goodbye 2008

dear shannon and elena-

Swedes dont celebrate Boxing Day as far as I know. I've only watched the Dark Knight once ever, and that was only because of Heath Ledger. This break has been fun, and my parents mailed me a U of M sweatshirt from your family shan!!! thanks a bunch for that...its pretty cold hear. I've also been ice skating on skates that have a really long blade...you strap into them like in cross country skiing. but anyways, these skates make you go extra fast, so we have been skating on rivers that connect to lakes and more lakes, its quite the adventure!

We dont have any snow yet. We have frost on the ground though. So, today is new years eve and i will be going to one of my friends house. im in charge of bringing dessert, so i am of course, making chocolate chip cookies. I think we are going into town later on too. its going to be busy!

oh, that reminds me, i love the chronicles of narnia too...im not sure which is my favorite but i really like 'the horse and his boy.' i havent read normal books in ages, so when my parents sent me the book 'twiligt' i read it in a day. it was like 400 pages haha. i have out grown swedish kid books (arnt you pround?) and i am reading comic books now. It is crazy how much more i have to concentrate on reading swedish, not to mention my limited vocabulary. but anyways, in about a month i am hoping to enjoy some of my christmas presents, i got 2 swedish books (one is a poem book) and also the movie 'Arn', which is about sweden in the middle ages. this is also in swedish. i have been bad this break and i havent been studying like i should...but i guess my mind needed a temporary break.

I have been working 0ut a lot lately. My first indoor track competition is comming up (January 10 and 11, called the Scandic Indoor Games) and i am pretty nervious. Its not the same training indoors and im not used to longer distances it feels like....i dont know. but i have been running 3 times a week and also weight lifting and climbing and stuff so i really hope it helps.

Well, thats all for now! Hope you have a great holiday! i miss you guys

The Dark Knight and other stories

Hi Nikole,

Just saw Elena yesterday so this post can be for you (sorry El :(   We watched The Dark Knight last night with Jackie and Abby at ma maison.  Caitlin watched it last night too, at Sam's, and we are going to watch it again tonight. Hip-hip hooray! We're working on reading all of the Chronicles of Narnia over break, and are in the beginning of The Lion, The Witch, etc. as of now.  I love them, they are so excellent; they remind me of crisp crackers at Christmas.

I'm glad  you had a good Christmas, Nikole, and that you have a long break. Leezanne goes back the 12th too, I go back the 19th-ish.  Everything's pretty good here, just relaxing.  Question: do Swedes celebrate "Boxing Day," or is that just an English thing?

Talk to you soon, Shannon

GOD JUL

so, merry christmas and happy new year! i miss you guys a ton. right now, its is the day before christmas eve, but they celebrate christmas on christmas eve so its like christmas eve lol, have i confused you yet? we decorated the tree this morning, and the house is oh so cozy. i made moose and pig gingerbread cookies too lol. so, hope you guys liked the cards i sent ya of me and my swede family. im off school now for the next three weeks, i guess i start on january 12th--just in time to be in school on my bday wahooo. anyways, i dont have much to add at the moment....im gunna go eat now but i will write more later! xoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxo nikole

god jul--merry christmas
snow--snö
candle--ljus
christmas tree--julgran
santa--tomten
donald duck--calle anka

Here and going soon.

Hello, hello. I'm just about to go to sleep, so I'll keep this a little short. We now have A TON of snow, and it is vundava. Glad your finals went well Elena. And nikoles, I think its bioilluminescence, like what we saw in florida? The glowing proteins from certain bacteria can actually be injected into other bacteria, then petri-dished to grow, then injected into (you wont like this) mice and things for experiments, and the mice glow and they can get results from the glow. Anyway, I think its the same thing. If not, never mind; sorry about the mice. Finals are this week. Not too bad because I had a couple last week, I have some papers to finish this weekend, but just studying if I can get that done. Going to chicago on the train thursday, 10pm, overnight. my dad's going to pick me up because he'll be down there dropping Lottie and Drew off to fly back to Mississippi for the holidays. That's about it for now. Hope to see you at home El. Sending things your way soon Nikole; for now, just love. xxoo shannon

Hi!

Hi Nikoleson, I'm here but just got finished with finals!  Sorry I haven't been writing lately, but I've been writing papers instead. :( Yuck.  But I'm home now, I've been lazy for a few days.  I went in to pick up my sister and saw Mrs. Caldwell and Mrs. Watts and Mrs. Walter.  Did you know that Mrs. Walter is a bumper sticker on facebook?  Yeah... I think Darren Hart put it up....  

The Nobel Prize sounds so cool!  Did you have to get tickets or something, or was it open to the public?  And I'm glad you got to eat in a dungeon... I think...?  and glowing proteins?  what?  I should look that up, sounds like it could have some interesting uses.  Who did you go with?  Friends or family?

So how was everybody's finals?  Did you have any, Koleson?  And Shan, do you still have to take them, or are you done?  Mine weren't awful, but I needed the internet for most of them, and it was overwhelmed or something-- kept cutting out every five minutes or so.  And the art exhibit for my African class went over really well.  They had people playing the thumb piano and singing and everything.  And people really liked the Death Barbie.  Did I tell you guys about her?  She was my art project for the show.  She is terrifying.  It's a barbie covered in magazine shreddings and stuck full of nails and tacks, and is very pink.  And now they want to put her in a university-wide thingy.  People have weird taste in art, that's all I'm gonna say.

I miss you guys, I'll be able to write more now that I'm on break.

Love you both

is anybody out there?

shannon? elena?

NOBEL PRIzE LECTURES

hey guys!! so today was amazing! i got to attend the nobel prize lectures on chemistry and economy and they were sooo good. some parts were hard to understand, but all in all they were super interesting. the economy speech was about how trade is going through a transition now and how it is affecting the economies around the world. and the chemistry ones were on glowing protiens. u should check it out on the website, i can send some stuff in the box too. then after that, we went to the grand hotel...just to check out where the nobel prize dinners used to be held and just cuz its so beautiful. their were some rooms that were almost entirely gold! i even saw the old swedish ambassador to the united states...i guess a lot of famous ppl stay at the grand hotel. then we ate dinner in what used to be a dungeon. cool, and a little creepy. but whatev. i miss you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!xoxooxoxoox