Last month, Christopher’s parents invited us as well as Christopher’s sister and her boyfriend to join them on Ven. Ven is a tiny Swedish island in the Öresund strait between Sweden and Denmark and it is absolutely beautiful.

We started the day by taking a ferry from Landskrona to the island. During the summer, ferries also depart from Råå and Copenhagen. We’ve had a pretty cold summer this year and the trip on the ferry was chilly, but we were lucky enough to have a warm, sunny day once we arrived. Then, we rented tandem bikes and took a relaxing tour around the island. It’s so cute and quaint! I think anyone that’s visiting the Southern Sweden/Copenhagen area should spend a day here.

Gusten and Johanna looking like pros!

Tony and Marika on our leisurely ride

Tandem bike selfie!

This was my first time riding a tandem bike and it was so fun! I thought it was really easy and since Christopher was driving, I could look at all the scenery. Turns out, it was so easy because I apparently wasn’t pedaling hard enough. As we were headed up one of the hills, Christopher asked if could pedal a little harder. I was just kind of going with the flow and didn’t realize I was supposed to put effort into my pedaling… oops! I was wondering why it was so easy! The poor guy was basically biking us both around for the first 20 minutes.

Working on our tans

One of Tycho Brahe’s observatories

We took a break near some of the island’s museums and one of it’s two observatories built by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe in the late 1500s. Next, we stopped by St. Ibbs’s Church, which is the oldest church on the island and was built in the 1200s. It’s located on top of a hill with beautiful panoramic views of the cliffs along the coastline and the little village below. The gravestones in the church yard were several hundred years old and even included the person’s occupation. We also came across an alpaca farm and had a great time trying to feed and pet them. Finally, had a nice lunch right next to the water.

View from St. Ibb’s Church towards Denmark

St. Ibb’s Church

There’s also a whiskey distillery that we didn’t get a chance to visit. It’s called the Spirit of Hven (the Danish spelling of Ven) and they have guided tours, whiskey tastings, a restaurant, hotel and spa. Despite being a domestic alcohol, it’s actually quite expensive in the liquor stores here- so be prepared to pay a lot to experience the distillery.

Ven is a little paradise to get away from it all. I can’t wait to visit again and spend a night or a weekend in one of the rental cabins. It’s someplace that I want to bring my family to when we’re all in Helsingborg! Thanks for a wonderful day Marika and Tony!

Our new friend!

After a couple months of arranging all the necessary administrative tasks when moving to a new country (residency card, person number, ID card), I was able to register for SFI or Swedish for Immigrants. SFI is a free language class provided by the Swedish government to aid in the integration process. I currently go to class for three hours every morning, Monday through Friday.

Even though I couldn’t wait to start taking classes, I was really nervous for my first day. From everything that I read, classes would be conducted entirely in Swedish. This isn’t my first time learning a foreign language, but it would be the first time that things wouldn’t be explained in English if the class was struggling to understand. Also, Swedes have the highest proficiency in English as a second language in all of Europe so this would truly be the first time that I would not be able to communicate with people. At all.

The first thing the teacher had me do on my first day was introduce myself to the class, in Swedish of course. I also said where I came from (which seemed to shock a couple of my classmates) and how long I’d been in Sweden. One by one, my classmates introduced themselves; they were from Serbia, Morocco, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Chechnya. I was the only one from an English speaking country and probably the only one whose native tongue uses the same letters as Swedish. I can’t imagine how much more difficult that would make learning a new language.

Several of my classmates were still confused about my native country after my introduction. I can’t blame them, I was speaking so softly I’m pretty sure only the people sitting next to me could hear what I said. I was asked almost every day by a different student where I was from and I would always say USA with the Swedish pronunciation of the letters. One day, several students came up to me and asked if I was from Russia (or I think that’s what they were asking). I showed them the map of the world in our classroom and pointed out the US and they said yes, Russia. I suppose they are both big countries in the Northern Hemisphere, but I finally just said United States. Then everyone understood: Oh! United States! Obama! You speak English? And now half the class has nicknamed me United Nations….

