I just really want a pizza from Dominos. I hope I fly back home around dinner time so that I can justify buying myself one. 

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT POST YOU WILL EVER READ

I was trying to sleep, but no.

Okay, so basically I can’t make eye contact with anyone. People be tryin to stare me down when they’re talking to me and I really can’t talk to people when they do that because it makes me uncomfortable and squirmish. When I talk to people they must think I’m really weird because I don’t look at them when I do it. In fact, I don’t really look at anyone when I talk. I often gesture to empty spaces when I’m describing something, and people take where I’m pointing literally and actually look.

So if you want me to like you, you need to conversate me whilst sitting beside me or while we’re walking so that I can look anywhere but at you.

This thing has really been bothering me ever since Jonatan pointed it out several weeks ago and I just needed to get it off my chest as tips for people who want to be friends with me. He was like “why don’t you look at me when you’re talking” and I tried to explain it, and then he said people say he makes an obscene amount of eye contact and wow, he never looks away it’s true.

Why do people want to look at my eyes while I look at theirs? No. Stop. This has gone too far. The only time that’s okay is during acting camp exercises and staring contests. I don’t even know what color anyone’s eyes are to be honest.

Nick’s are blue?

Doug’s are green?

Mom’s are brown?

Dad’s are green?

I know Cana’s and Jaylah’s are brown and Keenan’s are a really messed up color that doesn’t have a name. Sorry Jenna, I don’t know yours. Probs brown. I only know Cana’s and Jaylah’s because brown hair brown eyes has been a topic of conversation between us.

I don’t know any of our other relative’s eye colors. I think Amy’s are blue. Someone pointed out that Hitler would have loved her when she went off on that trip to the forest and shaved her head.

Golly. Okay. Please ignore me. I’m p tired.

In which I get progressively more lost

?

it’s a watertower?

oh, is it really that easy? Just hang a left?

That dark place on the hill that I went to used to be a fort or something? In 1654 I think it said. Now it’s a cafe and there’s the remains of a cannon road on the other side of it. I accidentally deleted the video clip of me explaining all of that.

I followed some strangers

I was really bored and I’m too nervous to ask anyone to hang out with me, so I went out alone for a few hours. I didn’t know where to go, so I followed attractive people around and did whatever they did. Most of them ended up going into shops, which is totally boring, but they took me down some streets I don’t usually go down and that was the point.

I started to get distracted though, which completely ruined the game. I would see a thing and wonder “Hey! What’s that!” and since I was alone, there wasn’t anyone to ask and I had to investigate for myself. It took me a while to figure out where I was, but now I understand how Ostermalmstorg comes together with Hogtorg and then T-Central. Cool beans. There were some swedish O’s in a few of those names, but I’m lazy and don’t feel like putting them in.

It was really dark and p spooky, so I hope you appreciate the pictures and video I’m giving you.

don’t let the lights fool you, those trees do not have snow on them.

I wanna go here one of these days. To watch other people bowl that is. I will NOT go bowling ever ever ever.

Wouldn’t it be so cool to live up there????

walking down an empty side street. Not dodgy at all.

I don’t know. I saw this tunnel and thought I ought to go in and scope it out.

it was what it appeared to be.

Just your average underground tunnel.

thank god there’s an exit on the other end and not murderers.

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THIS IS!

the view of those bridges I was taking pictures of earlier from above.

This building curves to match the street. QUE PADRE!

Another Uneventful Update. Feel free to skip.

Two things first: TOMMY SENT ME A PACKAGE!!! I got the Senior class shirt from him and I am dying.

YAY!

Second: Can we talk about this picture? This is an add in the tunnelbana station where I get off to go to school. I laugh every time because it’s supposed to look sexy I guess, but all I see is her giving him a purple nurple.

You can’t tell me I’m wrong

 

This is the lyrics to the blues song that I sang for music class:

• I sold my soul
• down the river
• all I wanted
• was your love
• Guess you’re a wanderer
• you didn’t want me
• you weren’t my angel
• from above.

