Fika in the Forest

Nils, Agneta, Gayatri, and I went for a walk in the forest. We stopped to have a fika and Nils built a fire.

A Day with Sam

Samantha Bicknell is from Saint Augustine, Florida and goes to Tibble Gymnasium. Today, we got invited to tag along with another class during their field trip to Stockholm for European Day of Languages. It was really cool getting to learn a little bit about the different languages in Europe. Our favorite is Swedish no doubt!

A photo from our walk in the city and Sam sampling our treats we got from the different booths.

Sam and I had lunch at Vapiano. It was amazing to say the least.

Sam and I baked peanut butter cookies for my class!

Princess Aakanksha Patel

Aakanksha Patel is an Indian Princess...she just has not told anyone yet. But I am on to her. Name a country and Aakanksha has been there! Her family and her travel the world three months out of the year. This summer they traveled to Sweden and right when they left she found out she would be coming back for a year! Crazy how things happen. When Aakanksha talks about her home back in Pune, Maharashtra, India she gets all excited and talks forever. Us exchange students do not mind because the culture is so different and her stories are amazing.

Cherry (Aakanksha) and I wandered around Stockholm this afternoon.

Kanelbullar

Agneta and I made kanelbullar! October 4th is National Kanelbullar Day! Kanelbullar translates to cinnamon buns but these cinnamon buns are quite different from the American Cinnabon. The Swedish cinnamon bun is slightly dryer and less sticky. We sprinkle sugar pearls onto them instead of drowning them in frosting.

Nils is in NYC so it is a girls weekend. Tonight we stayed up watching movies. One was a Swedish movie about an Indian girl; Gayatri loved it!

Ben and Jerry's and Prince Carl Philip

A group of Exchange Students got together to roam around Stockholm. We had two missions 1) Ben and Jerry's ice cream 2) Finding a postcard with just the Prince's face on it. Around 6:30 the sun began to set and we raced up six flights of stairs to take photos! Then we chilled by the water before we went to Espresso House to charge our phones.

Gabriela-Brazil

Cherry-India

Brooke- Australia

Sam- USA

Sofia- Italy

Breno- Brazil

Andrew- USA

Me

Jazmín- Brazil

Christy- Australia

Emily- New Zealand

(Jazmín and Christy live in Gothenburg so they came up for the weekend)

Okay, the last mission was just mine but who would not want a postcard with this face on it?

Substitutes

This week our Math teacher has been absent so in her place we have had different substitute, which is uncommon in Swedish school. Normally class is cancelled. The subs had no idea I was an exchange student or could hardly speak any Swedish so when they called my name for attendance they always commented on my name. Many people think Blake is my first name because McKenzie is such an unusual name in Sweden. When I looked dumbfounded at them because I had no idea what they were saying my classmates would then explain I am from America and an exchange student with little knowledge of Swedish. Plus I missed understood our first sub and did all the work for homework when we had all week to work on it. Great. But hey Swedish math is super easy!

    Linda working hard or hardly working?   

(These photos were taken on my Swedish IPhone 3 so the quality is not the best)

Newbie Night

Exchange students from Australia, New Zealand , and some parts of Brazil normally arrive in Sweden in January meaning when the new exchange students arrive in August half their exchange year is over and they can show the new exchange students the ins and outs. They are called Oldies and the new exchange students are called Newbies. I will become an Oldie when the new Australians, Kiwis, and Brazilians arrive next January.

Our Oldies hosted "Newbie Night", which was a night so the Oldies and Newbies could talk about the upcoming exchange year and just hang out at Breno's house, who is from Brazil.

Top left: Sofia from Italy (Newbie)

Top middle: William from Sweden (Host brother of an Oldie), Andrew from USA (Newbie), Brooke from Australia (Oldie), Cherry from India (Newbie)

Top right: Tanner from USA (Newbie)

Bottom left: Hannah from USA (Newbie)

Bottom middle: William from Sweden (Host brother of an Oldie), Brooke from Australia (Oldie)

Bottom right: Sam from USA (Newbie)

There were twenty plus exchange students and most of them slept over. There was not enough room inside for everyone so we set up five tents! Everyone was a little skeptical about sleeping outside because it is Sweden and Sweden gets a tad cold at night.

However, we were all prepared and brought tons of warm clothes! Guys, remember it is only September!!!

Brooke, Sam and I were tent 'mates'.

We went to bed at 4:00 and woke up at 7:00 when the sun shined into our tent. The few hours we slept were not awful...luckily it did not get as cold as we thought. Sam slept the best out of everyone because she snored all night and tried having conversations with Brooke and I! Us three girls plus Cherry, who slept in another tent, were the first up and we received a couple of death threats from the boys because we were talking too loudly so we went around taking photos of everyone sleeping throughout the house and tents!

When everyone was finally awake and had their photography shoot, Breno's host parents sat out breakfast. We ate outside on the porch.

Toast with topping choices of butter, ham, turkey, cheese, red pepper, honey, and Kalles caviar (I believe no one ate that!!!) plus boiled eggs, tea, and coffee!

The time came to say our goodbyes and head our separate ways...

...however most of our separate ways were to the bus stop.

Skansen

Agneta, Gayatri, and I went to Skansen. Skansen is an outside museum and zoo which shows different aspects of Sweden!

Skansen is located on the island Djurården in Stockholm, Sweden so it has a great view of the city!

Tallinn, Estonia

We went on a cruise to Tallinn, Estonia this past weekend! I got to see where Fairy Tales originated!

On the boat!

Exploring Tallinn!

Us girls!

 (Me, Louise, Agneta, and Gayatri)

Nils and I enjoying some sun as the others stay shaded!

(Maybe the last weekend of sunny weather...oh lord help me!!!)

'MERICA

Swedes love the American Flag. I can not go a day with out seeing an American Flag plastered onto someones sweater. I love it! However, I have yet to see a sweater with the Swedish Flag on it and I have been looking because I want one! I want to wear a sweater with their country's flag on it and see if I get any confused looks! Each time I see an American Flag is makes me giggle.

(typical Swedish sweater)

Obama has come and gone in Stockholm, Sweden!!! Plus Air Force One, The Beast (presidential limousine), 40 cars, 29 transport aircrafts, 250 Secret Service, 300 advisors and press, and 150 other staff which includes six doctors with a cooler filled with Obama's blood type and chefs from the White House to declare all food Obama will eat. And to think I am staying a year and only brought one carry on and one 50 pound bag.

Obama arriving in Stockholm

Obama and Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt 

Bowling

I have gone bowling three times since I have arrived in Sweden! I actually think I am slowly getting worse each time someone says 'Oh you are going to be so good; you're American!'.

Don't mind the demon eyes.

(Sofia--Italy, Sam--Florida, Me, Breno--Brazil, Gabriela--Brazil, Cherry--India)

We are all really good bowlers, haha, but hey it only cost us each 30 krona!

'Put your T's up!'

'Put your T's up!' is shouted about every five minutes when the Täby Exchange Students get together. Täby has five Exchange Students but we are waiting for the sixth to come in January from Australia or New Zealand. We are going to pick him up from the airport and initiate him into our Täby gang...we are planning to get some hard core tattoos. No, really.

BBQ at a Host Family's summer house. We had fika twice in the afternoon; it's a thing Swedes do quite often!

We played Kubb and Brannboll. Kubb is a lawn game where you knock over wooden blocks by throwing wooden sticks at them. (I think I am going to have to bring a set back home because it reminded me of playing cornhole with my family and friends). Brannboll is kinda like baseball but not really, haha.

All the Host Families and Exchange Students in Täby!