Pictures of the snow!!!

Here are the pictures from the weekend: HERE

Here are the pictures from Monday night: HERE

a smart car buried in snow, so cute!!!

Day 120

What a crazy morning!

I abused the snooze on my phone (I use it as an alarm clock) and wound up getting up at 9:13, and my bus left at 9:23, so I somehow managed to get dressed and ready in about 8 minutes and run to the bus stop, without slipping, falling or dying in about a minute and a half. So I got there and waited for bus 20 to come. I waited. And waited. And waited.

It was after 9:38 and the bus still hadn't come. 

Finally bus 18 came so I had to run across the street and down the road a little bit to get to the other side's bus stop (because it's not directly on the other side of the street). I also managaed to not slip and die. So I got on the bus, and managed to slip by without scanning my card to pay (because I left my school card at school and the other card has money on it, but I don't want to spend it for no reason) and then we were off. The bus skidded a lot and another bus (the really late bus 20 that we passed at 9:44) hit the back part of our bus (it was an articulated, aka "bendy-bus") with one of it's mirrors and it made a really loud sound at impact. The bus was skidding a lot and went slowly so I was really late. But luckily my friends Ida and Emelie who live in Södra Gottsunda (where Iliyas lives) where also on my bus, so we were all late together and they were able to explain why we were so late. The teacher wasn't mad though, Åslög is really nice, (that's her name) and they usually dont care anyway.

School was a normal day, I was happy in Chemistry because I got Anton to explain this new thing we were learning to me and I understood it which made me feel all good inside. 

After school Anton and Iliyas came to my house so we could train our jumpstyle and get better. It's fun and great exercise; we want to perform in Stockholm next weekend for our next Rotary gathering there. (but you'll hear about that later)

So then they left and I ate dinner and had desert with the family, Anna (host sister, 26, lives/works in Stockholm) was over for dinner and is spending the night. And that's about it for today.

Day 119

We got up really early to get to Rotary and met Iliyas on the bus and then finally made it into town where he had to walk through what felt like (to me) a blizzard, but it was still really cool because it was snow!!

The meeting was kinda boring, as expected, but you can't beat free food. We spent almost an hour in the hotel lobby after it was over, just sitting in front of the fire, because Gen didn't have any classes today and Iliyas' and my classes didn't start until 10:15. So we moved into this coffee shop and just sat there for a while until we had to go. I had Chemistry lab and then I headed back into town to Storken (a fika place) to meet Gen who had been waiting and Anton followed along. We chilled and talked for a really long time and then Iliyas came a little later and we hung out for a while before heading to my house. Anton left and we got to my house and then went again to play in the snow! We must have been out for about 4 hours on the hill at Sunnerstabacken just sledding and building a little hump to get some air time as we were jumping over, it hurt when we landed...

We then went back inside and dried off and warmed up. We hung out for a while and then they went home.

Day 118

We woke up at like 12-ish again (Anton also stayed over) and had breakfast and blah blah blah. Iliyas came over and we hung out for a while and then I took Miranda to the train station while Iliyas stayed at my house working on the compilation video of us dancing. He went home a while later. It snowed all day and it just kept piling up!!

Gen sent me an sms asking if I wanted to play in the snow so I tole her to come to my house because there's this big hill close by. So she came and then we all went (with Amanda too) to Sunnerstaåsen/Sunnerstabacken which is this big slope where a lot of people were sledding. We spent a couple of hours sledding down and playing in the snow; we had such a great time. We then went home and ate and then Anton went home. Gen and I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and she slept over because she was going to Rotary in the morning (to my club, because she had been invited)

Day 117

Miranda stayed at my house and we woke up at around 12-ish and then ate and stuff. I got a phone call from Katarina at 8:00 (while I was still sleeping and only semi-conscious) telling me to look outside the window. I reluctantly sat up and looked out to see... About a foot of SNOW!!! I was so excited and happy, but too physically and mentally tired to do anything so I wound up going back to sleep until around 12 and then proceeded to go out and play in it and stuff. 

