Long overdue!!!

Wow, well I know it has been forever and I am very sorry about the lack on updating here in Sweden!!! There is so much to tell, but I will try to keep it as short and simple as possible =))

So, there is only one game left for the first half of our season and then the Spring season is over.  It's so crazy how fast it has went and I can't believe we are already half way through the season.  June has been a great month so far for soccer!! We have not lost a league game so far in the month of June!!  We have had two very long trips to a town called Kalmar which is in the south of Sweden.  It is an eight hour bus ride and is a very exhausting trip.  We would travel a day before the game, stay the night, play the game, and then drive back directly after the game.  We have played five games in the month of June  , one of them being a Swedish cup game.  We won our Swedish cup game so now we are one of 8 teams left in Sweden.  Next round we will play against Tyreso, which has some very strong players including one of the best in the game, Marta.  It will be a very fun and exciting match to play and I can't wait!!!  It is a home game and there is suppose to be a huge crowd at the game.  We play on the 16th of August and my parents will be coming to Sweden for this game.
In league play we have won three of our games and tied in our last game.  We have been playing pretty well this month and getting the results we needed.  Wednesday we played against our rival team and we tied them.  This was a very big game and a lot of history between these two teams so a lot of players were very nervous.  The first half was very sloppy and we ended up going down 1-0 in the first 20 minutes.  The second half we were able to equalize it 1-1.  The last fifteen minutes of the game we had about 5 solid chances, but failed to capitalize on anything.  It was very frustrating because we were pounding them and should have won the game, but we couldn't convert to put them away.  Wednesday was also my Birthday and it was a great day!  Obviously would have been better with a win, but my roommate woke me up with balloons, confetti, and sparklers to start off the day.  After that we hung out and went to work for a bit, then to our game.  I got Birthday packages from my mom, sister, and Frank and that was a great surprise.  I always love to get packages and of course they were full of great things =))   My roomie got me a gift certificate to get my hair done here in Sweden and my teammate Sandra bought me some beautiful pink earrings, and my other teammates Helena and Linda bought me a beautiful pink bracelet.  It was so nice of everyone to make me feel like I was at right at home and so loved on my Birthday!! =)  We have one game left in the first half of our season and it is next Saturday.  We have the first two weeks of July completely off and then the last two weeks we will train and play scrimmage games.  July 31st will be our first game of the league again and we play against our rivals QBIK again.  We are tied now for second place with QBIK going into the last game.  The standings in our division are very close right now and not many points separate the teams.  Saturday is a huge game for us and we need to get the win and three points to finish out of the first half of the season in a good spot.  In the autumn season we will play every team again and the top two teams will go to the playoff against top two teams from the Northern division.  Whoever wins those games will get promoted to the highest division in Sweden for the next year.    

Outside of soccer I have been having a great time.  I have been working a little bit extra to help pay for my trip to Greece!!!! My sister,  my cousin, my roommate, and I are all going to Athens and Santorini for the first week of July!! After that Katie and I are heading to Dublin and London!! I am so excited and can't wait to see my sis and cousin and have a great time.  I am also excited for some very warm weather and hopefully no rain.  Other then working I have just been hanging out with some of my teammates and watching the Euros.  Friday was a big holiday in Sweden called "midsommar"  I celebrated with my teammates Helena and Linda, their boyfriends, and Katie.  First, we took four-wheelers through a trail that took us about 45 minutes to get up to the lake!  Once we got to the lake we grilled out and ate moose!!! It was very good and we just hung out and the Swedes sang us some Swedish songs that are tradition on Midsommar.  After this we went back to Helena's and showered and changed into our dresses for the night.  We had a great dinner with many traditional Swedish foods and some schnapps.  The traditional food on midsommar is sill, which is a fish like Heron.  I didn't really like the taste of it, but had to try it for tradition.  We sang songs at dinner and had to take shots of schnapps after every song.  It was very fun and so cool to see the Swedish traditions.  After dinner we went to the neighbors and sang some Karaoke.  It was very funny and we sang some great songs.  After dinner we came back and got in the hot tub!  Helena and Daniel have a beautiful view over looking the lake, so we all just chilled in the hot tub and enjoyed the rest of the night.

