Week One- Personal

Hej all, well one week has passed since arriving in Vaxjo and what a week it has been. On Friday we all said goodbye to our friends, it was the kids last day at school and ended up being more emotional for me than them. Recognising they were leaving all they know and where they are safe and happy so that I could come to Sweden created a sense of guilt but also pride in how they coped with it. I also had a last night out with my friends, one of them ready to have a baby, and realised that I am going to miss getting together with them both to offload frustrations and have a good old laugh. The hardest thing, however was saying goodbyes to elderly grandparents who, having never travelled outside the UK cannot understand why we would want to; knowing how the decision to come to Sweden has affected them has been the most emotive.

Sarah and I travelled by airplane to Copenhagen and on to Vaxjo by train, both of us excited about what awaited us (and me a little worried that finding the right train would prove beyond my capabilities as I couldn’t even find the toilet on the plane). Arriving at night meant we didn’t get to see very much although the very light coating of snow meant that I spent ages outside the hotel watching Sarah make barely visible footprints. We both went to bed tired but happy.

Since our arrival we have moved into our student accommodation, the boys have arrived and orientation weekend is over. I have also met my buddy, the lady who has helped arrange school for the boys and attended my first class. All these steps have helped me realise that I can be independent and although I am a shy person I have talked to lots of new people and even attempted the odd word in Swedish (without getting laughed at).

I cant say its all been easy, the first couple of days I did wonder what was in my head bringing us all to Sweden and could have easily got on a plane home again, especially when we moved into the apartment and it just didn’t feel homely. We have now added personal touches to the apartment and it gets more cosy as the days pass. Im also sure that next week when the boys start school and classes start properly we will get into a daily routine and it wont be long until we settle and get used to life in Sweden.

On a final note it was disappointing to arrive to only a little snow but we finally have enough snow to have a snowball fight. We had a fun family time rolling snowballs, making snow-angels and just laughing together. The mugs of hot chocolate when we came in warmed us all up and we sat talking and reflecting on our very busy week.

Until next week…