Changes in My Swedish Lifestyle
Hej Hej!
By now I have pretty much gotten used to the Swedish lifestyle and how things work around here. That being said, this also means it is time to get off my lazy butt and start doing things again! While I must admit it was nice taking my time adjusting the first month, it is now time for me to start really trying to start and become a normal busy Swedish teenager! It is also really important as an exchange student to stay busy I think to avoid depression, homesickness, and all of that bad stuff so I am very motivated.
Next Tuesday I will be trying out a self defense class! I forgot the exact name of what type of self defense it is, some Asian name. The class is for young adults so hopefully there will be some other kids my age. The good thing about this class is that it is more doing than speaking so my terrible Swedish should not hinder me too much. I am also looking into a painting class that would be once a week. I have never been a very good artist, but I thought might as well give it a shot. My options here are pretty limited as Sweden is not like America where we have all of these extra curricular activities.
Volunteering is another things that is basically non-existant in Sweden. Seriously, when I started asking around for ideas on where to volunteer people looked at me like I was crazy. Luckily my host mom is helping me and we spoke with the local soccer teams and they said they would be more than happy to have me help out with some of the younger kids practices.
Another exciting thing that happened today was I changed majors! I went from being in psychology (something I know very little about and quite honestly is next to impossible for me to understand in Swedish) to the RT program. Now I will have gym 3 times a week, take a health class, and best of all the class has a whooping 32 kids! This is a huge step up from the 5 kids I have in mine right now.
This new schedule is a great because it gives me the time to go to Göteborg on Mondays and Wednesdays to take a Swedish class to help me learn Swedish. After talking to other exchange students they say that taking a class really helps a ton with learning the language. In the house now Bea has taken to speaking to me in almost all Swedish. This, while frustrating at times, has proven to be helping a lot.
After talking to the principal today she also suggested that maybe it would be a good idea for me to put together a slide show about myself and then present it to all of the classes in the school. This would really help to clear up some of the stereotypes we as Americans have (I am getting really tired of being asked if I am a cheerleader) and give me a cool opportunity to tell everyone a little bit more about my life in America compared to my life in Sweden.
All in all I am happy with how things are going. I really hope that these classes are fun and I enjoy my new classes. I will keep you all updated on how things go.
For now, I just got back from lunch. We went to Namaste today, an Indian restaurant in town. I got the vegetarian curry. The highlight would have to be the “Nan” bread. So good! I have a short English class soon, then I am done for the day. Tonight we are having dinner with Mor Mor then watching the Opening Ceremony.
Ha en bra dag! (Have a good day)
-Hannah
Swedish Word of the Day: Promenera – verb To go on a stroll basically, or take a leisurely walk which I have been doing a lot since arriving here. I am pretty sure that “promenade” in English means the same thing, but I am not sure. If it does it surely is not as commonly used as it is in Sweden.
