MEGA-UPDATE

The sun came out today. It’s been years since I’ve seen the sun. I put on my spring coat and stood in the sunny patches while I waited for the train. I know this doesn’t sound very important, but I think today may have been the best day I’ve had in several weeks because of it. I like all my friends and stuff, but THE SUN YOU GUYS!!!!!! I couldn’t think about anything else today.

Alright alright alright. Let’s get on to the stuff that people other than me care about.

This post comes to you in 5 parts!

1. I’m good. Like really, really good. 

I don’t know where I’ve been. I think part of the reason I’ve been so down the last few months is because I don’t have an over-arching goal or concern (Musicals, Horse Training, Work, etc.) Since I don’t have something big to worry about constantly, I’ve been worrying about everything in equal measure. Every little thing’s been bothering me and because I don’t tangible goals to validate my existence, I was using people to validate my existence (omg, Kate, that’s so unhealthy! That’s not what people are for! Psh. You’re telling me.) I’m such a pretentious pseudo-intellectual saying that, but I think it’s important to know these things if you’re considering being an exchange student, because if you don’t get a life-consuming hobby, your hobby will become sleeping and fretting and that’s no way to be. So. Tips from Kate. Get a life.

2. I’m 18 now

I went to Emily’s house the weekend I turned 18 and we watched fight club and ate American pancakes and made cupcakes and pet her bunny and it was magical. We had a pretty sick dance party and Emily and I became best friends on snapchat to reflect our irl best friendship.

I accidentally deleted the dance party video. This is a summary of what you would have seen.

breakfast!

bunny in a lil bunny hat

omg we ate so much pizza that night

watchin the olympics

Sam and Emily

Emily is a cupcake MASTER

totes adorbs

makin cupcakes

McKenzie made us miss the bus so we had to walk a half hour in the rain

I’m really excited to go back home now because I CAN VOTE IN ELECTIONS NOW OH YEAH, MAKING A DIFFERENCE ONE VOTE AT A TIME!!!!

After the sleepover we went to Cafe 60 to celebrate Avishkar’s birthday. Then next morning my host family woke me up by busting into my room singing the Swedish birthday song with the traditional Swedish birthday cake and I couldn’t have been happier it was super kind of them to do that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wowowowow

3. Breno

Breno was one of our Oldies from Brazil. He went home on Feb 10th. He’s the best person ever and we all miss him a lot.

Breno and McKenzie

Andrew got Breno to sign his chest

4. Valentine’s Day ❤

I made everyone Valentines, but when I got to the cafe I realized that I’d forgotten them. So I went home (A half hour ride.) and then when I was heading back to the cafe, I realized I’d forgotten one, so I had to go back again (a fifteen minute ride.) So in total, I travelled and hour and fifteen minutes for these valentines and I ended up only being able to give them to three people :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( I have a problem, I am very aware. A normal person would have said oh well, but these valentines were hilarious because I’m hilarious, and I needed them to be appreciated. I love my friends so much. They’re perf.

5. This Last Weekend

Hannah came up from Nykoping, but I didn’t hang out with her and everyone for very long on Saturday because Valentine’s Day was a lot of social interaction and I needed a break.

Sunday I almost stayed in bed all day too, but they annoyed me into coming out. We got sushi and I ate a spoonful of wasabi. It was all good until we started walking to T-Cen to pick up Hamish. Suddenly I was having a heart attack and I was going to throw up all at the same time. More tips from Kate: Don’t eat a spoonful of wasabi just to prove you’re hardcore. I had to go get some yogurt or something and in the meantime Emily and Hamish showed up. A bunch of them wanted to go look at the kungstragarden subway station, so I sat with Emily and waited for them to come back to T-Cen because she had had a heart attack earlier that day too.

My exchange family!

T-Cen

Kungstragarden

Kungstragarden

Kungstragarden

TOURISTS!

Then we sat on the docks until it started raining, after which we went to Cafe Dox to take cover.

And that was what you missed these last few days. I stole all of these photos from McKenzie’s blog because I’m too lazy to take my own these days.

This is the Most Poorly Written Post I’ve Ever Made

Hamish, Andrew, and Emily. I think I joined a gang. I’m not sure. I don’t know if I like it.

