Megan Reuss

2009-10 Outbound to Sweden

Hometown: Lakewood Ranch, Florida

School: Lakewood Ranch HS

Sponsor: Lakewood Ranch Rotary Club, District 6960, Florida

Host: Örebro-Södra Rotary Club, District 2340, Sweden

Bio

Megan's Bio

Hey! I’m Megan Reuss and I am currently a senior at Lakewood Ranch High School. As I write this bio, I do not know quite what to expect in the next year but I’m looking forward to every second of it! I’ll start off by telling you about my exciting life in Lakewood Ranch. I have a rather active lifestyle, packed with running, club activities, school, hanging out with friends, spending time with family, playing soccer, attending pasta parties, participating in outdoor activities, and enjoying smoothies.

I run on my school’s varsity cross country team along with a bunch of my friends. Our team motto, “Never come to the starting line with thoughts of coming in second,” comes to mind when I think of Rotary and the wonderful opportunities it presents. As a team we obtained the district championship by a margin of two points! Just goes to show that determination and hard work can produce great results. Wellll, that and loading up with carbs on Friday nights! I also pole vault and run on varsity track and field. I recently began pole vaulting, looking for a new activity to test myself at. Turns out its really fun (despite being seconds away from falling 8 feet)! I also enjoy playing soccer although I stopped playing competitively this year to concentrate more on running. I still find time to play with some friends before/during/after running.

I am the historian of my school’s Technology Student Association (TSA) chapter. I am also a member of the National Honor Society (NHS), Technology Honor Society (THS), and Latin club. I have a sister, Wendy, who is 15 (and extremely jealous that I will be going to Sweden without her!). We have four pets; two golden retrievers (Dewie and Lily) and two ferrets (Fred and Joe). Surprisingly, the dogs are more afraid of the mischievous ferrets than the ferrets are of the dogs! I love hanging out with my family, extended and immediate. Florida has been a prime location for family vacations, doubling the chances of seeing my cousins/aunts/uncles/grandparents multiple times throughout the year. I am very thankful for all the support my parents have given me in basically every aspect of my life!

I was born in born in New York, lived in Colorado for 9 years, and have been living in Florida for almost 8 years. I’m looking forward to adding Sweden to my list of residences. I am especially anticipating the cold weather and beautiful scenery. Thanks, Rotary, for allowing me this amazing opportunity!

At the beginning of the year I wasn’t exactly sure what I would be doing after high school. I figured that I would be packing up my belongings, saying goodbye to my friends and family, and heading off to college. After completing the grueling college application process, the radiant option of Rotary Youth Exchange appeared to me as I found my way out of the haze of applications. My thoughts dwelled on the possibility of embarking on a year long experience in a completely different environment. Looking back to 2001, I recall my cousin frantically attempting to learn as much German as possible before flying off to Switzerland for her Rotary exchange. Upon her return, she was fluent in German and more thankful than ever that Rotary presented her such an amazing opportunity. I found myself filling out yet another application, only this one was to stay in high school rather than get out. Shortly after, the idea of becoming an exchange student began to shape into a reality.

When I found out I would be living to Sweden for a year, I was excited beyond belief. Everything that I had become accustomed to over the past 17 years would fade away and be replaced with the experience of a lifetime. My love for exploration will meet its ultimate match this fall, sending me headfirst into an adventure full of excitement and novelty. After reading about what a great time some current exchangers are having, I eagerly signed the outbound contract and now am preparing for orientation. So far, about 9 of my friends have booked their seats to Sweden, in none other than the extravagant and luxurious compartments my suitcases! Not quite sure how that will work out with the suitcase rule and weight limit but it’s reassuring knowing I have a supportive base of friends in the states =]

August 26 Journal

Departure and Arrival

The beginning of a new month also became that of a new year when flight NW491 took off from Tampa International Airport at 8:15 AM. I occupied seat 18D wearing my outstanding blue Rotary blazer clad with only the RYE Florida patches.

Four days before this point, I was anxious beyond belief. My visa hadn’t arrived and I was scheduled to leave the next morning. Much to my relief the elusive visa arrived when I was supposed to take off, ironic right? Bokoff then booked my flights for August 1st, the same day most of the Denmark outbounds were leaving!

