drinking glögg, making a gingerbread house, singing Christmas songs, and watching the snow come and go. I thought I would make different parts of my experiences that I have had over the past few weeks.

LUCIA

Lucia is a very beautiful and amazing experience with singing, dressing up, and somtimes Glögg and pepparkakor. Lucia is always celebrated on December 13th. The story of Lucia is Saint Lucy, or Santa Lucia was a young girl who lived in about 300 CE. At a young age, her Christianity made her the target of anti-Christian sentiment. She was blinded and executed. Lucy is now associated with both light in the darkness and sight. The festival of Santa Lucia celebrates the light brought to one of the darkest days of the year, just as Lucy’s faith shown in a dark period for early Christians. This year it was on Friday the 13th. At a Lucia concert, one girl dresses up in a white dress with a crown with five candles lit. The rest of the girls also wear white dresses, but instead of a crown full of candles, they are holding a single candle in their hands. Most of the time, the Lucia doesn't sing. They sing songs about Lucia and many holiday songs. Some of the songs are in English, some are translated into Swedish, and some are just traditional Swedish holiday songs. It is an experience that I will never forget. In the pictures below, its myself as the Lucia and how everyone is supposed to dress for a concert.

 






Drinking Glögg And Eating Pepparkakor

This is always a fun thing to do. Baking cookies and drinking something warm. In Sweden, we make ginger bread cookies and drink glögg. Glögg is  a spiced, sugared and simmered (or ‘mulled’) red wine. In Sweden this is a beverage consumed almost exclusively during the Christmas season, usually with raisins and blanched almonds added. The drink can have alcohol or not have any. I have tested both. The one with is very strong and you can smell the alcohol. The one without is almost like a hot lemonade with a hint of home spice. Glögg is nice to drink on a nice cold day and it is nice to drink when everyone is sitting around the TV. 



Sledding With My Family

I have gone sledding ever since I was a young child. I have always loved it and always had a soft spot for it. In my more recent years, every time I have gone down the hill in my back yard in the States, I have always flown off and done a faceplant. I would continue to sled even after doing who knows how many faceplants. On top of doing faceplants, I would sometimes fall off the back of my sled and land very hard on my back. My luck with faceplants ran out. And I haven't done one in years. But upon riding sleds in Sweden, I have fallen off the back of the sleds many times. Even though, I fell off many times, I still managed to have some good fun with my family.



Baking

I have to say, I have always loved to bake. So nothing makes me happier, but to bake. And I also love it when I have people to do it with! It makes it so you can share the feeling of making something amazing with not only yourself. I have always helped my mother bake, until I learned to do it myself. In Sweden, when it comes time for winter, everyone bakes Lussekatter and pepparkakor. Lussekatter is a bun that has saffran in it. Saffran is a yellow colored powder that is mixed in the dough. This is supposed to symbolize the light that shines through the darkness of winter time. I have to say that even though the bun doesn't have much of a sweet taste, it is still pretty good. We also put together a ginger bread house. It wasn't home made, but it was still made with a lot of love.


 

SNOW!!!

One of my favorite things about winter. I have always loved snow. You can ride snowmachines, you can play in it, you can build snow forts, have snow ball fights, go sledding in it. There are many fun things that you can do in the snow. Being from the NorthEastern part of the States, I have seen snow many times in my life. Having it for a few months a year makes it even that much more special to me. At my home in the States, they have receieved snow in October, which is VERY early. It didn't stay for long. In Sweden, we didn't get snow until late November. It left just as fast as it came.

Christmas Tree Hunting

Another favorite part about Christmas and winter time, the tree. The smell of the tree always makes me smile. Just like in the old days, some people here in Sweden, go out and cut their own trees. Instead of buying them. I have to say it makes for more memories doing it this way. It was today that me and my family went out into the woods with some friends from my rotary club and we searched for a tree! I loved it! I loved being in the woods, cooking hamburgers and hot dogs, having glögg, meeting new people, seeing known faces, and having a good time all around. We spent time as a family and I loved it.

Apologies

I had just been talking with my host parents. And a topic about my blog came up. While we were talking about it, I decided that this would be best to do. Not for me, but for the people that I have offended. I am doing it now because I feel that it is important to talk about it instead of waiting. I would like to explain myself to allow you guys to see where I am coming from. I don't want to harm anyone.

I am not being forced to say this either. I decided that it would be best. I am sorry. I have not had the intentions of hurting anyone or making them feel bad. I just want to say that I didn't want to hurt anyone when I wrote any of my posts. I also want to say that if you feel offended or want to talk about it feel free to contact me about it. We can go for a Fika and talk about it. Or we can talk on FaceBook. I don't want to give off a bad impression.

