Summer Lovin'
I hadn't realised how quickly Summer was catching up on me until about now where the thermometer is currently reading an average of 15 degrees celcius every day - yes, I do believe this is warm. It's funny to think how in Australia, a temperature like this would be considered pretty cold, while here it is the celebration of the beginning of Summer. I couldn't believe it when I got my first few warm days here in Piteå, where you could actually feel the warmth of the sun. Now that it seems to be occurring on a more regular basis, I'd like to assume this is the real beginning of Summer!
So, what does one do in the Summer while in Sweden? Everything! Sommarlov (The Summer break) is on it's way and I am planning to keep myself very busy throughout it with all sorts of activities including Eurotour, a colour run, celebrating midsommar the Swedish way, and of course, seeing my lovely family again as they take a glimpse into my life in Sweden for a week! I'm still organising the schedule of activities and everything I want to show them, but I know they will love it all.
Anyway, I'll just give a bit of a recount on some of the bigger events of this week. So one of my great northern exchange friends, Garrett, had their birthday last Friday, and so of course, we had to celebrate! Garrett came down during the weekend to Piteå, bringing along his cool Swedish friend Kasper. Of course, it wouldn't be a party without my great buddy Jaymie coming along as well, so she travelled down from Luleå, and then finally, we had my fave Swede, Marcus, join us to make a total of 5!
My first host family - Gunilla and Henrik - were sweet enough to allow us to borrow some kayaks for the day and really enjoy the warmer weather out on the water next to the summer house. Garrett, the funny one, came completely prepared with sporty clothes and everything while the rest of us had dressed in normal clothing. It seemed pretty clear that he was the only one who knew what he was doing. So, I'm sure it would surprise you to find out he was the first to flip into the water. Poor guy. It may be Summer, but the water is still quite chilly! This act was immediately copied by Kasper, who must have assumed that Garrett knew what he was doing. My host dad was quick to the rescue though, fetching his motorised boat and picking the two boys out of the water, with Marcus still securely sitting in his kayak and us two girls watching the action on shore. My host mum then set up the sauna for them so they could heat up and relax while Jaymie and I took our turns on the kayaks. Unfortunately, balance doesn't seem to come naturally to us teenagers. I hobbled awkwardly into the boat, followed by Jaymie shortly after. However, she didn't quite make it. Another one in the water before even securely sitting in the boat. That made it a total of 3 out of 5 people taking an unexpected trip in the water. I guess that makes Marcus and I the official professionals at kayaking then! I guess we'll have to teach the others some tricks.
After warming up in the sauna, my first host family were also sweet enough to organise some lunch and then bake a cake in celebration of Garrett's birthday and it tasted delicious! I'd say that overall, the day was quite fun and we created a lot of fond memories to look back on. I hope Garrett loved the day along with his present! It was super great to hang out with such lovely people and meet a new friend.
Another quick note from this week would be the massive success of a speech Jaymie and I had this Monday! We had been invited to talk about Australia to an english class and our thoughts on Sweden. The scary part was, it was meant to last a full hour. Back in school, I would say the longest speech maybe ever required was 10 minutes, so I was pretty nervous about trying to pull off a full hour long speech. However, I can say that we managed quite well and filled the hour with ease! It was also lovely to have a few of the students asking a bunch of questions and showing so much interest in what we had to say. Overall, super proud of how it all went and I am feeling so much more confident for future speeches!
That's all for now. Until next time! :)
So, what does one do in the Summer while in Sweden? Everything! Sommarlov (The Summer break) is on it's way and I am planning to keep myself very busy throughout it with all sorts of activities including Eurotour, a colour run, celebrating midsommar the Swedish way, and of course, seeing my lovely family again as they take a glimpse into my life in Sweden for a week! I'm still organising the schedule of activities and everything I want to show them, but I know they will love it all.
Anyway, I'll just give a bit of a recount on some of the bigger events of this week. So one of my great northern exchange friends, Garrett, had their birthday last Friday, and so of course, we had to celebrate! Garrett came down during the weekend to Piteå, bringing along his cool Swedish friend Kasper. Of course, it wouldn't be a party without my great buddy Jaymie coming along as well, so she travelled down from Luleå, and then finally, we had my fave Swede, Marcus, join us to make a total of 5!
My first host family - Gunilla and Henrik - were sweet enough to allow us to borrow some kayaks for the day and really enjoy the warmer weather out on the water next to the summer house. Garrett, the funny one, came completely prepared with sporty clothes and everything while the rest of us had dressed in normal clothing. It seemed pretty clear that he was the only one who knew what he was doing. So, I'm sure it would surprise you to find out he was the first to flip into the water. Poor guy. It may be Summer, but the water is still quite chilly! This act was immediately copied by Kasper, who must have assumed that Garrett knew what he was doing. My host dad was quick to the rescue though, fetching his motorised boat and picking the two boys out of the water, with Marcus still securely sitting in his kayak and us two girls watching the action on shore. My host mum then set up the sauna for them so they could heat up and relax while Jaymie and I took our turns on the kayaks. Unfortunately, balance doesn't seem to come naturally to us teenagers. I hobbled awkwardly into the boat, followed by Jaymie shortly after. However, she didn't quite make it. Another one in the water before even securely sitting in the boat. That made it a total of 3 out of 5 people taking an unexpected trip in the water. I guess that makes Marcus and I the official professionals at kayaking then! I guess we'll have to teach the others some tricks.
After warming up in the sauna, my first host family were also sweet enough to organise some lunch and then bake a cake in celebration of Garrett's birthday and it tasted delicious! I'd say that overall, the day was quite fun and we created a lot of fond memories to look back on. I hope Garrett loved the day along with his present! It was super great to hang out with such lovely people and meet a new friend.
Another quick note from this week would be the massive success of a speech Jaymie and I had this Monday! We had been invited to talk about Australia to an english class and our thoughts on Sweden. The scary part was, it was meant to last a full hour. Back in school, I would say the longest speech maybe ever required was 10 minutes, so I was pretty nervous about trying to pull off a full hour long speech. However, I can say that we managed quite well and filled the hour with ease! It was also lovely to have a few of the students asking a bunch of questions and showing so much interest in what we had to say. Overall, super proud of how it all went and I am feeling so much more confident for future speeches!
That's all for now. Until next time! :)
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