After a day with my family and a night staying up way too late with friends I realized saying goodbye was a lot harder than I imagined. With five teary-eyed friends, two speechless parents, and one confounded sister, tears began to fall as my excitement and apprehension built up. I had no idea what to expect once I passed though security and left my life in Florida behind.

All of these worries left me as I slept for nearly three hours before arriving in Detroit. After my last American lunch I found a handful of exchange students gathered together at gate A50, departure to AMSTERDAM at 4:00PM. Here we exchanged pins and shared thoughts. Before long, many others (including Juan, Caitlin, Morgan, Gabby, Sydney, and Peter from FL RYE!!) arrived. All of us were excited beyond belief and more than ready to arrive in our host countries.

The flight seemed much longer than 7 hours but eventually we arrived and unloaded from the plane while chatting and posing for our last pictures together. Customs was HECTIC. There were so many people running around and jumping into lines that it took a good ten minutes for us to find the right place. From there I had to say goodbye once again, only this time I was all smiles knowing that the next stop would be Stockholm!

My host family was waiting with a huge poster and USA flags right outside of baggage claim. From there we headed out to the infamous Red Volvo and took off for a small town right outside of Stockholm for my first fika! I have no idea why this amazing idea hasn’t made it to the United States but it has definitely become my favorite time of day. After learning some very quintessential Swedish (kaffe och kanelbulle) we piled into the ‘bil’ and traveled to the house.

Stockholm

I woke up as we pulled into the driveway. From there I moved into my new room only to pack again when I found out we were headed to Stockholm the next morning! On the two hour train ride, I found out sitting in a backwards facing seat is definitely NOT a good idea. After that unfortunate discovery, my host sisters taught me some Swedish card games where I learned that the number ‘sju’ is nearly impossible to say.

We dropped off our belongings, began to walk, stopped for an ice cream fika, and finally arrived at Gröna Lund! In a unanimous decision, my host sisters and I decided that the famed Insane was nothing in comparison to Extreme and Katapulten. We then took a ferry ride to Gamla Stad (Old Town) and saw tourist shops, the government building, and the castle (which my host family says is much ‘uglier’ than the castle in our town).

The next morning we took a boat trip to an archipelago in Stockholm. The small shops featuring local trades and the outstanding view of the Baltic Sea created a cozy atmosphere. While on Fjäderholm we ran into some fri snatching Florida natives, fiskmås! Next was Skansen, the most visited tourist destination in Sweden. Although we did not see any polar bears wandering the streets, we saw a few brown bear cubs there.

Rotary Club

I met my YEO (Britt-Marie) from the Rotary Club here in Sweden and received my first allowance as well as a Swedish flag and moose pin. We visited Rudbecksskolan and talked to the headmaster. They tried to put me in the English speaking program but I had to remind them many times that I’m in Sweden to learn Swedish. I will be in the second grade (no, not as in for seven year olds) ung foretagsamhet program.

Örebro Södra Rotary Club meetings are held every Friday at noon. I showed up in my dashing blue blazer and presented myself, in Swedish!! We then looked at a new set of apartments going up in the city and I got invited to visit Nora with Britt-Marie. We met the next week when I received the money for language camp (THANK YOU SO MUCH ROTARY!!).

We then took off for Nora, the town is known for its daily fresh made ice cream so naturally we had to try some! The smooth texture and mixture of vanilj, hasselnöt, and lingon was amazing! While Britt-Marie’s husband and I were looking over a USA road atlas, Britt-Marie whipped up some great kantarell sandwiches. During our little fika I found out that he has been to New York 11 times (9 of which were to run the New York Marathon), has a friend who biked 4000 km in 23 days, is going to bike in a 500 km race this summer, and used to be one of the top orienteerers in Sweden. Quite the cool guy!

Örebro and My New Family

The weekend was filled with parties. The first was a going away party for Karin. I met a lot of cool people (they were very impressed by the FL RYE business cards), who were more than happy to teach me some Swedish. After a late night mosquito massacre (I’m still suffering from the itchy wounds) we slept to regain energy for my host mom’s birthday party. I met a lot of the family, all of which were extremely friendly. My host cousins are especially sweet!

