Happy to be Together.

(photo credit: Jen Fox)

There is an air of relaxation within the group now that we are back together in Jönköping. Though our class schedule is more structured and our discussions are somewhat intense, I at least, feel calm and happy being here. As Anthony mentioned, the view from the hill down into the city is incredible. At night as we walk to the sauna, we look down and see the city lit up so brilliantly. And I thought the view from complex down the valley into St. Peter was incredible!

Last week when I was on Spring Break in London, I found myself thinking about how excited I was just to get back to the group and hear everyone's stories of their breaks. (though London was of course wonderful) And indeed, on Sunday night when we all returned, tired and in some cases completely exhausted from our travels of coming back to Sweden, we could all be found in one room laughing, sharing our adventures, and so happy to once again be able to completely unpack our suitcases for several weeks. I have never before appreciated the luxury of closets with 4 shelves and 3 hangers so much.

I have been thinking about my favorite parts of the trip. I love big cities and when I talked about this trip before leaving, probably the first thing I would say was how excited I was to be in Uppsala and Stockholm and in the hustle and bustle of a city. However, though I did quite enjoy that portion of the trip, my favorite parts have been in the smaller cities where we are given the change to interact and connect on a deeper level than one gets a chance to do in only ten days. (We are also much preferring the cost of living in Jönköping compared to Stockholm...)

I think the chilling reality that we only have a month left has started to set in a little. Now when we are all sitting together laughing and talking about every subject imaginable, I find myself wondering how many more times this will happen. 33 days is such a short amount of time. Mostly I don't want to think about it, but I don't think there is any way around it. Already we are saying things like, "well when I'm stressed beyond belief next fall, I'm just going to come over for fika" to each other. Many of us didn't even know who everyone on the trip was before leaving. I remember looking up the email alias up on Gribly and realizing that I knew who maybe 4 of these people were. And now here we are. A family.

But, enough for sentiment. We do after all have 33 whole days left to explore, learn, and be together.