Author: Gian Reinardy

Besides the typical “Why Sweden?” and “Why did you want to study abroad?” the most frequently asked question that I get often revolves around homesickness. “Don’t you miss home? Your parents? Your friends?”

I think that homesickness is one of the biggest fears exchange students face. I know that even before I left for Sweden I was already freaking out about homesickness. It is scary to be away for so long I will admit, but I also feel that there are a few tricks that I have found really helped me keep the homesickness at bay.

People often say that there are certain stages we go through as exchange students, the first of which being the “Honeymoon Stage”. This normally lasts about a week or 2 and is a very happy and exciting time. Everything is so new, just waiting to be experienced. Unfortunatley, I never really had the honeymoon stages because of my severe jet lag. My first week was probably the hardest for me due to the fact that I barely slept.

One key thing that I feel helped me enormously avoid homesickness was the fact that I did not use my phone at all or talk to anyone from home (even my parents) the first two weeks. By not using my phone I did not have Facebook, Instagram or anything other social media to remind me of home. Also, having no phone forced me to communicate/bond more with my host family as I could no longer spend hours staring at my phone screen. Cutting off all communication with people back home provided me with a “clean break” allowing me to clear my mind and really transition into my new life in Sweden and while it was hard, is something I highly recommend future exchange students to try.

This being said though after talking with a lot of exchange students I think the key thing to remember is that everyone is different. People react to situations in completely different ways. Some people can spend months in the Honeymoon Stage, some (like me) never really experience it, and for some they may spend their whole exchange in this stage. Everyone is different and it impossible to guess how homesickness will effect you until you put yourself in a situtation where one may face it.

Homesickness is a very common and normal thing. It is okay to miss home every once in a while, but that does not mean you should focus on it and let it consume your entire exchange. Here is a list of tips that I think are key to having a happy, healthy, exchange.

1. Stay Busy! As an exchange student you will probably find yourself with a lot newfound free time on your hands. While it is nice to relax, it is also important to find a routine and keep yourself occupied. The busier you are the less time you have to swell on things. This also helps to make the time go faster and will help you really assimilate into your new culture.
2. Limit your alone time. While it may be tempting to bottle up your feelings and hid in your room when things get tough – DONT DO IT! This will only make things worse. If you are feeling down or sad, talk to your host family. I know it may be hard at first, but they are there to help you through the good and the bad. Keeping your feelings to your self will only make matters worse.
3. Try not to contact home that much. I know that it may be hard to not update your BFF from home everyday as to all the new and exciting things you are experiencing, but the more you talk to people from home, the less you are truly assimilating to your new life. Part of the best part about living in a new country is making new friends which is hard if you keep talking to your friends back home. Not to mention that talking to people from home a lot can trigger homesickness.
4. Have a positive attitude. This one can really be a game changer. It is amazing how much having a positive attitude can impact your day.

So, of course I miss home and my family some times, but that is totally normal! I do not let it run my day to day life. Some days are worse than others, but that is all part of the experience. You must realize that your exchange is going to be full of good days and a few bad days as well. Those bad days though are the ones you will look back on and appriciate the most because in the end you learn so much about yourself and how strong you really are.

Your friends and family will be patiently waiting at home, so do not worry about them! Instead focus on making the best time you possible can while abroad because before you know it you will be back home.

Swedish Word of the Day: “vår” – Spring! In honor that today is the first official day of spring. I am happy to leave the cold winter months behind us, I just wish we could fast forward to summer. I am ready for tan skin, long days, and warm nights!

I am so excited to finally be able to share with you all my “Go Overseas Interview” that I have been working on! Last month I was contacted by Greenheart asking if I would like to be interviewed and share my experiences/what I have learned in Sweden. Go Overseas is a very popular website that gives reviews on all sorts of abroad programs such as High School abroad, volunteering abroad, gap years, etc. It is an amazing resource that gives detailed descriptions about the different programs offered, shows all the prices, and provides many testimonies (interviews) of past participants – which is where I come in! I was more than excited to tell the world about not only my amazing experiences I have had in Sweden, but also share with everyone what an amazing organization Greenheart Travel  is.