My host sisters (Karin-17, Eva-15, and Maria-12) and I visited the city where I saw the castle, the church, and the water tower ‘Svampen’. There is a lot of art around the town in random places (openART). A hand pointing from the moat to the castle and a monk statue sitting under a bridge were just a couple of pieces. On the bike ride back from town, there is a bicycle counter that shows how many have passed through during the day. By the time we got there, the counter was on about 4,000!

Karin’s last day at home was that of a typical exchange student: packing, weighing, unpacking, reevaluating, repacking. Eventually the suitcases made it to the car and she was off to Stockholm to meet up with the 35 other USA outbounds! We took a trip to the mall (Eva tells me it was recently renovated to look more American) and to IKEA!! About half the stuff in my room comes from IKEA as well as most of the furniture for the house. The store was huge even though it’s either the smallest (Eva’s presumption) or second smallest (Maria’s guess) IKEA in Sweden.

Orienteering

The whole family does this sport called orienteering where you run through the woods with a map and compass trying to find various checkpoints. On my first orienteering expedition my host dad and I ran the same course but he only helped me through the first two points. For the last four I was on my own. After lots of confusion while walking, navigating, and battling it out with the trees, I finished the 2.6 km course in 64:35!! Amazing, I know. After the outing we went home and ate these Swedish yellow mushrooms (kantarell) that my host sisters picked in the woods while orienteering. They were delicious!

The Orienteering Club had their annual Cross Country Championship!! This year yielded the largest turnout. Despite the rain it ended up being really fun! We also participated in another orienteering event called Golden Weekend. I was on my own for this course and I have to admit I was kind of nervous I would get lost and have to rough it in the woods for the rest of my life. Luckily I ran a course that had a lot of paths so it was relatively easy to find all of the checkpoints. Although between the last two I had no idea where I was which was when a photographer snapped a shot of the confused me! I came in first in ‘Öppet 1’ (granted all of my competitors were probably ages 3 and under)!! Eva and Maria placed in their age groups and got some pretty schnazzy prizes! OH! I experienced the much renowned Swedish nudity. Let’s just say the showers at orienteering events are very open!

I moved up to Öppet 2 in Orienteering, competition: 12 year olds!! I got lost A LOT this time but luckily some friendly Swedes helped me to get on the right path. Turns out the L signs are only for the little kids. My host parents also got lost but Maria maintained her leader status!

Other Happenings

On the weekend we drove to Filipstad to visit an exchange student in my district. The town was very small but had a huge hill (45 degrees straight up according to Nick’s host brother, Johan) that yielded a great view of the area. We walked around the town and somehow managed to get lost for three hours. I took my first bus ride after this and no I didn’t get lost (possibly because Resecentrum was the last stop)!

The first day of school was great! I didn’t have to show up until 13:00 (1 o’clock pm) so I had a nice lunch in town with my host dad and his fellow workers. School is very different here, the schedule has random 3 hour breaks, with different start and finish times everyday, kids smoke on campus between classes, and lunch and bus transportation is free for everyone! After school, my host mom and I went to an Örebro Fotboll Match! ‘VI VANN!!!’ 2-0 with goals in the first and last 3 minutes.

The people who created IKEA are very clever, you cannot skip anything in that store. It is made in a path so you MUST view everything. We had a nice outdoor lunch afterwards. Afterwards I went to VOX Festivalen with a few friends. We listened to some bands then went to an apartment on the other side of town (they taught me how to navigate the city bus system) where we played some Monopol (Swedish Monopoly)!

While in Sweden I have learned how to cook!! At least with apples. For the past week we’ve been having apples in just about every meal. Apple crumb cake, apples with sausage, chicken wok and apples, apples with ice cream, pretty much anything you can imagine. I successfully made apple pie (my host mom helped me with the Swedish directions) and ugnspannkaka med äpplen! I made that all on my own, with the Swedish cookbook!

