One Week

I have officially been home now for a full week. It is so crazy to think that a week ago I was leaving Sweden after having lived there for half a year. The time went by so fast it is shocking. But now I am sitting in class on a Monday afternoon and my routine life is back on schedule. I have class 2 days a week and I’ll start working again soon. This feels like maybe my entire trip in Europe was something I dreamt. It has only been 7 days but it seems like my life abroad is so far away from me now. I really miss my friends in Europe, especially you Linda. 

This past weekend was my first back and I spent most of my time with my mom and two sisters. The four of us are all so close and this is just how we like it. We help each other, and confide in each other about almost every detail in our lives. While in Sweden I was so lucky to have that one special person who became all four of them into one. How lucky was I? I can’t wait she is coming to visit me in June/July :)

-- Alaura

Movie night

Today I've been working for 9h, so tiring, but I still wanted to enjoy the weekend so I called Sara to she what she and the other girls had planed for the evening. We decided to have a movie night me Sara and Karolina, so we took Saras car and drove to the supermarket to get some  groceries. We had dinner and then we eat banana and chocolate for dessert and had some wine.

It was so nice to just realx for once. Now I'm going to bed because tomorrow before my evening shift at the hospital I'm going to the gym.

Wine and banana and chocolate

 Sara

 We watched ' The burning plain' (or i didn't because i fell asleep) but I heard it was good.

Me and Sara

-- LC

& So Begins the Countdown

So yes, it seems very long but the time will travel so fast. Only 162 days until Linda lands in California. I can not wait. I am going to have to many things planned for her. San Jose, San Diego, LA, San Francisco and so much more. Hurry Linda and get here-- the sun shine state as well as ME are awaiting your arrival.

LA

San Jose

My favorite place near my house.  

San Diego

San Francisco

-- Alaura

Friday night out.

Tonight me and Sara went out for a drink, we saw some friends. Now I'm home in bed skyping with Alaura the best way to end my night :) Now Im going to bed because tomorrow or today :/ I have to wake up at 5 am to go to work. God night world.

-- LC

 Me

Sara

HAPPY DAY!

I'm officially coming to California the 30th of June ( : I'm so happy , finally the tickets are booked.

I'm in a bit of a hurry going out with some friends tonight for some drinks, but I'll blog later.

Just wanted to say I'm a happy girl today.

Love/ LC

Mr. Officer

Yesterday was a great day, I couldn't have asked for more. It was so nice starting my day off skyping Linda as I got ready. I went and bought the rest of my books for school then went over to my moms for some coconut coffee. It is very yummy.

The babies got a little visit from their dad, Officer Rod.
Cameron got to drive around the block with
the siren on telling people to put their hands up.

My sister Kayla and I enjoying the sun :) 

The only boy I'll ever need.

 -- Alaura

School, gym, work, school, gym, work...

... thats pretty much how my life looks like right now. I really look forward tomorrow night, it's my only night off, so I'm going to be spending it with some friends going out for friday drinks at Söder.

 Sunny Stockholm :)

At Brasco's with the girls

At work... I'm going to be living in this clothes until I come to Cali.

-- LC

My day

Today my sister Kayla took me to get some new MAC makeup. So sweet of her. She told me she did it as a welcome home gift. We also went to eat and go get my new book for my first day of school tomorrow.

 Later on my sister Amanda took me to get my nails done, welcoming me home. But before we did that we went to the Starbucks drive thru. I had an iced cafe latte and Amanda had Strawberries and cream frap. 

-- Alaura

First day of the count down.

It's wired to know that she's already in the states, I was on my way to my mom's today and it felt like she still lives there, but no she's soooo far away. I was skyping with her this morning on her hold over in Boston, I was so happy to see her face again even if it hasn't been that long since we've talked.
Was so tired today, I spent the day with my mom and and later this evening I was at Sara's and we watch a new episode of "Solsidan".
And tonight I'm going to book my flight to San Diego if I find anything tonight :) Can't wait.

Walking to my mom's today, so cold, but I was so happy that it was sunny.

--- LC

Headed straight for the sun...

Today I left Sweden...

Today I left my dear friend Linda...

Today I have felt very empty and a bit alone...

I hate that I had to leave such special people in my life. I am grateful for everything I experienced but those great things make leaving so hard. Now begins the days apart and the countdown of the days until we are together again. 

I miss you already Linda. Thank you for everything. I love you beautiful.

--Alaura

'Och himlen där till'

 I can't believe that time has gone by so fast, I know that we keep saying this all the time. But it really feels unreal that she's leaving, just leaving my everyday life, when she's been there everyday. I know that we will still talk everyday but it won't be the same thing.....
Yesterday at dinner we had so much fun, but at the same time there was something sad in the air. We've never talked about it because we both know how sad we are going to be, and how much its going to hurt. ..

 Me and Alaura, Im on my way to school, and she to the central. It's been so nice having her as a roommate.

 My roomie and I getting ready for dinner with the boys.

I'm not good at good-byes so let's just pretend we're playing hide and seek ... and you are going to be really hard to find. Miss you already !

