Season Finale.

As I write this I am sitting at my family's kitchen table in Apple Valley, Minnesota. My dog and two cats are lounging in the living room near to me (the dog is actually snoring), and for the first time in the last supercharged week, this house is quiet. Finally some time for reflection.

Let's back up. The last story I left you with was the snowmobiling day preview, and now all of a sudden I've hopped countries and have been in the States for a week. Surprised? Good! That was the plan. About four months ago, I discovered that all my classes in Sweden end by December 15th. My immediate thought was, Oo that's great I can travel freely then until my flight on January 5th! But then I invested in my Eurail Pass, and then I visited six countries in a month and a half, and then I found out how few people were actually going to be around for the holidays, etc. etc. etc. Either way, my gut/brain/heart combo were encouraging me to rebook my flight and get home before Christmas. 

But at this point I found myself in a position of power: I was the only one with the knowledge that I could easily get home before Christmas. Meaning I could potentially surprise the living daylights out of my family if I so desired. Well consequently, I DID so desire. :) So Uncle Mike, my godfather and travel agent, and I got on the planning committee to arrange my travels back to the States before Christmas. I decided to let Patty and Mark (my parents) in on the whole ordeal as well...they'd be crucial in the behind-the-scenes preparation for my return home. But my two lovely siblings, Matt (17) and Betsy (23) would be kept in the dark until I stepped foot in that front door. So by early November the plans were set and I'd be heading home on none other than Christmas Eve!!

Now fast forward a month, when I discover my grandmother has lung cancer, and I think to myself that I'm so glad I'm going home to spend another Christmas with her.

Now fast forward to my last few days in Östersund following snowmobiling. One by one everybody departed back to their respective homes: some for the holidays only, some for good. What I posted in my last blog stayed true in the drawn-out goodbye I gave to Östersund, and has stuck around since; I'm not sad at leaving my place from the last four months, but instead happy at what I can take away from it. The last few days all blend together in a sweet memory of lazy chatting and random acts of craziness. Although I was very much looking forward to going home, and although I knew I could count on Matt and Betsy to not open up this blog in those last few days (bless their hearts, they love me but they have enough reading to do as it is without spending hours reading their sister's incoherent ramblings :)), I still decided to play it safe and cut off blog posting until I was safely back home. Part of me was also scared to jinx the whole trip as well, so it was best to not talk about it.

Now fast forward to December 23rd, while I'm on the 6-hour train to Stockholm. A little girl falls in love with my stuffed penguin, Herr Blåbar ("Mr. Blueberry") and runs around with him for hours. I'm thankful that she gets sick of him just before we pull in the the Stockholm train station, because it's awkward to be 21 years old and kindly trying to reason with a two year old about coughing up the stuffed penguin of yours that she's fallen in love with. 

Now fast forward to that night, as I toss and turn for hours in a 20-person room at my hostel. I wasn't going to be able to sleep anyway; I had too much running through my head: The generic I'M SEEING MY FAMILY!! I miss my cabin. It's Christmas!!! I wonder what Sandra and her parents are doing. What am I going to get for breakfast. What if I forget something. I get to use my old cell phone!! I get to drive!!! My room at home is always cold and it a complete and utter uninviting mess. Östersund is so pretty. What am I going to do for New Years? When will I make time for myself? How much time will I need for myself? I hope Nana's doing okay. Am I going to cry at some point? AMERICAN MEN!!! Is someone puking?! Will the difficulty of this situation ever hit me?

Now fast forward to 6:30am the next day, with me awake and in the "shower" three hours after falling asleep. I won't go into detail, but it was the most disgusting place I've ever been, and I've been to Amsterdam. YUCK.

Now fast forward to me being at the airport three hours early. What a way to go. I again have pulled out Herr Blåbar (who, by the way, took quite the scrutiny amongst the weathered travelers sharing my room the night before...nothing screams badass like a stuffed penguin...), and with that action have again caught the attention of a three year old Swedish child. Remember this little boy, because he shows up in the story later. I hop on my flight to Amsterdam, and a witty two hours later find myself on land in Amsterdam, getting ready to dash to the next gate for the last leg of my journey, and sharing goodbyes with the two Dutch characters I chatted with on the flight. 