Observations

• American Hamburger sauce, pretty sure we don’t have it in the USA!
• You walk around the grocery store with a scanner, put everything in bags then check out without having to remove everything from the cart (yes this means you could steal stuff but they check your bag occasionally)
• Showers take up the whole bathroom floor
• Not all Swedes drink coffee (ex. Host Family)
• About 50% of teens smoke
• EVERYONE bikes When not biking you take the bus
• Half the stuff in my room is from IKEA
• Yoghurt, muesli, milk, bread, tea, and fruit have become staples in my diet
• Having a driver’s license is uncommon, really uncommon
• Fruit trees are everywhere
• There are roads just for biking and walking
• Lakes are freezing
• Jet Lag is not a myth (15 hours of sleep proves it)

Goodbyes at the airport

My house in Sweden

Orienteering

November 30 Journal

Where to start…

School! Since last time I wrote, I’ve switched programs. The one I was in wasn’t working out; all the kids smoked and didn’t seem interested in the whole exchange student thing. Now I’m in the Specialidrott Program and it’s going great! There are only 18 students in the class and we all play sports. In Swedish schools, you stay with the same group of people for all of your classes. The classes we take are science, math, and sport based. When we don’t have kemi, physik, bilogi, or calculus we’re training for our ‘special sport’. Wednesdays and Fridays are by far my favorite days, soccer trainings in the mornings followed by only two classes in the afternoon. Tuesdays and Thursdays are rough, class from 8 am till 5 pm. It’s already dark out by the time I bike home! English is definitely my easiest class with Samhällskunskap being the hardest. The course name itself is a tongue twister! The biggest problem with school is staying awake but thankfully a few of my guy friends with their antics ensure that I don’t doze off too often.

Host Families! After höstlov (fall break) I switched to a new host family! It was a major surprise that my counselor found another one for me and I’m really thankful she did! Being able to see how another family functions has definitely broadened my views on the Swedish people as a whole. My new home is right near the university and about twice as close to town. My oldest host brother is thinking about going on exchange next year so the family decided to host me to let him see how the life of an exchange student is! I have two host brothers (Viktor 16 and Anton 14), a host sister (Elin, who just turned 11), and a host dog (Lipton, like the tea). My new family got back from the USA (New York City) the day before I moved in, pretty crazy right?

Rotary Weekends! About, ohhh let’s see, two-and-a-half months ago all of the exchange students in 2340 and 2370 (and one from Umeå) met up for language camp in Eskilstuna. For the week I stayed with Kelsey’s (from Washington state, not D.C.) host family in a town about 30 minutes southeast of Eskilstuna called Ärla. We had class everyday from 8 until about 2 at a folkhögskolan (adult high school) in town followed by an afternoon event (bowling, the Zoo, BBQ, the water park, movies, Frisbee, etc.). I don’t think the 16 of us would be able to survive the lessons without a minimum of two fikas a day! Everyday we went to different sponsor Rotary Club lunches. They were all hosted at the same place which meant you guessed it, the same food for 4 days in a row. All of us introduced ourselves with the signature ‘Hej! Jag heter…’ speech that we worked so diligently on perfecting during class. Luckily we only messed on occasionally on the ‘Nu bor jag…’ (it's not ‘Nu jag bor’) part. We all learned a lot and had a great time getting to know each other.

Our next meeting was at the Stresund Folkhögskolan in Trosa, located right on the shores of the Baltic Sea. We slept in a classroom and prepared for the District Conference that would take place a few weeks later. My group did a skit on the life of an exchange student in Sweden. Scenes included: silent bus rides, awkward showering, and the infamous fika. We had a fun time watching Kyle (from California), Nathan and Maxence (our Frenchies) attempting to canoe in the sea. They eventually ended up tipping and swimming the sinking canoe back to the shore. Did I mention this is in Sweden, not Florida, where the water is actually cold? After a tour of a Swedish Rescue Boat, Nathan (the Canadian one) and I discovered the most amazing drink ever, espressochoco. Being good-natured, we decided to share this discovery with the others which led to the depletion of the ingredients in the machine; in other words, no more espressochoco.

On our free time we got to wander around the premises when we discovered that some old Swedish buildings have ladders built into the outer walls! We quickly found out that ladders, despite their intended purpose, are not meant to be climbed.

