A Big Update; May 15th, 2025

A photo of the cherry blossoms in Copenhagen, Denmark!

Hi all. This post is going to be a bit of a long one. I hope you enjoy!

To start off, I want to say both thank you and I’m sorry. To those who are following my journey, even now after I’ve disappeared and haven’t updated my blog, or any of my social media. Thank you. There’s not a day that goes by that my mom doesn’t text me telling me someone had asked about me again. Thank you so much. It warms my heart. On the same note, I want to say I’m sorry. Obviously, updating about my life has slowed. If you look at my blog, you’ll see the most recent post is regarding Christmas time. I’m a bit behind! I want to say again, a HUGE thank you to those who still follow me through this or check up on me. It really does mean the world to me.

The point of this post is to break down the past four months, regarding why I haven’t been posting, and what I’ve been occupied with. I found detailing every experience I went through became exhausting, simply because so much was happening at once. I figured things would slow once the first couple months had passed, but that is quite the opposite. I have learned so much in the past nine months, and my life is constantly a whirlwind of things. Whether it’s with my host family and friends (or my mom 💜) something new is always happening. I also want to take this time to speak about what hasn’t gone well. What’s been hard, and what has caused me to take several steps back. As much as I’d like to say my exchange has been sunshine and rainbows the whole time, that isn’t true. This year in my life is much like any other, in the fact that hardships and setbacks still happen.

I haven’t spoken much about this past winter, and how it affected me. This is a hard topic for me to discuss, but I know those that choose to keep up with what I’m doing, have nothing but love for me. If you don’t…I’m not sure why you’re here in the first place. You get the idea. While Swedish weather is much like Iowa weather, the main difference is the darkness. Starting in November, the sun starts to rise later and set earlier. As Stockholm, where I live, is farther south in the country, by the end of November we experience only six hours of sunlight per day. This continues to shorten until the winter solstice, December 21st, when we’re lucky to get five solid hours. During this time, the sun rises at 9:00 in the morning and starts to set by 2:30 in the afternoon. When you aren’t used to such short hours of ‘sunlight,’ I put sunlight in parenthesis because although it may be light outside, it's usually cloudy with a grey overcast. As I said, if you aren’t used to such short amounts of sunlight, it can have effects. It’s different for everyone, but for me, I struggled with exhaustion and seasonal depression. My mental health is not something I shy away from talking about, but also not something I broadcast. I have suffered with seasonal depression for nearly five years now. It comes and goes every winter, and much like it does at home, it also occurred here.

On top of the darkness, which threw my bodies internal clock off, I was also navigating how to work through my depression in a new country, with a new culture, and a new family. From November to January, it was difficult to do anything. I would go to school a few days a week, and the rest of the time I spent in my house, waiting for something to change. That was the first time within my exchange that I had felt like I had failed at something. I isolated myself, not seeing anyone except my few classmates, my host parents, and my one best friend. Not having anything familiar around made me feel even more alienated than I already did while trying to adjust to my new life. At the beginning of February, things started to change. The sun was finally peeking out, and I was slowly coming back to myself. I was going out with my friends again, sight-seeing, and living a ‘touristy’ life. It was like working out after the holidays; it was rough at first, and you’re very sore after the first couple times, but as you continue to do it, you get more and more used to it. I was finally out of the darkness, both mentally and physically.

What have I been doing since the dark months? Like I said, I’ve been living my life again. I go out with my friends multiple times a week. We get coffee or dinner and walk around the city for hours. We go shopping, spend too much money, and force each other to try on atrocious clothes at the thrift store. On a more interesting note, in the middle of March I was lucky enough to take a trip with my exchange friends up to Kiruna. There are multiple posts on my Instagram with photos from the trip! It is very close to the North Pole, only about 3,000 miles away, which seems far, but isn’t! We went at the perfect time of year. There was still snow on the ground, but it wasn’t deathly cold (when it wasn’t storming!) I spent about a week there, and I had such an amazing time.

At the beginning of April, I was finally reunited with my mom after nine long months. More will come about that as well. It felt like a dream. I kept randomly touching her arm or face the first couple days she was here, asking if she was real. She stayed for about two weeks, and we were inseparable, barely leaving each other’s side. I got to experience some of the touristy things I hadn’t done before, and alongside my mom was the best time. I also got to take her to see my favorite things and show her where I have placed my life for the past nine months.

On top of my mom leaving after her trip here, I also switched host families! If you’ve seen on my other posts or any of my social media, I choose to not disclose the members of my host family due to my own decision. The same goes for this new host family to protect their privacy, and my own. While I may speak about my living experience, they will not be included in those posts or stories.

What is next for me? As I’m writing this, it’s the night of May 15th, 2025. I have 52 days left here in Sweden, and two left until my EuroTour! The EuroTour is a three-week-long trip around Europe. I’m going with 20 other exchange students here in Sweden and will be on a bus for around 92 hours. I won’t be able to post while I’m on my trip, but there will be posts consisting of my journal entries from each country plus the abundance of photos I took. Stayed tuned for that as well!

Overall, this post was to say that I am alive, and I am doing okay! Thank you for following along with me thus far.

Love you all!

Rieslynn