Now fast forward to me, on what they call an Airbus, starting my 9-hour flight across the ocean back to the place I call home. We are flying into the sunset the entire time...so awesome. I see Little Swedish Boy from the Stockholm airport again, and he again sets his sights on Herr Blåbar. It's clear to me that Mother of Little Swedish Boy is growing weary, so I offer to let Little Swedish Boy hang out with the penguin for a while. Throughout the course of the flight the three of them (Mother, Boy, Penguin) will come visit me; all the while Little Boy will be clutching Herr Blåbar like his life depended on it. 

Skip ahead an hour to lunch time, when I ask the friendly flight attendant how much a glass of wine would be. Friendly flight attendant coyly informs me that all alcohol on the Airbus is complimentary. I order a screwdriver, accept her offer for an extra "dash" of vodka, and thus establish the entertainment I'd be taking advantage of for the next few hours. Nine-hour flights are strange: you have enough time to get drunk, watch a movie, pass out for a four-hour nap wake up hungover, watch another movie, and still have enough time to fight off the hangover for when your mom and dad come pick you up. All the while flying into the sunset.

Now fast forward to the last 30 minutes of the flight where I get up to track down Herr Blåbar and find him buried underneath the finally serene, sleeping body of Little Swedish Boy. Swedish Mom makes grateful eye contact with me, finally relaxed as her child sleeps. I hesitate, smile, wave it off, give her a thumbs up, say Happy Holidays, and return to my seat. How could I take it back now?

Now fast forward to the Oscar-winning performance Patty has in answering the house phone and pretending I'm someone from work in desperate need of not one but TWO people to help jump cars at Barnes and Noble?? Mark and Patty valiantly steal away from Christmas dinner with the kids to help.

Now skip ahead 20 minutes--yes 20 minutes--when I'm already through customs and in possession of all my luggage, casually waiting outside for Patty and Mark. I had expected a lot more trouble getting back into the States, but I'm not complaining. Finally the moment arrives, and the parents pull up alongside the curb, Patty jumps out of the car literally skipping to me, we all hug six or seven times, it's all very perfect. Matt and Betsy are still sitting at home, still very clueless. On the trip back we scheme the plan of attack for The Surprise.

Now skip ahead another 20 minutes. I'm waiting out on the porch, peaking into the house. Mark has just called Matt upstairs, and the whole family is in the kitchen near the front door. On cue, I ring the doorbell. Mark comes over to answer it, yanks open the door, and I step into its frame to throw out my arms and shout, "MERRRYYYYYYY!!!!! CHRISTMASSSSSS!!!" Matt and Betsy freeze in the foyer. When Matt finds his voice again all he can make out is a sharp, "NO. WAY. NO. WAY...." over and over again. Betsy's face explodes with tears and pelts them out like bullets. They both rush over to me and embrace me in this gloriously awkward hug/lift maneuver that couldn't have been more perfect; I don't know who was holding what but I can be certain that my feet left the ground.

It has all been perfect: the surprise, the response, the reaction, the hours of talking and opening presents, the catching up, the midnight mass, the Christmas morning with the family, the skiing, everything. It feels so surreal to be back here, part of my feels like I never left.

My Uncle Mike debriefed me at Mraz Christmas on Saturday. It was difficult; the first time since being back that I'd been challenged to talk about what I learned and experienced. I shared a lot, he shared his insight; it was a very meaningful discussion to me. I don't know if I'll ever have an epic moment where all the amazing concepts I learned over the last few months will come together and I'll suddenly by capable of capturing the ways I've changed in words; I think they'll slowly come to me over the rest of my life. What Uncle Mike and I talked about most this weekend, though, was how touching it is to feel that I'm more aware now of how similar we all really are in this world. We all have something to fight for; we all have something to lose; we all are striving for happiness; we all are constantly trying to find our own place. Regardless of country or culture we are all looking for something, and if we could each understand what the next guy is looking for, maybe we could all realize that we aren't really all that much different from one another. That's one idea I can already say I took away from this experience.

