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Strange being back.


My last few days in Swede land were the kind that feel really long when you're there, but when you look back, seemed to fly by. We went to the North to go skiing for a few days. For various reasons including the rain, I didn't ski. I hiked.

Strapped on my used combat boots bought in Stockholm for only three hundred crowns, pulled on three pairs of pants, turned up the music. And walked. For what seemed like ever. Up what they call a hill, which to this Red River Valley girl, feels like some kind of mountain. And thought. About what has happened and what is to come, those pesky New Year's resolutions.

I know it sounds like questions the MAXSA (Maximizing Study Abroad) class we all hated would ask, but what I've learned from this experience. I guess my lessons have been in culture, history, office situations, what it's like living with girls from Harlem, Boston, and Egypt in one small space, the Swedish Yule, travel. That cab drivers in Athens will assuredly swindle young Americans. That jumping off a cliff into the sea will probably be one of the bigger thrills of my life. That for better or worse, I will be a girl from the midwest at heart.


Classes start Tuesday. The nerd in me is way excited to take classes of her choice:

Self as Healer
Intro to Editing
Sign Language
Social Justice Core
History as Memoir, Memoir as History
Performance as Social Change

Am also in the interview stages for an editorial assistant position at the U of M's alumni magazine. Cross your fingers! Moving to the new apartment with the new improved friendly clean roommates on Sunday. Good change ahead.

Thank you so much for your cyber support. Honestly, whenever I saw a comment or Mom told me about someone reading the page, my heart warmed. It has been such a useful tool for processing the experience and as a way to remember stories. I have enjoyed it so much that I think I will continue, writing about this student life. So thanks -- it was a good trip and I'm happy you were there by way of blog.