To wrap up the weekend we saw an act about violence at football (soccer) games. Turns out hooligans are a big deal in Sweden. Many teens are sent to centers to help them quit the football gangs they are a part of. A few weeks later we met up in Strängnäs for the 2370 (my adoptive district) District Conference. While there we got to chill in a Swedish fire station until the actual district conference started. Fire stations actually do have the poles you slide down on! All of us gladly took advantage of being given the opportunity to test it. Later we got to take a ride in a fire truck and go up 30 meters (about 100 ft for all you Americans) in a sky lift that gave an awesome view of the town. Before our party at the station we toured the famous Strängnäs Cathedral that was frequented by the kings themselves back in the day.

The next day we woke up early and headed off to the conference. There we met many Rotarians from 2370, some from Russia, a few from other parts of Scandinavia, and even one from England! Sensing that our interest in the Swedish speeches was decreasing, our kind counselor for the weekend released us for fika. We met back up with the Rotarians for a tour of Strängnäs and then it was time for us to head home.

The 2340 (my actual district) District Conference was held in Strömsholm, a little town outside of Västerås. After listening to a few speeches, we headed off to Rödridhuset for lunch. While there we saw some horses jump extreme heights, I’m talking taller than me. We also got a tour of the renowned Animal Hospital that the area is known for. Later on in the evening we attended the Rotary dinner. We gave our Rotary speeches and chatted it up with the cheery Rotarians. I got a few invites to local Rotary meetings and met a past RYE student who spent a year in Tampa! Gunnar (RYE District Chair) supplied us with some delicious chocolate, which in turn left us staying up too late. Well that, and the fact that the hostel was haunted. Mailis (from Estonia) didn’t sleep at all, bathroom lights turned off sporadically, and strange noises were heard.

The next day was spent in meetings. Surprisingly, our attention was captured throughout the morning with speeches about Rotaract and the presentation of photos of Västerås by a National Geographic Photographer.

Last weekend was Stockholmhelg! About thirty of the exchange students from around the area met up at the big circle in the middle of Centralstation where we then split off and toured the city. We learned a little history, saw some sights, and even experienced a riot. The afternoon was supposed to be spent ice-skating, but the outdoor rink had melted away before we could! Instead we went bowling and I’m proud to report I haven’t improved in the least bit over the past few months.

We stayed the night at a hostel a little northwest of Centrum. I can now say not all hostels are like that in the movie Hostel. Strangers who approach you aren’t all serial murderers; in fact they have quite the stories! The next morning we made our way to Skansen where we spotted wolves, perused the Christmas market, and danced to Svensk Jusmusik around a Christmas tree. I can’t wait for the next Rotary Weekend; I don’t think I would be able to survive the entire year without my fellow exchangers!

Travels! I spend many of my weekends meeting up with my exchange friends throughout Sweden. With Sweden’s wonderful public transportation at my fingertips, I can’t afford not to be traveling constantly! Two of the past few weekends, I headed off to Nyköping for camping. Our first outing was near Lucia’s (from Argentina) host family’s house in Ripsa (which spells Paris with the letters jumbled!), a really small town about 30 minutes north of Nyköping. Grace (from Australia) and I trekked through the woods and met up with the other 3 in the dark of the night, right after a fika with Lucia’s host mom of course! We spent the night roasting chamallows (not marshmallows) over the fire and catching up on everything. The next day we took a hike and went out on the lake in an abandoned canoe. Then it started raining so we built an awesome lean-to to sleep in for the night. Luckily we turned out to be pretty good architects (mostly because we had Nathan, the Canadian Scout), only a few pieces of the second fort (the first one kind of collapsed on Grace) fell off during the night. Zach (Washington, state as well) and Lucia say the lean-to is still standing today!

Our next weekend was in Trosa, a town just northeast of Nyköping. Nathan’s host dad works at a folkhögskolan (the one we stayed at a few weeks before) with lots of camping sites. We found a nice teepee, fireplace and all, and claimed it as our home for the weekend. Before we arrived, Mayuka (from Japan) had an incident with woodcutting that led Zach to ban her from using knives. Fortunately we did not witness this nearly tragic event. We spent most of the weekend inside the warmth of the teepee roasting köttbullar, boiling top ramen, and feasting on falukorv/knäckebröd/ketchup sandwiches. When we ventured outside, we ended up watching an intense tree climbing competition. All three contenders dominated every tree we chose for them. By the end of an active weekend, I truly felt bad for anyone who would have to sit next to me on the bus/train. Weeks later and my winter jacket still smells of campfire and korv.

