Time Flies

The past couple of weeks have just flown by! I don't even know where the time goes. Can you believe it is already December??!??!

Before Tyler got here there was the 200 dagars, which is a celebration with all the 3rd years and we dress according to the theme. this time it was red carpet so i was Audrey Hepburn, and in the picture above i am with my friend Emmie who is Fergie. It was a lot of fun and celebration that it is getting close to graduation! next will be the 15o dagars, then 100, then 50.

The first video is of me riding Shackis, we jumped for the first time this past saturday, I have to admit i do miss my horse but it was great to be able to jump once again!!!

This past week my boyfriend, Tyler, stayed with us and we went around visiting Sweden and such. We were in Gothenborg, Varberg, the market, the harbor, Karadal beach (near where I live in Askloster). we also went to a hockey game against two rivarlies gothenborg and stockholm. they tied 3 to 3. We also celebrated thanksgiving with my host family, and their friends camilla and lenart and their kids ( the family i was supposed to stay with come feburary but camilla has cancer). Thanksgiving ended up being a huge hit! everyone loved me and tyler's cooking :) i was really nervous about the turkey and stuffing but eva did the turkey and pie while tyler and i did everything else!! talk about busy!

Eva and I had our Cocktail party, that we have been planning for awhile, so that was quite exciting! it turned out to be a hit! people didn't leave till 2 30 am!! :) it was fun to mingle with everyone and to dress up in the pretty cocktail dresses and such.

I also brought Tyler to school with me. He was really nervous going to school because he was not used to the language, the way people dress, or how big the school is, but after the first day it was ingen problem!!! (no problem pa svenska). i am glad he got to meet all of my friends, the ones he is with in the picture are lejla and denice.

When we went to GBG (gothenborg) we walked by Lisberg, which is the biggest theme park in Sweden. The rides are closed now but they have the jul celebration, which is the christmas celebration in december and they have about 5,000 lights (i think it could be more or less but its A LOT of lights) that decorate the whole park! It looks beautiful with the snow, that is, if we ever get any. hopefully i will have the opportunity to go there sometime this month!

Included in the pictures are the typical swedish fika, mmmmm yummy! the cinnamon roll looking thing called kanelbullar and kaffe (coffee). there is also another fika, where we have sandwiches, but as tyler soon found here, swedish sandwhiches are onesideded. personally i like it better that way, you can mix it up more and there is less of the taste of bread.

Now that tyler is gone its quite lonely, but i will survive. he will be back again soon hopefully! but ive realized that time is going soooooo fast! i wish it would just slow down sometimes! Its already december! In January I will have been here for half a year, now that's weird to think about.

Update on school:

i took my dreaded french exam last week, it was veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy difficult. but i got through it and hopefully i didn't do too bad.

In my International Relations class we have just finished war and peace (I studied the Iraq and American war) now we are studying about Manskliga Rattigheter, translated, Multicultural Society. we are learning about different cultures and traditions and also about swedens culture. This is great for me because i get to learn more about swedish culture!! Some of Sweden's culture; Midsommer (midsummer, lots of celebrating and wearing flowers and old style typical swedish clothing, usually in July). Folkhemmet- the idea of a perfect swedish family (kind of like the american perfect family, mom dad two kids, you get the picture. Lagom-ideal (this is very swedish saying, it means inbetween, most people here like lagom. its a bit difficult to explain but it basically mean inbetween) the sprak (the language, of course). Musik (music, there is a lot of rock and roll here, from what people have told me the music in darlarna and varmland is quite "special" (thats toward the north of sweden) i haven't been there so i can't say much on that). the idea that swedes are very shy, in america the gretting is with handshakes and mr or mrs, but in sweden its not very common to see handshakes and greetings with mr or mrs. its all first name basis and the swedes like their own space. (thats why they toilets in school and many restaurants is a little room with its own sink and there are 5 or 6 of these lil stall rooms). Dalahast (which is a wooden horse and its typical swedish) Jantelagen (this is an unwritten rule that everyone is supposed to be the same. swedes are all about everyone being equal so i think this is a saying more or less, its hard to translate.)

this is what i have learned so far, but its only been the first day of notes, so more to come!!

I hope everyone back home has had a great Thanksgiving and Black Friday, and no they do not celebrate either of those here, this is Sweden not America (for those of you that have asked me this question :))

more bloging next week!!!

happy holidays!! (how kul, happy holidays, finally we can start saying this because it is the holidays!!! :)