Julia Pretends To Be Swedish

Christmas is a coming!

2008-12-16T12:24:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Well its into December and getting darker and darker earlier and earlier every day. There are lights up all around the town centre and huge christmas tree just like in the movies, so it definatly feels as though christmas is coming despite the lack of barbeques and lazy days at the beach.

Since I last posted on this blog I have stayed at Nikolina's in Karlstad. She was an exchange student living in Auckland while I was home. It was pretty cool catching up with her and seeing a familiar face. Strange saying goodbye though as we dont know when the next time we see each other will be, but it was fun weekend.

the following weekend we got the first snow of the season and it really snowed down. Lots of fun, was in copenhagen at the time so the train ride home through denmark was pretty. Same weekend I had a night at Alana's in Kristianstad and caught up with a bunch of exchange students living there at we had a fun saturday night together. Adele was also there and unfortunatly we had to say goodbye that sunday. But she lives in Australia so its not goodbye forever.

Other then that life has been going on normaly, just the usual friday night happenings and meeting friends etc. This morning however I was woken by an earthquake, the only one in sweden in ages that reached about a 5 on the scale which was my first earthquake and very exciting in my opinion.

Thats it from me,
See you all in 3 weeks!
x

Into the New Year

2008-11-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

Hey hey,

well I have been very slack on the blogging lately, hope I can remember everything thats happened since my last post. Well I have changed host families, had a lovely send off from the Leijonhufvud family as we went out to dinner. So now I am back at the Steiner family where all is chaotic as usual with 6 of us kids running around, although now one cat less, but also as of last week with a puppy. Now dogs aren't really my favourite animal as a few of you may know, and so I was rather worried about a rotweiler joining the family but she is just so cute! Other than the fact that she uses the kitchen floor as a bathroom.

Well I had a couple of days staying with Adele, I arrived to her town at about 10 on the sunday and we just chilled out for awhile catching up then had lunch with her family which was moose pattys!!! Finally I have eaten moose! Yum! Then we joined 2 of her friends and spent the afternoon/evening in the spa/sauna and did the whole run from the hot hot sauna and jump in the freeeeeeeeeeeeeezing cold pool.Then watched a movie in the evening. On the monday Adele's host sister Hedwig drove us and a friend to stockholm for a day trip where Adele and I met up with two exchange students who we met on eurotour, Stephanie from Brazil an d Megan from Australia, which was lots of fun. We would be looking through shops and then just have to leave and go have a coffee because we would jsut be standing talking the whole time! haha so was lovely catching up with them. Then on tuesday Adele and I just relaxed and hung out that day. On the trip home cancelled trains plus a confused little kiwi re sulted in me staying at alana's house that night instead of my own, so was nice to see her again.

The rest of the one week holiday wasnt terribly exciting, and then it was back to school. Last weekend, Will, josh, Ngaire, Natalie, Alana and myself got together in Lund for one last get together before we all go home. You see we are all the aussies and kiwis who arrived in a certain area of sweden at the start of the year and had language camp together and ski trip and eurotour etc so we have seen eachother through the year and had a fun weekend to say goodbye. Strange already saying goodbye to people! Anywho Johan, who was an exchange student in Alana's district was also with us. It was a good weekend, met up late saturday arvo and did the usual 18year old thing on a saturday night and then recovered at Expresso House, a popular cafe) all sunday. Great times :D

Yesterday Anna and I went to a scrapbooking class for 3 hours which was so much fun. Not quite up to Grandma's standard but its a start! I have a whole new appreciation for all you scrapbookers out there! Anywho Anna is close friends with the instructor and so we are going to get together through the week casually which will be fun as these cold winter nights get colder and darker!

Speaking of which its getting darker earlier and earlier again and lighter later and later. It feels like 9pm at 4pm! Crazy!

I feel as though I have done a lot more in the past weeks but nothing is coming to mind so I will leave it at that. On friday I am g oing to stay at Nikkis in Karlstad which is exciti ng.

Now here are photos loooooooooooooong overdue! Some dating back a couple of months! It is too hard to order them though so they are randomly

stephanie and adele
With Meaghan

host sisters

host parents

with sonja
my host sister anna from my second host family
friend Helena
with good friend Louise

exchange student get together with singstar

eating my cinnemon bun on cinnamon bun day
Helen came over from Denmark where she is on exchange to visit
Morgan Alana me Louise
Matt from France
Morgan and Alana

A Beautiful Autumn

2008-10-16T04:31:00.001-07:00

Hej Hej!

Well I have enjoyed a lovely few weeks since returning from England. It is now autumn here in Sweden, and it is just so pretty. IT is a real treat ony my way to and from school I walk through a park that has these huge trees making the ground just a sea of beautiful orange and red leaves. Just loving it! The temperature is starting to come down now, nice to change into jumpers and cardigans again although I fear all too soon it will be freezing temperatures!

I haven't done anything terribly exciting, but thats not too say I have been bored. I am swimming once a week with a few girls from my class, hanging out with friends through the week, and being invited here and there on the weekends which has made for several fun friday nights!

I am looking forward to two trips that I have planned in the next month or so, in the upcoming autumn week holiday I will spend 2 or 3 nights in Motala with Adele from Australia. Ill have a look around her town and we will drive up to Stockholm for a day trip with her host sister which should be really cool, I have only been there once with Rotary which meant we were at museums etc the whole time so it will be nice to go there just with friends.

I am also going to go and stay with Nikki in Karlstad ( its about as north as oslo), who was an exchange student in NZ in my district. So that should be lots of fun for the both of us seeing each other again. Hopefully this will be another great weekend!

Not much to report really, just having fun being home really since my trip to england. Yesterday ( wednesday) was an american exchange students birthday so I went to Kirstianstad, it was really nice being able to hang out with the 4 exchange students there as I dont see them terribly often, its an hour and half train ride away but costs about $20 there and back.

This weekend I am moving back to Gantofta to my first host family again. This has been planned since day one, nothing has happened to bring about this change. Although it will be nice to be back with that family, almost like going home!

I went to a play on tuesday night with my class, a play that we are studying in swedish class, however it was written about 120 years ago in old swedish so it was rather difficult to understand which made for a rather boring evening. However I did feel much better when several swedes at the end of the play were still sitting there making comments such as ' I dont get it..'!

I had dinner with my Rotary councellor ( my contact person who helps me if I have problems with families etc) at the house of a man from Rotary who takes care of my banking, and his wife. I had a suprisingly very enjoyable evening, to be honest I had been well ´not dreading it but wasnt exactly excited about it, however I was pleasantly suprised and laughed all the way through the evening. About 5 minutes after we had arrived the couple hosting us turned to me and asked me how I was going understanding the conversation. Well I must admit when it comes to people suggesting that I cant understand something in swedish I have a tendancy to get rather defensive and offended, so of course my reply was Of Course I Understand, I have been here 9 months!! To my suprise they just laughed and explained that the wife was actually from Norway, and therefore not speaking swedish but norweigan instead! Granted it wasnt full on norweigan, it was a little swedish-ified with the accent etc but she still used different words and pronounced lots of words differently. I had just assumed she was from northern sweden, as we in the south dont speak proper swedish but skånska ( a southern dialect/pronounciation). Well they just thought it hilarious that I hadnt noticed that I was speaking with a lady who was replying in a different language!

This reminds me of a story Anna, my first host mother, told me about her son Anton when he was about 5 years old he played with a danish boy. When Anna asked Anton and the end of the day whether he understood everything the dane had said to him he asked her what she meant, having had no idea that the little boy was from another country speaking danish!

Anywho I best be off, will post some pictures later,

xx

England :D

2008-09-24T05:24:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey,

Well Alana and I have had a lovely time in England staying with Helen and with Alana's parents. We arrived very late thursday evening after a 2 hour delay at the airport and went almost straight to bed.

Friday Helen took the day off work so with her Aidan, Alana and I went to Borough Market and tasted lots of yummy food before heading off to the river thames along which we walked to the popular tourist sights like tower of london etc. That night we went to Brick Lane for dinner, a street filled of indian restaurants where workers stand at the door calling out to you to come into their restaurant offering discounts, and you walk along bartering for the best deal. We successfully drove a hard bargain and got such a discount that when we explained to our waiter our deal he wore such an expression of shock and had to go and check with the boss that we were telling the truth! So that was a fun night and first day.

tasting with Alana and Helen

Helen and Aidan on the underground

With Alana by the river with Tower of London Bridge in the backround

By Big Ben

Saturday was a girls day out at Camden market, a slightly alternative market! Quite cool to chekc out before hitting Oxford Street to check out the shops of London. Helen, Alana and I then went to a comedy show in the evening which was a mixed bag, but had a great day.