CHORUS:

• But that’s okay; I’ve got myself
• I think I’ll live; I’ve got my health
• I’m better than you anyway
• Dancing alone
• in the Moonlight
• Thoughts of you
• When will I learn?
• And your last words
• they were heavy
• my skin is thick
• but it still burns.

Chorus

• Hello Hello?
• Can you hear me?
• I’m drowning in
• your fickle whim
• You stand so close
• my life preserver
• but you’re screaming
• Learn how to swim

Chorus

• I’m not broken
• my wings aren’t clipped
• your indifference
• can’t bring me down
• I’m not Icarus
• Oh, I’m still flying
• Towards the sun
• I’m homeward bound

Chorus

Okay, and then here’s this awful little story I wrote for Svenska 3’s surrealism unit. I don’t know if this is surreal or not. I based it on the Street Cleaner Episode of Welcome to Night Vale.

It’s that time of year again, folks! Christmas! Out ’round back the abandoned cheese factory we’ve still got a bit of plywood, so you’d best get out there quick to pick some up before it’s all gone! It’s very important that you board up your windows and stay. out. of the streets this holiday season. I cannot emphasize enough the dangers presented by the interlopers threatening to destroy this town. Santa is coming and he will not show mercy. I’ve also been warned be a vague yet menacing government agency that we should expect a blizzard to blow in a large bout of elves beside the expected man-eating reindeer this year. I don’t think I have to remind you that if you happen to be caught outside when Santa comes, you should search for shelter immediately in a shallow ditch or unlocked car. Leave your loved ones, children and pets alike, behind. They will only weigh you down.

In other news, Monica-you know, the sweet shop owner out on the edge of town?-says she’s just finished her invisible window shop display, and MY, is it beautiful! She’s recreated the Battle of Lexington and Concord using only gingerbread men and gumdrops! She hasn’t boarded up the window just yet, so if you hurry on out before the darkness hits us tonight, you might still have a chance to see it!

Oh! Here’s something! The food drive for this city’s chapter of The Salvation Army has surpassed last year’s record of canned bread. Thanks to an anonymous donation, the Salvation Army has received well over 13 billion cans. In unrelated news all of the Salvation Army volunteers and several of the less fortunate they pledged to aide were crushed to death when 13 billion tin cans fell from the sky unexpectedly last afternoon. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to their loved ones.

Breaking News! Santa is here! I repeat, Santa is here! Run. Run. Run fast. Run far. Stop whatever you are doing and run goddamit. Do not stop to help those who have fallen. They are gone already. Do not scream, do not look back, do not pass Go and collect $200. Just run. Run for your lives.

AT LAST

Indeed

We made a gingerbread house!!!!!

I saved his little hate in case I should find a little cat to wear the little hat

I through with apologizing. I  know I’m late, forgiving me is up to you now, I don’t feel like begging.

Where to start??? Um. Where did I leave off last? Guys, I don’t even read this blog. What are you doing with your lives?

I guess I’ll start with updates:

I know nothing. I am Jon Snow. I’ll start off with what I do know then (which isn’t much)

1. I’m for sure not moving to Nykoping
2. I’m for sure not going to Turkey
3. I may be changing schools
4. I may be changing families
5. I may be going to London
6. I may be dying of cold
7. I may be dying of heat in a parallel universe????

I think I might be going through menopause? Because half the time I’m so cold I could chop my hands off and not notice, and the other half the time I’m so hot that I’d like to bash my head against the wall until everything stops. I think that’s what menopause feels like, right? No one ever taught us about menopause because we live in a patriarchal society and therefore menopause is not of import. jk jk (maybe.)

Quick Side-Thought:

Sometimes I’m just staring off listlessly and I think the weirdest things? Today I was riding home and I remember Aaron Baldauf’s hair. Wow I miss that hair. I mean, Aaron’s alright, but his hair. Wowee. That was some really great hair. Monuments should to be built for that hair. I pray he should never bald. God bless.

BACK ON TOPIC!

