Things I will never forget.

Time, is such a weird thing. It can go by so slowly or it can pass so quickly you can hardly even keep up. I feel like I have been in Europe forever, but on the other hand it has passed so quickly I feel like I just barely got here. Some amazing things have happened in the past 3 1/2 months. 

On September 20th, I left my home, friends, and family to move to the beautiful country of Sweden. 

I came to live with Daniel and Elinor my aunt and uncle and their girls, and have gotten to know them better, they let me live in their home for my time here, and I am forever grateful to them for letting me have this experience. 

I attended a Swedish dance school, Folkuniversitetet and loved it. 

I made friendships that will last a lifetime. 

I have been able to experience different cultures, and have my mind opened to all sorts of possiblitys that never crossed my mind before. 

I am able to understand a little bit of Swedish. 

I got lost, and was wondering around at 1 in the morning while being followed by a drunk man. 

I took a trip to Italy in October and got to see my friend Alessandra Botta that I missed very much.  

I was able to see the beautiful city that she lives in, Bergamo.

I saw Juliets Balcony in Verona.

I climbed to the top of the Duomo Cathedral in Milan Italy. 

I walked around the beautiful city of Venice in the pouring rain. 

I have had so many fun times with my class exploring, freezing in the cold while watching them dance around a Christmas tree, Fika'ing', making up new words that are not in the English vocabulary, fun times on the weekends, and much much more... 

After 3 1/2 months of not seeing my family, they came, here to Sweden!

One day later, Kaya and I went to Italy. This time I got to see Bergamo, and Milan again, and experience a Italian Christmas.

The theme song of Italy, HERE.

We met up with our Mom in Paris France!

There we saw famous paintings like Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, and Water Lillies by Claude Monet. 

We explored the Palais Garnier, went inside Notre Dame, went to the Louvre, saw the Eiffel Tower, ate French Pastries, and stayed in a cute little hotel where we had French bread and cheese every morning. 

We are now back in SWEDEN where I will spend my last three days in Linköping Sweden, Celebrate New Years Eve with my friends tonight, enjoy time with family, make a few more memories with my friends before I leave, and get ready to take on a new year, 2011.

Christmas, Italy, France, and family.

 At this very moment in time I am sitting on a bed, in my hotel room with my family in Paris, France! Almost exactly one week ago my mom and sister arrived in Linköping, Sweden. The next day Kaya and I left to Bergamo Italy to experience a Italian Christmas! We had such a great time and seeing our friend Ale was so much fun!


Milan:

This morning Kaya and I got on a plane and flew to Paris, France and there we met our mom (who spent Christmas in Sweden) We are going to spend the next 4 days here. We saw a bit of Paris today, and I love it! It is such a beautiful city! I am so excited to see more the next couple of days. As of my diet over this Christmas break, lets just say I will have a lot of needed exercise and healthy eating when I get home, but I think it's worth it, I mean I'm only here for so long right? 

Paris:

Loving every second here.

My time here is getting closer and closer to ending. I finished my last day of school at Folkuniversitetet Friday. It was a really bitter sweet day. I actually started crying, I surprised myself, I didn't think it was possible to get so attached to a place and make such good friends in a short period of time. I feel like part of me belongs here in Sweden and when I leave I will leave a piece of me here. I will have to come back, actually, I am planning on coming back, and that will make my goodbye a lot easier to handle. I am grateful for every single experience that I have been through here, it has really helped me grow as a person. Even though I am leaving soon, I am having the time of my life, why not enjoy every second I am here right? I am so glad I came to such a great school and made such amazing friends. I know some of the friendships I have made will last a lifetime even though we will be almost half way across the world from each other. It just gives me an excuse to come back, and travel more :).
Tonight my sister and mom will be here in Sweden with me! I am so excited to see them, it seems sort of surreal that I will actually be able to talk to them in person, and give them a big hug :). On Wednesday me and my sister will head to Italy to spend Christmas with our friend Alessandra, after that we will meet up with my mom in Paris and spend a few days there, we will then come back to Sweden for a few more days, and then head back to the U.S. I still have many many more amazing experiences to come in this short amount of time, and I am so excited I will have a travel buddy going to Italy this time, and France.