The Camden area
Sunday, Aidan, Helen, Alana and I all went down to Brighton where we spent a lovely day checking out 'The Lanes' which a lots of cute boutique shops in little streets, ate fish and chips on the beach, and tasted Pims, a yummy english drink, then relaxed at home in the evening. We were very lucky with the weather, perfect for our day trip. Brighton is a rather alternative area and it was really cool to see all the different people out and about.

Train to Brighton

By the pier
the beach

by the pier

With our Pims

With our Fish and Chips

With Helen and Aidan working on Monday, it was off to Thorpe Park for Alana and I, a great theme park. It was lots and lots of fun and we spent most the day on an ongoing adrenaline rush!

Tuesday Alana and I headed off to Birmingham to spend three nights at her parents house. By the time we got there we only had an hour or so to wander around the city centre and check it out and just relaxed at home in the evening. On Wednesday Alana's parents took us to Stratford Upon Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare so we got to check out his house which I thought was pretty cool, and the whole village was really cute and quaint, from there we drove to a small town which I believe is called Woodstock for lunch at the pub before having a wander around Oxford. It was such a lovely day although we were exhausted by the time we got home! Thursday saw Alana and I pass our day in the shops which was nice. That evening we had yummy curry :)

Just chilling outsides Shakespeares, as one does

the token phone booth photo :)

Then Friday Alana flew back to Sweden whereas I returned to London, and hung out with Aidan at the park while waiting for Helen to finish work to meet our cousin Nick before going to the Lion King show that evening. It was cool to catch up with Nick and the show was just amazing! The costumes, the voices, everything, well worth going, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Then on Saturday, Helen, Aidan and I went to our cousin Darren's wedding which was in a beautiful grand old church with a lovely reception at a lovely old manor. It was a lovely day and everyone looked fabulous, and it was great to catch up with Darren who I havnt seen, we worked out, for about 4 years. And seeing Mark, Christine, Glenn and others was also lovely.

Darren and Maddie

Helen and I

Helen and Aidan

On Monday I had the day to myself to run around London and do all the bits that I hadnt had the chance to do yet, so the day started at Harrods which I just fell in love with. It was so cool, I walked into the cosmetics area and a lady asked me if i would like to try the perfume so of course I nodded and then after spraying she informed me that it was 'Laundry Fresh', so i smelt like clean clothes all morning! haha but I couldnt spend the day in Harrods so it was onto Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard, but I got bored with that and left half way through! After being at the Kings birthday in Stockholm, it didnt compare at all so I wandered along and found myself on Park Lane and at Hyde Park before heading to Trafalgar Sq which I just loved! I lost an hour or so there eating lunch and checking out the national potrait gallery and that was very pleasant. Then I wandered along a lovely street past some museums etc before taking the tube to Kensington where I found some nice shops on my way to the Kensington Palace. I got to walk through the palace and it was really cool, such beautiful artwork etc and very interesting. they also ahd an exhibition of Princess Dianas dresses which was actually quite nice, the dresses were of course lovely. From the palace I made my way back to Leicester sq about 6pm on the tube in peak hour and learned what was really meant by everyone being squashed into the tubes, they were jam packed! I met up with Helen and Aidan and we went to Chinatown for dinner which was a nice end to my great trip.

Helen and I in chinatown

Then on tuesday morning Helen and I left the house at 6am caught the bus to the train station where we said goodbye and I took the train to the airport, plane to denmark, train through denmark, ferry to sweden, then bussed home. It took all the public transport to get me home, where I arrived just exhausted but had a fabulous time :) I must admit it was very strange being surrounded by english all the time, I didnt like it at first! It was always a bit strange going into a store or cafe and having to speak english to order a coffee etc, its something I havnt done in english since january! So that was weird!

Now it is back to routine, have lots of things lined up with friends etc so the last 3 months are looking good :)

End of Summer, New School Year

2008-08-31T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hey hey,

Well It has been quite a while since my last blog and I have been so busy! I have enjoyed 2 weeks in the sunny spot of Alicante in Spain with my first host family. We left our house at 3am one morning to drive to Copenhagen airport to be there at 5am in time for our flight. I became very brown with temperatures reaching 40 on one day. The beach was incredible, it was only on the last day as we left at 7am that I actually saw what it really looked like as it is just jam packed with people through the day. It was incredible, you were just as close to those around you as you were with! And the nudity of larger sized woman, oh it was gross. One day we went to the Salt Lakes, the natural habitat of flamingoes, It was very cool seeing all these flamingoes. The lakes are pink and just about 100% salt concrentrated. It was incredible, the floor was just salt instead of sand and you can only float on the water, its too hard to swim. I have never been in anything like it before. And of course we layed on the beach went to the markets and swam in the pool.

Well once home from Spain I had a couple of days to pack my things and move to the city into Helsingborg to my second host family. I have now been here exactly two weeks. It is a very nice house with only 4 floors, although the fourth really is just a bedroom and bathroom for the eldest son. In this family there is the father Axel and mother Christina with Calle 19, Anna 17 and Ebba 12. It is great living in town as it is far easier getting to school, no more 6am starts for a lesson at 8.30! and it makes it easier to meet friends in town. I am also really enjoying having the older company at home as opposed to the little kids running around in gantofta. So the new family is going very well.

I have also started at a new school. My old school didnt work out very well and I am very happy here. I have only had one week at school so far but almost every day have I hung out with people from class after school. They are all asking me to join them with various things, so are a far more welcoming bunch then the old lot, which I am very appreciative about at this point in my exchange. Of course at times it is hard not to get frustrated about the fact that this change has come about so late in my exchange however maybe my swedish skills now and various other factors are helping me a lot more now starting school then to the start of my exchange. But it is a very positive change and I am very happy at this point in my exchange.

It was my first host mother's birthday and so I took her to see Mama Mia at the movies. IT was so much fun watching it together and we went at about 6.30 which meant that the cinema was pretty much filled up with the grandparents who I would assume would be the people who appreciated the songs of Mama Mia most in the world being swedish and all, and so it was fun watching with them as they all clapped and cheered after the songs, and sung at the end etc. good times :D

Yesterday I had a day cycling around Ven, an island between Denmark and Sweden ( under swedish control) with all the new exchange students in my district. It was nice getting to meet all the 'newbies' with their strong accents, all very interesting and does, along with school and the new family, mark the second half of the year, despite the fact that I am well over half way!

There are only 4 months or so left of this year and I am trying to stay as busy as possible, meeting up with everybody and making the most of the exchange. I have a trip lined up in a couple of weeks, going with Alana to England to stay with Helen and Aiden in London and then on to Birmingham to stay with Alana's parents who recently moved over and then to my cousin Darren's wedding at the end of the trip. I am very excited to see Helen and Aiden and also London and England.

All things are going very well and am feeling on top of the world :D
Hope everyone at home is as well and happy as me
xx

Strömstad

2008-07-29T10:11:00.001-07:00

Hey

Well I have just spent a week in Strömstad, on the Bohuslan coast half an hour south of Norway. It was a lovely week with surprisingly great weather, over 30 degrees some days which is amazing for sweden, I was told to expect a week long summer of about 20 degrees really so it has been great. Not too much to report just a week at the bach really, popped into norway for half an hour but didnt see too much. However I was there long enough to listen to some norweigans speak and although I could understand perfectly I must say that they speak very strangley! The rhythm and pitch is funny. I like swedish better. Here are a bunch of photos, in a reasonable order..

Norway pics

Sweden pics again

European Ramble Tour

2008-07-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Well I have just had a crazy 18 days with 76 other exchange students from Ecuador, South Africa, France, America, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, New Zealand, Mexico, 4 chaperones, a very smiley tour guide and a funny bus driver, driving all over europe. I was exhausted at the end of it!

Germany

Day 1 of Eurotour, I left home at 7am and drove to Malmö to for meeting at 8.30am. After an hour of being told of the rules etc we hit the road on a double deckor bus. i sat with Alana on the first day and we had a very funny lunch on the ferry crossing from Denmark to germany with Natalie and Max. After driving further once we were in Germany, we arrived in Berlin, settled into the hotel and then went out for our german dinner. Afterwards had a little free time to have a look around the night lit Berlin, but only enough time for a little walk. Then it was back to the hotel and to bed.
Day 2 we had a sightseeing tour and went to Checkpoint Charlie, which was from when Berlin was divided where one would cross from east to west or vice versa. It had a really interesting museum detailing how people would sneak over the border, telling the tales of some very brave souls. We also went to the Berlin wall of course! It was really strange though, the whole wall is just covered in paintings and graffiti, which of course everybody added to and as the last girls were leaving their mark the police came and told them off! Despite the thousands of other names scribbled all over the wall they were still told to stop! We couldn't believe it. We saw some other old impressive buildings before some free tim to shop etc. Had a really yummy lunch from a little german bakery type place with pastries etc. That evening after dinner we had a few games outside, ice breaker activities I guess, which were quite fun, we had a danceing competition etc. then just chilled out with everybody afterwards..

