Today i have officially been in Sweden for one whole week!! although, there has been so much happening and so many changes that it feels like a lot longer than a week!
Today i went for a walk around Knivsta and to check out what shops are here.. there aren't that many, but a lot more than i am used to!
I bought something from the supermarket.. and the checkout chick person puts the money in some weird machine thing and then it shoots out (not quite shoots out, but drops out) your correct change at the bottom.. it was sooo cool! the lady probably thought i was a freak... because i just kept staring at it in amazement!! looking back i think i may even have laughed??
i also had a look in the bibliotek (library) and looked at all the books that i couldnt understand... that was nice..
then this afternoon.. mats took me ice skating!! it was a lot of fun..
i've only ever been ice skating once on a school trip to adelaide.. and the whole time i spent hanging onto the walls or hanging onto yolanda :)
i really havent improved since then... where we went ice skating is only a short walk from our house.. and it is outside and a bit smaller than a football field. there were these tiny kids there doing it.. and they were amazing!!! and then there was me... hanging onto mats' arm for dear
life.. i did improve though as time went on.. and in the end i was doing it almost by myself... i had the help of my good friend the icehockey stick..
anyway that was lots of fun :)
Tomorrow i am going to a town called Eskilstuna, it is for a language camp for the exchange students that have just come to Sweden.. I will be there until Friday.. I'm not really sure what we'll do there apart from try and learn Swedish.. but i'm sure it will be good fun. We are being billeted out into the homes of Rotarians in Eskilstuna. So i probably won't write anything until i get home from this camp at the end of the week..
So goodbye for a week :)
gossip girl xoxo
(p.s. ^^ i only did that cos tim said i should :P )
oh and before i went.. i was telling everyone that i'm going to be living in a town called knivsta..
pronounced Niv-sta.... however... this is not how it is pronounced... it is actually said like..
C - Neev - Sta.
so yea, sorry about that everyone! :)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
More things about school
Oh and these are some other things about school.. that i forgot to write..
There is an elevator there.. to get between levels..
and at the start and end of each lesson.. there are no bells.. everyone just seems to know when to go to lesson..
oh and unlike at lameroo.. if you go to and from the school.. you dont have to sign in or out..
and every student there gets a laptop to use at school.. but also unlike at lameroo.. there are no blocked pages.. so everyone just goes on facebook and youtube.. and whatever else they want..
and the cafeteria.. you can buy hot drinks.. and lollies.. and cakes and heaps of things whenever you want.. and take them into class with you..
and you call the teachers by their first names..
There is an elevator there.. to get between levels..
and at the start and end of each lesson.. there are no bells.. everyone just seems to know when to go to lesson..
oh and unlike at lameroo.. if you go to and from the school.. you dont have to sign in or out..
and every student there gets a laptop to use at school.. but also unlike at lameroo.. there are no blocked pages.. so everyone just goes on facebook and youtube.. and whatever else they want..
and the cafeteria.. you can buy hot drinks.. and lollies.. and cakes and heaps of things whenever you want.. and take them into class with you..
and you call the teachers by their first names..
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
buses.. arghhhh
Today I got a little bit confused with the whole catching buses thing.
Yesterday when I went to school, I took the bus and a girl from school showed me the stop I needed to get off at to walk to school. And then on the way home I took the bus and train home with a girl who is in my class.. so that was all well and good... today feeling a bit more confident about the whole bus and getting to and from school thing, I was feeling okay about doing it without assistance. I got onto the bus okay, and was feeling rather pleased with myself, the trip into Uppsala was fine and it was really pretty looking at the countryside all covered in white snow! I then looked around the bus and realised that there was only me and two other people left on it, and that a moment ago there were lots of people, I had missed my stop. So in a panic I quickly got off at the next stop.. I had gone two stops further than what I was meant to do.. I was feeling quite panicked, because I really had no idea where I was.. I knew which direction I was meant to go, but wasn’t sure which roads to take.. so I started walking.. then two boys who were on the same bus as me and also go to rosendal were walking towards me.. they realised when they got off the bus, that I hadn’t got off and had come looking for me, so I was very thankful that they came and found me. Then they led the way back to school, I swear we walked at least 5 kilometres!! (okay maybe I’m exaggerating a tiny bit.. but it certainly was a long walk). I finally got to school and was only a little bit late for my first lesson.
