I arrived in Stockholm around 8:30 Sunday night after my bus was over an hour late, this type of thing seems to have become a theme with me on this trip. However, everything else went very smooth. Jill helped me call my next host family and talk to the bus driver so I could borrow his phone to call them when we were about an hour outside the city. The Hemingstam Family are very nice. Annika is a teacher at an Agricultural Gymnasiet (high school) and during the summer she works a night shift as a vet tech. Daniel works with food safety regulations and education. They have a little boy, Lukas, who at the ripe old age of 4 1/2 already speaks two languages, Swedish and Finish. He also loved Donald Duck! They have hosted quite a few IFYEs in the past and had everything very organized and all ready to go for me.

Monday morning Annika and I rode bikes over to one of Stockholm’s twelve 4-H Farms. This is one of the largest and really focuses on the farming aspect. It is really the only operating farm in all of Stockholm County and it provides feed to all the other 4-H farms in Stockholm. The farm is all organic and the guy that is in charge of running the farm was very passionate about it. His big project right now is organic chickens with mobile hen houses. They are out in a field with a electric fence around them to keep out foxes. Their area is moved at least once a week to improve their living environment. A similar technique is used with the meat hens as well. After the farm Annika and I took the metro to a near by shopping center, Kista. Around 3:00 Annika left for work and Daniel and Lukas came home around 4:30 and we just hung out the rest of the night.

Tuesday, you’re never going to believe this, but I went to another 4-H Camp. It was a day camp at Annika’s 4-H farm. I have now been to every kind of 4-H Camp that Sweden offers. It was a lot of fun though to hang out with the kids and see the farm. There were 31 kids at the camp (30 girls, 1 boy) and the camp went on all week. The kids were between 7 to 9 and the leaders were the teenage members. I was with the blue group our first activity was to take care of the sheep which consisted of taking them for a walk with was very funny. Then they did some arts and crafts and had lunch. After lunch we got to do trick riding with the horse. After all the girls went I got to do it too, I stood up on a moving horse! Once everyone had their chance we had a snack and then fed and cleaned out some of the horses and rabbit cages. Then our last activity of the day was moving the goats, which was almost as fun to watch as the sheep walk.

On Wednesday morning I went with Annika to drop Lukas off at day care. He attends a Finish daycare, which is why he speaks Finish. Annika’s mother was from Finland. Then we went to her school. I really liked getting to see the agricultural school. I spent the afternoon at the schools dog unit, which is very unique for the school. It is like a doggy day care and the students help train the dogs. The school does a lot with veterinary nursing (as Annikacalls it). They have a horse riding school for students as well. I took the metro home all by myself. They gave me very detailed instructions and a phone in case I ran into any problems but I made it just fine! That night while Annika was at work Daniel, Lukas, and Annika’s dad Lars went out on their boat and had some hot dogs. It was a really nice day and it was fun to go for a boat ride.

Thursday I made some chocolate chip cookies for them, they’re hooked too! Later that afternoon I took the metro by myself again, I’m getting really good at it. This time it was to meet Annika’s friend, Sara. She took me to this free outdoor theater, where they had a hip hop dance competition. They were all very good! I took a cab home. The city is very tourist/English speaking friendly.

Today, Friday, I got to go to lunch at the American Embassy with Annika’s aunt who works there. We didn’t really get to see that much of the Embassy because of security. After lunch Lars took me sight seeing around the city. We went up and walked around the royal place and old town and just did a lot of driving around. I spent most of the night trying to figure out how to pack my suitcase so that it was light enough. It was the perfect last day in Sweden! My flight is at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Everyone please say a little extra prayer that this one goes better! See you all back home very soon!!

This week has flown by! Monday Jill had to go back to work so Jessie and I just slept in and then took a bus to Kalmar. She took me to her favorite restaurant to go to with her friends and we just shopped around until Jill got off work. They have a lot of little shops and things so it was fun to look around. That night one of Jill’s cousins and her husband came to stay a couple of days, so we grilled out and had a nice dinner. After we ate we looked up my house and K-State on Google Earth, which was cool to show them where I live and go to school. I think they were most impressed by the size of our football stadiums parking lot, which did look really big.

Tuesday Jessie and I made another batch of chocolate chips, like I said I got them hooked!! Later we were watching the movie Daddy Day Care, and Jessie noticed they were making chocolate chip cookies too, she said “Does every household in America know how to make those cookies?” Today Jill had arranged for her friends, Eva and Helena, to take me to see another friend’s farm. So I took a bus and met them in Kalmar. The farmer’s name was Magnus, he has about 130 dairy bulls. In Sweden it’s a lot more popular to raise bulls for meat than steers. This is because they don’t have as much pasture land and they are required by law to keep their animals inside for the winter. With the bulls they keep them in small pins and never let them outside. They ship them at about 18 months. Magnus was very fun and asked a lot of questions about the states. We even ended up getting ourselves invited to pizza and movie night with several of his dairy farmer friends and their wives. Magnus’s house burnt down about a year ago and he had just recently moved into his new one so everyone was wanting to see his new house.