Over höstlov I visited Alina (from Arizona, who got her visa three weeks late!) in Södertälje. We toured the town, which is located right outside of Stockholm. The first thing I noticed was the McDonald’s that overlooks the port of the town. Then next day we traveled to Stockholm and met up with Kelsey. We had a quality day of touristing in Gamla Stan and shopping on Drottninggatan. We even saw a few Halloween decorations!

A few days later I headed off to Lund to visit Brandon (fellow Floridian)! After the 4 hour train ride, we met up and rode bikes back to his host house. Lund is a University town and because of that it has millions of bikes, probably more than I have ever seen in my life all gathered together in one place. After staying up way too late catching up on everything, we met up with Morgane (from France) at the train station. Next thing we knew we were on our way to Copenhagen! None of us had been to Denmark before so when we got there we took a few turns and ended up on some street with a bunch of shops fitting under a category that I should probably not mention. Luckily we made our way to Strøge and did some tourist shopping. We checked with the clerk at some store about which landmarks we should visit. He pointed us in the direction of the Little Mermaid. We managed to find the statue, which turned out to be much smaller than imagined but striking nonetheless! On the way there we saw a bunch of sweet buildings including Christiansborg Palace (the place on the Danish Butter Cookies tin) and the Copenhagen Opera House. By 17:00 it was dark out so we made our way to the train station and headed to back to Sweden.

It was the last weekend of höstlov, which meant all the Sunday train tickets were sold out so I headed to Nyköping to meet up with Lucia. We had a nice fika, kidnapped Zach, and went off to Eskilstuna to meet up with the other exchange students for Halloween.

A few weekends ago, Kelsey and Alina came to Örebro. We toured around the city, made a trip to IKEA (where we purchased awesome blankets for a mere 13 kr each!), and visited Svampen (Örebro’s legendary mushroom watertower). My host mom took us to the local women soccer team’s last game of the season. We got some schnazzy volleyball (yes, we were at a football match) supporter pins with our tickets to add to the Rotary blazers. KIF (Örebro’s team) played Linköping (the winners of the Swedish League) and won 2-0!

Last weekend, my host family took me to another sporting event, a Swedish Basketball game! It was more like a high school basketball game in the sense that you could sit anywhere you want and the players were constantly adjusting their uniforms (pointed out by my host mom). Of course, we had a fika at halftime. Unfortunately, Örebro Eco Basket lost the game that was supposed to be an easy win! The next morning my sister had a track meet in Västerås. My host mom and I toured the town between events. The coolest thing was Anundshög, the Viking burial mounds. From the top of the mound, you could see the outline of ships marked out by large stones. We had lunch in the city’s skyscraper on the 23rd floor with a view of the lake Mälaren. The sun finally decided to show itself so it was quite a pleasant day!

One of my friends was scheduled to be flown back to the USA (no, not due to misbehavior or anything of the sort) so we decided to meet up with and tour Stockholm together, hitting up some of the famous museums that are free to students while there. After a striking display of washing machines in the Nordiska Museet, we went to see The Vasa. The story behind the ship is quite spectacular so here comes a little history lesson. Built in the early 1600s, Vasa was meant to be a Swedish warship. Unfortunately the top-heavy ship sank after sailing less than a nautical mile (no clue how far that is but I’m sure my water crazed fam back in FL does!). After the valuable cannons were rescued, the ship was forgotten. That is until the late 1950s when it was discovered outside of the Stockholm harbor. The Vasa was salvaged nearly fully intact and is now located in the Vasa Museum.

