First of all I would like to wish my most favorite sister a happy birthday. I hope her day is wonderful and I wish I could be there with her. And now for my journal entry:
So I have been here in Sweden for almost a week now and there has been no snow in sight. Today, finally it snowed!!! For most of day it snowed here but nothing has really accumulated because the ground is warm and it was very wet sticky snow. None the less, it was snow and it was very pretty to walk around in.
Again I didn’t wake up until almost twelve and now I don’t think it is because of jet lag anymore but because of the curtains in my room, they are very thick and dark and don’t let any of what light there is in. This is very nice for taking a nap or to sleep all day but I have limited hours of light to explore the city so I like to get up somewhat early. So tomorrow I will plan to leave them open a bit and maybe the dim light that comes up around 9 will wake me. The snow was a nice change from the rain and clouds today but I still really miss the sun. Maybe someday I will get used to this weather but right now it is really bothering me.
Today I went to Solna Central to explore. I have been there before but only to the mall when it was dark so today I walked around the town when it was light. I am disappointed to report that there was not much to see there. It is mostly a residential area and I think maybe a kind of poor part of greater Stockholm. The apartment buildings here are huge though and there is row after row of them. I guess that is how they fit so many people into such a small place.
While I was there I did some grocery shopping and this time bought real food like salad stuff and veggies and rice and even a piece of salmon to cook, not just peanut butter and jelly. So tomorrow I will cook a good meal for dinner.
My big news for the day is that I joined a gym. Lina, a Swedish girl that I have met that lives on my hall, told me about a gym that she goes to that is real close so I went to check it out today. It is very close, only two buildings over and a very nice woman and her husband run it. She gave me brochures and gave me a tour and we had a nice talk about where I was from and why I chose Sweden. When you are a foreigner by yourself it is amazing how meaning full it is when I local is nice to you and really cares about who you are. Anyway, I got a membership for the time that I will be here. The gym has lots of classes like aerobics, boxing, spinning, yoga, core and others as well weight lifting area and cardio equipment. It also has a sauna in the locker room and tanning beds available. It really seemed perfect for me and it is very comforting to find a place to do the things that you used to do at home.
So tonight I went to my first yoga class there. I was walking over, feeling a bit nervous of course, and then it dawned on me that the class would be taught in Swedish. This made me even more nervous but I was already on my way so said screw it and went anyway and had my first Swedish yoga class. It wasn’t that bad, I was able to do all of the moves by copying others and listening really closely to the instructor for words I recognized. Yoga is suppose to be very relaxing but I spent so much thought and energy trying to not stand out and do the right things that it wasn’t very relaxing but I still enjoyed it. After class I felt like I just had to tell the instructor that I couldn’t speak English so I went up to her (a beautiful, tall, blond and very fit Swedish woman) and told here. I just wanted her to know so that if I was doing something totally wrong that might be why and she would have to correct me in English. She laughed and said I did fine but I would have enjoyed it more if I could have understood her. I agree and hopefully will soon be able to understand some of what she says.
After class I came home and made some dinner. While I was cooking I met a guy that lived on my hall. His name was Christian and he is from Norway but has lived here for a year and a half now. I like spending time in the kitchen because you get to meet other people. Also I like making friends that I made all on my own, not ones because they are other exchange students or because they have to be but just because you met and you likes each other. Then I don’t feel like such a queer foreigner. Haha
So now I am going to watch some Seinfeld on DVD to feel more like an American and go to bed early. Talk to you later.
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