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