Sweden. Scotland. Sweden. Scotland. Sweden. Scotland. Sweden. Scotland.
I feel so at home in both countries. I miss Scotland and the people so much! I'd made myself such a great, big family over there. Everyone keeps asking me how it feels to be back, and I keep answering: "It's okay." How do you explain that you're completely torn in the question. I'm happy and unhappy at the same time. But I'm not unhappy either or happy either. I just really wish that I could be in two places at once.
But I'm really looking forward to move to Lund in a week and be close to some cousins and friends! Haven't properly seen them in a long time.
You know how I've been talking about becoming vegan. I won't. I was a bit fast and emotional when I said it. What I'm going to do is this; I'm staying vegetarian but try to make vegan food as much as possible for myself. My lactose intolerance is not that bad when it comes to dairy products in food and there is always lactose tablets. I'm not up for the hassle to go vegan. I can't take to much hassle at the moment.
You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place. Like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.
I'm not even going to apologize for not been writing in over two weeks. I've been busy, busy, busy and emotionall and lost a lot of sleep - to say the least. But I do have some updates.
I got in to the course I applied for at the University in Lund! So I'll be studying spanish there for a term. Quite excited but also nervous. I found this out on wendsday, and I'll get my second confirmation letter by the end of this month. So I'm now - for the first time - officially signed in to Uni. A bit overwhelmed by that, but I'll be fine.
So I got in at Uni to but I still hadn't heard anything about the room (uni dorm). So I was going to move in in three weeks into a room I didn't yet have. But thankfully I didn't have to wait that long until I found out that I had a room waiting for me. And not on any corridor, but one on the 3rd(!) floor. Why I'm so happy about that is 'cause that means I can keep my window open at night without being afraid of burglars, murders and ninjas. Ok I'll still have to be afraid of ninjas (they do know how to climb walls) but other than that I will now survive.
Oh, Eve, my friend in Greece. I have answered your letter but I'll wait some time before I send it until I know my new adress. Otherwise you won't have anywhere to send the reply to, and that wouldn't do any of us any good now would it, hehe.
I only have a week left in this beautiful and amazing country. Three working days left - I don't count monday 'cause that will just be me letting the kids do whatever they want and keep the tears in - and three weekdays left. I'm going to cry and cry and cry and cry and cry. Utterly happy that I'm busy all the time until Uni starts and when Uni starts then I'm busy again. So from now on I'm busy all the time, with a few random days here and there.
But I have to say too that I'm very happy to be moving to Lund and see my friends and family more. It will be nice catching up with them and be close for a while.
It's only 3 weeks until I go. 3 weeks..?! What happened to the time? Before I know it I will be back in Sweden and all of this will just be memories. Scary thought. Everything is going so fast I can't keep up.
You know how we always talk about cars, boats, planes and the CO2 they release. I've found out that only 13% is being released through the transportation sector (cars, trucks, buses, boats, trains, planes) and 18% is from cattle (livestock). And cattle is the leading resource to destroying the planet.
Have you heard about Hydraulic Fracturing? They're used for taking up natural gas. For one alone you will need you will need 100 billion gallons of water. For the livestock just in the US you will need 34 trillion gallons of water. And the methane emission from both of them are nearly equal.
You guys want to know something else? I'm 99.99% sure that I'm lactose intolerant 'cause, wow, I fart rotten eggs after consuming dairy. (Sorry about that info, but I honestly do). But I couldn't care less about being lactose, I'm actually very pleased with it. Did you know that when you become lactose it's actually your body telling you that you shouldn't eat it 'cause it can't break it down?? Your body is actually telling you to stop eating dairy 'cause it's not good for you. Another fact is that lactose dairy (milk, cheese, cream, etc) is regular dairy with added enzymes. These enzymes is added so your body can break the dairy down. Are you kidding me? You're just tricking your body that it can eat something it can't break down.
And come on! We are drinking COW MILK!? How weird is that?? It would be more natural if we would drink breast milk from humans. So why don't we do that?
Let me ask you this: Why don't we drink human breast milk?
Your answer: It's for babies, of course we don't drink it.
Do you see my point? It's the same thing with cows, it's meant for the calves, not for us humans. If we don't want to drink human breast milk it would be more natural if we would drink chimpanse milk, because 96% of our genes are the same, but no we are drinking milk from an animal with 4 legs,, 4 stomachs, a tail, eats grass, etc. Breast milk is something we need when we're babies to grow, develop and get stronger but then we stop drinking it. We didn't need it anymore. And for some reason we started drinking cow's milk instead. And do you want to know the weirdest part...WE DON'T EVEN FIND IT WEIRD! Say what?!?!
