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!

xx

Friends & Host family etc

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!

xx

Vecka Åtta!

Hey boys and girls!

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hej då
xx

Snowing in Gantofta!

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!

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,

xx