Kelly Morgan

Kelly Morgan

2008 Short-Term Exchange Student to France

Sponsor: District 6970

My “sister”’ was at school but her mom, Laurence, picked me up. We took the train from the airport into central Stockholm, which is where there apartment was, right next to the water. The slight drizzle reminded me of Seattle.

They live at the top of the apartment building and have the entire floor with the living area and dining room at one end and the bedrooms and computer rooms at the other. It was really quite beautiful- I will never forget the amazing view overlooking the water, the bridge, and the island parallel. That’s what Stockholm is really, just a series of little island connected by bridge. They said that for the Swedish national day (which I had unfortunately missed as it happened a few days before I arrived), boats released thousands of yellow and blue balloons while jets went overhead and trailed behind them clouds of yellow and blue, all of which they could watch from out their window. From the wall of windows you can also see the bridge that leads to Mathilde’s French school, where she is currently in her last year. The Lapointes are a French family, however last year they had to move to Stockholm as her father, Jean-Louis, got transferred there by his job. After a short nap in an attempt to combat jet lag, my “mom” and I went to visit Mathilde and her little brother Francois-Xavier (he’s 13, I won’t see him much while in Stockholm as he’s going up to the North of Sweden for a ski trip with his best friend).

Their school was right in the middle of the island, five stories high with a large playground out in front. So far, actually, most things here look picture perfect, the school was no exception. It’s a school for all ages, so little kids were playing in the front. I then finally met Mathilde- she’s really tall. But then again, I also consider myself quite tall, but everyone so far in Sweden had taken the cake height wise. We talked and went back to the apartment. She toured me around the house. Her English might as well be perfect. I’m sure that by the time our time together has come to an end, she’ll be fluent in the 10-week duration. Anyway, while here she’ll have to practice as I don’t speak a word of French!

Her room reminds me of my own, which is nice. Tons of posters blanket one blue wall, she said she took them from around Stockholm whenever bands she likes go on tour. A Nirvana poster was above her bed, a still taken from Unplugged in New York. A guitar sat in the corner of the room. She let me borrow it to practice some, and then after sharing our mutual love for Nirvana and Kurt she lent me a biography she had on him which I started reading later that night. We then went to the supermarket to get dough to make a tart. I saw more of the city, it was awesome. She’s within walking distance to everything or a short subway ride away so that is also pretty cool, I’m used to everything being spread out not stacked up.

After dinner (which was amazing, although none of them are vegetarians her mom is extremely accommodating and versatile in the kitchen so vegetarian meals should be a breeze for her), Mathilde and I watched Sex and the City on TV. Most all Swedes speak really good English, she said because all the TV shows are in English with only Swedish subtitles. She in fact doesn’t speak Swedish and can get by on English. We went to bed early, around 10. I was tired still and anyway we had to get up early as I would be joining her for her last day of school the following morning so we had to get up at 7. I had a hard time falling asleep though. The sun stayed up till around 12 since we were so far north, and then it came back up at 3 or so. She said though that when it finally did get dark it was really pretty to watch boats go by from the window. It doesn’t seem like it ever really does go down entirely though, some lightness always remains.

For breakfast we had Nutella on bread (delicious!) and orange juice. Her school is awesome. She said it’s not generally that cool, but since it was the last day of school it was really relaxed. Her friends are all really nice for lunch, since they have an open campus, we went to a pizzeria right next to the school. And I mean a real, legitimate one, not some fast food place like back home. There are tons of cool little stores by her school, its not removed from society like my school is in the middle of nowhere. To get to some of her classes actually you have to walk by the stores, the florists, the houses, the candy-shop the little kids go to during lunch. It’s like a 5 minute walk to the separate building for her math class and science class. It’s right on the river. Actually we had a picnic there with her class to celebrate the completed year. Everyone from her grade came- no more than 20 people! She said afterschool they go swimming there too. The water was freezing though, I don’t know how they do it. But then again I am from Florida. The weather in Stockholm is also cold, but I kind of like it. It’s my normal winter weather except damp and almost everyday she said it rains or at least drizzles this time of year. She said just a few days before I came though it was abnormally warm weather, in the 90’s.