A while back I mentioned I regret some things from the beginning of my trip here and I wished a could go back and redo it. My friend Linnea was telling me the other day that I shouldn't regret anything because If I did things differently It wouldn't be the way it is right now, and I am SO happy with the way my time here has turned out and the great friendships made. So she's right, I;m not going to regret anything that has happened during this trip, because everything has lead up to something great.

I will try to keep my blog updated until the day I leave! Until next time!

I was just thinking about last year compared to this year. A total turn around. All I have to say is, coming to Sweden was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have grown in ways that I wouldn't be able to if I had never come. I will hold these experiences close to my heart for the rest of my life, I know I will never be able to forget this amazing experience. 

Random babbling

I don't really have anything important to talk out, so I will just type what's on my mind. First, I love Christmas here, well it's not Christmas yet, but I like the Christmas season here. The decorations are a lot more simple and not so many colors as they are at home, but I think they are so beautiful! Also, I wanted to make pumpkin pie for every one in my class to try because they have never tried it before! But they don't sell pumpkin here in Sweden, so I asked my mom if she would bring a can of pumpkin from the U.S. when she comes so we can make it! :) Hm.... It's still really cold, it gets dark at about 4 pm maybe a little earlier. Oh I only have one week of school left, ONE WEEK! Where has all the time gone? Time is a very weird thing. Anyways, tomorrow night, almost everyone in my class are getting together and we will have a fun time! I'm looking forward to it!

Above is pumpkin pie, although mine probably won't look nearly as good as that. I also told my mom that she should bring easy cheese, just because it is so weird and gross, I thought it would be fun to see their faces when they tried it... haha But my mom thought it would ruin their view of the U.S. ha. What do you think?

Christmas is coming!

I love the Christmas Season! Yesterday Linnea and I went to a Christmas dance concert that almost everyone in our class was in, (the concert was for the dance classes they take outside of school). It was really good! I ate way to many jultomten candys. (Santa Claus candy's, Linnea taught me the word for Santa yesterday, but now I'm not sure if I'm remembering it right...) Anyways... lights are everywhere in the city and I think they are so beautiful! Here are some of them:

I am really looking forward to Christmas this year, Kaya (my sister) and my Mom are coming in a little less than two weeks to visit! While they are here Kaya and I will be spending Christmas in Italy with our friend Alessandra, after Italy, Kaya and I will fly to Paris France and meet my mom there and spend a few days in Paris! We will then fly back to Sweden and be here for a little less than a week (and for New Years!) Then on January 5th we will fly back to the U.S.A. but I will be going home on a different plane than them. So I guess they will be flying back together and I will be flying alone once again. I am trying to focus on them coming which will be really fun, and trying not to think about leaving Sweden. Until next time! Hejdå!

Swedish School!

School here is different from the U.S. in so many ways, so I will just start out by explaining my weekly schedule:

Monday:
Religion
Jazzdans (Jazz Dance)
Lunch
Idrott (P.E.)
nk (Natural Science)

Tuesday:
ma A (Math)
Modern dans (Modern Dance)
Estet (Art, we have it every other week, so when we don't have this, we can do whatever during this time)
Engelska (English)

Wednesday: 
Svenska (Swedish)
Improvisation/ Komposition (Improvisation/ Composition)
Lunch
Klassråd  (First a meeting with a 'mentor' to know upcoming dates etc. and then a meeting with the class).
Rytmik med dans (Rhythms with dance).
Dansstuga (time to work on what ever choreography project we have at the time)

Thursday:
Klassisk Balett (Classical Ballet)
so (Social Studies)
Lunch
ma A (Math)
Kultur/ide (Different cultures around the world)

Friday:
Engelska (English)
Modern dans ((Modern Dance)
Lunch
Reptid (another time when we can work on choreography projects)