We decided that it would be nice to go into town so I could give her the tour of the main sights and it would be even better because everything was covered in snow. So we went into town and met my Swedish friend Anton and saw all the cool sights like Domkyrkan, Slottet and Botaniska. We played a lot in Botaniska while waiting for Iliyas to come and join us, then after a while when it got dark (at like 3:00!) we went back to my house. We cooked tacos ourselves (because nobody was home, they were in Göteborg looking at this special school) and then practiced more jumpstyle dancing. We then got a brilliant idea to go back into town and record ourselves doing the jumpstyle in all the lit places around Uppsala. So we went into town and recorded ourselves (Iliyas, Miranda and I; Anton filmed) jumpstyle-ing in Stora Torget, outside Carolina Rediviva, inside the "blue tunnel" thing, and on the sidewalk near Slottet (the castle). We got some stares and even a bunch of complements from onlookers. We went home, but had to take bus 7, because the wait for either 18 or 20 was too long, so we had to get off at Martallsvägen and walk to Iliyas' house. On the way we found this cool tunnel with graffiti in it so we recorded more jumpstyle in the tunnel, which turned out looking awesome. We then walked to Gottsundavägen to take the shortcut to Iliyas' house and then stayed for about 10 minutes before we headed for the Granelidsvägen bus stop to catch the last bus 18 home. We got to the stop at exactly the time that it was supposed to leave, and waited, but it didn't come so we thought we missed it. After about 10 minutes we realized that we would have to walk home, but it wouldn't be too bad because Iliyas had done it both nights before. (just for fun, because he wanted to and it was too snowy for the bike) So we started walking, which was pretty cool because it was in the snow, and just when we were about halfway between Granelidsvägen and Slånvägen and the bus comes rolling by, 15 minutes late. We tried running to the Slånvägen stop but it was no use and it kept going so we had to walk all the way home. It wasn't so bad, I was mostly talking the whole way there, mostly about the snow, although they were kinda quiet, I guess because she's from Canada and he's Swedish so snow is exciting but not nearly as big a deal to them as it is to me. So we finally got home and then went to sleep.

Days 114 to 116

More days at school, nothing to be too excited about...

On Wednesday I went with my class on a studiebesök (study-visit) to kliniskmikrobiologilabbet (the clinical microbiology lab) for, you guessed it, Mikrobiologi (Microbiology). They grew tons of bacteria there and also performed lots of tests for different sicknesses. This would be "the lab" that the doctor sends those samples to. They showed us around the lab and then showed us a really boring powerpoint. After that we went back to school.

Friday was exciting. Math was cancelled (it's usually 2 hours on Friday) so I got out early (because I decided to skip PE) and had some free time so I went to a friend's house (a Swedish Friend haha) and hung out for a while. I then got a call from Iliyas asking if I wanted to go to the gym; this was an opportunity upon which I quickly jumped because he never wants to go to the gym. And that is some shit up with which I will not put! (stole that from Scary Movie 4...) So he got there way before I did because I was nowhere near buses 20 or 3, so I had to walk a great distance to get back into town. By the time I got to the gym, he decided that he was leaving in 10 minutes... Grrrrrr. So needless to say, I didn't get much of a workout. I went home and chilled for a little while and then got back on lovely bus 111 (that's the fastest, most direct one into town, but it doesn't stop in useful places in town, like if I'm trying to get to school) to the train station. I met my Canadian friend, Miranda, who lives in Eskilstuna and had come to visit me for the weekend. So we started off my walking around the town to see these lights that had been set up all around the town in various spots, it was really cool. After that we went back to my house and it was snowing, actually pretty hard. There was a thin (but still bigger than anything I have seen) covering of snow on the ground and I made my first Swedish snowball, whom I named Fred, and then threw it at Miranda and we had a snowball fight with the little snow that existed. Iliyas came to my house and the three of us hung out. We decided to learn this dance from Holland, known as jumpstyle, that looks really cool, so we practiced it like all night and stayed up until about 3:00... Nobody was home so we didn't have to worry about making too much noise but it is best to do it with shoes and since you NEVER wear shoes in the house here, we went outside in the snow to dance... It was really cool!

Day 113

Today was just an average day at school, nothing exciting happened.
I went to sleep at 7:30 last night because I was just so tired and I think the darkness at 3:00 thing is getting to me... I woke up after 8:00 so I got a full 12 hours so that was nice.

On the way to school it rained which sucked...

But during the day, the rain tuned into SNOW!!!
It snowed lightly for like 2 hours but then it stopped and turned back into rain.

The ground was too warm so it mostly either melted or mixed with the rain to make this slushy stuff that was really slippery.

I got home and I feel like going to sleep again, but it's only 5:22... I guess I should wait... Maybe I'll go to the gym again.



Also, another notice, I finally sent in another Rotary journal, so if you'd like to see, it's at ryeflorida.org under the "Outbounds 2008" section. If you've been reading here though, there's really no point, because it's mostly just a summary.

