peacefactory

Life is up and running! And my dear old school doesn't seem to have ever heard of "easy start". Straight on with biology excursion last week and physics test next week. And a whole lot of other assignments in between... But, don't fright, I'm alive and well! With an amazing class at school, full flourish in my music life, a whole lot of dancing and an extreme lack of cafe visits from last year to make up - I seem to find a pretty good way to spend my time.

This weekend it was time for my grandparent's 50th anniversary, which we celebrated by me and my brothers putting together a "love-themed" concert. A nice mix of serious and totally corny, going through some Grieg, Franck, Rachmaninoff and ending with a duet - "Can you feel the love tonight". Except we had different lyrics to make it even more cheesy!

Summer has really been present the last week, in everything except for the weather. Well, actually the weather too - rain and rain and rain or at least "mulet" (cloudy and overcast) is something we more than often refer to as "Swedish summer". What I mean though is that holy vacation feeling when you can sit around and just do absolutely nothing for a whole day and it both is seen as okay from the surroundings, and you feel good about it.

The days have been filled with great family dinners and lots of "fika's" with family and friends. Such simple pleasures! It has also been quite a bit of musicality lately, and the skin on the edge of my fingers is getting thicker and thicker. My life must be filled of these simple pleasures.

Now though, with the first Harry Potter book - already almost half-way through - in yet another language (guess what language this time?) in my carry-on, I will tomorrow fly down to Paris and my very favourite little Durand-girl! A bientôt!

Well, yeah, this is kind of how unfairly happy I am. And not only about how good it was to take a two-hour shower yesterday, scraping off the mud and the rest you collect after living in a tent for four days. And not from how awesome it was dancing away to Crystal Castles, Andreas Grega, Feadz and Hoffmaestro and more the past days. Or how amazing our camp was, how good the party tent protected from the rain, or how beautiful the little chicken legs were that we duct taped to the ceiling. But everything, and more. And it is very unreal how distant "last year" feels already, even though it's been 2 weeks since I landed in Copenhagen. It is like a dream, that I remember very clearly, with all details, but I still doubt if it really took place - if I really was there and did all those things, met all those wonderful people.

I'm so happy, every day I see people I haven't seen for almost a year. And it feels like I haven't been gone at all. And in less than a week now I will get to see ma jumelle celeste again. I can't complain - life is certainly good. And the picture is taken by this wonderful young lady.

Wonderful days up on the coast, with great friends! And now - I'm pumped for Emmaboda! 4 days, great bands coming, muddy tents, crazy fun people - will be amazing!

Favourites from the last trip in Cali. Everything becomes so much more fun with a fisheye!

Me, Charlie (exchange student from Michigan), his Rotary counselor and another Rotarian!

I have now landed, of course physically, but also more mentally. Wait, what am I saying? Actually - I'm still way up there, somewhere! But it actually feels good being a little all over the place! However, I am now starting to crank that wheel that is supposed to be called my life; a big creative revival with the cello - aching fingers as a result - , starting a get-back-in-shape-campaign - as if the Grand Canyon and Half Dome wasn't enough - and wonderful times with my family and friends. We've said it before and I'll say it again - Life is Good.

A paradox, that's what this is. It is not supposed to feel this good being home, I'm not supposed to be this full of energy and life. Jetlag is something I have hardly even felt at all!

However, I have now done some of those things I have been longing for the whole year - I have been missing the milk, yoghurt, cheese and bread ridiculously much. I have been just walking in the city, taking it all in and watching all the people. And okay, I have to admit it - coming from the outside it kind of very much feels like Sweden is blonde-blue-eyed-land! I have been taking the bus and tram again, oh I have missed it!!! The bus driver must have thought I was going on something when I walked on the bus with the biggest smile I could ever conjure, and it was stuck on my face the whole 15 minutes I sat there! Such simple joys we can find here in life!

Today I will have somewhat of a musical experience (which will probably include a major pain in my fingers this afternoon) - it's time for Cello Stud Muffin Revival! After that I will finally get some West Coast feeling, joining my parents up in our vacation home. I'm longing for the ocean!

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...)