Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hej!
So I've been here for two weeks now and somehow it feels like I've been gone forever. I'm not homesick though... yet. (crossing my fingers!) Classes have been going on now for a week and a half. I've had a few lectures in History and today we went on a historical tour of Vaxjo for the class. Even though it was pouring rain on us, the tour was very interesting and I learned a lot about what the town used to look like and how it came to be what it is today. I even saw the famous Immigration House in Vaxjo that has information on my ancestory and my relatives that moved from Sweden to America. I am planning on checking it out on my own time in the near future and we are also visiting it for a class. Hopefully I can find some answer we are all looking for!
Even better news I found out through my dad's research with Grandma Johnson, was that we have distant cousins living here in Vaxjo! They are a cousin of a family who lives in Edina, MN that my dad is cousins with.. so if they are paternal cousins with the Edina family then I would be related to them too! crazy! And if the address they gave us is true then they (believe it or not) only live about a 1/2 or 1 mile away from where I am living now! I think it would be so awesome to take a walk over there one day and tell them we are related! Although it'd be very distant, how cool!
I have been very busy lately, going out with friends, being on campus, shopping, and trying to situate my self in this corridor and city. Living on your own is fun, but stressful because you realize that you need to supply yourself with all these essentials! (corny, I know... but I always relied on my parents for toilet paper and cleaning supplies!) haha. We took a trip to IKEA as exchange students last weekend. It is the original IKEA of the world. Although if I wasn't told that I wouldn't know because they all look alike. It's identical to the one in Bloomington. Just all in swedish. I was able to buy some things for my room to make it more "sara" like and more "homey." I enjoy sleeping in here now, instead of that sleeping bag I have blankets! It's great. I got a knife set at IKEA too... I found out just how sharp they are when I was cutting my bread... it went straight through to my ring finger... nothing that a tightly wound kleenex, some bacitracin, and a couple big bandaids couldn't heal!
The weather here is just weird. That's all I can say to explain it. I am thankful though that it isn't freezing cold as in Minnesota and negative below. But you never know here when it will be. Last weekend it snowed for about three days, then rained for one whole day and everything (i mean everything) iced over. Honestly, I could have skated to class Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday it was so icy. And the roads and sidewalks were about three inches thick of ice. Yesterday it warmed up a bit so it al melted and everything is just wet. So wet and icy that I fell coming back from the tour today and got my jeans all muddy! I'm fine though... just have to add laundary to my "to-do" list!
On Sunday we had a "corridor" dinner. We all made a special dish from our home country and shared it with the rest of the residents. About 13 of us total. We had appetizers, main courses, and desserts. We were all stuffed by the time we got done we went straight to bed! We counted and we had 10 different countries "represented." We joked that we could solve World Peace right at that dinner table. haha. Sweden, China, Hong Kong, Austria, Germany, USA, Canada, Finland, Italy, and Czech Republic. We ate everything from Apple Crisp to Goulash. Quite the feast. We also have been making large dinners as a group of people so it is cheaper on our part for groceries. Monday night we had an "American Breakfast" dinner and made pancakes and sausages. Then our true Italian friends made homemade! Tiramisu... so good! Tonight we are having home made pizza to celebrate Sarah from Germany's birthday too!
Good thing I joined a gym recently... all this food would be bad! It is a gym close to where I live in the centrum called Halsostudion (Health Studio). Everyone here is so stylish when they work out and don't wear shoes! They wear socks or go barefoot... kind of gross but if everyone does it then I guess it's normal? The gym also offers aerobic classes that I've been going to... step, pilates, yoga, stretching and muscle classes. It's a good deal. Also, the lake nearby centrum (about a 15 minute walk from where I live) has a path about 2.5 miles around and is a very popular activity to do when it is nice out. In the winter when the lake actually freezes over people go ice skating and play hockey. Maybe the weather will be nice to me and freeze over so we all can experience ice skating in Sweden!
This weekend we are having a welcome dinner for the exchange students at a Restaurant on campus where we will eat dinner and then people from each country will do a skit of some sort in front of the whole group... any ideas for us Minnesotans (there are 6 or 8 of us) or all us Americans?
I will try and post more pictures today if time allows... Hejdo!
- comments