Dear Sweden | Dear LA
Dear Sweden,
I know that we don’t really update this too often, mostly because I know you don’t have too much time for internet shenanigans, but to me this has more heart behind it than a facebook message. So I’ll send you a facebook message saying to check this, but I want to write it here.
Merry Christmas, love! Christmas feels so strange without you home! I mean, I have to work this year, both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day’s night, so I barely would have been able to see you anyways, but still, you know? I still miss ya, girl!
I haven’t sent anything in the mail for quite some time, and I do apologize, but postage is so expensive! I have to put half a sheet of stamps on a postcard for you, so when you come home I’ll give you your Christmas present.
Oh geez, today I had to wake up super early to clean the house because my grandpa and his girlfriend are coming over tomorrow morning to open up gifts and our place is such a mess. I was barely at home this semester (except at night to sleep, lol) so I was barely home to clean (and my mom cleans, duh, but it’s not fair that she clean everything, you know? So my desk and whatever was just really messy and such).
It was really nice to meet Hessel the other day on Skype! Michelle, you guys make such an adorable couple! You even have matching hair :D Oh gosh, I was seriously just really content to watch you guys interact. I’m SO happy for you, I can’t even express it in words. I love how you guys react to each other and how comfortable you both are and just, like, how he treats you. He responds really well to your personality and to everything that you say and sigh, it’s just really insanely cute! What did you get each other for Christmas?
I don’t know about Hessel, but I’m pretty sure that Andrew doesn’t even know this exists, so I can talk about him without feeling embarrassed that he might read it or anything. But Michelle, he’s so wonderful! After all of the guy let downs in the past, Andrew is so refreshing. All of the annoying things about me (like how I can’t make decisions, and how I’m superstitious about the silliest things, and how I’m a bad driver, and how I freak out about everything) he just accepts. And as for annoying things about him, I can’t find any. He’s so pleasant to be around, all the time! Even when he’s sick! Even when he’s tired! I can’t wait for you to meet him. It feels strange to me that you haven’t, because he’s part of my home and you’re part of my home, and I feel like there should be some interaction with the different parts of my home!
Yesterday we all played Quidditch (oh, it was so much fun!) and then Hana and Sam and I went out doing various things and Andrew texted me and we agreed to open our Christmas gifts together that night, since I won’t be seeing him for Christmas because of work and family and such. So he said “your christmas present is at your house, so let me know when you get home and we can open our presents simultaneously,” so I thought he meant that he dropped it off at my house. After a series of questions, I came to realize that he didn’t interact with my mom, it should be in an obvious place, and it wasn’t near my car. So I was really stumped and I looked all around my apartment for a package and I didn’t see one and so I texted him asking for a hint and he said to just go about my normal routine and I’d find it. So in a silly text I started typing out my whole routine and then it occurred to me to check facebook and my email. When I checked my email there was an email with concert tickets inside for Noah And The Whale (have you heard the song 5 Years Time? That’s by them. Here’s a link: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2137399/noah_and_the_whale_5_years_time/ I have a couple of their albums on my ipod and they’re super fun!)! My very first concert! I’m super excited :D
Michelle, tell me about your Christmas (if you reply to this!). Tell Lindsay hi for me :]
This is pretty long, and I have to get back to cleaning, but I wanted to tell you all about recent things. I miss you a whole bunch (of course!) and I really wish that you were home for Christmas. But I hope that you’re really enjoying Christmas in Sweden or which ever country you’re in right now (you’re traveling, right?). When you get a chance, do write me a letter back! I miss interacting with my darling Michelle!
Take care, Merry Christmas, I love you!, write back!
Love,
LA
Dear Sweden,
Happy happy birthday! I hope you’re having a beyond wonderful day and I’m going to make you a card just as soon as I finish my mountain of homework!
You’re finally not a teenager anymore! 20 years old, oh geez. What an oldie.
I love you! Enjoy this new decade of your life!
Love, LA
Dear Sweden,
I’m so excited that you finally updated this! I really loved that list, which I will reply to point by point, and I really like that picture. It’s a good thing you bought those shoes, they’re really cute! I’m thinking that I want to buy some more staple shoes, because I wear those brown flats all the time, I’m afraid they’ll get worn out! Just like my cardigans! Ah!
1) A forest! How wonderful sounding! I really need pictures! Also, it’s such a good thing that you don’t have allergies there! How is the air (smog factor), is it fresh and clean? What about the weather?
2) You’ll bring all of your new learned recipes home with you, once you learn to cook? Because when we live together, someone has to make dinner! I can only make deserts! What kind of food do you eat when you eat out?
3) What kind of club is it! It sounds interesting! (Sorry I’m so n00b to Sweden!)
4) Polish teacher! How fun! Which class was this? And how does it work with only 5 lectures? Does that mean that you only have to go to class 5 times? What is your weekly school schedule like?
5) I am so glad (so glad!) that you don’t feel alone and that you have friends and that you’re so happy. I miss you so much but I’m glad that you’re in Sweden because you haven’t been this happy for so long! You sound so healthy-happy, you know? Like, you really needed this trip! Especially with the depression that set in last semester, you know?
Now for my list, which I’ll start back at number one, since it’s a new list and all :]
1) I am taking that “gruesome but kind of intriguing anatomy class!” It’s actually really great so far! I had lab on yesterday morning (Tuesday) and at each table we had boxes with human bones in them and we learned the names for all of the parts on each bone. Like the ilium, for example! (That’s a pelvis bone, but you probably already knew that!) We learned all of the anatomic names for the parts of the bone, like the anterior inferior iliac spine, and the greater sciatic notch, and the acetabulum. It was really neat because when we learned the name for it, we could actually feel the indentation or the extra lump that the pictures show. It was so hands on! We won’t get to meet the cadavers for a couple more weeks, but I’ll let you know how that goes. But I won’t go into too much detail, I don’t plan on giving you nightmares!