Random facts:
One vegan per year uses 1/6 achre of land.
One vegetarian per year, that eats dairy and eggs, uses 1/6 achre of land x 3.
One avarage US citizen with high consumption of meat, dairy and eggs, uses 1/6 achre of land x18.
By becoming a vegan you'll save every day:
1100 gallons of water - 5000 liter
45 lbs of grain - 20.4 kg
30 square feet forest - 2.8 m2
20 lbs of CO2 - 9 kg
1 animals life
I'm going vegan. My conscience is in the way of me eating meat and now dairy products. It will take some time before I can go completely vegan. With not being able to decide exactly what's being bought and to slowly learn and find new ingredients and food to eat. So mum and dad, thanks for the chocolate but I just can't eat it anymore. I will give it to my friends here that has never tried swedish chocolate before.
Here's a link to a lot of this information. They have clips from the documentarie (Cowspiracy) and the sources to all the facts on their website. It's not just a bunch of bladibladibla, it's true. I'll put a clip here in the end as well, it's just a short clip from the documentarie.
So I just wanted to make a list of documentaries recommended to watch from a bunch of people and the internet. It's more for me, so I remember them. I've always written them down but keep losing the notes, haha. Have seen three on this list and there's one I can't remember that I've also watched. The next one on my list to watch is "Cowspiracy". Was going to do it last weekend but was way to busy, so hopefully this weekend. I can't watch them all in a row, that would be hard and to much information at once so half of it would just run out of my brain again. So a little at the time.
You wanna know what happened this weekend??? I'll tell you even if you don't want to hear it, mohaha. It was SNOWING!!! Just for about two minutes and most of it was rain-snow, "snöblask" as we say in Sweden. But still!! I had planned to go for a cycle up to the loch so I went out and I just came to the top of the hill and these clouds appeared on the horizone - it was even darker in real life.
I stood and watched it for a few minutes, completely amazed. When I felt the first raindrops coming I cycled back down and this is how it looked like over the cemetery. Pitch black. If the sun wouldn't have been behind me I promise you it would have been dark as in the middle of the night, even though it was mid day only.
I just managed to get inside when the sky opened up and the rain just poured down! And eventually a bit of snow joined in.
Two weekends ago me and Christina went on a day trip to Carlisle. I had realised the day before that I haven't been down in England yet, and it's not long until my time here is over (to sad to even think about at the moment). So I texted two friends if they wanted to join, crossing my fingers that at least one could even though it was very spontaneous and last minute. Christina could join and she asked me what I was going to there and my best answer was "Sightseeing". Haha. Great Sofie, just great.
The day came and we both enjoyed it thoroughly! Such a nice, warm, cozy city with a lot of alleys, just like Scotland, and the best second hand bookstore I've EVER been in!It was a very fun and clumsy - from my part; twice I hit down things from shelves and in the end of the day I spilled half of my coffee in my lap.. - day.
Oh I have to mention something. It was hilarious too see the drastic difference in scenery between Scotland and England. Almost immediately all the beautful hills turned into flat, foggy, "miserable" fields. Haha, I didn't know it was THAT drastic change! However, here you have some pictures off Carlisle.
The last two days I've been looking through and clearing out pictures on my computer - I'm so amazed that it's still alive.. my computer I mean - and so many feelings have passed through me. Happiness, sadness, longing, content, laughs, weirdness, gratefullness. You name it and I have probably felt it. I'm so, so greatful to have been able to do all the things that I've done in a very short time in my life, no matter what the after affecte have been and how poor I have been. Ofc there is things that if I would relive it again I would do different, a bit more money would have helped sometimes, but at the same time it has thought me a thing or two about money.
As my mum said the other day when we were talking about my uni plans in the spring: "It's really good to put away just a little bit of money all the time. But you really know how to live life." My respons? "Eeh, thanks mum. I'm not sure what you're implying but I'll take it as a compliment." Haha!
I'm really happy and content with what I've learnt and achieved in my life. Who would have thought that 2 1/2 years after my graduation I would have lived in not ONE but TWO countries, Sweden not included. Not me! Three years ago I would have been happy with just one. And if I have any say in my life in the future, there will be more!
I'm really looking forward to the winter, Christmas and snow! The first time we got snow when I lived in Baltimore I went NUTS. Me and Sofia we had just had the previous night/day a H.P marathon! We were acting americans and ordered pizza to the door even though the pizzeria was only 5 minutes away, haha. And what did we see in the morning?? SNOW!! We decided to walk to the local shop and buy something so we could walk in the snow with a purpose. Haha, as if you actually need a purpose for that. In the evening Clau and Anni came over and we watched a movie and ordered some more food. Absolutely brilliant!