I saw a super cool Lucia Thing. My younger host sister, Saga, swims and so we went to see her do her singing thing? I don’t know what I was expecting. I guess I thought that they would all stand around the pool and sing or something, but they JUMPED IN THE POOL WITH THEIR CANDLES AND MY MIND WAS BLOWN! Then there were these really attractive guys on the diving board holding torches, and I felt like I was in an episode of FREE! because they were wearing the same suits and everything. At the end they jumped into the water and my life was made. God Santa Lucia, everyone!! Jajaja

tha pool

Sagaaaaa

Here’s a really long video of the thing:

I saw Astrid’s ballroom dancing recital and while it was really cool to see them all dance (and the little kids were super cute and reminded me of my days in ballet) I felt SOOOO bad for her because her dance partner quit on her and she had to pretend he was there. She totally made up for a lack of partner, but it couldn’t have been easy to practice like that. In fact, there was only one girl with a partner, and 2 without besides Astrid. Boys. Ugh.

I also saw a theatre thing that Astrid’s school at been working on a few weeks ago (sorry for not mentioning it!) and I could understand a lot of it because *acting* and I was, once again, thoroughly impressed.

 Astrid is the one dressed as a man in the middle. I thought it was funny that every scene that required a man, the man was played by a girl, and then one of the only scenes that was gender neutral, the only two boys were cast together in.

It snowed here! I rejoiced by running outside and catching a few on my tongue. People be like “yo, haven’t you seen snow before?” and I be like “Självklart, mah home dog. I live in da nort. Snow da best doe, ja feel?” Now the snow is gone though, and I am very sad. Please accept this video as proof of the snow:

This is my school just as I was getting out. Hello, Moon.

Here are the results of today’s little trip:

stadshus

Oliver said that I could go up in the tower, but sadly I could not. The man at the gift shop told me that it’s only open in the summer, so I guess we can go up there later.

pretty pritty

Riddarholmenskyrkan. I was going to read you the history of it, but there were people around, so that’d be embarrassing.

It’s a door, if you weren’t aware. I know it’s awfully ornate for an entryway, but so it is.

Parliament House

StorKyrkan

Here’s a video of the changing of the guards:

Here are some unconnected thoughts:

We’re going to the highest point in Stockholm for New Year’s Eve so that we can see all of the fireworks. It’s going to be great! I’m making cookies and I think we’ll hang out for a few hours before it. Yay! I really love all of the exchange kids. A few of these people are so tragically amazing, I just, I just. Ugh. I’m so mad that we’re never going to see each other when this is all over. I hope that college lives up to all of my expectations and I can be surrounded by people like these again. It’s so dumb of me to be sad about it at this point in the exchange because 1) there’s so much time left! 2) I knew this was going to happen. I should be more prepared for this. I’m too emotional. Get over yourself, Kate!

One last thing: I’ve been pronouncing plebeian wrong my entire life as well. It’s pleBEian not PLEbeian. Emphasis, man. Gets me everytime.

two posts in one day! Lucky you!

Okay, so this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while, and it doesn’t have anything to really do with my exchange, BUT I think it’s important.

So I changed my name, and I like it a lot better. It was weird at first, but now I’m used to it. I know that y’all back home (and Ollie) are always going to call me Alexa because that’s what I’ve been called forever and it would feel fake to call me anything else, but I think that when I go to college and beyond I’ll keep the name Kate.

Those of you who read as voraciously as I will recognize this name change as an awful plot device to show character development, and if I ever do something really cool and have a biography written about me it’s gonna be hella rad to have this little thing put in, but beyond that I feel like Kate fits me better and that’s how it’s going to be.

The only problems that I can really forsee arising is that when I get married, how are people going to refer to me and my husband? Are they going to say Kate and Johan or Johan and Alexa? If mom is ever talking to one of my college friends at a party or something and she says “Oh yes, Johan and Alexa are so adorable together!” my college friend is going to be like “VA?!” and think that we’re in a polygamous marriage or something! The other problem is what if something really traumatic happens to me, say, being kidnapped and thrown into a river, and I develop Multiple Personality Disorder in order to suppress it? Who will be the real me? Kate or Alexa? Schizophrenia will be hard enough to deal with without not know what my name really is. Dang you guys. Dang. If this ever happens, don’t even use my name. Just pat me on the head and tell me it’s okay.

