It’s over. Just like that, my friends have left for the USA. Anna and Danielle came to visit me for 10 days, and I got to see much more of Sweden while they were here as I had to show them around. Also, just like that, I lost some Swedish over the course of 10 days because I was mostly speaking to them. So that’s what came out of their visit – I got worse at Swedish, lost a lot of money and had to share a room for 10 days. Of course, it was not quite like that…
At the airport in Stockholm (Arlanda, it’s called) I stood with my Mormor and Morfar waiting to see two familiar faces come through the gate. This is the part I can’t stand because I am too excited and I have no patience. The door we’re watching only opens when the arrivals are right near it, so we can’t see if they’re coming or not until they actually walk through the door.
Then I see them.
I leave my bag and run up to them and give them a hug. We smile uncontrollably because we’re so happy and I’m so relieved that their flight went well; even though there was a storm in Iceland where they switched planes, here they are standing right in front of me. We have a lot of catching up to do, but in the car, I say, because we have to get to my school before everyone leaves and it’s locked up and we can’t go inside.
So, the first day that they are here, Anna and Danielle are rushed to Karro (my school) so that we can go inside and I can proudly show them the five large buildings that are separated by the spacious school grounds I cross every school day. All of a sudden, my school looks different. It’s like I’m trying to look at it through their eyes, and it’s working. After we go into the main building and climb the stairs (the same stairs I’ve been climbing for six months and still can’t seem to breathe normally when I reach the top, though I’m getting better) we wait for my clasmates to finish their last class of the day.
They’re all glad to see us, or can it be that they’re glad that vacation has officially started? After they gather their things, we leave without a second glance at our lockers, glad to have a break from it all. We head to a café, and it’s only when people sitting next to us glare with angry eyes that we notice that we’re being loud.
It’s because my friends are getting along. My old friends are chatting pleasantly with my new friends (Well, they did when they had the courage to speak English in front of them.) and Anna and Danielle sip their drinks, listened and filled me in on the latest news of school and friends back home. There were, thankfully, no awkward moments where someone would have to butt in and, painfully (knowing full well that it’s the epitome of small-talk) ask about the weather in Maine.
Maine – a place that basically none of my Swedish friends had ever heard of until this year when some American/ Swedish girl from Maine decided to interfere with their lives, taking care not to disturb too much so that it could all go back to normal when she left. They have learned quite a bit about Maine this year as I quickly take in all that I can of Sweden. I can probably say the same thing about Sweden and my American friends; that they had not heard much (except for a few of them since they had had another Swedish friend before me) and for some of them it was like introducing a new corner of the world. One of my friends back home in Maine is actually a pen-pal with one of my friends here.
The way everything mixed so well – the talk and the atmosphere – made me so happy. You should have seen me, I bet my buck teeth were in full view in one of my broadest smiles ever…
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Email: flickafrancaise@yahoo.com
Address: Huginvgen 12, SE- 715 31 Odensbacken, Sweden, air mail
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