Hello Hello,
For the past week and a half I have been on a European Tour with 66 other exchange students. It was so much fun, the best time of my life. We began in Berlin and stayed there for 2 days. Then we traveled to Carakow, Poland. There we visited Auschwitz and other Jewish landmarks. After Carakow we went to Prague, Czech Rebuplic. It was really fun, and we were there for about 2 days. We did a city tour there which was really fun. That night we went to the 2nd largest club in Europe, it was 5 stories high. It was tons of fun dancing with everyone. We then traveled to Austria. Austria is sooo gorgeous. It is the gate to the Alps so being surrounded by mountains was amazing. We went hiking there and enjoyed the outdoors before we traveled to Italy. We spent 2 day there just to chill on the beach and do whatever we wanted. On the last day we went to Venice for a day. We went on a gondala ride and spent a few hours in the town. Its just as beautiful as they say but it smells pretty yucky. They day after Venice I flew home because I was leaving to travel home in a couple of days. So I was in sweden for about 2 days then I traveled home yesterday, the 12th. All my flights went good. I was traveling for about 15 hours total. I flew from Copenhagen to New York then New York to Salt Lake. I arrived in Salt Lake at about 7:30. All went good. And now I am headed home to Lander today. It feel s really weird and almost not right but right at the same time.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
3 Dagar Kvar!
ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT TILL EURO TOUR THEN I AM HOME IN ABOUT 2 WEEKS!!!!!!!! IT'S CRAZY!!!!!!!!!
Dinner
Hej!
Well today was my very last day of church here in sweden. It went really good. I said alot of prayers and bore my testimony in swedish. It was pretty good. Afterwards I said goodbye to everyone, but it was weird because it didn't feel like I was really saying goodbye, it felt like I was going to see them next sunday and every sunday after that. Most of the members didn't even realize I was leaving hahaha. I'll miss that ward alot, they are so much fun. After church I came home had a power nap and then got ready for a dinner. I invited all my host families over for dinner but Ann and Håkan weren't able to come. It was really fun though to see everyone again. All the Isrenn boys were there and made me really realize just how much I really miss them, it felt like I had never left. They are so awesome. We ate some steak and hot dogs and potato salad. I made a very very good strawberry pie for dessert and everyone loved it, even Sebastian who isn't a sweets person. It was really good. I got pictures with each of my host families and then a picture with everyone. It was awesome. Gosh I was so lucky to get the families that I did, I couldn't have done better really and truly. I love my swedish families so so so much and I am really going to miss them alot.
Hope everyone is great!
Love,
Micah
Well today was my very last day of church here in sweden. It went really good. I said alot of prayers and bore my testimony in swedish. It was pretty good. Afterwards I said goodbye to everyone, but it was weird because it didn't feel like I was really saying goodbye, it felt like I was going to see them next sunday and every sunday after that. Most of the members didn't even realize I was leaving hahaha. I'll miss that ward alot, they are so much fun. After church I came home had a power nap and then got ready for a dinner. I invited all my host families over for dinner but Ann and Håkan weren't able to come. It was really fun though to see everyone again. All the Isrenn boys were there and made me really realize just how much I really miss them, it felt like I had never left. They are so awesome. We ate some steak and hot dogs and potato salad. I made a very very good strawberry pie for dessert and everyone loved it, even Sebastian who isn't a sweets person. It was really good. I got pictures with each of my host families and then a picture with everyone. It was awesome. Gosh I was so lucky to get the families that I did, I couldn't have done better really and truly. I love my swedish families so so so much and I am really going to miss them alot.
Hope everyone is great!
Love,
Micah
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Midsommar!
Well hello everyone!
