i did some stuff

 

Yesterday I went to this flash mob pillow fight with Emily, McKenzie, and Daniel. It was really fun, and someone’s pillow burst, so there was stuffing EVERYWHERE. We left a little bit before it ended so that we wouldn’t have to clean up. There was a mariachi band playing in the background and the fighting lasted for maybe ten minutes.

       

 

Afterwards we all went out for fika (and on the walk, we saw a street artist and got stopped by a cult handing out vegetarian oatmeal balls) and then I went with McKenzie to get her eyebrows done so that she could look human for a job interview she has for tutoring 7-year-old Americans today. After booking the appointment, we had a 45 minute wait, so we went to a cute bookstore and shopped around.

 

That night I went to Elle’s house for dinner and then slept over because we were watching High School Musical 2. Great movie. God, I love High School Musical. It’s just the right amount of cheese and camp to be funny and not obnoxious. We also went on a walk to the water and I found a bike that someone lost. Kinda careless of them to just drive it into the water like that.

 

Today Elle and I dropped off Tara at the train station and then went to the National Museum, a museum that’s been closed and dark forever for restoration purposes.  It was only open this weekend so that the public could have a look at it, and my was it it stunning. I felt almost like I was house shopping, but for a mansion. Today was the last day it was open, and I don’t know when the public will be able to see it like this again.

 

 

 

Afterwards we stopped at the Grand Hotel because Elle wanted to see if we could get lunch there, and we just walked in and this woman came up to us after a few minutes and asked if she could help us and I went “I’m sorry,” cause I couldn’t think of what to say in Swedish because it felt like we shouldn’t be in there. She asked us again what we wanted, and I was like “Tea?” and she shook her head and said all the tables were booked. Here’s the Grand Hotel bathroom though, isn’t it pretty?

I Might Have Seen The Northern Lights

you can view the post here

It’s Been Awhile

Awhile is such a weird word.

^ McKenzie and I on the trampoline

I’ve got some pictures that I stole from facebook, so I thought I could post them and tell y’all what I’ve been up to since last posting.

this is from the day Connor came to Stockholm

Connor, Mackenzie, Elle, Narain

Andrew, Narain, Grace, Me, Avishkar, Josh

this is the exhibit that we’ve been working on for Dorren. I didn’t have my camera this day, so I don’t have any photos of the photos we took for the fotografi group. sorry

At Katarina Hissen – Mackenzie, Narain, me, Grace

Avishkar

Emily and I sunbathing at the top of a hill. There was a dog park up there, but there were only like 3 guys in there, so we couldn’t pet dogs surreptitiously :(((

climbed a statue

ok, so I’ve been going to school and moping around because wow I’m really tired, but then on  Wednesday I decided to have fika with Sam. After fika we picked up her mum and brother from their hotel and went out for pizza and then toured the city. It was very cool and I liked meeting her mum a lot because I just think it’s so neat to see my friends in their ‘natural environment’ or whatever.

Thursday I decided to go hangout with McKenzie (the girl) and so I called her up and she was like “I’m going to my counselor’s house, but I’ll be done in a bit” and it takes me like an hour to get to her house, so I left pretty much right then and there. I get to her stop and text her to let me know when she’s walking home and I’ll meet her there, and she’s like, “No, come to teatime with me and my counselor!” so I start walking and then I realize that I don’t remember where he lives. I text her asking, and she doesn’t respond so I sat on a fence and pulled out my book. Over an hour and a half later she and Daniel come walking down the road and my feet are ready to fall off because wow my socks were wet.

The next day I decided I wasn’t mad at her, so I went to her house for lunch because my classes ended early. We made brownies and watched Legally Blonde: The Musical and then I slept over.

Saturday her host brother set of the trampoline and Paddy came over. We jumped on it for a while, while Kenzie’s host brother tried in vain to make us do flips. (I still remember chipping my tooth at Keenan’s house, so I’m not very eager to fling myself through the air anymore.) Then I made Kenzie and Paddy watch Hannibal (which they loved, and I know all of you would too if you would just give it chance).

Today I was going to hang out with Paddy but I was very worn out from all my social interactions and declined to watch The Five Year Engagement (eh. Not bad, not good. Jason Segel is looking really old.) and Austenland (v cute, mom. you’d love it.) instead.

My host parents left a few days ago to go to see their daughter in Florida, so my host mom’s parents are here watching us. They are very nice and I like them very much.

I’m going to Kiruna on Monday, so I’m going to sleepover at Sam’s on Sunday and then fly out in the morning with everyone. I’ll make sure to bring my camera!

Me and Will (McKenzie’s host brother)

McKenzie’s host dad promised he would make me apple pie with ice cream the next time I came over for dinner, so I came over for dinner two days in a row

sam’s brother (Keaton), Sam’s mum (Pam), and Sam (Samantha)

This Has Been a Post

Today I went to art class and they told us our next assignment will be “graphic”. I asked what that was supposed to mean and they said that you can use a potato to do it???????? But we won’t be using potatoes. I guess it’s something to do with stamps. We get to use knives on linoleum flooring to make them. We weren’t supposed to have school on Wednesday, so I was going to hang out with Sam, her mum, and her brother who are coming from Florida to visit her that day. The art teacher said today that she wants us to meet in Slussen at noon on Wednesday. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. She wouldn’t explain what we were doing in Slussen beyond “getting inspired”, so I should probably be able to hang out there for an hour or two and still meet up with Sam’s family.

