Connor i Sverige

Aug 20, 2006

A camp, new friends and a solo train ride

Well, the furthest back I can remember that anything of consequence happened was last sunday (a week ago today) when Chloe and I left for the language/culture camp set up by our district. The camp was held in a small 'Village' called Fristad, about 10 minutes outside the city of Borås. I was picked up by Chloe's host dad and he drove us to meet one of his friends who has a summer house in Varberg, but actually lives in Borås; we were to get a ride from him, 2 hours before we actaully needed to leave (he and his wife decided that they wanted to be home a little earlier).

Now that we've got the back story, I'll continue. The drive to Fristad supposedly takes 1 and 1/2 hours, that's what I'd heard from anyone I had ever asked about it. However, Chloe and I arrived at the front steps of 'Fristads Folkhögskola' in a record time of 45 minutes, the time was 4:00... we weren't supposed to be there until 6:30. After giving us one hell of a ride (and believe me, it was like a ride through hell...I feared for my life), Mr. Freaky-surgeon-fast-driver-guy (I forgot to mention that he is a surgeon) dropped us off in the near-rain in front of two locked glass sliding doors, his only words being "It'll only be a few hours wait". After hunting around the school for an open door, Chloe and I found a covered area to sit and play cards until the rotary folks arrived. Even
tually a lady named Susanne arrived and let us into the house that Rotary for us to use for the week.

After a while, the other exchange students began arriving: Hallie from Houston, Texas, Ashton from Prince Edward Island, Canada, Jill from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in Canada, Stéfane from France and Shawn from New Mexico. Yes, you read that right, those are all girls names. I was the only guy, which is both a good thing and a bad one I believe (see picture below of the group).

















(Top row: Shawn and Ashton, bottom row: Hallie, Chloe, Stéfane, Jill, Me).

We all got along really well and there was never an odd man out or anything. That week went by so fast and it was seriously some of the most fun I had ever had. After our lessons during the day, the Rotary people would just leave us and go home (because they lived in Borås) until the next morning where we'd meet back up in the class room after making our own breakfast. During our free time we'd just sit around and talk, or play cards, or take trips to the nearby grocery store and buy candy or nutella or whatever we were craving at the time.

On thursday, Susanne took us to a place called Navet.

















This was seriously one of the coolest places I had ever been. It reminded me a lot of OMSI, though smaller and a lot more hands-on. If you check out my pictures, you'll see photos from it, as well as pics from the entire week. Another thing Susanne took us to do was to go to a picnic at this absolutly beautiful lake. Some people swam, but I thought it was a little cold to, so I just stuck my feet in the water.

After our week in Fristad, we all decided to meet back up in Göteborg on Saturday. So, yesterday at 11:35 I took the train up to the city all by myself (Chloe wasn't able to come because her host brother was having a going away party; he's leaving for exchange in a few days to California). It was a little intense because I needed to buy a ticket before the train came, but the ticket buying line was so long that I didn't have time to, so the plan was that I was to buy a ticket while on the train (which is much more expensive). Supposedly the ticket-checking-lady comes around and if you don't have a ticket, you ask to buy one from her. Well, she never came, so I got a free train ride. Once in Göteborg I had some time to kill before meeting up, so I went ahead and stood in line to buy a return ticket. So in the long run, I got a roundtrip ticket for half price.

Our day in Göteborg was really fun and we ate good food (pesto pasta with chicken) and got some school supply shopping out of the way. Plus, it was nice to hang out with the only friends I really have here in Sweden and joke around and just have fun.

Today I don't really have any plans, though I may go to the gym with my host parents to try it out. If I like it then they'll buy me a membership. Yes, you read that right, Connor Reid Larsen may soon be a member of a gym....it's a little hard to take, I know.

School starts in 2 days!

4 Comments:

  • Conner! You poor guy...It must be very difficult! I just don't know what I would do in your shoes...

    By Blogger Seaton McLennan, at 4:22 PM  

  • Wow Connor! Guess what? I miss you eons! Sounds like you had some good times! I'm pretty jealous, all I have done is gotten shots in my mouth from my dentist. And there you are sneaking on to trains...what will I do without you??? No more parties in the staff bathroom...
    Love,
    Jaime

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:40 AM  

  • Man Conner sounds like your really cutting loose. Breaking the law. Running around on your own. The family told me to tell you that they all say hi and hope you have a great time.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 5:24 AM  

  • My Jaw seriously Dropped when i read that you might be intrested in the gym...

    By Blogger Unknown, at 8:23 PM  

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