Feeling Confused

I miss New Zealand but I love Sweden. I miss home but I don't want to leave. I miss things I know but I love the unknown. I miss only English but I have grown to love Swedish. I miss my family but I have one here. I miss the ease of life in New Zealand but I love the challenge of life in Sweden. I miss driving my car but I love catching trains everywhere. I miss the clothes I left behind but I love my new style. I miss my friends but my new friends are amazing. I miss my own bed but this one is mine too. I miss bated little old Christchurch but I love beautiful Stockholm. I miss everyone getting behind the rugby but ice hockey is the sport here. I miss school uniform but I could never go back to it. I miss never feeling underdressed but I like dressing up is now part of everyday. I miss speaking slang and everyone getting it but I have taught people some kiwi. I miss the old me but I love who I have become.  

Imagine Dragons

Monday the 15^th of April 2013 is a day I will not forget! One of the best days I have had while being on my exchange! Well the day was nothing overly special, I went to school then went for a run, but the night was amazing as the night was filled with the wonderful music of Imagine Dragons!!

I went to the concert with two friends from school, Iris and Kyra, and one of the other kiwis in Stockholm, Hannah.

We wanted to get to the concert early but we had one small problem. We didn’t actually know where it as! We knew it could be in one of two places so of course we went to the one that it wasn’t in. we missed the front of the line but were not too far back so it was ok! Once we got in we asked to keep our tickets and checked in our coats and went through to the concert hall!

I think where this concert was held is the oddest place to ever hold a concert! It was in a building that also had a swimming pool and a library. It is a bit of an odd mix if you ask me!

We were quite close to the front when we got in, around six or seven rows back, but we were very keen to get to the front row or as close as we could get! We knew it would come to push and shove as soon as the music started playing! And just that happened as soon as the opening band came on, who were not the really my cup of tea. When the opening band finished and left the stage the roadies came on to sort out the stage and the crowd was in full on pushing mode! My friends and I managed to make our way to the second row in the middle! This was the best the most amazing place to be and I really could not have asked for a better place! Amazing! But when they came on stage this is when the real AMAZING starts!

They were so good! All of the songs sounded just as they do on the album and the crowed was amazing singing along and everything and oh it was just so so GOOD!! Every song the whole crowed got into and sung along! I had no voice by the end of that night! I think the best song they played was Radioactive. I tried to video it but that did not work in any way, shape or form! The whole groud was so into the song as it has the best beat to mosh to!

When the concert ended my friends and I made friends with the merchandise guy (who was from Scotland) and he told us where we would find the band to meet them!!

I met the bass player the drummer and the guitar player! Sadly I didn’t get to meet the lead guy as I had to catch my train home!!

Seeing these guys live was just amazing and they are so talented it was a wonderful night!

The lead singer

Student Party

As I am year 3 of Swedish high school (the last year) I am able to graduate in June. The thing is though, with Sweden you don’t wait until June to start celebrating the fact that you are graduating high school. You start now! 

Student parties are held with your class. When you start Swedish high school (when you are 16) you chose a class and you stay in that class until you graduate. So you get pretty close with your class! My party was held with my class as well as another class in the same program!

Each different party has a different theme. Mine was Supernatural, which is quite a hard theme to dress up to if you don’t want to be superman or a vampire, so naturally I went as Dumbo. Dressing up as Dumbo and then getting on a train to get to the club was rather interesting and I got quite a lot of odd looks but it was ok because my friend was dressed up as a robot with blue hair!

The night starts off with a dinner with both the classes and parents if you wanted to invite them. We had our main meal and chatted away! After the main meal it was time to get given what we are in the class! This is decided with the whole class before the dinner and you find out on the night! What you are is written on a paper plate.  I got “Klassens Hobbit” or “Class Hobbit”. The reason for this was because I am from New Zealand and when they think of me they think of Green New Zealand in Lord of the Rings and of Frodo! Once you get your plate you wear it all night! It is quite funny seeing everyone wearing paper plates around all night! After that we had desert and then the party really started!!