The young woman from Iraq, who sits across from me in class, was very kind to me during my first week and we’ve become friends. She would explain the worksheets and ask to check my work when I finished. We discovered that we live on the same street when we were practicing writing our addresses! Sometimes after class, we talk for a little bit. Mostly it’s her speaking Swedish and me understanding, but not knowing enough Swedish to respond. So then I write my responses into Google translate and she reads them. Unfortunately, Google translate betrays me frequently; I once asked her how long she’s lived in Sweden and she responded by telling me that the winters are very cold. A lot gets lost in translation during our conversations, but friendship is a universal language.

A lot of times in class, students work on assignments together. Generally, students with similar first languages will work together so everyone completes their assignments. I’m on my own in that respect, but I’ve been able to handle the worksheets without outside help. Last week, I had just finished a practice test when a couple of students said “Titta! Titta!” to me, which meant they wanted to look at my paper. I handed over my test thinking they were going to compare their answers to mine to make sure they were on the right track. Instead, one student took out her phone and took pictures of each page of my practice test and started copying my answers. Umm, what exactly is going on here?? My blood was boiling and my face was hot! I need to illustrate this further:

This wasn’t the first time in my life someone tried copying my work, but I’ve never seen someone be so brazen about it! And since the beginning of time, I’ve HATED people cheating on schoolwork, especially if they’re trying to cheat off of me. They handed my test back and said “Jättebra!” meaning great! I couldn’t say a word. This unfortunately began a new trend among some students. They would just reach across the table, say “titta” and try to take my worksheets. It took me about a week, but I finally refused enough and instead tried to explain in my broken Swedish what to do. Now, the one who photographed my test has started to do the worksheets on her own and then show me when she’s done. I try to go over any mistakes with her, but it’s mostly me underlining certain words and trying to explain why that affects the spelling of other words later in the sentence. Of course, I’m explaining in English so who knows how helpful I actually am.

I really enjoy being in school again and having somewhere to be every day. Swedish isn’t an easy language to learn, mostly because it sounds very different from English. You’d be surprised how difficult it is to say some words when you’ve never used those particular sounds or tones before. Hopefully the frequency and length of the classes will make me a pro in no time, otherwise I’ll just resort to writing notes in Swedish like a middle schooler 😉

I really love birthdays, especially my own. I’m the person who counts down every month until the next year’s big day (for example, “It’s my 27 and 7 month birthday!” I’m sure some old co-workers are chuckling because I’ve actually said these things). I generally plan some outrageously themed party (Michael Jackson, Vegas, Bastille Day) and have as much fun as possible. I knew this year would be different because I wouldn’t be planning anything and I’m in Sweden; the majority of my friends are on another continent. But I knew Christopher was up to something and it was going to be awesome.

Christopher planned my birthday weekend for what seemed like forever. He even emailed my mom 4 ideas to get her input and then conveniently told her on a Skype call that he chose idea #1. He might have enjoyed torturing me with no details as much as the actual weekend. I tried to fish for information, but his lips were sealed. He only jokingly said that we were going to have ABBA and Ace of Base over for a fika (coffee break). Seriously though, could someone make that happen??

It was finally Friday night of my birthday weekend. The only thing I had been told was that I needed to pack a bag before Christopher got home from work and “who knows if we’ll be at the apartment tonight.” Were we catching a late flight somewhere? Were we taking a night train to Stockholm or something? I needed to know! But I got nothin’. I just had to be ready the next morning by 7:30 a.m.

View from the train

We arrived at Helsingborg Central Station early Saturday morning and I was still clueless. Christopher didn’t even let me see which tickets he was buying! I figured it out when we got to the train platform. We were going to Gothenburg!! I jokingly said, “So we ARE meeting Ace of Base!” Christopher then told me we were going to spend the day at Liseberg (like Cedar Point or Valley Fair) with VIP tickets and Express Passes for 3 of the most popular rides!

Lisebergsbanan

View of the park from the Ferris wheel

Gothenburg!

