Busy, busy, busy

My day trip to Stockholm rocked. Hanne and I took a bus and it took about 2 hours from Norrkoping. We walked to the Armemuseum first which had Swedish war stuff from the time of the Vikings to present day. It was awesome learning about Vikings and seeing old war objects. We then walked around the busy city part of Stockholm that had shopping and businesses. Stockholm is so clean and elegant. You can really tell how new America is when you come to a European city. The buildings are all beautiful with such detail. Our cities have such modern architecture. I was expecting it to be more crowded and crazy but it was not overwhelming at all. The sidewalks were filled with people but not overcrowded and the streets weren't crazy with cars. We went to the Vasamuseet which has a 17th century war ship that was lifted from the bottom of the sea 300 years after it sank.  It was the coolest thing I've ever seen. Like to the point that when I entered the room I got chills. Just this HUGE wooden battle ship with windows for cannons and intricate carvings all over. My mind started going into crazy imaginations of sea battles. It was weird. I never really put history into context before and after seeing something like that it made me realize that that stuff actually happened and wasn't just a fairytale. After that revelating experience we walked around Galma Stan "Old City." It had narrow cobble stoned streets with shops and the streets would all converge into a big square with cafes. We also checked out the Nordiska Museet which was about Swedish culture. The whole day was great. The weather was sunny and in the 60's and everything went smoothly.

Mandy's friend from Iran, Ehsan, had a birthday party and she brought me with her so she wouldn't feel awkward. I don't know how I feel about parties here. They are very, how should I put it, boring. And awkward. It was actually an interesting party. We counted the number of countries represented and it was 12. That's a lot of countries. I guess I am just used to college parties which don't involve dinner, dessert, coffee time. Sitting around talking about random things does not interest me. So I need to either A) find a crowd that fits my interests or B) somehow manage to enjoy this new type of social gathering. I am hoping for A. I have only been here a month and a half so it is still early. I will find them where ever they are.

I am now writing three blogs. I went from never writing to writing all the time. I have this blog and the blog for the school and now I have taken on writing a blog for a website about women's hockey called http://www.womenshockeylife.com/. I contacted the woman who invented the site because she helps find girls teams overseas and when I wasn't sure if my team was going to make it I started talking to her. Although she didn't have anything to do with my playing hockey internationally she asked if I'd write for her blog. So I said yes. I am able to take pieces from my other blogs so it is not that much extra work. I kind of like it. Potential hobby? I think yes.

I substituted again at the International English School. P.E. for the 5th grade class. We were outside and played soccer, ultimate frisbee, and badminton. The kids just do their own thing. It is fun to talk to them. I am starting to warm up to the idea of possibly liking kids. Baby steps though. The day care called me the other day asking me if I could work but I had class so I couldn't. I didn't want to turn it down because it was their first time contacting me but it was a class I couldn't miss. They said they will contact me in the future so hopefully that happens. It is better to say yes because then they find you reliable and are more likely to call you back in. I have also been working at the warehouse a little. So random work here and there. Not enough to overload my schedule which is good. I am hoping to hear from the concert hall soon. I'm sure they will need more cleaners once holiday events start happening.

School is going well. This week was on grasslands. Malin (classmate) and I teamed up for collecting samples from grazed and non-grazed grasslands and rode our bikes through a nature reserve to find them which was really cool. Sweden has such beautiful scenery. There is so much non touched land here. One more week of modules then we start our two week project and then the course is over. Our weekly reports and the final project are what we are getting graded on so there is no final exam. The work load is not too bad which is great. I've heard nightmare stories about grad school so I am happy Sweden knows what's up.

We found out we will be playing in Division 2 south this season for hockey. It is disappointing that we aren't playing in Division 1 south but the way it works is you have to win the division below in order to play the next division. Last year Vita Hasten played in Division 2 east but it is no longer a division. They didn't win by enough goals to join Division 1 east. So we will most likely be playing teams that are a lot worse than us which is not the most enjoyable. But it just means we gotta kick ass and make sure we make it to Division 1 for next season. After christmas the playoffs begin and we start to play the last 4 teams in Division 1 south. Those games will determine whether we move up next year. So I've set a goal for myself that we will make it to Division 1 south for next season. Wish me luck. We are having a team bonding weekend this weekend. Our sports manager works at a golf course so we are spending saturday there and playing golf and spending the night there. I am looking forward to it because over the summer I was really starting to get the hang of golf and left right when I was feeling I had my swing down and haven't played since I've been here. I am also looking forward to bonding more with my team. It has just been we show up, practice, and leave so we haven't had much hangout time to get to know eachother well and get comfortable. The language and culture barrier decreases the speed of having a team come together so this weekend is a good idea.

Everything is going great. I have a good routine going. School everyday, hockey 3 times a week, and work interspersed. The only thing that is lacking is my social life. I am friends with my classmates, roommates/their friends, and teammates but have yet to form a common group that hangs out and does stuff together. It has been ok because I am so busy that when I do have free time I either do homework, blog, skype, nap, or watch American tv shows on my computer and the down time is nice since some days I am busy from 8am to 10pm. I'll start to be more proactive once I get more comfortable with juggling everything and having enough time for the important things. Shout out to my teammate Maggie who's keeping real in America enjoying spaghetti o's while I am deprived.

Hej då!