So please feel free to click on the link below and check it out!

http://www.gooverseas.com/high-school-abroad/study-abroad/sweden/greenheart-travel/36298#alumni-interviews

 

I love Sushi. Spicy tuna, California, Dragon Rolls, I am hard pressed to find a type of Sushi roll that I do not like. Here in Sweden there are tons of sushi/Japanese/Thai restaurants that serve really good sushi; however, nothing beats a homemade roll which is exactly what I spent my Saturday night doing! It was only Bea, Olivia, and I because Mats is away on business and MeiMei had a sleepover. We had a great time rolling our own wraps and playing around with chop sticks. It was really fun to be able to put exactly what we wanted into the rolls, and while they may not have been the prettiest, they sure were tasty!

As for today I went to Gothenburg and meet up with Annaliese and some of her friends.  It was a lot of fun, we spent the day exploring a new part of Gothenburg I had never seen. It was farther away from the center of the city and had more cute cafes/shops and a few gorgeous churches I will picture below. I got home around 15.30 then went for a nice long run in the woods. Tomorrow in school we are going swimming again. *Sigh*

On a happier note, flowers have been blossoming all over town! I cannot wait until the trees start to get all of their leaves back. I have been noticing more and more tourists coming as well. By June, the population in Varberg doubles in size because of all the tourists we get. I can see why people flock here though – it truly is a magnificent town that I am so lucky to have the chance to live in.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Swedish Word of the Day: “blomma” – flower

I had a good Monday. Went to school in the morning, then had an interesting gym class. We did “Military Style” training throughout the fortress. This involved tons of army crawling, sprinting/climbing up hills, squats, etc. By the end I was tired, covered in mud, and in need of a good nap. I have been so tired the past few days! I have been sleeping good and everything, it is probably from all of this super hard training that comes with my new class. I am not complaining though, I really love my new schedule, classmates, and new challenging workouts I get each week.

I will quick post a few random pics for you all to enjoy, then it is off to the couch to give my body some much needed rest/relaxation.

Swedish Word of the Day: “Knäckebröd” – This is the hard bread pictured above. Swedes live off of this stuff. Literally it is the go to snack, meal, anything. The bread has a very neutral taste which means it goes well with almost anything. In Sweden they normally put either ham, cheese, pepper, cucumber, or a hard boiled egg on it. I really have grown to love my knäckebröd and would advise everyone to try it because yes, it is availablein the states! They call it “crisp bread” though I think. It is super healthy, cheap, great for snacks, and versatile – so give it a try!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

My weekend has been great. Saturday morning I went to “BodyBalance” which is kind of like a strange form of yoga. After that I came home and head of to the train station to meet my Swedish friend, Sandra. We spent the day in Gothenburg and literally shopped till we dropped, on the train ride home I was so exhausted I could barely keep my eyes open. However, I managed to force myself to stay a wake a little longer because the Melody Festival finals were on that night. We had to watch them at MorsMors house though due to the fact that our TV is not working at the moment.

Today, I woke up early and went for a long walk. The weather would have been perfect – if not for the pesky wind. After my walk I had breakfast, tidied up my room, then went to yoga. I really am loving all of the free classes at my gym now if you cannot tell. After yoga, it was off to have Fika with another Swedish friend, Natalie. Tonight I plan on just relaxing and watching a movie with the family.

Crazy to think that I have already been in Sweden over 2 months now! Time flies so quickly, this place truly is starting to feel like home to me.

Swedish Word of the Day: vacker – beautiful.

 

Please excuse the loud music, but just wanted to share what we did for gym today! It was Friday morning and everyone was feeling down because we knew we had a long day ahead of us. However, our gym teacher knew just how to brighten our mood – a trampoline workout!

We spent over an hour taking turns and doing all sorts of tricks. From 360s, to star jumps, to flips. It was a lot of fun and a great way to start my day.

Hope everyone else has a great Friday!

