Here comes the sun..and I say...It's alright :)

Well hello there!!
Just like that I've done it again....let time get away and here its been 11 days since my last post.  But I know you are not worried my fearless followers I am back!   I hope you have twenty minutes to read this...its a long one!! Okay lets not waste anymore time and get you updated.  Last time I left you it was Friday April 8th and I was leaving for Stockholm on Saturday.  Friday night I had the brilliant idea of going out to Stallarna when I had to be up at 7am the next morning.  To say waking up that next morning was hard is certainly and understatement.  You see the night before I had a drink that contained Red Bull.  I have never really drank a Red Bull but let me tell you caffeine DOES effect me.  I was awake in my Bed all NIGHT!  I was going mad.  So the next day for my journey I was a little under the weather.  However I made it up at 7am to get ready and get on my way.  Pardo, Melodie and I headed to Stockholm.  We left Vaxjo by bus and rode 20 minutes to Alvesta a nearby town and then got on the train in Alvesta and rode to Stockholm that way.  We arrived in Stockholm around 1:30pm and headed to our Hostel.  We took a 35 minute stroll through town with our luggage (mind you I am not feeling good).  Finallay we arrived at our hostel which was on a boat.  Pardo booked it and thought it would be "fun".  See for yourself...

The Red Boat Hostel

Our tiny room!

In case you are wondering there were two beds on the other side of the and I am not sure if you are all familiar with how hostels work but there were 3 of us and one extra bed so we had an "neighbor" as Melodie liked to say.  He was a geologist from Austria who had just moved to Sweden for work and was working on a bridge right beside this hostel.  He was looking for apartments...and also not showering or changing clothes in the meantime.  He also slept without a shirt on and lets just say he is no model but anyway he was nice enough, let us come in really late, take over the closet..I mean room, and best of all he didn't rob us!  As you can tell I have not gotten used to the hostel living! So back to my story...we got our room and went exploring.  We walked all around Stockholm taking pictures, shopping, eating etc.  Stockholm was a nice city but HUGE!! I appreciate my car so much!! Here are some pics of Stockholm! Don't ask me what they are...I  don't really know.

I believe this is called Old Town or Gamla Stan and this is  "original" Stockholm.

After we walked around for the day we headed back to the hostel to get ready to go out.  We had a little trouble deciding where to go but finally stopped at a Jazz Club in the city.  Now Jazz was not our first choice and after paying and entering we realized maybe this wasn't our cup of tea.  Now I'll tell you who would have enjoyed this place...my parents.  The music was jazz and soul from their era.  Fortunately they raised me to appreciate all types of music so I could handle it, I had no problem actually.  However Melodie and Pardo wanted to keep searching...so off we went.  After taking 3 cabs driving around, walking around and finding nothing up to par...guess where we ended up...back at the jazz club.  I was slightly irritated, we all were so we had a few strong drinks and got over it.  The interesting thing about this club was the crowd that was there...they were ALL in their 20-30's.  And when we got back it was PACKED! I can tell you we ended up having a great night.  I belted all the oldies and made quite a few Swedish friends.  We were the last to leave.

Fasching Jazz Club

After the crazy night we headed back to the ol' red boat to sleep.  The next day we woke up and went into town... On our way into town we ran across this..

Melodie was so excited! In fact I was on my way to meet a friend in town and she was so wrapped up in the marching band that I headed into town without Pardo & her and met up with my friend.  I spetnt the day walking around Stockholm, talking and having coffee with a friend who went to Vaxjo but is finishing his masters from Stockholm.  That evening we went to dinner, at McDonlads (yuck) by this point we had eaten a lot of fast food.  Then we walked around a little before heading home because the next day, Monday we left for our CRUISE!!! We woke up at 9:45 and had to be out of the hostel by 10am...we got breakfast and got on a bus to the terminal for our cruise.  After waiting two hours all of the Vaxjo students arrived.  We then got into a line with all of the other international students to board the boat.  After boading we got ready in a hurry because our dinner was at 5:30 and it was 4:00pm.  Dinner was very interesting because it was the only meal included in the cruise and it included free beer and wine...needless to say it was NUTS!

Kaitlyn (Georgia), Me, Signija (Latvia), Melodie (France)

Our first few glasses of wine...

Dinner ended and we headed on to continue the party.  There were two clubs and we spent the evening bouncing between the two.  One of my favorite parts of the night was at the karaoke bar. I was belting the songs but unfortunately I was not able to have a star performance...perhaps that was for the best... :)  I think Melodie & I's night ended around 3:00am which is a little embarrassing.  The next day, Tuesday, we woke up by 10 am to go explore the small but pretty Tallinn, Estonia.  Eastern Europe was nice (what I saw of it) but I would never need to go back.  Here are some pics though...