Day 112

Today I had to get up early to go to my Rotary club; this is the second week in a row that I have gone. Gen was invited by one of my club's members that was visiting her club, so she was there too and we watched a little presentation about one of the Rotarians who is a conductor. He also sang. It was scary.

After that we walked over to Polishuset (the Police building) and met Katarina and she gave us a tour of the crime lab. It was really cool; we got to see fingerprinting, handwriting analysis (that's what Katarina does), shoe print analysis, IT and photography. We also got to see the place where they take the mugshots and Gen and I both took pictures with the sign. It's funny, though, because they have a chair that you sit on, you dont stand like in the US.

After that, at about 10:00 I had to run to school to take a Biology test on Genetics. It was pretty hard and that's what I expected. The teacher told me (just like last time) that I didn't have to take the test, but I said (unlike last time) that I wanted to try. That made her happy so I took it. I don't know if I passed, but it doesn't matter anyway and I like trying even if I fail. I may have forgotten to mention that I passed that Mikrobiologi test that I took (without even knowing that we had one that day). I got 5 points out of like 25 or something, but for some strange reason that still counts as a "G." (the lowest possible passing grade) The grading system is: IG-not passing, G-pass, VG-pass with distinction, and MVG-pass very special distinction. (MVG is the best)
Needless to say I always get MVG's in Enlglish!! But we'll have to see about Biology...

Day 111

Sunday.

We woke up at about 11:00 to find that it was SNOWING!!!
I was so excited and went outside to play in it and eat some. The ground was too warm so it mostly melted as soon as it hit the ground but it was still very exciting. Katarina drove them to the train station and they went home. I spent the rest of the day working on some homework and catching up on my online stuff. Later that night I went to the gym with Iliyas.

Day 110

Today was the party! It was a lot of fun. Anna and I spent the morning preparing for the party and then at around 4 I went to her house to be made up. She straightened my hair and put shadows around my eyes, and I went into town like this to the train station to pick up the others who had just arrive. And yes, I did get many strange looks from the people on the bus.
So I picked everyone up and we rode the bus to Anna's house, unfortunately bus 111 doesn't run that late on Saturdays so we had to take 20, which not only takes a longer time, but also stops a little further away from her house.

So we all arrived and the party started. The night was a lot of fun and consisted of eating, dressing everyone up and dancing. We also drank this cool Argentinian tea drink which was really good.

We finally got home at about 2:30; I had Abraham from Mexico and Michael from Michigan staying at my house.


Pictures are here.

Days 104-109

This whole week was just an average week at school; it was kinda busy because I had a lot of work for Math. I also have a Biology test on Monday, so that's a little stressful too. I also worked a lot on my online classes to get caught up. That's about it; this week was pretty low key filled with work and studying, that is until Friday...

We had been planning to have an exchange student Halloween party for a while and now it finally has come. So today, on Friday, after school, I went to Anna's house to help her set up a little bit and buy some things. Tomorrow the guests will arrive!

Day 103

Today was nice because I was able to sleep in and go in at 11:20 and then went to school of Physics and Math. After school I went to Iliyas' house for a while and then went home and then he wound up coming to my house and stayed for a while. And that's about it.

Day 102

I slept in and went into school at 10:00 and figured today would be a normal day.
It was mostly normal until at about 1:00 I found out that the whole class was going to Stockholm tonight to see Hamlet in the theater there and I didn't have a ticket. Luckily they had an extra so I was able to go. After school we all got on a bus headed for Stockholm and then when we got there we all split up and ate. I ate with some other friends in an attempt to branch out, and it surely paid off. I spoke only Swedish with them the whole time, which was nice because some of my other friends only want to speak English with me which pisses me off. We ate at this organic, all natural place in the train station and we all had noodles which were really good. After that we headed to the theater which was really old and really beautiful.

The play lasted for 3 hours. It was well done but very hard for me to understand because they spoke very fast "Shakespearean" Swedish. I could still figure out what was going on based on prior knowledge of the story and the fact that they were acting. It was a fairly modern adaptation but it was a little while. I thought it was well done, however.
After the show, it was pretty late and I took the train home, despite the cheaper but slower bus, because I had to catch the last bus 18 home so I wouldn't be stranded at the train station. When we arrived however, I found out that I wouldn't have to take the bus because a friend was nice enough to take me home because I live near her and she was taking two other of my classmates home also. So I finally got home around 12:16 and then went right to sleep. Luckily I had a sleep in the next morning and didn't have to go in until 11:20.

Day 101

YAY OBAMA!!!!!!!!