Swedish Word of the Day: “studsmatta” – trampoline

As I said in my blog post yesterday, I finally got to go to the legendary superstore in Sweden – Gekas! Here is small snippet explaining what Gekas is all about.

Gekås Ullared superstore is situated to the north-east of the town of Falkenberg, not far from Sweden’s west coast. The superstore was founded in 1963 and since then has grown year on year. The store currently has a surface area of 35,000 m² and sells most things you need for your home.

Last year, Gekås Ullared was visited by 4.6 million people and, as such, is Sweden’s biggest tourist attraction. The record for the number of customers on a single day was made on Tuesday 30 July 2013, when 27,500 customers shopped in the store. On average, customers drive 230 km one way to visit the store.

So as you can see Gekas is a big deal around here. I went with Mor Mor and her friend, it is only about a 30 minute drive from where I live. Once we pulled up to Gekas I realized they were not kidding when they said this place was big, it was absolutely huge! The parking lot was comparable to that of Disneylands or Six Flags to give you an idea of just how ridiculous this place was.

With map in hand and cart in tow, I set out to try and conquer this monster of a place. Unfortunately, there were SO many people and SO much stuff, I quickly became agitated and overwhelmed. For example, one item I wanted to buy here was shampoo because it would be very cheap. However, I was not prepared to have about 50 different types to choose from. There were so many people everywhere, everyone kept bumping into each other I felt like I had about 5 seconds to make up which kind I wanted before someone ran me over.

I did a full lap around the entire first floor which took about an hour and half. Once I finally arrived back at the entrance, I looked in my cart to see that I had shampoo, pencil sharpener, dried figs, and makeup remover. I had been prepared to shop till I dropped and that was all I came up with! Gekas had a space the size of a football field designated for super cheap clothes, yet I did not find a single thing. No headphones, no phone case, no books, no water bottle, nothing caught my eye.

To sum up my thoughts of Gekas I would say that I was impressed by the size, but found the crowds and clutter to be overwhelming to the point where I did not want to buy anything at all – even if it was super cheap. It would be a good place to go if you knew exactly what you needed and where it was, but going just to look around and window shop is an extremely stressful experience. While I am happy I went, I do not see myself returning to Gekas anytime soon.

In Hannah news: Today we played futbol (soccer) in gym for the first time today. It was boys against girls 4v4 – expect the boys only got 2 touches on the ball and had to use only their left foot. However, even with this extra help I hate to admit it, but the girls team still got slaughtered. It was not our fault though because literally ALL of the guys play soccer, whereas none of the girls did. I was the only one with past experience, none of my classmates knew that though – it was really fun to see the look on their faces when I came out swinging with a hat trick (3 goals). Regardless of the loss, the girls still did really good in my opinion and it was a lot of fun! I know we can get them next time.

School ended at 11 for me today. I had a quick lunch with my friend Sandra, then set off to go and see the doggie daycare that I will be helping out at! The weather was lovely so I decided to take my bike. It was a 5 mile bike ride there and I was exhausted by the end of it, but I am so happy I went and met them. Everyone was so nice, there was even one girl who was from Canada. They said I am more then welcome to come and help out whenever, so I plan to be spending a lot of my afternoons there helping walk the dogs, play with them, brush them, things like that. I really feel as though it is the perfect way to get some volunteer hours while over here! Especially because it is so difficult to find volunteer places in Sweden – they basically do not exist.

After biking another 5 miles home, I am now thoroughly exhausted and plan to spend the rest of my evening on the couch with book in hand. Here are some pics for you all to enjoy – hope everyone has a “bra dag!” (good day)

Swedish Phrase of the Day: “Jag är ful” – When I first arrived I used to say this all the time when I was done eating. I thought I was just saying “I am full” so many words in Swedish are similar to English, I just assumed that this was one too. Bea was quick to correct me on this thankfully because what I was actually saying was “I am drunk”. One of my many “American mistakes” the family had a good laugh about it though and I learned my lesson. I cannot always just assume words will be the same because who knows just how different of a meaning they could actually have!

Hej Hej everyone!