On Wednesday, Eva and Helna, took me to visit another friend whose family owned an estate farm. Their friends Elin and Lente have five kids ages, 9, 6, 6, 4, and 2 so they are very busy people and I appreciated them showing me around. Elin’s father bought the estate about 16 years ago. These big estates also come with a lot of history, if you remember Lars took me to see several back in Skåne. This particular one was built for a military general who was in charge of the battle between Denmark and Skåne. This battle happened back in the 17th century but if you noticed I’ve mentioned it a lot because it still seems to be a big deal! In fact they even have a club that meets every year to try and break Skåne from Sweden with a stick. Like the other estates they have several different sources of income. They own a forest to harvest trees,they have a lot of farm land for crops, and then they raise sheep, cattle, and chickens. The chickens were very interesting to see. They have two large facilities, each with two rooms, and one room can hold 40,000 chickens. If you do the math that’s 160,000 chickens. They raise them for 34 or 35 days, depending on if the feed is home grown or bought. Then they go to the very same factory that Robin (Jill’s son) is working at on Örland. The chicks were only 14 days old when we saw them. I’m not 100% positive about all the rules with this industry in the U.S. but here they aren’t allowed to put them in cages, they have to be free to walk around in the large barn, which is kept at about 95*F. The estate also includes an English Park, which is open to the public to walking in. There are a lot of rules to follow in order to be classified as an English Park, I learned. First of all this kind of park is to preserve nature and it not suppose to be very planned out or organized. It must also include several different displays, like a Chinese Hut, for example. I’m not sure I understood it all but it was a nice place to go walking! After my tour they invited us to tea and coffee.

Thursday, Jessie was in charge of me again. We took a bus to Borgholm in the morning to go tour the old castle ruins (which can be seen in my Facebook profile picture). I loved this! We had to pay to go in, but once in there we were allowed to climb up on anything and go in all the little nooks and crannies. We took a lot of pictures! In the afternoon we just shopped around the stores in Borgholm. Jill’s friend Annelie, who owns the stable we went riding at, made arrangements for me to go tour a dairy farm there in Borgholm, across the road from the ruins. In the 1500s this farm had belonged to the royal family. It was one of 4 on Örland that was used to experiment and teach new farming practices and also supplied the royal family with food. Today they milk about 65 head in a stanchion barn. The have a Red Swedish breed of dairy cows who are know for the butter fat in their milk. I think I enjoyed the visit a lot more than Jessie, who loves horses, but is scared of cows. I’ve really appreciated her taking me around!! That night I met a lot of Jessie’s friends and we went to a festival in Kalmar.

Friday I went with Jessie back to Borgholm to meet Annelie. Annelie also works as a police officer on Örland and is the head of security for the royal family when they are visiting their summer castle here. Jessie had been asked to take pictures of the King’s horse, who is also used to take tourist on buggy rides in the summer. So we got to go in through the back entrance of the royal families grounds. However, the royals had just left that morning to go back to Stockholm. We had to go through a security check point and Annalie said all the guards were really on edge when they saw her because she normally runs drills when the family is away. So when she showed up with a girl from Kansas they thought it was a test. The king’s horse, Svenske, was very beautiful and we even go to take a short ride in another one of the king’s buggies. That night Jill invited Eva and Helna over for a BBQ. It was a really nice night! We also played Kubb, which is very popular here, every host family I’ve stayed with has played it and we played it at the camp. It’s just a fun back yard game.

Today, Saturday, we had planned to go to the beach but when we woke up it was rainy and it continued to rain all day. So we just stayed inside and watched some movies and played cards. Tomorrow I’m leaving on a bus for Stockholm where I will stay with my last host family. I’ve really enjoyed my time here with the Hudlends and I’ll be sad to leave. I can’t believe I only have one week left in Sweden. I’m getting excited to see everyone back in Kansas and to have a cell phone again (which remember I lost so I no longer have any numbers).

Time is flying by and it’s getting harder to keep up with everything. It seems strange to be starting my last week in Sweden. I’ll be sad to leave but very happy to be home!! I’ve done a lot with the Hedlund Family sense I’ve writen last so lets see if I can get it all typed out! Upon inspiration from my grandma I have been doing a good job of keeping a journal of my trip so that makes it easier to remember everything!