Eating some chips in the street...

Old Church

Inside the church.

Tallinn, Estonia

Notice our Cruise ship was in ICE ha

After a short but plenty long viewing of Estonia we headed back to our boat for a much needed nap.  After napping we got ready for a long night!! Melodie and I had a romantic dinner on the boat together then we began the party in out cabin 1575!

Cloe (France), Me, Kaitlyn

Gonzalo (Spain), Signija, Pardo(Spain)

It was amazing the amount of people we fit into that small room.  We pre partied in our room until the club Ibiza opened at 11 and I didn't leave the club until 7am.  Well if you have been on a cruise you know how you run all over the boat...so technically I was around the ship but for the most part I danced the night away (literally).  We saw the sun come up from the club...

Vaxjo International Students, aka my Study Abroad family!

Sad the sun means we are back in Stockholm...still in party attire.

We headed back to the room around 7am to find it empty so we decided to go get food.  Finally returning to sleep at 8:45am giving us approximately one hour of sleep.  Let me tell you Wednesday was a hard day.  We woke up, shoved our stuff into the bags and got off the boat.   We took a bus home which took 6 hours and it was miserable.  After arriving home I hit the bed and did nothing the rest of the night.  Thursday I woke up with a cold.  This may come as a shock to you but I had a horrible cold.  I am thinking this may have been a result of partying for 6 straight days.  Anyway I am still paying for it now.  Friday I also did nothing but sleep and watch movies until it was Stallarna time.  I had been in my bed for 3 days and it was time to see the moonlight and my friends despite my cold.  It was a regular night at Stallarna...I think we were all worn out form Seabattle so nothing crazy happened.  Saturday was the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona match and let me tell you EVERYONE was watching it.  It was a draw but still fun to watch it with my crazy passionate Spanish friends.  Sunday was the most beautiful day yet in Vaxjo and I had to spend it in the library...luckily I wasn't alone.  A group of my friends and I went there to study...however we did take a break to "take the sun".  This is a funny story.  Melodie is French as I have told you and the expression they use it to "take the sun" so she wrote on my facebook wall that we should take the sun after we study...so another friend commented on it yes go take the sun and put it in your pocket.  This caused a huge discussion because my Spanish and French friends saw nothing wrong with this expression and it is my duty as the "English expert" to correct them when they are wrong and I didn't.  The thing is sometimes they say things that are so cute I don't correct them...anyhow we have been laughing about this since.  That was my Sunday, studying and spending time with friends in the green grass under the sun.  Monday I had class at one and after class I spent more time with classmates under the sun.  You might notice this is a very common thing to "take the sun" well one thing I have realized here...since it is so cold for so long when you FINALLY see the sun you are so happy.  The sun is so welcomed and not at all taken for granted.  I love that...at home I never care about the weather but I love how happy the sun makes me now.  It makes my day if the sun is out and we spend time laying and talking outside under the sun or having barbecues.  Today I had class at 9:45am which I might have thought about skipping if it wasn't the last class before our 2 week break...(cha chinggggg).  We had class with a Swedish class and discussed preschool in Sweden verse our home countries.  We broke into groups and I was with 6 Swedish students and I talked for the complete hour.  I am not sure if the Sweds know how to take me...its funny for me to watch them listen to me..haha  After class I was officially on break!!  No school until May 2 what to do with all this time? Perhaps take a trip or read, lay in the sun, who knows but I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it! Right now it is time to get ready for a bbq before Stallarna.  Basically every night there is bbq somewhere because we love the sun!! Now is goes down at about 8:30pm and rises at 5am.  We have the sun for a long time in now in Sweden and I love it! So much in fact that yesterday it was inspiring me to listen to songs about the sun..such as Here Comes the Sun and after listening to the lyrics I am confident when I say the Beatles had spent time in Sweden when they wrote this number one hit...listen to these lyics...

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, 
and I say it's all right 

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter 
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here 
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun 
and I say it's all right 

Especially this portion...

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces 
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here 
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun 
and I say it's all right 

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... 
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... 
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... 
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... 
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... 

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting 
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear 
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, 
and I say it's all right 
It's all right 

Another great song about the sun that I have been enjoying..Soak up the Sun by Sheryl Crow.  I told you I'm excited about Spring and the sun...so I leave you with this...go outside and sit in the sun...soak up some Vitamin D..its good for you! 