So you may be wondering about the title of this posting. I'm thinking a couple things at the moment. First of all, I think I might be coming back now and then to add little tidbits of reflection as I struggle to superimpose all the insight I gained in a notoriously amicable country onto the projection of our notoriously World Superpower country. It would be a sad story to discover that what I learned doesn't apply in the context of our American culture. You could consider these added reflections the "extras" to the show's first season. Second of all, this blog may be getting a new name. I might just start using it for all my travels. I'll be heading to Sicily for two weeks for May Term, so perhaps that will be a Season Two? We'll see. But until then, take care, and thanks for all the support over the last four months. Your warm thoughts and hopeful prayers reached all the way across the ocean to my cabin. :)

Bye for now,

Katie

And then there were...

Maybe it's just that this has been the longest, most drawn-out good bye period ever fathomed in the history of the world, but I'm not sad right now. Of the seven people I felt closest with this semester (although all of us 30+ exchange students definitely formed a family here), two of them still remain here with me. Some of them have returned to Germany, some to Canada, but regardless of the space that will divide us in a matter of weeks I still haven't been able to muster up more than a few tears in the last week or so. I'm just not sad. I actually tried to force the tears at one point, thinking I was just repressing everything and just needed to let it out, but it turned out that there wasn't anything I was holding back! At first glance this doesn't seem like me: I've always been a huge proponent of the once a month healthy emotional breakdown, and I haven't had one yet in the last four months. 

But I've been thinking...I'm more happy than anything right now. I savor the way I've spent my time here; I cherish the friends I've made; I embrace the ways I've changed and the circumstances I've encountered that led to those changes; I'm happy with everything I've experienced in the last few months. So why cry in sadness? These friendships are just starting in the long run, right? These people, this place, they're all snapshots in my life's collage. Some of them will show up again, and some won't. It's okay. Really. I feel good about everything right now. 

In related news, I'm taking the next step to becoming a true Minnesotan tomorrow. That's right, Sandra schemed us into a FREE afternoon of snowmobiling tomorrow! Don't ask me how she did it...she could sell sand to a camel...but for a few hours tomorrow we'll be shooting around her friend's private property on her brother's snowmobiles. Sweet!  Wish me luck. :)

negligence...sorry...

Okay so clearly I've been spending my time elsewhere these last few days, hence the lack of AMAZING snowboarding updates. I apologize. I'm really wrapped up in the spirit of the holidays here, and saying good bye and whatnot, so to be honest the old blog hasn't been all that present on my mind. This stuff is getting serious! Saying good bye is not cool.

But you know what IS cool?! Mucking up the courage to veer off-course on a mountain and snowboard through deep snow littered with jagged rocks and tiny trees! This weekend was unbelievable. By far the best snowboarding I've ever had. The trails that they had there were just so varied...ranging from tiny little zigzags through the trees to broad slopes speckled with moguls. My favorite route (unless of course you count the one that I created myself by going off the trail onto the side of mountain... :)) was one that took us through three separate tunnels after beholding a treacherous view of the mountain side. So great. And since the sun sets at 2:30 or so there, I got to sit on a mound of snow and watch the sky explode with color as the sun went down on Saturday. The weekend was full of, "Life is great." moments and that of course was one of them. The slopes were also open for 56 straight hours as of Friday morning, so for the first time in my life I got to say, "Do you realize it's 1am and we're snowboarding?!" Haha very cool. 

So after three full days of snowboarding, sauna-ing (?), eating, and partying, I came back on Saturday night for Jeffrey's surprise birthday party. Then last night we had our huge 34-person holiday gift exchange/good bye party/holiday party/we love each other party. The good byes started right away and didn't really stop until everyone called it a night. This is all hitting me very strangely at the moment.

Tonight I'm having the girls over for a dinner, followed by a photo exchange, followed by a slumber party, 8th grade style. We're bringing mattresses in and everything to transform my cabin into one big bed! It's going to be awesome. 

cheers!

kt

Åre

Well it's 12:25am on Thursday night and in the morning I'll be headed up to Åre for snowboarding!! Three full days of snowboarding at Sweden's most famous ski area (resort? I guess I'll find out...). I'm so jacked. Thankfully, the old wrist has stopped being a complete baby and I'm confident she won't be acting up the entire time. So wish me luck!

katie

PS-I ate lunch on the roof of our water tower today and then made peanut butter cookies with Hershey's kisses in the middle (Mraz family holiday classic :))...pretty productive I'd say.