                                             View from Helena's house

 Midsommar was a great time and it is so cool to learn about new traditions and experience other cultures while living in another country.  Last night we went with one of our teammates to Arvika and went out with her.  There were a couple of our other teammates there and we all had a great time, hung out, watched the soccer game, and danced.  As time goes by I am loving Sweden more and more. I am making some great friends and having an amazing time.  I still suck at Swedish, but I am trying to learn more little by little! haha  I can't believe that four months has already gone by and the first half of the season is almost over.  I am excited for the second half of the season and know we can finish in the top two spots with a chance to get promoted to the highest division.  I am also very excited for Greece in one week and can't wait to see my sister and my cousin!!!!!!
        

Momma bear comes to Sweden!!! =)

A lot has gone on in the past couple weeks since I have written.  I can't believe it's already mid May and everyone has graduated and is done with school.  I also can't believe I graduated over a year ago! Time really flies!  I am so thankful for where I am at right now, and looking back a year ago I had no idea what I was going to be doing and I was so scared.  So far,  everything is working out wonderfully and I am so blessed to have the life I am living right now.

Well, the most important thing that happened was that my mom came to visit me!!!!! =) It was such a great time and I loved having her here.  The Friday that her and Debbie arrived my coach let us take his car to go pick her up at a train station about 45 minutes away from where we live.  My roommate Katie drove us because I don't know how to drive a stick and that's basically what every car here is.  We had our first little Swedish road trip and it was success =)) Driving in Sweden is not the easiest thing.  The roads are very curvy and so narrow.  When we arrived in Arvika our teammate Nanny meet us because she lives there.  We waited at the train Station and my mom finally arrived.  We drove back to Sunne and spent some time at the open market they had going on in town and spent the rest of the night catching up. My mom had brought we so many goodies and all my summer clothes so I was very happy about that =)  Saturday I had practice then we hung out and went for lunch at the Spa.  It was very good and Katie and I had moose burgers =)
Sunday we had a game against a very tough team.  It was the most physical game we had played in so far and we ending up coming away with the win 2-1.  It felt great to get the win against such a tough team and prove to ourselves that we are a very tough team with great potential.  Playing at our home field was such a cool experience.  Our field is a very small complex that is located in the forrest basically.  All the fans of our team are so dedicated and love Mallbacken very much.  We get about 300-400 fans and they basically surround the entire field and create a great playing atmosphere.

Tuesday we decided to take a day trip to a place called Ekenas which is on the southern most tip of a peninsula in our county.  Debbie had found it in a book about Sweden and it was suppose to have boat rides to look at islands in the area.  After a two hour drive we got there and it was not open.  Here is Sweden basically nothing is open until Summer and that is usually June, July, and August.  It is kind of a running joke that everything we say the Swedes always say " O wait until Summer, It is so beautiful in the summer."  Needless to say we are dying for summer to come!!!  After that was closed we grabbed some lunch and went to Karlstad to shop and hang for the rest of the day.  Wednesday and Thursday were pretty chill days.  Mom and Debbie left for Stockholm on Thursday and I met them there on Friday.  Friday, it was a beautiful Sunny day in Stockholm.  We did some shopping and then went on a tour of the archipelagos.  This was an amazing tour and so much fun.  We saw some beautiful scenery and amazing "Swedish summer houses" on these islands.  It was an amazing day and we had a great time.  On the train ride home we got about 30 minutes out of Stockholm and our train broke down.  We had to wait about two and a half hours for another train and ended up missing our connecting train to get back to Sunne.  They very nice about it and ordered all of us Taxis to our final destination. After a long day of travel we finally got home at 2am.  One thing we learned during my mom's time here is that Sweden is in a fact a pretty big country, but about 80% of it is forestry. Beside Stockholm and a few other big cities in Sweden the best part of it is its beautiful Scenery and there is not so much to do.  Especially in the small little "village" we live in =)