So here in lovely rainy Sweden we just celebrated the holiday called midsommar. If you split that word up you can kind of figure our what it is celebrating (mid-sommar) It was kind of like the beginning and middle of summer. So the tradition is that everyone puts up a big cross covered in leaves and flowers and it has little rings of flowers and leaves in the cross, then everyone gets together and dances around the post and sings songs. Its really fun. After dancing around the post everyone eats traditional foods such as sil, nya potatis (new potatoes), grädafil (sour cream), kötbollar (meatballs), and other yummy foods. Its basically just a big party time for everyone. It is also one of the most dangerous times of the year for driving accidents. This year I guess was one of the worst Midsommars they have ever had down here because it rained all midsommar day but it was nice and sunny today (the day after), of course. For my midsommar I went to church for the beginning of the party then I went to Ängelholm, to Rosie's and hung out there for a while, then I came home and ate some jorgubbar, (strawberries), which is a very traditional midsommar food also. Before I went to bed I picked 7 different types of flower to put under my pillow, supposedly if you to that then you will dream about your future husband............I don't think I did but who knows haha. Then today it has been a fairly nice day. It was the first time we were actually able to eat lunch outside this summer! And to make it even better I had my first Mountain Dew in almost a year! It tasted soooo delicious hahaha. Its been a very relaxing day so far! Tomorrow I planning on going to my last day of church in this ward and then I will be having a dinner for most of my host families so I have to get all of that stuff organized!
Hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Micah
P.S. I was looking through my pictures and I remembered that I a couple days ago I traveled up to Karlskrona. I took a train from Laholm to Lund, changed trains in Lund and went up to Karlshamn, then changed to a bus and went the rest of the way up to Karlskrona where I met 5 other guys up there that are exchange students. For midsommar up in Karlskrona they have a huge market, one of the biggest in sweden, so we went to that and it was pretty huge! I stayed the night there and took the same trip back which took about 4 hours altogether. so I have been traveling quite a bit lately. Oh ya I just remember something pretty exciting that I did lately. Last Monday I went with Rosie to Halmstad and we went cliff diving by the ocean, not in the ocean, but close by. It was soooo much fun. We were jumping off of cliffs that were about 15-18 meters high, the highest was 25 but we were NOT going to go off of that one haha. We got some nice videos, it was so much fun! I would do it all over again, and the water wasn't cold at all really, it was quite nice! haha. I know we are crazy, but it was something to get the old adrenaline running haha.
So here in lovely rainy Sweden we just celebrated the holiday called midsommar. If you split that word up you can kind of figure our what it is celebrating (mid-sommar) It was kind of like the beginning and middle of summer. So the tradition is that everyone puts up a big cross covered in leaves and flowers and it has little rings of flowers and leaves in the cross, then everyone gets together and dances around the post and sings songs. Its really fun. After dancing around the post everyone eats traditional foods such as sil, nya potatis (new potatoes), grädafil (sour cream), kötbollar (meatballs), and other yummy foods. Its basically just a big party time for everyone. It is also one of the most dangerous times of the year for driving accidents. This year I guess was one of the worst Midsommars they have ever had down here because it rained all midsommar day but it was nice and sunny today (the day after), of course. For my midsommar I went to church for the beginning of the party then I went to Ängelholm, to Rosie's and hung out there for a while, then I came home and ate some jorgubbar, (strawberries), which is a very traditional midsommar food also. Before I went to bed I picked 7 different types of flower to put under my pillow, supposedly if you to that then you will dream about your future husband............I don't think I did but who knows haha. Then today it has been a fairly nice day. It was the first time we were actually able to eat lunch outside this summer! And to make it even better I had my first Mountain Dew in almost a year! It tasted soooo delicious hahaha. Its been a very relaxing day so far! Tomorrow I planning on going to my last day of church in this ward and then I will be having a dinner for most of my host families so I have to get all of that stuff organized!
Hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Micah
P.S. I was looking through my pictures and I remembered that I a couple days ago I traveled up to Karlskrona. I took a train from Laholm to Lund, changed trains in Lund and went up to Karlshamn, then changed to a bus and went the rest of the way up to Karlskrona where I met 5 other guys up there that are exchange students. For midsommar up in Karlskrona they have a huge market, one of the biggest in sweden, so we went to that and it was pretty huge! I stayed the night there and took the same trip back which took about 4 hours altogether. so I have been traveling quite a bit lately. Oh ya I just remember something pretty exciting that I did lately. Last Monday I went with Rosie to Halmstad and we went cliff diving by the ocean, not in the ocean, but close by. It was soooo much fun. We were jumping off of cliffs that were about 15-18 meters high, the highest was 25 but we were NOT going to go off of that one haha. We got some nice videos, it was so much fun! I would do it all over again, and the water wasn't cold at all really, it was quite nice! haha. I know we are crazy, but it was something to get the old adrenaline running haha.