Later on in the week Kelsey and I travelled to Nyköping for a farewell fika with the exchange students there. We had a grand day chasing busses, feeding ducks, and having too many fikas. The Nyköpingers, being the amazing people they are, bought a Swedish flag that we all signed and presented to Kelsey as a going away gift. Losing one of the group is tough but I guess that’s part of exchange! In a few months all of the oldies will be back in the Southern hemisphere and a few more after that and the rest of us will be back on native soil. The time crunch somehow makes all the highs and lows seem worth it, reminding us that once we leave things will never be the same. This is in no way a negative, quite the opposite! An infinite amount of thanks to Rotary and all that it stands for. I’m extremely proud to call myself an exchange student, even more so to say that it was compliments of Rotary.

Last week I traveled to Nyköping for an international Thanksgiving. We spent Thursday night at an ishockey match in Södertälje. The crowd was MUCH larger the other sports games I’ve been to in Sweden. The result of the fast paced game was in favor of the home team over MODO. We arrived back in Nyköping and began the long walk back to the Centrum. Mayuka ended up falling asleep in midwalk. Nathan being the champ that he is carried her for the 35+ min walk. The next morning she only remembered falling asleep at the bus stop. Guess that’s what happens when you study too much!

The next morning we planned our Thanksgiving menu and headed toward Coop to purchase all the materials. We managed to keep the price under 480 kr and it only cost us 180 kr thanks to Grace’s awesome gift card. After finding a house to use and lugging the many groceries back, we slaved away in the kitchen for hours snacking on anything edible, singing to Swedish tunes, and attempting to modify English measurements into metric. We ended up deciding a coffee cup was a suitable replacement for the Cup measurement. Everything turned out exquisitely and we feasted for hours, challenging each other to shovel down bite after bite. It was quite the experience for us North Americans to share with people from Argentina, Australia, France, Japan, and Sweden. It made me realize how extremely thankful I am for everything in my life. We joked about looking back on this day years later and reminiscing, all knowing that we would constantly be remembering our exchange year for decades to come.

Transportation! Over the few months that I’ve been here I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with the Swedish Transportation System, specifically with Länsträfiken (the buses) and SJ (the trains). Student bus cards get deactivated randomly which leads the cardholder having to bike to Wadköping in search of a replacement. I have learned the hard way that train doors do not stop, like elevators do, when people are in the midst of boarding. Bus drivers do not wait for you to say goodbye to friends, inevitably leaving you looking like an idiot when you have to chase the train, knock on the doors, and return to the stop after the failed attempt. Train tickets cost literally twice as much if you wake up late and have to buy them on the train instead of a hundred meters away at the station. Buses no longer accept cash as payment, bus cards only. But luckily: bike rides lead to discovering new places, the train doors are no match for me (I still have no idea how I managed to squeeze on), Swedish friends offer to bike you to the next stop (after laughing at you for missing the bus), train mishaps teach excellent lessons, and exchange students pay for your bus ticket in return for treating to fika. I love transportation here and I have no idea how Anni (with my family) is surviving life in the USA.

Rotary! Many Fridays I’m able to attend the Rotary lunch after training at Behrn Arena (Astroturf field that the Örebro SK and KIF play on). Luckily my English teacher doesn’t mind if I miss half a class. Last week I gave a spur of the minute speech about my höstlov completely in Swedish! Each time I go, I find myself meeting more Rotarians and being offered more opportunities. I’m extremely thankful for Rotary for allowing me this amazing opportunity. I cannot express my gratitude enough. Being here has already taught me so much and has influenced beyond belief. Again, tack så mycket Rotary!

Rules, Lessons, etc.

• Pancakes are for dinner
• Dinner menu also includes bacon
• NEVER buy a train ticket on the train
• Homework doesn’t exist
• No teacher, no class
• Not all Swedes drink coffee (t.ej. Host Family Två)
• It gets dark at 3. In the afternoon.
• Fika all day every day
• Exchange students are practically family
• Sweden is not Florida, jackets and gloves are needed
• Public showers will always be awkward
• EVERYONE still bikes despite the freezing weather
• Snow makes everything better and brighter
• Getting sick when first moving in has become a strange curse
• Varmt choklad är jättebra!
• Skype is a great money saver
• Everything costs way too much
• A gasp or hmm is regarded as an acceptable answer
• Avoid all bus conversation. Period.
• Sold out trains can be outsmarted
• Always make sure your luggage makes it to the final destination