Update: My friend just posted this in our class group on facebook – Imorgon letar vi upp Sophia och säger att vår mentor har bestämt att hela klassen är lediga på onsdag. Hon får skjuta upp tiden på den där konst grejen. Vad tycker ni? Jämställdhet osv. Maybe we won’t have school after all!

I tried to go to a rotary meeting today, but when I got there my counselor wasn’t there and I felt weird staying because I wouldn’t have paid for my meal and they would have given me meat and I didn’t recognize any of the members that I usually talk to, so I slipped out after making some small talk.

I needed to wait for Hamish though because I left my phone at his house when I slept over the other night. He said he would be at the place where my rotary meets at 1:30, so I took a walk around gamla stan and rode the ferry a bit. Then I decided to go to where he has his rotary meetings so that he wouldn’t have to walk all the way to where mine are. Trouble is, he doesn’t go every week like I do. I waited there until 1:30 when his rotary meeting would have gotten out and he never came from the dining hall.

I ran from Katarina Hissen into gamla stan where my meeting was and found him and Emily waiting for me. I was 10 minutes late and they were scared that I was never going to show up. So much for being helpful.

We hung out for an hour or so, trying to find a cafe that could be “ours” since we always go to Cafe Dox as a large group and we wanted a place for our own. We loitered in a church though and couldn’t find what we were looking for by the time Emily had to go back to school. Next monday maybe.

Here are some pictures I stole off of Hamish’s blog:

this is the german shepherd I mentioned before.

this is a hamster on my head

Some Photos To Accompany the Last Post

minecraft exhibit at moderna museet

Avishkar and Elle

Tanner and I

We sat on the docks for a long while and played with these pontoons

more haircut photos

On the ferry ride to Skeppsholmen

Dinner on Friday

the view of Grona Lund from Skeppsholmen’s citadel

Tanner Came To Town – Run on Sentences

Yesterday Tanner came to Stockholm so I met him and Avishkar, Elle, Grace, and Hamish at Katarina Hissen. We walked around Gamlastan a bit and made a stop at an antique store. Elle bought some henna tattoo powder so that she and Avishkar (who’s incidentally Indian) could draw an eagle on my back. Later on we found out that there wasn’t any henna oil in the box though, so we couldn’t do it. I will be sad until I have a poorly drawn henna eagle on my back.

Avishkar and Hamish live together in Nacka (which is where Tanner was sleeping over), so we went back to their house. They told me that their host mom was really cool and I wanted to meet her. Elle and I slept over too after having a v lovely dinner that we all helped build and watched Benjamin Button (terrible movie, but Brad Pitt, so, hey).

This morning I made some really awful eggs for Tanner and I. I was afraid of overcooking them, so I undercooked them, and it was just really awful. I’m so sorry, we probably both got salmonella. Tanner was a champ and ate them anyway though. Thanks for not making me feel like a loser, Tanner.

After cleaning up breakfast (and several cups of coffee. omg they had a coffee machine like we have back in WI and it tasted beautiful I wanted to cry.) we went to Skeppsholmen (I think that’s how it’s spelled???) to see Moderna Museet. None of us really “got it” and there were some pretty freak exhibits. No photography allowed though. Sorry guys. It’s hard to explain what we saw. There was a weird and unsettling music video about nuclear meltdowns that was in 3D with a robot singer. I don’t know.

The End. I’m going to ask around and see if I can get any pictures for you guys.

Last Friday Night

We went to Hamish’s house for a Pasta Party. He’s got a really skinny German Shepherd. Dogs.

We went shopping for pasta and there was a woman with free samples of ice cream an meringue and it was wonderful. Sofia was in charge of the ingredients because she’s Italian. She got really into her job as you can see by this clip of her yelling at Mckenzie in Italian about pasta.

When we got to Hamish’s house we took him outside and I gave him a haircut. It was kind of terrifying because boy hair is tricky, but I think it turned out all right! Beatrice is in the building!

  

 

We bought too much pasta, so everyone got a mountain on their plate. Afterwards we had to leave because the bus was coming and it kind of sucked because we hadn’t timed it out very well and all the cleaning was left to Sofia, Grace, Elle, and Hamish. We’re jerks. I’m sorry.

Here Are the Pictures From Yesterday

Gracie, Eloise, and Narain

A rally in Platen

Me and MacKenzie

Emily and I

Me, Tanner, and MacKenzie (we’re all very attractive people in real life, I swear to you!)

The crowd gathers to see the changing of the guards

Narain and Emily

Sofia, Gracie, and Eloise

MacKenzie and Hamish

Model version of Stockholm

Gracie

Sofia

Tanner being creepy

Me and Tanner

Sofia

Eloise

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Today I hung out with a bunch of the other exchange students (specifically the newbies) and I had them over for an hour so that they could help me eat all of the food that my parents shipped to me. The donuts are all gone now and I’ll be making more at some undetermined time in the future. Everyone liked them a lot and couldn’t believe that they were made out of potatoes!!!

We saw the changing of the guards again today and then hung out in Cafe Dox. Narain missed his train so we came back into town to meet with him and Hannah at Espresso House.

I’m now sleeping over at Elle’s house (A Newbie) and I met her entire extended host family and they’re super cool. We had a really nice dinner with candles and everything and then Elle, her host sister Ylva, and I took the dog for a walk. We’re going to watch Mamma Mia in an hour or so because I’ve got that Gimme Gimme Gimme song stuck in my head >:/

I’m really super happy right now and everything is great! I don’t have any more info about Kiruna, but I think I’ll probably hear about it on Monday.