Hejsan,

Things haven't settled down yet at Fladan, and I don't think they will for a couple more weeks. Next week, over 1300 Sea Scouts are coming to spend a week at Vassaro. And trying to fit that number of kids over that small amount of time means nonstop morning, afternoon, and evening sessions, and supposed (I hope they're only rumors) dawn and midnight sessions as well.

The past two days have involved taking care of large groups. Monday was sailing all day with 50 scouts part of a "Spy Kids" themed camp. It turns out the whole theme didn't really work, because no one ended up dressing up, and the surprise that happened for the kids was a big boat driving around pretending to be a party boat, but no of them understood it. It was kind of awkward. Monday night involved us cleaning the outside of the Fladan house so that it could be repainted again. It's a big project, not to mention the house was built before the U.S. became independent.

Today again involved taking groups out. The "spy kids" took out canoes, boats, and optimists all day. The afternoon was dominated by taking care of a group of about 20 Belgian girl scouts in optimists, who of course could not speak English and had never sailed before . Since the wind was blowing out of Fladan as it usually does, it was only a matter of time before all of them had drifted out into open water and onto shore. So the rest of the afternoon involved taking out all the motorboats and towing everyone back to Fladan. It was kind of ironic because I was teaching someone new in the morning today about how to use a motorboat and how to help swamped canoes and boats and how to tow stuck boats. I think he got a lot of practice in...

Tonight, we continued painting the house and started oiling all the wood on the docks. Again, something that is a pretty big project and will take up a lot of time. Its a different experience this time, being a lot more busy and not having an evening off yet. Its definitely more tiring, but a lot more rewarding.

Tomorrow should be more of the same, I'll try to put up some pictures soon. I forgot how much light there is at night. It's incredible, there's almost no need for a flashlight unless you go into the woods. But, I guess in the winter, its the opposite, and everyone gets pretty depressed. To be a Swede...

-Lukas

Round 2

Hey Everyone,

I'm back for another summer at Vassaro, but it feels like I never left. The year has gone by so fast that nothing here seems out of place or surprisingly new. It's still beautiful here, but I didn't get that feeling of awe like I did last year. That's not to say I'm not excited, because that is definitely not the case. What makes Vassaro truly special is not just the location, but the people that choose to volunteer their time for 4 weeks (or in many cases more) out of the year to come to this place.

I'm glad to be back, it feels like a second home. Getting here was a litte interesting, though. Before I left, I was with my girlfriend Anna (who I met last year at Vassaro and is Swedish of course) who visited me and came with me to my family reunion. We got to my local airport, only to find out our flight was delayed indefinitely because of thunderstorms in Newark. To make things worse, all flights the next day to anywhere from my airport were full, so we were stuck with our flight. After waiting for around 4 hours, we missed our connecting flight to Stockholm. However, the airline showed us that two more flights left to Oslo and Munich about 3 hours later and that there was a "very likely" chance that we could make one of those flights.

Wrong. Instead we waited for about another hour and a half and got on the plane. With the flight time being about 45 minutes we thought we could make it with little time to spare. But instead, we sat in the airplane on the tarmac for another hour and as a result we missed the other two flights. When we finally landed, the weather was miraculously clear and all the flights were on time. It seems Newark was trying to catch up on its schedule and decided to ignore the flights from smaller airports no matter how long the delay was. Thanks.

Fortunately, we talked to someone at the ticket counter who got us seats on the same exact flight to Stockholm. Same time, just one day later. With some help (Thanks Mom and Dad), we spent the night and good part of the day at a hotel. We got on the flight next day and landed in Stockholm on time. A few days later, after spending some time at her summer house, we met up with the rest of the staff members and took the bus & boat to Vassaro.

I will admit I was suprised how fast things are getting started. I'm working at Fladan (the waterfront again), and today we spent the afternoon and evening fixing things on this giant list of things-to-do. Tomorrow, we spend all day with 50 scouts taking them sailing around the islands. The camp has a secret agent theme, and tomorrow, all of us instructors are going to be dressing up and acting as agents. This should be pretty interesting, and I think there will be some good pictures here soon.

I'm still jet-lagged, but right now, life is pretty good and I can't complain.

-Lukas

Home Sweet Home?

Hey all,

Here I am, finally back in the U.S.A. After almost 7 weeks of Sweden, to say I am exhausted is a complete understatement. This is my third day back, and the past 2 days I have averaged about 16 hours of sleep. I think the only reason I woke up was because I was hungry.

