It has been such a long time since I have written a post. But that's because I have been busy with a few things. So I am going to write a paragraph about everything just to give you guys a little insight on what's going on with me.
First Time Skiing!!!
Alright Im from Vermont. And it is known for its amazing skiing places. Well I have lived in Vermont for over 17 years and never skied once. I don't have time for that in the winter. I have another priority. Snowmobiles. Anyway, so being on exchange means I have to try things that I would never think to try. I would have tried skiing in Vermont with some friends. But I can now say that my first time was in Sweden with a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds who can ski way better than I can. The first time for anything is always the most nerve racking time for anyone. Well for it me, it wasn't so bad. Until on my second day of skiing with only 2 hours of skiing time, my host mother thought it was the best idea for me to go all the way to the top of the mountain and go down with her and the family. I don't think I have been more afraid in my life. Well besides when spiders are involved. After skiing for about an hour straight, my legs, arms, and ankles killed. I had to take the next day off because I was starting to wabble when I walked. I love skiing now. I will totally go when I am in Vermont. Maybe with some friends at Pico or Jay Peak. Overall, it was one of the best experiences of my life.
Senior Project!!
One of the hardest things of being a senior in high school. Before I got any of my paperwork, I spent months trying to think of what I wanted to do for a project. Finally, I thought hard enough and decided that I would do a project that was close to what I want to do as I finish college and work studies. This project will take most of my senior year away. I am so glad that I am getting the chance to get a head start. My English skills are a little lower than what they have been. So the extra time gives me a chance to get my ducks in a row. I am pretty excited to be a senior. Currently, I am junior/senior because of the classes I have done. I am ready to take this project, start it, do amazing with it, and start my life in college with a great start!
Colleges & Where I Want to Go
I think people don't think about college until it's right in front of their faces when they are almost ready to graduate. I have been thinking about where I want to go to college since I was in 9th grade. Of course, as most people get older. the career they want changes. Mine has changed a few times, but I have one in mind that is perfect for me. And many colleges offer the base that is needed to start towards it. I have been doing research on many different colleges. And I have narrowed down the top 5 that I will apply to. I also have some that I might apply for just to see if I could ever get into them. I have always wanted to apply to Harvard just to see if I could get into it. I know that Im not the smartest student, but it would be interesting if they said yes. But I am ready to start this process just so I have it out of the way.
Changing Host Families
OH YES!!! It's that time again. Almost time for me to gather all of my things and move down to the last host family. I have to say I can't believe that I am almost to the final family. It seems so strange for me. I have to say, I am pretty excited and also a little nervous to move again. The next host family has children that are closer to my age, which will give me another view of being an older sister to older children. The next family lives closer to my bus stop. So I will be missing my walks home, but I could go for walks in town with the children. I started packing away things that I wasn't going to need already. I want to spend my last weekend with this host family. It's going to be pretty hard for me to move. I will cry I do know that. But I am ready for another view of Sweden.
Swedish Graduation!!
I am getting pretty excited for my graduation in Sweden too. I have less than 100 days until I am officially a graduate in another country before I even graduate in the States. Many people don't really get to say that. I still have to order a white dress for that day too. Which to some people they might be say just go out and buy one. Well I won't wear just any dress. Im too picky when it comes to what I wear. I want a dress that I can wear again and again. So I look back and remember "OH yeah! I wore this to my Swedish graduation!" So it has taken me months to find one that I might like.
Weather
Right this very moment, in my hometown and homestate they are being killed by a snowstorm. They have had so much snow this year I am kinda very much jealous. The one year I am gone on exchange, Vermont gets pretty much dumped on every week. Here in Sweden, we haven't had snow since about early February. Im not saying it's a bad thing because I love spring and summer because I can be outside and be active. But I do love to ride snowmobiles, groom the trails with my father, and just play around in the snow. But I am really enjoying the weather right now! Its like typical May weather. It's warm and sunny with a slight breeze. LOVE IT!!! I would have liked to had snow a little longer here, but hey Im not mother nature.
Recent Changes
So I have to say I have very much changed since I have came to Sweden. I am more independent, more mature, and a bit more educated. Nothing is wrong with either of those. I came on exchange to have my life changed for the better. And little over seven months in, I can more than say that my life has changed a bit. And I wouldn't change it. I can say that I have also lost all of my exchange weight. Oh yeah! I mean it was about 7-10lbs. And on my body it is easily seen. So looking into the mirror I feel better about myself. I actually like looking into the mirror now. Also my hair has changed colors :O No hairdye needed. It is slightly darker and also it has different shades of red, blond, and brown. It has also grown almost 5-7 inches since I have came here too. Which is great!! Just means more for me to donate.