Saturday we had another game against the number one team in our division.  This was the best game I have seen our team play the entire game.  We played 0-0 through the first half and it was a very had fought battle.  We had about 4 or 5 solid chances in this half, but failed to put them away.  In the second half about 65 minutes in the refs gave the other team a PK and could not tell us why or who they were calling the PK on.  Our goalie, Katie had caught the ball on a free kick and the ref blew the whistle.  We had no idea what was going on and we thought they were calling the foul for us.  The sideline ref said it was a PK, but he had no idea who he was called it on or why.  This was very disappointing, but we kept fighting and didn't give up.  We ended up losing 1-0 on the PK and it was very frustrating and sad for us.  We had some more very solid chances in the second half, but could not put them away.  Luck was definitely not on our side.  I had a weak header the looked like it was going in the goal and bounced right before it was going in.  Since our field is not in the best shape and still very bumpy since Winter lasted so long when it bounced it hit a bump and it directly the other way.  It was a very disappointing loss and we were all so angry.  We deserved to win and were definitely the better team.  This game definitely proved that we are one of the top teams and can beat anyone in our league, but we also have to start finishing our chances.  Teams have been getting only about 1 or 2 chances on us, but they always finish one.  We have been getting about 6 or 7 solid chances and not finished any.  Right now this is our biggest weakness, but we have been working this week to improve on that.  I am very excited for the rest of the season and I know we are going to surprise a lot of people with how well we do.  Sometimes I think our team is unsure of our potential since this is our first year in this league, but Katie and I have always believed we would finish top two and this goal is definitely achievable.  The season is still so young.

After the game we had to literally run off the field and straight to the car to get my mom and Debbie to the train station to catch a train to Oslo for their flight the next day.  There were no trains early enough on Sunday morning so they had to go after the game.  It was very sad to see my mom leave and I felt like her trip was so short.  After we took them we stayed in Arvika and went out that night with our teammates Emma and Nanni.  This was a great time and Nanni and Emma are so much fun =)  Sunday we just hung out and ate lunch at a really nice place on the water.  After that we rented "The Change up" and watched that.  It was a very cute movie.

The past couple weeks have been a lot of fun!! Hopefully Summer is on it's way to Sweden because it has apparently been unusually cold.  Katie and I still believe that warm weather doesn't exist in Sweden and we are waiting for "summer." haha =)  So excited for all of my visitors in the next couple months.  My sister, cousin, and I are still trying to plan our trip when I have time of in July.  Right now our best option is a cruise in Greece and I am very excited to get it all planned!!!!!
 Shout out to my boyfriend who is Graduating college this weekend and is reaching the end of his college baseball career!! So proud of you Frank! Good luck to Tulane baseball in the conference tournament and at making a regional!

Another day in the life =)

Hej Hej!!! =)) Well, Another month has gone by here in Sweden and I have already been here for two months!! I can hardly believe how fast time is going by and I feel like this month and the summer are going to go even faster.  Starting this month I have people coming to visit me every month until September.  The first of these people being my mom and Debbie this Friday =)  I have enjoyed my time here so much and it seems to be getting better everyday.  I am starting to get closer with my team and feel more comfortable on the field and off the field with them.

This past week was my normal routine of work and practice everyday! This week was extra exciting however because I started my Swedish classes.  We have class every Wednesday and Friday and there is also another student from Uganda in there with us.  It is a very low level class and our teammates and coach like to laugh at us about it because it seems so simple to them.  I am very excited for this class and to start learning more and more Swedish.  Swedish is a very difficult language and the hardest part about it is the pronunciation.  This week in class we started with some basic things like learning to count and learning the sounds of their alphabet.  They have four extra letters (I believe it is four) that we don't have in our alphabet and those sounds can be very tricky.  Hopefully by the time I leave here I will at least be able to say a couple sentences ;)

Friday we left for our first away trip to the South of Sweden =)  This was about a six hour drive for us and we arrived at the hotel late Friday night.  When we got there it was straight to bed to get a good night sleep for our game the next day.  Saturday, we woke up, had breakfast, hung out for a little, and then went to the mall and walked around a little bit.  Then, we came back and had some lunch and then we were off to our game.  The stadium we played at was pretty nice and the field was in pretty good shape.  This week we were without one of our top forwards due to an injury from last weeks game.  She is a very very fast and strong player that helps us out tremendously up top.  Another injury that hurt us is one of our defenders is out for three months due to torn ligaments.  She is a very good player and has played with this team for about 10 years.  In the first half we battled to a 0-0 tie going into half time.  We had some solid opportunities, but couldn't put anything away.  In the second half they got on the board and made it 1-0 off a corner quick.  This was really their only solid opportunity where they were even close to our goal and got past our defense.  We had some more great chances in the second half giving us about 6 or 7 solid chances overall, but we couldn't capitalize.  It was a very tough game to lose and these are the worst kind of games when you definitely don't deserve to lose.  We were by far the better time, but we failed to come away with the result.  This was disappointing because this was suppose to be one of the top teams in our league and to come away with some points on the road would have been a great thing.  It was a tough loss, but we have to move on and learn from it =)  This week we will have a great week of practice and play the second round of the Swedish cup on Wednesday and another league game on Sunday.  We have two of the top teams coming up in the next two weeks so it should be a great challenge for us.  We play both games at home and I am very excited to finally get to play on our home field.  We are suppose to get the biggest crowd out of all the teams in our league for our games and I am very excited about that.