Until Next Time,

Allie

April Showers Bring May Flowers...hopefully

It has been another busy week this week..Monday started like a normal day...by skipping class.  I decided to take a personal day.  Since I had extra sleep I decided to make a trip to Willy's which as you know takes extra energy!  My mother has told me that its not good to go to the grocery store hungry, well actually I don't know who told me that but it sounds like a mom thing.   The reason you don't do that is because you walk out spending 779,00 SEK which is $125.00 dollars in case you were wondering a receipt with that many items is longer than the length between your elbow and hand...thats long.  One good thing about this day was the fact that the SUN WAS OUT.  Its wonderful!!! It is spring here! It has been like 50 degrees which is AMAZING!!  So in celebration of spring we decided to have a barbecue to celebrate spring.  The funny thing is we finally started the cookout at 10pm (off course Spanish style) so the sun was long gone and it was cold and dark again but nevertheless we had a barbecue.  It was really fun to cook and spend time with my friends from Spain, France & America, I foresee this being the first of many barbecues. Tuesday was a pretty uneventful day, I went to class and decided to not go out to Stallarna.  After Monday with the beautiful sun it has been rainy and dark and its supposed to stay this way the rest of the week.  Wednesday I did laundry and wrote a paper so I consider that I good day.  Then I spent the evening with my friends and attempting to make "American" chocolate chip cookies.  Well it was a fail... apparently the flour is different here and they do not work out, I would say I was disappointed if I wasn't used to everything failing like this...Sweden food SUCKS (sorry mom but its true). Thursday I had another school visit.  This was an interesting visit...It was at the Waldorf Skola.

Waldorf Skola

The best way for me to explain this school would be to say that a couple hippies got together and decided to start a school.  I will show you some schools to give you a visual and you can draw conclusions for yourself.  This school is another private school and it's focus is on the importance of play.  At Waldorf Skola they feel play is very important.  When we arrived they had us doing a clapping/counting exercise that was interesting.  They said the students really get involved and enjoy it.  They believe in expressing themselves through art. Throughout the school there was artwork everywhere.  To be frank I thought the school was a joke.  They don't use texts books "the students write their own".  In the Waldorf schools defense I have heard this particular Waldorf school is not the best so maybe I would like others better.  I guess I just feel like there is a time to play and a time to learn and at some point you have to sit down and learn.  I am really big on making learning fun but I think the "Waldorf concept" is a little too much fun.  I don't feel like they are learning a lot. Just to make another point the 3rd & 4thgrade are in the same class and there are 8 students total..TOTAL...what the heck? One teacher on 8 kids.  I asked the teacher why there were so few students and she said because not so many people know about the Vaxjo Waldorf School and they don't understand the concept.  I just don't think there are enough hippies around here to fill the school with flower children.  But this is all my opinion.  After the visit I wanted to get some perspective on what other students from other countries thought of it...it was pretty much unanimous they have some good ideas but they are crazy.

Not sure whats going on here?

1st & 2nd grade classroom

3rd & 4th grade class

 3rd & 4th grade weaving

I wonder which species of plants they are growing? haha

Some watercolors of 1-4th grade students.

They use spiral graphing to teach 5th & 6th graders math. 

I got a little bored from listening to the hippies I mean teachers during the tour. So I decided to try on the students art projects for the class.

This is the Jr. high classroom.  Notice no computers anywhere in the school...apparently there are laptops but they never really get to use them...no computers...no textbooks...crazy!

 

All of the chalk boards have curtains so the teacher can put things on the board the night before and hide it from the students so they do not get distracted.

Overall this was an interesting visit.  There were some things about the school that I thought were good but I am still not sure.  I would like to see other Waldorf schools before I make up my mind about them.  Today I went to town and bought a train ticket to Stockholm.  I am leaving tomorrow at 8:03a.m. to visit the city and a friend that I met earlier this semester but he has moved and now live in Stockholm. Me and 3 other friends will spend the night in a hostel thats actually a boat and supposed to be really cool.  We will be there until Monday morning when I leave from Stockholm for Estonia on a cruise!!!! Yes, you read it right...I am going on a cruise Monday.  We leave Stockholm at 5pm...get to Tallinn, Estonia at 10am the next morning.  I will spend the day in Estonia.  Then we leave Estonia at 5pm and head back to Stockholm. 

Here is a little visual of where I will be cruising....Stockholm to Tallinn and back in 3 days! I can't wait =)

 Its only a 3 day 2 night cruise but it is with 2,000 other international students and it is a HUGE party! I am ecstatic! So by the end of next week I will have tons of pictures and stories to blog about. I am also ready to get out of this darkness and rain.  I am ready for sun and flowers...come on Spring!! Until then enjoy the weekend, I sure am going to!

Bon Voyage,

Allie

School, School & More School...