2) But you know how I get with over studying? This anatomy class is that class this semester. Today, literally, I was in the library from 12-6:30 just reading the textbook and answering review questions. But I fully intend to study REALLYREALLY hard this semester to do well. So if it means I spend all day in the library but learn the difference between a tight junction, an adhering junction, a desmosome, and a gap junction, then so be it!
3) I decided not to do physiology because it would be too much work :/
4) So consequently I’m in this silly intro to religious studies class that we have very few written assignments and if they are typed, somewhat on topic, and 2.5 pages, then we get a 90%, no matter how bad the quality of the paper is! It seems that most of the people in that class are freshmen, but they’re all so friendly and eager to introduce themselves. The professor sounds kind of crazy though. But this class is all the way in the design building, which is over near the engineering buildings, which is so far from my other classes! But that part of campus is really nice, I really like it! So it’s nice to be over there.
5) Then there’s psychobio, which will be really pretty fun. And advanced emergency care, where I will learn CPR! But one of the class days we have to go to the pool and I am not looking forward to that. I’m trying to think of a way I can get out of it.
6) I complain a lot about being back at school but really it’s not that bad. I actually like this semester a lot already. I feel like this semester I’m finally going to learn something useful!
When you get a chance (meaning, when you have a really bored thousand of hours that you feel like answering my dozens and dozens of questions) tell me about all of your friends (names, birth place, how you met them, &c)! Tell me about the food you eat! Tell me about your classes (is there only the one?)! Tell me about the weather! Tell me about your campus! Also, upload the pictures from your going away party :] And show me your campus! And your room! And more of your face :D
Love you! Miss you! It’s really great to hear from you!
Love, LA
Dear LA,
I’m so sorry it’s taken me this long to post here, I’ve just been swept up in a whirlwind of activity! There’s so much to do and I have so much to tell you, I don’t even know where to begin! I think the easiest way to let you in on the happenings of Uppsala would be to present them in a form you’re familliar with (because you’re a weirdo)- a LIST!
1) Sweden is amazing. It’s also a giant forest, and apparently a hypoallergenic forest. I forgot to take my allergy medicine a few days ago and I was fine. Until I rubbed my eyes with onion fingers, since nobody warned me. Which leads me to…
2) I really need to learn to cook. People keep having me over to cook with them and I’m assigned jobs such as opening bags. That, and a large sum of my money is spent on eating out because…
3) I’m out all day and night. I finally joined a nation (club things at Uppsala), so that’ll keep me busy, hopefully. Yay, Värmlands!! I’m so happy, though, because I have so many friends! I especially love my core group, of course, but I’m always with people, so when I get home I’m restless because I’m so bored. I hardly touch the computer anymore. Until now, since…
4) I had my first class yesterday, and it was pretty okay. Just basic stuff and introductions. We’ll only have five lectures or so in total, which is totally bizarre to me. The teacher seems nice, though! She’s Polish, which (as you know) is a great thing to be! :D
5) It’s required there be a point five, because that’s my favorite number. I feel like I’ve been here for weeks and weeks already, but I don’t feel alone. Which is good. I was afraid of that. I do miss you though, so we’ll have to find a way to stay in contact more easily.
That’s all I can think of for now. There’s so much more I have to tell you, but I’ll either save that for another letter or tell you ‘in person’!
How are you doing? How are your classes? I forgot, are you in that gruesome but kind of intriguing anatomy class? I really, really hope your doing well, and I want to hear all the little juicy details of your life!!
Love, Sweden
Dear Sweden,
You haven’t even left yet and already I’m starting to get pretty sad. Tomorrow is your going away party and then there’s only a couple of days and you’ll be off. Up until literally today I didn’t feel like you were actually going to leave. When you signed up for the program it sounded like this August would never come, like it was so far into the future! And then now, I guess it hit me when I told people about your going away party. They asked where you were going and when I said aloud, “She’s going to Sweden for a year!” and saw their expressions, it really hit me that you are leaving! And very soon!
I don’t know what I’m going to do without you! My brain cannot comprehend the idea of you being 5,531 miles away, it just can’t!
I don’t want you to get upset or scared because I’m saying all of this, because even though I’m going to miss you, I know you’re going to be having an amazing time (while still missing me, I hope! Bahaha). And seriously, I’m so proud of you for actually going. You accomplished this. You worked sososo hard last semester to finish the units, you got the loans, you worked at that awful Chico’s. This is your adventure, and you sincerely deserve it. I just can’t express how proud I am of you for doing this.
I love you! I’m right about to start baking your cake for tomorrow. Although, I think I might change to cupcakes. Decisions, decisions. I’ll post a picture up here (yes, pointing my computer at my oven) after they’re all finished :]
Love, LA
Ps: Here they are! (My fingers look really creepy, lol). There’s another pan though, so they’ll feed everyone!
Love, Sweden | Love, LA
Hello World! Hej värld!
In 9 days, 16 hours, 28 minutes and 20 seconds (as of right this second) Michelle will be flying off to Sweden, specifically to Uppsala, which is a world away from Misty, who will be left all alone in LA.
So! We thought it would be a grand idea to make a blog/tumblr/thingy to communicate through the time zones! (Being that Michelle would now become a child of a far off land *insert arm motions here* !)
Yes. We realize that Sweden is a country and LA is a city/county. But let’s face it, “Dear Sweden | Dear LA” flows a little bit better than “Dear Sweden | Dear United States” or “Dear Uppsala | Dear LA.”
And so. It begins :D