Sorry for the lack of posts! I have been a busy bee the past few days.

Let’s see, so Friday’s are my busiest days in school. We start at 8 and end at 4. Why they choose to o this on a Friday and not like Monday when we get out at 11 I will never know. So on Friday I also have the great pleasure of starting my day of with gym. My school is very small, so we must go to a different building for gym. It is about a 20 minute walk from my house, so I woke up throw on my gym clothes and set off. I was half asleep, but the pouring rain soon woke me right up. I got to the gym 5 minutes early and there was no one there so I just sat by the door. 5 minutes go by, 10 minutes, 25…and still no one. I did not have a cellphone, so I just gave up and walked back home in the pouring rain. Turns out on Fridays we have gym class in a another building! My class felt really bad for not telling me and promised to show me where it is next week, so in the end it was all ok.

The next class we have on Friday is math. I go off and do my own math lessons online because I already know what my classmates are learning, but I have taken to helping them out a lot lately, They really appreciate it as math does not come very easy for them and I enjoy helping them out. It helps me to learn and forces me to explain things in many ways which deepens my understanding as well.

Once math was done it was off to lunch! (My personal favorite part of the day) I had salmon with potatoes and salad. Yummy. Etik is next on my schedule and quiet frankly is my favorite class. We talk about all sorts of issues and problems, this week focusing on animal cruelty. We discuss whether it is right/wrong to eat animals, make clothes out of them, do product testing on them, etc. It is fascinating hearing everyone’s opinions (and promising that I can understand almost everything they say in Swedish!) The class is structured more like a seminar rather than a lecture, so we all just voice our own personal opinions. Next week we are watching a documentary made by 2 Swedish guys called “The weather Man”. It is about climate changes and is suppose to be great.

We finish the day with English and Swedish, both were uneventful. After school on Friday I went home and found that Mor Mor and Douglas were there! We had a great chat and made plans to go to Gekas (will explain more later) today. For dinner Mats and Mei Mei had been craving a very traditional Swedish meal called “Pytt I panna” It consists of chopped potatoes, meat, and onions topped with a sunny side up egg. I will post a picture below. However, because that contains meat Bea and I had Cod topped with a creamy lemon sauce, cauliflower mash, and a nice salad. By the time we finished dinner it was about 8 oclock. I was exhausted so Olivia and I beached ourselves on the couch, watched ”Let’s Dance” (Swedish version of Dancing with the Stars) and called it a night.

Saturday woke up, had some breakfast, then it was off to help coach Mei Meis soccer team. I do this every Saturday morning now and really like it. This also really helps my Swedish because the little kids are not very good at English yet, so in order to speak with them I must use Swedish. I cannot wait until April when the practices are moved outside. The coaches like my help so much that they even offered to let me help out with a few other teams if I want too and take a short class on teaching soccer in a few weeks.

After soccer practice I went to the gym and had a great workout. Once I cam home I was ravenous so I made a quick lunch with consisted of basically throwing a bunch of left over things in a pan and hoping it works out. Well in fact it turned out SO well that I will post the recipe for you guys below! Maybe it was the fact that I was so hungry, but in my opinion it was amazing (and healthy of course ).

I spent the next few hours of my Saturday cleaning and doing errands. I had made plans to maybe go see a movie with a classmate later that night, but at around 5 I got a call from one of my fellow exchange students in town inviting me to come hangout with him and about 14 other exchange students from all over that were in town for the night! I quick called my friend and we agreed to move the movie to next Saturday and go see it in Gothenburg instead because they have better movies there and then quick said bye to Bea and ran off to go  have dinner with the exchange students!

I met my friend Gabriel who was hosting the gathering and we walked to his house where all the exchange students were already waiting. Once we got there I was great by 12 friendly faces – 5 from the USA, 2 from Australia, 1 from France, 1 from Korea, 2 from Brazil, and 1 from Mexico. We all immediately introduced ourselves and instantly bonded from there. Exchange students bond so quickly it amazes me. Like no matter what or how different they are, we all get a long so well. Probably because we are all in the same boat. It can often feel very lonely being an exchange student and living so far away from your family for so long. When we are having a bad day, our Swedish friends can never really relate to what it is like, exchange students however understand perfectly. It has helped me so much having so many exchange student friends because I know we always have each others backs. If I am having a bad day they are a short phone call away – we really become a family together, the exchange students.