Berlin by night

the wall

julz rulz, leaving my mark on the wall
Poland

Day 3 we drove to Poland, ate out having a jewish dinner, then back to the hotel where we had a bit of fun. Day 4, explored cracow on foot with a tour guide, it was quite interesting, saw the only senegal in the city etc Then in the afternoon it was to Auschwitz, which was an unreal experiance. It still seemed so difficult to believe that everything we have read in the textbooks at school about the concentration camps actually happened despite walking through gas chambers, seeing the piles of shoes etc. It was very sombering, and really difficult to describe.

the traffic jam we caused as we tried to get the bus into a narrow driveway!

Prague

I was very impressed with prague, we began day 6 with a walking tour of the city starting in the old part seeing the palace etc. I thought it was a really pretty city and was amazed when looking out over the city from up near the palace. Had free time in the arvo and wandered through the shopping area, it was quite funny on the way to lunch one guy who worked at a souvenir shop called out to us as we walked past exscuse me you dropped something, confused I looked back but there was nothing on the ground so we looked back at him and he said my heart. Well we just cracked up with laughter and kept walking, it was very funny and then later we heard that this had also happened to several people. The tactics of getting tourists into shops! That night we all got dressed up at had a nice dinner on a boat cruise which was a really nice way to see a little more prague, really pretty from the water.

Brianna and Frans
Alex, Alana and I
Brittany, Amp, Jacquelyn and Sarah
from boat
Hotel view, we were out from the city though

Austria

We drove to Zell am See from Prague and stopped for an hour on the way at Salzburg, home of Mozart and the location where the sound of music was filmed. I had a really nice hour there walking with Nick, Laura, Kate and Steven up a little hill where we got a great view of the city, and of course sung the songs from the movie at the top and walking down, then it was back on the bus to continue on to Zell am See only about an hour further from Salzburg but up in the alps. It was a really pretty view from the hotel. There is the cleanest lake in Europe with the mountains surrounding it so you can imagine how nice it was sitting on the balcony at the end of the day. Day 8 we hiked up the mountain, took awhile! But was well worth it, just a beautiful day, so hot, but just everywhere you looked it looked so great. Afterwards we went for a well deserved swim in the lake which was a lovely temperature and really nice. AFter dinner a few went out around the little town and others, including me chilled out on the balcony looking out at everything at the hotel. Was a really good day.

Laura, myself, Jacquelyn and Sarah
sunbathing at the top

Ella, Jacquelyn, Sarah, myself and Alex

Jacquelyn me and adele
very high, near top
with kate
sarah, jacquelyn me and kate

climbing up the steep part

A very fancy sign for mcdonalds on the street which had mozarts house where he was born.

Salzburg

Italy

Well we stayed in a little town with a beautiful beach just a ferry ride away from Venice, so was still quite the tourist town but so lovely. Had a free day there which was spent at the beach, in the shops and having a nice lunch of pasta. Had such a lovely day then the next day was spent in venice, starting with a gondala ride through the city which i really enjoyed, a nice way to check out the city. The rest of the day was free time wandering through venice, I didnt really enjoy venice so much as it was such a hot day and there were just so many people you couldnt hold out your arms so it was quite overwhelming. However it was a really pretty city, although I think i would enjoy italy in lesser tourist towns.

with sarah at lunch

eating pizza in italy

with sarah
Jacquelyn and I
yum yum yum
3 girlies

in Venice
Masks of Venice
Busy tourist filled street
eating our ice cream/ gelato, yes italy has the best ice cream
on ferry to venice

our gondola driver

venice

the bottom of the door had rotted away

France

Well our first night in France was in the ghetto of Lyon so didnt get up to much that evening up arrival, just chilled out on the lawn with a rugby ball. It took two days driving from Italy to get to Paris, so the next morning it was back on the bus to get to Paris. Our first evening there we went to a French caberet after dinner, which was very entertaining, i am sure all the boys enjoyed it. The next day we drove around the city- i am never driving myself if the city of paris, the traffic was insane- at saw things like l'arc de triomphe, the famous shopping street filled with shops of famous designers, on our way to the eiffel tower. Standing at the top of that was amazing, it was the place that had the most impact, in the sense of wow I am really here the little kiwi from the other side of the world. The tower really was very impressive, especially the next day when we returned at night. Lit up was even better. Paris was lots of fun and I really enjoyed it however it was very frustrating every time I tried to speak french, after my studying it the way through college, all I could think was how to say what I wanted to say in swedish! It was very frustrating.

supplies for the bus trip
drinking my nutella snack pack thing

moulin rouge

view from tower

the kiwis
armed guards at the bottom of the tower
me at the top

Belgium

Well we stopped in Brussels on our way to Antwerp and had several hours there where Ella and I had our waffle and ice cream before going chocolate shop hopping where we scored lots of free samples, it was lots of fun. I really liked Belgium, it was a shame we didnt have much time there but it was all very cute and quaint in the streets. We saw the famous statue of the little boy peeing, but that wasnt very exciting! This little statue on this little corner, strange how its on all the postcards etc had a nice evening relaxed with friends at the hotel and the next day we began our journey back to sweden. We had two days driving home, the night in the middle we stayed over in Hagen in Germany and had an all night party in a conference room where we had our silly prizes from the trip and dressed up etc and it was all very fun, a nice way to end the trip.

And that was Eurotour! I had such a wonderful time, made so many new friends and saw a lot of europe in the time that we had. I think that Lido de Jesolo, the small town we stayed in in Italy, Austria, Prague and Paris where my favourites. And Belgium! haha well I guess I enjoyed most the cities fairly evenly then!

Next its to the bach near the norweigan border for a week and then I have two weeks in spain. So please remember this when it takes me awhile to reply to your emails this time guys! I wasnt going to waste any of my time on eurotour on the computer, and I am not sure what internet I will have in spain, so just remember that if I fail to reply fast enough for you!

puss och kram,

Goodbyes

2008-07-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Well being July it is the time of year when all northern hemisphere exchange students return home from their year, and the new lot arrive. Here are some photos from Brittanys farewell..

Midsummer & my Birthday

2008-07-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Well I had a very lovely birthday, had a dinner at my house for 10 of my girl friends which went well. I made my auntys famous home made ice cream which was fun and everyone enjoyed it.

my table
Alana and Julia
Sofia and Linnea Louise and I
me, Caroline, Alana and Julia

I am yet to get the rest of the photos of my host parents. It is traditional to be woken on your birthday by your family walking into your room singing a happy birthday song very loudly and bringing your pressies and brekky. It is quite nice really!

Well I had my birthday dinner on the thursday evening before my birthday as on my actual birthday it was Midsummer, a very swedition tradition of celebrating summer right in the middle. Well It is celebrated by everyone dressing in dresses, well the girls anyway, and flowery wreaths in the hair as everyone has a very swedish lunch and dances around what i can only describe as a tall pole wrapped in a grass wreath type thing. So everybody got dressed and we all walked to the field in Gantofta to join the other familys there. It was raining. It rained so much infact taht unfortunatly everybody stayed only about 10 minutes before giving up and going home so I missed out on dancing and singing around a big grass thing haha. Lunch was pickled herring ( the swedes tend to eat that on every occasion such as easter and christmas), potatoes, meatballs, schnaps etc

What wonderful weather to celebrate Summer with!

Emmy's hair wreath

Lunchtime
trying my snaps and herring

Brittany, Emmy and I

Well my host mother felt it was very sad that i was missing out on such a swedish tradition so she took the table model of what everyone dances around, you can see it in the photo of lunch, and placed in the backyard and a few of us danced and sung around that. It was very funny, I shall try and post the video soon.

The ended with a midsummer party at a friends house which was a nice way to finish the day and my birthday :)

myself, host brother Anton and Brittany

Denmark Cycle

2008-06-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

I have just gotten home from my week biking trip around a part of Denmark. I biked a bit over 400 km over the time so a far whack, but at an easy pace. The route we followed was mainly along coastline with beautiful beachs or through the bush, either way it was usually very pretty although the bush could be hard going with some difficult paths. We started in Helsingor and our first overnight was in Frederiksvaerk. Then it was to somewhere im not sure of the name is then to Holbaek, then roskilde for two nights and later copenhagen for the weekend where I met up with my Helen and Aiden. I went with my host grandfather and a group of his friends, my friend Alana also followed along but not until the second night. The first two days were great for my swedish being with the swedes obviously, as i didnt need to bother using english allowing me to just think and speak in swedish and was very satisfying. The week was really fun and was great spending time with alana who lives an hour or so away from me. I have my photos pretty chronologically ordered so will just write about the pics for you to explain my trip....

