I thought Kings, and Queens where only in Fairytales?

This day was one of many of my great days in Sweden, as I was sitting in class ( a normal day) I received a text message from another exchange student, she asked me if I was going to see the Royals? "What Royals?" I responded, she then explained that the King, Queen, Prince, and Princess (along with her new husband) were going to be in Helsingborg (my town) in 1 hours. I reacted the way any other would... I freaked out! So I left school, and went to see the 'Royals' Let me just say that it was with out any doubt absolutely amazing! It could have been cold, and rainy, and wet, and crowded with shouting people from Denmark, AND Sweden, and it still would have been the best experience ever... Oh wait it was!! There were many people from both Sweden and Denmark, (which made us very confused) and it was a cold and rainy day! Still, another one of those moments that were absolutely un- explainable! So above shows a picture (taken by me! Yes I was that close!!) of the Queen of Sweden which is in the brown jacket and black hat, and the King with the brown jacket. Sorry about the hand, everyone was waving at the King and Queen!

This photo some of you may know who they are.. I believe that it was so popular it was shown in US. The Princess Victoria, and her newly wed husband Daniel. Behind Daniel is Victoria's brother Carl. I may mention that this was the first time in 200 years that the Royals came from Denmark to Sweden, it was the 200th anniversary of the Swedish throne Bernadotte's (who was from France) going ashore in Sweden and entry into the Swedish royal family. (Bernadotte's had stayed in Denmark for some time to change his religion from Catholic to Protestant, because back then you could not enter Sweden if you were not Protestant.)

So anyway this day was like a fairytale to me!!

Göteborg

Now, I have been in Sweden for almost 3 months, and love it hear, it is getting quite cold, and very grey out all the time, the days are also getting shorter, with the sun going down earlier and earlier everyday, but the best part about this season is... the trees, they are all yellow, red, orange, and some green. I am used to seeing them those beautiful colors on the ground, but here they stay on the trees for quite some time, and it is great! I think even though it is grey and rainy a lot, and getting darker, it is still a beautiful season! Everything here has been going great, I am not just getting living day to day life, and can't complain with anything, I have a great host family, go to a great school, in which I have just changed to fashion design program. I am now in third year, which is the last year of high school here! So that means I will get a prom, and get to graduate! I have great friends in this class, so I am thankful for that! I have also joined a volleyball club, which is so much fun, of course it is quite different from what volleyball I am used to, I like it! & have made many friends from that as well!!

The next few pictures are from this weekend, I went to the 2nd biggest city in Sweden (Göteborg), the first is Stockholm the capital of Sweden, which I will being going there in 3 weeks time! Can't wait! Hope you enjoy!

In Göteborg, they have some great architecture throughout the city, in this picture it is a statue of Poseidon. It was in front of a very nice art museum.

Some very friendly people on the street, it is nice that you can fine this throughout Sweden!
A very "tasteful" Swedish tradition, it is a roll called Kanelbulle, most commonly eaten for 'Fika' this kanelbulle though was probably the biggest ever made (daily) it was bigger than an average human head! How cool! It tasted very great might I add!
& This was a very creative soap store we went in. It had many soaps that looked like foods, like a cheese soap, a chocolate soap, and strawberry, and also many pastry soaps!

School in Sweden

I think it was about time for me to post a picture of my school, so here it is, the map of my school! Well I think it looks just like a college campus, my school is Nicolai, and the other buildings are difference programs to choose- Nicolai is mostly the arts school. Olympia is where the smarties go to :) and tycho brahe, is... the scientists to be!! Some of these buildings I have not been in yet, so yes it is rather large.

Followers

To those of you that are my followers, that really means a lot to me! Thank you so much (tack se mycket!) You have no idea how much it means for me to log on to my blog and see how many of my friends back have just joined my blog! That just made my day! Love you guys!!

cyclocross racing

While walking in the forest this evening I saw a cyclocross racer coming my way, and it somewhat reminded me of my brother lane, who very much likes this sport, and while I was thinking of this, I did not have time enough to move out of the way of this biker, so he became very close to hitting me! Then I started to think, you are not allowed to ride bikes in the forest!

Wait WHAT!?! Yes that is right, I was just informed that you are NOT allowed to ride bikes in the forests! But what is the point for it, I mean I know you can jog, or walk the dog, but no biking- sure people still do it... But when caught are you in trouble? I did not understand this rule at all. No one wants to bike in the city with the traffic, and no ones wants to ride their bike around the block a million times, and for this sport cyclocross racing, YOU NEED TO BE IN THE FOREST! So I was not mad at all that this man almost hit me with his bike- even if it was against the law to be doing it!

Surströmming

Surströmming, or rotten herring, is a delicacy in the North or Sweden, and I just happen to get to try it, even though I am in the very South of Sweden. It was such a bad stench that the can had to be opened in a bucket of water! The smell I have to say was not bad (me being used to the smell of feedlots in Nebraska) But the taste was very strong, even with hard bread, potatoes, butter, sour cream, tomatoes and onion all mixed. I would have to say, it was.. 'different' But I don't think I would try it again if asked! I just had to keep in mind, it is a once in a life time thing, and many people don't get to say that went to a party to eat rotten herring. There is not one thing that I won't try in Sweden, because I got myself into this knowing I had to be very open- minded, how else will I find things out for myself? So far its goin good!
This was the whole set up!

Homework in Sweden

Well this was a very momentous moment, my first homework assignment in Sweden, had to take a picture, it was about what music means to me, and at the very bottom with the smiley face, I said "I hope you can understand this!" Which is why it's a good thing I wrote it in english on the back as well... call me a suck up, but.. it is a new school, IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY! Hopefully I won't need a translator at all on the next one!