After talking for a few hours we went upstairs to have dinner, where we were greeted by a feast. Pasta, salad, burgers, salmon, bread, chips, 15 sauces, needless to say we were in heaven. We had a great dinner and all went around the table telling more about ourselves and what we thought was the weirdest thing about Sweden. The answers varied from how they recycle, to the way they dress, to the shyness, to the herring, to the language, etc! Not to worry fellow Swedes that may be reading this – we all agreed that Sweden as whole is a beautiful country and we are so grateful to have the opportunity to have lived in it.

At around 10 oclock, everyone decided that it was time to walk to the hotel where we all were staying the night. This hotel was not an average hotel though – it was the fortress’s old haunted jailhouse! I have mentioned the fortress here in Varberg a lot (the one that is literally right outside my front door), but do not know if I have ever said anything regarding the haunted jailhouse that lies within it. Here is a little info I found online regarding the fortress.

The fortress was originally built in 1618 and was then used as a prison, and now currently serves as a museum. Many prisoners were condemned for life and buried on the grounds of the fortress and their spirits are said to still roam the space.

Visitors of the fortress have said that they’ve experienced feelings of both anxiety and anguish when crossing the archway outside the dungeon. And guests that have walked by the wall surrounding the cemetery have felt like invisible objects were hitting them. Apparitions such as a headless knight have also been seen roaming through the fortress.

In the museum, the most jarring image is the visible display of the Bocksten Man which features the boxed skeletal remains of a man who was at one time a prisoner of the fortress. And in an effort to keep his spirit from coming back to haunt the space, his murderer drove a wooden stake through his heart — which still remains as a piece of the exhibit today.

It is also legend that an Old French Queen that hated Varberg and the castle with all her heart, but was forced to live their until she died haunts the fortress grounds. Sometimes on a quiet night it is rumored that you can still hear her quietly singing a French lullaby wishing everyday that her spirit could return to her home land.

So back to the jailhouse itself. There are about 20 single rooms in it. They are the old jail cells, and still look true to that. We had rented the whole thing out for the night. The place itself was small, but nice. They have refurbished it a little, but for the most part a lot remains the original dating all the way back to 1600s. The doors, flooring, chandelier, are all originals. We stayed up late into the night talking about anything and everything. It was really a great time. Thankfully I did not have any paranormal sightings, others claim to have heard things in the night. Personally I think all the stories and candy we ate just got to their head.

So that is what I have been up to the past few days. It is Sunday today and I am still thoroughly exhausted from last nights festivities, but I will need to rally my strength because in a few hours Mor Mor is picking me up and we are going to Gekas! Gekas is the biggest super store in all of Sweden. In the summer tourists, Norwegians, Danes alike all flock to Gekas to stock up on food, clothes, supplies, anything! It is like a giant TJ Max mixed with Costco mixed with Walmart. They buy overstock and then sell it for super cheap. However, they also have their own brand which they sell as well. I will talk more about my trip in a separate post, filled with tons of pics and my purchases! Although I do not know how much more poor credit card can take as this week I was forced to buy an Entire Spring Wardrobe basically! The weather is suppose to be 10 C (50F) and sunny on Monday – I cannot wait!

Do elevators look like this:

Does everyone have their own personal composts in their backyard:

They take recycling to a whole new level here:

Shoes must come off or be covered when you go in anywhere. This is me at the gym.

Not to worry though because they have these nifty shoe horns everywhere you go as well (even dressing rooms) to put your shoes back on.

Want some candy? Well have no fear because in any store that even remotely sells food you can find this. Just a grab a bag and have at it.

Oh and if you want coffee at 3 in the afternoon, think again because that is prime Fika time so be ready to wait in a very long line no matter where you go.

