1 Month Report

It’s so crazy to think that I've been here for one month, and we’re already half way through the Spring term up here at Holsby.

Crazy I tell ya!

 I have been trying to put into words what it’s been like up here, but honestly, there are no words to truly describe it. It’s a different world. The relationships that you grow, the environment that you’re in, the community, the learning… it’s all amazing. I’m happy that I made the decision to stay here during the summer to work, cause I’m not ready to leave Sweden yet, and I know I won’t be ready to leave when the term is over in a month!

These past two weeks have been busy busy busy! I was able to go through the ropes course up here, go to an apologetics conference in Stockholm with William Lane Craig, and hang out in Copenhagen with a friend of mine up here this past weekend!

The Ropes Course was absolutely delightful! I had an awesome time climbing walls, walking across logs (and walking across them backwards), and other various things like the leap of faith. Scary stuff, but very fulfilling in the end! I was also able to go on their ‘swing’. It’s big, it’s scary, and it’s totally worth it!

Stockholm was wonderful! The city is so pretty and so different from anything I’ve ever seen before. America is seriously missing out on cobblestone streets, castles, humungo churches, and colorful buildings. William Lane Craig was the main speaker for the conference everything he had to say was incredibly interesting. I defiantly want to research apologetics some more and dig into different arguments for Christianity and for God! We had some time during the conference to walk around old town Stockholm. Again, beautiful. I was amazed pretty much the whole time I was there.

The weekend after Stockholm another girl (Emily) and I went to Copenhagen for the weekend. Copenhagen is such a beautiful town, and there’s a ton of stuff happening all around, everywhere. We were able to go on a free tour, so that was fun. We also went to the national museum, and spent a lot of time just walking the streets of Copenhagen, taking in all that we could! There were some sketchy parts of the town, but once you got out of them it was great! I think I liked Stockholm better… it was cleaner and I liked the overall atmosphere better… but we still had a great time!
(I have way more to talk about this trip… ask me sometime, and I will tell)

Last night the school went down into the town of Holsbybrunn and had a bon fire. It’s a tradition in Sweden to burn a huge bon fire with the whole community. It started out as a tradition to ‘get rid of the witches’, but now they use it as a way to introduce the spring and summer. It was fun to see the whole community come down together, and there were FIREWORKS which was awesome! (I have pictures and videos of this little affair that I'll put up later!)  Also, this Friday we are taking a school canoe trip which shall be grand!

While doing all of these things, I have also been trying to keep up with the homework here. Granted, it’s not a lot… but I’ve been finding it hard to force myself to sit down and just do it. We are going through the whole New Testament, so I’ve been trying to keep up with my bible reading. We are also reading Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. This book is crazy and scary and very eye-opening. We also have 2 weekly memory verses, and written responses to the bible passages that we are reading. Yes, like I said before, it’s really not that much work, but when you are always around people it’s hard to find a place where you can really focus on what you’re reading or doing. I’m finding those ‘quiet’ places here at Holsby, and figuring out how to work my schedule so that I can fit in the fun fellowship time with the other students up here, while also finding ‘me’ time and my time with God. Sometimes it’s a struggle, but it’s defiantly a work in progress, and I know I’ll eventually get to that place where I have a good balance between the two. Until then, I’ll keep on spending late nights trying to catch up!