I'm Going On An Adventure

I think one year in Sweden qualifies as an adventure

[bunlly]

Artist Alert: Bianca Green

[sarahseeandersen]

[maditraveler]

Every Swede ever in winter

[aestheticacadema]

[maditraveler]

3 Months Left

[maditraveler]

Kiruna, Day 3

[maditraveler]

Kiruna, Day 2

[maditraveler]

Kiruna, Day 1

[animmalcrossing]

going through customs at a US airport

airport staff: sir, do you have anything to declare today?

me: *starts sweating* uh no.. *trips and falls* *hundreds of Kinder surprise eggs roll out of my pockets, jacket and briefcase*

airport staff: GET ON THE GROUND NOW

me: but i am

*armed guards swarm round and pin me down*

armed guards: WHAT’S IN THE EGGS?

me: i dont know its a surprise!! 

[adastraz]

Do you think the Americans get it

[backstageleft-deactivated202009]

Lol it’s the Americans smuggling them in.

[let-me-czech]

me in three months

[thoughts-memories]

[maditraveler]

My finished portraits project for my photography class. Thought I might as well post it as it’s took up a good chunk of my time here in Sweden.

[maditraveler]

[maditraveler]

What I’ve been up to

[bunlly]

Have you ever had that feeling— that you’d like to go to a whole different place and become a whole different self?

Haruki Murakami  (via immer-und-immerwieder)

[swedenized]

This is Sweden

[nopoetryinmysoul]

~200 basic Swedish words and expressions

funwithlanguages has this theory that you can keep a diary and basic conversations with around 200 words in the target language. They have posted a word list which has been translated into several language. My target language, Swedish, was not translated yet so I thought I’ll do it myself. :)  Memrise course here

Verbs

To start, I suggest memorizing the infinitive form of these verbs and their present and past tense “I” conjugations. In Swedish, the conjugated verb is the same for every person. For example, it would be I am, you am, he/she/it am, …  [infinitive | present | past]

be - att vara | är | var

there is -det finns

have - att ha | har | hade

do - att göra | gör | gjorde

create (aka “make”) - att skapa | skapar | skapade

cause (aka “make”) - att orsaka | orsakar | orsakade

go - att gå | går | gick

say - att säga | säger | sa/sade

speak - att tala | talar | talade

know - att veta | vet | visste 

think - att tänka | tänker | tänkte

want - att vilja | vill | ville 

like - att tycka om | tycker om | tyckte om

can - att kunna | kan | kunde

need - att behöva | behöver | behövde

should - att böra | bör | borde

try - att försöka | försöker | försökte

feel - att känna | känner | kände

work (also as a noun) - att arbeta | arbetar | arbetade

learn - att lära sig | lär sig | lärde sig

understand - att förstå | förstår | förstod

get (meaning “obtain”) - att få | får | fick

use - att använda | använder | använde

start - att börja | börjar | började

eat - att äta | äter | åt 

see - att se | ser | såg

write - att skriva | skriver | skrev

give - att ge | ger | gav

sleep - att sova | sover | sov

buy - att köpa | köper | köpte

decide - att bestämma | bestämmer | bestämde

find - att hitta | hittar | hittade

ask - att fråga | frågar | frågade

meet (meaning to meet someone for the first time) - att lära känna | lär känna | lärde känna 

meet (meaning “meet up with”) - att möta | möter | mötte

take - att ta | tar | tog

Phrases

hello - hallå / hej

goodbye - hej då

My name is… - Jag heter … / Mitt namn är … 

“Nice to meet you.” - Trevligt att träffas.

yes - ja

no - nej

okay - okay

please - snälla

thank you - tack / tack så mycket

you’re welcome - varsågod

sorry - Förlåt mig. 

excuse me (to catch someone’s attention) - Ursäkta mig.

well (as in “Well, I think that…”) - tja

Really? - Verkligen? 

