Weeks 6 and 7 Update from Växjö Sweden

I am so sorry I haven't posted lately. Nothing has really happened to cause great excitement lately. Last week, I had class on both Tuesday and Thursday. This class is the Swedish language night class, which Mariah attends with me. It is a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I'll just have to work harder to make my Pass with Distinction (that's the highest grade here; they don't use ABCD or F).

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On Wednesday the 20th, Mariah started piano lessons at Växjö Kulturskola, Växjö cultural school of the arts. It is a very hard to get into school of music, theatre, and art. Local students have to to be 7 years old to attend and have to audition and interview to get in. Her teacher, Ulrick, agreed to keep her as a student after her first meeting/ lesson. Before this Mariah was taking lessons with a concert pianist from Stockholm that lives outside the Växjö area. It was just too far away and the language barrier was too great. During next week's lesson, I will take pictures and post more details.

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This past weekend, we decided we were tired of traveling. We spent the entire weekend at home in and around the apartment and the university. What boring people we were. Oh well, everyone needs lazy time once and a while.

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This week began with a welcome dinner at the Teleborg Castle. This dinner was presented to the exchange students from the town of Växjö. The mayor and vice mayor were in attendance, as well as many other people in the community including the director of education in Växjö. She was very interested in our perspectives about Mariah school, Furutå förskola, and her teachers. The dinner wasn't fancy. It was mainly sandwiches and finger foods. Then a guided tour of the castle.

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Other than the normal, going to class for me and going to school for Mariah then coming our apartment to relax and going to the park or the lake, we have not done much this week. We are leaving tomorrow for Copenhagen Denmark. We are traveling there by train and will stay at our favorite hotel chain here the Scandic hotels. We will be back late Sunday and will update then!

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We love and miss you all. Thank you for thinking of us and remembering us while we are gone. We can't wait to see everyone in December. There are only 85 days left in our amazingly wonderful trip of a lifetime. Thank you God, mom, and dad, for this oppurtunity, for your love and support.

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Happy is the man who finds wisdom and understanding for the gain from it is better than gain from silver and profit better than gold. - Proverbs 3:13,14

Weekend Excursion to Göteborg, Sweden

Going into the weekend we had no plans to go anywhere. We were going to spend a weekend at our apartment and just hang around in Växjö. However, mom talked me into going and doing something. So, late Friday we decided we would go to Göteborg for the weekend. I am so glad I listened to mom; we had a blast! A little information on Göteborg. Göteborg is the second largest city in Sweden with a population of 467,000 people.. It is also the biggest port in Scandinavia with 12,000 ships and 4 million ferry passengers arriving each year! Göteborg is considered a green city. It has 175 square meters of green space per city resident and is home to the enormous National Science Discovery Center. The NSDC is over 10,000 square meters; we will have to visit this next trip! However, the primary reason for our trip was Liseberg. Liseberg is the biggest amusement park in Scandinavia with over 3 million visitors a year (mainly in early summer and during the Christmas season).

We traveled by train from Växjö to Göteborg and then back again. It was a nice train ride and a straight shot with no train changing. The train is called Kust to Kust (coast to coast). The one way trip takes about 3.5 hours. Central station in Göteborg is really pretty. It doesn’t look like any other train station that I have seen. It’s about the same side as the Jacksonville mall. It has 16 platforms and there is a train in all of them most of the time. Mariah slept almost the entire way back. We stayed at the Scandic hotel. This is the same hotel chain as we stayed in our first night in Sweden. This chain caters to children and is run by the Hilton. They have children’s playrooms in all their hotels, children stay free in the parents room, teenagers can get adjoining rooms of their own for discount prices, there is always a nice indoor pool (that we never seem to have time for). They even have a children’s mascot…Siggy the hedgehog. They also provide a smorgasbord breakfast! All this for less than 70:- (kronors) (about 10 dollars) more than a single room in a youth hostel.

