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Saturday – full of surprises

2015-09-13

Yesterday my day started with and Bridal Shower. The story behind this is that I met a lady namned Kim on the Shuttle to Macon (in Macon Professor Eric from the university picked me up to get to Milledgeville to the hotel 2 days ago). Kim told me that she came to Milledgeville because of here niece who had an upcoming wedding and now it was time for here Bridal Shower. When Kim told me about the Shower I told here about how the Swedes celebrate their brides before their wedding, which the Swedes know as embarrassing and maybe even painful. Kim was so surprised and wanted me to have a look at a nice Bridal Shower, the american way, so she invited med to her niece Samanthas Bridal Shower which was yesterday (Saturday). So I putted on the wonderful summer-dress my mum made ages ago and gave me as a present this summer. Then Beth, who lives with me, got me a ride to the Inn (Bed & Breakfast) which is not so far away from my new home, where the Bridal Shower was.

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Here you can see Samantha unwrapping a present. Kim told me that a Bridal Shower is for “showering the bride with gifts”. Samantha got a lot of things like plates, glasses and silver for the kitchen but also frames and some lingerie. The guests of the Bridal Shower where invited to eat some snacks and drink the typical Southern sweetened tea and lemonade. The ice-tea they serve here is always sweetened with a lot of sugar. And Sallie already told me when I still was at home in Sweden that if I’d like to not have sugar in my tea I have to say that, because it is always sugar in it.

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Here you can see Samantha in the middle and Kim on the right.

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After the Shower everyone even got a little gift: a little bottle of hand-sanitizer that smelled so good 😀 So girls: I want to have an American Bridal Shower when I get married 🙂

After the Shower I went downtown to have a look at the city of Milledgeville. The thing is that I live pretty close to the city and I feel that I can walk to most of the places. People over here tend to take their cars everywhere and their are great distances between the most places, but as you could see on the picture, I was wearing my running-shoes, just so I could walk comfortable.

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This is how the crossing looks like. People who drive are really precautions about people who walk over the street (even though the red light is on and their not supposed to walk), probably because if you would run over a person by car you would end up in jail or at least court.

As I walked downtown I came to an antique store called Auntie Bells Antiques. The name Auntie Bell comes from the style which is usual in Milledgeville: Antebellum or Ante-bellum. Antebellum refers to the period before the civil war in the united States. Their is a background of slavery involved, but as I don’t know much about that yet I might come tell you more about that later.

However, I went to that antique shop where my heart skipped a beat – their where so many nice things and even a lot of horse-relates things. So I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time I was inside, though it was hot, because it is so humid here.

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In one of the shops I found this picture, which I find is so beautiful! Ok, I don’t think people should ride naked on their horses, but this picture shows you an Indian man riding a horse with nearly “no strings attached” and this is what I wish to accomplish with my horse Lovely one day – a communication build on trust and small, nearly transparent aids.

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After walking to two different antique-shops I walked home again. And here’s a picture of the house that I live in. In the front you can see my 3 roommates cars, everyone has one of their own.

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After talking with one of my roommates for a while I decided to go swim in a river that is nearby. This river has a strong stream so I didn’t swim far from the land, but it was just enough to cool down a little.

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After my swim I thought I try to find a shortcut home, looking at my google-maps that had been downloaded with help of the Wifi at home. But the map did not apply to the path I found. Every time I tried to find the road on the map I found the following sign:

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“Private property behind fence NO trespassing violators prosecuted” does the sign say. So imagine I got a little scared… I was lost. The good thing when you get lost is that you find a lot of new things on the way. While when you know where to go, you might not find all the wonderful things I could find.

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Peacan-nuts, which Sallie told me are about mature now, a nice tree…

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The river and the red soil, tiny little white mushrooms…

So even though I walked for a long while and got lost, I could hear birds sing, crickets play and the river flow. I did even see a little red bird, maybe a summer tanager.

Well, have a great day/night. I am going to met one of the former exchange students from Georgia today for “fika” who has visited Linneausuniversity and Växjö last semester.

On my way to the United States of America

2015-09-01

I am about to start a big journey, I am going to participate in an Exchange with Georgia College State University (GCSU). Due to the fact that English is the main language spoken in the USA I am going to write my posts in English.

As you may know a journey never starts when traveling to your destination. The journey starts earlier when you plan all the practical things and, of course, in your head.

The journey to Georgia and GCSU is going to be the biggest and longest journey of my Life. I am really looking forwards to it and despite all the work I already have putted into it, I am happy to travel in just less then 2 weeks: sept 10 this year.

Georgia is a State in the South-East of the US. The climate is warmer then in Sweden and the summer this year was hot. The temperatures I will expect during my visit are the ones we have had in Sweden this summer: between 24-28´C.

The capital of Georgia is Atlanta, which has the largest aquarium in the World. GCSU is situated in Milledgeville, which is app. 2 hours cardrive from Atlanta. I am going to live in Milledgeville for 5 weeks, a town with app. 19 300 inhabitants.

 

Here is a list of preparation I had to do before my clinical rotation i Georgia:

– apply at the university for an exchange through my university (Linneas university) and GCSU

– apply for an exchange at GCSU

– send a lot of documents to GCSU

– apply for a VISA (J-1) at the embassy in Sweden (or Denmark, but I choosed Stockholm in Sweden; that’s a VISA that is used for exchange students like me. Would I only visit as a turist I wouldn’t need that kind of a VISA) -> go through all the paperwork and questions on the internet, pay your fee, book an appointment at the embassy, visit the embassy, leave your passport and wait fot it to come back in the mail with your VISA (if they approve…)

– get an ESTA (so you are allowed to get into the US)

– apply for a scholarship from through my university

– apply for an extra student-loan

– get all the paperwork sorted

– get even more papers for the clinical rotation

– find a housing in Milledgeville

– book a hotel room in Milly (that’s how people living in Milledgeville call there town)

– continue the contact between GCSU and me for all details

– book a flight to Georgia

– have a plan for Lovely, my horse-friend and Illy, our bunny-friend

– buy a converter for the electric plug

– buy cloth and shoes that are comfortable to travel with and for a warmer climate than here in Sweden

– fill a lot of small bottles with my personal lotions and shampoos for traveling

– buy a travel-pillow, -mask and earplugs

– pack my riding pants and shoes (in case of any fantastic horse-adventures)

– buy a lot of chocolate for all the nurses I am going to meet

– buy a pair of kakis (brown-greenish pants) which they wear as a school uniform

– buy a book “English for healthcare-personell” and read it… and do the exercises in it too…

– talk to all teachers so my clinical training in the US is going to get accepted as a clinical rotation in Sweden for my nursing-exam

 

 

Yes… that’s about all I can remember for now… A lookout of stuff to do in less words…

I do now plan to starting to pack my bags, just so I remember everything I need to carry with me…

Love

Madeleine

 

Ps: Fun fact of this blog-entry: Georgia is the home-land of Coca Cola.

 

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