Week One, August 2nd-5th: Flights, Fika, Fish & More!

Well...here we are! Welcome to Just a Teen in Sweden for real. As I type this I am sitting in one of the living rooms of my host families house, in Stockholm, Sweden, with my host parents and eldest host sister. We are watching something called Midsommer Murders - a very riveting, and quite British, show. Although I'm not here to talk about the TV shows we're watching.

I will not update about the full week, seeing as most parts are the same, but here are the first couple days!

I have gone through a number of emotions in the past week, and I'm here to share them. Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I have had to do yet. It felt like my chest was collapsing in. I couldn't believe that the time was finally here, and I had to actually hug my mom and say goodbye for eleven months. It was hard, and at that point I was regretting the decisions I had made. I wanted to hug my mom, not let go, and have her take me back home to my bed. But instead of stopping, I pushed forward. I said goodbye a final time, walked to the escalator, and never turned back.

The first flight was smooth - I slept the whole time. The first layover was annoying, but smooth. There wasn't a comfortable place to sleep, and I was so, so tired. I slept on the second flight as well, and it wasn't until the second layover that thoughts of regret and doubt creeped into my mind. I found a quiet spot in the airport, sat with my things, and cried. I couldn't stop. I boarded my third flight still crying, and cried for the first couple hours before dosing off. I woke up two hours into the flight, ate dinner, read my book, and fell back asleep. I woke up every two hours to readjust, upset I was so uncomfortable, before falling back asleep. I woke up for the final time with 50 minutes left of my eight hour flight. Anxiety immediately crept back into my mind, and I sat pin-straight for the final minutes of my flight.

By the time I got off my plane, I was overstimulated and sweating. I headed towards migration to show my passport, which took over a half hour, and eventually, after getting my luggage, did I head towards the exit. There to greet me were my host parents and youngest host sister. My host mom immediately wrapped me in a hug, and I knew that I was meant to meet these people. Tears sprung to my eyes by the hospitality shown in only a single hug. My host dad helped with my suitcases, and we were off towards the car. Upon arriving home, my middle host sibling has made a proper breakfast for me.

I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and freshened up before heading out to the altanen (patio) to have my first Swedish breakfast! Now, contrary to popular belief, (my belief), pickled herring was not served with this first breakfast meal. At least not in this family. There were pancakes, bröd (bread), bacon, kaffe (coffee), and juice! I practiced some Swedish words and sentences before we cleaned up breakfast. I unpacked some before heading to the grocery store with my host mom! Grocery stores here are much in the same, excpet for the fact that there are self scanners. Meaning, as soon as you walk into the grocery store and get your cart, you can choose if you would like to scan things yourself while you shop, or to have an associate scan them at the end of your shopping trip. This was absolutelty brilliant. It cut our shopping time in half, and I had fun practicing some Swedish words. Later in the afternoon, my middle host sibling and I went on a walk to the other local grocery store, to a spot with a great view, and around the small town. It was a lot of fun, and it kept me awake all day!

I fell asleep that night around 22, and woke up at 10 the next morning! We had a slow morning before getting ready and going to the Stockholm Pride Parade! I have never had so much fun! There were so many different types of people there - I had never felt more seen, represented, and safe. I also had my very first fika! Fika is a very famous coffee break where you drink coffee or tea, and eat pastries! I am definitely a fan! We spent a lot of time walking around, sight seeing, etc. We got home late into the evening and my host parents immedately started making middag (dinner/supper). We ate for a while when we were joined by my youngest host sister's boyfriend! It was amazing to meet another Swede outside of my host family, and he was very kind when I was speaking English, and very little Swedish.

That is all for this week, I will try and update every Friday or Saturday depending on what happens. This next week I will be at a soft landing camp for the whole week! (A camp for incoming Rotary students to get to know each other and start learning more of the language.)

New Swedish words & phrases I've learned:

• Tack till middag. - Thank you for dinner.

• Vad? - What?

• Eller hur? - Right?

• Regn - Rain

• Ja & Nej - Yes & No

• Var - Where?

• Där - There

• Här - Here

Talk in a week!

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