Kramar från Sverige!	Language Camp in Eskilstuna	Camping in the lean-to at Ripsa	Camping near the Baltic Sea in Trosa
FL reunion in Copenhagen	Ishockey match in Södertälje	Thanksgiving in Nyköping	Winter in Örebro

December 29 Journal

Örebro is a great place to be, I can get anywhere I need to be within half an hour. Despite the fact that winter has come, I can still ride my bike everywhere. It’s quite the challenge to get to school when the sidewalks are covered with snow but surprisingly I’ve managed to get by! When the winter does manage to pull one over on me, I can’t help but laugh when I realize that instead of acquiring a nasty scrape, I’ve instead been covered in a layer of snow!

I’m starting to become adjusted to, and quite fond of, the sun’s lack of presence. The best part of a sunrise at 9:00 and sunset at 15:00 is the atmosphere that it creates, perfect for a cozy fika! My host dad recently commented on the ominous rain, the most there’s been in years. Luckily the weather seems to taken a turn for the better creating a landscape covered in a dazzling blanket of white.

The Swedes were right when they said the snow makes everything brighter and when they said the dark red color of the berries would bring a cold, snowy winter. The sun’s been peeking though the cloud cover quite often and when it does, the snow sparkles like there’s no tomorrow.

The atmosphere here is full of the Christmas spirit. Everything from the lights that illuminate the town, luciatågar, the ‘O Helga Natt’ concert to the jolly Rotarians, julgodis, advent festivities, julklappar shopping, and avslutning have certainly put me into a cheery mood! Although my ‘real’ family’s not here with me, I’ve found little time to mull over that fact. My time with the Domberg’s has been wonderful and I couldn’t have asked for a better family to spend the holidays with. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, god jul och gott nytt år!

The first of the snow!

Walkin' in a winter wonderland

Stockholm by winter

February 28 Journal

Halfway… I can’t believe my exchange has reached this point! It was only a year ago that I was wishing time would speed up and now it seems to be going by all too quickly. The end of 2009 was a bit rocky. I had a bit of an issue with my host family. Not much positive to say, only that all families aren’t cut out to host exchange students. 2010 – 2011 outbounds, if you feel uncomfortable with your living arrangements, make sure to contact your counselor.

Despite that small speed bump, things are going extremely well now. I changed families in January and things couldn’t be better! Recently we’ve been caught up watching OS on TV. Sweden’s cross country ski team is doing amazingly well. My host parents love going and I’ve tagged along a few times. With all the snow Sweden’s been getting this winter, conditions are perfect on the local tracks.

Although cross country skiing is fun, I’ve really enjoyed getting back into downhill skiing! A few of my exchange friends and I took a trip to visit my aunt’s chalet in the mountains. We took a train to the plane then hopped on a trolley to catch another train and boarded yet another train to get to a taxi. We finally reached our destination after traveling though various towns in Sweden, Switzerland, and finally France.

We got into town pretty late with the snow falling like crazy so it wasn’t until the next morning that our vision was set into the right focus. We had made it to Megève safe and sound and were staying in a two bedroom/ two bathroom/ full kitchen apartment right at the foot of the mountain. We thought life couldn’t get any better until we reached the top of the mountain and the clouds peeled away leaving us with the astonishing view of the Alps.

My second ski trip was up to Sälen for a day with my school. Definitely something we don’t get to do in Florida! Number three is coming up this week when I take my second sportlov (sport vacation) and head off to Sälen again with Alina’s host family.

My official sportlov was spent last week in Oslo with 4 other exchange students. Nathan, from Canada, contacted the Rotary there who was glad to help us out. We ended up staying with a Rotarian who lived right outside of the city while another Rotarian family took us out to dinner and taught us how to ‘snakker norsk’. Norwegian is surprisingly similar to Swedish, we were able to communicate with practically no language barrier! While in Oslo we visited almost every museum (Norway Resistance, FRAM, Norwegian Maritime, National Gallery, Army, Akershus Fortress, etc.) possible in the short time we were there. Yet another amazing trip thanks to Rotary!!

August 2010