Sunday was such a fun day!!! Two of my teammates (Nanny and Emma) came and picked Katie and I up and we went to Karlstad for the day.  Karlstad is the closest big city to us and it is about 45 minutes south.  First, we started off by doing some shopping in the mall there, got some food, and just walked around the city.  After shopping we went to watch our rivals, QBIK play.  A lot of girls from our team were at the game so it was fun to see all of them.  After the game we went to get some Sushi and I was so excited for it.  The place we went to took forever to get us our food, but it was worth the wait to finally get some good Sushi =)  I don't think it was as good as a lot of places I have been in the U.S., but it was still nice to have some because I love sushi so much.  After we got sushi we went to the movies to see the Hunger Games.  Katie had been dying to see it and was so excited because she has read all of the books.  I thought it was an amazing movie and I loved it.  I want to read the books now and I can't wait for the other movies to come out.  Sunday was a great day and we had so much fun with our teammates.  I am looking forward to this summer when we get to spend more time with them outside of soccer and have days like this.  

My mom and Debbie Smith will be getting in on Friday and I am beyond exciteddddd to see them!!!  They will be here for about a week and a half and get to see three games in that time period.  I am excited to show them around and let them see my daily routine and how different life can be here in another Country.  I hope that the weather stays nice for them because it is starting to get warm.  Today is a big Swedish Holiday known as "the 1st of May"  This is suppose to signify the end of winter and warm weather coming our way.  =))

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure"

Hello my lovely blog followers!!! Sorry I have been absent for a couple weeks from writing my blog.  In the past couple weeks not much has gone on besides the start of our season officially =)  The week before last I got sick and went to get some meds and found out I had streap throat.  In Sweden they are a lot more careful when it comes to sicknesses and they want you to rest as much as you can so you fully recover and don't get even sicker.  Me being the way I am I had about a days rest and was ready to go again.  My coach would not let me practice all week however, but I talked him into letting me travel for our first regular season game on Saturday.  The doctors put me on penicillin and my coach thought it wasn't a good idea to play when I was taking that and I needed to rest as much as possible.  I got to play the last 30 minutes of our first game and we ended up tying 1-1.  We played well, but we didn't finish some chances and we were the better team and should have won the game.  After the game we had about a four bus ride back to Sunne.  It was a very fun ride and I studied with one of the girls on our team who is in Chiropractic school in England, we tried to learn some more Swedish, and laughed a lot =)

This past week it was another normal week and I was working at the school this week.  My coach still didn't let me practice the whole practice for the first couple days this week, but by Wednesday I was back in full swing.  I had also been going to the gym on my own in the mornings and running on my own to get back to feeling normal.  It was a great week of practice and the first time we practiced outdoors all week.  It has still been very crappy, cold weather and I have not enjoyed that at all.  It snowed a couple days this past week.  We also had our first practice on our home field in Mallbacken.  It is in very rough condition seeing as winter has gone on for so long.  It is very bumpy and had divots all over. Today we had our second game of the season and it was suppose to be on our home field, but because of the snow we had to move it to a turf field close by.  The weather actually ended up clearing up a little and being sunny for part of our game.  Our team played a great game and we won 4-2 against a very strong team.  We played the best we have yet since I have been here and it seemed as if everyone was "on".  Our forwards did very well and finished most of the chances we had.  Towards the end of the game the other team was getting very frustrating and started to get physical and they were taking some dirty shots at our players.  Luckily we came away with the win and ended up getting three points.  It was a very good game and our coach was very happy with us.  After two games we are now sitting at first place in our league =) 

Tonight Katie and I tried out a new chinese restaurant in town and went to check out a pub, but because we live in a very small town everything was already closed =) haha We ended up picking up some drinks at the store and coming back to our apartment to watch some movies!!  Good ending to a great day and happy to get the win!!!  Tomorrow will be a chill day and hopefully the weather starts warming up and feeling like Spring soon!!!      

