what's going on?

busy busy busy, I even wrote a to-do-list, which is almost done now. merel is back in town! oh happy day! me and Liz picked her up at the airport (feels like I've been spending my whole year at an airport) and since then it's been a parade of sillyness. mockin' peter, talkin to the police man, playing fetch and so on. me and merel had ice cream and update at coldstone and it's awesome having her here again.

other than that, I found a car! maybe cause I'm the shit :) and I'm constantly pushing away my freak out that's waiting around the corner. this is over in less than two weeks and I'm dying a little each time I realize it. I'm counting down to NY like crazy, and everyone knows it cause that's the only thing I'm talking about.

my classes are boring, the weather's good, I'm wicked tired all the time and it's 72 hours to go!!

U.S army and movies

aaah, probably the best, most perfect summer-day ever. everything's been on a roll, where it seems like everything turns out just as it should. it's been sunshine, afternoon run, dinner at longhorn steakhouse, the dark knight and a night walk around the castle islands.

today I got up at 7.30 to follow my friend harry to the army recruiters. they had an activity day at the military base (which is like a small community) and it was really interesting. they did a PT test (I watched), we stood in formation and shouted to the sergeants, we had pizza and short classes, we climbed a wall (since I'm doing stuff I usually wouldn't dare to), we learned how to march and me and harry took cool army-pictures with our army t-shirts.

yesterday after classes, running and being incrediable silly with Liz I met up with merelin and her two friends. we went to see mamma mia, and mamma mia!, it was so amazing. at the end it exploded confetti in all of the theatre and everyone stood up clapping their hands and dancing. what a feeling.

tomorrow I'm gonna sleep and tan all daaaay!
chris brown - forever

todays..

weather: rain
ache: tooth and head
laughter: astrid
happiness: my salary! (and 1000 SEK more than I expected)
movie: a hard days night and cast away
food: bananas and icecream
occupation: http://www.isala.bilddagboken.se/
countdown: 187 hours to new york
song: ray lamontage - hold you in my arms
the shit: anton

wisdomtooth and thunderstorms

lately I've been busy busy busy. this week has been colder than before, the first days here were you actually don't feel like fainting whenever you step outside. it's been windy, cloudy and thunderstorms.

after classes on monday me, ebba and dave took the car to walden pond in the middle of nowhere. it looked a lot like sweden and we swam in the warm water. then after a lot of waiting we went flying! ebba was co-pilot and I was a happy passenger. it's was freakin amazing! we flew over forests and water to orange. the airplane had 4 seats, and it was so different from flying in a big airplane.
tuesday I had my usual sleep in, finished watching borat, had classes and talked to anton (9 days to go!) then I went to north end with the RA's. it was anna's birthday and we ate at piccola venezia. the food was delicious, by far the best I've ever eaten in america. afterwards we went to the tap room and later on to sissy k's. I loved every song and danced danced danced. finished the night with karaoke before I stumbled to bed at 3 am. at class today we anlayzed bob dylan, and I got an A on my presentation with the words "great job, exactly what I was looking for". yeay! tonight we had an EF field trip to hampton beach in new hampshire. buddy called it white trash but I loved it! hung out with michael, liza, kirsten and anna. huge pizza slices at sal's, walking on the beach, ice cream, skee ball and other silly games in the arcade (where we won weird things, like plastic mini monsters) and fried dough (which is exactly what it sounds like.) it was surprisingly good, and reminded me of cinnamon bunns.