Some ice cream I got in Karlskrona, all of the guys made me get a tre smak which is 3 different types of ice cream in one cone, it was as big as my head, but yummy
The cliffs Rosie and I were cliff diving off of, it was a really nice day
Just a small portion of the market in Karlskrona
David, an exchange student from New Zeland that I was hanging out with in Karlskrona at the market.
Me and Alila infront of the midsommar pole at the church.
Our new missionaries infront of the midsommar pole, both are from the US
The traditional swedish midsommar meal, sil, nya potatis, och grädafil
Rosie by the Midsommar pole in Ängelholm, its raining now if you could not tell haha
My 7 different dreaming flowers under my pillow haha
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Liseberg
Hej Hej!
Jag liver! Last Saturday my host dad and host sister took me to Liseberg, one of the biggest amusement park in sweden. It is in Gothenburg which is about an hour and a half drive from Halmstad. It was super uper fun, it reminded me of Lagoon. The first ride we went on was the Balder and it was a roller coaster that had a 70% downgrade (I think thats what you call it) anyway it was really awesome. Then we on the Canon which only lasted for about 15 seconds but it was intense. You went through alot of loops and went upside down, it was intense. After that we walked around and went to the swings which were basically big hammer looking things that would swing back and forth really high, it was fun. There were alot of rides but my favorite was called the Atmosfear. Its one of those rides where they pull you up really high and then drop you. We went super uper duper high and dropped us pretty quick, the scariest part was that you didn't slow down until you were past the roof of the building. So when you are going down it looks like you are going to hit the building but you don't. There was another one like the Atmosfear but it was a little smaller. Even though it was smaller it was way way way more scary that the Atmosfear, because once they get you to the top you sit there for what feels like forever and you have no idea when it is going to drop and the anticipation is what kills you and makes it so scary haha. I made Susanna and Claes do the bumper cars, Claes thought that it was too childish but in the end he loved it and we ended up doing it again haha. We went on alot of roller coasters, and I have never really been a roller coaster ride or any kind of rides person because usually I get really queasy and its not fun at all but in Liseberg I didn't feel sick at all except for on one ride. It was called the SpinningStone or something like that. I did fine while the ride was going but it wasn't until after it stopped that I got queasy. It had an arm that would swing back and forth and then the seat you were sitting in would turn every now and then but not all that often. It was fun though. We ended up going on the Balder again and then for last we went on the Colorado which is pretty much the same thing as Rattle Snake Rapids in Lagoon, just not as awesome. Claes did one of those little....I don't know what you call it.....booths? on the side that you have to pay for and you win prizes. Anyway he did that and won a hug box of Geisha which is some of the best chocolate in sweden. So now we have an unlimited supply of geisha for a while. So spending time in Liseberg was AWESOME! I think I will have to go again this summer with friends. On Sunday night I wen to Rosie's place and stayed the night and took the train to school in the morning. On Monday for school we played Bränbol which is a swedish game that is so much fun, its pretty close to baseball with a few differences, when I get home I am definitely getting everyone together for a Bränbol match, I think you guys will like it. Oh ya I just remembered I need to post pictures of Sollefteå for you guys, I will get on that soon! Anyway tomorrow is Sweden's national day so we don't have any school. I don't know what we are going to do but I am sure I will have fun. Then thursday I don't think there is anything important for school so I think maybe one of my friends from school is going to come to Halmstad and we are going to hang out for a bit. Then Friday is graduation and school is OUT!!!!! I am so excited for summer!!!! Only a month and a few days till I am home :). Hope everyone is doing fantabulous!
