Wow

That was a whirlwind of a trip. I can't believe it's over already. I think part of the reason I can't accept that I'm back in the states is that I wasn't looking forward to coming back. I've spent the night here and it still doesn't feel like I'm home.

I think the main 'take home message' from my three weeks in Sweden is that I'm a bit more Swedish than I thought. I fit in, I could find food at the store, I learned to make korv storonoff from scratch, and it didn't feel like I was in another country. I figure the more Swedish I learn the more like home it will feel.

Right now I have a killer headache, so I might go lie down for awhile and type up a much longer report later. I'll edit this and add more in after a nap. *yawn*

*EDIT*

Back again! Slept for an hour, woke up with the headache still, took 2 painkillers and a whole glass of water, feel better now.

The trip back home was quite interesting, I sat next to a Swedish guy who has a girlfriend in the states. He seems to get to see her MUCH more often than I get to see David, just not fair! Then again both of them work full time so they have money to run around the world with. This guy was cool, he does contract work for Nokia or something and spends lots and lots of time in China of all places. After getting off of the 9 hour flight we wandered through customs then had pizza together. We then proceeded to spend about 2 or 3 hours walking through the ENTIRE airport, without using the tram or the moving walkways. LONG walk.

I did question him a bit on what things he had to answer to customs. They asked him the most annoying personal questions! I figure it's acceptable to ask why someone is here, how long they plan to be here, and that type of thing. But they asked him if he had a girlfriend here, if he was going to marry her, if they had spoken about marriage... I mean, wtf? How is THAT any of their business. He just answered no to everything figuring it wasn't their business. He was quite annoyed and I don't blame him! Other things someone visiting the state needs to be sure they know is the address of where they will be staying, how much money they spent on gifts/items they plan to leave in the states, etc. Otherwise it's hard to fill out the paperwork.

Oh! Funny thing, that poor guy who came all the way to the US to visit his girlfriend filled in an address of a hotel. He doesn't even get to stay with his girlfriend! *laugh* He says she still lives with her parents so she won't let him stay there! This makes me feel a bit more normal about my parents though.

I've started a list of things that I'd like to bring to Sweden that I might be able to. Things that I'd like to bring but that might be a bit impractical are my washer and dryer and dishwasher, etc. ;) Have to be a bit restrained you know. I will hopefully have some space in my luggage to bring some kitchen stuff over. Maybe a pot or a pan or a wok. I managed to leave 20 kilos of stuff (half of what I brought over) and a suitcase in Sweden! Granted most of that was presents, but I still hope that I'll have taken enough stuff over that I'll be able to bring over some less necessary items later. And if David comes over maybe he'll let me use 10 kg of his 40 with some of my junk. ;) I can always hope! I can be selfish and cheat by saying 'since I'm giving up everything to move over there, this is the least you can do!' but that would be mean. ;) I figure I'll just let him use as much as he wants, but any extra room I'm taking.

I wonder if I could actually plan things well enough that I go back to Sweden at the same time he does? That would be really cool, but probably not work. I might start looking into the prices of tickets for traveling in early to mid august sometime soon. I figure David will come visit me in mid June and leave mid July. If I work until the end of June I can maybe use some of the time David is here to plan my move a bit. I can always leave my apartment earlier than planned.

Now that my trip to Sweden is over, I feel like I've moved onto the next phase of planning and moving to Sweden! I'm still working on earning as much money as possible, but that's expected. After seeing David's kitchen and apartment I figure I might need a bit more money than planned. I could use some start up money for getting a book shelf, making the kitchen a bit more usable, buying some new things for David's room, etc. The things that I'll want. There is NO reason David or Jenny should buy things that they don't need. I need them, they should be my problem. But I fear there will be a lot of things like that. I might try to set myself up with a thousand or so SEK as start up money, perhaps more.