Thursday, July 29th, was my first real day with the Hedlunds, because I had been at the 4-H camp. Jill, the mother, had to work so was left in the care of Jessie (17) and Felicia (12). We got up a good time and caught a bus to Borgholm. It is a summer town in Northern Örland, meaning that it is very dead and vacant in the winter. We were heading to their king and queen’s summer house. We had to walk quite a ways from the but but as we walked we passed an old castle ruin and lots of other good photo opportunities so that helped it go by much faster. The royal summer house was much smaller than I expected, and it was an Italian style house. Queen Victoria built is a long time ago, because she had bad health and Örland is know for its fresh air. She modeled the house after her doctors home, who was from Italy. The house was small but the garden was not, it was huge and that is the part where we were allowed to walk around, because the royal family still uses this as their summer home. While walking in the garden we came up on a security guard and a lady picking some flowers, we just walk right by with no real reason to think anything of it. It wasn’t until the next day when one of Jessie’s friends that works at the summer home told us that the King and Queen were there, and we realised that the lady picking flowers was actually their Queen. So that was neat, I just wished we had known that sooner! After the summer house we walked about 15 minutes into Borgholm. We just spent some time shopping around and got some ice cream. We caught the bus back and Jessie and Felicia got off at home I stayed on and went to Kalmar to meet Jill to play volleyball. Every Thursday Jill meet with a group to play intramural volleyball. It was fun!

Friday morning Jessie and I took their moped, which I really liked, to a near by store and got some chocolate to make chocolate chip cookies. Felicia helped us too and I think I got them all hooked on them!! Jessie’s friend Bella met us and we all took the bus into Kalmar to meet Jill to go canoeing around the city. I really liked this! We stopped an had a little picnic snack on the lawn looking up at the castle in Kalmar, which is something you can’t do in Kansas. That night Jill arranged for me to go with another 4-Her, Jessica, who was my age and I had met her at the 4-H farm a week or so ago. I had a great time getting to meet all her friends, they were all very welcoming and liked to ask me questions about the U.S. They were also all very good in English, one had his masters in English Translation and another had just gotten back the day before from England so that was nice to talk with them.

Saturday was a very full day, but I got to see a lot of Örland! Jill, Felicia, and I drove up along the West coast of Örland and looked at all the old fisherman’s boat houses and the beautiful coastline. We also stopped and had some lunch along the rocky coast directly across from the Blue Virgin Island, which has a tale about witches and bad luck attached to it. They say that if you take a rock from the island you will have bad luck for life, Jill said their local government is always getting packages from around the world full of these rocks that people have taken and then had bad luck. So we just looked at the island from afar. After lunch we continued North to the Troll Forest. Here they have a museum display with lots of little huts full of educational information and games, mostly for little kids. They also have several different walking paths. We took a short walk through the forest to a pebble beach on the East side of Örland. I wanted to spell something out in rocks, so we decided that U.S.A. would the be easies. We then got back in the car and made it to the most northern tip on Örland, (remember I said it takes about two and a half hours to drive the length but only ten minutes to drive the width of Örland). Here they have one of their two lighthouses, the other is on the Southern tip and is much taller.  Felicia and I went up to the top, it was a very pretty view of the island and the ocean. At this point we were all pretty pooped, so we found a nice beach and had a snack and a nap. They had lots of jellyfish in the water, which I thought looked scary but Jill assured me that they were harmless, and they were, I had just never seen so many. After our nap we met up with Jessie and went to a stable where Jill had to take care of a friend’s horse while they were on vacation. So we also got to go riding for a bit, I’m getting really good at English Style;). We got home around 10:00 that night and went right to bed!

Sunday morning we got up early and went back to the stable to care for the horse again. We also took a long buggy ride. Jessie drove the horse and buggy and Jill rode along beside. Too, the buggy we were riding in belongs to the Swedish Royal Family. It was very peaceful and we drove by the old castle ruin so once again good photo ops. There was a riding competition going on so we watched it for a little while and then came home to rest. Jill also plays volleyball on Sunday night, but on Sundays they play beach volleyball. It was a good workout and afterwards we all jumped in the ocean to get the sand off. It had been a nice day, but the water was very, very cold!!

I still have a lot more to share but that pretty much covers all of last week so I’m going to end this post at that. I’ll work on this week as soon as I can!!

This past week has been very busy, but I loved it all! I am now staying with the Hedlund Family on the island Örland. It takes about two and a half hours to drive the length of Örland but only ten minutes to drive the width. Jill, the mother, use to work at the 4-H Farm in Kalmar (Kalmar is only about 15 minutes away, it’s just across a really big bridge from Örland). They have hosted four other IFYEs in the past also. Jill now works as a personal secretary for a company in Kalmar. She has four kids that all live at home so I’ve gotten to meet and hang out with them. Robin (21) works at a chicken factory for the summer and he is looking to go to a university to study engineering. Victor (19), works with elderly people and people with disabilities to help them with daily tasks, he is also looking to go to a university soon. In Sweden they don’t have to pay tuition to go to a university, however it is very expensive to live in the towns that have them, and they are all difficult to get into. Jessie (17) has been really nice and has done a lot of taking me around on her day’s off. She has a summer job selling cotton candy at a zoo. Felicia (12) loves, loves, loves horses and has been kind enough to lend me her room for two weeks. 

