"All good things come to she who waits"

I JUST GOT A HOST FAMILY!!!!!!!!!

I've been dancing around the house and making several phone calls to mom, dad, grandparents, STS and then 3 more calls to mom and dad again. I'm sooo happy, can't stop smiling. My host family is comprised of my host parents: Mike and Sonja and two very cute host sisters: Elena and Lauren. They live in La Porte, Indiana- 80 km from downtown Chicago & 20 km from Lake Michigan. I feel so lucky. And I'll be back for more details, now I am gonna go and send them an email.
Btw I leaving early Saturday morning...

Drive

I can't lie. I must admit that even though I already had thoughts about going to high school in the U.S.A. thanks to my dad. My thoughts grow stronger after seeing High School Musical, recorded from Disney Channel's film premier the night before. I mean come on, every 10 or 11 year old girl has a little dream about being Gabriella Montez. I know I did.

And as the lyrics-obsessed person I am. I admit that this song was on re-play a lot as the background sound to my daydreaming about attending the U.S. high school one day. So enjoy and feel the nostalgic flow. ;)

 

Waiting on a sunny day

Every time I hear the phone ring I run towards it, breathless and with my heart standing still I answer it with my most formal voice hoping it will be STS. Well, so far no luck.

At this point, everyday is an emotional roller coaster. I don't know how to handle the fact that I still haven't got a host family or even a date for my departure. It makes me go crazy not to be able to tell people anything when they ask about it (...or maybe it's the overdose of caffein from all the coffee I'm drinking that makes me go crazy?) But the fact does make me feel foolish to not have an answer when people ask, and they do A LOT. I have had people emailing calling and asking while I'm out running in the woods. Even my grandparent's neighbor is asking about where to and when I'm leaving.

"life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass it's about learning how to dance in the rain"

So I still don't know where in the U.S. i'll spend my high school year. At the pre-departure camp they said that if you don't know by now, you'll probably not know until August. The reason why is because American schools are closed during July month so even if you might have a host family by now the school will not be able to accept you. But still you don't get any information from the organization until everything is settle with both family and school and all that. So I guess there's nothing to do but be patient.  

 
LOL, this is what i'm doing while being patient. And yeah,  I know my cat loves me more deep down than what it looks like on the picture, or at least I love him...<3

That feeling

IT'S SUMMER BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It might be raining cats 'n' dogs and be cold as hell outdoor, but I'm sure I can hear birds singing and I know that it's finally summer break!! Next time I put my foot in a school it will be in the U.S.A. Every thing feels  so unreal and strange. I just said goodbye to the people that's been my classmates the last year and knowing that I'm gonna leave them already when I kind of just met them feels weird. When I get back they'll got their last year in school and they'll be jumping around in white dresses with whistles and student's cap while I have one more year left. But on the other hand, I'll experience and learn so much on my year abroad that I never could do if I would stay home. Having to spend one year more in school and with classmates one year younger then me doesn't bother me at all, it really means nothing to me in comparison to the amazing opportunity to get to spend one year in High school, in the U.S.

The dawn might be the end of the night but it's also the beginning, the start of something

A very late blog post about last weekend's pre-departure camp in Gothenburg with STS. I had such a blast. So many great people and so much fun. During the camp we  exchange students to-be got to meet former exchange students, got informed about rules that must be followed during the year, got prepared so we will not be discouraged and did role plays. 

Except that, we shared a 100 gram protein bar on 7 people, just to confirm it tasted like dry truffle, played cards in the middle of the night, made s'mors and picked at each other for pronouncing words wrong because of the dialect. 

On the sunday when we were meeting our parents for another lecture about our year abroad, this time together, everyone was so tired from the camp. After sitting front row at the lecture with half open eyes I had to move back in the row. It felt dumb with the STS crew looking at me and giving me information while I was trying so hard just to not fell asleep. Some people actually did fell asleep back in the row. LOL. 