View of our hotel from the Ferris wheel

After the two and half hour train ride, we checked into the hotel and headed to the park. The weather was perfect for us! We skipped all the lines to get into the park with our VIP tickets and started riding roller coasters right away. We had a blast! We rode a ton of rides, dominated the Terminator game in the arcade (we didn’t dominate at Dance Dance Revolution, though), drove bumper cars, rode the giant ferris wheel, and tried to win those unwinnable carnival games. And there were waffles.

My favorite ride of the day was Balder. It’s a big wooden coaster with a couple of really steep drops and lots of smaller, quick hills where you feel like your heart is in your throat. A close second was Helix, the brand new steel coaster that is absolutely insane. We must have spent at least half of the time upside down and I really think they were trying to get me to puke. With our Express Passes for those two rides, we waited a combined 8 minutes. It was awesome!

Balder!

Ferris wheel selfie 🙂

After many hours at the park, we headed back to the hotel. When we arrived at our room, there was a bottle of champagne on ice. Clearly, I won the best boyfriend lottery. We enjoyed our champagne and some pretzel sticks while watching the World Cup Bronze Match. It was a perfect, relaxing evening after a busy, fun-filled day!

But wait, there’s more! We had a special VIP brunch on the 23rd floor of the hotel before heading out to see Gothenburg. Since the weather wasn’t so nice, we headed to the mall to do some shopping and have a coffee before going to the bus station. I fell asleep almost immediately on the bus ride back to Helsingborg. It was such a fun, perfect weekend! I’m so grateful for Christopher and his family making my birthday here the best yet. And thank you to all my friends and family back home for the Skype calls and messages- you all know how to make a girl feel special!

Last Saturday, Christopher and I went downtown to check out a festival near the harbor and do a little site-seeing. There are so many cool things to do and see in Helsingborg! It’s really fun to see everything together; I’m enjoying everything for the first time and Christopher has been lucky enough to live here his whole life. I just hope the Pro Football Hall of Fame can compare!

Downtown Helsingborg

I’ve been wanting to see Kärnan, a medieval tower, since I arrived. Kärnan is the only remaining part of a larger castle of Helsingborg and was built around 1310. Upon entering the tower, there was a long, spiral staircase that seemed to never end. When we encountered other people on the stairs, we had to use the impossibly narrow part near the center of the staircase, which kind of freaked me out. Once we got to the top, the views were breathtaking!

Kärnan

View of Helsingborg and the harbor

Checking out one of the interior rooms

A view looking to the south, where we live

Helsingborg’s football stadium!

❤ Helsingborg

Christopher always looks so chic

View looking to the north

Vilken underbar dag!

After we took a million pictures at the top of Kärnan, we went down and took a million more. Just kidding, but we did take more and here they are. It’s just too beautiful a city to not share.

Christopher is such a great photographer!

Rådhuset (City Hall)

View from the base of the tower

My favorite picture of the day

Next, we headed to the festival which was right by the water. It reminded me of the midway at the Minnesota State Fair in terms of rides and games, but there wasn’t any fried food on a stick. However, there was an ‘American donuts’ vendor and I wanted so badly to ask what made them American. We came for one thing: Hungarian langos. Christopher had been talking these things up all week so we were hoping we would be able to get them. We were in luck! We got the deluxe version: a thicker version of elephant ear type dough covered in sour cream, onions, shrimp, crayfish tails and black caviar. It was SO good! The dough was warm and soft and the toppings were so deliciously salty. It was the perfect lunch after a day downtown!

Hungarian langos!

Upon arrival in Copenhagen, I gathered my bags (one hiking backpack, one large suitcase, and my carry-on- impressive!) and wandered like a zombie into a giant crowd behind barricades on either side waving tiny Danish flags. I thought to myself, oh crap, how am I ever going to find Christopher with all these people? And then suddenly, he was right beside me! He explained he had simply jumped the barricade as soon as he saw me. Seriously, he is the best!

We spent the evening watching the first four episodes of Welcome to Sweden, which by the way, is hilarious and will be premiering in the U.S. on July 10th on NBC. Greg Poehler’s character is even from Ohio! The show is very accurate with all the steps one must take to emigrate to Sweden and it highlights the cultural differences, which make for some pretty awkward moments for Greg’s character. I think every two minutes I would think to myself, I’m finally here too! This is my life now!