Because all of them had to work Monday-Wednesday, Jill made plans for me to attend another 4-H Camp, only this camp was for kids 7 to 12 years old. So, late Sunday night I met up with another 4-Her from Kalmar, Douglas, who I had actually met at the other camp to ride up to the camp near Vimmerby. He was going to work at the camp as a leader. The camp was about two hours away so we arrived in the middle of the night and just went to bed. The only thing exciting that happened on the trip was that we ran over a dead deer, but no harm was done to us or the car. We were just thankful it wasn’t a moose!

I can’t tell you how thankful I was that this camp was inside!! The district 4-H program has just purchased this old school and turned it into a camp facility. It had a gym, kitchen, rooms to sleep in, and then a school yard with a play ground. They had also brought some rabbits and chickens for the kids to play with and take care of while at camp. There were only 5 kids at this session of camp and 4 leaders (5 if you count me). So the kids were very well looked after! They said numbers were way down this year, but they weren’t sure why.

First thing Monday morning we had introductions. I was very impressed that the kids were all able to tell me their name, about their family, and what they liked to do, in English. They also seemed to understand me for the most part. The kids worked very hard and secretively all morning working on a skit for their talent show which would be later in the week. In the afternoon they taught me several new games that we had to play inside because it rained all day. It did clear up a bit in the evening so the kids could go outside and run around for a bit. Things were pretty relaxed, the leaders are all between 19 to 24 and the kids are old enough to just play on their own, so it was nice to just kind of hang out and not have to do a lot. 

Tuesday was a bright sunny day! In the morning the kids all had 4-H School. They each had a booklet that the leaders help them fill out. Sadly it’s all just Swedish to me so while they did that I helped another leader, Carolina, come up with questions about 4-H and each of the leaders to do their traditional, I guess you could call it a scavenger hunt. It was just like the night hike and questions we did at the big camp only much much shorter and easier questions. The kids did this right before lunch. After lunch we took the kids to the neighboring farm so the kids could pet the animals. They also helped teach me the names of animals in Swedish, I’m going to be fluent any day now. I also really enjoyed going to the farm because the farmer’s son was dating a girl from Texas and she was there. She is in Sweden studying at a university. It was nice to talk to her, she is the first person I’ve met from the states sense I’ve been here. Later in the afternoon we went on a walk in the forest where I tried some wild blueberries, this green clover looking plant and this root that tasted like really bad liquorish. Then we went swimming in a near by lake. That night the kids played this game called Callie Cows. It was like a board game combined with a scavenger hunt. They rolled the dice and landed on a number, then they had to run around outside find the number and memorize the word on the back of it. They then had to come tell us the word, to prove that they found the number, and then they had to complete a task before they could roll again. Some of these tasks were as easy as singing a song or making a paper airplane but some were more difficult like cracking an egg on their forehead or writing a poem about the camp. The first one to the number 50 won. The kids seemed to love it! We had a campfire and roasted hot dogs for supper. We also had smores which they said they learned how to do from another IFYE from the U.S. We sang some camp songs and then went to bed.

The kids spent all of Wednesday morning working with the animals. They cleaned out their cages, fed them, and played with them. Rabbits are very popular here! After lunch the kids worked to clean up their rooms and the inside of the school. When they were finished we went to the lake again, but it was much too cloudy and cold for me to swim! The kids also started to teach me more Swedish, they think it’s really funny to hear me say things. Kelsey (my cousin) gave me this book of useful Swedish phrases before I left, which has been really useful for some entertainment. I will read things in Swedish and then they have to see if they can understand me, like I said, I’m going to be fluent any day!! Jill and Jessie came and picked me up that night. The camp continued until Friday, but it was the perfect amount of time for me to be there to experience the camp, but then to go home and get to know my new host family!

Sorry it has been so long sense my last update, but I have lots to share! The closer to the end of my trip that get the faster time seems to fly by! For the past two weeks I have been living in Southwestern Sweeden in an a town called Kalmar.

I arrived on Saturday, July 17 at about 1:30 A.M. to the Burvall Family. The mother, Tina, works for the 4-H Farm in Kalmar. In Sweden they don’t have projects like we do in the U.S. Most of the clubs have a 4-H Farm where they keep a couple of cows, horse, sheep, rabbits and other animals. Their clubs are also much larger; they may only have 1 or 2 clubs in a county where we would have 10 or 12. This gives the kids in the city a chance to be around and learn about agriculture but the animals had all been moved for the summer. The farms also provide a good venue to hold day camps and other activities for the 4-Hers to take part in. All the farms have a couple of people hired to manage the farm, take care of the animals and gardens but a lot of the work is done by the 4-Hers.