Snowy Sweden!!! ;))

Well, another week has gone by here in Beautiful Sunne, Sweden and it still continues to snow??!?! I am starting to wondering if it ever gets warm in this Country =)  On the bright side, I know when it does get warm and things starts turning green, it will be even more beautiful then it already is =)  This cold weather just isn't cutting it for me after four years of living in Florida and especially for my roommate who is a Florida baby.

Things are continuing to go well on my adventure here in Sweden.  This past week nothing too special happened because work at the factory, working out, and soccer practice.  On Tuesday I experienced "mental training" for our team, which was interesting because it was all in Swedish =)  That was definitely a challenge and I wasn't able to pick up on too many things.  However, it was very relaxing and I did fall asleep when the lights where turned off and we were laying on the floor listening to a lady speak in Swedish.  This week has been a little bit of a struggle for me health wise because I have had a sore throat and cold since Tuesday and it doesn't seem to be going away.  I had my first experience with using the postal service here and  sending a package to the U.S. this week and I am praying that it arrives safely.  I also received a package from my wonderful mother this week that was filled with Easter candy, cardinals shirt, puppy chow (from aunt Paula), and RANCH DRESSING!!! =) It was amazing and I am always so happy to receive a package.

Thursday we had a scrimmage game against a boy teams and it was a very tough match.  We ended up losing 4-0 and made some very crucial mistakes that lead to easy goals for them.  It is always tough playing against boys because they are so fast and you have to adjust your game in order to contain them.

Saturday we were able to join one of our teammates, Linda and here boyfriend Claes who is our manager with his family for their Easter celebration.  Here is Sweden Easter is a much different Holiday and they celebrate it pretty much all weekend.  We asked our coach "If you aren't celebrating Easter on a Sunday and the rising of Christ, then what are you celebrating"  He answered "The fact that we have the whole weekend off of work" lol I guess you could say the traditions are a little different in this country and things have different meanings then they do for us.  I feel as if it is almost uncommon for people to attend church here and they mostly celebrate Easter on saturday.  The celebration with Claes family was a great time and we had so much fun.  They were the nicest people and everyone spoke English so well =)  His Dad, Mom, Aunts, Uncles, Brother, His girlfriend, and grandparents were all there.  We went to dinner at a restaurant right next door to their house that they use to own.  It was like a "smorgasbord" with many different kinds of fish, meats, and other things.  During the dinner every so often Claes dad would begin to sing songs and we would all say "cheers" and take a drink of schnapps (I chose to stick with wine, I couldn't handle the taste of schnapps)  After dinner we had dessert and coffee and then enjoyed a nice bonfire by the lake.  After the bonfire we went inside to talk and watch some European soccer matches on television.  It was so cool to get to experience a Holiday in another country and learn their traditions and be a part of it.  I had a great time and I am so thankful that we were included in this celebration.

Today ( Monday)  We had our first game in the Swedish cup, which is a tournament that goes all season long and includes almost all teams in the Swedish leagues at every division.  Today's conditions were probably the worst I have ever played in and it was very difficult.  Snow was coming down so hard the entire time and it was so difficult to even see.  We played a very poor game and got off to a really slow start.  We went down 1-0 kind of early and didn't score our four goals until the second half.  We ended up battling back and winning 4-1.  Even though this was our worst game of the pre-season since I have been here, we found a way to win in the end which is the most important thing.  Saturday is our first regular season game and I am very excited to get the season going.  This week should be a good strong week of practice and we will be ready for the next challenge that awaits us on Saturday =)  

"Be happy in the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.

Wow!! I can't believe that I have already been in Sweden for a month.  Yesterday, April 1st marked one month of my time here in Sweden and it has been amazing so far. The month has flown by and I can't imagine how fast the rest of the time is going to go because the beginning usually seems like the slowest part.  In this short time here I feel I am starting to adapt well, get more comfortable with my surroundings, adjusting to living in another country (although the grocery store can still be a challenge), and my play on the soccer field is finally starting to reach the level I want it to be at.  Katie and I are trying to practice our Swedish and learn as much as we can, but it is definitely a difficult language.  The hardest part about it is the actual pronunciation of the words.  We think we have it down and we go to speak to our teammates and they say Va? (what in Swedish) and we all just laugh.  Needless to say, we are trying and maybe by the end of our time we will be able to say a complete sentence ;)