I am glad to be home, but it feels a little weird being home. I guess I had finally gotten used to not understanding most conversations and not having to flush after using the toilet. But, I am also very sad to have left Sweden. I have so many memories, friendships, and experiences from there. Vassaro was a unique experience that I will never find in the States, and Stockholm was one of the most beautiful cities I've seen. If I am not able to return next year, I will be severely disappointed.

Now, I have a few more days until I leave for my sophomore year of college on Wednesday. I have a lot of things of do to get ready, but constantly being tired is kind of getting in the way. I would like to thank you all for reading my blog, and I hope you got a good insight into the Swedish culture and lifestyle. Maybe if I go back next year, I'll start this up again. Until next time?

-Lukas

Stockholm

Hey,

I'm writing to you all from Stockholm. My time at Vassaro has finally come to an end. The Mystery camp ended on Saturday, and we spent the last two days cleaning all the staff cabins and moving the big boats out of the water into the boathouse for winter storage. It was a lot of work, and we were busy all the way up to when the ferry left at 1:30 on Sunday. On Saturday night, they had this really nice dinner for all the staff. It was like the Konfirmand dinner, with good food and great people.

It was weird to step off the bus and back into civilization. I found a place to stay with a friend, Anna, so I didn't have to spend any money on a hostel. She left a day early because she had to start her freshman year at the Royal Institute of Technology. The bus dropped me off right at the school, so she met me there and took me to her orientation dinner. It reminded me so much of Pitt orientation, with a bunch of people who don't know each other talking and eating and awkwardly standing around. I guess they thought I was a student, even though I had my U.S. Army canvas bag with me, so I ended up getting a free (and delicious) dinner.

On Monday, I spent my day doing all the tourist things. I started off at the Nobel Museum, which displays the history of the Nobel prize and the recipients. I thought it would have a lot of cool stuff, like lab equipment used by the winners of the chemistry and medicine awards. It was actually really lame, and it was basically 2 showing somewhat irrelevant and confusing short films and one hallway with some information about a few winners. There was also a really large exhibit about the freedom of expression. It was really strange, and I kind of expected a lot more. I wouldn't recommend it. The 0nly thing I liked was that they had the original penicillin mold that proved penicillin as an antibiotic. I spent the rest of the day visiting the Stockholm Cathedral, which was built in the 1200's. It's an amazing building and has been kept in fantastic condition. The Royal family even goes there every now and then for a Lutheran (boo) service. I also ran into the other 2 Americans while at the subway, which was neat. We hung out for a few hours and wandered into a rave store where I tried on some pretty fashionable clothing. For dinner, I met a few Vassaro people at McDonald's for a good meal. It was the cleanest McDonald's I've ever seen. Everything was also in really small portions, and they had hamburgers with extra vegetables. Plus, each food container had *all* the nutrition facts on it, something you would never, ever find in America. After dinner, we walked around for Stockholm, and then I waited for Anna finish her school activities. She said it was supposed to around 9, but it was 11:30 before she finally appeared. Girls...

On Tuesday, I continued more of my American tourist activites. I went to the Moderna Museet, which is Stocholm's modern art museum. Being a fan of art, I thought it was really cool, and it was a great collection including works by Warhol, Pollock, and Picasso. I really enjoyed it, and it is something that I highly recommend. After lunch at Max (which is like the Swedish McDonald's), I went to the Nationalmuseum, which is a collection of more historical and classical paintings. It had works by a bunch of Swedish artists and works by Degas, Monet, Renoir, Reubens, and Rembrandt. I didn't like it quite as much, because after a while, all the portraits of people start to look exactly the same. I then met Anna for dinner, and we had some pretty good pizza. Tomorrow, I'll complete my tour of Stockholm, and hopefully visit all the places I have marked off on my map.

Some final thoughts about Vassaro: It was probably tied with the World Scout Jamboree as my best scouting experience, if not better. It was so different from a regular Boy Scout camp, but I think that's what made it so great. The lack of strict regulations and people giving orders really made a huge difference. If you are a scout and reading this, I highly recommend it. The whole program is called the European Scout Voluntary Programme, and you can apply to camps all across Europe. It is not expensive either since the Boy Scouts covers half of all travel costs. It is an incredible way to spend 6 weeks.

