Week Three, 11th-18th: Soft-Landing Camp, Swimming, and Sight-Seeing!

Hej!

I had my very first Rotary-sanctioned event in Sweden this week! It was a soft-landing camp with the many other RYE Students in Sweden. There are 42 of us overall! We stayed at https://stjarnholm.se, a hotel in Oxelösund, Sweden.

To start off the week, we had dinner together Sunday night to start to get to know each other. We sat around for a couple hours talking and eating before our counselors at the camp gave a short speech and sent us on our way. We were allowed to choose what we wanted to do before having to return to the hotel that night. I chose to go swimming with a couple other students! There was a small lake right next to the hotel, and we were able to get to it by walking through a small patch of forest. Another girl and I were the only from the group that decided to get in the water. It was a little chilly, but very refreshing! We weren't in long before it started rapidly getting dark. We decided it was time to return to the hotel, and come down another afternoon when it was lighter out.

Majority of the week regarding what we did during the day was very similar. We would have breakfast in the mornings together, and we had to be in a confrerence room by 9AM for class. We had classes ranging from Swedish culture and foods, to practicing the Swedish language. This camp was designed to help prepare us with knowledge we will need for our upcoming year. After classes and dinner, we had free time to do anything! Some of us swam, some of us played soccer or volleyball, and some of us just hung out. By hanging out with a couple people, I have formed friendships that I know I will cherish for years to come.

On Wednesday, instead of having afternoon classes, we went to Boda Borg, https://www.bodaborg.se, a facility with 24 different quests testing both mental and physical strength and teamwork. We got divided into groups and spent the afternoon going through different quests and challenges! By the end, we were all exhausted, and headed back to the hotel for a relaxing evening. We had dinner and spent the night hanging out.

Thursday night, the last night together, we had a cookout by the lake with hotdogs, s'mores, and chokladbullar (chocolate balls.) We spent the time singing songs and enjoying each other's company. The few Italian exchange students even taught us a popular song from Italy that we sang together! It was a night filled with laughter and genuine connection. We eventually headed back to the hotel late into the night, and many of us fell right into bed.

The next morning we cleaned up our rooms, packed up our stuff, and met in the confrerence room for one more group discussion before dressing in our offical Rotary attire with our country flags and taking many photos. We ended the day with lunch, and many of us hung out waiting for either a bus to take to the train station, or a host parent to pick us up.

The friends I made through this week mean so much to me, and even now, two weeks after, I still talk to them everyday and have seen them quite a few times since. They have quickly became very, very important to me.

Once getting home from the camp I collapsed into bed and slept the rest of the afternoon. It was what I needed after such a tiring camp.

Saturday was a relaxing day, but after getting ready that night, my host parents, host sister, and I went to Kulturfestivalen (culture festival) that was being held in Stockholm. There were live concerts, food stands, and many different activities! We spent the night walking around, trying new foods, dancing, and listening to music. One of my host mom's favorite artists, Kaliffa, was performing at one of the stages so we watched that before mingling about. My eldest host sister was having a party with some of her friends, so we socialized and talked to them when we got home, but we were very tired from walking around we went to bed soon after we got home.

Sunday morning, I woke up, got ready, and headed to the Kulturfestivalen again with some friends! We walked around, enjoying the sights from the center of Stockholm and each other's company. We ended up laying in a grassy area right on the edge of the water where music was playing and there were a couple pop-up restuarants. Once it started getting a little chilly, we walked into the center of Stockholm where many tourists go, and looked around some of the shops. We found a small, almost empty, cafe, and decided that was how we were going to end our night. Some ordered coffee or tea, while others sipped on water. Once it got later, and it was time for us to head home, we walked back to T-Centralen, the main train station in Stockholm. We said our goodbyes and promised we would see each other again soon.

It was a great end to an already amazing week!

New Swedish words & phrases I've learned:

• Tack för maten - Thank you for food.

• Spela - Play

• Hallon - Raspberry

• Boken - The book

• Vem? - Who?

• Kylskåp - Refrigerator

• Sedan - Ago

• På - On

Talk in a week!

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