This is Important

Yesterday I learned that I’ve been pronouncing niche wrong my entire live. It rhymes with quiche, and not itch. wow.

Since I was like 13, I knew that I never wanted to live in the Southern Hemisphere because I wouldn’t recognize any of the constellations and that would really bother me, and I asked Oliver yesterday if it bothered him that all of the constellations were weird and he said he never even thought about it, and he didn’t even have a favorite constellation and I just… ALSO apparently the moon is upside down for people in the south?????? please send help.

I never really thought it was weird until they pointed it out to me, but Narain was talking about how he paid 60 kr for a locker and I was like “that’s too much” and the way I think about money is by how much food you can buy with it? You can buy a 6 piece chicken nugget meal here or 10 burgers, or 3 marabou bars, or 4 giant muffins and I could go on, but I just couldn’t help thinking of how much food he could have eaten if he had just carried his suitcase around with him, and then they laughed at me and I don’t know how other people think about money or calculate how much is too much. Back in America I would think about how many books I could buy, but prices here are off, so I need to go by food.

Here’s Narain and Oliver eating Subway:

I’m sure they’d want everyone to see this.

This is not related to my exchange

Ok, so you know how heat doesn’t rise, cool air sinks? That doesn’t make any sense because there is not such thing as cold, there is only the absence of heat. And so heat really does rise, doesn’t it? But then what’s pushing it up? The less hot air? Less hot air sinks? Why is it sinking? Because the hotter air is rising? I have no idea how anything works and if that’s actually true, this is the worst paradox ever and I think about it a lot.

I’m dying and I hate everything whymeeeeeeI

I made the post and then I tried to add the pictures and the computer froze and lost the whole post. So. I quit. I’m not rewriting it all, because now I’m in a terrible mood. You get the abridged version.

Friday.

no. nothing happened. I ate pizza. Here are those pictures I promised earlier.

I was so close.

this is ridiculous

Here are some more to tide you over.

secret agent man

tell me who you are

so mysterious

species please

what kind?

bird

this reminded me of the IKEA monkey

IKEA monkey

Saturday:

Cafe Dox exchange student gift exchange.

I didn’t participate because I suck at giving gifts.

It was nice

We went ice skating afterwards. I was wearing tights because all my pants were in the wash. I was super super cold (but also super super cute.)

Lots of kids had never seen snow or ice skated.

I was helpful. Made me proud to see them going off on their own. And sometimes they fell, But they got up without help, and that’s what counts.

We went to McDonalds to warm up and ate ice cream because we like to be ironic.

I got home at midnight because I was sitting with Narain and Tanner at Central Station for a few hours after they missed their train home. Had a little heart to heart. It was grand.

Sunday:

Went to see Catching Fire with Hannah, Emily, and Oliver.

The movie theater candy

Hannah is like the best friend I had in a past life, Emily is like the friend on the internet I never met in Real Life, and Olver is like the big brother who never came to stockholm with me.

If you guys ever run into these three, you’ll need to step up your wit-game. Clever sarcasm abounds.

Oliver and Narain

Emily and Tanner

Afterwards we looked at the NK display and had our minds blown.

Then we went to a trendy cafe.

Hannah’s bus home was coming, so we left really soon after getting there.

We ran to Emily’s host family’s apartment to get Hannah’s bag, and then ran all the way to the pendltag platform.

My lungs still sting from the cold air.

I think that’s it.

OH!

I might be moving to where Hannah lives at the end of the christmas break. So there’s that. No more living in Stockholm. It’s alright. Hannah’s the best. Also, music program at school. I miss singing.

OH!

Also, I’ve been staring at dogs when they walk past me, and then they stare at me and they stop sometimes and their owners are like ‘whatchyou doin m8?’ and I keep looking over my shoulders and I can tell the dogs want to be with me. This is my power. I can control the minds of dogs. My YA novel character power has been achieved, not a moment too late either, seeing as it should be at it’s full force around my 18th birthday.