18 days until home!

All I can think about is my visit back home. I haven’t gone home since a year and a half ago and lately I have been thinking of all of the things I can’t wait to get. 1) bagels , enough said 2) cereal- Honey Bunches of Oats, Life, Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The bomb 3) buffalo anything- wrap, sandwich salad, wings. If only I could get Union Inn wings. I might save up to go to Alumni Weekend just so I can get some blazzin’ ranch and moonshine. I’m excited to drive. Less than 3 weeks!

Before the vacation begins I have 3 more games, a Swedish exam, and data analysis to finish. I substituted at the International English School last week and I love it. It actually surprises me that they keep calling me back. I have NO control over the kids, but they seem to like me and respect me at the same time. Of course I let them do whatever they want as long as they finish what the teacher has left for them. We play Pictionary, charades, music trivia, or just chill. One kid was a troublemaker and I kicked him out of class. It was awesome.

We went up to Örnsköldsvik and Piteå last weekend for games. We went 1-1. The bus ride home was 14 hours. The first 9 hours weren’t so bad. Switched between computer games, the Twilight saga, tv series, and eating. Then everyone went crazy. We took a stop just to get out and we all were dealing with cabin fever. We play the same teams this weekend that we played last weekend so hopefully we can take some revenge. Next Sunday is HV71 again and then the break begins.

Cleaning, Swedish class, thesis meeting, and tutoring this week also. 

Leather and Moustache Party

Mel and I threw a birthday party at our apartment last night and it was CRAZY. Nearly 50 people showed up. The theme was leather and moustache. Apparently it is a common theme in France. So many nationalities were there: France, Germany, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Peru, Columbia, Japan, America, England, and more. Everyone did an awesome job dressing up. The party didn't end until 5am. Mel is a erasmus student. Erasmus is the equivalent to our study abroad. So she has a ton of other erasmus friends that she has met here so that is how we had so many people from so many countries. I only had like 4 friends haha. But the night was awesome and I taught everyone how to dizzy bat and it was a huge hit. I regret teaching them now though because we played it outside and then everyones shoes were dirty and my floor was a DISASTER today. It took 2 hours to mop. A great success though. We had a beer pong tournament and everything.

Tonight I'm going to the annual Halloween party put on by Deb's friend. The theme is games. I think I'm going to be a red solo cup to represent beer pong or drinking games in general. I have a red towel and an unraveled hanger so I'm going to attempt to make my costume out of that. Sweden is really into themes. I think Halloween is already a theme, but then there is a theme on top of that. Weird.

This is the 2nd free weekend in a row from hockey. We play next Sunday home against HV71. All the national team players are gone this week for camps, tournaments, and olympic qualifications so we aren't so many at practice.

Thesis is going well. My data is basically ready to start analyzing. I am excited to see what patterns will show up. Swedish class is also going well. It is so easy to read and write but so hard to understand and speak. I am way better at understanding than speaking because I'm constantly listening to Swedish at the rink. I need to be more strict with myself about speaking. It is just so easy to speak English because everyone knows it. I had some revelations the other day. I never really thought about how English isn't the first language for my friends here and that they are most likely very different when they speak their first language. Like maybe they aren't so funny in English, but they are really funny in their own language. It's weird to think about being fluent in a different language. I hope to become fluent in Swedish eventually.

I am going to start English tutoring a Polish woman who wants to practice her English with a native English speaker. I am looking forward to that. I have never done anything like it so it will be interesting. I also picked up a cleaning job at the rink twice a week.

Time to go make myself a red solo cup. Take care all.