The 12 gifts of Patty's care package

Alright so here's the shibby on the package: Patty wanted to make sure that I got at least twelve items, to go along with the concept of the twelve days of Christmas. So that's what she was going for. And she pulled through. We have:

-one anti-Bush clipping from the Star Tribune (the particularly creative and hilarious parts highlighted in pink, of course)

-two comics from the Star Tribune

-one Mraz Family Favorite: the Isaac Asimov's Superquiz from the Star Tribune (the theme is U.S. States and I swear Sandra and Anna, from Germany, came up with some answers faster than I could.) And not just ANY Isaac Asimov's...oh no. THIS Isaac Asimov's Superquiz is the first superquiz I've ever found to have an ERROR!! I'M SMARTER THAN ISAAC ASIMOV! WOO! :)

-one bag of coveted Reese's Cup, per request of some of my German friends

-one bag of Hershey's Kisses for peanut butter cookies

-one box of Christmas Tree Cakes (which, upon first taste by Anna, elicited the response of, "But this is just pure sugar!")

-one miniature christmas tree

-one snowman stocking stuffed with

-one tiny cat figurine,

-one bottle of Advil, and

-one sheet of stickers of the planets

-two Christmas ribbons (one that folds into a bow!)

-one handmade card from the Betsy!!

-one pair of Christmas socks

-one ace bandage for my wrist

So that's at least 12 items...very solid Christmas package to say the least! :) 

In celebration for the copious amounts of sugar I found myself in possession of, Sandra and Anna came over last night to watch Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. I know that a movie night is not exactly interesting enough to post on a blog, but I only bring this up because I wanted to express the regret I felt at never having seen this movie! Haha it is hilarious! I can't believe I've been living in the dark for so long.

And then today has been a very outdoorsy day. In the afterglow of copious amounts of sugar consumption the night before, I went on my longest run here yet. Three laps around Lilsjön (literally translated to "little lake") instead of two let me run past the same awkward-Swedish-man-with-dog-speaking-to-me-in-Swedish-and-laughing-a-little-too-much THREE times instead of two, so that was nice. :) Middle-aged man flattery aside, it was a refreshing hour-long run.

After letting the icicles melt from my face (I wish I was kidding), Sandra and I headed back out for a long walk around Lilsjön to just take our time and capture pictures of all the snow and ice. It just felt so calming to walk through the silent woods. I got some beautiful shots.

I'm getting so excited because on Thursday morning I'm heading off to Åre for three full days of snowboarding (hence trying to get a lot of blogging in now). And then after that all the good byes are going to start for the Europeans heading home for the break. Many of them will be back after Christmas but a lot of us won't be around any more when they do, so we're having kind of one big holiday party on Sunday night after the ski weekend. It should be a nice way to say good bye and whatnot.

Well I'm off to Stacey's for some Christmas movie action! peace out

kt

Narnia.

So it's Monday evening and I've had a really cozy day. Anna picked me up at 9:45am to bike to school, and at 9:48am I decided there's no way in HELL I'm going to bike to class in that snow storm!! No siree. These snowflakes were thick pieces of confetti that turned me blind every twenty feet. And the sidewalks obviously hadn't been paved yet and so as our eyes were dripping with tears and snow trying to see through the snowfall, we were pedaling our bikes through literally four inches of fresh snow. So class was a no for me...it was the last lecture anyway, no biggie. I guess I'm feeling a little arrogant, too, since I finished my last assignment for school yesterday and am officially done with my semester of Swedish education. :) So I treated myself to a cozy day of watching some movies and cleaning the cabin. 

This snow is really out of control though! I started a little pile outside of my cabin about ten days ago, and originally it stood at about three feet high. Now on its own, the snow has fallen so much that it almost reaches my window at four feet! A foot of snow in ten days! Wow! It made for some really stunning sights while we were dog sledding on Saturday. While a first group went out on the dogs, Kevin, Jeffrey and I trekked through--not exaggerating--waist-high snow to explore the woods. We passed through the outer layer of trees and people, and I swear we had stepped into Narnia. Everything seemed to go silent...it was like a vacuum. The woods were breathtaking: a thick layer of pure white snow on every branch of every tree, wide areas of completely untouched snowfall...mystifying. At one point in our hike/climb through the snow we found an open space where all three of us just collapsed. We laid there for a while, listening to the snowflakes fall onto our jackets, and the snow actually started feeling warm after a while! Agh so cool.

