YAY

...today has started out on the right foot. I woke up about 11:30am, looked outside and the beautiful sun, and walked down the hall to the kitchen to make cheese eggs. :) I saw the sun amidst the snow-covered trees, and it was such a delightful sight! I was sure I wouldn't see the sun until Monday or Tuesday... but thankfully I was wrong!

We exchange students tried our hand at sledding for the first time here in Sweden the other night... and, well, wish I could say it was as fun as it sounded. We didn't begin trying to create paths and such until about 10pm. I went down one hill which was actually pretty fun, but everyone else was dissatisfied so we moved further down hill towards the school. We were unsuccessful, yet again. Hopefully we'll figure out a really great path soon, but we did figure out that the IKEA bags did not work as we'd heard they did. I may go find a cheap sled sometime soon.

Anywho, I am going to post pics of the sun and snow today. :)

Week #2, First week of class

First day of class photo, of course! With Chelsea.
Snow outside my bedroom window today.


Hey everyone, so it's snowing again, to add to the almost knee-height snow we have already. Quite exciting. Everyone has been raving about how cool it is to use IKEA bags to sled with, so I think I'm going to buy one today and try it out later on. :) The snow is expected to last until next Monday, wahoo! Of course, this means the sun won't be out until after Monday... but I suppose that's the way they roll here in Stockholm.

I had my first class this week, "Sweden: Society and Culture." As this may sound like an interesting, contemporary class, it was more of a history lecture. Which, by the way, I did learn a bit of the historical side of the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden of course). When I signed up for the course, this was not what I was expecting... but it'll do for the 5 weeks I have it. Thankfully, we do not have an exam at the end of the class. :) We do, however, have to read a Scandinavian novel (he gave us about 100 topics to choose from... all in Swedish). The only title I recognized was "Pippi Longstocking"... has anyone read it?

I love the challenge of talking to people from other countries... I have had some difficulty talking to the French people, but we just end up laughing about the language barrier and pronunciation and such. It's neat to watch people find the words in their head, or ask a friend of their native country, "how to say in English...?" So cool. One of my new friends Chelsea, from North Carolina, and I were talking to a couple of the French girls the other day, and they were asking us how do you say something in English... it was something grammatical, and we were stumped. I feel as though we are already losing the ability to put the words together correctly, haha.

Chelsea and I found the Hard Rock Cafe yesterday afternoon, that was so exciting! We're slowly learning how to get around using the train and the metro.

So I'm really looking forward to two things on Friday... Cass, my middle sister, is having her baby #2. I am ready to find out if it's a boy or a girl, so I can buy cute things for "it" to wear! :) I also have a party to attend Friday night, which thankfully will only be about 1pm at home..so maybe Cass won't have the baby by then. The party is at the university, and all the exchange students and their mentors will be there. So looking forward to it. :)

Anywho, I'll keep you posted and I'll have to upload a pic of the baby once he/she arrives!

Love,

Jillian

Trains, buses, and automobiles

So I've nearly been in Sweden a week, and I absolutely love it! I am enjoying the snow, even though I have to walk in slush. I am not missing the rain back home whatsoever. This has been such an experience so far. Well, to start off...

Saturday, I met my student mentor at my hotel lobby. We then took the train to the school. We had to haul all my luggage in the slush... try to imagine. We first had to "sign in" and get my room keys and such. Then the lady told us it was a little more than a mile to my apartment. So I'm thinking, are you serious?! Then she said, "you may want to take the bus." So we chose that route. I was glad that it took us.. oh, about half way, but not really even that close. So we had to trek it up hills...I had to stop who knows how many times to readjust my belongings and take a breath. Thankfully, Tobias helped pull one of my suitcases! So I just had my huge carry-on backpack, laptop, and other suitcase to tote. Just imagine. What a great cardio workout I hadn't even planned for. Anywho, after several hills and breaks to catch our breaths, we made it up there. I felt like such a wimp because I was way behind Tobias for a while.

Anywho, so orientation started on Sunday, and as you'd expect, it was boring. We all introduced ourselves. It was so neat to hear the other dialects and languages... people were from Finland, France, Germany, Mexico, about 8 of us were from the States, Poland, ...and I'm sure more, just can't think. I actually met TWO girls from TENNESSEE! Can you believe that? Crazy, I know. They're both from Knoxville.