I can understand where it might seem like I am seeming either mean or trying to make someone feel bad. But this is not the case. I am not trying to focus on any certain person or group of people. I love being here in Sweden and even in Jönköping. I wouldn't change being here for the world. I love the people that I go to school with.

I might have changed classes. But it wasn't originally my choice. The class advisor from Sa3b said that it might be better for me to be in Sa3a because students from that class had been talking and doing things with me out of the classroom. She had only said this because during our class meeting times, I would sit alone for the whole 40 minutes. I didn't feel like I was apart of the class. I can understand that some of the people in the class may have been shy to talk to me. But they shouldn't have to. I am pretty open and always willing to talk. No one should ever feel shy to talk to me.

Now that I have changed classes, I don't want the original class to feel as if I don't like them. I do like them. I enjoy every time one of them talks to me. It makes me feel good inside. I feel like I have a purpose for actually being here. Instead of just feeling like I am alone and that no one wants anything to do with me. I would love if I could go to the movies, have Fikas, and even have people over from both of the classes. I think it would help me get more friends and also help me become more involved with the Swedish culture like I would love to do.

I hope that if I had offended anyone, that this would help clear up any misunderstandings. I am truly sorry if I have made anyone feel bad about themselves or feel as if I am not willing to try to be friends with anyone.

Confessions About Sweden and My Year So Far

I thought I would give everyone an insight on how my year is going. To be honest, I will write some sad ones, but I will write some amazing ones as well. I want to give everyone a better look at my exchange year because a lot of people ask me how I am. And I love answering them. So this post is for the other people who don't get the chance to ask me how I am doing. I hope that these confessions will give you an idea of how I am keeping up in Sweden :)

After arriving, I thought that I had never truly left the States. I mean there are some pretty big differences, but where I live has a forest pretty close by and it looks pretty similar to Vermont. But there are huge differences.

I had to start a new medication for a exsisting condition. And I had gotten very sick from it. I tried to hide it as well as I could. I never really told my host parents about it. I am still feeling some of the side effects now. And I have been on it for over 2 months.

I had liked my last host family, but I didn't really connect with them. I mean I did, but not like I thought I would. It was hard because of their jobs.

I had very bad depression during the first two months, but it really effected me in the second and third month. I almost never wanted to do anything. I would sit around and cry for most of the day. I sometimes did it during school, but I hid that very well also.

I was very homesick during the end part of August and beginning of September. I like to think it was because I had finally gotten fully adjusted to my new life and I was a bit jealous of my parents exchange student. But I stopped being home sick in early October.

In Sweden, they have some American things, such as Skittles, M&M's, Ben & Jerry's ice cream (Made in Vermont), Coca-Cola products, peanut butter, Doritos, and even fluff. It makes my happy that I can go to the store and get them.

Sweden has mostly BMW's, Volvo's, Citron, and some Toyotas. I have seen very few Chevy's, Jeep's, and Ford's. This is because the cars here are made in surrounding countries. And the cars that we have in the States would be very expensive to ship here.

It took some time to make friends. It was maybe a month or so before I really had any friends. Now I am friends with most of my class. It feels great to know that I have people I can hang out with and talk with.

I have blood from Ireland, Scotland, and England. A few people at my school asked me if I was from different places in the U.K. I told them that I was from the States and that I had blood that came from the U.K. They were very surprised.

I have been told that I do not have the "typical" American accent. The "typical" American accent to them might be from the large places that they have visited. But I am from a very small town and state. I also I have a parent from Vermont and one from New Hampshire. My family lives throughout New England. I hear different accents all the time. Mine has changed over the years due to this.

Food here is very good. But it isn't a normal meal. To me, a normal meal is where you have a meat, a vegetable, either rice, pasta, or potatoes, and a drink. Here that is not the case. You have a meat, potatoes, and a vegetable. I am fine with having potatoes because I eat them in almost every way. Even raw, just needs a little salt ;)

I thought that the weather would be freezing and that we would have seen some snow by now. I am completely wrong. It is currently like a late September to early October weather in Vermont. And when it is time to go to school, the temperature is not usually below 32. I was told that back home they have seen snow and that it is cold almost all the time.

I thought that Sweden would have a lot of Swedish artist. I thought that it would be a great way to learn the language. But usually they listen to American music. They do have some successful artist, but they mostly sing in English. Some famous artist are ABBA, Rockset, and Avicii.

A very good thing about Sweden is that they have many different types of candy. Their chocolate is amazing. I get very bad headaches from eating American chocolate. But here, I don't get any. They have many different types of candies to choose from. The Swedish word for candy is Godis.