We use five different buildings in the city for school:
1. The picture above is the main building for school (Flokuniversitetet) In this building we have all our classroom type classes like math, science, culture etc. This is the building that has all the computers that we use often for assignments.
2. The dance studio which is across the street from the main building, this is the building were we spend most of our time, (because I'm in the dance program). The building has 5 different studios in it, it is very nice to have a actual studio to dance in!
3. We eat lunch in a different building, it is in the upstairs part of a bar/ restaurant. Lunch here is free (because the government pays for it). Lunch consists of knäckebröd (hard bread), milk or water, a salad bar, and usually a choice of soup, fruit and bread, or pasta, or the main dish (which is usually potatoes and meat). The lunch here is way better than the lunches in the U.S. and a lot more healthy. Also no one brings their own lunches.
4. For P.E. we have in in the city recreation center or the city pool. It is really nice because we have so many more options of things to do, it's actually pretty fun!
5. Our art class is in a different building across the street where they teach all sorts off different types of classes.

The school that I am going to there are 3 grades. I am in grade one. For them it was optional to go back to school. Last year (it would be after our Sophmore year) they are finished with school. They have the option of whether they want to be done or not. If they want to continue going to school they have to decide what they want to do, (every school has a different focus) mine is a dance school (but you already knew that). Everyone had to audition to get into Folkuniversitetet. I think this is very nice, because everyone wants to be at school. There are no discipline problems and that's probably why they don't need to have any rules. Also another thing that is very different here is students get paid every month is they are going to school, the government gives them about $200 every month for just going to school. I wish we got that in the U.S.! School is a lot more casual here, you call teachers by their first name, and like I said before it's no big deal if you swear in school, their is no dress code, no detentions, you can use your phones, get up and leave the classroom when you want, they don't block anything on the computers... It is a really nice change. I never really realized how strict high schools in the U.S. are until I came here, I think it will be really hard to go back to school in the U.S. Also, teachers don't really teach here, (well the dance teachers do) but they other teachers usually put us into a group give us a project to work on, and then we are on our own to work on it and figure who does what and then we present it/ turn it in. Teachers don't give out tests either. Math class is a little different than the other classes, we study the chapter on our own and can do the problems but we never have homework to turn in. Then, we take the test on the chapter and start studying again. It is really nice to see other ways of learning and realizing that their isn't just one good way. Oh! also my school is super small their are only about 150 students. I stay with the same class all day everyday, and there is only 12 or 13 of us I think. I think it is a lot of fun because I can get to know everyone in my class so much better than I would if it was like schools in the U.S. So over all I love school here! I only have 10 more school days left here, it is crazy how fast it has gone by. I am not ready for it to be over, but I can't stop time so I will just enjoy what I have left! :)

Bloggin' in school.

I'm blogging in school... That's right. They don't block anything on the school computers. It's so great here!

This is the view out of one of the windows in school. It's so pretty! 

It's COLD

I understood some Swedish today in school. Not that much, but a few things here and there. You have no idea how exciting that is for me, very! It is so COLD. It was -23°C this morning. I dread going outside, and it sort of hurts to breath because it is so cold. The weather people have been saying this winter is going to be the coldest it has been in Sweden in 1,000 years. I really hope that is not true..... That is all for now! Hejdå!

I love you Sweden!

I have been in Sweden for 71 days. I can't believe it, it has been going by way too fast. There are many things that are different here, so I thought it would be fun to mention a few..

• Everything is smaller here, the food, the cars, the streets, the houses. When you buy milk here, it's 1/4 of the size of the milk you would buy in the U.S.
• Everything costs more $$$$
• It is very normal here to ride your bike or ride a bus everyday.
• It is okay to swear in school, in front of your teachers, and for teachers to swear.
• There is no dress code in school.
• People usually don't talk to each other if they don't know each other. Sometimes on the way home from school on the bus, the bus is completely full and completely silent. I think it is quite awkward, but maybe not to the Swedes ;).
•  You call the teachers by their first names. 
• Lunch is free here, and a lot better than lunches in the U.S. (I think).
• If you translate how they say hello to each other it would be "Hi Hi!" ha
• Everything is very "cozy". (At least to the people in my class). :)
• I never thought I was a loud person until I came to Sweden, I realized that very quickly... before I even arrived in Linköping. 
• They have a lot of cool Christmas traditions here, like Lucia. 
• I feel stupid a lot because I only speak English, especially in school. Although, I am proud to say I am understanding a lot more than when I first came. It is really exciting when I understand a full sentence. Pathetic, I know.
• It no longer sounds weird to me when people are speaking Swedish, it seems kind of normal now. When I hear people speaking English on the bus or something it is really weird. 
• It is SO cold here, but also SO beautiful. Although, I do miss the huge mountains that I took for granted.
• You can't drive here until you are 18. So there is no huge parking lot by my school.
• I stay with the same class all day everyday. It's different, but I think it's a lot of fun! 
• I wish I could speak Swedish.   

