Monday Update from Sweden
Monday. Everyone’s favorite day of the week. Ha – good one. Personally I especially despise my Mondays in Sweden because I have 5 classes instead of my usual 3 in school. (I can see my friends back in America rolling their eyes at this as they proceed to go on their 7 class period days) Anyway, this Monday morning was particularly dreary. It had rained all night, so the snow has now turned to slush and the air reeked of the weird after smell that comes with rain.
School was boring and essentially empty because the RT guys are gone. That makes the school population go from 150 to 80 kids. I am pretty sure at Bay we have classes with more than 80 kids in them. To make matters even worse, all of my classes were work days. In English I have to write a paper about the movie “The Help” and talk about how segregation is still prevalent in today’s society. Then next week we are having a seminar about it – I actually am really looking forward to that because then my classmates will be forced to speak in English so I will actually be able to understand them!
That being said my Swedish IS getting better. My host mom says she is really proud of my progress. Each day I can understand more and more and am beginning to form basic sentences. My pronunciation is absolutely terrible though, some of the words are so hard to say! Like something as simple as spoon which is (sked). In English you would pronounce it like Sk-ed, but in Swedish it should like Sh-we-ed with a gurgle sound using the back of your throat. My conclusion with Swedish is that the grammar structure is for the most part simple, but the pronunciation of words is….extremely difficult to say the least. Bea and I keep saying we need to talk using more Swedish at home so I am thinking maybe 3 times a week we will have “Swedish Only Days” where we only speak in Swedish. After all the more I try and speak it the better I will get.
In other news, vegetarian life is going very well. I am really enjoying refraining from meat and my body is responding very well to it I think. I have more energy, less bloating, and have stopped stuffing myself at lunch and feeling sick after. Last night we had a mushroom risotto that was to die for. With it Bea served chicken for the kids and Mats while me and her enjoyed some fried cheese. We have this a lot in replacement of meat and it is super good and full of protein. In America I had it at the farmers market in Madison, so I think you can find it in grocery stores over there – I highly recommend trying it!
I finally also go my first letter from the states yesterday! Within my first week I sent out 6 letters, but sadly only one has appeared to have gone through. Hopefully, you all will get them eventually.
Looking into the future here is what my up coming months look like:
February – 2 more weeks of school then on February 18 the fam and I are heading up north for some skiing! We are staying at a little cabin and spending 5 days up there, I am super excited! Bea and I have been busy planning our meals for the week.
March – Only one week of school then I get to “Pratikplats” (job practice) for 3 weeks! Still have not heard back/decided on what jobs I am going to do, but will let you guys know as soon as I decide.
April – On the 4-6 I get to go on a trip with 25 other exchange students to Stockholm for the weekend!
May – No big events, but there will most likely be a lot of parties and events going on because of graduation coming up. My class will be taking a field trip to Gothenburg to attend a gay pride festival which should be fun. And as if I do not have enough days of in school, I also get the last week in May off.
June – Last month in Sweden! Hopefully the weather will be nice and I will get to enjoy some relaxing time on the beach. The town I live in is one of the most popular resort towns in Sweden and in the summer the tourists flood in from all of the world. I leave on the 22nd for my Euro Trip which I will spend a little over 3 weeks traveling all over Europe on a bus with 30 other kids my age. Then finally in mid July Hannah comes home!
As you can see the time will really fly by, I cannot believe it is February already!
Tomorrow is another Cooking with Hannah Tuesday, I think you guys will really enjoy what I am making! Hint: it even has mangos in it so you know it must be good.
I hope everyone has a good day!
-Hannah
Swedish Word of the Day: smörgås – noun Means “sandwich” The word smorgasbord actually originated in Sweden and is used to describe a big buffet or arrangement of food, just like in English.
