I really would like to know why the closer you are to something time seems to pass by faster and faster? And also, please tell me how it's October already?
So going back to just over 3 weeks ago, I was packing to go on a holiday, not just any holiday, I was going to meet my parents at Stockholm airport. That was probably the strangest feeling I've had in a long time! Amongst the excitement is the anxiety of seeing some people that you love, but haven't seen in person for around 8 months. After my most anxious train ride of the year so far, I picked up my exhausted parents from the airport and was finally able to impress people of my knowledge of how stuff works in Sweden!
Our trip was a hectic two weeks of seeing the sites of Scandinavia, visiting our old exchange students we've hosted and family in London, but really fun! We started in Stockholm for 3 days, seeing Gamla Stan, the Vasa Museum, Skansen, doing a boat tour and we managed to fit in a little bit of shopping of course.
Then we flew over to Finland for dinner to visit Anu who lived with us in 2007 when she was in NZ on exchange, to see a little bit of her town Tampere and to have dinner with her and her mum.
Next up was my town (Linköping) for 3 days to show the parents where I've been living so far this year! I took them to Gamla Linköping, the Cathedral, Tannfors Slussar, my school, and pretty much tried to show them as much of what life is like here as I could. We also had dinner with my current and previous host families.
Then was down to Copenhagen for 2 days to see some more of the Scandinavian sites including another boat tour, climbing up the tower in the town hall, and just in general walking the streets.
Next up on our trip was Brussels to visit Lucie our exchange student from 2006. We looked around the centre of town, seeing the town hall (and the rest of the main square), the old stock exchange building, the cathedral and of course, Manneken Pis. Not to mention eating a nice lunch with traditional food and the best food they have to offer; WAFFLES.
Lastly came London to visit my cousin Michelle and her family. In our 3 days we managed to include trips to St. Pauls, the Museum of London, the London Eye, visiting some of Mum's old work colleagues, and a 3 year old's birthday party!
Sadly my two weeks with Mum and Dad had to leave, saying goodbye at Heathrow with them flying off to Canada and then me heading back 'home' to Sweden.
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| Me and Crystal at the zoo |
A week later and it was time to finally meet all the newbies! We had an exchange students weekend in Norrköping to get to know each other and plan our performance/presentation for the district conference at the end of the month. Not only did we do that but we got to go to Kolmården (the zoo!) and to the visualization centre which basically has a massive dome theatre and we got to watch this 3D film about 'sea monsters' from before the Jurassic period, which although sounds lame, was actually pretty cool. It was great to meet up with all the new exchange students in my district and am definitely looking forward to hanging out with them some more over the next few months.
Much love from Sweden,
Alex <3