I still am shocked that I only have 1 month left here. I had a dream that I was back in the U.S. and I was so sad. Waking up from that dream and still being in Sweden was the best thing ever. I'm not saying that I don't miss the U.S. because I do, and I miss my friends and family. But to be completely honest, I am not ready to leave Sweden. I have grown to love it here. It makes me so sad to even think about leaving. I have meet so many amazing people here and I don't want to have to say goodbye. I have some regrets. I wish I could go back to the very beginning of my journey and do some things differently. That's not possible, but you live and you learn. All I can do now is enjoy every second I am here, make memories that I will never forget. I am so grateful that I am able to be here. It really has been a life changing experience. I already know that I will go back to the U.S. a different person. I am happy with that. I need to remember that my 'goodbye' here will be more like a 'see you later'. I really want to come back here and see what summer is like, and the rest of the seasons, I've herd it is beautiful. I hope my friendships that I have made here will continue even after I leave. I know I will come back someday, hopefully in the near future :). It's not time to say 'see you later' yet! I still have 1 whole month left here! It is going to be the best month ever!

I am thankful for....

I am thankful for Kaya, she is the best sister I could ever ask for.

I am grateful for such a fun best friend, and all my  friends. 

I am thankful for my wonderful family.

I am thankful for my other family!

I am thankful for my cute little brothers. :)

I am thankful to have such amazing classmates here in Sweden!                                                                 

This is harder than I thought it would be because I am thankful for so many things! So I will just leave it at, I am thankful for everything.

Förlåt!

Okay, I just need to do this. I have been putting off writing on my blog for so many days I lost count. Sorry to everyone who reads my blog (if any one does). I will stop being such a slacker. Let me start off with the weather... I think I might die. Either from the massive amounts of snow and cold all around me, or from slipping and falling on the icy ground. I am not use to such cold weather. It is beautiful. But I hate cold. I stay pretty warm when I am outside though, considering I put on about 20 layers of clothes. Today is Thanksgiving! Since Thanksgiving is a American Holiday, today was a little but different than regular. I went to school, and got home just in time for dinner, I didn't even help make anything this Thanksgiving! :/  Because it's Thanksgiving I feel like I should share everything that I am thankful for, but that will have to have it's own post :). School is going really good! We have a performance tomorrow, that should be fun! Here is a picture Liv took today when we were rehearsing, (I stole it off of Facebook!) Thanks Liv if you are reading this! Haha :)

We have been working on this dance for about a month, and it's choreographed by us (the students). The people in my group are Veronica, Agnes, Rebecca, Viktor, and me!
I had so many things that I wanted to blog about but I have forgotten everything now. So until next time...
Which will be very soon! Hejdå!

Exactly what I needed.

I needed this.
I needed a change, i love change.
I grow tired of normal daily happenings.
I was was tired of being comfortable.
I am no longer comfortable, I kind of like it.
I am discovering who I really am.
Me. Not my friends, not my family, not where i'm from......me.
This experience has been difficult in some ways, it has helped me learn something
Life is never prefect.
But I can have a dream for perfection,
I can work towards it,
Maybe one day I will get there.
Not in this life but another.

Trip to Italia!

