We Arrived

Hej Hej (Hey in Swedish),


We arrived in Linkoping, Sweden on  Monday at 4pm Swedish time. In America that is 9 am. There is a 7 hour time difference. So when you all are sleeping I am awake.  When we arrived at the airport Erika picked us up and we went straight to Linkoping University. There we had our student id's made. I bet you can imagine how we looked in our pictures after traveling for 24 hours. Horrible!!!! Afterwards we met up with Lena our coordinator and got the keys to our student apartments. Emily moved in with me because they were not finished remodeling her room and Richelle lives several buildings away. The first few days in Linkoping have been pretty tough; learning the language, buying groceries and other items, finding our way to school, taking the bus, and no internet or phones (we couldnt talk to our families). But now we have settled in and we all LOVE school. The people here speak both English and Swedish which is very helpful but all of the signs and writing are in Swedish. I have found that the more you work at learning their language and speaking in Swedish the more they speak to you in English. Today was my second day at school and I can already understand some Swedish. I have found that I can read it perfectly but cannot comprehend it. I have also found that I can listen to someone speak Swedish and by using body language, tone of voice, and the little bit of Swedish vocabulary I know, I can figure out what people are saying. The students here are amazing! They are so self motivated and genuinely want to learn. School here is very different from schools in America. They have a different schedule every day and they take lots of breaks where they play outside. I feel very blessed to have this opportunity and insight into education around the world. I will be staying in Sweden this weekend to tour Linkoping and Norrkoping. Linkoping is such a beautiful city and I cant wait to see more.

My First Swedish Experience ( I haven't even left yet)

I know that this blog is suppose to be for my trip to Sweden but I just had to start now. I am approximately 2 months away from my trip and I have already had an amazing experience. Yesterday I had an International Student teaching meeting in Bowling Green and attending the meeting was Erika Wiberg. Erika is an international student teacher from Sweden who is currently teaching at an elementary school in Bowling Green.
Erika sat with me during the meeting and we went to dinner afterwards with my friends Emily, Richelle, Mallorie, Melanie, and Jessica. At dinner Erika answered all of our questions, which was a lot. She even showed us her drivers licence, her Linkoping University ID, and some money that is pronounced like Crowns but I believe it is spelled Kronos? I tried to answer all of her questions the best I could but I think she did a better job. It was so amazing to hear her talk about Sweden and her life and family. She spoke so fondly and vividly that  I felt like I knew them. She also showed me pictures of them, her boyfriend, and different places she has traveled.
After dinner we went back to Erika's room and she let Emily and I try all sorts of Swedish candy. It was so good! Then we went to Melanie's house. There we all played games and talked. It made for an amazing evening and I feel so blessed to have made a new friend. She is such an inspiration to me and I cant wait to get to know her better.