Andrew

We took this escalator up to a library and then when the library closed we tried to leave, but there was only this escalator and it only went up, so we had to use the handicap elevator???? I feel like this architect could have just planned it so much better

group hug! awww

Pablo and Jorge DJ-ing like bosses

yoooooo Pabloooooooo

Martin is an amazing dancer omg

Oh Narain

Aakanksha!

Martin wearing Andrew’s glasses

wow my lense is dirty

we woke up at 7 in the morning to walk Aakanksha to the bus stop

THIS IS THE BEST SCHOOL LUNCH I’VE EVER HAD!!!! ILY ST. ERIK’S GYMNASIUM! First time I’ve had curry too!

This is my ID. I’m lookin fresh to death, but my name isn’t Aaron??????? Or is there something my parents aren’t telling me?

Okay so I hung out with the losers (I say losers lovingly. That probably sounded mean if you don’t know me.) in the first picture all night and it was great and Muna from Kungsholmen came along which was super cool of her and I hope she didn’t hate us.

The next day I went to the train station to meet Andrew so that we could go to Södertälje together and he was late. Andrew, if you’re reading this, I haven’t forgiven you yet. He told me to meet him at 12:30, and he came at 1:13.

Moving on.

We walked around Södertälje a bit before meeting up with Breno and then later Narain, and then even later Hannah, Alejandra, and Jorge. We sat in this super amazing McDonalds for a long while before the DJ event started. (Jorge and Pablo take DJ-ing lessons and their club put on a charity event for kids with cancer. We all signed up to work it, but in the end only the 18-year-olds were allowed to work. Martin gave me his Crew shirt though, so it was all good on my end.) We got there and Pablo did some mixing and then we all stood around and talked/danced*.

That night we went home around midnight and because it was a sleepover we talked until 3. I then layed in the bed Hannah generously offered me (btw, if you’re reading this Hannah, you need to stop being so nice because it makes my stomach hurt and I feel awful taking things from you.) staring at the wall wondering how sleep happens. A little after four I think I fell asleep. The alarm went off at seven and that was the start of the day. Who needs eight hours of sleep? Certainly not me!**

We walked Aakanksha to the bus station and then went home. Narain called and he and Pablo met us outside the house, where from we walked to ICA to get some doughnuts for Hannah. Pablo is really generous and bought everyone doughnuts*** and wow, what a cutie. He stuffed a chocolate bar in my pocket and I ended up really needing it when I got to the train station to go back home because I hadn’t eaten anything all day. ily Pablo!! ❤

Idk what else to say? I hung out with Narain and Hannah all day because Pablo had to go to his host mom’s birthday. I love Hannah and Narain so much and it’s not like I can tell you our conversations? I seem to run into this problem a lot. We just sat around and made bad jokes for a few hours . <I hope that works for you.

Then I headed home. The bus and train ride home seemed to last years and I really appreciated riding to Södertälje with Andrew and being able to take the bus to Trossa to Hannah’s house with everyone because company makes the time go by so much faster and easier.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

I got up at seven (ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh seven) to go to school and I had a really hard time finding my first class. My room was A4107F, but the doors went G, D, C. No F. So I went to the room where F should have been (it didn’t have any number on it) and I asked the teacher and she was like “Go away, I need to start my lesson. I don’t know who you are, I can’t help you.” in Swedish and I was like “UM?!” and I’m desperately trying to explain my situation in bad Swedish and this other teacher guy comes up and he’s like “Who are you?” and he’s speaking English now, so I was able to explain myself completely and he still wanted to kick me out until I showed him my schedule. I think they made a few phone calls wherein Jonas explained who I was. It was all very stressful.

The kids in my class are super cool and super nice and I’ll take pictures of the school and classrooms soon.

In all, it was the best day of school ever and I can’t wait to go back.

*When I refer to all of us dancing, I’m excluding myself. Social situations with that kind of pressure give me a lot of anxiety and I know I may seem like a super cool person on the outside, but I’m almost always uncomfortable with everything and it takes a lot of effort for me to even talk to people I’m unsure around, much less dance in a dimly lit room with them. If I ever dance around you it’ll be impromptu and probably after several nights without sleep when I’ve lost all sense of boundary.