Overall
For me, I have to say I am doing really good. I am into the culture of Sweden. And I really love it! I am loving the food, the school, the people, the town, the culture, the everything! I can say that I am loving the Swedish lifestyle. It's nothing like my American one, which actually makes me love it a little bit more! I might love this lifestyle, but I do want my American one back. I hate to say it. I have around four months left to go. I want it to go by fast when I need it to, but I need it to go slow when I am having the time of my life. But everyone knows that won't happen. A girl can dream can't she?
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Questions Pt. 2
I have been asked more and more questions as time ago on. I have to say, most of the time, the questions are never repeated. People have so many different questions on everything. I have to say, even after being asked hundreds of questions from many people, I still love to answer them. Being different each time, helps. But I like to talk about where I am from, what I do, and why I do what I do. Makes me feel like people actually want to get to know me. I am gonna go over some of the many questions I have been asked.
Q. How is Sweden now that you have been there for a little over six months?
A. I have to say, I am falling in love with Sweden more and more as the days pass by. I never thought that I could go to another country and love it almost as much as my mother country. But no country can ever replace the States in my heart. When I go back home, I will really miss Sweden and living a Swedish lifestyle. But being in Sweden, has made me miss my American lifestyle.
Q. Have you had any bad homesickness in Sweden?
A. Being in Sweden for the past four months has brought some good and some bad. I never look back on the bad. Just remember the good. That helps me so I don't get homesick and want to go home. In late September and early October, I had very bad homesicknesss. I cried most of the time when I was home. At school, I would think about home and everything that I had there. I cried to my parents on Skype, begging them to go home. I had made my mind up. I wanted to go home and no one could have changed that. Well, my father changed it. He said to stick it out. Everything gets better in time. I noticed that it started to get better as time went by.
Q. Do you have any good friends? Are you out a lot?
A. I have to say, I do have some good friends here. I have about three that I do things with. And I have some that only talk to me in school. Mostly, it is just Hi or How are you? then the conversation is over. I'm glad that I have some friends here that actually do things with me, but I wish that more of the people in my class would do things with me. I want to make a lot of friends and make a lot of memories to bring back home with me and share with everyone. I don't go out much. Since November, I have gone out many two or three times. The rest of the time I am at home with my host family.
Q. How is the new host family?
A. I love the new host family. Having kids around the house, is always fun and exciting. The kids are always next to me on the couch or following me around. I don't have any younger siblings in the States, so this was more than a new experience for me. I mean I have grown up with younger kids around, but it isn't the same as living with them. The family is always doing something new and exciting. And I love it!
Q. Are you going home for Christmas?
A. No I am not. Some days, I wish I was just to see my parents and give them a hug. I knoew that if I was to go home, I might not want to come back. That wouldn't be a good thing. But I'm staying here in Sweden and celebrating Christmas here. In Sweden, Christmas is celebrated on the 24th. I am excited to celebrate a holiday in a new place and how it is celebrated.
Q. Was it hard celebrating your birthday in Sweden without your parents?
A. I have to say, it wasn't that hard. But it was still pretty hard. I had a party at my house with some friends from my class. We had tacos, we talked, we laughed, and most importantly, we had fun. Even though my parents weren't there to give me a hug and say happy birthday, I was still happy that I had my host family and friends there to celebrate it with me.
Q. Do you want your friends or family to ever visit you while you are in Sweden?
A. I would love if they did, but I wouldn't want them to come and see me until the last few months of my exchange. It would be hard, for not only myself, but whoever comes and visits. We would both want me to go back, but that wouldn't be able to happen. If I had someone visit me, I would love it! But I only have about seven months left until I go home and I think that we could all wait until I get back to be able to see each other. I am not saying that I wouldn't want anyone to visit because it would be nice, but I don't want anyone going out of their way.
Q. Do you wish that you went somewhere different than here?
A. Sometimes. But I love Sweden. I wouldn't change coming here. If I could have choosen to go to another country, I would have picked somewhere warm. I love both the bitter cold and the humid heat. So far, I haven't had the bitter cold that I was looking for when I signed to come to Sweden. But I am okay with it. Sometimes, having weather about 28-45 F isn't that bad. But I wish it was colder and had more snow like my home does.
Q. Are you planning on seeing any other places in Europe besides Sweden?
A. Yeah, I plan to visit some other countries. I would love to visit most of the UK and France. I would love to see where my family originates from. I am also thinking about going to visit some friends from the states that are here in Europe. I would love to go see them and see where they are living. But I have to wait and see.
Q. How is Sweden now that you have been there for a little over six months?
A. I have to say, I am falling in love with Sweden more and more as the days pass by. I never thought that I could go to another country and love it almost as much as my mother country. But no country can ever replace the States in my heart. When I go back home, I will really miss Sweden and living a Swedish lifestyle. But being in Sweden, has made me miss my American lifestyle.