Getting back to the Burvall family… The father, Ken, use to be a professional soccer player in Sweden and Austria, but now he works in a bank. They have three girls that are also involved in 4-H. I only met the two oldest girls a few times, Linn (16) and Lovisa (14) were gone for a big soccer camp on the West Coast of Sweden where they played teams from all over the world, including the United States. Their youngest, Alva (6) was very cute and full of energy!

I spent Saturday morning getting myself and all my things washed up from camp, which made me feel much better! Tina and I took a walk around their neighbor hood, which is very close to where she grew up. Kalmar is on the East Coast so they live very close to the beach and it was nice to walk down and see the water. It was kind of a rainy day, but we also went and looked around the 4-H Farm. That night they made a nice meal and then they introduced me to the TV Series, “Mad Men” which I don’t think I had heard about before but I’m hooked now! Tina’s sister, who I met several times, lived in Florida for a year or two when she was about my age, and she was the one that introduced it to them.

Sunday morning, Ken, Tina, Alva and I went and walked along their harbor and some ice cream (remember how I said the Swedes love ice cream, which is okay with me:)! It was fun too to look at all the boat which had come from a lot of the near by countries. Then we went and took a tour of the castle that is here in Kalmar. It is over 800 years old and was built to help protect the town of Kalmar from invaders, like pirates. The castle also has a small chapel which there is a two year waiting list to get married in. Tina went with me on the English Guided tour, which was very interesting. While we did that Alva and a friend and Ken did the kid’s activities where they got to be crowned princes, they were very cute. The Burvalls also have a pool so we spent some time laying out too!

Monday morning I went to work with Tina at the 4-H Farm. Tina is the manager so she has to do a lot of office work and handling problems that come up. She also has two employees that work for her as caretakers of the animals. But so she could show me around, Tina and I took their 4-wheeler around and gave water to all the horses, goats, and sheep (the cows are out to pasture for the summer). Later I helped Olsa, one of the caretakers, check-in and then back out, rabbits that had been rented out for the week. Surprisingly enough this is a huge business for them. A lot of people have summer houses in Kalmar and when they come for here for their vacation they’ll rent a rabbit their kids to play with.  I think it’s really cool how they have this facility in town and they host lots and lots of visitors everyday that have nothing to do with 4-H. For supper that night Tina made deer which Ken’s parents had given them from Northern Sweden. I really liked it!

Tuesday we went to Örland, which is an island just off the coast of Kalmar. There is a big bridge that connects Örland to the mainland, this was the longest bridge in Europe until they built a bridge from Sweden to Denmark. (Örland is also where I’m staying right now with another host family but I’ll get to that later.) We just spent the day laying out on the beach which was relaxing. The beach was pretty full due to the good weather and short summer. 

Wednesday morning I went to work at the farm with Tina again. This time I went around with Olsa, we went and did some shopping for their little cafe’ and then I went with her to take water to all the animals. For lunch Tina made Body Cakes, that is the exact translation anyway. They are sausages wrapped in potatoes, they were good! 

Thursday we went to the farm and I got to ride their horse Pippi. It was different than I was use to, however, because it was on an English saddle, I don’t know how good I was at it, but at least I didn’t fall off! Then I took the 4-wheeler around by myself this time to water all the animals. We ate lunch with some of the 4-Hers that had been at the camp and were just in Kalmar visiting. That night Tina’s sister and her family came over and  I tried lamb and we watched popular youtube videos in the U.S. and Sweden.

Friday the market was in town so Tina and I went and walked around and looked at all the vendors. We ate lunch at Subway because it was brand new to Kalmar and unlike McDonald’s it looked and tasted the exact same. For supper that night Ken and Tina made me some Thai Food. They love Thailand and go there every year.

Saturday a very rainy day, so we went to one of their museums here in Kalmar. It is about a big war ship that was sunk in a battle. They have started to bring up things from the ruins. Because I was the only person there that day that wanted an English speaking tour, Tina and I had our own personal tour. Our tour guide was very passionate about his job and really got into the tour. He  covered a lot of Kalmar and Swedish history, which was interesting to learn about. The two older girls came home that afternoon and for supper they invited some friends of theirs over and we had crawfish. Apparently the Swedish people love crawfish and they are very popular to eat in the month of August, because that’s when they were in season. However, now they are imported so they can eat them whenever they like. It was my first time eating them, I liked them though! 

Sunday, there was more rain, and it was my last day with the the Burvall Family. Around 5:00 my new host family came and picked me up and I moved to their home which is on the island Öland. I’ll update more later!

