Life as an Exchange Student: Birthdays, Cars, Boots & Countdowns

The first weeks of May have come and gone. For the first time in a while the month of May didn't feel jam packed. Normally back home this is a busy month. Rosanna's birthday (younger sister), Cinco de Mayo, Cassandra's birthday (older sister), Mother's Day, Prieto's birthday (younger brother), my birthday, pancake breakfast, beginning of studying for finals, and the list goes on. But since I'm obviously not at home I've been just breezing by this month, sorta. For both sisters birthdays and Mother's day I skyped with family, wishing them the best on their special days & I will actually do that again later today for my brother's birthday. He turns 16 today!!! Congrats to the best brother ever, my one and only brother, couldn't ask for a better one :)

Okay so what's happened here...in Sweden. Not too much.

My new host family is wonderful. They've got a quirky ness to them that I like, makes me feel like I can definitely by myself around them! This family includes host mom, Kersti, host dad, Thore, host sisters, Marta(13) & Agnes(15). Their older sister is on an exchange to Japan. We live in an area called Laröd just outside of the town centrum, about a 10 minute drive. It's a great neighborhood and I like that we aren't right in the city. But because we live further out of the city I now take a bus to go to school, 15 minutes on bus then 15 minute walking. No more biking, well at least not everyday. On the days that I start at 12:30 I plan to bike to school.

Speaking of school. I pretty much only have 14 days of actual school left. After May I have maybe 4 full days of school not consecutive but still only 4! I cannot wait till school is done, I've never wanted summer as much as I do now.

So on May 1st I went to a futbol game here in Helsinborg. It was HIF (Helsingborg's team) against Gotenburg I believe. It was fun to watch and thankfully we didn't lose, but instead tied.

May 6-8 was suppose to have been a volleybol tournament in Gothenburg but our team didn't go because we didn't have enough girls, again :( Instead on May 8, all us exchange students had to attend the Rotary District Conference in Kavlinge, a town 30-45 minutes from Helsingborg. Dakota and I were able to get a ride from a Rotarian. His name is Lars and he is very nice. I've met him and his wife before, great people. He has a son who will be an exchange student to Kansas next year! Well, the point of us attending this meeting was so that we inbound exchange students could present ourselves to various members of the district and also so we can meet and chat with the soon to be outbound exchange students. It was fun to meet the students who are leaving next year and offer any advice for them. So, on our way home Lars said that he was going to pick up his Ferrari once he got home, at the mention of that I got excited. I'm not a car fanatic like my brother but it's not very often you meet someone who owns a convertible Ferrari & a yellow Lambo! Not only that but I told him how exciting it would be to get the chance to see it and what not, especially since I knew it would make my brother jealous. So he said he'd stop by the house and I could have a look, but believe it or not he took me for a ride as well. It was incredible! The sound of the engine as we sped up was remarkable, it was so fun to be driving fast.

May 13, this past Friday I went to Malmo to meet up with some other exchange students for a fika and to "shop". We definitely made a stop at the English store, and the American Store. I bought a Charleston Chew, Resses PB Cups, & BBQ Kettle Chips. Mmmm, hit the spot. Then we went to the Turning Torso, a very tall builiding that well looks like it's sort of turning. There we stopped for some amazing [italian] ice cream, and then sat around at Espresso House. After that Dakota, Chris, Keisha (exchangies from Canada) and I went to Svedala. A town semi close to Malmo. This is the town Keisha lives in, Dakota and I were going over to spend the night. Anyway, we had time to kill before dinner so Keisha took us on a 'tour' of the town, apparently the town is only like 10,000 people. Small to her, not small to me.

We went back to the house for a yummy grilled dinner then talked and talked about all sorts of things. Later we watched Black Swan, great, great movie. Next morning none of us got up till past 10 :) We ate some brunch then took the train back to Malmo for some more 'shopping'. Didn't buy anything, but saw a pair of boots that I really want now. Price for them here was 999SEK, so about $160. Yikes, so I googled the brand once I got home to see if they are actually that expensive or if it's just Sweden that's pricey. Well, it's just Sweden because on their actual site their $70! So guess that means I'll have to wait to get them until I'm back home OR who knows I could just get them as a birthday present....

May 15, today! I went with my host dad to the Classic Cars show here. It was lots of fun to see all the cars, lots of classics, some newer models, and even motorcycles too. I really enjoyed it, plus my host dad was telling me little bits and pieces about certain models, and the different car brands...or would you say car companies so that was interesting to hear.