Adventure Time: Amsterdam

I had the awesome opportunity to go to Amsterdam, Netherlands last weekend! 

It was so great going and seeing a part of the world I'd only dreamed about being able to see. 

Saturday I just walked around and explored and got lost a few times. 

I went on a boat canal tour and learned about the history of Amsterdam. Then Saturday night I went and did a tour of the Anne Frank House.

Holy Cow. 

I wanted to cry more then half the time when walking through it. Hearing and seeing the circumstances her and her family were in was such a horrifying piece of history that I got to experience. 

Then Sunday I got to hang out with one of J.R.'s roommates that was in Amsterdam for a school competition! It was so awesome but made me kind of sad at the same time. 

I miss all my friends in Utah and my brother and his roommates, who came to be like 5 more brothers that I never thought I would have. 

I'm trying to remember all the great parts even when I get sad about how lonely I get sometimes.

I have to admit... I was tearing up when I went to the airport. But the thing that set me off.....

they took my peanut butter at security!!!!! 

J.R. was awesome and bought me a few things (one of them being PB) and sent them with Alex, and I didn't think twice about having them in my carry-on. 

But nope. They took it. And yeah, I went into the airport bathroom and cried. 

It's funny now that I think about it, that losing my Peanut Butter was what set me off. 

So you're allowed to laugh at me too.

(this one isn't Amsterdam, sunset from Thursday!)

First solo trip in Europe done! Next adventure... I'm thinking Paris. 

Adventures Adventures!

I had my second day off yesterday! It was so great and I got to spend it with the sister missionaries that are serving in my ward. They have been such a blessing to me, and are honestly my main friends. They come over once a week and have dinner with me and we just talk. It's great, and I'm so glad that I've been able to meet them and have their friendship. 

We went to Drottningholm Palace, which is where the king and queen live. 

It. Is. Gorgeous. 

Fall has always been my favorite season in NY, but it's even better here. Like, so much better. Not only are the colors amazing, but everything is so artsy and cute that it makes it 20x cooler. 

So, if you want to visit Sweden, visit in the fall. 

BUT. Not in October, the last week of September would be prime. As I'm now figuring out, lots of things shut down as soon as October hits. 

More facts about Sweden:

-Dogs are allowed everywhere. Buses, trains, stores, you name it, they're allowed. 

-There are like, no police. I saw someone pulled over for the first time last week.......I've been here almost two months.

-Pumpkins are EXPENSIVE. I found a medium sized one for 100 krona, which is the equivalent of 15 dollars and I was excited about how cheap it was. We want to carve pumpkins (sisters, elders and I) so now I just need to find one more "inexpensive" one. 

I'm living in...Sweden!?

Every once in a while over the past four weeks the thought has come to me...

"I'm in Sweden, what the heck?!"

It's yet to completely sink in, which is good I guess, cause I appreciate it more every time I think it to myself.

The last three weeks have been so much better than my first week here! 

I've been able to get out and explore, meet some awesome people, learn some Swedish phrases, and pretty much have to go, "English?" to anyone who tries to talk to me. 

Things about Sweden you may not have known:

-They have manpri's here... as in man-capri's. 

Whatever you're picturing in your head, it's about 5x worse

-To my calculations, about 50-60% of the people here smoke. 

The other day I was going to pick up the children from daycare and

 there were kids, like 13 or 14, taking a break from school.....smoking.. like, what?

-The public transportation is awesome.

-A lot of people wear sandals........with socks. It needs to be stopped

-Almost everything closes by 7 on weeknights, and 5 on weekends. Tis craziness

That's all I've got for now! Still no internet at our house, so I'm only able to get on sparingly.

Here are some gorgeous pictures I've taken the last few weeks. 

Haven't asked if I'm allowed to post pictures of the kids yet, so you won't get to see their cute faces until I do...if they say yes.

Hej da! (Goodbye) Said/sounds like: Hado, or Hello over-enthusiastically!

Expectations vs. Reality

My expectations when coming to Sweden were pretty high. I was going to immediately fall into a great sleep pattern. The kids were going to love me and understand what I expected and how I would like them to act right away. I would meet tons of other LDS single people and make friends a few days after I got there. I wouldn't get sad. I wouldn't cry. And I definitely wouldn't need to call and talk to my mom or dad for at least two or three weeks. 

Reality set in pretty quick though. I woke up at 3 in the morning and couldn't go back to sleep the first night. The kids were sweet, but the old nanny was there too, so I wasn't really the authoritative figure. My rules and expectations were definitely different. I met one LDS single on my forth day, while at church. The first night I cried...along with the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. And the first night I really wanted to call my dad. I had to force myself out of the apartment on my third day here.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still so grateful for this opportunity, but it's definitely a lot different then what I expected. But through the amazing support of my dad, mom, and brother, I will get through this year. 

As my dad keeps telling me, 

"One minute, one hour, one day at a time. Just get through one day. Then start the next day."

Here are two beautiful pictures to not make this blog post seem so depressing. :) 

My Biggest Supporter

Deciding on a first blog post was pretty difficult. But once I really thought about it, I knew what I wanted to write about. 

My dad.

When I told him to go check out how cute my blog is

but that nothing was posted yet he said,

"I put it in my favorites so that I can look at it 

everyday

to see what you're doing."

Ha, yeah hopefully I remember to post even twice a month.

My dad is my biggest supporter and to be honest my best friend. I couldn't have asked for a better dad.

When I told him I wanted to stop going to school and do something else, I'm sure it wasn't a reaction that most parents who were pretty much paying for their kids tuition would say. 

He told me that I could stop and that school wasn't for some people and that I was one of the ones it wasn't for, but that I needed to find something I loved that didn't require a degree..

So I found a job being a live-in nanny...in Sweden. 

He's so excited for me, but I'm sure he's just as equally (or more) nervous and just doesn't tell me.

I love him and definitely would not be where I am without him. So, yeah. Whoever is reading this should 

definitely be jealous that "Big Jim" isn't their dad. 

Cause I'm sure grateful he's mine.