The tables where cleared away and the club was restored to its usual dancing, parting self and friends all started to arrive! Then it was time to dance the night away till a nice time of three in the morning!

It was such a fun night and something that sure doesn’t happen back in New Zealand. The differences when it comes to school things is crazy. A class party in a club would not be a happening thing in New Zealand so having that experience is amazing! I am really looking forward to graduation now! It should be a fun day!

Copenhagen

We drove to Copenhagen. With a car. To another country. WE DROVE!!!

Driving from Tvååker to Copenhagen takes about three hours. So we set off in the morning to go to the place that I first wanted to go on an exchange to, Denmark! We drove down to Malmö, the city where the Denmark/Sweden bridge tunnel starts or finishes but for me it started in Malmö! A bridge goes from Sweden to a manmade island and then it goes to a tunnel to get to Denmark! While in actual fact Denmark starts on the bridge as there is a sign saying Denmark inside the European Union flag. Where the tunnel comes out is only about a ten minute drive from the centre of Copenhagen!

We parked the car, checked into our hotel and then went to find a place to sit and eat our packed lunch. The spot we found was a park bench beside a frozen river. This place also happened to be very common place to go running and walking as there was a constant stream of people going past. A fair few gave us a bit of a strange look for sitting there have tea and sandwiches, but I mean what are you meant to do with a park bench if not sit on it to eat sandwiches and drink tea!  

After we had finished lunch we started out on the town! Copenhagen is different to Stockholm. Yes there are many similar things, but the feel of the two cities is very different. Copenhagen is so much more laid back. The city feels bigger as it has large walk ways and no roads in the centre of the city as there are in Stockholm. Copenhagen has a more summery feel to it. Whether that was because it was sunny the whole time or the fact that people were sitting outside drinking beer and eating ice cream, I don’t know! There also so many buskers out playing all sorts of music everywhere in the centre city! Copenhagen also has some really cool buildings and like Sweden they have mixed old with new really well!

We wandered around Copenhagen looking in shop windows (as no shops were open on Easter Monday) for a while. We then went to the Copenhagen Guinness World Record Museum. This place is really cool and full of amazing things! So people can do strange things and be crazy tall and eat metal! The museum also had things that we could try out, you know just in case we could break a world record! You never know! But sadly none of us broke any world records but it was fun all the same!  After going to the Museum when went to see the statue of “Den Lille Havsfrun” or in English “The Little Mermaid”. This statue is the one thing you have to see in Copenhagen and if you haven’t you haven’t been. Well that is what I was told anyway! There were lots of people there getting their pictures taken and all that! Busy wee spot!

While we were walking to see “The Little Mermaid” we walked down Nyhavn. This is the street in Copenhagen that you see in pictures everywhere about Copenhagen. The street full of different coloured buildings, many of bars and lots of people! It felt as though I had stepped into a guide books photo page! It was amazing to be there and walk down a street I had only seen in pictures!  

The next step on our trip was to eat a Danish pastry in Denmark. This was a very important thing to do! We walked back the way we had come to find a very tasty looking bakery we had seen before. Once found it was time to indulge in some rather tasty Danish pastries! Life goal complete!

The next day we started the day by going to a Lego shop. Something one has to do when going to Denmark the birth place of Lego! After that we went to a part of the city called Christiania, also known as Freetown Christiania. It is a very interesting place. Once a military site it is now been taken over, a wee while ago, by all sorts of people. It is also a place that sells a lot of weed as there were signs everywhere about not taking pictures as buying and selling weed is still illegal! This is a place that is not anywhere else in the world. Only Denmark!

After going to this very interesting place we hit the road to drive up to Helsingør. This is a place north of Copenhagen in which you can catch a boat to Helsingborg in Sweden! On the way up to Helsingør we stopped at a modern art museum called Louisiana. This was one of the biggest art galleries I have ever seen with some amazing art in it! We spent a good 2 hours in there wondering around looking at all of the amazing works! So wonderful!

