Goodbyes are not forever, goodbyes are not the end.

It's the night before I leave and I've already shed some tears. I really never thought it would be this hard, I'm going to miss A LOT of people. I still don't feel like I'm leaving tomorrow to a new country for 6 months. It just feels like another normal night that will be followed by another normal morning. I think it will become real when I get to Sweden, I have no idea. I don't know what I'm feeling right now it's a mix of emotions, it's like one big emotion with all these little emotions. I hope everything goes smoothly at the airport tomorrow and I don't cry TOO much.

Woah!

So first off I have 2 days left in the states, 2 DAYS! I remember at the beginning of the year every day in school would just go by so slowly and every month would feel like a year. These last few weeks have flown by! It's probably due to how busy we have been. It's a lot of work getting ready for exchange I really never thought it would be this much. Today was a big packing day, we got the majority of the packing done and my checked suitcase came to 32 pounds WITH everything I wanted to bring! That's so crazy, I thought it would be at least 20 pounds over. The suitcase itself was seriously like 3 pounds(BEING FOR REALLLLL). It's so awesome because it was the only one on sale at Macys and it is SO light. It also seems very durable and it's HUGE. Dream come true right? Haha well I will update the night before I leave! Wow this is all happening so fast, I'm excited/nervous/curious.

Rubeck Valfrihetens Gymnasium!

I have my school placement! I will be attending Rudbeck Gymnasium, with 2000 students and one of Stockholm's most popular schools. I'm beyond excited, I have been stalking the school website (http://www.rudbeck.se/) for days now. It looks like such a nice school. Since I will be in the music program at Rudbeck I have to take a music test that involves both singing and music theory. I'm a bit nervous for the music theory but I am going to practice with some of my old choir friends who are really good at that stuff. I will be walking about 5 minutes every day to the bus stop and then from there it will be about 10 minutes to school. I have never taken public transportation in my life so this will be a good change. Rudbeck is in my town (Sollentuna) which is really nice. There is even an exchange student there right now from Australia who I will know, I probably won't see her or be in her class but I'm happy I will at least know one person kind of. Every day I'm getting more and more information and it's getting more and more real. I'm nervous about everything but so excited, I leave August 1oth. Wow.

So much STRESS

There is so much to do before I leave. I have to finish my online Geometry course, there are 6 lessons, I'm on number 2, and I have to take the final test before I leave. I have to finish summer school which is all of June. Oh and of course I have work :/ Everything is stressing me out! I also have to start getting ready to pack and gather up everything I need. I'm so worried I won't get everything done. I'm stressing out and I just need to CALM down and take each day as it comes. That is so much harder than it sounds.

I have my host family!

AHHHHHH! So basically this post is a little late, but I will tell you the whole story! It was 11:45 p.m. and I was at a party with my cousin Joanna. We were all playing Rock Band when I hear my phone ring it was a text from my mom. "Graceanne! Come home you have been placed!" Everyone says when they first find out they don't believe it, I for sure didn't. The first thought in my head was "someone actually picked me? ME?!" ahaha, then I forced Joanna to take me home early. I ran inside the house and my mom handed me the paper. I'm going to be living in Sollentuna Sweden a suburb of Stockholm. I have two younger sisters 14 and 11. My host parents are both civil engineers and they are so cool! They all go skiing, golfing, shopping, and so many other awesome things. I still can't believe one: that I finally found out and not the day I left and two: that I'm going to Sweden! It's all so real now, and I couldn't be more excited! Time to pack!

YFU.se

Ah! So I went to the Swedish YFU website today (YFU.se) and they had my name on the front page! This makes me happy, maybe this will help with a faster host family placement (: It's also cool because they picked my name out of like 58 other exchange students also coming to Sweden.

YFU pre-departure orientation!

Wow! So I just got back from the Pre-departure/re-entry orientation and it was so much fun! I have been bummed lately due to the fact that I don't have a host family yet. This orientation just made me feel so happy (I'm lame I know). There was only one kid out of us all who had a host family so I wasn't the only one. Everyone was so nice and fun, there were the American exchange students who are leaving and the International students who are going back home. First we all ate and it was kind of awkward until we made introductions and all got to know each other. After we all talked for a bit all the American students went into a room and we talked about everything from the meaning of culture to how we could deal with difficult things in our host country. All the information was very useful and I wasn't bored at all. Then we went back to where the international kids were and talked with them for a while and asked questions. Then I had my first real in person encounter with a Swede! I have to say it was very Swedish! He was very nice and I'm glad there was a Swede so I could ask a billion questions. All in all it was so much fun and I met some amazing people I know I'm going to stay in contact with. This just gets me more and more excited for August and meeting even more amazing people!