I have been putting off writing this post because I have some much to share.  I feel too guilty not sharing my amazing week with everyone on the 'web', So here we go! If you don't know my friend Alessandra lives in Bergamo Italy. She was nice enough to let me come and stay with her for 8 days and show me around Italy! In those 8 days I visited, Bergamo, Milan, Verona, and Venice! I took so many pictures on this trip so if you would like to see more check them out on my Facebook page.

This is my beautiful friend Alessandra! We had so much fun together, I wish we lived closer but I'm so glad I was able to visit her. :)

                                                            View of Bergamo, Ale's city.

Milan, so amazing!

a protest while we were in Milan.

An amazing shopping area!

Milan.

A Kebab, why don't they have these in the U.S.?

Verona! This was probably my favorite city we went to. 

View of Verona. 

Venice! It was rainy the day we went, but it was still beautiful. Getting there was an adventure, we got stuck in traffic for at least 6 hours. The cars were completely stopped so we took a walk on the freeway. 

The Hot Chocolate there is unlike anything you can get in the U.S. Mmmm..

All in all, I loved every minute I was there. I loved the culture, the food, the people, the beauty, and the language (I couldn't understand, but it's pretty to listen to. haha) I gained at least 5 pounds while I was there, but it was definatly worth it! Thanks Ale! :)

Thank You

aaronpetersenart.com

This piece of art that my uncle Aaron painted made my trip to Sweden possible. Thank you so much Aaron! Also a special thank you to the Huntzinger's for buying it in the auction! I am so happy to be here!

Life is good!

Living a Dream

Today while I was sitting in a class at school it just struck me how grateful I am able to be here and live in Sweden. For a while it just seemed like a dream, that it would never happen. It did happen I am really here!! Thank you to all the people who helped me be able to come, like my mom, Aaron, Daniel and Ellinor and everyone else that helped. Thank you so much! I have gone to 3 days of school so far and love it! It is way way different than any of the schools I have been to. Everyone in my class are super nice and show me around and translate for because I can't understand anything. All of my teachers here are also very kind and translate everything they taught for me. I am hoping that soon people won't have to translate as much for me and I will be able to comprehend at least some of what the teachers and my classmates are saying.I signed up for Swedish classes, I will be taking them Monday and Wednesday nights from 6:30- 8:00. I'm pretty excited to start those, and hopefully they will help! I start my first class tonight! I have no regrets about coming. The only thing I don't like about here is the cold, but it's not going to go away so I guess I will dress warm and learn how to deal with it! Until next time, Hejdå!

I made it!

I'm here in Sweden! Today is my 4th day here. I tried posting a couple days ago but it got deleted, so here we go again! Traveling here went pretty smoothly. I have never been so excited to get off a plane before, the train ride afterward felt very nice compared to the crammed airplane seats. A few very nice people helped me through out my travels. I would say 99% of the people here speak pretty good English! Which is very nice for me because I only know a few words in Swedish so far. Right now my aunt Becky and all her kids are visiting! They lived in Italy for the summer so they are stopping by Sweden before heading home to California. It has been very fun seeing all of them! So far I LOVE it here in Sweden. The public transportation here awesome you can take the bus or train anywhere you need to get to, you can also bike or walk! I also really like the food, it's healthy and good. It is so beautiful here, and very green! I love the style (how everyone dresses) different from the U.S. but I like it better. Yesterday we visited Stockholm, I really enjoyed looking around. It is a really beautiful city. I will post a few pictures from my trip so far. (For more pictures check my Facebook). I will try to post at least once a week.

I'm actually leaving???

YES! I am leaving to Sweden!! Last Thursday I got my visa in the mail! (finally!) The same day I bought my plane ticket to Sweden!
Here's my itinerary:
Depart SLC
Arrive to Chicago airport
Depart Chicago airport
Arrive in Stockholm, Sweden!
Then I hop on a train and finally arrive in Linköping, Sweden! There (hopefully) Daniel, Ellinor, Christina, and Esther will be waiting for me! I am so so excited to go! I keep on thinking why can't I just leave already, but I still have a lot to do before I leave. I am finishing up working at Glorias Little Italy, I work tonight and two more nights after that and then I'm done! Well I got to go to work, I will try to update this blog as much as possible! (more pictures to come when I actually get there!)