I got a bus pass and I've been able to be in and out of the city a bunch as well as small towns nearby where I live. :) I've mostly been traveling by myself, but it is so great to have nice Swedish people to tell me how to get places. I was able to meet Lisa, a Swedish lady I met before leaving the states.. we had dinner and such. She just flew back to Johnson City today. She's actually coming back to visit her family here again in June, which is awesome because I'll still be here. She's such a sweet lady!

This week has flown by! I start class on Monday, Sweden: Culture and Society. Yeah, we'll see how that goes. :) A bunch of my new friends are in the class, too, which is nice. Anyways, I'm sorry to say that I'm tired of writing, but... I'm tired of writing. I'll post again soon.

Hej då (Swedish goodbye)

Stockholm, Night One

Shopping Center

Haha, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs advertisement on right.
Dressing for the IceBar
IceBar Experience, don't get the wrong idea!
First night's dinner. :)

Outside my hotel room
Shopping centers... already closed by 7pm. Sad day. :(
Well, I decided to get out and explore a little bit this evening. People were walking around everywhere. I walked down from the hotel, and I was so hungry for food. It had been about 9 hours since breakfast. So... dinner.. well, where did I enjoy my first dinner? ....BK. I had my mom guess and she didn't even think about BK being Burger King, hahaha. I enjoyed some Chicken Nuggets with fries and Sprite Zero. I enjoyed walking around afterwards. As I was walking, I stumbled across a place called, "An Ice Experience Impossible to Expect." Well, this made me think of the Ice Hotel, so I walked in and took a tour of it... wow, it was COLD in there! They gave me a hooded coat to wear and everything. Here's some pictures.

Stockholm

Well, I'm just getting to my hotel. It is so little! I mean, I guess it's enough space for just me, but I'm so used to the American hotels.... I'll have to upload pictures in a bit. The snow is so pretty. It's like a couple weeks ago when all the trees were so white... Winter Wonderland. I'm looking forward to having that around for a while. It's not so cold here, actually. I didn't even have to wear my coat. Well, it didn't help that the taxi was so toasty! I was frying in there. Anywho, time for a shower I suppose... almost 24 hours later. I plan on resting most of the day, but I'll have Skype up for anyone who would like to chat. :)

Oh, my student mentor met me at my hotel, so he was kind enough to help me take things to my room. We're meeting again tomorrow to head over to my flat, I'm so ready for a place of my own to unload. It'll be nice not having to drag around these bulky bags, pillows, backpack, and such.

Ya'll take care, and I'll post again later. Maybe I'll get out and take pictures. :)

Chicago to Stockholm

O'Hare Airport

So I decided to get some rest at about 2:15 this morning, and I set my alarm for 3:15, but overslept until 3:45 after I unconsciously turned the alarm all the way off. It was a sad goodbye with my family and Henry, but I managed okay after realizing no one was running after me. I just kept expecting someone to run down the steps at TRI to say, "STOP!" ...but it never happened, so here I am. I just passed through security in Chicago, and I feel as though I am officially leaving the US. Oh wait, I am! It's insane. I have one more hour here before boarding. I should be in Stockholm by 1am Friday, which is 7am their time... hoping that I'll get lots of sleep in while on the flight. Please pray for the safe travels. The other flights have been fine, I've just been in Chicago since 9am this morning... ready to leave! I hope I packed everything. :) If not, I guess I'll have to do a little shopping. I'll post again when I get there, after I meet with my student mentor and everything. Yippee.. Ya'll take care!

6 Days

Hello! Well, I was lucky to have just had Christmas and my birthday, so I am slowly getting what I will need for Sweden together. I now have some new snow boots that have been wonderful and keep my feet very cozy so far. I'm getting used to the cold weather and snow here in the States, and I'm beginning to like getting all bundled up! :) I have several new accessories, too. Very exciting. Now time to pack. I still need to get some space bags and such to maximize my luggage capacity. I am able to bring 2 bags, 50lb. and 70lb. Hope that will store all of my things!

Cassidy (my sis) may have her baby anytime, and to top it all off her daughter that's already in the world was just admitted to the hospital. I assume she's a bit dehydrated since she hasn't been drinking anything. Hopefully they'll make her better quick!

Crazy, crazy. Anyway, I'll report back soon!