Some Pictures!!!

Picture time!!! The captions for pictures will be under the picture the caption describes. Enjoy!

This is typical evenings in what we call the "Bik" it has no Swedish meaning. No clue why it's called that. Anyway, this is (Left to Right) Agnese, Veronika and Annie. Agnese and Veronika are two of my four roommates.


These are two of my German friends, Anna (left) and Maike (right).



The pizza at the top there is the disgusting Ox pizza I wrote about in a previous blog entry. The dish on the right is what they call Kebab, which is lamb meat with a sort of mayonaisse sauce over french fries... kinda gross as well. The left pizza is normal vegetarian (whew!).



This is a view from a nearby bridge. This area of Sweden has a river that runs through it leading to many lakes and all along the shores are little red houses with white trim. I canoed for 5 hours down this river recently! It was beautiful!!!


This is the little chapel with the swing!!! It is cute now, but just wait till it snows!!!


Lastly, here's all my roommates and I. Left top-Veronika from Germany, left middle-Me!, left bottom-Attalee from Canada, right top-Agnese from Latvia, right bottom-Annika from Oregon USA.

Update... Finally!!!

So, I've been in school here in Sweden for one week now and it's awesome. First, I almost missed my stop getting off the train, but had the conductor person phone the train driver and stop the train to let me off!!! Once I made it here I met my 4 roommates from Germany, Latvia, USA and Canada.

In order not to write a novel here, here's a brief rundown of what I've experienced so far\been up to:

5 classes a day
soccer at least once a day
people thinking I'm an 18-year-old German
bundling up in warm clothes--yesterday it was only 9 degrees C, which is cold for me!!!
walking around Vetlanda, the nearest town where I ate the most disgusting pizza in the world. It was made of ox, shrimp and gorgonzola. Di-sgus-ting.

Also, lots of Bible reading which has been good!

Even though the workload here isn't nearly as bad as it was at college for me, I'm not doing a great job of setting aside time to journal or reflect on what God is doing in me here at Holsby. HOpefully that will change as I settle in more.

Keep keeping in touch!!!

Em

Uppehallstillstand... What???

I have no clue what that word in the title here means, but it doesn't matter, because that's what it says on the visa stamp in my passport, which arrived just a few days ago!!!

For real this time.

Now, with only 6 days until I leave, I am getting anxious. I've got all my gear spewed across my bedroom floor--down jacket (which, by the way, isn't as frumpy looking as I thought it would be. See it posted in the corner there? Cute, huh?), long-johns, camera, scarves. The temperatures in the region of Sweden I'll be in in less than a week range from mid-40s to low 60s already. Snow is on its way and I cannot wait!!!

Before I go, here are some things aside from snow that I'm excited for:
* Being in a close-knit community of students again
* Learning about different cultures
* Actually taking time to learn more about the Bible--willingly
* What God will reveal about me, about Him, and about my future (i.e. possible career paths, etc.)

I'd love prayers from you all for the roommate selection (they haven't done that yet... I hope I can live with some girls from other countries!!!), and travels.

Thanks!!!

Or Not...

So, the package that I failed to open the door for was not my passport.

Alas, who knows if I'll ever make it to Sweden...

God willing!!

Passport!!!

My passport arrived from NYC today in the mail! Only, I was home alone and had just gone running and when the knock came at the door I didn't feel like opening it, sooo my passport is now on its way to the place where they hold mail when nobody is home to pick it up!

There's not much else in other news. I successfully moved my life from Santa Barbara to Felton, called a few friends from around here to catch up, knit myself a pretty cool headband, and have rediscovered how much I love to go trail running.

Oh! And, my mailing address in Sweden is:

Emily Huebscher
Fackelbararna
Brunnsvagen 31
S-570 15 Holsbybrunn
Sweden

Note: That second line, the word Fackelbararna has two little dots above the second "a." I just don't know how to create that symbol on here : ) Also, in the third line, the word Brunnsvagen has the same two dots above the "a."

Christmas in July

I've always heard of those Christmas in July parties that people have. Indeed, I've scoffed at the idea a number of times. But, lately, I'm thinking it's not such a bad idea. My reasoning? Twofold: Ever tried to buy a down jacket in July--in Santa Barbara nonetheless? It's not the easiest task, let me tell you! I've been searching the stores for a coat to take with me to snowy Sweden, and so far, I've only found one. My fashion might have to take the back-burner, so that I'll have enough warmth (i.e. a totally un-hip black boring down jacket) to keep any burner going at all!

My second holiday inspiration comes from my recent obsession with choral music. Trouble is, I can only find "holiday" pieces. I'm embarrassed (though not too embarrassed to exclude it from my blog) to say that I spent 7 out of 8 hours today at work humming cheerily along to silent night, Ave Maria, stille nacht (or however you say silent night in German), and various other songs that make even the bah-humbugers want to grab a cup of egg nog and pull the old Santa hat out of storage.

But, hey, Jesus wasn't necessarily born in December, right? Actually, it's pretty refreshing to be meditating on the holiness surrounding the birth of Christ during this time of year. I still don't think I'm ready to actually throw one of those Christmas in July parties, though.

Maybe next year.

So, Here's the Scoop

In less than three months I will be living and studying in southern Sweden! I am getting more and more excited for my adventure in Europe with every passing day--for a while it seemed so far away that it was hard to believe I was actually going.

While I'm there, for those of you who don't know, I'll be at a Bible school called Holsby Brunn where I will learn more about the Scriptures, about missions, and Christian leadership--and I'm sure I'll learn a lot more about myself, too! I'm really hoping to get a good feel for what the missions field in Eastern Europe is like--we'll have opportunities to do work projects in Estonia, Latvia, or Poland (to name a few places). I've always been interested in working with orphans, and I hope to visit an orphanage in one of those areas to see if God might be calling me to that kind of service sometime in the future.

The school used to be a health spa, and is located in a forested area in the Smaland region. I've only seen a handful of pictures, but I have already fallen in love with the school grounds. The main building looks like a big red barn, with white trim. There's a handmade swing with a wooden seat big enough for two people. There's also a tiny white chapel in view of the swing and in front of the woods. And it SNOWS there!!! I can't wait to catch some of Sweden's finest snowflakes on my tongue! There's also a ton of opportunities to explore the outdoors--there's a ropes course, camping, canoeing, rock climbing, and hiking right out the back door!

So, this blog is a place where I plan to record my adventures in Sweden and Austria (more about that later). I'll be gone for a full 12 months and I'm sure I will be missing you all terribly, so please feel free to comment on my blog!!! I will be writing mostly about how God is using and changing me while I'm away (so selfish!), but I still want to hear what's going on in your lives while I am away.

BUT, until mid-September I'm still around in Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz in the US. So, give me a call and let's get together before I leave!