The Swede Life Of Gavin: September 2016

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Day 7/8: (Aug 11/12)

The last two days of the camp were pretty uneventful hence the combination of the posts and lack of pictures. The main event of Thursday was finally getting information on the Rotary sponsored camps. This was very exciting, but also very sad. This is because we were informed that the biggest trip and one of my main reason for wanting to go to Europe has a possibility of being canceled. A.K.A. the Europe Ramble Tour. I'm not going to go in depth into what the tour all entails, but the basis of the tour is visiting a lot of famous European cities and landmarks in a span of 2-2 1/2 weeks. It's not 100% confirmed that we wouldn't have it, but the Rotarians there didn't give us a lot of hope either. They thought the tour was too expensive (the kids pay for it), wasn't fun for the kids (everyone I have talked to loved it), and that Europe isn't safe anymore. The last one I can understand to a certain extent, but we are just as likely to get hurt in some of our home countries as Europe. Also, there are obviously safer parts than other so remove and add some countries/ destinations. There are two more trips planned Are and Kiruna. Are will happen soon (I'm writing this in the way past bc I'm behind like two months and Are has already happened). Are will be camping hiking in the mountains and Kiruna is a winter excursion up to northern Sweden to see the ice hotel.

Friday completed the week, and it was time to pack for departure. (Luckily I didn't forget anything) At this point, I wasn't starting to feel well, so most of the day was pretty miserable for me. However it did have its highlights; last day in Sundsvall proper, listening to former inmates rap (was through a government program) buying my very Swedish Fjallraven Kanken bag, a really cheap salmon dinner at a popular and expensive restaurant in Sundsvall for 60 Sek or $6.99 in USD,

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Day 6: (Aug 10)

Day six was probably one of the best and most fun days out of camp. It started out with breakfast, then a short lesson, and ended with a WATERPARK! We were so pumped to go that no one paid attention in class. When it was time for the lessons to end everyone rushed out of the room to grab their suits and head to the vans. For most of the time left in the day was spent at the water park having fun until we had to return home to the hotel. The fun, however, wasn't at an end. The Rotarians had organized a movie night for us featuring two Swedish indie films one of which had been filmed in Sundsvall, where we were at. The first movie (sorry I can't remember the names) was thought provoking and beautiful in the way you were always guessing. The other had lots of action and was about two Swedish teens going Bonnie and Clyde up Sweden. It had a surprising ending. The movies were great, but the company and cuddling were better.

P.S. I have video as well, but blogger won't let me upload them because they are too big. There are ways around it, but I can't be bothered.

Most important language card

Missing Someone

Still Missing Someone

Found them

Dark Photo Bright Times

Hot Tub After Swimming Outside

In 50 degree Weather

My Face... *Facepalm

Sara does photos better than me

Relaxing

No water on the lens... FINALLY

Squad minus Sara
hiding behind me

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Language Camp Day 4/5: (Aug 8/9)

Since not a lot happened on days four and five I'm going to combine them into one post. Day 4 has very few photos because most of the day was lessons and the exchange students hated every second of it. At this point, we just wanted to socialize with each other and cuddle... lots of cuddling.

Always time for selfies with the

Day 5 had a little more action. After a long day of classes (AGAIN), we finally managed to sneak away from the hotel. The hotel we were staying at had bikes that you could use for free, so we decided to take them a spin to downtown Sundsvall.

#BikeSquad

Taking Photos... LIKE ALWAYS

Crappy photo great memory

Have I Mentioned Photos before?

No Caption Needed

After we were done messing around in Sundsvall proper, may it been trying on hats, looking for pins, taking photos, or just being a typical exchange student. We started back to the hotel. Sadly the ride back was much harder on the way back than on the way there. This is because, like most of Sweden, Sundsvall is quite hilly and on the way back we had to go uphill. This ride would later be dubbed the Tour de Sundsvall. After, the first couple of blocks the whole group minus the Italian and I decided to walk back. As we trekked forward, our legs started to burn more and more and eventually I was walking my bike on the steepest parts. The Italian I have to give props to managed to bike the whole way back, but we manage to arrive at the same time to tie in the Tour de Sundsvall. We arrived just in time too because it gave us just enough time to clean up before dinner. Afterward we were so tired we all just crashed in one room and talked until everyone was about to sleep.

Fresh Fish Dinner

Amy who I met at Grand Rapids

Canadians...

And Val #NorthAmerica

Monday, September 12, 2016

Language Camp Day 3: (Aug 7)

The day started off with breakfast and classes until 2:30. At this point the late night exchange student partying was starting to set in and we were very tired during classes.

Katie (in orange) was our spirt animal

Very Tired and Bored

Everyone was so excited when classes were FINALLY done for the day and we were told that we were going on an excursion to the lake. Everyone quickly darted out of the class room to grab their bathing suits.