I have a wisdoomtooth coming out, and it huuuurts. it's edgy so it scrathes my inside and I'm constantly biting my skin. how awesome! but cvs toothache pain relief cream numbs my whole mouth.
tomorrow swimming with astrid!

busy busy busy

god, my weekend has been fantastic, but so busy I nearly haven't had time to eat. friday started out with classes, and then we went to quincy market to film. we got stuck in front of a hilarious acrobatic show, before we started to film for the introduction video. we walked up and down and stood in circles talking and tried to look natural. wicked funny, but it was ridiciolously warm. after that I met up with dave, we took the car to chinatown (I got to drive!) for dinner. it was so cosy, summer in the air, and I had dumplings for the first time! that night me and G rapped crazy rap at a very lame school party. it stands for the love-hate relationship you have to this place.

saturday I went sailing for free. the weather was fantastic, and I finally got to be on a boat at charles river as I've seen everyone else be. alex drove me to see his house, which is a freakin mansion! high class american suburb for ya! at night I met up Liz in cambridge and we went to the club middle east where Fic (from white hen) and his band the force played. his energy was crazy, but they were good.

today I got up at 7.15 to take the wicked expensive ferry to provincetown, cape cod, with merelin. I've been dozin off all day long, we've been lying on the beach moving away from the tide and swimming in the wonderful water. we walked around provincetown which is a gay mekka and so cute. had gelato and took the ferry back where we read, ate pizza slices, saw a whale and studied phrasel verbs. now I'm gonna finish my optinal essay, nerdy as I am.

confusion and bubbles

yesterday I sank into the Ef bubble. even if you hate it sometimes, it's still there. cause it's home, it's easy and it's fun. when I went back in april I always knew I was coming back, so I never thought about that this actually has an end. the whole part of dealin with that I post poned. and now I realize that it's about to end, probably for forever. I have three weeks left, and then a dream I've had since I was 13 is over. I know I have more dreams, it's not that. it's just so surreal. it's so easy to see the beginning of things, and so hard to picture the end. and now I'm stuck here. who was I kidding thinking I could go here, and go back like nothing happened? today it has been feeling harder than ever to combine these two lives. like I actually have to choose. and I don't want to, so I'm sticking with my plans of not knowing after october.

boston or umeå?

ICA and cheesecake

it's a good life hanging out with will at porter's and smoken joe's. it's a good life to have one class, and be efficient and go for a run, do your laundry and prepare for the presentation in class tomorrow. it's also good to go to south of boston with merelin to the institue of contemporary art for free. really cool exhibition and then we went to the cheesecake factory. baught lemon raspberry cheesecake and ate by the fountain by the scinetologist church.

today two swedish guys came to school to film for the ef video. me and larissa sat in the heating sun and tried to look natural. tomorrow we're going downtown to shoot.

and, maybe the best thing, is to get textmessages that makes you smile like a kid on christmas eve.

song of the day;
john mayer - belief

380

today I got my room! after two weeks of living in my suitcase I finally unpacked all my things and put up my pictures and made it mine. it's on the 2nd floor, I share it with a japanese girl who has the best half of the room, but I have awesome windows.

we analyzed the influence between jimi hendrix and dylan in class today and on friday we're each gonna present an artist we think has hendrix as influence. maybe the best class the world has ever seen. catherine had a driving lesson with me today. from now on I can drive an automatic car in america, without killing someone, wicked!

I also got to talk to my love anna. highlight of my day, absolutely. porter bellys with will tonight!

www.isala.bilddagboken.se

days

yesterday I got to meet astrid again! she's my sunshine, and it's impossible to be blue around her. we went to the playground, had icecream, I followed them to astrid's doctors appoinment and she danced for me and played drums with kitchen supplies. they invited me for dinner, homecooked vegeterian food, far from ef, and astrid said her usual grace "I love you, I love you, I love you."

today I had sleep in, chocolate chip cookies for lunch (not entierly) and went out for a run. talked to my beloved family and had classes. talked to anton (400 hours to go!) and david. tonight I went to coldstone to get icecream. the russian guy worked and he gave me a huge cup (more like a bowl) with vanilla icecream with pecans and snickers for free. hello heaven! ate that in my bed togheter with spiderman 3. wicked. now sleepy time, cause I'm exhausted for some reason I don't know.