It was taking me too long to write all about camp so I decided to split it into two parts so here is how the second part of camp went.

Tuesday morning we woke up to rain again. They said it got down to as low as -3*C (that’s 26*F) in the night so it was very cold. But today we got to choose between several different activities and I had chose to go to Ostersund, the closest city, to just walk around and see the city and shop. Ostersund stand for the winter city. In the winter it is a very popular place to go to sky and do winter sports. It was a nice break especially sense it was raining all day.

Wednesday was probably my favorite day. I went white water rafting and loved it! There were 5 English speaking people that went so they put us all in a boat together because the guides have to yell out commands so that way there wouldn’t be any confusion. They gave us all wet suits and life jackets and then went over the rules of rafting. The guides were a lot of fun and really made the day! Once we got in the water we all started splashing each other and they would jump from boat to boat tipping people out, so that we could get us to the temperature of the water. We were pulled by a motor for about 20 minutes before going through our first rapid which was a 1 on a scale of 5. So it was pretty easy. Next we went through a 2, which I fell out during, but the guide helped me back in and it wasn’t a big deal. We then stopped for lunch and warmed up by a fire, we were all pretty cold. After lunch we went through a 3 rapid, which was the most fun. At the very end everyone jumped into the river and floated down with the current. I thought it was all pretty cool! That night back at camp they had another impromptu dance until about midnight. Then it’s a tradition for one of the counties to make waffles over their campfire and share them with everyone while people sing campfire songs. It was a nice evening!

Thursday was the big volleyball tournament! This is a huge deal for the Swedes. Apparently 4-Hers brought volleyball to Sweden so everyone takes it very seriously, everyone, except the Young Farmers/IFYE Team. I was the only one on the team that had ever played or even knew the rules, but we had a lot of fun and we did manage to win 3 of our 12 matches. That night they had their closing ceremonies and gave out the awards.

I think one of the biggest differences from Swedish 4-H to ours is that there is no age cap. They start 4-H at age 7 and continue being apart of 4-H for as long as they wish.  Swedish 4-H is funded by their government and they get a certain amount of money for every registered member they have between the age of 7 to 35. Some people were recognized for attending their 20th camp. There were also not really any chaperons, everyone came with their counties and have 2 or 3 group leaders that were in charge of organizing and getting information to people. Same with the Young Farmers, their group leaders were older, but they weren’t really there as chaperons. It was interesting to me to see how all the different ages came together because that aspect is so different from 4-H in the U.S.

Friday was just traveling on a bus for 18 straight hours and I met my new host family around 1:30 in the morning. They are very nice and I’m really enjoying Kalmar!

I have been to the depths of the Swedish wilderness and back! Last Thursday I took a train about an hour and then boarded a bus and started my two day journey to Sweden’s National 4-H Camp, which was held in Jämtland. Don’t worry I remembered all my bags this time! The bus ride wasn’t anything too exciting we would stop and pick people up along the way and I mainly just slept and listened to my iPod. We spent the night at their equivalent to our high school that was for students interested in agriculture. So we went down and looked at the animals and their robotic dairy (which are very very popular here). We left the next morning at 5:30 and arrived at camp around 2:00.

Northern Sweden has a lot of trees and mosquitoes!! I have never seen mosquitoes so thick, you literally had to wave them out of your face to see.  I was also a bit surprised when we pulled up to just see a big field on the side of the road where people were starting to put up tents. A bit different from Rock Springs. All four of us IFYEs stayed with the Young Farmers group. They were from Great Britain (England and Wales) and they send a group to the Swedish 4-H camp every year. They had two group leaders that were a couple years older than me but all the kids were between 13 and 18. So there were 13 girls in one tent and 8 boys in another. The first day was just setting up and getting settled. They also had an opening ceremony, but it was in Swedish so I was a bit lost during it but each county had a theme that they used to decorate their camp sight and then had a t-shirt or some kind of uniform. They got points for everything and there was a lot of motivation to win. That night they had a dance, they are all very good swing dancers and do a lot of fun group dances.

The next morning we woke up to rain and cold. We just had free time in the morning and then in the afternoon they put us into groups and we played fun little get to know you games. One game was ”throw the moose foot” which, by the way, I wasn’t very good at, I accidentally threw it into a group of people. Most of the Swedish campers seems scared to use their English so not very many of them really talked to us for the first couple days of camp. They also forgot to put the IFYEs on any of the activity lists. So that combined with the rain and cold made the start of camp kind of difficult. That night we played Moose Burn Ball, which was the same game I played with my first host family on Midsummers only they added a moose element. Instead of a bat we used moose antlers or a moose leg. The numbers worked out to play the Internationals vs Sweden, Sweden won, but it was still fun! After the game everyone built camp fires and one of the groups played music. We did some of their big group dances and then they organized a mini field hockey tournament, 2 v 2. My partner and I won our first game and lost in the second round.