But then it was our turn for the dog sledding! And boy was it a good time...the majority of the dogs the crew brought were less than a year old, and they were SO EXCITED to run! They literally kept pacing and howling and jumping all over each other as we switched drivers. So cute. Riding a dog sled isn't all that tough: lean left, lean right, soft brake, hard brake. That's all there is to it. Notice I didn't include "Mush!" in there...unfortunately these dogs didn't respond one bit to that word. Drat. I had really been looking forward to it. 

So yep, dog sledding was a hoot. We spent the entire morning outside with the dogs, and then got back to the hotel at around 2:00 for soup and relaxation. We warmed up and then at 4:00pm (when the sky is literally pitch black these days) decided to give sledding a go. Now I know that my wrist has been hurting, so with all honesty I tell you that I did not push the limits with the sledding, but I just could not pass up this hill! It was monstrous! I woke up yesterday completely confused as to why my calves hurt so much until I realized that walking up that mountain was a workout! My goodness. 

After sledding we headed back, had some delicious buffet-style Swedish cuisine, and then got our party on. Sauna-snow-repeat. Never gets old.

So all in all it's fair to say the farewell ceremony was a total and complete success...people, The End is getting really close for me and it's becoming more difficult to think about leaving my friends here. *Sigh.*

Okay but today just got better!! As if it wasn't already a perfect lazy day, I just opened my mailbox to find yet another Patty Mraz package!! Woo! Now, I know she sent it with a 12 Days of Christmas theme, so I want to make sure I have the description right before I post it...but trust me, this is a good package. :)

Alright well I hope everyone's doing well! Take care!

kt

MUSH!

Hey! Today I went to the Jamtli Christmas Market, and if you've been good you just may have gotten your Christmas present from me picked out. :)

Alright if my title doesn't give it away, I'm pret-ty excited about going dog sledding tomorrow. At 8:20am tomorrow morning a bus is going to pick 20 of us up and then we're all headed up north for the night. The formal name for this whole shebang is the "farewell ceremony," but I just think that's just a fancy name for a chance for a bunch of us to just party in a new location. Oh, and to try dog sledding, of course. :) We're spending the night at what sounds like a great hotel (the International Committee planned all this...I'm just rolling with the punches) that offers snow mobiling, snow shoeing, dog sledding, and who knows what else. Everyone's pretty psyched. Once the word "sauna" was thrown into the picture, the discussions haven't stopped about a sauna-snow-repeat adventure come nighttime. It's a little disappointing that we only have one night there, I have a feeling one night will be plenty with the amount of energy people are packing at the moment. :) I'll have updates on Sunday!

kt

Icelandic horses have their own agendas.

Riding yesterday was really neat. The horses that we rode on are like none I've ever seen in the States; they were bigger than ponies, but shorter than the typical full-grown horse I picture when I think about riding. Adapted to the climate, Icelandic horses have fur that's really thick and is kept at a longer length than usual. It makes them look sort of stout. And then if you throw a few of them in a snow-covered field they just look beautiful! (see pictures.) 

The group that went consisted of six of us, half of whom had many years of riding experience and the other half who hadn't ridden a horse in their entire lives. These being the circumstances, in our planning process, we opted for a beginner trail so that everyone could enjoy themselves. So. We get to the place and they immediately pair up the experienced riders with horses who are known to be a little more spirited, and the beginners with some mild natured ones. We get a start out on the trail, and right in those first five minutes Stacey and I have assessed that our horses are in no way interested in the mind-numbing boredom of walking nose-to-rump on a trail they've walked a million times. Oh no, on the contrary, our horses would like to push the pace as fast as possible. Before we've even left the barn area the line already has a huge gap separating our horses and the guide with the rest of the group. 