Then this afternoon when school finished I headed off to the bus stop and sat their waiting for the bus and I was waiting for a fair while, so I sent one of the boys who helped me in the morning a message and asked if I was in the right spot. He said yes, but the next bus didn’t come for another 30 mins! By this stage I was already absolutely frozen.. and it snowed alot today and was snowing all day.. so then the two boys came to the bus stop and waited with me in the freezing cold for the bus.. by the time I got on the bus I had been standing there for at least 50 minutes and I couldn’t feel my toes or fingers! But I ended up getting home okay.. so it all worked out well.. and now I know which stop to get off at.. and I also know not to get to the bus stop too early!!
Yesterday when I went to school, I took the bus and a girl from school showed me the stop I needed to get off at to walk to school. And then on the way home I took the bus and train home with a girl who is in my class.. so that was all well and good... today feeling a bit more confident about the whole bus and getting to and from school thing, I was feeling okay about doing it without assistance. I got onto the bus okay, and was feeling rather pleased with myself, the trip into Uppsala was fine and it was really pretty looking at the countryside all covered in white snow! I then looked around the bus and realised that there was only me and two other people left on it, and that a moment ago there were lots of people, I had missed my stop. So in a panic I quickly got off at the next stop.. I had gone two stops further than what I was meant to do.. I was feeling quite panicked, because I really had no idea where I was.. I knew which direction I was meant to go, but wasn’t sure which roads to take.. so I started walking.. then two boys who were on the same bus as me and also go to rosendal were walking towards me.. they realised when they got off the bus, that I hadn’t got off and had come looking for me, so I was very thankful that they came and found me. Then they led the way back to school, I swear we walked at least 5 kilometres!! (okay maybe I’m exaggerating a tiny bit.. but it certainly was a long walk). I finally got to school and was only a little bit late for my first lesson.
Then this afternoon when school finished I headed off to the bus stop and sat their waiting for the bus and I was waiting for a fair while, so I sent one of the boys who helped me in the morning a message and asked if I was in the right spot. He said yes, but the next bus didn’t come for another 30 mins! By this stage I was already absolutely frozen.. and it snowed alot today and was snowing all day.. so then the two boys came to the bus stop and waited with me in the freezing cold for the bus.. by the time I got on the bus I had been standing there for at least 50 minutes and I couldn’t feel my toes or fingers! But I ended up getting home okay.. so it all worked out well.. and now I know which stop to get off at.. and I also know not to get to the bus stop too early!!
Monday, January 25, 2010
First day of school!
Today i went to school for the first time.. and it was very different!
I was soo nervous and scared and had no idea what to expect. Rolf my counsellor picked me up at 9.00am and drove me to the school. We then met with the vice-principal and she told me that i had been enrolled in the first year, science program.. which for those of you who know me well.. will know that i really really dont enjoy science (or are that good at it) So this program has subjects like, maths, chemistry, physics, german, swedish, history. All of which, have very small, if any appeal to me.. so already feeling a little bit nervous... this made me feel 100 billion more times nervous... i have never studied physics or chemistry in english, let alone swedish!! In this program you have a choice of learning french, spanish or german.. seeing as i did learn very basic german a few years ago.. i thought this would be the safest option.. the only problem is.. basically my german knowledge i already have is very bad, and my swedish is even worse.. so in a lesson that is trying to teach german in swedish.. is quite hard! i have enough trouble with one of those languages!!
I also had a maths lesson today.. In Australia the maths i did, was maths apps. ( so like business maths) but in this maths lesson, it was all algebra and factorising.. yuck! i didnt really understand much at all.. at least i could recognise the numbers though ;)
I also had a lesson of Swedish.. which i understood nothing at all...
and in the morning when i first arrived, i had the last half a lesson of art, which was good and i enjoyed more.
Lunchtime was crazy aswell, very different to school lunch times at lameroo! Lunch is free at the school and they have a kitchen where they cook it for all the students.. it is like an american high school movie... there is a big cafeteria and everybody grabs a plate and takes what food they want.. there was fish today and then vegetables and salad.
The people in my class were very friendly and i didnt have to be a loner.. and eat my lunch in the toilets or anything ;)
Its a bit confusing finding my way around the school though, there are three levels.. so a lot more stairs than at Lameroo!