--- LC

The Letter 'L'

Today was a busy day for me. I finally moved out of my place and into Linda's. We have been talking about me spending my last few nights with her for some time now, who knew it would come so quickly. After lugging all my things from Flemmingberg, Huddinge to Slussen (Linda's) I had to go meet Kaitlin, a girl from my school in California. She just arrived today-- this is the start of her semester here abroad. I took her around for a bit and showed her some nice places in Stockholm. 

After a long day, I arrived back at Linda's. It felt so good to sit down. I had a great skype chat before she walked through the door. 


She surprised me with a gift. It was the sweetest thing, the letter 'L' charm for my Thomas Sabo bracelet. Linda and her mom bought me the bracelet and snowflake charm for Christmas and my birthday. I am so happy to have something so special to take home with me. Whenever I wear it I will think back and remember my time here in Sweden. I will think about all the good times Linda and I had together.


3 days left...


-- Alaura

Jiipii, idag fick jag veta att jag klarade tentan som jag hade i helgen, var lite nervös eftersom man var tvungen att ha 100% på den (alltså alla rätt). Nu är det ur vägen i alla fall. Har tenta i helgen igen och jag håller alla tummar och tår för att det ska gå bra på den också. Idag flyttar Alaura in med mig, i några dagar innan hon åker hem till Cali på lördag morgon, det är roligt att hon ska bo här med mig, men samtidig känns det tråkigt eftersom jag vet att tiden kommer gå så fort, och innan vi vet ordet av det sitter hon på planet på väg till andra sida.
Sitter hemma och pluggar och väntar på att hon ska komma. Sen ska vi boka bord på " Och himlen där till", där vi ska ha hennes hej då middag med några andra kompisar.

-- LC

Our time so far... 5 day left :(

--LC

Pinkpangea.com

I am very excited, today my post is published on the homepage of this women’s travel site. I have 5 days left in Sweden. It is great to be able to share with other women travelers a small tip about Sweden.

Let me know what you think especially my Swedish friends. It’s just my opinion but I think I am pretty accurate.
Here is the link, enjoy.

http://www.pinkpangea.com/post/stockholm-so-many-stunning-singles-so-little-love

--Alaura

Friends alike.

So far it has been great that Linda and I have so many commonalities with each other. We have similar goals in life, we laugh at just about everything remotely funny together, family is always first and we both see the same future for ourselves. We have the same desire for love and commitment; maybe that's because we both love 'One Tree Hill' whatever it is Linda and I see eye to eye in so many things. I think this is a huge factor in the reasoning behind us becoming so close so fast.

However, having so many similarities can only be so good until one comes up that we are both not too found of. Maybe it makes us stronger together. Who knows... but I do know that, one thing about going through hard times is having someone there. I have always had her there, crazy how now she is literally there.

-- Alaura

One Last Week in Stockholm

At times I think I must have been blessed being given Linda; an amazing friend. Meeting her on the train was crazy enough building a friendship which I am positive will last a lifetime was never imagined. She has made Sweden my home. By opening herself up to me and caring for me as if I had been in her life forever meant so much. Linda has taught me so much and maybe even rubbed off on me when it comes to being Swedish ;) We spent a lot of time together these past 6 months and because of all the good times the period of my life here in Sweden has flown by.

So now we begin counting down the days until my departure January 22nd. On the 18th I will be moving in with Linda so we can spend all the time together as possible before I leave. Plus she lives in an area where I'm sure to find...

... I still have a week, can't blame a girl for wishing, right?





--Alaura

Study Day

Today Linda and I decided to go over to Stockholm University to study all day. I have to work on my 20 page paper (the last assignment of the semester) and Linda has a lot of medical reading to do. We are coming close to the end of our time together. So we must take advantage of every moment. Cozy study day it is.

--Alaura

I måndags började vår nya kurs, psykiatri, och tentan är nästa helg, men man känner redan stressen, det är så mycket att läsa, men jag måste erkänna att det är en av dem roligaste kurserna vi har läst. Det är många sidor att läsa och jag har inte tagit mig igenom halften än. Plus att jag har tenta imorgon :/ Men det som stressar mig mest av allt just nu är att det är Alauras sista helg här :( Önskar att tiden kunde stå still ett tag så man kunde göra allt man ville hinna med.....

-- LC

I came to Sweden to study, right?

Since I have been here school has not been too tough. I think that is not a reflection on the school but because I have class with international students from all around the world. I am always at the advantage of english being my first language. While some other students have english as the second, third and sometimes even fourth or fifth languages. For this reason alone the classes are bit slower pace and not as difficult. Since I have been here I have learned a lot. While in class I learned about the history of Sweden and its sourronding countries. I learned about the society, politics and beliefs of Sweden or Swedes in general. Up until about now things have been pretty smooth. Until my last course, Media, Culture and Society 2. I have to finish up and submit a 20 page research paper within the next 4 days. I guess you can say it is getting me back on track considering 3 days after my return home I start my next semester at San Jose State University. My first day is from 10-9 pm a long day. Since being in Paris I did not work on the paper at all and now I’ll be sacrificing some of my last days in Europe getting this paper done. It is a bummer to have to spend 4 days doing this when I would rather be doing other things, but I need to remember I came to Sweden to study, right?

-- Alaura