amy mcdonald - this is the life

axwell

everybody wanna know
why I’m walking round with a big smile on my face
hey I’m happy and it shows
hey I’m back and I’m part of a human race
cos you know I’ve been down so long
never thought I’d ever feel this way again
and everything was going wrong
til you found me and you make me believe again

the lobster crew

I've had a fantastic day. after window shopping on newbury and strawberries+spiderman yesterday, I met up with brad and the swedish intern anna. we drove to manchester by the sea. tanned on the beach, catched waves, threw seaweed at each other, walked the beach and it was so far away from boston. we had great icecream, america never stops impressing me with their flavors. bought picnic food and drove through essex and ipswich to newburyport, which are all cute little villages. we ate cherry tomatoes, bread, cheese and chicken at the grass by the harbor. talked about love, dating and cultural diffrences. now I'm back, 14 hours later, after a roadtrip home in the dark, more lobster than human and with salt and sand everywhere.

snow patrol - chasing cars
coldplay - fix you
the killers - exitlude

soon we'll be counting hours

if you smoke, I'll smoke too
that’s how much I'm in love with you
crazy is what crazy do
crazy in love, I'm a crazy fool

summernights

despite all the shit that went down last night, (again! what a lovely two night routine) headache and that I fell asleep in class, I've had a good day. lunch with ebba, analyzing jimi hendrix's little wing and vodoo chile and frappucino at starbucks with harry. a lazy afternoon which ended with me and svanhild buying ben&jerry's and eating it by the river at harvard. so cosy, and we marked the first letter of our name in the bench. tonight we had BBQ at school. jason was grillmaster and we listened to hiphop and sat on the grass and talked.

akon - dangerous

twisted logic

sometimes it feels like I've lost so much I can barely bear it. and sometimes it feels like I've won so much I can't bear that either, cause that means I can lose it.

21 and counting down.

complete

despite all the shit that went down last night, I've had an awesome day. sleeping on the grass, long walk to newton with girltalk with svanhild, frappucino and studying at starbucks and after dinner harvard square with svanhild and her friends. we walked around campus, took pictures and ate icecream from j.p licks (oreo cake batter, yummie!) and god it's so beautiful! came back and hung out in catherines lovely room and got that feeling of getting exactly what I'm looking for. I just know I won't regret this. and tonight we partied under the stars.

plus I have the best friends and the best family. thanks daddy, thanks mum, thanks sistah.

keys and rain

who needs sleep when we got love?

and whenever you lose something, you win something else. or discover that there are other people there to comfort you when you cry for the first time in months. dave walked me home and we danced in the rain and I have awesome friends. and I have someone I can call no matter what time it is, and that is the most valuable thing ever.

I had an great day though. I started taking a class called history through music. we're gonna study and analyze jimi hendrix, bob dylan, U2 and some hiphop artists. how awesome is that? the rest of the day I've been mostly lying on the grass with G and swanhild, eating chocolate dipped pretzels and talking. we went to porter's tonight, I learned dirty dutch and gino and dave played cryin shame and it was huge moments of happiness.

(it doesn't matter how we proceed with our nights, as long as we say goodnight with a smile.)

bitter and sweet

it's bittersweet being here. sweet cause it's still boston, still my home, still a lot of what I wanted. bitter because some things are so evidently not like before and when I realize what I missed it hurts. and it's hard to realize that you have to build up a new support system for only six weeks, when you thought you already had one.

my classes started today. my teacher's name is mark and he's so funny. he said that I had to leave the country since I hadn't watched star wars and that that was a true story about the american history. we have a 3 page essay due on friday and nerdy as I am, I just had to ask if we're getting vocabulary quizzes. it was a relief when he told us we are. I almost miss the cold in sweden cause it's constantly 30 degrees here, 24/7. I'm reading reading reading, been out running and today me and catherine went to coldstone creamery. a big cup with three different flavours of sorbet for only four dollars. heaven, I tell you! and me and larissa went to the new england aquarium in south of boston. watched the penguins, gave name to the fishes, saw ugly jellyfishes and huge turtles. we've been driving around boston and taking detours through the suburban america with the outfield your love on the highest volume. today I went downtown to stroll newbury street, went into sugar heaven for the first time and discovered that they sell by the pound-candy. expensive as hell, but still. sat on a bench in public garden and read. then I went home and looked for catherine, and we sat in the dark at the lawn and I just said everything that was on my mind and after that it felt a bit better.