Hello Again,

I have just finished the two busiest weeks of my life here in Sweden so far...I forgot what it was like to have obligations everyday for 5 days in a row...folks its rough.  Let me just tell you I have been worn out!! Which is why I am just getting around to blogging about my past two week.  So lets recap what I have been up to...The last time I left you it was March 20th...lets see Monday and Tuesday I had class like regular.  Wednesday I started my School visits with my friend Ewa (from Poland).  We were sent to the Kronoberg Skola which is located in town.

Front of the School

The sign on the school.

Ewa in front of the school. 

The view of the school from the street.

The street our school was on.

The schools in Sweden look a lot different than schools in America.  Walking past this school I would never guess it was a school.  Kronoberg Skola is for children ages 12-16 so it is similar to a junior high in America, here it is called a compulsory school. Compulsory school is from grades 6-9.  Kronoberg is a private school but unlike America you do not pay to go to private schools they are just hard to get into.  In order to reserve a place for your child in this particular school you must interview when your child is in the second grade even though they will not attend this school until they are 12.  Private schools in Sweden have something they focus on this school focuses on English so all of the students here must be very good in English.  They are well know and one of the best schools in the area because of this.  Any way back to the school visit...we had to arrive at 8am which means I had to wake at 6:30am (ouch) to get ready and to catch the 7:30 bus to make it on time.  That was rough...then I had to stay until the end of the day which was 3:00p.m now thats a long day.  Some of you may be thinking Allie, in approximately a year you are going to be a teacher and have to do that everyday...I know..I know i'm still struggling.  Then after my school visit I had to hurry back to campus and go to class.  I gave a presentation and finished up my first class.  This was the last day of class which was bittersweet.  I have met some really great people in my class and some are leaving soon so it was a little sad!

 We represented 10 different countries so now I have friends all over the globe.  

World Peace =)

We had some really good times together and lots of interesting discussions. Thursday & Friday I was back at Kronoberg observing the classes and meeting students.  It is so neat to see how schools in Sweden are compared to the States even if I am not going to teach junior high.  The amount of freedom the students get here is unreal...they really don't realize it.  The students always have their iPhone 4's on them texting, they curse freely and the teachers do to them (in a joking manner), they have no bells they show up to class on time (usually at least a couple come in 10-15 mins late), they can go into town and eat lunch...it is just so different.  The subjects are the pretty much the same except they learn ethics and religion.  This was really interesting to me, the students learn all religions in school.  However the lesson on Christianity that I sat in on was hardly Sunday school seeing as the teacher is an atheist. Aside from the religion there is English and they also learn a third language. After the school visits Friday night to celebrate the ending of one class I went to Stallarna.  Saturday I also went to Stallarna so this gave me no time to catch up on sleep.  Sunday was a wonderful day of rest before starting another busy 5 day week.  Just to make sure your on the same page we are now to Monday March 28.  On this day I started my new class Global Perspectives in the Classroom.  This class has many people I know from last semester and many new faces.  I am looking forward to getting to know them as well.  Tuesday I also had class.  Wednesday I was back at Kronoberg Skola.  Some of you many be wondering why I am still going to school visits for a class that ended....well  beauty of the Swedish schools are that the teachers are very laid back..I have the same professor again so she is letting me finish them as soon as I can so I am still finishing them up.  Wednesday I was to do a presentation on my country and the life of a teenager in America.  The students at the school had a lot of questions and really enjoyed it.  I had one hour to split with Ewa to do our presentations, the first period I took 40 minutes and the second I took 50 minutes...barely leaving Ewa any time.  I LOVE to talk and to teach.  I realized, again,  after that that I am SO excited to have my own class and to teach them all day! I had the best day being in front of the class!  Thursday I had my class again so I did not do any school visit.  Thursday evening I also did something exciting...I booked a trip. May 10-17 I am going to France!! For $37.00 I am flying from Gothenburg, Sweden to Brussels, Belgium.  I will then take a train to Lille France where my dear friend Melodie lives. While there I will visit Belgium, Lille & Paris France. I am SO excited.  Melodie & Kaitlyn and I are so so excited to take a trip together! Friday I went to Kronoberg for the last time.  I must say it was a  wonderful learning experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it but I am so glad that the waking at 6:30am is over! I will not miss that and I am so thankful I am going back to my 3 day week schedule..its much better for me :) After class I went back on campus to work on a group paper before going to Stallarna.  It was a great night as always.  I never danced so much in my whole life...in fact I ordered a water at the bar...now thats saying something!  Saturday I spent the day sleeping..I woke up just in time to go to Stallarna again! and that brings us to Today, April 3, Sunday.  Today I have many things I should do like write the final paper for my first class, or register for classes next semester at ISU but instead I think I will watch another movie and do nothing.  There is always tomorrow...
Allie