An American in Lidingö!

I made it! Oh, Sverige, Sverige....you are so green!

So, Thursday morning we got up early....four AM, I think. We went to the airport and got our boarding passes and checked our luggage, which was way confusing because mine somehow became 6 pounds overweight and we had to stuff random clothing items into Lisa's carry-on, and Continental was for some reason charging Lisa $25 for even her first bag...weird. But eventually we made it on to the plane, frappuchinos and all (sorry about the spill, Lala dear!).

I know I don't have much experience to speak of - it was only my first flight, ever - but....Continental is lame. The entire Continental staff, at the airport and on the plane, seemed rather unhappy and snooty. Continental also charges $6 for any in-flight entertainment, and their orange juice and muffins are bland.

Oh, but clouds are amazing! I took many pictures out the window of the clouds while flying. Silly, I know, and they didn't turn out very well....but they were just so amazing! So I will post pictures of them later. ^^ Anywats, I slept through much of the flight, despite some heavy turbulence, and we arrived in New York!

....well, Newark, anyway. There, Lisa and I changed and freshened up a bit before checking in for our next flight. SAS allows two bags per person, so we were able to check my nice big extra "carry-on", which was awesome. We got a sandwich and a parfait to share while we waited for our flight, which was delayed by half an hour. While waiting, we encountered Emma, a Swede whom Lisa met in August while in New York. Then the plane arrived and we got on board!

If you are going to fly to anywhere in Scandinavia, or Germany, don't ever consider anything but SAS. They rock! As soon as you walk through those SAS doors, Swedish is all you hear. Which is a little bit intimidating at first, I'll admit. But they're all so helpful and happy that you can't help but feel a little better already! I was still insanely nervous, particularly since I could barely understand a word they were saying. But I began to relax when the wonderful Swedish flight attendant brought us pretzels and orange juice for a snack. Then Lisa and I put our complimentary pillows behind our backs, put on the comfy SAS headphones, and engaged in some free SAS entertainment. Yay Midsommer Murders, Alice in Wonderland, Happy Feet, and Dear John! Then came dinner....hot potatoes, meat in some sort of tasty sauce, broccoli, a fresh salad with pepper cream dressing, a soft baguette with butter and brie, a little package of crackers with the same, a glass of orange juice, and a piece of tirimasu! Oh my goodness, they're fantastic! Needless to say we were quite full after that. I slept for a while, and then when the sun came up Lisa managed to sleep for a little while on my shoulder. The poor thing has a terrible time trying to sleep on airplanes.

At 7 AM we arrived at the airport in Stockholm. To Lisa it felt something like midnight, which it almost was, Utah time. I felt pretty good time-wise, since I had been working myself up to it all night...when it was 2 AM Swedish time, it was already dark on the Atlantic, so it wasn't too hard to convince myself that it was maybe 11 PM. So everytime I woke up after that I convinced myself it was a little bit later, and by the time we got here, 7 AM felt about right. Which isn't to say that I wasn't incredibly tired.

So then we were in Stockholm! Well, kinda. The airport is actually quite a ways away from the city-part of Stockholm. But we were definitely in Sweden. :P Lisa and I put on our cowboy hats and checkered bandannas and went out to meet her family. Amid much squealing and hugging, I was introduced, and then we headed home! (Minus my luggage, which instead of going to New York and Stockholm had been sent to Houston and then Frankfurt... O.o)

Stockholm is not as cold as I thought it would be. I mean, it's cold....but nice, I think. I mean their summer feels kind of like autumn in the Utah mountains, with a crisp refreshing chill still lingering in the air...but I don't think it's freezing. Unless the wind is blowing. Vinden är mycket kall.

On Friday, after showering and resting for a bit, we went to the "graduation" of Hersby Gymnasium (high school) on Lidingö. Friends and family line up outside, and at exactly noon, the graduating class is let out and runs out the school doors! It was actually really cool, and I think more fun than what we do in America. :P Oh, and it was my nameday, so we ate cake outside in the sun! Then for dinner, Lisa's brother Gustav came over with his wife Christine and their daughter, Siri. They were all very nice, and Gustav reminds me of my old voice teacher, Brodie. :P And of course, Siri is just plain adorable.

On Saturday we slept until 11, and then Veronica came over for a little while. She's very energetic and sweet, and I hope we can all hang out again soon. Then we went to Sara's dance show, where she was a part of two dances. She did very well!

Today we are celebrating Lisa's birthday. This morning we were awakened in bed by her family singing and bringing her breakfast and gifts, and then Elsa and Sara sang a beautiful song they wrote to go along with a poem of Lisa's (the one on her blog). It was the sweetest thing ever and they had me in tears! Later, she has some 26 relatives coming over, I think. This should be fun, haha! I have been speaking almost entirely Swedish so far, but now I will have to attempt to talk to some Swedes who don't even know English, like her grandma. We'll see how that goes.

Tomorrow, Lisa and I are going to go to Hersby after lunch and meet Max. I think that's as far as we have planned...more on all that later. Love to everyone in good ol' Utah! Miss you guys!