If my year in the U.S.A. will be only half as fun as this weekend I'll have an awesome year!!! And by the way, the STS U.S.A. representative went to the same school as Adam Sandler, how cool is that!!!          

Photos by: Madeleine

One step closer

So excited for STS's Pre-depature camp in Gothenburg. It's going to be so much fun meeting other exchange students and former exchange students. Can't believe it's only 3 months left in Sweden for me before I'm off for my exchange year in the U.S.A!!!!!

I loose myself in a daydream

Ahhhh, I think I’m gonna explode if I don’t get to know were I’ll be placed soon. I’m checking my email like 3 times a day, checking the mailbox with butterflies in my stomach and every time the phone rings I get a little hope that it might be STS. But at the same time, the moment I’ll know where I’m gonna start high school this fall, where I’ll be spending 10 months away from my today life, everything will change. I will suddenly have a more clear view how my high school year might look like. Expectations and imaginations will die. And the most scary-/ exiting part…everything will feel so much closer and more real. Because right now it feels more like a dream faraway, an untouchable dream I’ve dreamt about since I was 7 years old! 

  

"Life is a journey, not a destination."

Just because I got accepted didn’t mean I could breathe out and relax, my dream was not that close, yet. I had a long way to walk and a lot to do on my way: Personal letter to my host family to be, Parents’ letter to the host family, teacher’s recommendation and headmaster’s signature, both from my former school and my new one, Photo album, doctors confirmation of a heath examination (just to inform you guys out there, the health examination is very profound).

But it wasn’t that hard at all. Once I got started I found it very enjoying doing it. Though I remember running to the mailbox just the minute before the mailman came to clear the  postbox. 

Some of the photos I chose for my photo album.  

The first day of forever

  Today I thought I would share the moment of my life: The day I found out I was accepted as an exchange student by STS.

My brother and I had spent the last days at my grandma and grandpa. When we got home my dad said that I had got a mail from STS. It had been 2 weeks since the interview and I never made a big deal of it, just started open it like any other mail. Because I thought they had sent me the summation of my interview that we asked them to send.  But when I opened the envelope my whole body froze. Cause on the paper inside it said with big, black leathers: Congratulation Emma! You have been accepted as an exchange student by STS.  I can’t explain the following seconds. My head, my stomach, my whole body, I didn’t knew if I should laugh or cry of happiness. I wanted to jump around and scream.   I GOT THE FEELING OF A DREAM COMING TRUE. 

Do not look back on happiness or dream of it in the future. You are only sure of today; do not let yourself be cheated out of it.

So pretty much ever since the start I have decided to have no expectations bout my year. That’s one of the reasons why I never wished a certain part in the U.S. to come to. I want to be open to everything and let everything happen as it comes. But that doesn’t stop me from dreaming and wondering about it. This year could be everything and anything. I mean, will I live in a pool house in The O.C., be the school’s basketball star’s tutor girl or why not eating lunch on the stairs as one of queen bee’s wannabe-girls? 

Your dream can not be true unless you wake up

Every time I think about the U.S. I get butterflies in my stomach. I just want to jump around like a little kid high on sugar. Sometimes at night I just lay awake hours after hours thinking about it, what it might be like, what I want to do while I’m there, what to pack and what I can do right now to be more prepared about my year. 

Question mark

To you who have an interview with an exchange organization in front of you, I hope you’ll find this blog post helpful in some way.     

When you apply for a year abroad with an organization there’s a formula you’ll have to fill in with questions about yourself.  It is questions about everything from hair color and height to brothers and sisters, what you like to do on your spare time and how many hours you spend in front of the computer everyday. What languages do you speak and how late are you allowed to be out on weekdays. The questions at the interview were for me quite similar.

·      Have you been to another country before?

·      Why do you want to be an exchange student?

·      Why did you choose the U.S.A.?

·      What do you want to learn from your year abroad?

·      What can you contribute with?

·      What will you do if you get homesick?

