Back in Sweden

Been home for a week now, has gone by really fast. Been busy so haven't had time to update my blog... My flight back to Sweden went well even though I had to reschedule as my first flight from Phoenix to London was delayed. When I after three flights finally landed in Gothemburg my whole family and a few friends were waiting for me at the airport. It was so nice so see them again. They waited for me with flowers, chocolate, and a sign saying welcome home! I'm so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends.
I've spent the rest of the week hanging out with friends or family. Finished packing up my suitcases yesterday, it was hard to fit all my clothes in my tiny closet but it worked.

The weather so far has been pretty nice, I've worn shorts and dresses without freezing too much and I tanned yesterday. Thought it was gonna be much harder to adjust to the cold after a year in the desert. It's really weird to speak swedish again, I keep translating sentences and expressions from english to swedish which doesn't always sound right... I start to get used to be in Sweden again but it's still kind of hard to realize sometimes. Nothing has really changed here, it feels almost like time froze while I was gone.
So far it has been great to be back home but it has also made me realize how good some of the things were back in Arizona. The things I miss the most are my american family, the dog, friends, speaking english and food (both my mom's and some reastaurants).

Going on exchange has been one of the best things I've ever done in my life but also one of the hardest. I'm so thankful to all the people who helped me during the year and made it so great. I couldn't have had a better american family, so happy to have them in my life.

waiting for me @ the airport! (my dad and sister were there but are not in the picture)

Pool Party!

Yesterday was my last full day in America, at least for this time. I spent the night at Mette's house and then we went to the YFU pool party. This was the last YFU event, we got our yearbooks and spent time signing them, talking, eating and relax in the pool. Was a great time and I hate to have to say goodbye to all these wonderful people that have made this year so great!
At night me and my american parents went to a greek restaurant we like for one last dinner. Didn't sleep much last night, laid in my bed thinking that next time I sleep in a bed is gonna be in Sweden. OMG!!!! Can't believe this year is over. Anyway my flight is delayed now so we'll see When I get home.. Gonna talk to them at the airport and try to reschedule my flight.
Bye Arizona, Hi Sweden!!!

Signing yearbooks!

Thailand, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Denmark!

Emilia, Finland and me

Benna, Denmark

End of my exchange...

This year has come to and end. Now that I've realized I'm going home in two days I don't really know what to feel anymore. The last month I've been excited about going home but now I don't know. Part of me is really sad to leave, it sucks to say goodbye to all the nice people that have made this year so great. Most of them I probably never gonna see again :'( At the same time I'm sooo excited to see everyone at home again, can't wait!
Yesterday I went bowling and laser tagging with some friends from school; Austin, Rihanna, Nicole and Keaton. It was fun but sad to have to say goodbye... And my bowling skills have definitely  not improved over my year in America that's for sure haha!
Tuesday through Friday this week have mostly been spent packing and cleaning. I finally fit everything in my three suitcases, and trust me it was almost impossible, but mission completed! Then I've spent the rest of the time cleaning haha my parents call me Cinderella (as a joke though) :p To help packing and moving kind of makes it easier to leave, so I'm happy I got to help.

Loading truck

First room cleaned!

Sweden here we come!

6 Days left!

I now have only 6 days left here in Arizona... OMG!!!
Friday night I went to the park close to my house where there was a DJ playing, food, and lots of people of all ages hanging out. The lights were on so that people could play basketball, volleyball or soccer or just hand out. I went with Rihanna and then we met Amani, Sarah, Shannon and some other nice people there. Had fun and it was nice to see so that so many people went! It was Amani's church organizing it but it was open for everybody which was nice. The temperature at night right now is really nice, when the sun is shining is way to hot! But I enjoy it as much as possible in these last few days!

One way I've enjoyed the sun was by going with some of my exchange students friends to a resort Sunday-Monday. Today was Bruna's last day so her family invited all of us to hang out one last time. We went to Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in Phoenix. It was Bruna, Domi, Mette, Gabi, Sarah and me who went. The resort was really nice, nice pools and nice rooms! We tanned, swam and relaxed. Bruna's and Domi's cousins were also there so we where total around 15 people I think, had a lot of fun! We spent several hours in the "lazy river", where you sat in tubes and just went around with the flow, it was awesome!

Now back to reality, the house starts to be pretty empty, a lot o stuff are packed already and furniture  taken down. My suitcases start to be so full that I probably have to go and get a third one tomorrow.
Take care everyone!

Last Day of High School

Yesterday (Thursday) was my last day at Shadow Ridge High School... Both Wednesday and Thursday were final days so we got out at 12.15. We only ha three classes/day that were 1,5 long and no lunch... Got good scores on all my finals :) The difference to school in Sweden here is that they don't do anything special for the last day of school, you just go home like a normal day...
Part of me is very happy the school year is over! Now I have 3 months of break and no need to get up at 6 in the morning no more. But it was sad to say goodbye to people... Anyway after the last bell rang I said goodbye to some people and then went home with my friend Amani. Her mom is a hairdresser so I got my hair cut. After that we all went to Walmart to buy food, it's dangerous to buy food the last day of school... Rihanna came over as well and we watched movies, ate and just hang out. Best way of celebrating the end of the school year! Love those girls gonna miss them :(