**That’s a lie. Today think I fell asleep in every single class. My eyes kept closing and when I tried to keep them open they were so heavy it hurt. I want to go to bed right now, but I need to make this post before I forget everything! 😦 I’ll do the ESA thing when I get home from school, Dad. I’m dying right now.

***I told him “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” because I can’t let people be nice to me and also three hours of sleep makes you want to lay down and die, not eat doughnuts.

X

Yesterday was the worst day of my entire exchange. I’m going to steal pictures from other people’s blogs because I was to distraught to do naught but film.

Here is some context for the day I’m about to talk about

Thursday: Signing of the flags

Friday: Saying goodbye to Perth. 

Afterwards I went home with Brooke and helped her pack a bit. She gave me a bunch of stuff that was weighing her suitcase down and now I’ve got Aussie stickers and a really cool Aussie lanyard and summer clothes that will remind me of her everytime I wear them. I almost don’t want summer to come now. 

That night I slept over at McKenzie’s house and while we were falling asleep she asked me to tell her my life story, but she fell asleep halfway into it. I hope she’s reading this right now.

<USA?

Saturday: Went on a walk with McKenzie because it SNOWED!!! < jk 

< I ate some

I lost my SL card on the walk and now I’ve got to get a new one in a mail. Meanwhile I can’t really go anywhere. I was supposed to go to school on Monday for my Natural Science class, but when I woke up I couldn’t make myself go outside and walk all the way to school in the cold for a class that I hate, sit there for an hour, and then walk all the way back home. Google maps says it would have taken me well over an hour, and I’m a slow walker, so I’m going to say it would have taken me two, making adjustments for getting lost. Uphill both ways. Through the snow. With wolves chasing us. We didn’t even own shoes. 

Later that day I met up with McKenzie, Tanner, Narain, and Abigail. We ate deep dish pizza from Pizza Hut (it was amazing, fyi. Everyone told me Pizza Hut was a bad idea and that Swedes couldn’t do it right, but they were wrong.) and then went to Max for ice cream. I called my papa and talked to him for a while which was SUPER DUPER COOL! I miss talking to my parents on the phone. Skype is different. I just want to be able to call my friends and tell them pointless things and send them pictures of things that remind me of them and I just want to go home, only I don’t because I don’t want to go back to working two jobs or my life with my monotonous high school schedule from 8:00 to 3:20 and I would like to go on EuroTour right now and then return home for college. I’m so jealous of the Australians. Jerks. 

We told our parents about this live camera in Stockholm that shows the weather, and then we went to it and stood in front of it so that our parents could see that we were still alive.

      < we’re the group standing in front of the circle thing < sick photo of me high fiving tanner < trying to figure out where the live cam is

 < Abigail and Tanner touching a heated statue’s belly

 

 <waving at the camera

 < <hot hot hey we got it, hot hot woah we got it, hot hot yeah we got it, HOT CHOCOLATE

Sunday: I hate this day. I don’t want to talk about this day. I’m going to anyway because I don’t know how else to get over it.

We woke up at 4:45, and I threw some clothes on and ate a piece of half frozen bread which I later felt like throwing up. We got on the train. We got off the train. We got on another train. (Because I’m only a lil bb, possessing only 17 tender years, I got to ride the Arlanda Express for free. All of the adult children feigned stupidity and bought senior citizen tickets instead of the full priced ones.) We got off at the airport. I didn’t think I was going to cry because I was so tired, but I was wrong as usual. Brooke and Oliver walked in and then I saw Emily crying and I just wanted to lay down in the fetal position for the rest of my life. Emily cheered me up by singing songs and doing interpretive dance and telling me the story about how she became Orky Idol and her name was on a sign welcoming people to her town of Orky in Canada. She’s great. I want a Pocket Emily to cheer me up every time I’m sad.

We said goodbye and everyone was crying except for Aakanksha who was too stunned to do anything but stare.

I don’t know what else to say. I feel like you all can understand how terrible it is to know that you will never see someone ever again for the rest of your life. I mean, there’s skype, but it’s not the same. I feel like Miles in LfA, wondering when he’ll forget Alaska’s name and when it won’t hurt so much to remember. So dramatic. Someone pinch me. God. I need to get over myself.

