Sportlov :D

Hej! So, I have a few minutes before I go out, so I figured I would update this real quick. In my last post I believe I mentioned something about being on break, and so I just wanted to give you some insight into what I did during it :D Sweden has SO many breaks, it's great! But anyway, over the break I went to visit a friend who lives in Örebro. For those of you who have no idea where that is and are too lazy to look it up, Örebro is about 2 hours away from Stockholm by train. One thing I love here is the train systems. You can go anywhere you want, and the scenery is always amazing. I stayed with my friend for 3 days, and we did alot of things, but the most exciting part was definitely getting to ride. It was really fun and i'll try to post a picture here for everyone to see :D

Another thing before I go, I get tired of having to write everything I think now, so I may start doing video blogs instead. But we'll see!

Förlåt förlåt förlåt!

Let me start off by saying, my friend Sara told me to update this, and since it's her birthday today I had to do it xD. Grattis Sara!

Jag är så ledsen att jag inte har uppdaterat den här! Jag glömde faktiskt att jag hade en blogg! Just nu har jag inte skolan så jag kommer att kunna uppdatera oftare. hoppas jag!


På engelska- So sorry I haven't updated in a while, I actually forgot I had a blog xD. When I was about to leave to come to Sweden I thought it would be so easy to update my blog whenever I wanted to, but now that i'm actually here, I barely have the time since i'm almost always hanging out with friends. So, let me start with recapping the things I promised in the last post. First, I think in my last post I wrote about going to a ballet..yeah, I did, so i'll start with that. I went to a theater in stockholm with my host family, and we saw a modern ballet. It was actually really cool how the whole show was put together. I would write more about it but I don't really remember much anymore xD Second, a while ago my school had a big soccer tournament. Most of you are probably thinking it was after the school day had ended, but no, all of our classes were cancelled for the day just so we could play soccer. Each class in the school had a team of about 8 players, and the classes played against eachother all day. Anyone who wasn't playing was required to come and watch, so there were tons of people watching. My class, SP2E did well, so that was good :D not much more to say about that..

So, now onto the things I'be been up to lately. Basically, life in Sweden is heaven. I actually enjoy waking up everyday for school(something I never thought i'd say) My friends are AWESOME here, hence why i'm always super busy with something! I'm on "sportlov" at the moment, which in english directly translates to sport break. Basically we have a week off from school for no apparent reason...but hey, i'm not complaining! Hmm, for some reason whenever I sit down and try to write about what i'm doing, I always draw blanks...måste tänka.. :D

Oh! Another really cool thing...recently, My travel consultant has been emailing me saying that many newspapers and magazines want to interview me about my experience here, Which is honestly awesome. I'm looking forward to having the interviews and hopefully it will open more doors for me in the future, and also make more people want to become involved with the foreign exchange program!

Well, i'll try to come up with some more soon, and i'll try to update as soon as I can..ses snart! :D

Brianna

Så upptagen!

Hejsan! Sorry I haven't posted in a while; been really busy! At the moment it's almost 4 am, so I can't really think of much that's happened. Sweden is awesome, lately i've been so busy\exhausted. This tuesday, my school is cancelling all classes for the day because we're going to have a big soccer tourament. It's every class vs eachother :D. I'm playing in it with some guys from my class, should be fun! It's a rule that if you aren't playing you have to come watch, so the whole school will be watching us. It's an all day tournment, so i'll probably be dead by the end of it xD I've been basically practicing everyday after school which is extremely tiring. I'll update about how the game goes after it happens. School has been going really well also. I'm really surprised how easy it is to understand what all my teachers say, since all my classes are in swedish. I've even been dreaming in swedish, and to be honest, I hardly want to speak english at all anymore. Sometimes I forget certain words in english too;scary! I'm hoping that by the time I leave Sweden i'll be fluent in swedish. At the rate i'm going now, the chances seem good! ^^. Another major part of my life here is my friends, both other exchange students and swedes. Since it's so easy to get around here, when I want to go somewhere, I go. Tonight, I went to a friends house for a dinner to welcome some new exchange students from Australia. It was really fun and our exchange student group is basically like one big family, going to be really tough to leave! I never thought I could love as country as much as I love Sweden.

Oh also, tomorrow my host parents and I are going to the opera, so i'll post about that too!

Mina vänner frågar alltid varför jag älskar Sverige så mycket, och jag vet inte varför. Sverige är fantastisk, och jag älskar det så mycket. Sverige är mitt liv, jag aldrig vill lämna. Stockholm i mitt hjärta! :D

I'll update again soon, vi ses!

Brianna

First day of school!