Across form the train station is Nordstan. Nordstan is the biggest shopping mall in Scandinavia with over 150 shops not including restaurants all under one roof. I took pictures, it’s not a really special looking building but I was trying to really show how big it is. It took three pictures just to get the front of the building. There is even a hotel attached to the mall. We spent several hours here before our train left to return home. However we only purchased a few items, including a Christmas present. Mariah got a baby doll. She has been missing hers and it was on sale! I actually picked out some girly jewelry for me! The main part of our trip was at Liseberg. We arrived at the park about 2.30 pm and didn’t get back to the hotel until after 10 pm. Mariah had so much fun. It was a sheer delight to see the big smile that was plastered to her face. She is finally tall enough to ride the most of the rides. There were only about 7 rides she was to short for and of course those were the ones she wanted to ride on. Mariah’s favorite ride was the small rollercoaster. She rode it and rode it and rode it! She also rode some other rides that I thought might have been a little rough after we got started on them. We went on the Ferris wheel too. We were able to take some really cool pictures from there. The one ride I really wanted to go on was the wooden rollercoaster, but Mariah was 20 cm to small. Oh well. They also had a storybook ride that was really neat. You sat in boats that were on a suspended track and moved through the storybook castle. The stories in the castle were the Emperor’s New Cloths, Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin, Cinderella, and some others we didn’t know. The mascot for the park is a neon green bunny rabbit that can be found all around the park. Next month they close the amusement park and change things around for the Christmas festival that starts in November. We are planning on going back to Göteborg at least one more time before we leave Sweden. There is so much to do we could easily spend a week there! Hope everyone at home is doing well. We love and miss you all. Thank you for your prayers and your support. There is only 95 days left in our amazing adventure!

Hello Again from Växjö Sweden

Well, it is very late here and I should be asleep right now but for some reason I am not sleepy. I paid rent for the first time today....would you beleive the bank here (where I have to pay rent at) charged a service fee for paying rent inside the bank. Oh well, here the is a price for everything. When you purchase soda or anything in plastic bottles and al. cans you pay extra for the bottle and can. However, the extra is returned to you if you bring the cans and bottles in for recycling. This week has seemed to fly by. On Monday, my squirt decided to she needed an extra mommy day. So she stayed home with me and we just kind of hung around the campus. Tuesday and Wednesday not much happened. Other than on Wednesday night, Mariah started piano lessons with on of the national concert piano players. Thursday, I started my first class!! It didn't start until 5pm (our time of course). It is a Swedish language course. mariah gets to take it too! After class, we went to the local Baptist church for new-in-town introduction night. The church service is much much different than I am use to. On Sundays, they gather at 10am. First, they pray and do announcements. Then they sing some songs. Then it is time for Feekuh (I am not sure of the spelling but I am spelling it as it is pronounced). Feekuh is a customary light snack that the Swedish observe several times daily, alteast in once in the morning and once in the afternoon. After feekuh is the serman, a couple songs, and a closing prayer. Oh well, it is the closest church in likeness to anything that I know. Alteast it a place I can meet with other Christians and worship our Lord and Saviour. Oh well, it is very late here and we have a train to catch in the morning. We are of to one of the largest amusement parks in Europe. It is located here in Sweden about 3 hours by train. Here is a weblink if you would like to take a look and of course I will post pictures when we get back! http://www.liseberg.com/NR/exeres/ABE9129C-ECE1-49AF-9DA7-E562867C1E07.htm We love and miss you all. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Adventures in Växjö Sweden Week 4

On Friday, we went on our second trip. This time we went to the Skånes Djurpark- The Zoo of Nordic Animals. This trip turned out to be very frustrating. It started off by waiting for a bus that never showed up. Then missing our train and having to wait 2 hours for the next train. The arriving in Höör after the mid-day bus to the zoo. When we finally arrived at the zoo we only had 1.5 hours to spend before the return trip to our apartment, which was just as bad as the trip there...

At the zoo we saw many different animals, all of which are native to Scandinavia. Mariah's favorite were the different breeds of horses, the moose, the reindeer, and the seals. The moose were just a big as we imagined. The horses were some of the biggest I have ever seen. The zoo has horse riding on the lake front beach but we missed it this time. We plan on going back to the zoo soon for another visit when we can stay all day, especially since the pass you purchase to get in is good for the entire year!