We carried on up till Helsingør where we had lunch which was another very Danish thing “Pølsevogen” or a giant red sausage in bread. After this we caught the boat, which took 20 mins and then we were back in Sweden!

Down South

Time for a road trip! A trip all the way down to the bottom of Sweden!

So as it was Easter break and my host mum’s family live in the south of Sweden in the town she group up in they thought it would be nice to see them and for me to see a bit more of Sweden! So we packed up the car on Friday and started off the road trip down to the south. We were headed for my host mum’s town, Tvååker, on the west coast of Sweden! On the way there we stopped at a cute wee summer town called Gränna. Gränna is the home of a lolly called Polkagris which is a type of rock lolly. Well in actual fact it is candy cane just without the cane bit. So it’s a straight candy cane that is thicker! We went for a wonder around the town and had to buy some Polkagris to make it a real visit to Gränna! We had lunch and got on our way again. As we drove further south the landscape changed rather dramatically. Around Stockholm the landscape is Christmas trees left, right and centre but as we drove down the country the Christmas trees got fewer and the rolling hills started. The south of Sweden is known for its farming as it has less trees, less snow and good soil! We came to Tvååker where we went to my host mum’s mother’s house where we were staying. That night we had a dinner with the family. New place, plus new people, plus Swedish is a lot to take in and it doesn’t help that they speak in a different dialect of Swedish! I was so tried and had a wonderful headache that when I fell into bed I was out!

The next day we went into the nearby town, which is a lot bigger than Tvååker which is only small, to look around and see the sights! This town is called Varberg and is right by the sea! It is a wonderful town that was on that day full of people as there was an Easter market on. We looked around and went to see the fortress by the sea. From the fortress there was a wonderful view right out over the ocean! What made it even better was that the sun was sitting happily up in the sky! That night we went out for Easter dinner at a friend’s house. Easter in Sweden is celebrated a lot more than it is in New Zealand for example Easter dinner. Easter dinner is very much like Sweden’s Christmas dinner but just with more egg involved! Another thing that Sweden does for Easter is put pink, yellow and orange feathers on dead trees. I don’t know why they do it and nor do many know why either! Also Easter eggs are not made out of chocolate but out of cardboard with lollies inside!

Pig Day! My host mum’s brother owns a pig farm and wanted me to see these pigs, so we all dressed up like we came from the late 80’s/early 90’s (old clothes cause pigs smell) and set out to the pigs!! At this pig farm there are over 2000 pigs. They weigh 35kgs when they come to the farm and 110kgs when they leave to go get made into bacon! (I know this only because I was tested on it the whole time I was there!!)

After seeing the pigs, we all went back and had a showers to get the piggy smell away and then went out to see a really beautiful harbour town called Träslövsläge. This place is again a summer place that has many of boats and summer houses and also many things that are ‘famous’ for that area! We would go by something and everything that was pointed out was famous!

The next day we headed to Copenhagen! We DROVE there!! To another country. WE DROVE!!! But I am going to write another blog just for Copenhagen as I think it deserves its own one!

When we came home from Copenhagen we had one more night at Mormor’s (grandmother in Swedish) house and then we were heading back up to Stockholm. Staying at Mormor’s house made me miss my own Gan (grandmother in Rea family) and hugs from her and sitting and talking to her and staying at her house and also her cooking!

We packed up the car for the last time and got on the road! We went up the coast to Göteborg (Gothenburg in English). My host parents wanted to show me Göteborg so we went exploring for three hours before going home! Göteborg is the biggest city in Sweden after Stockholm and has a very different feel to it than Stockholm does. It is more open than Stockholm and has a more relaxed feel to it, although not as relaxed as Copenhagen! In Göteborg we went to the top of one of the highest buildings to take a look at the whole city. The city has a harbour in its centre and is

right on the sea. From above it looks quite small but then again most things do look small from a height. We walked around and went to a food market and then a fish market. Whole fish with their eyes still in look so scary and like they are watching you! In Göteborg they have the coolest trams! They are white and light blue and go around the whole city

After Göteborg we drove home. Having seen all of the trees once coming down, Karin and I thought we could watch a movie on the way back so we watched Beauty and the Beast. I have no idea how I watched that as a kid and not be scared!