Group photo before geting the ferry over to denmark to start the adventure.

Anything for the photo
Team NZ t-shirt on one the group

first morning tea stop so pretty with the swan and the lake...

afternoon tea
cute changing sheds at the beach

brave souls swimming

fixing one of the 3 punctures that occured on the trip...yes 2 were mine!

are we going the right way?!

on ya bikes

it was hotbeautiful sunsets, at about 10pm
there were thousands of poppys in this particular field and as we rode along poppys would line the fields

sharing one of many laughs
in a replica of an old house
playing with clay in a vikings museum
we went sailing on a replica of a vikings boat...i think i will stick with the yacht in future thanks

On Friday night in copenhagen we met jacquelyn and Samantha for dinner

Then Saturday morning I met my sister and her boyfriend at the train station in Copenhagen and had a lovely day together. It was nice meeting somewhere else and being tourists together, I think it was a great way to do it before going to my home in Sweden. We were just on holiday together doing a boat tour on the canels in copenhagen, walking through the commune of Christiania which was very interesting, shopping, dinner and then going to the 160 yr old theme park Tivoli.
It was nice to be in copenhagen before Sweden because i have such a different life in Sweden that doesnt include my life in New Zealand. It sounds harsh when i describe it like that but it is difficult to explain. I have a swedish family and a swedish school and friends and fave hang outs etc so I was unsure how I would feel when I brought the two lives together but it was lovely to show Helen and Aiden around my neighbourhood and introduce them to my host family and take them to a favourite cafe for lunch etc.

on the boat tour
Helen and Aiden in CopenhagenHelen and I in Helsingborg.

I was really lucky to have great weather the entire week and got a bit of a tan. Today I had a lovely day hanging out with 3 girls who are at my next school. I have changed schools as many of you know due to the fact that it just wasnt working out at my old school. i am looking forward to the fresh start in august when school returns after the great summer holidays that have started.

I have a lot to look forward to over the next few months and just want to go go go! hahaha

pusshej x

On the lighter side,

Oh Denmark!

a random statue in the middle of these fields

have you brushed your teeth?

Mcdonalds warrants its own street sign

check out how long this word is in danish!

122 days in!!!, Birthdays and other things...

2008-05-07T02:07:00.000-07:00

Wow. I just cannot believe how much time has passed in my exchange allready! I left New Zealand on the 14th of January, arrived in Swedn of the 18th and its already May 14!!! 122/4 months! Just cant believe it, unfortunatley it means i only have about 8 months left...However in this time I have done so much,

Taken the train, within sweden and overseas
Been to Denmark, Poland, LA
Taken a ferry to more than one country
Spoken Swedish
made many embarrassing swedish mistakes
made many embarrassing english mistakes
built a snowlady
made a snow angel
made friends with people from Canada, Switzerland, America, Australia,France....
been skiing
been to many places in Sweden including Stockholm, malmö
been on a night train for 17 hours or so/slept on the train
walked to school in the snow
been barefeet in the snow
gone sledding
stared at one country while sitting in another
had DAY TRIPS overseas ( Copenhagen )
been to an orphanage
worn mufti everyday to school
used my mobile in class
understood all that was going on in a SCIENCE class-and there was no english
involved.thats impressive
read in english while simultaniously speaking and listeningto swedish.
seen a lot of sweden
been hit by a biker
made some great friends and had lots of fun.

so having lots of fun and most aspects are going really well, obviously not everthing can be perfect.

Well it was Emmys birthday yesterday and Antons birthday today so of course we woke them up early by walking into their room with pressies and singing and a a lit candle on their breaky. Can't wait for my turn! So had the family round to say happy birthday to them both yesterday...

my host dad göran and my host grandad jan who im going to DK with bike riding

Albin
Anton and John
with my lovely lovely host mother

preparing

the cool as candles

girls getting ready

So there you go, not too much to report really havnt done too much since stockholm, am joining a sports team among other changes soon to be made, getting exciting with eurotour creeping closer etc

Well there you go!

Puss och Kram

Update, Stockholm & Göteberg...

2008-05-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Well summer is on its way!!! Its getting very warm, had a couple of days with 17 or so degrees! Its fantastic, time to get this pasty body tanned!!!

Well since my last update I have been to a Monster Trucks show with the fam..

with albin
Brittany and Emmy

I have had a couple days in the göteberg area, the Australien Embassy in Sweden held an ANZAC day service which i attended with Alana, belinda, erika (nz) and will,adele and ella ( australia) Alana and I took the train together to Varberg to stay with Will on the thursday afternoon, getting there about half past 4 and so had a wee look around the little town which i thought was really cute and lovely. On the friday we headed up to göteberg where we met adele and ella at the trams and together got the area where the ceremony was to take place. however when we got off the train the map of the area had no pictures or words just numbers and no key! Completly useless!!! Thank goodness we had left a lot of time to get there as we only just made it on time despite having half an hour for what was meant to be an 8 minute walk! But we finally found the cemetary where Belinda and Erika were also. As New Zealand has no representation in Sweden as of yet, Erika and Belinda were asked to carry the nz wreath and place it on the cenotaph during the ceremony...

Belinda and Erika...
cenotaph

nz wreath
ribbon close up...

The service was really cool to go to, it was a little reminder of home with the last post etc. we had been invited to the reception afterwards which was back i stan so we got lifts with some people from the service. It was quite nice to socialise with the aussies etc, a bit of normacly with the slang language etc so that was pretty cool...

It was lovely weather over the time we were there and after the reception it was nice to have a wee look through the shops of göteberg..

myself, will and alana

alana and i
Erika and alana, NZ pride

Group photo! Belinda, me,will, lana, erika

me and alana again

and again! haha

the river...

buildings on a street...exciting i know :P ....

Well headed back on saturday for Brittany's Birthday dinner that night may post photos of that later. Sunday was recovery day! I had to be ready for an early monday morning start for Stockholm! hooray!!!

So left the house at 8am for the train to stockholm, i went with my rotary district which meant two woman birgetta and dagmarr who were our 'teacher' people and the 6 of us exchange students in my district, Jacquelyn, Brittany, Greg, Stacey, Natalie and myself along with Alana who managed to tag along too. we met in Lund and began the 6 hourish train ride to stockholm which passed pretty quickly

Alana, myself, jacquelyn

Jacquelyn, alana, Brittany and Stacey

Jacquelyn, lana and britt

jac and i

We got to Stockholm at about 3.30/4 and between then and 3.30 thursday arvo when we left again we saw several museums, ate out, shopped, had a nosey round and went to the Kings birthday celebration. that was actually the reason/exscuse for us to go as it was the kings birthday on wednesday meaning a public holiday on the wed and thursday and because friday was inbetween the weekend as those public holidays it meant no school friday also!hooray! haha

alana and jac

the girls

britt me and stace

natalie and i next to the a carriage from waaaaaaaaay back in the day. was so beautiful the old royal family would have been pretty cool cruising round in this!

our ride wasnt quite so flash..at the zoo museum sitting on the huge dalahåst. all the kids in sweden have one to represent their playtime etc, its quite a swedish symbol.

in the lift...

Greg and Brittany

Greg Britt and Jac

group photo

Jacquelyn, lana and brittany

Jac and Alana

Jac and Britt

The Gold room in the city hall

marching band at the kings birthday....

the king..

recieving flowers from all the kids

dressing up in the clothes of hundreds of years ago

I am having a really good time here in sweden still, 3 weeks till summer break in which i am cycling round denmark, eurotour and much more so its all happening,

untill next time...

Pictures

2008-04-21T13:35:00.001-07:00

Photo time...

Anna and I

Albin and I

Anton and Brittany

Brittany and I had coffee with some of her school friends...

my very successful ANZAC bikkies that everyone loved :D

You must pay 5 crowns ( $1) to use the loo in public.

I went for a bike ride along the river with Anna and Emmy..

Brittany, Anna and I went for a walk. it was pretty with the sunset.

There are blankets at the cafes for when you are cold :D

3 of the 5 girls in my class; Hanna, Yurdagul and Caroline
Helsingborg

Kulla med familjen

2008-04-13T13:54:00.001-07:00

Hey Today the family went to Kulla for a walk around the rocks. It was great to finally be back in the beachy surroundings. Some lovely photos with the lovely weather.

More forgotten Photos!

2008-04-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

Bowling with the fam ...