The kids that go here speak French (all the classes are in French) and one or both of the parents are generally French, but they all live in Sweden for various reasons. Mostly it seems though is job transfers. Mathilde plans on returning to France for university though and talks about Belfort, her hometown, a lot. She’s excited to return to her friends. She lived there all her life before coming here.

The tart we made for the picnic was well received, everyone tried to practice their English on me and all went well.

We left for Gotland yesterday. It’s an ancient place with old cathedral ruins and brick roads forming a maze of houses. Every turn is a postcard picture, it’s amazing. If I were retired I’d move here and start a garden, it’s jut that type of place. It’s this little island off of the coast of Sweden, a few hours from Stockholm. I’m not exactly sure how far since I slept most the way there as we had to get up early to catch the ferry. The ferry ride was about and hour. Juno was playing on the TV. We got to Gotland and checked into our hotel which was an old refurbished house, probably like 200 years old. Right next to a cute coffee shop it had a kitchen, living room, a couple of bedrooms which had floral wallpaper and lace curtains, and a nice bathroom. It looked straight out of a Jane Austen novel. Also as we were on the second floor from the porch connected to Mathilde and mine’s bedroom you could see the field where they would put up the pole to celebrate the Swedish equivalent of Thanksgiving which happened that day. We packed some sandwiches and went to this field for lunch earlier that day and watched little kids attach flowers all over the pole. They were wearing little crowns of flowers and grass over their flaxen hair, being cheered on by their families. Ribbons were attached to the end of the pole and it was set upright and people in traditional dress grabbed one and danced around while instruments played and a man sang traditional songs. Then the kids and their families came and danced to the kids songs. Mathilde and I joined in, trying to copy what they were doing. An elderly Swedish lady laughed and grabbed our hands and tried to teach us, except she didn’t speak English or maybe never realized we couldn’t understand her but she seemed a satisfied teacher.

Hundreds, thousands of people were there on the little island in this little field celebrating what Mathilde’s dad said was the most important holiday of the year to Swedes. Gotland was a popular destination for this holiday, marking the day of the year where the sun lasted longest. The next day we toured around, drove around the coast which looked like the Oregon coast almost, just a little more approachable. We also ate crepes at this café which had a venue along the side of it where people like Santana and Bob Dylan played back in the day, but now it’s a bar and sometimes touring bands play there. It was kind of weird to hear that since it was in the middle of the countryside. But we got up on stage after our private little tour. It was probably one of the coolest, most obscure places I have ever been. Gotland overall has been beautiful. Soon we’re going to France. I’ll miss Stockholm though, I love it here. We visited where the Nobel Prize dinner is held in the town hall. We visited the lavish palace. We went to the museum, to see the Vasa Viking ship (it’s amazing, this huge ship sank on its maiden voyage hundreds of years age and has been perfectly preserved down to its sails due to the brackish water of Stockholm harbor!), to various cathedrals, to the opera downtown, to the harbor, and just around town. We went to the Hard Rock one night when Sweden was playing Spain in soccer and everyone had there faces painted and were yelling and having a good time. You could tell if they scored or missed a goal without even just by watching, everyone was so animated.

We leave to France early tomorrow.

Belfort is a tiny little place but it still seems like a city to me since all the buildings have multiple stories to them. Gainesville has a larger population but it’s also more spread out so it’s misleading. Their apartment is on the second floor. It’s older- it has really cool heaters and elaborate ceilings and all. I wish we had older buildings like that here and the old churches too.

Downtown Belfort is a short walk away, maybe ten minutes, and is full of shops and cafes. I met her friends who don’t speak much English, but I’m picking up more and more French since here as less people speak English. Her brother returned from Sweden and is now attending the music school here, one of the more notable ones in France. He plays the bassoon I believe. She used to take lessons there too when she lived here.

The Eurockeenes, a rock festival here, will be soon. It’s in a farm much like Woodstock was, and is a 30-minute train ride from Belfort. I’m looking forward to it, there’s so many awesome bands coming!

The Eurockeenes were awesome! I emailed all my friends to tell them about it. Three days of awesome music- we’d leave with her friend Agathe everyday around 12 pm and stay till 4 am going to concerts. The Rotary Club was there selling sandwiches at the concession stand and thousands of local kids and some parents came, and even more from around France and even some foreigners. I actually met a Frenchman whose father lives in Atlanta who has been to Gainesville before!

