Better and Better

I have been in Sweden for just over a month now and it seems like everyday here gets better and better. I have met some amazing people and been able to travel and see some incredible places! I had a friend come and visit from California for a couple weeks, and I had a blast showing him what European living is like. We walked around town and shopped, then walked around the lake to take pictures and it was absolutely gorgeous. I had a free weekend while he was here, so we took a 6 hour train ride to Copenhagen, Denmark for a couple days of vacaction. OH MY....what an amazing place Copenhagen is. The city is huge and sits right on the water, so there are little boats and canals that run all through the city. We were able to take a canal boat tour and it was so much fun to be on the water and see all the amazing architecture throughout the city. Our first night in town we decided to go to a little hippie town on the outskirts of the city. What an experience that was. It was a totally different world there with no laws or limitations. The next day we went to the castle around noon to watch the guard change. This is about an hour long ceremony that takes place every single day. When the ceremony was over we decided to stop at a little Danish cafe for lunch. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. The lunch ended up being a three course meal, with some very interesting food choices, most of which we tried but did not finish. Two hours later, we were happy to be out of there and enjoying the beautiful day. Even though it was a short trip, we got to do and see a lot of amazing things. Copenhagen is definitely a place I would love to go back to in the summer time.

So now on to the reason I am actually in Sweden, Volleyball. It was a little bit of a rough start when I first got here, with the transition from beach back to indoor, but I finally feel like I'm playing good volleyball again. Just like every other experience I've had, volleyball is getting better and better everyday. We recently got a new coach, which I was a little nervous about, but the team seems to be responding well to him. I'm very excited to see what these next 6 weeks have in store for us. It was hard enough to join a team in the middle of the season, and then to find out we were getting a new coach, I was a little skeptical but things are definitely looking up. We won our last match in 3 straight and we have our first two matches this week with the new coach. We are tied for 2nd place in the league right now so these nexts few weeks are critical for our team. Hopefully we can continue to play well and keep a good standing going into the playoffs, which start in mid-March. I am super excited for our match tomorrow because I have a friend from California that plays on the team. It is always fun to compete against other Americans when you're playing all over the world, especially when they are your friends.

I cannot believe how fast the time is going by. I am having so much fun and know that it will only continue to get better on and off the court. I am super excited to be sharing this amazing adventure with everyone and hope you all continue to enjoy the journey with me!!!