This past week was a very busy one.  I worked at the school Monday- Thursday and it was very interesting to see their idea of "physical education" here.  The students are aged from about 13-17 and a couple of them are my teammates.  The teacher that I mostly am with is named Katarina and she is a very nice lady.  Her husband is also another gym teacher and his name is Mattias.  The first day I was there the students did an activity where they would run and have to jump over hurdle type things and go over objects almost like an obstacle course type thing.  They would have a party and once they completed this their partner would go and they would keep switching on and off for 8 minutes.  I feel like they are very much more active here and gym classes are not really like this back in the states.  Another funny thing is a majority of them don't wear shoes during gym and it is usually like this when you go to someone's house. You must take your shoes off at the door because it is considered rude to have them on in the house.  In the gym classes here I feel like students want to participate so much more and are very involved in the activity they are doing.  After one of the school days was over Katarina told me they would be doing gymnastics next week when I wouldn't be there because I am working at the factory for this week.  She let me try many of these activities because I told her we don't have gym classes like this at home. I got to do the bars, the rings, and the vault and it was really fun.  On Thursday we ran two kilometers with the girls class and it was very cold outside.  Last week Katie and I started up our weekly routine and went to the gym Monday, Wednesday, Friday.  Katie loves to lift and come up with different workouts so she was in charge and I followed her lead.  It was good to get back in the gym and lift weights, but we were very sore from about Thursday- Sunday! haha The rest of the week consisted of our normal schedule with workouts and soccer school in the morning, work in the afternoon, and our team practices at night.  Tuesday night we had a nutritionist come in and talk to the team, which was very interesting because it was all in Swedish and Katie and I had a hard time understanding that. haha

Friday we had a game about three hours North from where we live.  We played against a team in our same division, but in the Northern part of it so we will not face them in the regular season.  We took two vans with our teammates to the game and it was a very long ride.  The roads here are very curvy and hilly with a lot of bumps.  It was a long and adventurous ride to say the least.  The nice part is everything here is so beautiful and it is always a scenic ride.  We finally arrived there and once we got ready and went out onto the field it was snowing.  Once we started to play the game and move around I got warm and didn't notice the cold.  We played pretty well, but we were kind of up and down the whole game.  We ended up winning 5-1 on some great goals from our team and did well at finishing our opportunities.  This is the best I have felt about my play in a game thus far so it felt really good. After the game we stopped at a fast food place called Max and then got back to Sunne at about 1:30 a.m.

Saturday was an early morning because we were off to Stockholm on an 8 a.m. train for the weekend =) We got on the train and the man came by so we could buy our tickets.  We must have been giving off the American vibe because all Katie said was "Stockholm" and he started speaking English to us.  We took the train about 45 minutes to Karlstad which is the biggest town that is pretty close to us.  Once we got there we bought our tickets for Stockholm and it was about an 2 and a half hour train ride.  I slept most of the way and when I woke up it was snowing outside.  We finally arrived in Stockholm central train station and decided to get a plan for the day.  First, Katie had to use the bathroom and we were very shocked when we found out that she had to pay to do so. hahah  After that we knew we wanted to explore the "Old Town", but couldn't figure out how to get there.  We walked around for a while and didn't exactly know where we were going or what we were doing.  Once we got out of the train station Katie asked a man if he could tell us where to go.  The great thing about Sweden and especially Stockholm and pretty much everyone speaks English well.  We found where to go and we were off to Old Town.  It was super cold outside, which was the only bad part of the trip.  After that we went to see the Palace, we got some sushi, shopped around in different stores that are popular here and later met up with my friend Jackie who I was with in Finland and she is now playing here.  She is from America, but has a lot of Swedish friends she played with in college.  We stayed at her friends apartment who lives in Stockholm.  Later that night we had dinner, some wine, and later took the subway to a bar.  Jackie's friends Helenia and Linda are both Swedish and are very nice and showed us a great time.  Helenia went to school in the U.S. for five years and could speak English perfectly.  Public transportation here is very easy to use and you can get anywhere you want to go.  The bar we went to or "club" had one dance floor that was 80's and 90's music and another dance floor with more popular music now.  We danced all night and had a great time.  On Sunday we woke up pretty late and decided to go for Brunch.  All the places in Stockholm were pretty much full so we decided to go to TGI Fridays instead =)  I was so excited because I got to get my favorite appetizer which is potato skins and had Ranch dressing for the first time since I've been in Sweden =)  We had a big meal and after that we walked to a Jewelry store and looked around there a little.  After this we went to a museum and got to look at some cool art and photographs.  One of the main exhibits was the Kony one and that was very sad, but also very interesting to see.  We later took the train back to Sunne and were exhausted after a great weekend.  Stockholm was so amazing and such a beautiful city.  I felt like I wasn't even in another country most of the time because everyone around us was constantly speaking English and it was great.  It was a great weekend and I was so excited to meet up with Jackie and meet all of her Swedish friends.  They were so welcoming and showed us a great time.

