District Conference

Hello everyone! Once again i appologize for the infrequency of my blog updates, but sometimes i forget that i have a blog that needs to be updated. so sorry for that. Well in a couple of days i will have been here in Sweden for three months. It seems like i have been here for a long time in that i have learned and expirienced so much already, yet at the same time, it feels like the time is going by very quickly. So although its great that i have learned a lot, i have realized that my time here is shrinking and that i really need to enjoy it as much as i can.
Well, so far Sweden is still going great! I have been keeping busy pretty much everyday with my friends, school, families, and activities such as guitar and choir. The unfortunate thing is the weather here is only getting colder. Temperatures have frequently gotten to freezing or below, and a couple days ago, we actually had some snow. Now, the snow may sound like a bad thing, but it is a blessing compared to the freezing cold rain that frequently occurs with gusting winds. Even with layers of clothing and a jacket, i am still freezing when i bike to school in the morning. But besides the freezing weather and the occasional cold, things are still going fairly well. I can kind of tell that i am starting to miss home more and more, but so far it isnt beyond what i was expecting.
Although nothing very monumental has occured recently, a while back, the other exchange students in my district and i went to the Rotary district conference in the city of Varberg, which was quite fun. The conference was on a saturday, and was for all of the Rotary clubs in our district, and it involved a series of presentations for all of the Rotarians, one of which was our exchange student presentation. Then saturday night, there was a fancy dinner with all of the rotarians that attended the conference. So, the 22 of us exchange students got together early wednesday morning and took a 50 minute train ride south down the western coast to Varberg. While in Varberg, we stayed on the grounds of an old castle fortress. The building that we stayed in used to be the jail, so each student had their own cell with a small bed, desk, and lamp. The building was modeled after an american jail in that there were two open floors with the rooms situated around outside of the big open room in the middle where our table was. After getting settled, we had the rest of wednesday to plan out our presentation, which was the only reason we were at the conference. So we took about an hour to get a loose plan put together, and then spent the rest of the time exploring the castle and the town of Varberg. The next day (thursday), once again, our only task was to work on our 20-30 minute presentation, and we would be going to a local art school to get some help from one of the teachers there. So after some breakfast and some frisbee, we headed off to the school. We were there for about an hour or so rehearsing a dance to "Mamma Mia" and singing the Swedish national anthem. In the end, we only used the Swedish national anthem in our presentation, so it was a lot of time just to use that one thing. Then that night we went out for dinner, and stayed up to about 1 or so talking. The next day, we were once again supposed to rehearse our presentation, which only took about an hour or so, and then we had the rest of the day to ourselves yet again. That evening we went bowling with a couple of the former exchange students in the Varberg area, and then went back to one of their houses for a little party. We listened to some music, played some games, ate some ice cream, all in all a fun night. The next day was the day of the conference. We woke up, ate breakfast, and then headed off to the conference. Once their we watched a short presentation (i forgot what it was about, probably because it was all in swedish), and then went to rehearse our final presentation. After a very nice lunch, we had our performance. It consisted of introducing ourselves and where we came from, all of us singing the swedish national anthem (which is a very beautiful song), and some individual singing, piano, and karate performances which were all really well done. Then we went back to our cells, and got ready for the fancy dinner. Once their we sat at our own table, had some really tasty food, talked a lot, and eventually did a little swing dancing which was fun. So after a really fun night there, we went back to the jail and ended staying up and talking until 3 or so in the morning. The next day, we packed up and headed home at about 11 via the train. In the end, we really didnt have to be there for four whole days in order to practice a 20-30 minute presentation, but i am glad that we did because it was a lot of fun just to hang out and be with all of the exchange students again.
Well i am off to bed, but hopefully, i will be wise enough to update this again soon. As far as upcoming plans go, the biggest is that i will be going to Copenhagen with my host mom and her coworker on Nov 4 and 5 which will be great! Until then, i hope everyone is doing well and i hope to blog again soon! See ya!
-Gage