Love,
Micah
Jag liver! Last Saturday my host dad and host sister took me to Liseberg, one of the biggest amusement park in sweden. It is in Gothenburg which is about an hour and a half drive from Halmstad. It was super uper fun, it reminded me of Lagoon. The first ride we went on was the Balder and it was a roller coaster that had a 70% downgrade (I think thats what you call it) anyway it was really awesome. Then we on the Canon which only lasted for about 15 seconds but it was intense. You went through alot of loops and went upside down, it was intense. After that we walked around and went to the swings which were basically big hammer looking things that would swing back and forth really high, it was fun. There were alot of rides but my favorite was called the Atmosfear. Its one of those rides where they pull you up really high and then drop you. We went super uper duper high and dropped us pretty quick, the scariest part was that you didn't slow down until you were past the roof of the building. So when you are going down it looks like you are going to hit the building but you don't. There was another one like the Atmosfear but it was a little smaller. Even though it was smaller it was way way way more scary that the Atmosfear, because once they get you to the top you sit there for what feels like forever and you have no idea when it is going to drop and the anticipation is what kills you and makes it so scary haha. I made Susanna and Claes do the bumper cars, Claes thought that it was too childish but in the end he loved it and we ended up doing it again haha. We went on alot of roller coasters, and I have never really been a roller coaster ride or any kind of rides person because usually I get really queasy and its not fun at all but in Liseberg I didn't feel sick at all except for on one ride. It was called the SpinningStone or something like that. I did fine while the ride was going but it wasn't until after it stopped that I got queasy. It had an arm that would swing back and forth and then the seat you were sitting in would turn every now and then but not all that often. It was fun though. We ended up going on the Balder again and then for last we went on the Colorado which is pretty much the same thing as Rattle Snake Rapids in Lagoon, just not as awesome. Claes did one of those little....I don't know what you call it.....booths? on the side that you have to pay for and you win prizes. Anyway he did that and won a hug box of Geisha which is some of the best chocolate in sweden. So now we have an unlimited supply of geisha for a while. So spending time in Liseberg was AWESOME! I think I will have to go again this summer with friends. On Sunday night I wen to Rosie's place and stayed the night and took the train to school in the morning. On Monday for school we played Bränbol which is a swedish game that is so much fun, its pretty close to baseball with a few differences, when I get home I am definitely getting everyone together for a Bränbol match, I think you guys will like it. Oh ya I just remembered I need to post pictures of Sollefteå for you guys, I will get on that soon! Anyway tomorrow is Sweden's national day so we don't have any school. I don't know what we are going to do but I am sure I will have fun. Then thursday I don't think there is anything important for school so I think maybe one of my friends from school is going to come to Halmstad and we are going to hang out for a bit. Then Friday is graduation and school is OUT!!!!! I am so excited for summer!!!! Only a month and a few days till I am home :). Hope everyone is doing fantabulous!
Love,
Micah
Monday, May 28, 2012
Flying
Hej everyone!
So I just got back from doing one of the coolest things ever. Claes (my host dad) is learning to be a glider pilot, so I went with him today to his lesson. It was cool watching them. Then at the very end I got to go up in the glider with the instructor. I didn't drive the glider but I was flying in it and that was enough for me! It was so cool. For those of you who don't know what a glider is, it is a small skinny plane with really long wings, it has no engine. So another plane hooks up to it and then when you get up to a certain altitude you detach yourself from the cable that the other plane is pulling you with. After that you just glide on the air and float around and go in circles and everything. Its really cool. I had tons of fun. It really pays of to use the excuse of being an exchange student, that way you get most everything for free and then when you say your american its even better haha.
Hope everyone else is doing great.
Love,
Micah
P.S. The other instructor took some pictures that he will email to Claes so I did get some pictures! :)
So I just got back from doing one of the coolest things ever. Claes (my host dad) is learning to be a glider pilot, so I went with him today to his lesson. It was cool watching them. Then at the very end I got to go up in the glider with the instructor. I didn't drive the glider but I was flying in it and that was enough for me! It was so cool. For those of you who don't know what a glider is, it is a small skinny plane with really long wings, it has no engine. So another plane hooks up to it and then when you get up to a certain altitude you detach yourself from the cable that the other plane is pulling you with. After that you just glide on the air and float around and go in circles and everything. Its really cool. I had tons of fun. It really pays of to use the excuse of being an exchange student, that way you get most everything for free and then when you say your american its even better haha.
Hope everyone else is doing great.
Love,
Micah
P.S. The other instructor took some pictures that he will email to Claes so I did get some pictures! :)
Monday, May 21, 2012
Breakthrough
Wow what a day!