Easter

they put coloured feathers in the trees for easter

Poland...

This cemetry was HUGE. I have never seen anything so huge like the size of auckland domain huge.

Påsk.

Åre Ski trip

2008-04-12T04:48:00.000-07:00

Hey hey!
Well I have just had a week up north in Åre for a Rotary ski trip. It was lots of fun, and there were about 40 of us exchange students. I took the overnight train up with Jacquelyn, Alana, Natalie and Adele which was cool. The train ride for me was 14 hours plus the 40 min it took driving to the train station from my house.

Alana, Adele and Jaquelyn sitting on a bed on the train

posers in one of the many mirrors through the train, Alana and Natalie

Nat and I
Jacquelyn and I

We arrived at the train station at about 8am and here is the view behind us:

So It was very lovely, snow all around and when we got to the hotel where we were staying you looked out to this...

So it was lovely surroundings. Unfortunatly the beautiful weather you see in this photo above was only for Sunday when we didnt ski! We had a looksie around town during the afternoon and played games in the evening.

Monday, My first day at skiing. We begginners had a lovely instructer. I was so awful at first but got the hang of it after awhile so slowly cruised down a slope with Belinda for that afternoon. Tuesday I did well on a blue slope which I was very happy with and practised zooming and turning down the slopes. We only had ski school monday and tuesday morning so tuesday arvo after lunch I went down a slope with Jacquelyn who is very athletic. Well it was like I was starting all over again! After one particular fall I had a three year old stop beside me and ask me what I was doing with such a snobby voice and then when I told her I was just eating the snow hanging out she zoomed off with a shake of her head and her nose in the air! Jacquelyn was laughing so hard. But it was a great afternoon despite the many slips! thank goodness WE didnt have a camera with us.

Wednesday we drove up to the Åre mountain area, on monday and tuesday we had been skiing in Åre Björnen ( the bear area-bears as in wooden). I went skiing again with JAcquelyn and we decided to pick an easy slope to begin with and jumped on the t-bar to take us up. Well when we got up there we discovered that the signs had been lying and they were actually red and black slopes, the toughest slopes. Jacquelyn wsa even scared. There we were in front of this amazing view...

Freaking out we decided to follow the little slope that all these black and red slopes started from. As in you go along and turn left into your slope. Ngaire joined us as we looked for the easiest to go down. In the end we didnt actually have a choice as the 'path' we were going along turned into the last slope. Here are the results...

Ngaire standing and me in the backround. But where am i? heres a close up:

There I am! What am i doing in those trees when there is all that space on the slope for me?

Oh dear

....Anywho by the time we actually got down the mountain we figured we deserved a wee fika. After all that work who wouldnt need a coffee!

Jacquelyn and Ngaire warming up with our coffee.

So the three of us decided to head back to the meeting area as we were about to race these world champion disabled skiers, so back into our skis etc we went and chose the easy blue slope to cruise down on our way to the meeting. Howeever we ended up on a cross country skiing slope! Not the way back! We had to leave that as it curved around so ended up in a bit of a wood...

Ngaire on the phone to a staff member who couldnt figure out where we were! We got directions by a passer by who said go up the hill turn right and then go up the other hill. Well I think she meant mountain not hill! So we decided to continue with our Adventure by going off pist ( when you go off the slopes and just cruise down your own path) here are some action shots:

We ended up with quite a run going down through the trees however Jacquelyn and I didnt have a so graceful finish!...

I hope you notice that we did actually fall up this hill! Jacquelyn had quite a hike getting a pole back!

Well it turned out that the races were being held on the very mountain that we had spent all morning trying to escape from so Jacquelyn and I followed an easy looking slope to relax and enjoy the skiing. Well it started off well, we were having a great time and it was a good space to practice turning etc while still having a nice speed. Untill we turned a corner. Well I started just going so faster and started freaking out as this turner was coming up and I wanted to slow down. I didnt slow down enough and flew off the track leaving one pole 50 odd metres behind and another about 20 metres behind. I rolled down this little area and finally stopped. Well it took me a long time to stand up and get up the hill i had just fallen down, although you have to remember i was in skis.

trying to get up the hill but kept sliding down! Jacquelyn and I had a great sense of humour and every fall was just hilarious. I had such a wonderful time skiing and although it looks like I didnt really ski so much its not true. I did get a lot of good skiing down its just easier to take photos when you have fallen over!

On the last night Wednesday night, We went to the biggest waterfull in Sweden. It was big.

On the bus ride to the watterfall looking out the window. The mountains in the far distance belong to Norway.

the waterfall

the river.

Alana and I

Alana the Adventurer.

Sonja, Adele, Alana and I beside waterfall

all the kiwi exchange students in swedenPosers in the snow

At this water fall there was also this little ice house. However I will put the photos up later because I dont have them all yet.

Walking back to the bus from the waterfall was beautiful...

I also have a few photos taken during the week at the ski fields etc that i havent put through the writing...

my fave americans, Sonja and Jacquelyn

Jacquelyn and Alana on the buss

pizza

me adele jacquelyn and laura

cool kiwi

lana and laura

jacquelyn and adele

jac and i before skiing

sorefeet =barefeet for me in the snow

resting

mmm lunch yum

Greetings from Åre

busstop.adele checking out her choc in horror

Laura and Kate

massages we found a big pink couch.we sat on it.
Sonja and Jac.

Well Thursday was time to go home and with an earlier train Jac and I looked around town before going to get the bus to the hotel at about 1. Our train wasnt till 3.30 but there was lots to do. however the bus was either early or just didnt show up so after talking to somebody in a shop we discovered that the next bus to take was at 2.20 which we caught easily. At 2.50 we still werent at the hotel but instead going up the mountain, after talking to the bus driver it turned out that the bus didnt actually go to the hotel. hmm funny that as the shopkeeper had been looking at a map/timetable and all. So off the bus we got, with the next bus not untill 3.30 it was time to ring a taxi. The taxi got us to the hotel at about 3.05. We raced around getting packed but had to leave a lot to our lovely kind helpful amazing friends such as returning our skis. After waiting for the taxi to pick us up from the hotel and take us to train station we finally got there at about 3.38 with the train going at 3.42 I went to step on the taxi and slid down instead, ending up seated on the snow with my bags all around me and Jacquelyn laughing very hard. But it didnt matter because we got there! After spending all afternoon worrying etc we were finally there. So on we got onto the train and found our seats no problem, but there were others with the same seat numbers. After the ticket people came they found that our tickets were actually for the train that went on Wednesday not thursday. So consequently we had no bed or seat once we changed trains in Stockholm, for an 8 or 9 hourish train ride. this was our set up..

me and jacquelyn squished in the stairs trying to sleep

sad about our position haha

When I finally arrived in Lund I arrived to see my next train leave because we were 10 min delayed and so the next train wasnt for an hour...

an exhausting trip but all part of the experiance!!! Had great fun in Åre and am very happy here in Sweden. Will put up the pix of the ice igloo place soon.

love julia x

Pix

2008-04-05T06:53:00.000-07:00

Hey
Just some extra photos,
Brittany and I

my host Dad and Emmy

Emmy on the bike

Now the sights of Gantofta!

the pizzeria
the mini supermarket

the school

and thats gantofta!

Polen

2008-03-31T06:25:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

Well today I came back from my trip to Poland. I left my house on Thrusday arvo and drove down to Ystad where we took the ferry over to Poland. We took the night ferry so after hanging out awhile and checking out the shops and bars etc ( was a flash ferry) we headed to bed and slept the rest of the journey! When I say we I mean Anna, (my host mother), and her friend Biota, Biota's son Simon, Albin, Brittany and of course myself. Biota is actually polish so that helped greatly when it came to talking to people. Polish is the craziest language I have ever heard!

Anna

Brittany and Biota

Once we arrived in Poland we drove about an hour to the town of Gryfice, which isn't at all big. It is quite funny in Poland as they like to paint their houses green. So as you drive along you see many buildings looking like this...

It was so entertaining it was like they go to the store and pick up bottles of paint and can't decide which to get so they pick them all. there were houses with different shades of green with green and yellow stripes...

As you may know the whole point of the trip to Poland was to visit the orphanage where Anna and Biota sponser the two girls in this picture, Dagmara and Cornellia

It was a very poor area and the roads were terrible. they were bumpy and the kurbs were crumbling down etc the roofs had bits falling off them etc so living conditions arent good. It was a very intense few days. Because we arrived at about 10 we had a few hours to kill before the kids finished school so what else do girls do but go shopping!

