Crayfish Party (Oct 21- 23)

Crayfish parties are a big part of Swedish traditions. They normally take place in the early Fall, but some are held in the latter Fall such as this one. Typical food at crayfish parties is crayfish (of course), cheese pie, bread, and for the adults snaps. Some of the other traditions are wearing funny hats (shown later) and singing silly drinking songs that when you finish, you are supposed to take a shot of snaps.

The party started before we had even arrived in Anderstorp, where the party was, because all the Stockholm kids had booked their tickets together for the trains and buses. The train ride was very enjoyable even though we were in an ancient train. That's like I said before all of my district was basically going and had all booked to be in the same car of the train. There were lots of stories swapped, gossip discussed, jokes made, and all the good things exchange students do.

Part of the Group

America, Italy, Brazil, Taiwan 

Lulu isn't a morning person

Switch Lulu seats so the other three of us could talk

Group grows larger

and larger

Never too many photos

The guys and the girls took turns having fika so we wouldn't have to bring our bags with us to the dining car so we could watch them. I had a hot chocolate, and cinnamon bun and Fernando had coffee and chocolate balls.

We then met up with another group from the South of Sweden, mostly Lund and Malmö. From there this large group took a bus together to Anderstorp where the Crayfish Party was going to take place. There we met with Kirstin, from Arizona, and her host mom, Kiki, who was hosting the event. From there, we walked with our bags to the house we were staying at. To simplify the housing situation, one the property there are two houses. One which is smaller and is like a guest house all the exchange students were staying in. While the adults and Rotex were sleeping in the other. That night for dinner we had some Swedish Pizza. Which I give a 4 out of 10 on the pizza scale which is pretty good considering most Swedish pizzas are like a 1 or a 2 that I have had. After that, we were left to our own devices for the rest of the night, so we decided to have a crazy dance party and play games.

Quentin's patented  way to carry your flag 

Surveying the lake I would swim in 

Ridge we climbed

Overhang we found

Lunch

The next morning we ate a large breakfast, and we assigned into our groups. The groups were for some sort of competition, but we didn't know for what. Once everyone was around, we were carpooled out into the country near the woods. Once everyone was there, we started a hike and found out what the groups were for. Along the way of our hike, we would stop and read questions and have to write down the answers we thought we right. Once we completed our hike, the answers would be tallied. The team with the most correct answers would win.

After my group had finished hiking, we decided to go exploring with some of the others. Eventually, we ended up climbing a steep but not so high ridge. When we had reached the top, we decided to explore the top a bit more and then descend to the bottom. Upon descending, we ended up finding an outcropping and decided it was a good place to take photos.We then walked back to the meeting area there we had some sausages for lunch. After lunch, I decided it was a "good idea" to go swimming. It more of a joke because on the invite to the crayfish party it said bring your swim trunks to go swimming. I however decided. what the heck, I'm going to do it. Needless to say I didn't last in water very long, considering it was 38 degrees Fahrenheit outside. It would have been fine too....

If someone would have not hide my clothes while I was in the water. Luckily we did have a fire and my clothes did eventually turn up. After that, we walked back to where the cars were parked to ride back to the house to prepare for the crayfish party. 

Kate Photo Bombing as always

Anne from Quebec and I

The party was extremely fun, and I think the photos will do a better job than I ever will be able to show this. For this reason, the rest of this blog will just be photos of us all with captions explaining as we go.

We figured out that the
plastic decorations made
good fake piercings

Funny hats like I said at
the beginning

Bread and cheese, crayfish,
meatballs, bacon, cheese
pie with caviar cream topping

Close up

Happy, Happy, happy

Pose of the Night

Games because why not

After the party, we returned to the house and partied all night long. In the morning everyone was extremely tired because of this. Gradually as the day went on people started to leave, and eventually, the giant herd known as Stocky Squad. The trip back seemed extremely long because of how tired we were. This was one of the best event onganized by Rotary so far. 

Morning After

Flag Photo