Q. Have you had any bad homesickness in Sweden?
A. Being in Sweden for the past four months has brought some good and some bad. I never look back on the bad. Just remember the good. That helps me so I don't get homesick and want to go home. In late September and early October, I had very bad homesicknesss. I cried most of the time when I was home. At school, I would think about home and everything that I had there. I cried to my parents on Skype, begging them to go home. I had made my mind up. I wanted to go home and no one could have changed that. Well, my father changed it. He said to stick it out. Everything gets better in time. I noticed that it started to get better as time went by.
Q. Do you have any good friends? Are you out a lot?
A. I have to say, I do have some good friends here. I have about three that I do things with. And I have some that only talk to me in school. Mostly, it is just Hi or How are you? then the conversation is over. I'm glad that I have some friends here that actually do things with me, but I wish that more of the people in my class would do things with me. I want to make a lot of friends and make a lot of memories to bring back home with me and share with everyone. I don't go out much. Since November, I have gone out many two or three times. The rest of the time I am at home with my host family.
Q. How is the new host family?
A. I love the new host family. Having kids around the house, is always fun and exciting. The kids are always next to me on the couch or following me around. I don't have any younger siblings in the States, so this was more than a new experience for me. I mean I have grown up with younger kids around, but it isn't the same as living with them. The family is always doing something new and exciting. And I love it!
Q. Are you going home for Christmas?
A. No I am not. Some days, I wish I was just to see my parents and give them a hug. I knoew that if I was to go home, I might not want to come back. That wouldn't be a good thing. But I'm staying here in Sweden and celebrating Christmas here. In Sweden, Christmas is celebrated on the 24th. I am excited to celebrate a holiday in a new place and how it is celebrated.
Q. Was it hard celebrating your birthday in Sweden without your parents?
A. I have to say, it wasn't that hard. But it was still pretty hard. I had a party at my house with some friends from my class. We had tacos, we talked, we laughed, and most importantly, we had fun. Even though my parents weren't there to give me a hug and say happy birthday, I was still happy that I had my host family and friends there to celebrate it with me.
Q. Do you want your friends or family to ever visit you while you are in Sweden?
A. I would love if they did, but I wouldn't want them to come and see me until the last few months of my exchange. It would be hard, for not only myself, but whoever comes and visits. We would both want me to go back, but that wouldn't be able to happen. If I had someone visit me, I would love it! But I only have about seven months left until I go home and I think that we could all wait until I get back to be able to see each other. I am not saying that I wouldn't want anyone to visit because it would be nice, but I don't want anyone going out of their way.
Q. Do you wish that you went somewhere different than here?
A. Sometimes. But I love Sweden. I wouldn't change coming here. If I could have choosen to go to another country, I would have picked somewhere warm. I love both the bitter cold and the humid heat. So far, I haven't had the bitter cold that I was looking for when I signed to come to Sweden. But I am okay with it. Sometimes, having weather about 28-45 F isn't that bad. But I wish it was colder and had more snow like my home does.
Q. Are you planning on seeing any other places in Europe besides Sweden?
A. Yeah, I plan to visit some other countries. I would love to visit most of the UK and France. I would love to see where my family originates from. I am also thinking about going to visit some friends from the states that are here in Europe. I would love to go see them and see where they are living. But I have to wait and see.
Coming So Far With Changes
I think that in the past months, I have grown and changed more than in any part of my life. I have been experiencing, tasted, and made so many different things. I know that my friends and family are proud of me. Even I am proud of myself for the first time in a very long time. I know that I should be proud of myself whenever I do something that receives an award or gets posted in the newpaper. But most of the time I am not proud of myself because I think I can do something better in the future that will blast everything else out of the water.
My biggest thing I am proud about is becoming an exchange student. I mean it has always been a dream. And the fact that I actually achieved my dream has never made myself more proud in my whole life. Most children when they are young dream about becoming a teacher or a doctor or a firefighter. My dream was to become an exchange student. It would give me the chance to explore the world while I was young. And it would give me an idea of what I might want to be when I become an adult. I want to be an ultrasound tech. I have known that for awhile now. And I have to go to college to become one. I could possibly study abroad somewhere.
I am also proud that I have tried new foods that before I would have never tried them. My parents always used to say that they were good and that I would like them when I got older. I never truly believed them until it actually happened. I started to like Hash (which contains fried ham, potatoes, carrots, and sometimes onions), lightly toasted bread with peanut butter, fish with breading, and a special salad. I never would have thought I would have liked some of those foods. But now that I have given them a taste from a different perspective, I like them.
I have done something off my bucket list. I know I seem young to have a bucket list, but we can die at anytime. And we might as well live our lives while we are still young and breathing. I have always liked being on ropes course and being high in the sky. Well since I have been in Sweden, I have played on a ropes course at 9:00pm. And loved every second of it. I always get an adrenalin rush from doing things that are a little more risky. But so doesn't everyone else. When I say risky, I mean there were two hooks that we had to clip in and I rarely clipped them both in. I could have fallen at anytime and risk serious injury. But I didn't because I knew what I was doing.