Here is a map of the south of Sweden with most of the places I have mentioned here in case you have no idea where I am talking about!

 

 

Changing Family

Two weeks ago I changed host family.

When you live with another family feeling comfortable with the family is your number one priority. When you are not comfortable it is a lot harder for everything to go smoothly. Well nothing really goes smoothly.

Sadly I had been getting increasingly uncomfortable in my host family and was lucky enough to have another family happy to take me in.

My host family’s situation had also changed which made it harder for me to feel part of the family and comfortable.

Having the situation change around me was hard and it was a hard decision to change families but I think it was the right decision for all involved.

Leaving my first family was hard as I had spent 7 months with them but I plan to stay in contact with them.    

I have moved in with my friend’s family. I made this friend while in New Zealand, while she had been on her exchange, and I am lucky that took me in!  

I am now a lot happier than I have been recently and I know that my last three months here will be amazing!

England!!

England, England, England! Why do you have to be so wonderful and make me fall in love with you after only four days there?!

Over four days I traveled to England, Brighton and London, with my English class at school. These were the craziest four days of my life. We didn’t stop. We didn’t have time to stop and when we got to our beds I think everyone was asleep in minutes.

So it all starts at 3.00am in the morning on the 21stof march. First step, getting to the airport! For me getting to the airport takes about 5mins max by car. Here though it takes over an hour to get there, so the wakeup call was at 3 in the morning! I had stayed at a friend’s house that night as her dad was taking her plus me and two others to the airport. It took three alarms to get us all up in time! Then it was off to the airport for us!!

Nothing very interesting happened on the plane. Mind you nothing much ever happens on planes!

We landed in London’s Gatwick airport at around 9 in the morning England time (England is one hour behind Sweden). We got our bags and once again I was happy for my pink spotted suitcase, so easy to see and no other bags quite like it! Once out of the airport we caught a train down to Brighton!!

Brighton is lovely, but very much a summer city and it wasn’t quite summer when I was there. Well actually it wasn’t like summer at all because funnily enough it rained (England just living up to its reputation I suppose), but still a wonderful place!

When we got to Brighton we walked to our hotel, which was right in front of the Brighton pier and the rather stony beach, and then got given an hour for lunch! So being a Kiwi and not having had fish and chips in quite some time I went straight for the fish and chip shop! (So very healthy of me!) My friends had never really had fish and chips before so I was also keen to show them this wonderful meal! Personally I prefer New Zealand’s fish and chips than Brighton’s but it was still nice to have them! We got back to the hotel and meet our teacher who was about to take us for a walk around Brighton! We started off by going on the pier and looking at all the arcade games and the rides (the rides were sadly not open as it wasn’t summer time.) We then went to The Lanes. The Lanes are a bunch of little streets (Lanes) that have cute wee shops in them. These shops are great for window shopping but not so good for the wallet if you plan to real shop! We then walked on to center of town, where the shopping was a bit easier on the wallet! After that we had free time! So for almost all of us I think that meant Primark! For those who do not know what Primark is, it is the cheapest clothes shop in England and it is wonderful and like heaven for those who love to shop! Me being one of those ‘love to shop’ people this was amazing but also rather dangerous I had to get anything I brought first back to Sweden but then back to New Zealand, which is where it becomes a bit more uhoh! But I shopped all the same! J That night we went back to the hotel to turn in early as it had been a long day and LONDON was the next day!!

If you are planning on going to England please give yourself more than one day in London! One day is not enough!

