skillnader.

Me and my Host parents, at Annas work party. The theme was Wall Street.

I realize I just went from posting for the first time in a month, to twice in two days, but oh well. I feel like I have more to say, and maybe a couple more lists to make. First off I made some changes to my little blog, and now anyone can comment without signing up or being a user. I also changed a couple of other things but they really aren't as important. Speaking of change, I've been sick the last week, and I am finally starting to feel better, so that is pretty awesome.
So more things about this awesome country:

• Mean Girls. I had to mention this. The first week of school someone asked me if school in the U.S. is like how it is in the movie mean girls. My first answer was no, that movie in just ridiculous, funny sure, but nothing like American high school. But there are more similarities that I thought, there are stereotypes and drama. However it's not at obvious as the movie mean girls make it seem. It was hard for me to explain how it is but isn't at the same time, so hopefully I didn't make anyone think high school is too similar to that movie.
  
• Donuts. Yes donuts. The strangest thing to probably talk about, but everyone at school loves donuts, I really can't figure that out. I really didn't even think they would have donuts here.
  
• When someone from America thinks of Sweden, they usually think of blonde hair and blue eyes. Partially true, there are more people here that are blonde than back home, but there are also people with darker hair. Sure I can think of tons of people with blonde hair and blue eyes off the top of my head, but it's not half the population.
• Another typical stereotype is that Swedes are healthy. I don't think I should say that is a stereotype because that seems to be very true. Every night for dinner there are tons of veggies and some meat, and usually something from almost every food group. But everyone also is very active.
• The dinner table situation is a whole other topic. I know table manners are different all of the world, so I thought keeping my elbows off the table was a good general rule I should always do. Turned out no one really cares if you have your elbows on the table. However eating everything with a knife and fork, no matter what it is is something very important here. The fork goes in the left hand and the knife goes in the right. Finally being left handed has an advantage! Also back home, it was very typical to eat dinner in the living room and my mom wouldn't cook dinner every night. Not here. We eat dinner every night at the table, usually I cook, and I've never had dinner in front of the TV here. Another thing that was a hard adjustment with me was I typically wouldn't drink anything with dinner back home, and here I get looked at like I'm crazy if I don't at least have a glass of water. Also if you are finished eating, you but your knife in fork together on the right side of your plate to show you are finished eating and you don't want more. If you are finished before everyone else, you wait for them to be done eating.
• Pop. Or soda, or cola, or whatever you want to call it. In the states you go to the store by a couple of two litters and think nothing of and and go home. This weekend was the first time we had pop in the house since I've been here, and it was only because we were having guests over. They also don't have two litters here, I'm not sure what size they are but they are not as big. It is typical to sometimes order pop when you go out, but that's about it.
• The milk situation! I don't know why I waited this long to talk about this. Milk comes in one liter boxes. Tiny little things, it's the most annoying thing in the world. One liter is 1/4 of a gallon. So I am constantly drinking all the milk, and I feel really bad, so we are always buying milk. Also everyone is afraid of milk getting "old" so they only keep it in the house for a couple of days.
• Eggs. The first week I was here my host mom and brother cracked open a raw egg and put it on there pasta, I was in shock wondering if they knew they could get salmonella and die from that. Maybe that's just in America? I don't know but that is one think I don't think I'll try. I was raised being yelled at for eating cookie dough with raw eggs in it, but this the whole raw egg.
  
• TV. We have one TV in the house, and it is typical for the TV not to be turned on for several days. We have like 8 channels, 2 which are in English most of the time, including MTV. They don't turn the English movies and TV shows into Swedish, they just add subtitles.
• As you know, I live in an apartment. We live on the 5Th floor, but in the U.S. it would be the 6Th floor. Here they count the first floor as B, and then count with numbers after that.
• The mail comes on Sundays here.
• There are no apartment numbers. Everyone in the apartment has the same address, but everyone has there last name on the doors so that's how the mailman knows how to deliver the mail. That's why when people send me mail they have to put c/o Anna Lidman. I love getting mail!
• At the entrance to the apartment there is a box where you punch in some numbers to open the door to keep people out. Makes sense right? well when someone comes over, instead of buzzing them in (that is not an option) you tell them the number. My way of thinking is then you might as well not have a number because who you told could tell someone and then it ends up just being pointless. But this is the way it is here.
• The sun. That is all people ever talk about here, if the sun in shining, everyone will go out and be in the sun, even if it's freaking cold as heck. I can honestly say that Swedes are obsessed with the sun. That's not even an exaggeration.
  
• Teacher student relationships. Here it is normal to swear in front of the teacher or even when your talking to the teacher, the teachers will swear while teaching, no one thinks anything off it. No big deal.
• More school. I've only seen people raise there hands when the teacher asks how many people did something or something like that. You call the teachers by their first name. I have a teacher, Enrique who looks EXACTLY like shaggy from Scooby Doo. One day I will take a picture of him. He's even awkward like shaggy and everything. I told some classmates that he looks like shaggy and they all think so too, so I'm not imagining it.
• School lunch. I actually like the lunch. We have choices of salad, bread, some meat dish, and usually potatoes or rice. & the lunches here are free.
  
• Before I came here, I was told to learn my facts about the U.S and be extremely up to date on the politics in the U.S. and what was going on. Well I thought I had a pretty good clue. I was wrong. Almost everyone here knows more about the U.S. government than I do. I get asked questions like does everyone like Obama and what I think about certain things that are going on in the U.S..
• Everyone listens to American music, almost exactly what is on the radio back home. & there is a lot of crappy American rap music that people listen to.

Hej då.