After lunch we headed off to the orphanage. There were heaps of kids there and the building looked a bit shabby on the outside but after a lot of what we had seen in the way of homes and buldings it was very good. though the outside wasnt a particularly bright shade the inside was really cool. It was all bright greens ( suprised?) and orange and yellow painted walls with funky mirrors and a couple computors and a tv. So the building in which they live is great except for a funny smell. They have a cool playground as you can see in the photos now but it was sad to see the dirty nappy, plastic, ciggerette buts, and general rubbish lying around and this is what they play in. I was so grateful to have a rubbish bag and clean it up with them.

We brought with us to Poland bags of donated clothes and the likes which the kids sorted through when we first arrived.

The rest of friday we went for a walk with them. Now Dagmarra had taken a liken to me and Brittany and dragged us off away from everyone else to show us her school etc and I think enjoy the company of girls her age. She didnt have fantastic english and a lot of the time we werent exactly too sure of what she was saying but it helped her so much just to ramble to us. She told us her story how her mother leaves and comes back pregnant again, unemployed father no money or food at home... she has 7 sisters and 1 brother. This story wasn't too bad compared with her peers but similar to most. While we walked in the direction of her school, Anna and Biota took a few kids a different way and the Poles on the streets stopped and looked at them. They knew exactly who the children were but who were these people? Why were they with the orphans? Where have they come from and why are they going for a walk and playing with the kids? It isn't because they are horrible people but so poor and uneducated and in that situation they only think of themselves. Where does this leave the orphans?

With Dagmarra at her school.

Saturday morning we went shopping again but Brittany and I went with Dagmarra which was nice. It was sad at one point she couldnt afford a pair of jeans for $30 although with a bit of help from Britt and I that was fixed. It was nice to spend the morning with her just wandering round the shops. That day happened to be one particular boys 16th birthday. However you wouldnt believe it by looking at him. This boy was born with foetal alcohol syndrome ( spelling?) basically the mother had drank her way through the pregnancy. This boy was born without testicles therefore is unable to grow normally and consequently is the size of an 8 year old and looks about 12 in the face. His grandmother rings occasionally. We had pizza that night for his birthday at the orphange which was a nice treat for everybody.

Sunday we took Dagmarra, Cornellia, the birthday boy and another boy whos name I do not know to the beach. Drove an hour to the coast and spent the afternoon walking along it which was nice. Cornellia and I learned eachother how to count in our different languages. It was funny what a friendship we formed through sign language and just walking together.

group photo!

Anna at the beach

Albin

It was really neat through the weekend seeing how you have helped these children. On the friday not everybody smiled but by sunday they were smiling at us and that was really cool. The crazy thing is that all these kids wanted was the human contact. They were always holding our hand or linking our arms, just wanting to touch you. There was one particular girl who I especially wanted to bring home with me, she loved my earrings. Each day she would look at my ears and finger the earrings. I put them on her on Saturday night but then Dagmarra told me she couldnt have them because they were too big or some silly rule. But just letting her wear them all night untill she went to bed made her so happy. On Sunday when we arrived back at the orphanage she looked for me and ran and hugged me hello and then dragged me around the playground because she wanted to play with me. She was so cute and it was adorable. It was really hard to say goodbye.

Olla on the left in the red, who loved my earrings

Nicola and Biota

Brittany and Nicola

Brittany, Cornellia and I
a funny sign on the road

Cornellia could not smile on the friday but on sunday she just cried and cried when it was time to say goodbye. It was really sad but it made me realise by how just showing that I cared about her and the kids, just how much that means to them. And thats what we went to do, to show them that we care about them.

Dagmarra also grew quite fond of us which she showed with such a generous gift of a pair of earrings to both Brittany and I each. It meant so much more considering the financial position she is in so it made us realise again just how worthwhile our trip was for them and just how much it meant.

Anna looking posh with her new 'do

It is really hard to portray just exactly how you feel as you walk through the poverty etc of Gryfice and I know that as you read this you will be thinking yeah that sucks and is really sad but unless you actual see it yourself. I am not sure how to explain it. But the three days I spent there really changed the way I thought about it all and really had such an impact. It was heartbreaking but also so great to be able to help these childrens and put a smile on their face. It was a really intense weekend there but worth it.

Then sunday evening after a sad goodbye we got a ferry to copenhagen and then drove back home so I got home at about midday today. It was really cool driving over the Öresund back to Sweden. Although I have been on it before that was only on the train and so you cannot see as clearly how cool a bridge it is!

Anywho I best be off, I am sorry if this is a bit of a depressing post. I did enjoy myself over the weekend! and it was really good, exciting to go to Poland, another country on the list!

much love

Påsk festen and Family at a zoo thing

2008-03-31T06:06:00.000-07:00

Well during the holidays Anna took Brittany, Albin, Hannes, Emmy and I to a type of mini zoo where there were reptiles and birds and animals etc. Here are the photos

emmy digging for dinosaur bones

my height next to a giraffe

Hannes digging Doctor Emmy

Albin and Hannes
Albin

We also had a wee party for Päsk/Easter and here are the photos from that...

Emmy laughing as usual and Anna
Emmy and Camilla, a friend of Anna and Göran

my host dad trying to show us his sweet yoga skills

Emmy and Isadore
the yummiest cake ever. I like easter in sweden!
emmy..
Pauline and mother Caroline

...

Photos Taken by the Host Family

2008-03-22T01:43:00.000-07:00

me, Albin, Anna and Emmy in Copenhamn
This thing that shocks you with lots of volts or something was really funny

eating on my first international ferry
my host brother Albin
Boating to DK ( which you can see in the backround)
Albin and I at the museum in Copenhagen

Påsk!

2008-03-21T02:36:00.000-07:00

Well Easter was slightly different here in Sweden, on Thursday my little host sister with the many preschoolers of the Helsingborg area dressed up as little witches/wizards and went to a park where there were many easter games for them to play.

Emmy and Anna

Emmy dressed up A witch giving out lollies at the park

some of the kids with a big witchBrittany and I before.... having our make up done! the witches have bright red cheeks with freckles!all made up

they sang and danced..

visited a witches store

added fabric to the rooster

just as Brittany and I did

egg races

and a little show. It was very cute and lots of fun. That night we had an easter party at home with lots of kids etc which was lots of fun. I had my first pickled herring! But it was mixed in with lots of cream etc so wasnt too bad!

Then on saturday rather than have the hollow choc eggs like we have, the kids ( including me :D) had their eggs hidden round the house. They are kinda of like cardboard and the 'easter bunny' fills it with chos and lollies. So slightly different but the same idea. although I am missing my choc egg!

Language Camp Photos

2008-03-19T08:56:00.000-07:00

Well I am at home sick today as you may be able to tell from the many posts I am sorting through my photos etc and have realised I havnt posted my language camp pics so here they are! A couple months delayed but thats ok.

Adele and her friend the Moose ( we are rather obssessed with moose)
Ngaire, Adele and Ella
GEEK
Learning the language
Playing Camp, a card game that became very serious :P

eating pizza, again
after attending a rotary meeting
creating our own goody goody gum drops ice cream
Natalie, Alana,Adele, Will and me in the back
the hostel where we stayed

Playing in the Snow

2008-03-19T02:10:00.001-07:00

Well it snowed a lot the other day leaving lots of snow for Brittany and I to play in!

All dressed up ready to face the cold

Standing by the hill about to taboggan down. unfortunatly Gantofta school had gotten there first!cruising downmade it!Look! Its higher than my knee!' Brittany, Brittany we dont have enough snow we gotta steal the neighbours they are not even using it!'- stealing the neighbours snow for later events as I didnt want to disturb the snow at our house!

the stolen snowthat created Frostalina the SnowLady
Puss Puss
gangster

Body guards- we heard there were some snow poachers in the area

kiss kiss
Holding hands with our new friend
BFF ( best friends forver)

more gangster...
Brittany getting carried away... :PWoah

making snow angels

So there you have it, add a bit of snow, one excited nzer and an experianced Canadien throw in a camera and you have lots of snow fun!

Kiwis in Malmö

2008-03-19T01:41:00.000-07:00

Well as you know 5 of us kiwis got together on sunday for a day in Malmö. ALana and I who are in Sweden and Elyse, Ange and Megan came across from Denmark to see us!

Megan and I holding hands around a statue of people holding hands
Oh when the saints, go marching in, how i long to be in that number oh when the saints go marching in
med Alana

Catching up

Train station and canel
Elyse, Myself, Megan and Ange
Bringing Megan over to the side

walking
Canel

2008-03-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hurro!

Well although it has only been a week since my last blog it feels like far longer!