So today was a nice day, Rigmor Göte and I went to Resele where Bror Oscar my Great-Great Grandpa was born! It was so cool I was awed the whole time. I took tons and tons of pictures. I took pictures of everything, literally everything I saw. It was such an amazing feeling that I can't explain, to be there. It was so amazing and I wouldn't trade that little time for the world. Any of my family that is reading this (*cough* Grandma and Grandpa Irene) NEVER may I repeat NEVER give up a chance to go to that place while you can and see where your ancestors came from, you will learn so much not only about your ancestors but about yourself and what makes you who you are. I can't stress how important it is that you, John and Evelyn Irene, should go there. It's a once in a lifetime thing. And don't worry about language barriers I have a good friend who can speak swedish now haha. Anyway so that was amazing and the high light of the whole trip. So I learned alot there. After we visited the house we went to the actual town Resele which isn't too far away. There we got ice cream and looked at head stones in the towns graveyard. There is a place in the graveyard called an "All Mans place" (I think thats what it translates to from swedish). Its a place where if you are unable to pay for a nice burial site you can be buried in this place. So its pretty much a giant grave for the poor farmers. Rigmor thinks that is where my great great great grandpa Johan Olof Irén is buried. But nobody knows for sure.
So before I came to sweden we were unable to get past my great great great Grandpa Johan Olof Irén in our family history. I can tell you, today, after 2 hours of research, we are past Johan Olof Irén (born 1846). We are now to my 14th great Grandfather Givlögs (no idea how to pronounce that) born in the 1470's or so. PHEW! It feels so so so so so amazing to finally get something done with family history. But there is a catch in all this amazing news. We are pretty sure that Olof Olofsson is Johan Olof Irén's father but we don't know for sure because Olof and Stina were not married when Johan was born, so its not set in stone. The point is that my 2 hours of research could be a waste of time and we could still be stuck at Johan Olof Irén, but I have a deep feeling that its not, I feel as if Olof Olofsson really was Johan Olof Irén's father. So I am scooting right along trying to tie up all the loose ends in our family history and doing pretty rockin awesome (I have even passed Rigmor in family names! haha) So be ready when I come home family, get your baptismal cards ready! Well it's about 11 pm here and I am exhausted so I am going to bed but I thought all of you would like to hear of my discovery!
Love,
Micah
So today was a nice day, Rigmor Göte and I went to Resele where Bror Oscar my Great-Great Grandpa was born! It was so cool I was awed the whole time. I took tons and tons of pictures. I took pictures of everything, literally everything I saw. It was such an amazing feeling that I can't explain, to be there. It was so amazing and I wouldn't trade that little time for the world. Any of my family that is reading this (*cough* Grandma and Grandpa Irene) NEVER may I repeat NEVER give up a chance to go to that place while you can and see where your ancestors came from, you will learn so much not only about your ancestors but about yourself and what makes you who you are. I can't stress how important it is that you, John and Evelyn Irene, should go there. It's a once in a lifetime thing. And don't worry about language barriers I have a good friend who can speak swedish now haha. Anyway so that was amazing and the high light of the whole trip. So I learned alot there. After we visited the house we went to the actual town Resele which isn't too far away. There we got ice cream and looked at head stones in the towns graveyard. There is a place in the graveyard called an "All Mans place" (I think thats what it translates to from swedish). Its a place where if you are unable to pay for a nice burial site you can be buried in this place. So its pretty much a giant grave for the poor farmers. Rigmor thinks that is where my great great great grandpa Johan Olof Irén is buried. But nobody knows for sure.
So before I came to sweden we were unable to get past my great great great Grandpa Johan Olof Irén in our family history. I can tell you, today, after 2 hours of research, we are past Johan Olof Irén (born 1846). We are now to my 14th great Grandfather Givlögs (no idea how to pronounce that) born in the 1470's or so. PHEW! It feels so so so so so amazing to finally get something done with family history. But there is a catch in all this amazing news. We are pretty sure that Olof Olofsson is Johan Olof Irén's father but we don't know for sure because Olof and Stina were not married when Johan was born, so its not set in stone. The point is that my 2 hours of research could be a waste of time and we could still be stuck at Johan Olof Irén, but I have a deep feeling that its not, I feel as if Olof Olofsson really was Johan Olof Irén's father. So I am scooting right along trying to tie up all the loose ends in our family history and doing pretty rockin awesome (I have even passed Rigmor in family names! haha) So be ready when I come home family, get your baptismal cards ready! Well it's about 11 pm here and I am exhausted so I am going to bed but I thought all of you would like to hear of my discovery!
Love,
Micah
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