Update

I haven't blogged lately because I have been trying to figure out when I will be leaving etc. I still am patiently awaiting the answer. First off, I applied for my passport, there were complications with that plus me being on vacation in Hawaii which delayed everything. I finally got my Passport, I then went up to Salt Lake City to the Swedish Consulate and applied for my student visa. You may wonder, what I am doing now? Well once I get my visa I can go to Sweden! I just have no idea when that will be, so in the mean time, I am working every weekend at a Italian restaurant, (yes I got a job!! woohoo!!) slowly but surly earning money for SWEDEN! Keep your fingers crossed for me that everything will work out! I can not wait!

Letter about Sweden

Hej Everyone!

I have some very exciting news to share! I have the opportunity to go live in Linköping Sweden for first semester my junior year! I have been really interested in being a foreign exchange student for a while now. As most of you probably know my Uncle and Aunt Daniel and Ellinor and their two daughters Christina and Esther live in Linköping Sweden. After talking they decided that they would let me come and live with them and experience life in another country! Of course I am ecstatic about this, and can't believe how fast it is coming up. I will be leaving sometime in August.

Some may ask, why in the world would you want to go live in a foreign country where you have no friends and do not speak the language? Well I honestly do not have a good answer to that. There are many reasons I want to go though, I love other cultures, I love how everything will be so different from what I am use to. That's exciting to me. While I am there I am hoping to learn a new language, Swedish. It is beautiful there (in the pictures that I have seen). Also I am looking forward to getting to know Daniel and Ellinor better, and getting to know my adorable little cousins Christina and Esther. There are so many more things that I am looking forward to, and I'm sure while I am there I will discover everyday why I left behind almost everything and came to the beautiful country Sweden!

I am really really hoping this will work out but as you all know, these kinds of things cost money. I have been going crazy applying for a summer job, but I am also trying to be creative in other ways to earn money so I can make this dream become a reality. First off, the cookbooks that I have been working on forever are finally done! So I thought it might be a good way to earn a little bit of money for Sweden. If you are interested in getting a cookbook let me know and you can donate how ever much you would like to me (if it is easier for you I have a little donate button on my blog that you could donate). Also Design a Tea has given me a fund raising opportunity, if you order tea off of their website and in the comments box put in the code: SWEDEN they will give me 20% of the proceeds of the purchase. It may not be a lot but every little bit helps! Their website is www.designatea.com check it out!

I have just started a blog that I will start updating now all the way through my exchange in Sweden. It is: www.brookeinsweden.blogspot.com I am so excited for this opportunity, and if you help me out in any way it is greatly appreciated.

Love, Brooke
(p.s. If you have any questions for me I would love to answer them for you! )

Help with Fundraising

The company Design a Tea has offered to help me with fundraising for my trip! If anyone orders tea online with them and in the comments section puts the code word: SWEDEN I will get 20% of the proceeds to go toward my trip! This is actually really good tea and you can make your own with combining different flavors etc they also have caffeine free tea. This would be a fun thing to give as a present or just to enjoy for yourself! Not to mention that it would be helping me earn money for my trip! If anyone has any questions let me know but this would be a great help! To get to the website just click on the title of this post. Check out the website!

The Beginning

Well here I am in Provo Utah, I can hardly wait for the day when i get on the plane to Sweden! It seems so surreal that I will be living in another country in just about 2 1/2 months... Right now I am trying very hard to find a job for this summer so I can save up money for my trip. I would like my summer to be lounging around by the pool hanging out with friends. But sadly thats not what my summer will consist of, it will be more like... working everyday (that is if I can find a job, hopefully!) and going to summer school to get ahead on credits. When I first thought of doing an exchange I thought of going to Brazil, but after much thought I have decided to go to SWEDEN! I am not doing this exchange through a program. My uncle and aunt and their two little girls live in Sweden, so I decided it would be a adventure to go live with them in Linkoping Sweden. I will update this blog when I have more information to share! Until then, hejdå!