Preface
After a ten and a half hour flight to the London Heathrow Airport, a six hour layover, and then a two hour flight, I finally made it to Stockholm. I arrived on the 31st of July at about 11:30pm, and was picked up by my host family: Jenny, Steven, Jacob, and Annie. I have had the absolute best time since then, and wanted to share with you all how my first week went!
Monday, August 1, 2022
On Monday morning, I woke up around 10:30. My host family mostly woke up at around the same time, and started making these tiny little Swedish Pancakes for breakfast (I want to say they are called plättar). They were super good --especially with lingonberry jam! We then left the apartment and took the bus over to Roslagsgatan to walk over to my school! It turns out a ballet school called Ballet Akademien that I had looked into was right next door! It was super cool to finally be able to see all of these things in person instead of a computer screen. We continued walking and headed over to Birgitta/Mormor (Jenny's mom's) house for lunch. There is a little park next to her building which has a restaurant, where we sat and ate. After that was just resting at home since I had just flown in the day before, but luckily for me, I didn't have any jet lag all week! I also tried the famous salted licorice, Djungelvrål, and I absolutely love it!
Tuesday, August 2, 2022
For breakfast on Tuesday we all sat out on the balcony as it was the perfect weather. It was a pretty relaxed morning, but Jenny, Annie, and I headed to town to tour the bell tower at city hall. When we got there, that specific tour was completely sold out for the day, but we ended up taking the tour of city hall. Jacob then met up with us and we went on the English tour while Jenny and Annie went on the Swedish one. The architecture was absolutely amazing and so fascinating! For those of you who don't know, Stockholm City Hall is where the Nobel Prize Ceremony is held, so I got to see all of the Banquet halls where the winners, royalty, and guests come every year. We then walked along strandvägen where I ordered lemon sorbet in Swedish all by myself (all I said was "citronsorbet" so it's not too impressive but it was still fun). I haven't really experienced any culture shock since I've been here, but I have to say, it's shocked me how little water they drink. Not in the sense that they drink coffee, tea, or juice more, but the fact that the glasses are SO SMALL. We went to a restaurant for lunch, and since I was absolutely parched after the long walk, I could have chugged 20 of those glasses right there. But everyone else just takes little sips of one tiny glass, it blows my mind. After ice cream and lunch, Jenny, Annie, and I went to a bookstore called Adlibris where Annie got a book that has been back ordered, and I got the book Bröderna Lejonhjärta by Astrid Lindgren --the woman who wrote Pippi Longstockings. That night we went to the theater in the park to watch a show about Swedish singer Jenny Lind. The music was great, but I didn't understand much.
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
In the morning we headed over to the sports center at the university to play badminton. I had never played before so I expected to do terribly, but I actually did pretty well! It was super fun playing with everyone. That afternoon was pretty relaxed as we just had lunch and rested, but that evening I took a class at Ballet Akademien! They currently have a summer event going on called the International Summer Festival, where new teachers from all over the world come each week to teach different classes. The ballet teacher that week was Robert Hewitt. He trained at the Royal Ballet School in London, and it was such a fun and cool experience taking a class from him. I also made a friend in the class so that was pretty great!
Thursday, August 4, 2022
On Thursday, Steven, Annie, and I walked over to Bergshamra and I saw where they used to live. We went over and had lunch at a cafe next to this palace, and it was so beautiful. We then met one of their old neighbors named Amy, who was also an exchange student from the U.S. back in the 90s. Her and Steven both gave me so much good advice for my exchange year (oh yeah, Steven was also an exchange student from Scotland), and Annie and I both enjoyed a Glassbåt, which is vanilla ice cream in a cone bowl, dipped in chocolate and filled with strawberry jam. SO GOOD! Later that day I took another ballet class and it was just as good as the night before.
Friday, August 5, 2022
Not much happened in the morning, but in the late afternoon Annie, her friend, Jacob, and I headed over to Gröna Lund --an amusement park in Stockholm. It was so much fun! Mom and Dad get ready for a heart attack... I went on every single ride and I enjoyed them all! We also ran into a group of people that Jacob knows, and I had such a good time hanging out with them all. When we left, we took the boat over and walked through Old Town at night. It was so cool to see it at that time of day --especially since no one was there.
Saturday, August 6, 2022
Jenny, Steven, Jacob, Annie, and I all went kayaking in the lake they live next to. It was so much fun, but so windy at the same time --making it extremely hard to paddle. After that we didn't do much, but while I was at the store Ica with Jenny, Jacob invited me to come hang out with him and his friends in Bergshamra. They gave me a tour of that part of town and then we watched a movie and talked. I have to say, every single person I've met since I've been here in Sweden has been so kind and welcoming, I honestly can't believe it. I've been here for two and a half weeks and it feels like I've known these people for years simply because of how inviting and kind they are. It has been absolutely great.
I have been having such a great time here so far, and it just keeps getting better. I know there will be challenges --especially with learning the language-- but i'm so grateful for the amazing times I've had, and the amazing times to come. Everyday I've been here I've had to ask myself "how is this my life," simply because this experience just doesn't feel real. Thank you to every single one of you who has extended your love and support, I hope to keep you updated.
Bekah
*all photos are in chronological order :)
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