It’s been a dream of mine to live in Sweden since I was a little girl.  My mother is Swedish, and we used to come here to visit relatives every other summer.  To me, Sweden was a land of sunshine and swimming, where I could run from the house to the beach, pick blueberries in the woods, and eat as much candy and strawberries as I wanted.  When I told people that I was going to study in Stockholm from August to December, then, everyone told me that I would be completely disillusioned.  November would do it, they said.  There’s nothing fun about November.  It’s cold and wet and you won’t be eating strawberries; you’ll be doing homework.

Well, it’s December 2^nd today, and I still love it here.  Sure, there were only fourteen hours of sunny weather during all of November and I had to spring for a new winter coat and boots, but I certainly don’t regret coming to Sweden– quite the opposite.  Sweden is a real place for me now, not perfect, but also not a barren wasteland of drizzle either.

The two best parts of coming on the Swedish Program have been living in a host family and working for the Stockholm International Film Festival– neither of which have been affected by November.  My host family is made up of Ulrika, my host-mom, Niclas, my host dad, and Sofie, my 12-year-old host sister.  I couldn’t have been luckier when I was placed with them.  It’s probably corny to say, but I know that I will keep in touch with them forever.  It isn’t that we’ve done anything particularly crazy together; I’ve just been invited into their everyday life.  We eat dinner, go to the movies, bake Christmas cookies, and go out to eat.  I’ve met my host-grandparents and they let me organize a Thanksgiving dinner for them and 6 of my American friends in their kitchen.  Sofie and I play cards and Nintendo Wii together. We speak Swedish together everyday except the one “English night” per week, so my Swedish has gotten infinitely many times better.  I can be out late when I go out with my friends, and I have my own space in my room in the basement, but most of the time I just want to hang out with them, baking something with Ulrika, talking about music with Niclas, or watching “Mamma’s Pojkar” (the Swedish version of the TV show “Mama’s Boys”) with Sofie.

The other great experience that the Swedish Program has facilitated with me is a volunteer job with the Stockholm International Film Festival.  I sell tickets– sure, not very glamorous, but it’s actually been awesome.  I’ve met some real Swedish friends that I’ve hung out with while working and at the volunteer parties put on by the film festival, and I got a pass to get in free to all the films that weren’t sold out during the festival.  I saw 13 movies in 12 days (the most I saw in one day was 3) and one of my friends saw over 40!  I met an Academy award-winning documentary director and went to a panel discussion on female directors in Sweden.  And the festival was in November.

As I look out into the thirty-degree weather and remember that sunset today is at 2:54 pm, it’s hard believe that before this year Sweden was just a summer-land for me.  Now, after this experience, it’s a land of memories of my host family, going to class, sitting in movie theaters all day with my friends, and learning about the true beauty of wool tights.  Sure, Sweden’s not perfect, but as a study-abroad destination, for me, my host family and the film festival have made it pretty much as close as it could get.

Sara Forster
Swarthmore College