Tomorrow i start school at 8.30am and have to catch the bus at 7.40am. but then i will be finished by 1.00pm
I really hope i begin to pick up swedish soon, because it is really weird sitting through lessons, and not having a single clue of what is happening!!!
I was soo nervous and scared and had no idea what to expect. Rolf my counsellor picked me up at 9.00am and drove me to the school. We then met with the vice-principal and she told me that i had been enrolled in the first year, science program.. which for those of you who know me well.. will know that i really really dont enjoy science (or are that good at it) So this program has subjects like, maths, chemistry, physics, german, swedish, history. All of which, have very small, if any appeal to me.. so already feeling a little bit nervous... this made me feel 100 billion more times nervous... i have never studied physics or chemistry in english, let alone swedish!! In this program you have a choice of learning french, spanish or german.. seeing as i did learn very basic german a few years ago.. i thought this would be the safest option.. the only problem is.. basically my german knowledge i already have is very bad, and my swedish is even worse.. so in a lesson that is trying to teach german in swedish.. is quite hard! i have enough trouble with one of those languages!!
I also had a maths lesson today.. In Australia the maths i did, was maths apps. ( so like business maths) but in this maths lesson, it was all algebra and factorising.. yuck! i didnt really understand much at all.. at least i could recognise the numbers though ;)
I also had a lesson of Swedish.. which i understood nothing at all...
and in the morning when i first arrived, i had the last half a lesson of art, which was good and i enjoyed more.
Lunchtime was crazy aswell, very different to school lunch times at lameroo! Lunch is free at the school and they have a kitchen where they cook it for all the students.. it is like an american high school movie... there is a big cafeteria and everybody grabs a plate and takes what food they want.. there was fish today and then vegetables and salad.
The people in my class were very friendly and i didnt have to be a loner.. and eat my lunch in the toilets or anything ;)
Its a bit confusing finding my way around the school though, there are three levels.. so a lot more stairs than at Lameroo!
Tomorrow i start school at 8.30am and have to catch the bus at 7.40am. but then i will be finished by 1.00pm
I really hope i begin to pick up swedish soon, because it is really weird sitting through lessons, and not having a single clue of what is happening!!!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Differences between Parrakie and Sweden
- Parrakie there is no snow, and it is quite often 40 degrees, here there is lots of snow!! and not 40 degrees!!
- Parrakie has no people, there are people here
- It is currently 3.53pm here.. and its already getting dark...
- I can understand what people say in Parrakie (generally), but here.. not so much :)
- Bikes arent ridden that much back home... but here everybody rides them!! especially in Uppsala!
- I dont slip over outside when im walking at Parrakie (not much anyway), i slip on the snow and ice lots here :)
- When i look outside my window here, i can see people and things happening, but when i look outside the window at Parrakie i see garden and cattleyards, and no people.. (ocasionaly mum or dad) ;)
- Parrakie drive on the left hand side of the road, here it is right.
- Parrakie roads are dusty and full of pot holes... here the roads have snow and ice
- In the mornings at parrakie, the sun comes in my window quite early and wakes me up, here it doesnt come up till around 8.00 :)
- trees at home, are all scrub and very scraggly looking... trees here are very tall and green and leafy and covered in snow!
- houses back home arent generally red or yellow.... here they are everywhere!!! :)
- Parrakie has no people, there are people here
- It is currently 3.53pm here.. and its already getting dark...
- I can understand what people say in Parrakie (generally), but here.. not so much :)
- Bikes arent ridden that much back home... but here everybody rides them!! especially in Uppsala!
- I dont slip over outside when im walking at Parrakie (not much anyway), i slip on the snow and ice lots here :)
- When i look outside my window here, i can see people and things happening, but when i look outside the window at Parrakie i see garden and cattleyards, and no people.. (ocasionaly mum or dad) ;)
- Parrakie drive on the left hand side of the road, here it is right.
- Parrakie roads are dusty and full of pot holes... here the roads have snow and ice
- In the mornings at parrakie, the sun comes in my window quite early and wakes me up, here it doesnt come up till around 8.00 :)
- trees at home, are all scrub and very scraggly looking... trees here are very tall and green and leafy and covered in snow!
