Hej to everyone reading this. I was originally planning to post a new blog as soon as I got here, but it's been a very hectic first week in Sverige.
Let me begin my story by prefacing that flying overseas doesn't always work out the way you planned. Originally my flight (Charlotte to Newark to Stockholm) was supposed to be about 9 hours, leaving at 1:20 pm and ending at 7:15 am.
No.
If you ever fly overseas please give yourself a day at the least before you absolutely have to be there. Trust me you will probably need it.
You see, my flight to Newark was delayed due to bad weather en route, delayed to after 3ish so causing me to miss my connection to Stockholm. So....being the experienced world traveler I am (haha) I went to the International counter and got my flight changed so that I could arrive in Stockholm the next day. After getting help from one of the nicest people I have ever meet and two hours later I was on my way to Munich. I changed my flight to Charlotte-Munich-Stockholm.
However that did not go as planned. About an hour into our flight the captain comes over the loudspeaker annoucing something in German. All the German's around me start looking around and talking in hushed voices. At this point it's pretty clear that there is something wrong.
I already made a friend beside me, a talkative French girl named Laurie, and she was in a very big hurry to make her next flight (Munich-Paris-Rekavyk) so she is clearly distressed at this. Finally the captain switches to English (Engelska as they say in Svensk) and announces that there is something wrong with the plane and that we are turning around.
At this point I am very worried, I don't know exactly whats going on, but I try to listen to my music and relax a bit as we fly closer and closer to death. (Hahaha just a joke by the way.)
So about thirty minutes later the Captain comes on again announcing that the problem has been fixed, but we cannot fly to Munich because we had lost too much fuel during the problem and that we were flying to Manchester England instead.
I'm afraid that I'll be stuck in the airport in Manchester, while my French friend is too busy cursing the airtravel system to notice my distress. Anyway she lets me borrow her international phone to call my mother and give her a heads up that I will be late late late late to Stockholm/Arlanda.
Well refueling in Manchester only takes an hour or so and FINALLY we are on our way to Munich. By now both Laurie and I have missed our connecting flights and the good people at Lufthansa rebooked our flights midair.
They rebooked mine to Stockholm at 11:45.
We land in Munich at 11:30.
Finding my way through the German airport, going through airport security and finding the right gate takes much more time than fifteen minutes.
So again I miss my connection to Stockholm.
Again my flight is rebooked for 12:45.
So I hang around in the Munich airport for a while, and end up sleeping on the plane. I don't even wake up untill we land at the airport and by then I am so tired and frustrated. We land around 5ish and I am hoping that my family will be there to pick me up so that I can get to a bed and quickly.
However it was not to be.
Through no fault of theirs they were told that my flight would not land untill 10:00 or (22:00 Swedish time) so I was a little panicked seeing as how I did not know this and did not have a phone.
Surrounded by people who did not speak my language and in an unfamiliar place with no money is NOT a fun experience. But it is a learning experience. Finally I figured out how to use the pay phone (even though it was all in Swedish) and got in contact with the right people.
So finally around 8 or so my family Eva and Erland come to pick me up. We drive the three or so hours drive from Arlanda to Kumla in awkward conversation, stopping breifly at McDonalds so they can get something to eat. (Swedish McDonalds sell Mineral Water by the way)
We drive some more in the dark (Sweden does not get dark untill 10ish or 11 in the Summer) and finally came back to their house. Eva was kind enough to let me borrow some clothes seeing as how the airport had lost my luggage and I was stuck without any of my clothes save for the ones on my back.
So yes a rocky start to my yea, but something tells me I will have a great time here.
Swedish word of this post: Gröna (greu-nah) Green
Next time..........................
Sight seeing, Fika, Alleskolan, Riding the city bus and first week of school
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2 comments:
Oh my goodness!! I just can't even imagine how frustrating that was, but hey, what wonderful stories you will have to tell your children someday. spoke with your mom, and she also gave me the details of your experience. I've been thinking about you and hoping this will be as fun of an experience as you hope it to be!
To use your Swedish word of the day, my eyes are Grona.
Wishing you well & keeping you in my prayers, F4Mom
hey! just read ur blog! sounds like u had a horrible time getting to sweden! they lost all your clothes? that would be terrible, id hate it, im sorry it happened to you! by the way this is joseph in case u dont know. great news! last nite (wed, aug. 20, 08) we had like a meeting of all the youth @ the west campus and got ideas together of how to revitalize our youth group and plans for the room off the sanctuary that we practice drama in. we're goin to (brainstorming): take out the ceiling panels (it goes up like 10 ft) and just have it open; paint the entire room black, w/fluorescent lettering; build a small stage area in the front, nxt to that will be a bar area w/fridge and serving coffee, popcorn, drinks (non-alcoholic:)] and other food; couchs and bean bags everywhere; Tshirts with an anagram we'll come up w/for our group; arcade games and other furniture. plus we're gettin a new praise band b/c the old one kinda evaporated so im gonna play the keyboard. wish u could be here 4 it but of course hope ur having a great time in sweden!! adios for now
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