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!