It’s been a while since I’ve been writing a blog. Quite a lot has happened since then and now the end of my semester abroad is near… Five months never went só quick. But I was enjoying my time here to the fullest so I guess I owe you an overview. 

One of the highlights I really should mention is the weekend I spent in Gothenburg. We did amazing things and we saw the complete city. From the best fika-place in Haga till the breathtaking lake just outside the city. The buildings in Gothenburg are amazing and the view over the city is just as awesome. And I should not forget the small islands around it. With, of course, the supercute small, colorful Swedish houses, nature, harbors… Of course we got lost a couple of times, we fought about it and afterwards we laughed like we’ve never been laughing before. And trust me: taking a train at 5 in the morning and walking 20 km a day is making you a really réally annoying tourist at the end of the day. We’ve had some unique moments and unforgettable memories, but after all we enjoyed the city and each other for a 100% 🙂

Like nothing changed…
Another unforgettable part of the month may is that my sweet friend Amanda travelled all the way to Kalmar to see me. And that was quite a journey, since the sweet girl took the wrong train in the first place. That almost gave me a heart attack on my own b’day-party! But we figured it out together. And then we enjoyed four days full of beautiful surroundings, animals (I saw the first snake in Sweden!), woods, sea, party and fika of course. And this weekend wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t meet some reaaaaally strange Swedes. A dude who didn’t stop talking about his shitty life while we were drinking our coffee, for example. And a nice student-duo who invited us to join them, but have been drinking already a little more than us… We enjoyed the company, but it turned out a little awkward. But well, at least we knew nothing has changed. Because those things will only happen if we are together 😉

Happiness is a state of activity
If I am bored already? No way! I’ve been bowling and sailing. I climbed up the climbing wall, worked out both inside and outside, played soccer. Mommy and Daddy visited me during Easter. And now the weather is good enough for pick nicks, swimming and tanning! Of course, we had some awesome parties, for example a paintparty where we all wrote things on each other’s shirts, cocktail evenings and a 90’s party. And I should not forget the teambuilding-parties, bbqs and the national student volleyball tournament, which brings me to the next point…

Studentiaden
So imagine: students from whole Sweden travel to one city to do sports and compete against teams from other cities. That was Studentiaden. The national student tournament in Sweden. After playing volleyball a couple weeks, me and two other Erasmus friends were asked if we wanted to join the volleyball team which was going to compete for Kalmar this year. It included 2 days of tournament in Växjö and a night in a hostel. Well, they didn’t need to ask me one more time. I mean, dûûûh. So I met with my team and we were allowed to play and practice together. So that meant no high-school volleyball with rotation anymore, but réal volleyball. Including a proper system, a team name, a yell and a tenue. And teambuilding. A lot. We spent quite some time together. We went out for dinner, bbq’ed a couple of times, we drank, partied together, but also had movie nights. But when we had a beachvolleyball tournament (with hangover) and a bbq afterwards, the most unexpected thing happened to me… a week before the Studentiaden-tournament, which brings me to a totally different topic…