I had a fantastic weekend with my aussie friend Adele coming to stay at my house. On Friday she arrived and we popped to Malmö and saw Jacquelyn. We had a fika and saw a movie together which was lots of fun and returned home excited for saturday, our day in copenhagen! We caught the train very early, at 8 30 and met Alana in Malmö, arriving together in Denmark by 10am. It was really exciting taking the train over the bridge from sweden to denmark.

This photo was taken by us while on the train actually crossing between the countries

These two are just from the internet to show how imprseeive the structure is.

Very I later had the chance to see the bridge from afar when driving to Lund later in the week and it was an incredible sight! we had a fab day shopping ( the longest shopping street in europe I believe, or close to it!) although we didnt quite manage to get round all the shops! we then went in search of the famous mermaid statue however unfortuanetly the instructions were given to us by a very nice danish boy and so we didnt listen very well and ended up turning right instead of left very early on. We didnt get to the mermaid. We then had a lovely late lunch and a 'pickled tink' at the Hardrock Cafe which was great. after our day of wandering around copenhagen looking at amazing buildings and seeing the canals etc we popped back to Sweden to go to an exchange students house, Gregs, for a wee party with exchange students and swedes which was fun. Sunday was spent catching up on ourselves after our adventures and thenunfortunately these photos are a bit small but will do untill i figure out why.

Streets in Copenhagen

A church

I believe this was a movie theatre

Pastries and lollies!

There are more photos to come once I get them off the other girls, unfortunately my camera is broken and so I couldnt take mine and am relying on the girls! Monday Brittany, Adele and I had a fika before showing Adele around Helsingborg, after all she had come to see me there! before she left back home. So that was a really great weekend one of the best so far.

Adele and I with Helsingborg behind us

There is a stone scene from Hamlet in Helsingborg so of course Brittany, Adele and I thought it necessary to join in!

Im sitting here typing this while there has been a snowstorm all afternoon. Its nice to sit here with my heater and my chocolate milk although it wasnt so fun walking home from tåg stationen!

Since that weekend I have had another week at school. I have had my first french class finally! and of course met a lovely girl who was genuinly interested in my foreigness and enjoyed talking to me. Too bad my school isnt on the ball as had i met her 6 weeks ago, i may have had more fun at school. My annoyance with school doesnt stop there as I have beenn here so long and yet I still havent got a full timetable. I am yet to get my second option class, which is now to be cooking and I was sent to my first class on friday morning. As it started at 8.15 I need to leave my house at 7am. When I got to the school ( it was in a different school to mine as is my french class) it took me a good ten minutes to figure out how to enter the building! And then another 5 to find the classroom but I eventually got there! However when I did, it was only to learn the teacher didnt know who I was and I couldnt have my class then! So consequently I didnt have class until 10am, no new friends although a bit of embarrassment. Maybe tomorrow!

Thursday two friends and I had a fika in Malmö which was fun and cheered us all up immensly! And Friday night I stayed at Alanas house before going to Lund on Saturday with Rotary to hand out pamphlets and to speak about being exchange students. Another party with the same people Saturday night and Sunday was spent in Malmö (again!) hanging out with the nzers who are in DEnmark on their exchange. It was lots of fun to see them again especially Megan who is in my nz district and we had done all the rotary things together last year in preperation for our exchange. I will post the photos as soon as I get them.

Well I think that sums up my week nicely, I believe I have forgotten things but They can go in my next blog. My english is getting worse as my swedish gets better! Which is probably a good sign for now!

I am getting ready for easter soon! there are a few decorations around, plastic eggs hanging and many many many chickens everywhere! ITs quite funny, but the real reason im really looking forward to easter is not because of the chocolate and candy things they have but I will be going to Poland with Brittany, my host mother and a friend of hers to visit a Polish orphanage where my host mother sponsers two girls so we will see them and then of course have a wee looksie around. I am also looking forward to in April my ski trip in Åre ( north sweden), a week bikeride around Denmark going with my host grandfather and some of his friends and Alana will come too. Now dont be fooled we will be travelling 50kms a day and my host grandad does aerobics etc often and so I am told the pace wont be slow! I also have eurotour planned in July with Rotary where we go to Berlin, Cracow ( South Poland), Prague, Salzburg & Zell am see ( in Austria), Lido di Jesolo & Venice ( Italy), Paris, Lyon, brussels & Antwerp ( Belgium). Following the Eurotour I am going to Spain with my Host Family. I also have a few other trips in my mind! So it is a very exciting time!

Hope everybody is well, keep sending the emails! All my news tend to be in my blogs so please dont pester me about long replys as there is no need!

Friends & Host family etc

2008-03-06T14:36:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of me with my friends so that you know who I am talking about when I mention names! Please look at the bottom of all these pictures as I have written a new blog, a long blog, but its all my latest! Enjoy the photos...

Alana, (from New Zealand) and I
Brittany och Jag
Med Jacquelyn
mig och Britt
Stacey ( USA) me Britt ( Canada)
Britt and Jacquelyn ( USA)

making dinner and dessert

host mum Anna and my cute little sister Emmy in a rare smile for the camera!
Thats more like it! ( she is always happy but pretends to be cross)

she also tends to hiss! haha
emmys bum
a fave pic of mine
Hannes, 7

Brittany och Emmy
one of many faces she pulled for me that day when i wanted some photos!
Albin, 10
Anna och Emmy
awwwwww!!!

There you go!

Vecka Åtta!

2008-03-06T13:52:00.000-08:00

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

Snowing in Gantofta!

2008-03-05T07:46:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, here are some photos of Gantofta, my little town i live in the morning after it snowed so its looking rather pretty!

Do come in!

2008-03-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

Hey guys welcome to Saffrensgaten 11, Gantofta, Sweden.

Just walk along the road, towards the camera.

Come on in!

Come into the foyer...

If you could take of your shoes and..

and walk through into the lounge

here is the living area/lounge,

Hannes sitting playing wii...

The lounge from the other angle! Very important!

The dining table, not used every night,...

Into the kitchen we go...

Whats Anna cooking?!

Lets take a look upstairs...

..Brittany in her room..

Dont mind the cat as you walk through to...

MY ROOM!!! complete with a huge Canada flag from Brittany, My NZ flag, My watch's flag from the Spirit of NZ and of course a Swedish flag ( out of the frame)

Shall we take a stroll outside? Back out the front door...

Down the path...

around the corner..

The backyard, you may notice it has been snowing? However it was only raining snow, and melted with the impact on the ground :(

Can you spot the snow on the bbq?

Well ladies and gentlemen that was the grand tour! Do you feel like your in Sweden too?!

much love,

One Month in!

2008-02-19T07:32:00.000-08:00

Well I have now been here for one month and 5 days, and it feels like far longer since I left home!

Since my last post/email, I have been to the famous sauna. This is where many naked people ( men and woman are seperated of course) lie in a hot hot hot sauna untill they cant handle the heat any longer and so go outside ( still naked-and when I did it it was about 2 degrees outside, although goodness knows what the water temp was!) and jump into the sea. yes the sea. this sea seperates Denmark and Sweden. Then they run back into the sauna and so the cycle begins.

I experianced this with my host mother and her girlfriends from Gantofta and Brittany, the other exchange student living in my house. Well Brittany and i broke the rules and wore our bikinis. Well I tell you it was an experiance!!! One that I certainly could not have done in New Zealand!!! I have now seen all the ladies of Gantofta nude plus several from the city of helsingborg who were also participating in the crazy activity! It was very funny because Brit and i felt so awkward sitting chatting away with all these naked ladies. It was hard to know where to look because we there were three heights of chairs and well you can imagine... Anywho I survived walking through the showering block where various shapes and sizes were scrubbing various areas and into the sauna where I stared outside and the windy blustering sea, almost unable to see Denmark, only 4000 metres away! Then it was time to jump into the water.

wow oh wow. boy it was cold!!! Here are the photos to prove my achievment..

Walking ( slowly, so very slowly!!!) into the freezing water. Aka hell!

a picture says a thousand words!
brit and I competing to see who could last the longest.
I did not do well.
the location.

School is improving. The girls still let me sit with them and follow them around. Inbetween classes one day i even went to somebodys house! So I think that school will be fine. I have now experianced communal showers because we went swimming for p.e one day although 5 of us showered in our bikinis and only one girl showered without her togs so that was ok! although it seems like everywhere i go now people insist on being nude!!! Sadly I no longer really notice when somebody walks past me naked!

I have just spent the weekend in Kristianstad ( kir-farn-staad) ( or if you live in my city they say q-fwin-stad) ( or if you live somewhere else...you get the idea! Makes it difficult to purchase tickets!!!) staying with a kiwi exchange student, Alana. It was lots of fun seeing her again and being able to talk quickly and with understanding!

