Calvin College Part 1 of ? Pin Exchange

This last weekend was Calvin College and there is too much information to be put in one blog post. For that reason, I will be blogging about it for a while. This is also partially to help me keep up with my new quota of 3 posts a week.

One of the highlights for the outbounds is the pin exchange. That is because it allows us to have a chance to start filling up our jackets and that I did. I went from pretty bare jacket to a now heavy jacket. A tip I would like to recommend to outbounds bring all of you pins because you will need them. (For you who don't know the pins represent more than just a fun thing to put on blazers. They are a metaphor for the exchange of ideas, cultures, and friendship between the students.)

All the pins I received at Cavin College

Before

After My jacket was so much heavy that it could no longer hang and my mom had to hold it.

Catchup AGAIN!

It is starting to become evident to me that this whole blogging twice a week thing is going to be harder than I thought. :/ To be fair however this was a holiday weekend, and I was very busy, so I cut myself some slack.

Saturday was a pretty lazy day for me at the start. I spent most of the day working on one of Mike's "amazing" project. However at the end of the day, we went up to my Aunt's lake cottage for some good food and fireworks. I did have a photo of one of many plates of food, but it got deleted mysteriously. I do still have a photo of the sunset, so food for your eyes and not your stomach.

Sunday was much busier. My (half) sister who lives hours away came to visit with two of my nieces. Sadly however the older of the two got sick on the way up, so most of their time up here was spent waiting for a doctor. When they finally saw a doctor she had some contagious disease. This meant she couldn't see us. However, the baby did get to make an appearance. I was happy to see her because I hadn't met her in real life yet and wanted to before I left. We ended the day by launch some fireworks off after they had left of course (didn't want to scare the baby).

Monday slowed down a bit, but not much. For lunch, I went back up to my Aunt's house for another party. This time, we had ribs among other things. After that, my dad and I went to practice parallel parking. (I need to work on this considering the time span left until my tentative departure date.) When were done with that we moved on to assembling my dad's new and bulky Milwaukee Toolbox. It was a heavy job for weak and skinny me, but we got it done.

That's all that I need to catch up on.... Adjo!!!

Laptop Saves the day

So today I am supposed to put out another blog post and I wasn't going to have anything to post. That was until my LAPTOP ARRIVED! The best part about it, other than it being super powerful and great, is that my very generous aunt bought it for me. This really helped me out because without her buying it for me I wouldn't have been able to make enough money by working to be able to purchase a laptop and a camera. 

Something I guess is also worth mentioning is that yesterday I went to the dentist for the last time before I left and I went to my last orthodontist appointment today! :)

Adjo

ACT and SAT

If you're going on exchange before you graduate, I would highly recommend taking the SAT and ACT before you leave. This is because the tests are important to getting accepted into colleges. Even if you don't do well on these tests it will give you an idea of how you stand and what you may or may not want to study. Also, if you don't take them before you leave you will have the thought of them looming over your head. This is because if you are a Sophmore, like me, you will be missing you Junior year when you would normally need to take them. This leaves the first testing date for you to take them or one try. You can only take them on the first date available because of the deadlines set by colleges for when your scores need sent in.

Being Lazy is NOT A Virtue

So I haven't posted in a while, and I don't have a good reason. I guess I could make the point that I have been working and tired after I get off, but not really. Now it's time to play catchup. *rolls eyes Ok, first quite a while ago I received another package from my host counselor a.k.a. The best one. In it, I received a beautiful postcard and a map of Taby with different things labeled on it such as my Host Family #2's house, my counselor's house, and my school.

The Post Card

The Map of Taby

Next, my exchange student from Japan, Gaku, left on June 5. The day before my birthday and a Swedish Holiday.

Third, my visa has been complete and is now in the mail. I only made one error on it the first time, and it was that the insurance start date didn't start till after I arrived.

Fourth, I have started working this summer in order to make money for exchange, so most night I come home hot, tired, and dirty.

Fifth (man I really have been a lazy blogger) I have gotten the information on the first extra excursion in Sweden. The trip takes over a four-day span and includes but not limited to hiking, fishing, swimming in a mountain lake (brrrrrr), a sauna (probably to warm up after the cold swim), and camping in a tent one night and a cabin another. The cost of the camp is around 1600 SEK, which sounds like a lot, but converts to around just under $200 USD.

Sixth (am I about done yet?) my second host family, the Malmstroms contacted me. Each of their children has been exchange students which is pretty cool.

Oscar who will be the only one living in the house out of the siblings is currently on exchange to Cambridge in New Zealand (not to be confused with Zeelyn like auto correct likes too), Sara went Texas, and Emma went to Melbourne, Australia.

Finally, I have been informed by an unknown source (Cough* Mike Cough*) that I am supposed to be providing my lovely readers with two blog posts a week at this point, so I will have to find more random stuff to blog about. This probably won't be too hard for a little while considering I probably forgot to put some stuff in this catch-up post, so stayed tuned. 

Finals And Change of Plans

So this week is finals, so that means stressing out about a test you think are going to be hard, but end up not being. I meant to get a post up last week about some new developments in my exchange, but as always my life got hectic.

The news is will my exchange is they found me a school. Yay right? The news was bittersweet. This is because my school is in Taby... The people who have been following my blog are thinking to their selves right now, "Wait isn't his host family in Hasselby?" Yes, they are so it would be impossible for me to make the commute every day. For this reason, I will have to switch from the family I have been talking too to a new family. This is because they were unable to find me a school near the family I was talking to.

The way my counselor explained it to me is that when I arrive the family I have been talking to will pick me up from the airport. I will stay with them for a couple of days and then go to a language camp. After that, I will return to them until school starts. When school starts, I will move in with my second family. My host brother, so I am told, went to New Zealand last year and will be returning to school this year (For you who don't know this is kind of ironic because my sister went to Australia on exchange). Hopefully, he can help me make friends and give me advice on assorted exchange things.

The thing I have to talk about happened last Tuesday. Last Tuesday I went with my family to a Tincaps game (the local Minor League baseball team). I invited the crazy Brazilian Jessica, so the game was of course very interesting. The Tincaps ended up winning, so we stayed for fireworks. Needless to say, I didn't get home until 12 a.m.

P.S. I'm still looking for Prom Photos

Busy Days

Sorry, I haven't posted anything in a while, but I have been busy. Last Saturday I woke up early so I could take the SAT in Bryan, Ohio. The funny thing was thought I was going to be the only Hoosier there. It turns out I was wrong I wasn't the only Hoosier or kid from my school there. Everyone in my testing room was from my school. After that "pleasant" experience I had to rush home to get ready for prom which was that night. (I will try to find some prom photos to post) Of course, prom is never just the dance, so after prom got over at 12, I had after prom and breakfast at the local legion. I didn't get home till around 4 a.m. Sunday morning and promptly collapsed in my bed. I spent the rest of Sunday being lazy after I got up at 8!!! On Monday or Tuesday, I received a package from my councilor. So thank you! It contained a tourist guide for Stockholm in Swedish and English.

My Package