peacefactory

I'm back!!! My flight home was very pleasant (apart from the fact that I was leaving of course), all the way to Chicago I had people asking me about my Rotary jacket that now looks like a real American Christmas Tree. One guy who was just now coming home from China even gave me another patch to put on there!

As I walked up into Terminal 5 at O'Hare I literally walk right into a mob of Danish Rotary Exchange Students! I found out that they were all going home too, and that they - all 25 of them - were on the same flight as me to Copenhagen!

Sure, I didn't really understand much of what they were saying, but it was very nice having some exchange student spirit during those 13 hours I otherwise would have had to spend all alone. Then I finally arrived with all my overweight luggage at Copenhagen, and went out into a whole sea of danish flags held by danish Exchange student families. And then, in the back, I see my smiling parents holding a huuge yellow and blue sign saying "Välkommen hem, Naima!" (Welcome home, Naima).

We got all the way home, with just a couple of stops for ice cream and at "The Salmon Factory". When I then finally had climbed all the stairs up to the house, and walk in, my dearest brothers welcomes me by singing a self-written "Welcome, Naima"-song to the Star Wars Theme song. Who could ask for anything better? Finally, we end the evening by having our salmon and home-grown potatoes for dinner, with a delicious mudcake (contributed by Jonatan).

So much love and laughter, I have dearly missed my family, Sweden and all that comes with it. It is so funny how everything seems so much smaller here - the cars, shampoo bottles, houses, you name it - and the whole atmosphere is so different! And of course, my brain is going crazy trying to express everything in swedish again... NOT the easiest! For all you swedish readers - just try yourself for a second to find a good translation to "excited" that doesn't sound completely sexual!!!

Tonight there will be a little coming-home bbq for friends and family, or actually a combined coming-home/going-away, tomorrow dear Charlie from Michigan, who have been living with my family for the year, will be flying home.

(I mean, when you get used to this kind of supersized - most things look tiny...)