- houses back home arent generally red or yellow.... here they are everywhere!!! :)
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Long plane trips arent that much fun
Well I am finally in Sweden!! After more than 24 hours of travelling.. My first flight was from Adelaide to Melbourne, and then from Melbourne i had my first international flight.. I made it through customs, and without them finding my drugs or my bomb so that was good! The flight from melbourne to bangkok took about 9 hours, which went reasonably quickly compared to the second flight. we were travelling with Thai Airways and the plane was really cool, we all had our own TV screen and you could track the plane and how far there was to go and how far you had travlleded.. I spent the trip watching movies, and playing super mario brothers, the food was also pretty decent too! Once we got to bangkok we had to wait a few hours there for our next flight, so we had a bit of time to wander around the airport, where i ate some pretty amazing dairy queen ice cream. we then boarded our next flight to Stockholm... which pretty much was a sucky 12 hours. we were flying with Thai airways again, but this time we got a really dodgy plane.. it didnt have our own tvs and it was much more cramped.. also because of we didnt have tvs we couldnt track the flight, so i had absolutely no idea how far we had come or how much there was to go.. i fell asleep for a little while and when i woke up, i could have sworn we were almost there.. then i asked someone and we still had another 10 hours to go!!
When we got to the Stockholm/Arlanda airport, we could see snow on the ground and that got all us exchange students pretty excited! there were about 20 exchange students from Australia going to Sweden.
My host mum, dad and sister and my counsellor all greeted me at the airport.. and then we travelled about 15 minutes back to Knivsta where my host family live, as it was dark i couldnt see much of where we were going, but i could see lots of forest and snow everywhere!!! I think it will take a bit of getting used to though that they drive on the right hand side of the road, i kept thinking we were going to crash into things. Once we got to the house, we had some breakfast, and i unpacked my things into my room. From my room if i look out my two windows i can see the trainstation and i can also see part of the main street.. and everything is white with snow! it is really pretty. My host mum, Sanne and i then took the two dogs for a walk around the town, this was really cool because we were walking in snow everywhere and there are so many forests around. it was very cold out though, but it was only -5 degrees today.
then in the afternoon Mats (host dad), Naya (sister) and I went to some shops just out of Uppsala to buy Sanne a birthday present as it was her birthday today. Then tonight we went to a Thai restaraunt in Knivsta with two of Sanne´s sisters. which was really nice, but i was still quite tired from the flight and could not understand one word of the menu!! i just ended up not looking at what i was eating and chewing and swallowing.
Tomorrow Sanne, Naya and I might be going into Uppsala to go shopping to buy me a warm jacket and a few other things.. and then on Monday my counsellor and Sanne are taking me to the gymnasium (school) i will be going to in Uppsala. They will show me around and hopefully help choose my subjects.
Anyway I´m off to bed, to get some much needed sleep that i didnt get on the plane!
xoxoxoxooxoxoxox
When we got to the Stockholm/Arlanda airport, we could see snow on the ground and that got all us exchange students pretty excited! there were about 20 exchange students from Australia going to Sweden.
My host mum, dad and sister and my counsellor all greeted me at the airport.. and then we travelled about 15 minutes back to Knivsta where my host family live, as it was dark i couldnt see much of where we were going, but i could see lots of forest and snow everywhere!!! I think it will take a bit of getting used to though that they drive on the right hand side of the road, i kept thinking we were going to crash into things. Once we got to the house, we had some breakfast, and i unpacked my things into my room. From my room if i look out my two windows i can see the trainstation and i can also see part of the main street.. and everything is white with snow! it is really pretty. My host mum, Sanne and i then took the two dogs for a walk around the town, this was really cool because we were walking in snow everywhere and there are so many forests around. it was very cold out though, but it was only -5 degrees today.
then in the afternoon Mats (host dad), Naya (sister) and I went to some shops just out of Uppsala to buy Sanne a birthday present as it was her birthday today. Then tonight we went to a Thai restaraunt in Knivsta with two of Sanne´s sisters. which was really nice, but i was still quite tired from the flight and could not understand one word of the menu!! i just ended up not looking at what i was eating and chewing and swallowing.
Tomorrow Sanne, Naya and I might be going into Uppsala to go shopping to buy me a warm jacket and a few other things.. and then on Monday my counsellor and Sanne are taking me to the gymnasium (school) i will be going to in Uppsala. They will show me around and hopefully help choose my subjects.
Anyway I´m off to bed, to get some much needed sleep that i didnt get on the plane!
xoxoxoxooxoxoxox
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