·      How do you feel about coming to a host family that isn’t a nuclear family?

·      How do you feel about host brothers and sisters?

·      Where in the U.S.A. would you rather not like to come and live?

More personal questions:

·      What do you like to do on your spare time?

·      What’s your favorite subject in school?

·      Do you have any part time jobs?

·      Will you contribute to the trip economically?

·      Are you a saver or spender with your money?

·      Describe yourself with 3 positive words and 3 negative words.  

Questions about family:

·      How many times a week do you eat dinner the whole family together?

·      Does your parents help you with your homework?

·      Do you and your brother fight a lot?

·      Do you help with the daily occupations at home?

That’s the questions I remember, but I hope it will give you a hint about how my interview was and how your might look like. I’m sure it depends a lot on what organization you are going with too. I am going with an organization called STS, which is the same organization my dad went with 30 years ago. 

Storytelling: The Interview

I thought I was gonna tell you about my interview with STS that I was on before I got confirmed as an exchange student.

Okay here we go. The day when the interview was going to take place, started with me running around the house, preparing everything for the “big moment” such as hundreds of copies of my application blanket, incase I loose one (or two..) choosing the right clothes, making sure everything was perfectly ready for my first big step to a whole new adventure.

My whole family was going with we and we decided to make this trip a family occasion since we had to drive a bit to where the interview was taking place.

I had the last past weeks tried to find information about questions that might be asked on the interview and how it would be, through different blogs. I remember reading some where that the whole interview was going to be in English. So I basically talked English with my mom the whole trip. 

I never think I’ve been so nervous as I was that day ever.I was literally shaking the whole time before the interview and I could barely eat anything for lunch. I remember my mom telling me it wasn’t such a big deal and there was nothing to worry about. “It’s just a interview with a normal person”. And I was like “Yeah, A person who’s gonna decide if my dream will come true, or not. This interview is about my destiny”. 

The clock kept ticking and the time was suddenly there. I met the girl who was going to interview me at the train station with my family by my side. We decided to go to the basement at Espresso House across the street she and I to start my individual interview.

With a nervous smile and a latte in my hand we sat down at a table in the corner and began with the interview. I will write about what questions she asked me later in my next post. The whole interview was in Swedish though but you have do an English test.

My part of the interview went pretty smooth and the girl who asked the questions was so nice and really made me feel less nervous and more confident.

The scariest part was when it was my parents turn to be interviewed. They had to answer similar questions to mine. I think it was to confirm that I told the truth and wasn’t trying to hide anything or what so ever. What made me nervous was that I wasn’t allowed to say anything during this part, and I was worried that they would say something completely different from what I had said. Not because I didn’t tell the truth, cause I did, but if they saw me in a different way or something.   

But just like my part, their part of the interview when perfectly fine. The only part of the interview that made me hold my breath and made my heart beat fast, was when she asked the final question: “Do you think your daughter is mature enough to be an exchange student?” My mum said clearly “Yes” while my dad was quiet a second, long enough to see that he was thinking about the question. He started answering with doubt in his voice “Well, I think she will be when the time comes in a year…but yes I do think she’s mature enough to go, he finally says and I can breath out.

Sharkshoes

"Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly." -Langston Hughes

So, one of the main reasons why I decided to restart my blog again was so people could follow me during my preparations for my exchange year in the U.S.A. 2012/2013 and still keep up with me while I’m gone.

Ever since I can remember I’ve dreamed about going to the U.S. as an exchange student. I even remember the very day, the moment when I Decided I was going to be it, no matter what!

In 2006 my family and I went on a road trip in the U.S.A. During that trip we also visited my dad’s host family from when he was an exchange student back in 84. We visited the high school he went to and the feeling I got when I walked the empty hallway is indescribable, and when we ran the tracks I knew that I would to anything and EVERYTHING to be on a high school arena again.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so sure on something that I am about this, and I’ve never questioned my decision and I hope that’s the way it will be all through my journey.  

                                                                         xoxo