The next morning, Sunday, the weather was much nicer. We played some more games with the same groups from the day before. That was in the morning and then we had free time in the afternoon so we walked to the village that was about a 15 minute walk away. We just went to the store and got some snacks. That night we went on a night hike. It never got completely dark so we started our 5 mile journey at 7 and got done around 1:00 A.M. it was actually a lot of fun though. They put us in teams of 4 and we had to complete tasks and answer questions along the way. The tasks were things like canoeing across a lake, identifying animal skeletons, and other team building type activities. My group also took a wrong turn and ended up walking about 2 miles out of our way, but they were all nice and did a good job translating the questions and speaking English for me. It was rainy all through the walk but we kind of liked it when it rained because it helped with the mosquitoes.

The camp is in a different location every year. So every year they play a game that has something to do with the location, this game is kept top secret until it’s time to play. This year, because northern Sweden is so cold and gets so much snow in the winter, they had a dump truck full of snow brought in and we had a snowball relay. The IFYEs and Young Farmers didn’t do very well in this but we tried. The British didn’t seem to really be into sports or very competitive.  They kept teasing me and always referred to me as “The American” but it was all in good fun and I enjoyed getting to know them and learning about their Young Farmers organization, which is the closest thing they have to 4-H in Britain. In the afternoon they had a talent show, which the Young Farmers had big ideas for but not really any plans or organization. At this point (about 3 hours before the show) I couldn’t take it any longer and took over the organization of their talent. I had them do the “It’s Contagious” skit and then because you got points for crowd interaction I helped them do the Blue Jay call-back song. I was really impressed on how well they did, they all got really into it! Lots of people commented that it was one of the better Young Farmers performances they had seen. They placed 4th out of 13, which was really the only thing we did well in. It was one of the only nice warm days we had so it was good day! That night we had ice cream to celebrate 50 years of 4-H in Sweden and it was followed by a dance with a live band. I had a lot of fun learning their dances, and like I said they are all very good at swing dancing so I really liked that!

Last Thursday (July 1) we went to their big farm show. Elna had to work a tent for her job so I went around with Johan, David, Lars. They also invited one of their neighbor girls who is 16 but speaks English very well so it was nice to have her their to talk to. I enjoyed seeing all the tractors and test plots, but I don’t think anyone had as much fun as David, he was on cloud 9 all day with all the tractors and big machinery. There was a tone of free stuff! Some of the booths were giving away ice cream and strawberries, sausages, and a couple even gave away beer (which I thought was a bit different). After the farm show Lars made arrangements with one of their old friends that manages the farming operation for one of the big estates that I talked about seeing in my second blog. They farmed 400 hectares (which I think is about 1000 acres), where they grow wheat, rye, sugar beats, canola, and corn. They also owned a forest and harvested trees. But the interesting thing about this farm was all the small businessesthe owner had that branched off the farm. First they had a heating business where he used wood chips that they harvested to burn and send heat to about 300 nearby houses. They are currently building a second machine so that they can grow the business. Second they are also one of the few people in Sweden that has been approved as a vodka distillery. The name of it is Purity Vodka and it is the most expensive kind in Sweden. The thing I found the most funny about this was when we walked in to the distillery there was a big picture of Bill Clinton holding a bottle of Purity Vodka, ohh Bill! Then because it was such an old and big estate they had also renovated one of the old barns and host weddings and parties there. It was a full but good day!

Friday we just took it easy. I went with Lars to drop Johan off at soccer camp. They actually sleep in tents while they are there, a bit different from our sport camps but he and the rest of the boys seemed to be really excited! Saturday night they took me to a big Swedish concert. It is a tour of all of Sweden’s up and coming artists. There were something for everyone to enjoy (even me!) I learned that songs like the Final Countdown were preformed by a Swedish group. About 50% of the songs were in English, there was also a comedian that I think was really funny, however I can’t be sure because I don’t really know what he said. We went with some of their friends and it was a fun night!

The 4th of July just wasn’t the same in Sweden I have to say. We went to pick Johan up from camp. Their rule is that parents have to complete some sort of task or play some sort of game before they can take their children. This year we just had to play soccer against Johan’s team. Sadly to say the parents team lost pretty bad but it was fun to play. The best part is that I can now say that I’ve played in a European soccer game;) haha. Later that afternoon we went and toured one of the few big cattle ranches they have in Sweden. (It belonged to their friend’s sister). It was fun to drive around see all the animals. Most of the land actually belongs to their military and is used a few times each year as a training ground. The rancher then has to move his cattle. Up until very recently, I think last year, every boy was required to do some sort of military service.