The language... For me, I think that it is pretty easy to learn. I do have problems with it though. Don't get me wrong. Anyone who learns a new language has problems. I can talk to my host siblings with almost now problem now. But the good thing about Swedish is that many of the words are pretty close to English. But the grammar is hard. And there are three additional letters. Å, Ä, and Ö. We have words that use the sounds of the additional three letters in English. But they have different ways of saying them here.


Since I have moved to my new host family, I feel like a big sister and feel like I have big responsibilities. I am the youngest of three and the only girl in the family. It is different having a younger sister and brother living with me. I love it though! I wouldn't change it for the world. They are the best!

For the first time in my whole life, I have no pets around the house. I am used to having a dog or two. But my host family's dog recently passed away. It is sad.

In my mind, I think that a bit of the Swedish guys are pretty hot. I mean like damn.... And I also think that a lot of the Swedish girls are very pretty. It sort of intimidates me.

A lot of Swedish girls have very thin and very straight hair. And is usually blonde. Where as my hair is very thick, very curly, frizzy, and wavy. And it is a medium brown color. I am always having my hair up because if it wasn't, it would be an afro or a hot curly and frizzy mess.

The stereotypical Swede had blonde hair, blue eyes, very tall, very pretty/handsome, and can be very shy. Well I can tell you. They do have many different hair and eye colors. They can be very tall and very short, such as myself. They are pretty and handsome, but everyone has their own looks. And they can be very shy, but it doesn't take very long for someone to crack their shell and make them act like a bunch of crazy people.

Changing of The Host Family

One of the hardest things about being an exchange student has to be one of two things:

1. Having to pack your life away for a year. And having to repack when you move.
2. Having to leave your family for a new one. And once you get used to the family, you must move again.

I must say that the packing is the hardest for me, personally. I didn't bring too much or too little to Sweden. But when I pack, I try different ways of packing things to try to find the best way so that I can make the most out of what I have. I mean this more towards space than anything. When I came to Sweden, I had packed my smallest suitcase with shower items, some clothes, host family gifts, and used my sweatshirt to make so nothing opened. Then my largest suitcase contained SpaceBags that had all of my clothes. Also in there, I had one pair of shoes (I should have packed a different pair. That pair gave me six blisters almost as soon as I stepped out the door), make-up bags full of random items, and candy. I packed my small suitcase into my larger suitcase. It saved space and I didn't have to pay for a second bag. In my duffle bag, I had my laptop, dress clothes, shorts, t-shirts, and my Rotary blazer. I could put it on whenever I landed and was at an airport. In my backpack, I had my documents for my flight, insurance, doctors notes about shots, school papers, information on becoming a Swedish citizen, and a paper that had the numbers of important people in the States and Sweden. I have to say, it wasn't that organized, but I still managed to pack everything and not miss anything. I was pretty proud of myself. My stow away weighted 51lbs and I was pretty damn proud of myself.

I was told I was moving to my next host family on Saturday November 2nd. I was nervous and pretty excited. I had felt the same way when I went to the first host family. But I was ready to try it. If I wasn't ready to try new things and have different experiences, I wouldn't have decided to be an exchange student. I washed, ironed, and packed my clothes away in a day and a half. Packing the other things I had only took an hour or so. But when Saturday came around, I was ready. I had already met my second and third host families at a Fika (Coffee and desserts). I knew that I was going to love my next host families.

As I got out of the car of my first host family, I walked to the door of the second. I noticed that there was a sign that say "Välkommen Silver" (Welcome Silver). I couldn't help, but smile. I loved it. I opened the door to be meet by two welcoming small children and my new host parents. I had gotten a gift from my host brother. It was a necklace with little colorful butterflies I smiled at him and said "Tack så mycket, Martin!" (Thank you so much, Martin) He blushed and tried to hide behind his mother.

I brought my bags upstairs and began the unpacking progress again. I liked unpacking. It let me look at what memories I had with the items. There is some items that I didn't pack that I wished I had. And some items that I packed that I wish I didn't. But I can't change what I did. It makes me feel good to look at the items. It makes me smile and think of home. I would love to be home and experience my junior year with friends. But from what my father has told me over Skype, I'm not really missing much, besides snow and very cold weather. And I am thankful that Sweden has turned like that just yet. It is cold though. I do have to admit. My host mom, the kids, and I play a game in the car every morning where we guess how cold it is. I have won every time that we have played.

After I finished packing, my host parents had an amazing dinner waiting downstairs. As well as an amazing dessert. I enjoyed being at the table talking with the whole family. It felt like I was home and I loved every second of it. When dinner was finished, my oldest host brother, his cousin, and I went to the movies. They had a few good movies that were playing that night. I would have loved to seen "You're Next", but we saw a movie called "Prisioners" which was just as amazing. The movie was really good. It had its scary moments, but also had its great moments.