Diane, Sarah and Amani eating lunch

Me and Becca, last lunch together :(

Me and Kaylyn

Me, Alex and Cherokee

San Francisco

Went to san Francisco last weekend to take the dog, she is now staying with Joe (my host brother who lives in San Francisco) over the summer as my parents are moving to Florida.
We left early Friday morning and drove for 12 hours, long drive but went by fast. We had a good dinner at Joe's place and Chianti (the dog) seem happy to see her new home!
Saturday we spent the day walking around in the city, last time I was there I din'd see much so it was very nice :) We took the ferry from Oakland to the centrum of the city (went right under the Bay bridge), walked to pier 39 and saw the sea lions and went to china town (where I met two swedish people haha). Then we took "the Bart" home (that's what they call the subway in San Francisco).
For dinner we ordered some awesome pizza and then said goodbye to our lovely little dog.. :(
After a good breakfast (had some amazing american pancakes) Sunday we were on the road again, 12 hours later we were back in Arizona :)

Breakfast! Me, Joe, Chloe (his girlfriend)

My american parents :)

Pier 39, sea lions

This is a water fountain you could walk in

China town!

China town

Bay bridge seen from the ferry

Found my own insurance company ;)

Pretty houses

China town

Track Banquet

Last night (Wednesday) I went to the Track banquet. Here every sport has it's own banquet at the end of the year. All the athletes come with their parents and there is food to eat, diplomas, Varsity letters and awards are handed out and it's simply a nice night to celebrate the athletes after the season. Most people also dressed up a little and so did I. I went with my dad, our banquet was in the school cafeteria. It took forever to hand out everything as our track team is pretty big but it was still fun! Officially I wasn't allowed to be in varsity as I'm a foreign exchange student so I got my JV diploma when they called my name but coach still gave me a Varsity letter later as a souvenir which was nice :)

Today was the last school day for the seniors... It was sad to say goodbye :( I still have a week left of school, although they are all half days so it will go by fast!

Me and Cherokee, one of my friends from Track

Me and my coach, Coach Garcia :)

An other of my ceramics work, this one I gave away to my friend Cierra

300 DAYS!!!

After talking on skype with my family in Sweden for a little while Saturday Emilia came over. She just got a tattoo, so cool! Makes me want one too... We spent the day by my neighbors' pool, tanning and swimming, gotta say life is pretty good! Then we had an awesome dinner and after that strawberries and movie. Sunday was spent at the mall with both Emilia and Gabi. Probably the last time going sopping before I leave so I made sure I bought enough stuff so that my suitcases don't have to stay empty going home haha ;) The temperature is now around 100F (38C) every day, summer is officially here as we have turned on the AC again! In 19 day I'll be on a plane to Sweden again, unbelievable! And today I've been overseas for exactly 300 days!!!!!

Yearbook signing!

This week was my last full week of school, CRAZY!
Thursday we got our yearbooks, If you had bought a yearbook (which I had) you could get out of 6th hour for $3 and go to the "yearbook signing party". The party was in the cafeteria and a lot of people went so that was fun. It was fun to have time to sit down with friends and look in the yearbook and sign each others books. Yearbooks are an important part of high school in America. It's a class you can take, and they work on the yearbook all year. It's a book full of pictures, quotes and stories about all the events that happened in school during the year, all the sports are in there and pictures of everybody. Fun souvenir to have!

This week was also Shadow gives back week, in Student Council we worked on different charity projects. Me, Kaylyn and Sarah raised money for the Linus Project which helps children that have been through traumatic experiences in life. We raised money with "pie your teacher in the face" "game". So we got some teachers that wanted to participate and had them cover their clothes with plastic bags and wear goggles. Then students could pay $1, $2, or $3 (depending on how close they wanted to stand) and trow a "pie" in the teachers' faces! They weren't real pies, they were paper plates full of whipped cream :) It was fun, even though it took me and Kaylyn an hour to clean up all the whipped cream... ;)

Teachers get pied in the face!

Bowl I made at school

My latest ceramics project

Pre- Departure Orientation

This weekend was the final orientation with YFU before going home. This year has gone by so fast. The orientation was at Tanya's house (my area rep). It started Saturday morning and then most of us stayed the night. We are totally 16 exchange students in Arizona (from YFU) and everybody came except from one. We talked about going home and saying goodbye to our lives here. Personally I have now exactly 4 weeks left here. For lunch we had a pot luck, I brought salad. Then we worked on yearbook pages as well. At night we went to see the new Iron Man movie at the drive in movie place. Weather is perfect for a drive in movie now, not to warm and not to cold (30C) :)

Today (Sunday) we just hang out, worked some more on the yearbook pages and went and got frozen yoghurt. Most of the people I'm gonna see at the pool party June 1st, but not Anna since she will be going ti Wisconsin then... So this was the last time I saw her before leaving :( Hopefully I'll go to Finland this summer and visit her and the two other girls from Finland. This is the part that really sucks about exchange, first you have to say goodbye to all the people when you leave your home country and then again you have to say goodbye to people when you leave your host country.

Drive in movie

Me and Gabi

Benna, Emilia, Anna 

Gabi and Tanya

Anna, Gabi and me

Simon and Mette