it's only my first week, and I'm gonna turn it around. as always.
and porter's tomorrow, beach part on thursday and only 34 days till anton and leffe is here!

sunday

it's so great that I don't have to have the three weeks adjustment period. I can just continue with my life here. I've had a slow awesome sunday. woke up and had brunch. uploaded pictures and downloaded music. went out for a 30 minute run and 30 minute walk. it's so freakin' hot here, I thought I was gonna faint and had to run in at starbucks to spalsh water on my face. after that I sat outside and talked to G, called david and had dinner with larissa/zoey/mum. went to cvs and white hen to build up a food stash and finsihed my book on the grass. tonight I've been watching friends season 8. tomorrow the aquarium and tuesday my classes start. I'm psyched!

reunited

my brighton, my neigborhood, my green line, my cvs, my porter bellys, my school, my dorm, my cafeteria, my everything! I get to talk english again and jason checked me in just like last time. had tacos and the wonderful chocolate chip cookies for dinner and me and larissa had our update at porters. we cheered for being united again and agreed on that we two togheter are like oreos. then we took the car to target and best buy and tonight we met gino for a drink at porters and played darts. I ran into dave and everyone has been welcoming me back so sincerely. it's not before, a lot is different but it's not bad and sometimes it's like I never left.

oasis - all around the world
the outfield - your love

here here

lisa engström
ef international school of english
200 lake street
02135 brighton, MA

+1 857 869 1522

happy 4th!

I'm here! I'm back! I'm home! after 30 hours of travelling, which started out with a train ride through a beautiful summer sweden. I slept all the way between stockholm and zurich and dreamt about the sex and the city movie. it was all weird, and danni were suddenly on the plane talking to me. hung out five hours in zurich and the started and eight hour flight. eight! I missed iceland air. but I read read read and watched friends and definitely, maybe. when I could spot boston through the windows I thought I was gonna cry. the sky was pink and the air hot and it smelled america and it was so familiar. took a cab to the middle of nowhere (everett) and checked in at the historical prescott hostel. then I got yet another proof that the americans are so friendly, when I asked for directions to the bus. met tika, melissa, jason and tika's dad mark and they gave my by-the-pound-candy!! it turned out that we hung out all night and went down to charles river to see the fireworks togheter. they were spectacular, and lasted for like half an hour. then we were happy campers in the middle of the street and we got free popcorn and soda. walked around and took the T to central square, walked along mass ave and sat on a cement pile and played speed jungle (american version of nervous) and exchanged slang. they were so funny and nice, and invited me to new york for a birthday party in august.

god, it's so freakin awesome to be here! and I made it all by myself, all of it. no panic, no worries, no tears. just me and myself and my certainty when it comes to myself and my independence and trust. it's two o'clock in the morning here, and eight in sweden. I'm in one way exhausted, in another way high on adrenaline. I'm gonna get some sleep now, and tomorrow go to school and then see larissa.

bloodhound gang - foxtrot uniform charlie kilo

pocket full of sunshine

8 days of work in a row is finally over. it's crazy hot today, me and anton went to the lake and tanned on the sand. yesterday we ate ice cream on the pier while we waited for indiana jones, which was actually pretty entertaining, to start.

2 months of wait is finally finally over. I've packed my bags in some sort of chaos and the train leaves at 8.20 pm. in twenyfour hours I'll be on the other side of the world. with my heart somewhere in between.


lisa miskovsky - another shape of my heart

july

ah, sex and the city was so awesome! me and anton split ben&jerry's fossil fuel and broke like 6 spoons and I was in the lovely new york-bubble for two and a half hours. and I couldn't get out of it. we bicycled home through a quiet city in evening daylight and with bare legs.

yesterday kicki turned 21, and me and moa celebrated her and our 3 year anniversary on her balcony with tea, cigarettes and danish pastries. just like the good old days. and I spent all afternoon after work in bed with old school.

seven and a half hours left of work, and then I'm off for seven weeks.
indiana jones tonight!