First of all, I had to get a new blog website because word press decided to not function the right way all of a sudden. Quite strange. Not really sure how I feel about this one yet, but we shall see if it does the job.
Anyways, things are still going well for me over here and I become more and more thankful for this opportunity everyday. The more I get to experience, the more it makes me realize how truly incredible this opportunity really is. With that, I am also becoming more aware of how much this opportunity is going to help me grow not only as a player but also as a person, and for that, I am forever thankful. Having come over here not knowing a soul and having to get comfortable in a situation like that, I think will be my biggest benefit towards my growth as a person.
If I learned one thing from my parents while I was growing up, it has been to learn and grow as much as you can from all the different experiences life brings your way. And what a valuable lesson that is for them to teach their children- to not take the experiences in your life for granted and to learn and grow from them in anyway you can, whether they were good or bad. It's easy, at least for me, to let yourself take advantage of good experiences and not realize their worth until after the fact and even easier to let yourself overlook that there is something to learn from the bad experiences. It's fairly easy to bash a negative situation and not realize that there may actually be some good to take away from it. Who doesn't want to write off a terrible experience and push it to the back of your head for as long as possible? I am forever indebted to my parents for opening my eyes to these concepts while I was growing up, whether I acted on them then or not. (I will be the first to say, I did not). It took me all 23 years to really grasp what they were teaching me.
I was in a situation last summer where things weren't going anywhere near the way I would have liked and looking back now, it was one of the biggest learning experiences I've had to date. Just because things weren't smooth sailing didn't mean I should have looked at it, overall, as a negative experience. Despite making new friends, I never realized there was anything else to take away from it. I have grown so much from then and I never thought I would be sitting here saying that that situation played such a key role in preparing me for my current situation. I now feel like I can appreciate this opportunity for all it's worth, and the list of what I will take away from this is endless.
On the other end of the spectrum, this experience is definitely testing me in ways I knew it would before I got here. If you asked me a year ago if I thought I'd be able to partake in such an adventure as this one, I would have said absolutely not. I am reserved, shy and comfortable in familiar situations, so this has been a huge step outside my comfort zone. However, you are always stronger than you think. As I said before, this is hands down one of the best experiences I will probably have in my entire life and I try hard in not allowing myself to forget that. But I am human and I do have days where I question whether I can really stick it out for 6 full months. I think those thoughts mostly creep in because I have so much free time on my hands, but they are rare and I'm thankful for that. My parents just so happen to be visiting right at the halfway point of my journey over here (last few days of June and the first week of July) and that couldn't have been timed more perfectly if we tried. It will be so refreshing to see some familiar faces and having those familiar faces be my parents makes it that much better. I already know they will come over here and remind me of how awesome this experience is and keep me thinking positively- just what I will need at the halfway point.
On another, less deep note, Carson and I went with Anna and her boyfriend's house after practice Monday night to have a picnic on the coast and watch the sun go down! Her boyfriend made us a salad and brought some beers and sodas, it was such a relaxing night. So thankful for Anna and how friendly she is and willing to help complete strangers, says so much about who she is as a person. Anyway, she lives about 25 minutes northeast of Tierp and another 5 minutes from the coast. The sunset was amazing; I love a good sunset/sunrise. The coolest thing about the Baltic Sea is that there are no sharks, eels, barracudas or anything remotely dangerous swimming in it! I can't wait till it's warm enough to swim in and not have to worry about anything swimming by to take me as their meal. Huge for the girl coming from the most popular shark attack place in the US! The sea was so calm too, I noticed. So peaceful. Loved getting that experience.
Tuesday night was our first game for the Svenska (Swedish) Cup. I only heard we had a game on Tuesday when we were coming home from our game last Sunday. Even now, I'm not entirely sure what the significance of the Swedish Cup is, really. All I've really gathered is that you keep advancing if you keep winning, per usual. You play teams from all different divisions in Sweden and eventually it will come down to a championship game, which is in a year. Tierp hasn't qualified to play in the cup for a few years, so they are obviously looking to change that this year. It's a one and done type of situation, so hopefully we can keep advancing and they end up going far this year. Anyway, the team we played was Avesta AIK. We traveled to Avesta, which is about an hour and half north of Sweden. We ended up beating them 7-0. I felt kinda bad. It's always tough to lose that badly. Now, we are just waiting to hear who we play next and when.
Thursday, Tierp had a little farmers market going on! There were unlimited amounts of candy, chocolates, jams, honey, breads, clothes, jewelry and purses. Everything you can think of, someone was sellling it. And for so cheap! I bought a pair of earrings for 10 crowns ($1.50)- can't beat that! I love little markets like that so I was in heaven. It was fun to just stroll around and learn about all the different types of traditional Swedish customs and foods. I loveee their jam selection. They have so many more choices than we do in the US- blueberry, lignonberry, mixedberry, raspberry, and so on. Some we have, but for the most part, there are more choices here. Except grape. Which is funny, since that is one of the main choices back home. It was a perfect day for a market- so sunny, not too hot and a light breeze. Most of the stands had samples available for whatever they were selling, so I was able to taste all the different kinds of jams, honey, candies, chocolates, and breads. Heaven. It was a nice day and I enjoyed getting to learn a little bit more about Swedish culture.
I also learned about a typical Swedish meal, made famous by a King who lived in a castle 2 minutes from Tierp. He loved eating pancakes and pea soup- sounds odd, but it's delicious. Unfortuantely for him, his soup was poisoned with arsenic and he died as a result, but went down making the combo a traditional meal in Sweden. Apparently the pea soup is quite dangerous: you cannot save it for later in the day and reheat it or it will kill you. It happened at a retirement home a few years ago. The peas aren't the typical green pea you are imagining and I'm not sure what kind they even are. I assumed this is what the soup would be based off, but it was more of a lentil type of soup, which I was happy about. I love lentil soup and I knew I wouldn't have enjoyed a green pea based soup (but I was still willing to give it a shot- no one likes a picky eater).
Saturday, we had our regular season game against Krosnas IF. We were on the road again for this game and it was another 2 hour trip. I should mention that we travel the same day as the games. Prior to knowing that this is what we have to do, I would have thought I couldn't get off a bus and go play a game, especially when it's a 6 hour journey. Even 2 hours doesn't sound appealing. But I've actually had no problems with it. We beat the team 3-0 and we are now tied for 2nd in the league!
This has turned into quite the extensive post, but sometimes once I get going, I can't stop. I think some of what I wrote was sitting heavy on me and I needed to get it out. In some ways writing this blog is soothing for me, which I learned prior to coming here. I read on a study abroad blog that journaling and blogging are really beneficial in helping to adjust to new cultures and coping with being so far from home- I do both and I definitely agree.
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