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Day 1 ( I might be writing this a bit late.. wooops) (also sorry for any spelling errors) 

2/4/2016 

Day 1 - the 30th of January

On the 30th of January we touched down in another country. We "hopped across the pond" to make our way to Sweden. Walking of the plane, Lauren and Cassidy, my two traveling companions, and I felt a little jet lagged and a little excited. The full reality of student teaching abroad hadn't hit us yet. We were still a bit roughed up from the turbulence in the plane. In no later than 30 minutes, it started to hit. We walked around the Frankfurt airport looking at the German people and shops. Soon we bought our first European meal. Of course it consisted of coffee and a bread item.

To quote Miley, we hoped on another plane and made it to Copenhagen. A train took us to Malmo our destination. While getting on and off that train, everyone's passports were checked.  A new law (or maybe they call it something else) was instituted not long ago within the EU. THERE ARE BORDER CHECKS. One of the largest reason for this change is the refugees pouring in needing places to go. This was a little wild to me. I have been taught all my life, one of the wonderful parts of the EU is the free passage into other countries within the EU therefore NO border checks. While it is still free to go form each country, a form of identification is needed. This was just one example of how the EU is changing slowly from the massive numbers of refugees fleeing to many to it. Don't get me wrong, I am not against this mass flow of refugees. I believe they need somewhere to go. I don't have the answers but I also wouldn't turn someone away is is fleeing their own country out of fear for their safety.

Back off of my soap box. We arrived in Malmo to Matts our Swedish supervisor. He drove us around the town showing us the sights and pointing out places we would be going. Thanks to him, in our first few days around Malmo we didn't get lost. Matts took us to our lodging and was kind enough to show us how the Swedish doors work (to be fair, it is different than America). The dorm room I am staying it was already furnished and new bedding was waiting for us. Lauren, Cassidy, and I are living in international housing. People are from all over (Hong Kong to Canada). We all have privates bedrooms and baths. We share a kitchen and main living space with 8 others. We learned soon the living room TV from the 90's does not get cable and ABC streaming does not work abroad. So Olivia, Ben, and other Bachelor women we have to forgo watching you trying to find love. Otherwise the housing is perfect for our needs!

We were off to the grocery store soon afterwards. Wanting to find something for dinner and hoping to see a little bit of the area. By this time it was 5 pm and we were getting quite tired. The store, to us, seemed like a zoo. Looking around, we struggled to read signs and find what we needed. We did get the hang of it and found the candy aisle too! Dinner consisted of a quick microwave meals. Soon we were off to bed, reading to bring on Sunday.

Signing off from Sweden,
Darby