It's quite amazing how every day passes without us really noticing it. And we always put the days in categories as well; good day, bad day, productive day, lazy day, rainy day, weird day and so on. But here's a thought; isn't every day exactly the same as the other just different things put into it? Like this; the sun goes up, we go up, the sun moves across the sky - well the world moves and the sun is in the exact same spot all the time, sun goes down and we go to sleep. And this happens every day. Then what happens during the day that's when we start putting the day into on of our categories. Sometimes the day even falls into two, maybe three, categories. What I wanted to come to - the work to get there wasn't as good as in my brain so I'm just going to jump there - was that every day is actually a good day. Then it's just worldly things that comes in our way that can make it a bad/good/weird/hilarious day. This probably doesn't makes sense at all to you guys, but my brain has always been a bit all over.
Haha, sorry, I just decided to write down the first thing that popped into my head and this was it. Not the most genius thing, but it's nice to think that every day is a good day!
Yesterday feel under the categorie of a good day. Went on a bikeride with this sweetheart. In the graveyard... As I've said before, I'm only there when it's not dark.
Wow, so much has happened since I came back from my vacation in Sweden.. I've been busy here and there, and off here and there, and for the love of my life I can not remember all the things I've been up too!
1. I've had my parents over for a visit. We drove up to the Highlands and got a proper scottish experience. Did Edinburgh as well ofc. Was a blast!!
2. Anna has been down on two courses in England so me and Iain have been working extra to cover it up. Only one more course to go, yay. The first time she was down I got a nasty cold and ended up being really sick and bound to bed any time I could. The second time, this past week, everything, and I mean everything, has run really smoothly. Great week with the kids. A lot of making leaf piles, jumping around in the leaves and having leaf war. Absolutely HILARIOUS! I'm 100% serious.
3. I've been pre-celebrating Christmas, as I do every year. A new Christmas playlist is starting to take form, my ginger thins are almost eaten up and just six bottles of Julmust left. Next time Anna is close to IKEA she has promised to buy me another packet of Julmust. And it is less than 2 months to go until Christmas!!! Crazy how time flies..
4. My friend Johanna came over for a few days when the kids were off on October break. Anna parents were over so I got all week off and only worked on the thursday, when they left. So had good fun with my friend. It was a bit out of the blue. A week before the break I texted her and asked and she said yes. Spontaneous trips are so fun!
5. I've done the hard decision to go back to Sweden by Christmas. They did tell me: We are going to do everything in our power and bribe you so much so you don't go and stay here till the summer. And they did bribe me. It was really hard to decide. I spend hours and hours thinking about what to do. In the end it was just a matter of what I wanted just a slightly bit more than the other. But they have told me that if I change my mind they're more than happy to let me stay. I can change my mind up to a week before I go, haha. They're so brilliant!
6. About going back. My ticket has been booked. 21st of December. The date I'm terrified of and fear but am really excited about at the same time. Oh, the weirdness of the mind.
7. I'm more and more amazed and freaked out about time. It's a funny thing. Sometime the time goes way to slow, especially when you are a kid or doing something boring, and at some points it literally just flies away! How is that possible?? It's a good thing, though. But it still makes my brain dizzy when I think about it to much. For example this year has been the fastest and bestest (I know it's not a real word but nevermind) ever in my life. I can not remember a year going as quick as this one! Not any of my High School years or the two years that has been since graduation has passed quicker. It's mind blowing how fast this year has passed and how fast the next two months are going to dissapear. I could never have imagined in the beginning of this year to fall so completely in love with Scotland and the family.
8. I'm already planning a trip back to Scotland. At first I was thinking about a long weekend. But seriously, that is not enough. I need at least a week!
It is now decided that I will go home during Christmas and not come back afterwards. I will ofc come back but just to visit. It was a hard decision to make. I love Scotland and the family is amazing but at the same time I want to live in Lund with my brother, cousins and friends and study a wee course at uni. So after a lot(!) of thinking I've finally decided that it's Sweden for me in the spring. It is a bitter decision. I have a wee Scot inside of me! And I don't mean a baby, haha. Quite a few people has mentioned it to me, that I actually am a half Scot. For example; I LOVE rugby, don't mind rain at all and -it might not have anything to do with it really - but my favorite English accent is Scottish! There are other factors to it as well, how I act to things and think, but just to mention a few.
It will be lots and lots of tears when I go and a part of me will be left here. I will really miss Scotland!!
