the first week in a new country...

So as most of you know I am living in Umea, Sweden for 8 months or so...

Yes I finally decided to become a blogger and keep you all updated with my journey in another country.  I arrived in Umea (pronounced Umeo), Sweden on Tuesday around noon.  The airplane ride was a long one and consisted of a 2 hour flight from Denver to Chicago.  Then, an 8 hour flight from Chicago to Stockholm; and another one hour connection to Umea.  From Colorado (mountain time) to Umea, it is an 8 hour difference (Sweden being ahead 8 hours).

After 11 hours of flying and basically losing a night of sleeping, I finally arrived looking very similar to a zombie getting off the plane.  The second I got into the airport, there were cameras and the coaches were there to great me with open arms.  It was very surprising to see them and not what I was expecting, but a nice gesture to my arrival.

In Sweden, Americans are very welcome and the majority of them speak English.  However, that being said; when they are speaking Swedish, I just find myself sitting there smiling and wondering what in the world they are saying.  It is more curious than anything and frustrating at times.  This being said, I am still working on joining a Swedish class for that exact reason.  Their language is very interesting to listen to and in the few days I have been here, I've picked up on a few words here and there.

I haven't had much time to explore the city of Umea because a few hours after I got here, the first training session for me started.  I didn't have much time to recover from the lack of sleep, but the girls told me to stay awake and drink LOTS of coffee; which will help with jet lag in the long run.  I think now my body is used to the change in hours from America time to Sweden time.

My new room! 

Everything that normally is easy to do in America is a challenge here: figuring out road signs, or any signs for that matter, the money exchange rate, Swedish crown compared to the US dollar-1 USD=around 7 SEK (trying to figure out how much money I spend!!), buying groceries, figuring out the washer and dryer (there is a story with that), to finding out where everything is.  It will get easier the more I become familiar with things.

For all you guys, mostly; who wonder if the blonde stereotype in Sweden exists; it does.  The majority of my team is blonde or close enough.  People are very tall and slender here.  I have yet to see an overweight person on the streets.  That being said, when you go to the supermarket for food, the portions  of everything are much smaller than in the U.S.  Milk comes in liters as does most other things.  A medium coffee like we know it is considered an overly large coffee here.

Everyone rides bicycles around the city.  Not many people have cars, but bike or walk everywhere.  The distance from my apartment to the restaurant and hotel where I eat lunch and dinner to the gym is only about a 10 min walk at most and about a 5 min bike ride.  I received my very own bike yesterday but still need to pump up the tire.

Lets see.  What else would you like to know?  Oh yes.  The washing machine story...
Well I needed to wash my practice jerseys and they are white with red and black writing.  So I figured its a washer.  How hard can it be to figure out?  So I throw my white clothes in the washer including my jersey.  I stared at the buttons, wondering what in the hell they meant.  Instead of asking someone (like my roommates), I thought I could figure it out on my own.  That turned into complete disaster, and I ended up pressing the hottest setting on the water temperature; apparantly.  I told the girls after and they informed me that the setting (95) didn't mean time but temperature.  So basically, I scorched my clothes with the water temp being near boiling!  You live and learn I s'pose.  After the clothes came out, I was confused as to what all this red ribbon was and figured it out shortly after.  Opps..

So after a week of everything being new to me, I survived and continue to figure things out little by little.  Amy Mohr (my old assistant coach at the Fort; now my teammate!) arrives here in a few weeks and it will be nice to have a fellow American here.  We are currently on our way to Ostersund, Sweden for 3 scrimmage games this weekend.  This bus is a little nicer and bigger than the Skyhawk bus I traveled in for 4 years at Fort Lewis.  In the future, we will fly to all of our games; which will be quite nice and a change from what I am used to.

Hope you all find this blog quite informational to start.  As I learn more, I will update it more and more.

Pictures will come soon. I promise :)  I am a little slow with the camera as I kind of got thrown into a new life right away!

Talk soon.
Hejda

Katie