Adam Landström

2009-10 Inbound from Sweden

Hometown: Soderkoping, Sweden

Sponsor: Söderköping-S:t Ragnhild Rotary Club, District 2410, Sweden

Host: St. Augustine Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida, USA

School: St. Joseph Academy, St. Augustine, Florida

Bio

Adam's Bio

Hello! My name is Adam Landstrom and I'm an exchange student from Soderkoping, Sweden. Soderkoping is a small town (population 14,000). It's about two hours south of Stockholm, the capital city. I am 17 years old and just ended my first year at the school Hagagymnasiet. I'm taking a three year Nature and Society mixture. I am also playing basketball during school time. I have been playing basketball for about six years now and went to School World Cup in Istanbul, Turkey this May. We didn't finish up so good, but I had a really good experience and I will remember it forever!

As an exchange student I'm living in St. Augustine. I love the town, It has a lot of old culture and such. I also love the beach. Where I'm living now it's about a two minutes walk to it. One of my things that I want to learn is how to surf, it seems so cool! I also want to take a scuba certificate!

I became an exchange student because I wanted something new to happen in my life. This is truly a life changing experience and I'm really motivated about it! I only see potential in it. Thank you Rotary Florida for this wonderful opportunity!

September 20 Journal

Hello! I’m sorry for waiting so long with the posting, I will take that one for the team!

I have been in St. Augustine for almost seven weeks now! The time has just flown by!! Everything is just great and I’m really enjoying everything!

The first weeks were really great, I spent a lot of time with my host brother, Steven, and he is in Taiwan right now!! I have also been to an amusement park in Georgia! It’s called Wild Adventures and the place was really cool! Got everything – Water park, Roller coasters and animals! We DON’T have that in Sweden, haha!

I also tried out for the football team, but since I’m going to play basketball I decided to wait for the season to start. We are pre-season training right now which means veeeery much running and weightlifting, but it’s really fun and we’ll get in shape for sure!! I also go to the gym with my cousin Ted! He beats me in shape!

My family is really great! They make me feel like home and are very supportive! I am very happy about being placed in the Isicoff family!

When the school started I have met a lot of friends such as Nash, Dylan, and Kimberly! They are so friendly and cool! I felt very relieved about making friends! That was one of my biggest fears, haha!

I got friends that are exchange students too! Lilia Montella goes to St. Augustine High too. Patrick Berger goes to Pedro (which we destroyed in football)! Marina Rodriguez goes to Bartram, which is further away!

I like the school here but it’s kind of different from the Swedish school! Here you got a lot more rules! One thing is good though is that you have everything in the school. The football team, basketball team, track team…… yeah you name it. I like that a lot and it’s really fun with the school spirit and everything! We are the Yellow Jackets!!

I’m also a proud parent of the turtles Penelope and Edgar. I bought them yesterday with my coooooooolest friend Leah!!

Well, that’s all for now I guess. Peace out!

November 15 Journal

Hi! It’s been a while since I posted last! It feels like the time goes so fast! I’ve been here more than three months now and I’m freaking out already!

So what have I done since I last posted? Well, there’s been a lot of stuff going on!

The night before Halloween I went to Universal Studios, Orlando. It was the Halloween Horror Night, which was pretty intense! The coolest part was when people chased us with chain saws! There were a lot of friends there and I had so much fun!

I’m also a Gator and a Jaguars fan! Thanks to Mr. Alexander in my Rotary Club who invited me to come a long with him! 90.000 people in The Swamp were really cool!

The thing that I did last Wednesday was one of my dreams that came true! I went to Orlando to see the Orlando Magic play against the Cleveland Cavaliers! Big names like Shaquille O'Neal, Lebron James, Dwight Howard, and Vince Carter! For a basketball freak like me, that was a really big deal! And all of that was thanks to Mr. Neville in my Rotary Club, who invited me, and Patrick from Switzerland!