I fell in love with this host family almost as soon as I entered it. The family is always on the go. And that's what I am used to. The kids are always energetic and so am I. We get along pretty well. Even though they are young and can't understand English, I can understand them in Swedish. Which makes myself pretty proud and excited that I can understand them. I am thankful that this family opened their home and lives to me.

Feelings

I thought I would write a post about my feelings and what I have been experiencing here. I will start from the beginning of my exchange, but I won't do too much detail. Just enough so that you can understand what I was feeling. If you are wondering why I am doing this. It is because I want to give everyone an inside look on what it is like during the first months of exchange. And also so I can reflect as I look back on my exchange five or ten years down the road.

I was afraid, nervous, excited, tired, and anxious. One could imagine having to fly to a new country to live for 50 weeks, live with complete strangers (which in the end they may consider family and would do anything for them), go to a school with people and a language that they have never used or seen before, changing their lifestyle to be like everyone else, and not be able to see loved ones. Before I had envied exchange students. They had left their home country to do the exact same thing as me. Now that I have the chance, I was definitely going to seize it.

As I saw my parents with their exchange student, I felt jealous. He is staying with my parents, sleeping in my room and bed, doing the things I used to do, going to the school I have gone to my whole life, seeing my best friends, and living my life, but with some differences. I never knew I would feel like this. Seeing him on Skype with my parents made me cry. I wanted to be there more than anything. I wanted to see and hug my parents. I wanted see my friends and family. I cried because of being jealous. I feel like it is over nothing, but I know it is because I miss my life and everything that came with it.

School is hard. No matter what country you are in. I thought Sweden might be a little better with it because of me speaking English and most students in foreign countries are studying English. And it could help me improve my Swedish and improve their English. Well I was completely wrong. Almost no one at my school talks to or wants anything to do with me. I mostly just go to school, learn, sometimes eat lunch, and then go home to do nothing. Sometimes I go out to lunch with people from my class, but that has only happened twice in the past month and a half. When I get home, I do online classes, study for school, watch tv with my host family, eat dinner, and go up to my room to do more work before going to bed. I think I have cried over not having friends to do things like I used to do back in the States more than twenty or thirty times. I don't really cry that much. Maybe two or three times a year. So I have cried enough so far to last for the next ten years.

There are some days where I just want to call the agency that booked my flight and tell them that I want the next flight home. Other days I feel like I am on top of the world and nothing could break me down. I wish my exchange was like most of the others that came here to Sweden. They have it easier because they are closer to each other and have more time to go to see each other. I wish that I could just talk a five or ten minute bus ride to go and see some people that I know. But I can't. The closest person to me is a forty-five minute bus ride away.

Right now I wish I could just go home. I wouldn't care if it was for a day or if it was forever. It honestly sucks to be on exchange for me right now. I hear about everyone that I have met from my own district back in the United States and as well as the exchange students that I have met here in Sweden and how much fun they are having with new friends or even getting to see one another. It makes me upset and want to go home even more. Also this is the time of year when candy corn and pumpkins, sweatshirts, pants, Thanksgiving, my birthday, and hunting season all start to come into play. And I love the fall time in Vermont. Its beautiful and breathtaking. But the advantage I have is Sweden is a lot like Vermont.

Graduation Process Begins

Being that I am in Sa3a, I am going to be graduating this year. I talked to my classmates about graduation and what happens. One of my friends looked at me and smiled. She knew that I had no idea about what happens before, during, or after graduation, what is needed for graduation, and what the normal Swedish traditions were. All she had to do was pull out her phone and she showed me a video. I watched as numerous Swedes stood on a truck, they screamed, they blew whistles, they danced, they sang, they drank, and they were happy as hell. I knew that coming to Sweden was going to be amazing.

 

The only reason that I asked her what happens was because I received a message saying I had to be in the Pink House near the school to be fitted for a graduation hat. I thought of the American style of caps that we wear to our graduations. I was totally wrong. They look like sailor hats, which both guys and girls wear them. There is no difference between the hats in how they are standardly. But you can change the color of the writing, the strip around the hat, the diamond on the front, and if you want a symbol on the top of the hat.



At graduation, girls wear a white dress, it can vary on how it looks, but it always is the same color. Guys usually wear a dark colored suit. It is thought they are supposed to look like sailors. It is pretty cool how they celebrate their graduations. I am more than excited to go and graduate with the Swedes. I think that graduating with them and experiencing what they are used to, will be a blast and a half.