See when you only have one day in London you have to run around it! And that is what we did, we ran and ran our way around London! First we caught the train up to London’s Victoria station and then the underground to the British Museum. The British Museum is HUGE, you need over a day to see everything in there and to soak it all in, but with that in mind our teachers gave us 1 hour and 30 mins to see all we could! So let the running begin! Out of everything in that museum I saw two exhibits, the mummy’s and some of the ancient Greek exhibits and that is it! And by the time I had seen those it was time to go on a site seeing tour of some of London’s sites. So back on the underground we went and then we got off at when Big Ben lives! It is strange seeing thing in real life when you have seen them only in pictures before! From Big Ben we went on to Westminster Abbey. This is the place where the royal wedding happened and all sorts so it was really cool to see! It really is a beautiful place and I am really happy I got to see it! Plus it is so old!! Like three times as old as New Zealand! Then on to St James Park which had some crazy squirrels who liked to climb on people! This only made my love for squirrels grow! They are so cute!!

Then it was time for Buckingham Palace itself!! The Palace in rather large, it looks bigger in real life than it does in the pictures. I think one of the most disappointing things about Buckingham Palace was that the guards were in grey blue coats and not in their signature red coats. Not too happy about that one! After the palace we got shown half the way to Piccadilly Circus and then given three hours free time to go where ever we wanted but we just couldn’t miss the train back to Brighton! We all spread out many having planned out their shopping map! For me though it was up to Piccadilly Circus! This place was so crowded with people and the bright lights were shinning down and it was so amazing yet it felt strange as I was in London, the place I had wanted to visit for so long! After Piccadilly Circus it was on to London shopping! First stop, a toy store! But not just any toy store, it was Hamleys! Hamleys is pretty much the biggest toy shop I have been to in my life and it was so wonderful! Any toy you have ever imagined is probably in that shop! And no I didn’t leave that shop empty handed, I now have an English guard teddy bear! Then we just explored Oxford Street and Regent Street along with hundreds of others. One thing I learned about London is that it is big! Really big!!

That day in London was one of the most exciting days I have ever had but also one of the most tiring days I have ever had! But I have fallen for London and its British charm!   

The next day we were back in Brighton. We went to see The Royal Pavilion. This place is where a prince, then made king, lived in from around 1787 until he was made a king. And this palace is, well, different. When you look at the outside it looks almost Indian inspired but as soon as you walk in it is like you have stepped into the heart of Asia! This Prince really went all out on his palace! After going around The Pavilion we all met outside to be given a challenge by our teachers! The challenge was to go find a place in the Brighton area. So we were given a bus ticket and a place and got give five hours to get there come back and write about it! My group was given Portslade Railway station. This is not the most exciting railway station of life but one train did go past when we were there! Exciting stuff I know! Others were given football stadiums, but we got the train station! On a plus side we got to ride a double decker bus to get there and back! Double decker buses always put a positive spin on the world!

That night we had a buffet dinner with everyone on the trip which was a lot of fun! We were given the curfew of midnight so we went out to see what there was to do! In Brighton there is a big wheel where you can see the whole city! We went to see how much it cost because we thought it would be cool to go on it at night. This guy came and asked us if we wanted to go on, we asked how much it would be, he said five pounds each if we were 16. All of a sudden we were very much 16 again! It was really cool to see Brighton from the top of this wheel at night as it was all lit up!                                       

Our last day was spent in Brighton and we were given free time from when we got up until 4 in the afternoon! This is where the main amount of shopping was down! But also the playing of arcade games for an hour before shopping on the Brighton Pier! When we got to the hotel everyone was repacking their suitcases to put in all of the new things and it was quite a funny sight! We then walked up to the train station and caught the train to the airport. Our time in England was coming to a close. We landed in Stockholm at 11.30pm and I finally got a stamp in my passport saying that I have been in Sweden!

All in all those four crazy days in England were some of the funniest days I have had! And although my mind went back into full on English it was all worth it! I am so happy I was given this opportunity!                  

                                                             Friends and me in Brighton