I woke up and thought that my appendix had burst, so no school today, which is terrible because I wanted to know how the dodgeball game ended up. Last night I was invited by some of my school friends to take part in a game called “ghost ball” which is played in the school gym from ten at night until six in the morning. After some confusion, there were too many people on the team and I couldn’t play, but I still really want to know how long our class lasted. Last year they only went until two in the morning after four rounds.
Things have been happening the last few days, but I haven’t been writing about them because I’m really bad at taking pictures and also updating this blog, so I’m just going to post links to McKenzie’s blog because she’s much better at documenting these things than I am.
I really wanted to end this blog on a bang, but the whole inability to post photos thing kind of hinders that. On my computer, I’m able to view most of the posts still, so if any of you notice posts missing pictures, let me know and I’ll try and fix it.
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’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)
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:
Ok, I like coffee, I like tea, I like the boys and the boys like me. I’ve been drinking too many hot beverages than is probably good for me. Chai Lattes are my new obsession. I’ve probably said it, but you can’t order drinks at Espresso House the way you can at Starbucks. It’s taken me up until a few weeks ago to figure out what my drink at Espresso House was going to be, but I’ve totally got it figured out now. I don’t think I’ll ever order anything else from any coffee shop except for chai lattes for the rest of my life.
Yesterday I hung out with Emily and got my insurance stuff all printed off from her school’s printer with the help of Hamish and Grace. They’re darling. I’ll have to update the cast page soon. Then we went to Dox to meet up with Sam and Andrew and Avishkar and we looked for a white dress so that Sam can be Carrie for a costume party her school is putting on. We didn’t find anything, but I got to pet a dog that was tied up next to a tyme machine, so the day was pretty good.
Today I went to school and now I’m going to tjejgruppen to hang out with my friend Hannah from the photography class I go to on thursdays. She’s pretty kickin.
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.
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.
On Wednesday I didn’t have school because the teacher didn’t come. I ran into Jonatan and we window shopped. I tried to buy an envelope at this one store. As you may know, I don’t like to ask the workers for help when I shop, but Jonatan wasn’t having any of my crap, so he told me to suck it up. The uniform was a red sweatshirt and so of course the first guy I ask for help is wearing clothes that look like the uniform, but he’s just a civilian. Ugh. So embarrassing. He was all “I don’t work here!” in Swedish. I was glad that I understood him right away because pursuing him would have been awful. I nearly fell to the ground in tears anyway.
Later that day I met up with Hamish and Emily and we took a walk and then went to the Tekniska Museet. It was pretty rad as the video will show you. (Sorry Grams! I know you don’t have internet and that mom just prints these out for you! Just imagine a super interactive museum and science-y things! S/O to my Grams for having a binder of every blog post I make :D)
Today Christal called me and she said that I’ve got a new school lined up (!!!!) so I should go there at 12:45 tomorrow. I’ll be sure to take some pictures!
I got fika with Sam this afternoon. A bunch of other people were supposed to be there, but it was super last minute so I didn’t get to meet any other newbies 😦
After fika I went to the ABBA museum with Astrid and my host dad. It was super interesting and cool and I can’t believe they broke up!!!!!!!! D:
we're never getting off this planet 