I am on holiday this week and so I am about to go and meet two american exchange students at the train station as they are staying at my house. We shall pop into denmark tomorrow for a little squiz. I havent yet met one of them so that will be nice to have a new friend!

Nothing much else to report now so I shall leave you all to your busy lives!

hope your not all missing me too much!!

much love,
x

Helsinborg

2008-02-19T07:27:00.000-08:00

This is me with helsingborg city in the backround, and you can see the stretch of land across the sea which is Denmark.

First 2 Weeks

2008-02-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody,

Well I have now had 2 weeks in my new life in Sweden. So far I have had two days at school. One day last week before my language camp and one today. I made it very clear that I am not at all interested in participating in a science program this year which I was assured was all hunky dory and so you can imagine my suprise when, come my first day I am given a timetable which includes stage four chem, bio and physics! I thought I can cope with that for a day untill I get the chance to fix it all up. My classmates fought all day and had a huge blowup in the girls changing room after sport. Not the class for me I decided. A bit unfortunate really because the girls were really nice to me and when they saw me today said hello and let me pretend they were my friends during my break.
Today I had my first day with my true class, which I am staying in all year. Two girls spoke to me while the only other 3 in the class didnt say anything allthough it wasnt in a snobbish manner just shy. The boys didnt speak to me, so Mum I think you can safely tell Opa I wont be returning engaged! It was quite funny at the end of the day when one boy asked me if I could find my way home ok. I was so surprised he spoke to me I didnt really realise what he said! It sounds horrible and it sort of is but I know that once I can speak swedish to them they will warm up and that swedes are generally quite shy.
So I just have to keep it together for a month or two and they will come right. Although the girls who spoke to me today did tell me that the canadien exchange student last year that was in their class had to go home after 6 months because she wasnt happy! But they told their classmates they had to be nice to me this year and not exclude me like the last student. Which is promising? She'll be right.

Im yet to experiance the infamous communal showers so no comment there so far.

School aside, I spent 5 days in Ronneby with 9 fellow exchange students from the southern hemisphere to learn some swedish. There were 2 brazillian girls who were quite quiet as they felt they knew little english, and we didnt know any portuguese, another kiwi alana and I from NZ and then too many aussies! 6 to be exact, However after much banter between poor outnumbered Alana and I with them we all became friends which is lovely as none of us had any in Sweden yet! We visited about 10 classes throughout the week to talk to them about our countries, however when we got there very little wanted to talk to us and those who did only wanted to talk of Australia. Nobody cared about NZ or got confused about the fact that we were not aussies. In every class we were introduced as australiens and 2 brazilians. goodness!

Anywho Camp was fun so that was the main thing. So now I have had the chance to see and experiance the many differences between NZ and Sweden although I havn't felt any big culture shock, so adapting isn't really a difficulty at all although it is challanging at times for example the cold. I have been keep a basic record of all the differences really so I do not forget anything or simply not notice things because its so different.

Obviously number one is the language difference. But standing in the city near my little tribal village ( haha!) you can see Denmark. You can stand in one country and another is visible! incredibile!
The schools are incredibly different. The students can be dressed however they like and I can tell you that anybody no matter how bogen or emo or sporty or geeky will all fit in. There are many weirdos! Anywho you may get up and walk out of class should you feel like it. Address your teacher by their first names and of course should you be unhappy with their style swear at them. You can pop out for a smoko etc. They all look at me in horror when I describe school at home. and I didnt even mention the no walking on the grass rule!

A big change is they drive on the right side and not the left side of the road. This doesnt sound too major I know, but when you go to cross the road it can be a bit hazardous! And sitting in the front seat while driving somewhere, while I have gotten used to being on the right side of the road however when we go onto a roundabout or go to turn into a road I still freak out when I see my host Dad looking the wrong way! I forget the cars are coming from the other direction!

Also, cyclists ( and there a many, it is a very popular method of transportation to school and work) have their bike lane but it is on the footpath which of course being a kiwi I had no idea of this and so yes I have been 'run over' ( well run into anyhow) by a cyclist who continued to ride while yelling goodness knows what in swedish at me. I learnt quickly how to walk on the footpath.
Another traffic difference is the lights go red orange green rather than straight to green which I found weird but another difference that I find really cool is that on the highways etc they have signs informing drivers which carparks have spaces available and how many!

In shops you must put all the clothes you dont wish to buy back on the shelves yourself rather than give it to the shop assitants which I think is silly.
Cafes etc close at night.

Trains, central heating.
Toilets. They dont have nice toilet paper like we have in NZ. Its like the paper used in public places that they have in their homes. You can imagine the standard in the public toilets. Well actually I wouldn't know because its $1 to use public toilets, and in some cafes where you are dining. I refuse to pay.
When one flushes the toilet it empties and refills at the same time! Well worth a mention!
Walking along roads etc you find puddles have frozen over. It is very entertaining to jump on them and break the ice!
Sparkling water is hugely popular here. I tried to buy a bottle of water on my way to school one day but there were no bottles of still water in the shop! There were however all the flavours of the world in bubbly water!

You flick the light switches the opposite way. Im sure there are many more but thats all I can remember now and this email its pretty long already so I will leave you all to continue sunbathing while I sit by the fire rubbing my toes!

LOVE
xx

2008-02-19T07:20:00.000-08:00

Hej everybody,

It is 11am here in Gantofta, Sweden where we have been warned by the newspapers all week about a huge storm that is coming. It has been a bit of a joke with all the passangers on my many flights and at home with the family that this is how the swedes would like to welcome me to their country! So at the moment its about 5-7 degrees which im told is very warm for this time of year. I dont find it too bad anyway.

Well LA was fun, going to Universal Studios and Disneyland. Disneyland was amazing, the attention to detail was incredible! However, I must say that I despise American food. It was disgusting, the portions were huge but fatty. While at Disneyland Jess, Greg ( the two whom I went round the theme parks with) and I became very excited when we saw fruit and vege stores and promptly bought carrots and celery etc. Greg chose sliced apple and discovered it came with a thick caramel sauce, which gives you an example of how they like their food.

That aside it was a great transition and we 40 students departed for our countrys after a few sad goodbyes, but mainly really excited for our individual journeys and of course extremely sleep deprived. We were chaperoned as far as frankfurt. Seven of us went through customs together and we all set of the metal detectors. But other than that we got on our flights ok, I was with 2 others flying to Stockholm where they were picked up by families and I was to go on to my next flight to Malmo. That was a bit tricky, navigating through a swedish airport where there is little english in the domestic section but with a few tears and the help of a kindly norweigan pilot I checked in ok and finally arrived in Malmo where I could not see anybody waiting to pick me up. After awhile I decided the time had come to give them a call and thankfully they were only at the international arrivals, not realising I was on a domestic flight. As you can probably imagine, I was thoroughly exhausted and went to bed as soon as we arrive home.

I have only had one day so far although it was so busy it feels like more. My host family are really lovely, exactly what one would wish for upon arriving in a foreign country at 17. If I listen, I can understand the topic of the conversations and what they are asking me although obviously I cant reply in swedish. In the morning I woke up surprisingly early considering how exhausted I had been, while everyone stayed in bed. Hannes my 7 year old host brother got up soon after, saw me said good morning and ran away! I managed to ask him how old he was and he taught me how to count. We watched the Lion King in swedish which was cool, and Emmy surfaced as it started. Emmy is 5 in may and so cute! Anyway those 2 love me and tried to teach me lots of swedish which was fun. I went with my host brothers to the dairy on the far end of gantofta. We were home after ten minutes but it was nice to see the area! I think it will be beautiful in the summer.
My host parents then took me for my first ride on a train into the city of Helsingborg with the 2 littlies and we had lunch and saw my school etc. In the evening I recieved a phone call from brittany asking if i wanted to join her and another exchange student for a coffee which I did and that was excellent.
When I got home, a friend of my host mothers was there and I talked with them partly in swedish, partly in english for a good 3 hours before my host father who is a real boy at heart whisked me away to play nintendo with him! It was quite funny because it was that interactive thing, where you hold the sensor and so we played bowling.

So as you can see I feel very welcome in Sweden, not too many glitches so far. Hope all is well at home, Vi sesxx

2008-01-21T09:23:00.001-08:00

The Scooby Doo Mystery Van Jellybeans!

what a couple! Universal!

Jess and me with Beetlejuice
We three with spongebob
with Dora...
Donkey, who was hilarious

eating a churro

Greg, Jess and Me

LA- transition between NZ & SV

2008-01-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody,

This is just a page where I shall post my photos of my exchange. Its an easy way for family and friends to check them out. I will include a message indicating this page has been updated in my emails. If i have missed you out with the emails let me know so i can add your address to the list. Having a great time, miss all

xx