Monday night the Anderson’s invided the other IFYE, Simon from England, that is staying about 15 minutes away and his host family over for a BBQ. They have three little girls ranging in age from 5 to 9. It was funny to see the kids get jealous of each other when Simon and I showed attention to the other family’s kids. We played soccer and spoons (another game that I taught them and we play almost as much as slap jack).

Tuesday was beach day! We had a great time and played some games down on the beach and went into the water a little ways. The water was only 50*F so it was still pretty cold. David (11) has had one year of English in school and when we arrived he was so excited he turned to me and said “Chelsy, Bitch” I stared back and said “What?” his mom started laughing and said “Oh no, that sign back there said BEACH” so he still needs to work on his pronunciation a bit but he tries! We also stopped on the way home and got some huge ice cream cones, the Swedish love ice cream I’ve learned!

It’s hard to believe that this is my last night with my first host family! Tomorrow (Friday) I will get on a train at 7:00A.M. (1:00 A.M. in KS) and head to Växjö where I will get on a bus and travel for 2 day to their national 4-H camp. I think it will be a fun trip and I’m excited to meet the kids and see Northern Sweden.

Elise and I on Mid Summers in frount of the Mid Summer Pole

The Anderssons have been keeping me busy and they have gone out of their way to show me around Sweden. Each day I do something different. Last Thursday I stayed home with they boys and we worked in David’s garden pulling weeds and then made chocolate chip cookies, which they had never made before, but they seemed to really like them! I also taught the kids to play Slap Jack, which was a bit of a mistake because now that’s all they want to play, especially Elise who is 7. It’s nice though because it’s an easy game that doesn’t require a lot of talking.

Friday was their Mid Summers Celebration, this is a huge deal in Sweden. It was a national holiday so everyone was off work. Mid Summers is a very old holiday that was originally to celebrate the longest day of the year and the first potato harvest. However, they’ve changed it so that it’s always on a Friday and they said it was even later this year because of the princess’s wedding. In the afternoon we went to a traditional celebration in a near by village or small town. First everyone helps to build and decorate the Mid Summers Day Pole with branches and flowers. They make flower crowns for the little girls and then we danced and sang songs around the pole. Then they had people dressed in traditional Swedish costumes come and do the same thing, only more “professionally” you could say. That night the Andersson’s had three of their good friends over for dinner. We ate potatoes, herring, and meat balls (the traditional Mid Summer’s meal). It was fun to meet their friends who all spoke English very well. After dinner we played a game called Ramball, it’s kind of a mix between baseball and cricket, I think.

Saturday was actually Mid Summers Day and Elna took me and Elise down to the South Coast (about an hour away) to see these stones that were put in place by the Vikings. It was really cool to see and the coastline was beautiful!! Down on the board walk they sell sill i mos, which is Swedish for smoked herring and mashed potatoes (another traditional Mid Summers meal). It was very good, a lot better than the cold herring! That night they had arranged for me to go to a BBQ and festival/concert with some of their good friend’s kids who were around my age. I was a little nervous at first and later they told me that they were nervous about it being weird with me too, but we actually had a lot of fun and we’re trying to make plans to see each other again before I leave!

Sunday I went with Lars to Elna’s brother/parent’s dairy farm and helped them put up hay. I met their nephew, Gustaf, he is 14 and spoke English very well, so we had fun telling stories about growing up on a dairy farm. Then Monday I went to Malmö and found my passport and wallet, as I told you in my last blog.

Tuesday I went with one of their good friends, Sven. He had been one of their friends that I met on Mid Summers. He is an older man (and by older I mean like my parents age) that manages a large farming operation near by. Sven is very interested in the United States and likes to quiz me on my knowledge of our history, geography, and agriculture. I think I’ve passed most of my tests, but I still left with a list of questions and his e-mail address because I was scared to answer some of them without knowing for sure! I really like Sven though and we had a good time driving around and looking at all the farms in the area. We stopped and talked to one of the dairy farmers and he too had lots of questions for me about what I thought of GMOs and all the hormones we use in the U.S. to farm. They seem more interested than judgmental though. This farmer also gave us some ice cream and Sven said it was just because I was from the U.S. haha, but he was very nice.

Today (Wednesday) Lars had the day off so he took the kids and I to what they called a Market. It comes once a year to their village, Hörby, and it is just a bunch of vendors and a carnival. It was fun and I tried several differant types of Swedish candies and found a new pair of sunglasses to replace my $10 ones that were stolen with my ADPi frat strap on them:(. Tonight we went over to one of their neighbors house who farms a lot of ground, mainly potatoes. He does a lot of his own sorting and storage of his product and tries to sell directly to consumers so it was interesting to see his operation.

Tomorrow I’m going to big farm show, they are all very excited about it so I’m sure it will be fun!