So, I just got done with my first day of school, I don't know why I was so nervous, because it was AMAZING. Today I started at 10, but everyday I start at a different time. Matti walked to school with me in the morning just to make sure I wasn't going to get lost or anything, which was really nice. I got to the school and the first thing I had to do was get my schedule finalized. I have pretty cool classes. Next, the supervisor at the school, Johanna, took me to my class. It was funny because while we were finishing my schedule, a teacher came downstairs and told me the class was wondering where I was! :D. My class is SP2E, and they are awesome, when I walked in everyone said hi and people automatically started talking to me. I got alot of jersey shore questions, of course :D You are allowed to use cell phones and ipods during class and the teachers don't care at all. Also, during our breaks you are allowed to use the loudspeakers in class and play music on your ipods out loud, it's so cool! Another thing, our breaks between classes vary in time, sometimes you have over an hour to just chill, and you are allowed to leave and come back when the break is over xD Tomorrow I don't start school until 12 :O so that gives me extra time to sleep. I only have a bit of free time right now so i'll try to update this as frequently as possible!

Vi ses! Brianna

Friends, Cell phones, and Subways

Hallå! Jag älskar min svenska liv så mycket. Jag börjar skolan snart och jag kan inte vänta!

From now on the things I post will probably be relatively long since I don't know how much extra time i'm going to have. Let's start by saying, I took the subway alone today! Jussi and I went into town this morning to get me a phone, and I took Hagsätra, which is a line on the subway, to Stureby, my stop. From there I walked about 10 minutes or so to get home. Anyway, i did get a phone today :D it's nothing special really, but it was so much easier than activating an american phone. All you really have to do is buy the phone, get a sim card, and then buy minutes. The phones are alot more expensive here, so it was something completely new to me. So, now about the friends. I haven't started school yet, but I have SO many friends, some exchange students and many swedes :D I don't even know how. But thats not a bad thing! Everyone always talks about how shy swedes are and blahblahblah. I have had many people come up to me and start talking out of nowhere. So for me it seems to be the opposite of what everyone says. My friend Liz, who is from Alaska, introduced me to some more exchange students today. They were from places like France,Germany,Switzerland,Australia, Brazil, and a ton more places. We all got coffee and walked around. Tomorrow i'm going with my host parents to speak to the principal at my school. I officially start school next tuesday. I'm really excited but nervous as well. At the rate i'm going now however; it shouldn't be hard to make new friends! xD that's all for now I believe. I'll try to post something soon about how my school visit goes.

Vi ses!
Brianna

Finally in Sweden! :D

So, i'm finally here! crazy crazy crazy. Theres so much to say. My plane ride is the first thing. I flew with SAS, so basically everyone on the plane was swedish, therefore the attendants spoke swedish to me. It was actually really cool and i understood everything. Since i sat in the middle of the plane, i couldn't see out the window but they has this awesome thing on my personal tv where i could still see what was going on through the window. like a fake one on the seat xD The food on the plane was really good, and the plane was about 30 minutes early flying into Stockholm. Next, Arlanda airport. I flew to Sweden out of Newark, and if you've been there you're probably well aware of how loud it is. When i got to Arlanda, complete silence. Never heard a word out of anyone. It was alot easier to get my luggage because in Newark we have huge like....baggage claim things. they're elevated so you have to lift your luggage over the side. At Arlanda the luggage claim thing was flat, so you could easily lift your bags off. Thank god, because my suitcases were heavy! The airport was relatively small, so it was easy to find my host family. They're AWESOME. Per, Tarja, Matti and Jussi, I feel like part of the family already. When I got to the house, i ate, then unpacked my things. I hung out with Matti for a little while then i slept for a few hours. Surprisingly, i'm not jetlagged at all anymore. After I woke up we ate dinner than watched tv for a while. The food here is awesome, and my first meal i had swedish meatballs xD.

Today, Jussi and I went to the center of Stockholm for the day, we just got back! It was amazing. My host dad drove us in and from there we walked around. After a while it was time for fika! which is Swedish for coffee break. The subway was really easy to navigate, and I get along really well with everyone. It's not nearly as cold as I thought here. I went without gloves and only a light jacket and I was fine. The snow is melting for now which is kinda gross to walk in but oh well. Now i'm home watching tv with Jussi, in swedish of course! :D, although, we were watching 2 and a half men before :P. Another thing I LOVE, is finally having the extra letters ä,å, and ö, on my computer, makes it so much easier to type to other swedes ^^. Well, that's all for now really, i'll try to update again soon!, hejdå, och ha en bra dag!

Brianna

T minus 3...2..1.

I'm leaving today. insane. Honestly, I don't have many emotions right now..well, I do, but I think they are still all wrapped up inside, because the fact that i'm leaving in...like 4 hours hasn't hit me yet.

Yesterday I said goodbye to everyone at school. I didn't think it would be as hard as it was. People were coming up to me and asking me questions about where i'm going etc...funny thing was, some of the people I didn't even know. oh well :P I promised tons of people(including teachers :O) I would write to them and let them know how things are going. And if you're reading this, I swear I will! :D

Last night was actually pretty stressful. I got some last minute things I needed, and I finished packing. It probably took me around 2 hours or so to find a way to fit all my clothes into my suitcases. Let's just say it was...a pain.

So, now i'm just sitting on my computer, next to my suitcases, in an empty room. The day has finally come, and I honestly can't believe it. Well, i'm about to leave for the airport, so i'm gonna stop writing now! I'll try to update again when i'm all settled in Sweden :D

Brianna