Another thing I have done that I am proud of is I have planned some of my future out. I thought about what goals I want to have in life and how I plan to reach those goals. I have decided that I want to live somewhere different, go to college, make friends in yet another place (just as I am doing now), and actually try to get somewhere in life. I know people that waste their time doing drugs, skipping school, having sex with random people, getting drunk almost all the time, and are never around to be with their families. I don't want that. I mean I want to be at school and actually learn something that will get me somewhere. I want to be with my parents and my brothers as much as I can. I love them with all my heart and I would do anything to make them all proud. I have friends that I hang out with all the time and I have friends that I mainly see just at school or sometimes see while I am downtown. And I like it. My friends are always behind my back on every decision that I have made. I mean they are sad that I am not home, but it doesn't mean they aren't proud of me and where I have gotten.
I have learned skills that I know I will need for when I get older. I have become independent with my own decisions. I decided that I wanted to do certain things with my life and I have kept my word to them. Nothing can change my mind about them either. I have watched and learned how to get the skills. At first, I failed when trying to use them. But as I practied them and got used to them, I became better at using them and made not only myself, but my family and friends proud of me.
I know that people don't like to think that someone can change so easily. But it's more than true. I know that I have changed as a person over the past six months. I don't think I could ever like to go back to the person that I as before I left for my exchange. I'm not saying that I was a bad person or was going down the wrong path, but I feel as if I was not as self aware as I am now. I am a more understanding of everything. Even before I came to Sweden, I knew that not everything goes the way that you want it to go. But now, I seem to understand it a lot better. And I respect that it happens. I might not like that it does happen. But I am okay with it.
My biggest thing I am proud about is becoming an exchange student. I mean it has always been a dream. And the fact that I actually achieved my dream has never made myself more proud in my whole life. Most children when they are young dream about becoming a teacher or a doctor or a firefighter. My dream was to become an exchange student. It would give me the chance to explore the world while I was young. And it would give me an idea of what I might want to be when I become an adult. I want to be an ultrasound tech. I have known that for awhile now. And I have to go to college to become one. I could possibly study abroad somewhere.
I am also proud that I have tried new foods that before I would have never tried them. My parents always used to say that they were good and that I would like them when I got older. I never truly believed them until it actually happened. I started to like Hash (which contains fried ham, potatoes, carrots, and sometimes onions), lightly toasted bread with peanut butter, fish with breading, and a special salad. I never would have thought I would have liked some of those foods. But now that I have given them a taste from a different perspective, I like them.
I have done something off my bucket list. I know I seem young to have a bucket list, but we can die at anytime. And we might as well live our lives while we are still young and breathing. I have always liked being on ropes course and being high in the sky. Well since I have been in Sweden, I have played on a ropes course at 9:00pm. And loved every second of it. I always get an adrenalin rush from doing things that are a little more risky. But so doesn't everyone else. When I say risky, I mean there were two hooks that we had to clip in and I rarely clipped them both in. I could have fallen at anytime and risk serious injury. But I didn't because I knew what I was doing.
Another thing I have done that I am proud of is I have planned some of my future out. I thought about what goals I want to have in life and how I plan to reach those goals. I have decided that I want to live somewhere different, go to college, make friends in yet another place (just as I am doing now), and actually try to get somewhere in life. I know people that waste their time doing drugs, skipping school, having sex with random people, getting drunk almost all the time, and are never around to be with their families. I don't want that. I mean I want to be at school and actually learn something that will get me somewhere. I want to be with my parents and my brothers as much as I can. I love them with all my heart and I would do anything to make them all proud. I have friends that I hang out with all the time and I have friends that I mainly see just at school or sometimes see while I am downtown. And I like it. My friends are always behind my back on every decision that I have made. I mean they are sad that I am not home, but it doesn't mean they aren't proud of me and where I have gotten.
I have learned skills that I know I will need for when I get older. I have become independent with my own decisions. I decided that I wanted to do certain things with my life and I have kept my word to them. Nothing can change my mind about them either. I have watched and learned how to get the skills. At first, I failed when trying to use them. But as I practied them and got used to them, I became better at using them and made not only myself, but my family and friends proud of me.
I know that people don't like to think that someone can change so easily. But it's more than true. I know that I have changed as a person over the past six months. I don't think I could ever like to go back to the person that I as before I left for my exchange. I'm not saying that I was a bad person or was going down the wrong path, but I feel as if I was not as self aware as I am now. I am a more understanding of everything. Even before I came to Sweden, I knew that not everything goes the way that you want it to go. But now, I seem to understand it a lot better. And I respect that it happens. I might not like that it does happen. But I am okay with it.
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