We had an inbound weekend here in St. Augustine! The whole district came and we did some of the stuff that my host town has to offer! Thank you Louise Anderson who planned that! And thank you the St. Augustine Rotary Clubs for sponsoring us! I had a blast and I felt that I got to know the other exchange students even better!

This week I had the Homecoming week! (Late compared to all the others!) I was in the Junior Skit at the skit night and played myself with a lot more accent! It was pretty funny! The seniors won though! We also had the dance Saturday night! A bunch of people all went to my friend Liam’s house and took pictures! After that we went to a restaurant to have dinner and then it was time for the dance  It was fun I can tell you!

Otherwise I’m doing great! I really like my family and I feel like a part of it! School is good but it’s kind of boring to have the same schedule every day! I tried out to play basketball and made varsity, but I injured my back so now I have to rest this season. I’m kind of upset about it but that’s just the way it is!

Well that’s all for now! Thank you Rotary!

April 14 Journal

Hello again,

It’s been a while since my last post... I’ve just been ridiculously busy. Let’s see if I can remember some of my favorite memories since November.

In December we had the Disney Trip with all the exchange students. I was really excited to meet all of them and to see the wonderful world of Disney, of course. I had an amazing time! Everybody really connects on another level than what you do with the most of the people in school. We all have so much in common and I think that makes us just relaxed and we can really be ourselves (that’s how I feel at least). Plus I’ve started to like Roller coasters so that was exciting too =)

Christmas was amazing!! It felt really weird to not be surrounded by cold and snow, like it usually is in Sweden I couldn’t had a better American Christmas. Everybody was happy and ate super yummy food… And of course the presents!! I got tickets to go see the Orlando Magic against the LA Lakers. I was so happy, for a basketball freak like me you could only imagine!! And to finally go there in March was soooo cool! I bought a jersey from the Orlando magic which now hangs on my wall.

I celebrated New Years down in Fort Lauderdale with the exchange students that live in that area. I had a great time with all of them. I haven’t really talked that much with some of them before, but it was really nice getting to know them better too!

I January we had a trip to the Keys with the Rotary. We stayed at a camp where you learn about the sea in general, the reefs and so on. I thought it was really interesting and we had a great instructor too. We also spent some time in Key West, where everybody walked around on Duval Street and looked in different stores. That was when I fell in love… They had 1lb cookies!! I think that was the highlight of my year, no joke! That trip was a good way to say goodbye to everyone because some of the exchange student I’ll never see again.

I’ve also moved to another host family. It was harder than I thought because I clicked really well with my old one. I am so thankful for everything they’ve done for me! I’m extra thankful to Carla, my American mom. She is an amazing woman. I didn’t move that far, about ten minutes away and still on the Island (where the beach is).

Spring break was a really fun event for me. My older siblings came to visit with their fiancées. One of the first things they told me when I jumped in the car with them was that I was going to be an uncle! I was so shocked that my brother, Jonas, was about to become a dad. I was really happy and that truly made my day and their whole visit. We played tourists in St Augustine before we spent one night in Magic Kingdom in Orlando. After that we left for Clearwater Beach, where we had 4 nights. I had a blast there and to see my family again was weird, but really really fun. After Clearwater we left to go up to St. Augustine again for a couple of days, where we celebrated Easter. Then we were heading for Fort Lauderdale. I had a good time in Fort Lauderdale with them! The weather was amazing and the hotel was really nice. We also took a day trip to go to South Beach in Miami, which was really cool to see that!

Oh, by the way. my brother and his girlfriend Therese got married on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. I am so happy that I was a part of the ceremony and that is going to be one of my absolute favorite memories from this whole year.

On Saturday the 17th I have only 3 more months before I go back to Sweden. This year goes too fast. I’m really having the time of my live and I’m trying to spend that time wisely now. Words can’t explain how thankful I am to Rotary Exchange and RYE Florida. Thank you so much!

Peace out, Adam

New Years

Orlando Magic game

Jonas & Therese's Wedding