I hope you all have enjoyed reading my blog. The next (and probably last) time I'll post will when I'm back home in the states. Until then...

-Lukas

One Week :(

Hey all,

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been really busy with Mysteriet and tonight I finally had enough energy to do something besides sit in the dining hall and eat.

Anyways, I survived the Konfirmation weekend. After staying up late on Friday night to prepare the dining hall to perfection, I was assigned to be a server for the dinner on Saturday. There were about 30 of us servers, and we were all dressed in white Vassaro t-shirts and dark pants. We walked into the dining hall in rounds, and we each were responsible for one table of around 12 people. If anyone at your table had any special food requests, you had to remember to bring them their food after you brought out the food for everyone else. It was kind of stressful, as I really didn't want to drop any food or mess up in front of 400 people. But it was really fun and at the end we brought out dessert singing the Vassaro 'theme' song, followed by a song that sort of taunted the Konfirmands that they're never going to be Konfirmands again and that they'll probably not see everyone again. All in all, it was a great 4 weeks with the Konfirmands. It was really neat to watch them become better and better sailors as the days went by. I have to admit it was difficult to say goodbye to them.

The mystery camp started on Sunday, and now the island is flooded with scouts. Where there were once meadows, there are now hundreds of tents. Work at Fladan is the same, but there is a lot more of it. The evenings are now always booked, and I'm so tired. All the time. I think its called the mystery camp because there is a mystery that all the scouts are supposed to solve. This time, it's to find this missing woman taken by the mafia, and the setting is the 1930's. There was this opening ceremony thing, but I didn't understand a word of it.

I can't believe I only have a week left before I return to the U.S. and A. I am looking forward to visiting Stockholm, and hanging out with people away from Vassaro. I really hope I can come back next summer.

-Lukas

Beginning of the end

Dear Diary,

These past few days have been ridiculously busy and I only think it will get worse. Monday was the weekly staff meeting. However, we (the international staff) were assigned to run it. We decided to make 4 stations for 4 countries (USA, Czech Republic, Austria, England) and have some games and food at each station. At the American station, we had a scavenger hunt along with some freaking good chocolate chip cookies we made. There were a lot left over, so needless to say, we went to town on them. The meeting went really well, and I think all the staff enjoyed their international night of fun.

On Wednesday, we did some secret Konfirmand stuff I'm not really allowed to talk about. It resulted in me going to bed around 3 a.m. I will say this: it was an incredible experience, and I really wish I could have been confirmed here at Vassaro. Not to be too sentimental, but I think it will be a night the Konfirmands won't ever forget. Anyways...

As for work, I've just been sailing and doing the usual stuff. Groups and staff are starting to move in for the 'Mystery' camp, so more and more people are starting to come to Fladan each day. I think with Konfirmation on Saturday, and the district camp all of next week, this may be my last evening off.

In other news, I found out that I might just be able to come back to Vassaro next summer. I originally thought that it would interfere with the work hours I need towards my pharmacy license, but I think I could do it without necessarily working next summer. I just have to find out now how to reapply to become a staff member again.

I can't believe I only have two weeks left in Sweden. And, to top it off, I'll only have 5 days home until I leave for college. This was a fast summer....

Lukas

Lukas

Business as Usual

Dear Diary,

Things have managed to stay pretty calm for the past few days. On Friday, I spent the morning sailing and the afternoon painting oars for the Lotsens. The Konfirmands left for their sailing trip and returned Saturday morning. It's funny how much different rules are here than at a typical Boy Scout camp. There is no way that they would let a group of 15 year old coeds go sailing and camping by themselves...

I watched the movie Wanted the other day with a bunch of other Swedish and international stuff. I thought it was a pretty good movie, but everyone else hated it. I guess no one appreciates the classic American filmmaking themes of excessive violence, cars, and women.

On Saturday, I spent all day painting and rigging up an extension to the flag pole at Fladan. It was pretty boring, and I couldn't finish it because we didn't have the right parts. Saturday night was the weekly Disco, which of course was held at the chapel. It was pretty great watching Konfirmands dance on an altar underneath a disco ball that replaced the crucifix. Irony at its best. It was a good time, but I feel like I should go to confession or something....

Today was pretty easy. I went sailing all day with other staff members. Sailing is much more fun to go with people who understand your language and know how to sail.

Another staff change happened today, as I had to say goodbye to friends who I probably won't see again. Life can be weird sometimes. Until next time...

Love,

Lukas