100th Post – Hej Då

Deep breath.

New blog.

irk. I’m going to miss my tag cloud so much.

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.

http://mckenzie-hejsverige.blogspot.se/2014/04/free-cone-day.html

http://mckenzie-hejsverige.blogspot.se/2014/04/cookies.html

http://mckenzie-hejsverige.blogspot.se/2014/04/day-before-move.html

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.

In the meantime, I’ll be posting everything else onto this blog – k8thegr8abroadabroad.blogspot.se

I’ve found that blogspot is much more picture friendly because it’s much easier to click and enlarge with them.

 

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.

Since I’ve been back (AKA the reason I don’t make daily updates anymore)

 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 End. I’m pretty uninteresting.

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.

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

TITLE

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.