On the train home Katie and I tried to April fools our coach and tell him we were stuck and Karlstad and needed a ride =)  He didn't fall for it, but it was a great idea!! haha

         

"Seek progress rather then perfection"

Greetings from Sweden =)

Shout out to my friend Jackie for making my wonderful new header for me! It's amazing and I love it!! Thank you!

Soooo.. Monday not much went on we basically just had practice and then after practice we had a meeting with our manager and coach to discuss our future jobs.

Tuesday we went to soccer school in the morning and it went really well.  Most of the stuff we do there is individual and it is a great time to improve your touch and work on simple things such as passing.  We will be doing this every Tuesday and Thursday for extra practice.  After this we went to check out our new job with our coach.  Our job is in a factory and we basically pick excess rubber off of little parts that are used inside the engine of chainsaws. haha It's a very interesting job, but it gives us something to do during the day and a way to make some extra money for traveling.  Everyone we work with is super nice and another girl from our team works there also.  The funniest part of the work day was when everyone in the office stood up and the song eye of the tiger came on and we had "stretching time" Katie and I found this very funny and were just dancing the whole time.  I think everyone here definitely thinks the Americans are crazy. haha  After this we had the night off from training and we just relaxed and made dinner.

Wednesday was our first day at our job and it went well.  We get paid by how many pieces we do, but the boss told us it is still better to focus on the quality over the quantity.  My first day I didn't do that many pieces and I wasn't very quick at it. haha  We only work for three hours a day at this job so it is pretty simple.  We should be making a couple hundred extra bucks a week for spending money so that will be great.  Wednesday night we had practice again and then called it a night.  Thursday was pretty much the same thing with work in the morning and practice at night.

Friday after work we went with our coach to meet up with the gym teacher at the local school to discuss our other job.  We sat down and sorted out our schedule and decided we would be working there four days a week with kids from the age of about 14-17.  We will basically just be there with the teacher and making sure they are doing everything correctly and participating in all of the activities.  With our jobs I will work at the factory one week, Katie at the school and then we will switch on and off every week.  We also discussed with the teacher on taking a Swedish class with younger kids from other countries who are also trying to learn the language.  This would be great for us and the easiest way for us the learn the language a little better.  We are starting to learn a couple words every week, but we definitely have a long way to go.  Our teammates like to teach us the bad Swedish words ;) haha  

Saturday was game day for us and we had to travel about an hour and a half to play a team in Norway.  I thought it was so cool to just drive into another country to play a game and it was a cool experience.  Everything here is so scenic and beautiful so it was a pretty drive.  When we arrived at the field it was an indoor stadium with a full size soccer field.  There was a bunch of Swedish boys playing American football with different NFL jerseys on so it made me feel right at home because the coach was also speaking English.  We played pretty well in the game and ended up winning 5-1 against a very fast Norwegian team.  Our offense finished almost all the chances we had and we put up a solid effort.  I am still not satisfied with my play 100%, but it is starting to get better.  I am feeling more comfortable in practices, but games are taking a little longer although that is only our second game against another girls team.  When we got home from the game Katie and I went to a little stand and got kebabs and fries for dinner which is something that is considered "drunk food" over here, but it was very good and different.  

Today we are just hanging out and later we have massages with our team masseuse.  I am very excited to experience a "swedish massage" and see what it is like.  

This week should be a very busy week because we have come up with a schedule for our days.  We will basically work monday-thursday and have extra practices Tuesday and Thursday morning and then work in the afternoon on those days.  We will go to the gym three times  a week in the mornings and have our normal team practice at night.  We have a game Friday and then two days off Saturday and Sunday so we will be taking our first traveling adventure to Stockholm for the weekend =)  I am so excited and ready to be on a daily schedule and to travel!!!