Sjukhuset
I got sick. Two weeks before the tournament I went for a run and the next day I had a terrible cold, I had a tennis ball stuck in my throat and I lost my voice. My volleyball-nickname, ”the loud one”, almost changed into ”the quiet one”. When that was over, I woke up one day with a horrible pain in my stomach. Because it was a day after a bbq, I thought I ate something wrong. But no. To make a long story short: I ended up in the hospital (‘sjukhuset’). For the first time in my life. Although I said my pain was 9 on a scale from 1 till 10, I didn’t expect something serious was wrong. But there was. Within 4 hours after arrival at ‘Emergency’ I was ready for surgery. The doctors removed my appendix. I had a sudden appendix-infection and the bacteria were already among my bowels, because there was a small hole in the appendix. How I felt when I woke up? Like I was involved in a huge car accident! There were wires everywhere, plasters on my body, infuses in my veins, a bleeping machine next to me, oxygen in my nose, and God knows what more… (OK, maybe this sounds normal for some of you, but I, a hospital-noob, was quite shocked) But the Swedish health care-system and the doctors are great. I arrived at the hospital in time and everything went well. Unfortunately the recovering took longer than I expected. I had to cancel a trip to Copenhagen as a result. In total I spent 4 days in the hospital with very funny nurses, and luckily friends came to visit. After day 2 the doctor promised me I could go home the next morning, but then the bacteria-amount in my blood raised again and I was not allowed to. I begged the doctor and with my best smile I tried to convince him that ‘I really really felt supergood’, but no. Safety first in Sweden. And when I look back, I think they were right. I never expected that surgery has such a big impact on your body. Everything cost so much energy and I could feel every movement I made. But pain is weakness leaving the body. And since the doctors said I was allowed to do everything again, I stepped on my bike, went outside in the sun, visited a preparty, celebrated my birthday… But the antibiotics made me really sick and since I had one goal, playing the tournament, I took a lot of rest. And recovering went so much faster when I was allowed to stop with the medicines. Right in time I felt a lot lot lot better and I played the tournament. After the weekend in Växjö I walked on my own tempo again, did my own groceries and laundry, cleaned my room, partied and played volleyball. It was an unexpected and unpleasant surprise here in Sweden, but hey… since I live without an appendix now, I lost some weight as well! 😉

I came, I saw, I made it awkward
Roos wouldn’t be Roos if there wasn’t a healthy dose of awkwardness included in this trip. I once was on my way to the hairdresser and had to help a 90-year old Swedish woman out at the ATM, after I already helped a tourist. I answered her ”Kan du hjälpa mig?” with a way too confident ‘Joah’. But actually I managed to speak a few words Swedish and I helped her out! Scored some karmapoints that day. And there was this day that 2 random Swedish boys started to talk to me and my friend at the supermarket. After an awkward moment the dude disappeared while saying ”I thought they were Americans, man!” to his friend. I think I’ve never been more surprised. I mean, me and my ‘helloo ai em frrom de Nedderlends’-English and my friend with here amazing singing French-English. But it was quite a compliment though! Kind of same situation a couple of days later. In the MacDonalds a boy really was convinced that we áll smoked weed in the Netherlands and I was just staring at him, eating my ice cream and let the silence do the work…

“Oh na na, what’s my name?”
Calling someone by his real name is so overrated. I think I’ve never had more nicknames before. It started after a couple of weeks when I wrote ‘Roos’ down on a list for the first time. “What’s this?” an American asked me, “Roees?”. Jep, the Dutch spelling of my name can be a little confusing. So sometimes it’s Roes, sometimes it’s Ross, sometimes it’s Rosanna, sometimes it’s Roseanne but also Rosita is quite common now. I don’t know who started it, but it went fast and some people still call me like that J And there is my volleyball team left who gave me the title ‘The loud one’, since I make a lot of noise on the court… After surgery it changed into ‘Granny’, because even a snail moved faster than me. After all, I always thought my parents gave me quite an international name, but for the Swedes it’s definitely not. Anyways, it’s cool. I think I will have to get used again to the flat way the Dutch say ‘Rosanne’.

And now…
What now? Yesterday we had our goodbye-party. I have a Swedish flag with quotes and memories written by everyone. We made grouppictures. Had the final laughs, drinks and kladkakka’s (Swedish cake <3) In other words: we started saying goodbye. The first friends are leaving this weekend. Everything inside me feels sad. On the other hand I celebrated the start of my summer holiday! (If I passed my courses then) But my exams are finished. And there is one last trip waiting for me. With a squad of 4 boys I will travel to the Norwegian Lofoten Islands. And these are considered as one of the most beautiful islands in the world. When I come back, it’s immediately time to go home. Sad but true. It’s time to prepare for my thesis-year at my home-university and share amazing experiences with people back home. But I promise: there will be one more LofotenIslands/goodbyeSweden-blog, because the end is not there yet! I will first enjoy the last days of my semester 🙂