On Monday morning, we drove to Malmö so I could leave my finger prints and get my residency card. The employees there allowed me to be measured while I was wearing my boots. In Sweden, I’m 161 cm tall. That’s a little taller than 5’3″, the tallest I’ve ever been in my life! I knew I loved this country.

That evening, Christopher and I met his parents and sister, Johanna, for dinner. It was so great to meet them since we had only previously Skyped a handful of times. They are all so nice and welcoming and we had a wonderful dinner. I also learned that there is no such thing as a doggie bag in Sweden. If you don’t finish your dinner, you don’t get a box to take the rest home. You have to make sure your eyes aren’t bigger than your stomach!

Tuesday was Christopher’s birthday and he had no idea what I had in store! We started the day with an “American” breakfast of bacon and eggs over easy. Luckily, it was a beautiful day and we had a picnic lunch at a nearby park.

We spent the afternoon having a fika (Swedish coffee break) at his parents house and then we got ready for dinner at a fondue restaurant. Johanna helped me pick out the restaurant and made reservations for me so I could surprise Christopher. It’s almost impossible to surprise him so he had already figured out where we were going for our picnic and the restaurant his sister suggested for dinner. It really was the perfect day!

On Wednesday, we went to Ikea to get a couple chairs and a table for our balcony. Christopher had found a nice patio set within our budget that was in stock at the closest store. We spent awhile time looking at all the home scenes in the store. We found our balcony set on display and decided the table was too small, but that didn’t prevent us from buying  a lot of other random stuff. We left without the items we planned on buying, but I now have a great nightstand that Christopher built! Turns out, building Ikea furniture is just as frustrating no matter what country you’re in.

Christopher’s nickname and this lamp are the same!

Friday was Christopher’s last day off before returning to work so we wanted to spend some quality time together. We went to the beach, which is within walking distance of our apartment. I thought living close to the lakes in Minneapolis was a treat, but oh my, this is amazing! You know where to find me pretty much every weekend this summer!

View of Råå Harbor from the end of the pier

Råå Beach

Christopher on the beach!

Taking a dip in the water

This is my “Hurry up and take the picture, the water is freezing!” face

Råå Harbor

I’ve been in Sweden a little more than a week now, but I just have to share a little surprise I had planned for my sister, Erin, before my departure.

Before I received my decision regarding my visa, I had been conspiring with Erin’s boyfriend, John, and her roommate, Jess, to surprise her with a visit. I couldn’t possibly leave the country without seeing my little sister! We discussed dates and whether or not she should take some time off work until we decided that I would already be at her apartment when she got home from work. As soon as my visa was approved, I booked a flight to Boston and then another flight the following day to Copenhagen. As John calls it, Operation Sibling Surprise had been set in motion!

After spending the afternoon with my friend Lauren, I went to Erin’s apartment to wait for what felt like an eternity. I don’t know why, but I was so anxious and nervous for her reaction and if I had successfully kept this visit a secret. Jess was kind enough to take a video of Erin arriving to the apartment:

After the shock wore off, we got ready for dinner. John, Jess, Erin and I went to a new restaurant called Ward 8 that Erin had been wanting to try for awhile. About 30 minutes after dinner, Jess suggested ‘second dinner’ at a nearby pizzeria called Regina’s. As you can see, it was a really great idea.

The next day, Erin and I went on a veritable food tour of Boston. Yes, we walked around and saw the sights but mostly we ate. Since it was my last day in the U.S., we were able to justify pretty much any indulgence. When was the next time I was going to have raw oysters and clams?? I was only moving to a city right next to the ocean for heaven’s sake!

Or how about cannoli from Modern Pastry? We’ll take two.

By dinner time, I was sure I would never be hungry again for the rest of my life. So we did the most American thing we could do; we went to a family style Italian restaurant. After about two bites, I gave up. The pasta had won. And while the overstuffed feeling was thankfully temporary, all the memories of spending time with Erin will last a lifetime!