Norrland Newbie – ‘I’ve lost all my Swedish’

I would be lying if I said the last few weeks were anything other than stressful. Our final preparations in the US were filled with several hours-long phone calls with the airline and lots of emails to the USDA regarding pet travel documents, in addition to packing, repacking, weighing bags, vet appointments, selling my car (on the very last day), and saying goodbyes. It was a busy time! The pet arrangements proved to be the most difficult part of the preparation process, due to tighter restrictions that have come into place since the Covid-19 pandemic. This meant, among other things, we had to travel several hours to another state before we could even fly out of the US. 

Navigating the airports alone with my kids on such a big trip was overwhelming. There were so many complications. All I can say is, I’m just glad we made it. We arrived in Stockholm, and made our way from baggage claim with all our luggage and pets, finally to see my husband again! I can’t really describe the flurry of emotions I felt at that moment. I was so deeply glad and relieved to see him. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to have much of a moment together, as it was kind of drowned out by our barking dog, and trying to manage the four carts of big luggage and animal carriers, while heading to customs. Nevertheless, we were together again and that felt great! My boys had been absolutely amazing getting through all of the difficulties we had experienced! Our family was reunited!

We went to a hotel for the night and ate good food and had a good sleep. The next day, we decided to drive up together from Stockholm to our new home. We saw beautiful views of Sweden along the way. Boulder-strewn evergreen forests and so many big bodies of blue water! We come from landlocked Indiana. So, we are in awe of being in a place with so much water! An hour or so before we reached our new home, however, I started feeling ill. I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what was wrong, but I felt bad. I didn’t get the full house tour before I collapsed onto the sofa and remained there for most of the next 24 hours. For the next day or two I wasn’t up to much and my physical feelings affected my emotional state. I felt homesick. I thought of all the things we had given up and lost along the way to make this happen and I just felt sad. Then came Tuesday. I woke up feeling better physically. Emotionally, I was still disgruntled. I made breakfast, started cleaning, and called my mom and sister to share how I was feeling. I think that was what I needed, because soon after, I felt like myself again. We spent the rest of the day exploring our new yard and a bit of our neighbourhood. We found a forest with the prettiest babbling brook and a playground for the kids to enjoy. I felt my optimism return. Since then, I have just barely begun to chip away at making our new house into a home – a process that, I’m sure, will be ongoing for some time. We have met some lovely neighbours and made a few trips to downtown Skellefteå. The people seem very nice and welcoming. But I seem to have forgotten all the Swedish I worked so hard to learn. I guess learning the language and needing to recall and use it in real time are two different things. I will do better though. I find it surprising every evening, how bright it is outside! I can’t imagine what it will be like during the brightest days of summer. It’s hard to believe we’ve been in Sweden for a whole week already. I think it will take some time to fully settle in, but now the journey has really begun.