Vecka Åtta!

Hey boys and girls!

Well it has been 53 days since I left the sunny beaches of New Zealand and launched into the Swedish winter. I can't be sure that aspect of the trip was so great but now I find that I cant walk to the shops without a jacket in 7 degrees! However will I cope when I pop to Spain in the summer? Poor me! haha

Anywho I find it ridiculously hard to believe that I have been away from home for 8 weeks and in sweden for 7! However having said that it does feel like absolutly yonks since I left the airport! I would not say that I am homesick at all as I havent been crying etc or even particularly sad at all which I think is great particularly as I know a few of my friends on their exchanges this year have had a few teary moments, I do sit on the train though and think gee I wish I could just go have a lamb roast with Mum! But the new zealanders keep in touch via msn and bebo etc and we all support eachother. I know have had conversations with friends who are feeling low and its crazy how we are all spread out over Europe and yet are such a comfort to each other.

I do miss having a friend to ring up on the weekend and go shopping with, however my weekends are busy with hanging out with exchange students, and during the week there is Natalie from australia on her exchange in my area so when we are feeling low we just ring each other up after school and have coffee. I find that it is a great pick me up! Nothing like a hot chocolate and a swedish pastry to cheer you up on a wet windy day! Although Im not too sure I appreciate my new friend hanging around my waist!

Well I am regularly asked Julia how is Sweden going? I believe I am going very well. It is a frustrating part of my exchange as I am encountering the problems that occur with the clash of my culture and the swedish particularly when it comes to adjusting to a different family routine. I can't say I am used to having several screaming children running around the house all day everyday especially when they have friends around! However the major barrier is of course the language. I am progressing very rapidly and my host family and friends are quite impressed I believe as they are constantly telling me how good my swedish is, well all things considering! I know rather a lot of swedish however it is extremly difficult to practice! I have trouble getting people to speak swedish with me, and is is extremly frustrating as I am studying SO hard. I am resenting the english language as all I want to do is practice my swedish but there are those who think it is fun to speak english ( though that is an extremly small number!) and those who believe I will not understand if they try in swedish. Which is a fair enough assumption and I appreciate that they would like for me to understand however at the end of the day I can be left pulling out my hair!

The other difficulty with the language is that although I am learning quickly and studying hard both of which are great it does hinder me greatly when it comes to making friends at school. I believe swedes generally are very shy and it is not ' the done thing' to walk up to somebody and say hello. I get very angry with myself at school and often have to remind myself that it isnt going to come overnight no matter how hard I work however it hard not to get discouraged when I am sitting with these people who I would love to become good friends with however I am the most boring person ever because I cant crack jokes and show my sense of humour ( yes i have a sense of humour-even if nobody laughs at my jokes!) and just reveal more of my fun personality when I either a) have no idea what they are talking about, b) understand what they have said but by the time I have worked out an comment to make ten minutes have gone by and a new topic has arisen! or c) I understand but simply cannot say anything! All I do is follow the girls round and have them help me find places etc! So I can imagine what a hassle I am! Although they do not seem too mind too much


And yes like many exchange students, although maybe not quite so bad as Maddys mistake!, I have made an unfortunate error with my swedish. Trying to compliment a friend on her hair i ender up telling her i thought she was whore. However she understood immediatly that was not my intention! So that was ok :D I have also told my host mum that Brittny was an infertile man to her great amusement! Many times I have asked people if they are sugar as the word for sugar and sure seem so similar to me! These mistakes are among many believe you me!


I finally worked up the courage to talk to a girl on the train that i recognised from Gantofta and went and sat next to her on the train. turns out she wasnt swedish! Haha but she was from France however im sure that will be great as I am about to start stage four french which I think may be a bit advanced for me and when I try to say something in french now it just comes out in a mixture of swedish and english and french! I am yet to attend a french class yet but we shall se how that goes. Anyway shes lovely so now I have somebody to sit with on the 7 am train! However I am yet to talk to the other 17 & 18 year olds living in gantofta although I am not entirely sure they exist.

We had a holiday week 2 weeks ago which I spent with 2 exchange students.Just chilling out, had a look in Denmark. It is a 20 min ferry ride from Helsingborg and only $10 return although the location to which you ferry basically exists to sell Sweden alcohol! every second shop was a liquer store! However there is also hamlets castle, which incidentally I can see from my favourite cafe.

I would just like to point out that im not actually on this cruisy holiday to everybody, well not at the moment anyway. I am studying really hard to learn swedish because I would like to gain fluency by month 4 and I believe it is the key to really making good friendships with the swedes. I am slowing noticing my improvements, for example when i have long conversations with my host mother in swedish ( ok so maybe it was long because I had to um and arr a lot!) and when I buy train tickets etc and have to talk to shop assistants. So it is step by step. I must also go to school, most days I must be out of my house at 7am so believe you me that is not my favourite part of this experiance! Its also hard work making friends. Because its not just like im too chicken to go say hello to somebody when you throw in the fact that I cant speak a great amount of swedish it does add to the nerves! There is also the fact that it isnt too normal to go say hello to somebody you do not know!

I am getting very excited about Easter! No not because of all the chocolate (although yes that may have something to do with it!) but I am going to spend the last few days of the holiday in POland visiting an orphanage which should be sobering but fascinating with Brittany. the canadien exchange student with whom I share a host family, and our host mum and her friend. Of course we will also be going shopping! I also have a trips to Spain, Denmark and around Sweden lined up, and of course the infamous eurotour! Im discovering the many exciting ( though expensive!) opportunities offered by the exchange.

To sum up I am having my bad days when I don't want to get out of bed because school can feel so horrible but then I have my good days when somebody at school surprises me with a smile etc. I have my days when I dont want to leave the house because it looks so crappy outside with wind and rain but then I had two days where my path to school was decorated with snow. I play with my host family, learn swedish and embrace the different culture. Now I am searching for new friends by looking for teams and activities to join. I am feeling very positive about the year although as I said I have had my days where I just want to throw in the towel because everything is just so hard!

I am especially excited as I am writing this as tomorrow my exchange student friend from australia is coming to stay with me. We shall do Malmö tomorrow and then Copenhagen ( !!!!!) på lordag and then my city Helsingberg på sondag. So that should be great!

Hope all is well at home! Please email me all your news but do not ask me ' so hows sweden, tell me verything' for I shall just say go see my blog!

Hej då
xx