Stacey's horse actually lashes out around halfway through the ride. Frea (her horse) decides that the hill of unscathed snow should be shaken up a bit, and takes a sharp right turn to run around on it while the rest of us suckers are moseying along on the main trail. Nös, my horse, is incredibly jealous...I can tell it takes every ounce of both mine and her energy to resist veering from the path too. For this reason I decide to not take out my camera, but I wish I could get a picture of Stacey and her horse; it looks really pretty, actually, as Frea literally bounces through snow that reaches up to her belly and kicks it up everywhere. 

So that's incident number one...and the tone never really dies down after that. Nös and Frea start walking/trotting, consistently changing places in line with each other. It's obvious that they both want to peel ahead of the guide, but she assures us that, "They know I go first." Right. That's balderdash. As we reach the home stretch, again the three of us a solid 100 feet ahead of the rest of the group, I guess it just becomes too much for Frea. All of a sudden Stacey's horse just TAKES OFF down the 100-yard road leading up to the barn. Well Nös sees this, decides it's simply NOT FAIR that Frea gets to run but she doesn't, so she responds in like kind. So now I'm sitting on a horse running at top speed, faster than I've ever gone on a horse in my entire  life, firmly pulling back on the reins as hard as possible, bellowing, "WHOA!" in sharp, crisp repetition, but Nös has her own initiatives. She wants to leave Frea in her snow. So once I come to terms with the fact that this horse has no intention of paying me any mind whatsoever, I decide to just go with it and enjoy the ride. And we do end up leaving Frea and Stacey in our snow. :)

It was SUCH a rush! Tears were streaming from the corners of my eyes to my hairline, the wind was whipping my face so fast! I loved it. :) So needless to say, taking the beginner's trail wasn't as boring as I thought it might be. 

kt

It just won't stop!

The snow is making a serious statement here these days! We get more and more every day...it's so beautiful. It's going to be AWESOME going horseback riding through it today. Keep your head up for pictures being posted soon! :)

kt

SNOW SNOW SNOW!!!!!!

We have SOOO much snow here right now!! On Saturday, the day 15 of us went snowboarding, the snow started to fall. It literally did not let up until Sunday night! And even though Östersund was breathtakingly vibrant in the Autumn, it most certainly is a Winter town. Think: tiny streets lined with snow-covered cottages, frosted pine trees, people whipping by on sleds with runners (which, by the way, looks like an awesome way to get around town!), snowman after snowman after snowman, gingerbread cookies in every aisle of the grocery store, and a big honkin' Christmas tree right smack dab in the middle of the town center. This town was made for the Winter, no doubt about that. I wouldn't be surprised if Santa himself decided to relocate here. It's a wonderland.

Saturday snowboarding was beautiful...you just can't get views like that when you snowboard in the midwest! But unfortunately my snotty wall post that morning came back and bit me in the you-know-what...I ended up messing up my wrist a little toward the end of the day. And of course I did...I mean I was only the hands-down most experienced snowboarder, boasting eight years of experience amongst at least seven friends who had never snowboarded in their LIVES, so of course I would be the only one to leave the slopes with an injury. Haha oh life, you make me laugh. It's still painful as I write this now at 8:30pm on Monday night, so I'll be having a nursing friend take a look at it tomorrow and then, who knows. I might end up coming back home with more than just a Swedish flag to remember my experiences here. Hrrumph. I'll keep you posted.

Then Sunday was brunch, followed by an entire afternoon/evening of cookie baking!! We played Christmas music and cut cookies into all sorts of holiday shapes...it was awesome and filling. :) 

And now I'll be turning my attention to my paper. AGH the paper. Just gotta get it done. 

Well that's all! Happy late thanksgiving!

And oh yeah that reminds me...as a side note, it appears that the Thanksgiving Cheer took a little longer to get to me than usual this year, what with the ocean separating us and all, but it was interesting to feel it all really hit me today. I find myself feeling incredibly warm and just overflowing with love and appreciation for all the good things we have in this world. I feel like I've learned a lot about corruption and negativity since I've been here, but it's comforting to know that peace and goodness still exists in places you'd lest expect it to. So if I forgot to remind you recently, I'm thankful for you. :)

Okay now that's really all, because my good cheer is going to dissolve if I don't get this paper out of my head fast!

kt