Conjunctions

that (as in “I think that…” or “the woman that…”)

and - och 

or - eller

but- men

though - fast / fastän

because - för / eftersom

therefore - alltså

if - om

Prepositions

before (also as a conjunction) - före / innan  after (also as a conjunction) - efter

of - av

from - från   to - till 

in - i 

at (place) - vid

at (time) - klockan x 

with - med

about - om

like (meaning “similar to”) - som

for (warning, this one has several meanings that you need to take care of) - för 

Adjectives and adverbs

Know both the adjective and adverb forms of these words.

a lot - mycket a little - lite

good / well - bra bad / badly - dålig

more (know how to say “more … than”) - mer better (often irregular and not just “more good”) - bättre

most - mest

enough - tillräcklig

right - rätt / riktig wrong - fel

Adjectives

the, a (technically articles) - den/det, en/ett 

this (also as a noun) - denna, den här  that (also as a noun) - det

all - alla  some - några   no - ingen

other - annan

any - något

easy - enkel hard - svår

early - tidig late - sen

important - viktig

cool (as in “that’s cool”) - kul / grym

same - samma

different - olik

beautiful - vacker / snygg

Adverbs

very - mycket

too (as in “too much”) - för

also - också

only - bara

now - nu

here - här

maybe - kanske

always - alltid often - ofta sometimes - ibland never - aldrig 

today (also as a noun) - i dag / idag yesterday - i går / igår     tomorrow - i morgon / imorgon

almost - nästan

still - fortfarande

already - redan

even - till och med / även

Nouns

If your language has grammatical gender, then learn each noun as “the [noun]” with “the” in the correct gender. (e.g. in Spanish, instead of learning language = “idioma”, learn language = “el idioma”.) This will help you remember the gender. Swedish has two grammatical genders, common (utrum - en) and neuter (neutrum - ett). About three quarters of the Swedish nouns, especially living things, are common nouns. 

a thing - en sak

a person - en person

a place - en place

everything - allting something - någonting   nothing - ingenting

a time (as in “a long time”) - en tid

time (as in “I did it 3 times”) - gång

a friend - en vän

a mother, a father, a parent, parents - en mamma, en pappa, en förälder, föräldrar

a daughter, a son, a child - en dotter, en son, ett barn

a wife, a husband - en fru, en make

a girlfriend, a boyfriend -en flickvän, en pojkvän

a breakfast - en frukost

a lunch - en lunch

a dinner - en middag

a money - pengar (plural) 

a day - en dag

a year - ett år

an hour - en timme 

a week - en vecka

a country - ett land

a city - en stad

a language - ett språk

a word - ett ord

Internet - Internet

a house - ett hus

an office - en byrå / en kontor

a company - ett företag

Question Words

who - vem

what - vad

where - var

when - när

why - varför

how - hur

how much - hur mycket

Pronouns

Know them in the subject (“I”), direct object (“me”), indirect object (“to me”), and possessive (“my”) forms.  [subject | object | possesive form]

I - jag | mig | min/mitt

you - du | dig | din/ditt

she, he - hon, han | henne, honom | hennes, hans

it - det/den | den/det | sin/sitt

we - vi | oss | vår

you (plural) - ni | er | er

they - de | dem | deras/dess

[langvages-deactivated20191224]

@evincollege have a look at this :)

[adriannagoingabroad]

tried to be artsy and made a fika video

[maditraveler]

Half Way

I didn’t have the patience to actually calculate when my half way mark actually was or is, but as most exchange students living near me are posting about it I assume mine is at least close. I can’t say this has been half a year (I can say that my six month mark is on the first of February, now that’s terrifying) of constant joy and sunshine (literally or figuratively) but I will say this year has changed me. There’s a possibility it’s for the better or for the worse, really it doesn’t matter as that is simply a matter of perspective, but the person who boarded the plane in Colorado to come to Sweden is the not the same person who will be leaving. I knew this would be true the day I left, I simply didn’t know how profound the change would be because it is not monumental changes, you can’t pick them out in a mirror. I still look relatively the same (minus the hair) and I still sound the same (when I speak english), the changes are in the way I think about myself and about others. I am confident and independent and grown, grown in the way that my mind is no longer put in a box of my own devising but is instead open to all ideas and possibilities, and I will continue to change the next six months. I think almost every exchange student walks away from their year with similar changes, we won’t all end up doing the same thing but we are all bigger people because of this year. 

I have a lot of memories already; beautiful ones, funny ones, horrible ones. It’s surprising the amount you can collect in what is really an incredibly short amount of time. Sixth months is nothing, around .03% of my life so far, but these past six months hold the most incredible moments of my life.  More than anything though, I hope have a year that will be even more incredible than this one, I hope I have a lifetime of years more incredible than this one! Because while this exchange has changed me, I will not let it define me. I will not plateau after this year, I will continue to live a life that challenges me and excites me because exchange is just the beginning for those who choose to see it that way. It is the door that leads to a lifetime of grand adventures, and I am ready to body slam it down. 

Here’s to another incredible six months of mayhem and happiness, and to a lifetime of fun.