Today had a great start when I found out that Obama won the election, I was really happy about it.
Today, Anna, Iliyas, Gen and I were going with Anna's counselor to Ekeby Gymnasiet to visit the school and get a tour. The school is unlike most other schools which are considered "theoretical schools" this one is a "practical school" with real world training. They have programs for things like cooking and florist-ing and we got to see the kitchens and the flower-arranging rooms which were really cool. After the tour we ate at the school's restaurant, which is run by the students (and it was great because we didn't have to pay) and then Anna's counsellor came back and picked us up and dropped us off in town and then we spent a little time in town before all going home. We wanted to do something together but we were all too tired and lazy. So I went home and then started talking to more people online again. Going to the gym now!

Day 100

Has it been 100 days already?? (well actually maybe not, because I think I might have messed up the day count somewhere along the way, but oh well)

Today was not that special, it was a little bit of a long day today, I started at 10 and finished at 3. I was going to hang out with Gen after school but then I canceled and went home because I had a lot of work that I needed to do. I wound up not getting any work done and spent the entire night (about 6 hours) talking to a bunch of people online. Everybody just decided yesterday that it would be a good day to start talking to me... I felt loved, but it prevented me from getting any work done. I wound up staying up pretty late, but not late enough to see the election results so I went to sleep waiting for morning to come.

Day 99

Today was just an average day at school. I decided to take my bike to school today, despite the 5(41) degree weather, I wanted to be healthy. It wasn't all that bad. I got to school at 10:15 and had a little over two hours of biology and then finished at 12:35. I ate lunch at school because it's free and they had köttbullar (meatballs) and they were very good. (good school food is hard to come by here) After that it was about 1 and I went into town and met Gen, because I hadn't seen her in about two weeks and we sat in a kebab place and talked and caught up for almost two hours and then Iliyas came and joined us. We then moved to Storken and had fika (I just love their giant kanelbullar) and then we went home and I have been spending the rest of the day working on my online classes (well not really, I've been trying to learn C++, but I'm going to work on my History class now)

Another sleep in tomorrow... just like always.... when do I not have sleep ins??

Days 90-98: Gotland

There is much to say about höst lovet på Gotland. (the vacation on Gotland) I had a fun time, but the week was a weird combination of feelings. Let's start from the beginning...

We left on Saturday afternoon and drove for about 2 hours south east to a town who's name has escaped me and then boarded the ferry. After about three hours we arrived on Gotland and it was around 11:30 at night. Since we had taken two cars but had only brought one on the ferry, we had to take two trips so Katarina, Per and Amanda drove to the house which is about 7 kilometers away from Visby (the main city in Gotland) and we stayed with mormor (Katarina's mother aka grandma) and explored the city for a little while. There was not much to see at night but it was still pretty cool. After about 25 minutes Per came back and took us to their house.

They had just finished building the house and had also just finished putting all the finishing touches on it recently, so it beautiful and all brand-new feeling. Little did we know that a flaw in the house's design would be it's ultimate downfall... Amanda, Anna, Iliyas and I all slept in one room, which was pretty cool because it had like a little loft in it which housed other beds so we were all comfortable. 

The next day is when the fun started. It rained all day, so we were trapped inside, which didn't seem like it would be so bad until we found out that Amanda had mens (pms). We learned that she turns into something of a firemonster when it hits, so she was constantly driving us crazy. Now this is why we felt that the house's design was flawed: there were really only two rooms in the house; our room and the kitchen-dining room-living room Room. So there was really no escape from each other. Cabin fever definitely had set in, because Anna, Iliyas and I all got along fine, but we were being constantly tormented by the firemonster.

It got better though, because by Thursday she started getting better and she apologized for being, well, a firemonster. 

During the whole time we mostly spent our time indoors, and the two times that we did make it into Visby, it was either really cool and very very windy or cold and raining. The weather was not very nice. It also didn't help when we found out that it was snowing in Ekilstuna on Thursday night and then it started snowing in Uppsala on Friday.

On Saturday morning (today) we woke up at 6:00 (>_<) and then got ready to head back home. We did get one nice surprise; there was heavy frost outside so the grass was all frozen and white and there was frost on the car. It was about -5C out which was pretty cool, but it didn't feel all that cold. After the 3 hour ferry ride (on the floor in a corridor because all the tables and seats were taken) we got back to mainland Sweden and then headed home.

I was delighted to see that there was still some "snow" left. I use the term lightly because it used to be snow, but snow it's just a thin little layer of slush. But it's still snow, and I was excited!!

So the vacation is over and it's back to school tomorrow, good thing I have a sleep-in tomorrow!