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Every Saturday, we do our weekly grocery shopping. It is an adventure all its own. We empty our bookbags and gather up plastic bags that we purchased our first week here. Then we head out for our .5 mile walk to the local supermarket ICA, pronounced eeekuh. At ICA, as with all shopping centers here you have to rent a shopping cart or just carry a basket and you have to bag your own groceries in your own bags that you bring or purchase at the cash register. Once finished we head back to the apartment; Mariah rolling her book bag full of groceries, me wearing my bookbag and carrying atleast two other bags. But atleast we eat. I have talked to some exchange students that eat nothing unless they can purchase it out and others who live on cereal and sandwhiches. Here is pictures of our full weeks groceries put away of course.

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Also last night was the big VIS Welcome Dinner and party. We both got dresed up with our nails done and make up on. We weren't even late!!! We were early. We had to purchase our own drinks. We were greeted by two hyper Vikings, who provided the entertainment for most of the night. We were served first a shrimp and crayfish salad, second course was elk, potatoes au gratin, and steamed veggies. The final course, desset, was a lingonberry serbet, creme fraishe mouse, and a crunchy cookie biscuit. After the food the vikings invite people to come on stage and perform something from their home country. I tried to talk Mariah out of it but she had to go on stage and sing! It was a song from ballet/tap class that she took over the summer with one of her best friends Bailey! Everyone thought she did very well. We came on home around 10pm our time and skipped the after party at the campus pub.

Other than all this, the week has just been another week with the exception of Thursday, when we were followed around by a local reporter for the Smalandposten.. I start my first class this coming Thursday. Also on Thursday we are going the the local Baptist church for the New-In-Town open house and dinner. Other than that there are no plans for this week. I do hope everyone is doing good. I thank everyone who have been keeping in touch via email, phone, and skype. It really helps keep the homesickness away when you can have some type of contact with those you love and care about. I do ask that you remember dad in your prayers as he goes into eye surgery on Monday, mom who goes for blood work and check up on Thursday, Grandma with her upcoming hip surgery, and Aunt Paula who goes to Duke on Monday the 18th. As always, I pray that God keeps you all safe, healthy, and happy. We send our love! Only 102 days until our return!

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When in doubt turn to God, he is the only one who can provide strength, love, compassion, knowledge, wisdom, and happiness, all at the same time. He is only a short prayer away!

Second Växjö Update!

Hello to our family and friends that we miss very much. We have finally gotten use to the time change and many of the differences here in Sweden. I have actually gotten use to using public transporation (buses and trains) to get around when the distance is just to great for pat and charlie (right and left feet). We have gotten use to the 6 hours time difference between here and home. Finally, we are getting use to the food differences. As for food, there is quite a few things that are the same with just different names. Soda is much more expensive and there is no Mt. Dew or Dr. Pepper. There is no Gatorade or Kool-aide; and the juice boxes here are 100% juice twice the size and you get 3 boxes for roughly $2.75. We like the bread and milk much better, they doesn't have all the perservatives and additives, we have to purchase fresh every 3 or so days. Would you also believe the people here don't really know what goldfish or fruit snacks are. All the meals we have had prepared for us have been really good. Mariah gets hot traditional Swedish meals everyday at lunch. She has liked most things other than potatoes but she has really never like potatoes unless they are french fries. The one thing I wish she hadn't tried that she really didn't like was blodkorve or blood sausage.

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This weekend was spent with orientation stuff. We had meetings and activities planned for us on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There is 350+ students studying abroad here at Vaxjo University. These students represent 40+ countires. There are 3 of us here from NC, with me and Kira both from ECU. Go Pirates!

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This weekend we are going to the Skånes Djurpark- The Zoo of Nordic Animals. Here is a link if you would like to know more about it. http://www.skane.com/cmarter/cmarter.asp?doc=1952

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On this Saturday we are to have dinner with all the other exchange students, their fadders (buddies), Vaxjo International Student Association, and the international department. It is a traditional welcome dinner, I think.

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Well got to run. We love you and send you hugs and kisses. We miss you and can not wait to see you in December! We only have 107 days left!