The best performances: N*E*R*D, Massive Attack, Babyshambles (the guitarist walked right in front of me when I was wondering around!), the Wombats, C.S.S., MGMT, Santogold, Vampire Weekend, Calvin Harris, Pulpalicious, Cat Power, the Gossip, Gnarls Barkley, and Moby to name a few. AWESOME! I’m really happy Mathilde and I have a similar taste in music, we were really well matched. She gave me all her Muse CDs which I ripped to my laptop, and I gave her my Sonic Youth and Interpol CDs I brought. We get along great, she’s really friendly and talkative and likes to have fun. I’m very, very pleased. I am sad the Eurockeenes are over, but they are already expecting me to come back next year!

I haven’t been to Paris in a long time, nearly 8 years! The last time I was here was in 1999, so I was 9 years old. Before coming here though we visited her dad’s parents who live on a farm. I met her uncle, aunt, and little cousins. I had already met her mom’s parents a week before, we drove out to see them and passed through the beautiful vineyards of Alsace-Lorraine to get to their apartment. I met her other uncle and aunt there, and her baby cousin Eva who was really the cutest thing I have ever seen. Actually her aunt was going to go to the Olympics for skiing but she broke her ankle and couldn’t go. That’s when they decided it was a good time to have Eva, so it was about a year or two ago. Her uncle spoke awesome English since he went to a university in Jacksonville in college. The drive there was gorgeous- the vineyards paired with the lush mountains and the mountain passes. We had the windows down and were listening to a Sirius FM which played a really good selection of music. You couldn’t do that in Sweden, it was so cold, but here it’s sunny and beautiful. It was really one of those perfect moments.

So, both sets of grandparents were like my own, it reminded me of home. They were so welcoming and genuinely kind, and the food was some of the best ever. Here we have courses- first, generally salad. Then the main plate along with bread. Then, the cheese. I have a newfound respect for cheese, French cheese (some at least) are absolutely delicious. Too bad they’re so expensive back home since they’re imported. Last, dessert and fruit. You will never not be satisfied after a French meal- you will be positively stuffed. I’ve tried to taste everything here offered to me (well, that doesn’t have meat at least!). I really want to get the full experience.

But back to Paris--- it’s great. We took the train from her grandparent’s house to get here, one of the fastest trains in the world said her dad. I remember some things, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc du Triumph, but places like the Louvre I just have forgotten with time, that is not to say they’re not beautiful. We’ll spend four days total here. Yesterday was Bastille Day, the French national day. We got up early, and I mean early, to go see the army parade. Jets flew over, parachutists were in the air, I saw President Sarcozy, too. It was cool. Flags were everywhere. Then we walked over to the Eiffel Tower and sat in the field, waiting for the night while eating picnic amongst the thousands of others there. A free concert with famous French singers and a few I recognized also took place while we were waiting- the stage was at the end of the field facing the Tower. We were far away but large screens made it easier to see the performers. Then, the fireworks behind the Eiffel Tower in sync with classic orchestral arrangements. It was one of memorable moments there, and I will really remember it all my life. It was really spectacular. Then they lit up the Tower itself with all those little lights twinkling, fireworks in background. Truly a classic experience. I just kept on thinking, how often does one see this? How often will be here to see this? I’ve had a lot of those moments where I’ve been really appreciative for my time here and this opportunity- I was at first just psyched to be able to be like “oh, yeah, I lived in France and Sweden over the summer. I went to this really famous music festival too. Oh, and I learned some French. Oh, and they invited me back next summer. And Mathilde was awesome, we keep in touch. Actually she’s going to come back and visit me before going to university”, but now I’m just really happy to be able to experience all these things that not everyone will. I want to come back soon, definitely study abroad here or Sweden in college. It’s just that amazing. I feel really like I’ve opened a new side of myself- I love to travel. I love to see these new things. And I love that feeling you get when watching fireworks behind the glittering Eiffel Tower while listening to Mozart.

We leave tomorrow. Mathilde’s coming with me to New York, then we’ll go to Gainesville. She’ll meet my friends just as I met hers. I’ll show here a new world she’s never seen before. Maybe even show her something new to love, or, at least, I hope so.