 <Emily and I < Sam and Beth <Brooke and McKenzie < Hugging Brooke goodbye <Me, Oliver, and Emily

  < Narain dying

 < SEE YOU SOON!!!!  < Breno showing off his cool shirt    

The Rest of The Day: 

We took the bus back into Stockholm so that the adult children wouldn’t have to pay. Narain was  silently crying, Breno was showing off his Alaskan presents Carley had given him, Emily was talking about YouTube, Somehow we all broke out into “I Dreamed a Dream”, I’m sure the other passengers were very confused and annoyed. The emotional distress we were all in was a little too overwhelming at this point for any of us to care though, I suppose.

I was a little upset that we were in Sweden at this point and not a country with a Denny’s because I really needed some pancakes and everyone agreed that Denny’s was what they were craving. Let it be tradition from now on that whenever something tragic happens, Denny’s is the place to go. Get some crisp bacon and maple syrup and put your head down on the table. Denny’s don’t mind. Denny’s will take care of you.

Tanner needed to meet his host mom at noon so Emily, Narain, and I all waited with him after grabbing some food from Coop. This ended up being not such a good idea because I was already dying and wanted to throw up from all of the stress. Yogurt isn’t something you should drink when you feel nauseated. We ended up at Espresso House later and then H&M to get Tanner a hat. I begged Emily to come with me to pick up my stuff from McKenzie’s house because I couldn’t bear to be alone. Have I mentioned how great Emily is?? She rode all the way with me to McKenzie’s house and back again.

When I got home I was a mess again and decided to try and edit all of the footage from the day together to take my mind off of things, which is the opposite of a good idea??? I ended up falling asleep and waking up an hour later still completely wiped. Today is a little bit better. I just want some pasta and a book.

BTW: Kate Recommends: The Fall (2006) and The Book Thief Movie. (Watch the movie before reading the book or else the movie may feel a bit disappointing in comparison.) 

THIS WEEKEND

omg, I shouldn’t have put off making this post

So. Friday I went out to dinner with Tanner, Narain, Samantha, Alysa, Andrew, Sophia, Emily, and another girl from Australia. We were going to go to this place called Vapiano, but we got lost for a while and by the time we got there, there was a fifty minute wait and we decided not to go in. We wandered around until seven or so because this other group that we were going to meet kept on saying that they were coming (but they didn’t) and so we went to a pizzeria in Gamla Stan and that was cool.

Afterwards, none of us really wanted to go home so we went to Espresso house and talked and played BS until midnight. So cool. I can’t even tell you how cool. I’d give you some obscure analogy, like a polar bear eating ice cream on December 21st, but it was cooler than even that. 2kool4skool.

sidenote: Tanner touched Alysa’s glass eye and it was super freaky and I might have cried a little.

Sunset near Gamla Stan

Samantha and Alysa

Sophia and Tanner

Okay, Saturday we went to IKEA to play hide and go seek. I lost my IKEA virginity in Stockholm, Sweden of all places. AMAZING!! The building was a circle and super maze-like and I’m really glad I didn’t have to be a seeker. I hid in this fake bedroom and people kept walking in, so I played Super Jewel Quest on my phone so that I didn’t have to look at them awkwardly. I was one of the last people to be found cause I’m boss at hiding.

We only played one round because there was another group that we were supposed to meet, but they were late and lost and it was all a big mess, much like the night before. (My group was Miranda, Samantha, Tanner, Narain, Daniel, and a few other Australians that I don’t remember the names of.

Afterwards we went to Coop and tried to find the elusive American Isle, but couldn’t. I made Daniel try Risifrutti, and he didn’t like it so I got to eat two XL Risifrutti containers in a row. yeahyeahyeah get on my level.

I wish it was possible to buy an IKEA room. They were all so stylish and trendy.

I bet that Aaron Tveit sleeps on one of these.

Eating IKEA food

I K E A

Today I went on a picnic on djurgarden and it was super chill. I met a boy from Brasil named Breno and a girl from Canada named Emily.

These days are hard to describe since the thing that made them awesome was the people. I can’t describe our conversations or why certain things were funny at the time. I hope my pictures suffice for lack of words.

Note: we left our picnic because some really giant swans got close to us and stood up and shook their wings and junk. nonononooooo. I don’t want to get attacked by a swan, thank you very much.

Breno

Emily is the one taking this picture