And finally only in Sweden do they cut cheese like this.

These are just a few things that Swedes do here that I feel are very different from the rest of the world. I am sure there will be more posts like this in the future!

Today 20 kids from my school and 4 teachers left for El Salvador for three weeks as a school exchange program. With all the teachers gone all I did today was watch a movie in class then we were free! I got some lunch with my friends, did a little more shopping, and then went to another class at my gym. I decided to change it up a little and try cross-fit for the first time. I must say I was pleasantly surprised and defiantly will be doing it again next week. It was a super good work out, yet fun at the same time. It consists of doing about 4 exercises at high intensity for a short period of time, then rotating. This way you get a good workout and will not get bored because you are constantly doing different exercises.

For dinner tonight Bea is making Cod. It is in season here and is to die for – so good! Then tomorrow I have my earliest class of the week 8:15 gym class. How will I survive I do not know as I have not started before 9:15 all week.

Swedish Word of the Day: torsk – noun (Ta – Or- sh- K) and means “cod” in Swedish. Yes, like the fish. Jag ska äta mycket torsk ikväll. (I will eat a lot of cod tonight) On a side note-  torsk also means in Swedish “a man who uses prostitutes” another one of those fun Swedish words that have multiple very different meanings.

Today was finally the day we (well more like I) have all been waiting for – I started my new class!

The day started off as usual. I woke up, had my morning muesli, and headed off to school for my first class of the day which happen to be math. I was feeling good, but slightly nervous. What if they didn’t like me? What if they were mean? What if, what if, what if. I took a deep breathe, opened the door, and went into the classroom. I already knew the teacher so he said hi then proceeded to introduce me to the class. He told me to tell them all a little about myself and here is what I cam up with, “Hi my name is Hannah, I am an exchange student from America, and sorry but you guys are now stuck with me until June.” Not the best speech I have every given, but it made everyone laugh a little which was good. Then there was the awkward moment of okay, now what. Do I go sit down or…? Thankfully, everyone was so nice and a girl (whose name is also ironically Hannah) waved me right over to sit by her.

It was smooth sailing from there! We chatted all math class, then walked together to gym. Gym was super fun because we had a new teacher, so we just got to play games and hang around. I spent this time talking to the rest of the girls in my class. There are 13 girls and 19 guys. The girls were so nice! They made sure to include me and helped translate what people were saying. We talked about what life in America was like, hobbies we did, siblings we had. Many of the girls are really into horseback riding and even have their own horses which they said I am more then welcome to meet whenever I want.

Once gym ended it was time for lunch. We walked to a sandwich place, chatting the whole way. Switching classes was one of the best decisions I could have made. Not that I did not like my old class, they were all very nice. The thing was we just did not have much in common and it was hard for me to meet people because the class only had 5 people. Now in a bigger class with over 30 I am much more in my element.

Once we finished our lunches we all parted our separate ways because we were done for the day. Mondays I only have 2 classes and start at 9 and get out at 11. Rough life I have here – I know.

The weather today was nearly 50F! Needless to say I was dying in my heavy winter coat and boots, so I decided to continue my fabulous day and go on a little shopping spree. I got some new shoes, a super cute red top, some coconut butter moisturizer (which smells like heaven in a bottle), and a brand new spring coat!

I was feeling great, so great in fact that I think I lost my mind a little bit because when I got home I decided to do the unthinkable – another Power Step class. I am pleased to say that this time it went much better! I was (almost) able to keep up, stayed in rhythm (sort of), and by the end I was able to (somewhat) walk home normally without collapsing from exhaustion.

For dinner Bea made a Thai Stir fry that I devoured. Now I am currently beached on the couch. Today was super exhausting, in a good way though. Tomorrow I start school at 9:30 and for once am actually really looking forward to it! Also, do not forget to stay tuned for Cooking With Hannah Tuesday tomorrow – I am thinking salmon perhaps :).

Swedish Word of the Day: Jag vet inte – phrase “I don’t know” This is probably the most used phrase by the students in my school. That and ”Jag är hungrig” (I am hungry)