It's been a while ago since I updated my blog. Consequently, a lot has happened, but I won't go back in time too much since my memory is limited, and my inspiration to write decreased.

When I started writing this 2 days ago, I had quite a different concept. I'm starting to realize I have some pregnant-women-like mood swings or something, cause my original concept was dark tainted and pessimistic. Somehow there are 2 parts battling inside me, read pessimistic/optimistic, and the last couple of weeks the pessimistic side had taken over control, partly strengthened by several things going on in my life, but strongly enforced by the weather and the hangover-like tiredness that is a inevitably a case of 'glandular fever'. It should've been dealt with a while ago, but sometimes it still kicks in, resulting in waking up at 6.20 a.m, deciding to put the snooze mode on, and waking up at 2 o'clock in the day. Since that leads to having 1,5 hours of sunshine a day, that is not really motivating.

My swedish is, prepare for an understatement, rather creative/pathetic. If everything went according to plan, I would've been speaking swedish all the time, being as fluent as one could be in a different tongue. My expectations were that everything will just work out, putting practically no effort in, and gaining maximum result. This is, obviously, not attainable. One could actually say I'm doing (relatively) bad in mastering swedish. This week will be the kick-off for a new season, a season of swedish speech.

It's hard to apply my swedish in everyday situations. Purchasing items is still being done in English only. And I know I shouldn't. But the thing is that if you address someone in creative swedish, they assume you do not speak english. The swedes love everyone from english speaking countries (no clue why) and I'd prefer to be loved then looked at silly.

I have commenced doing tests and essays at school. As far as I know, I've done okay, not wanting to brag about grades. I have noticed that the swedish schools are not as strict in grading, and there is a lot of space to express your own opinion. That actually seems to be extremely important for the swedish school system. They actually try to raise reasonable and independent people. That's their main focus. For example, your grade is related to you being present often(it's not obligatory to be at school) From that angle, I should've received crappy grades, but I guess they just don't me to feel bad or something.

It's still hard to get accustomed to the swedish culture. Where making friends in Holland was just a matter of being somewhere, you have to earn your spot here. It takes time. I might remember I told you patience isn't one of my strongest points. It's hard to tell what people want, and nobody dares to take the first step. Asking to hang out seems to be a violation of one's privacy. Makes me want to smash my head to random things sometimes.

One of my recent events has been dancing with 80 swedes circling around a fire, singing about a pig and a wolf, honouring some christmas tradition. That was....interesting and fun. First we lit torches and walked a bit through the forest, then had some (fake) glögg and pepparkakor(for the Dutchies, pepernoten maar dan in een hartje gevormd) It actually was fun. These events bind people for just a small period, making them one collective body and mind. According to my host mother, the grown-ups like to do the dancing part even more than the kids, using them as a excuse to act like an idiot. Good stuff.

Last weekend we had a meeting of exchange students living in, or close by, Gothenburg. After some casual fika, we went iceskating and I can honestly say it was fun. It's a strange idea to be with about 40 people, but almost everybody came from a different country. I realized at that time I was doing what I love, meeting people from all around the world. Some things are universal.

My 18th birthday is coming soon, and to be honest, I feared for the worst. Let's just say the celebration is going to be slightly different then in Holland. One could say it will be slightly less wild then in Holland.

Tomorrow I will visit the dentist, and figuring things out with the insurance might become challenging. Though European law is on my side, it's going to be interesting. Let's just hope the dentist speaks english. Oh god.

From now on I will update my blog more often, and try to keep you guys updated/entertained.

That's it for now!