The Beginning! And some of the middle...

I apologize for my serious lack of posts. I will do better. Any who...

Hey all!

I have now been in Västerås for almost two months (Holy Cow!!) and I am settling in! Västerås is situated on a harbor of Malaren Lake and about an hour west of Stockholm. I can easily take a bus or a train to Stockholm, which I have done a few times to get to and from the airport and to visit the city. There are about 100,000 people that live in Vasteras and 14,000 students at Malardalen University, where I am attending! I have met so many people from all over the world through my program. I have learned about more countries that I hardly knew anything about like Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia, Switzerland and Poland just to name a few!

This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Stockholm to visit my friend from SLU, Gunnar, who was traveling north to visit some old friends. We had awesome weather (really any weather that isn't rainy in Stockholm in February is awesome, but this was really quite spectacular. I'm talking blue skies) and amazing company. We made dinner for his host sister, her boyfriend and their friend and talked and laughed for the full length of the meal. It was one of the best days I've had on this trip thus far.

Now I am back in Västerås and getting ready to go back to Stockholm tomorrow to see another one of my friends from home, Sarah! Sarah and Gunnar are both studying in Copenhagen, so it is fun to compare the two Scandinavian countries and our two experiences. I went to Copenhagen earlier in February to visit them and I LOVED it. It is such a beautiful city and I highly recommend traveling there if you are even only slightly considering it. There is so much to do and see, and we did a lot of it in four days (yes, my feet were sore). It was a great trip.

After this weekend, I'm planning on going to Umeå, which is in northern Sweden, to visit one of my old high school friends Louise! She studied abroad in high school and we were on the Speech and Debate team together. I just didn't there was any way that I could come all the way to Sweden and not see her :) There are some other trips in the works after that to go to Finland and Estonia, but I will attempt to keep the general populous updated (thanks for reading this, mom).

Some fun things that I've discovered about Sweden:

FIKA (pronounced fee-kah)- This is the greatest tradition of all. Swedes believe strongly in taking plenty of breaks, and eating good food in that time span (enter Keckeley). Traditionally coffee and a cinnamon bun are the treats of choice, but there are so many to choose from! There are these pastries that are balls of baked chocolate covered in sugar, called Chocolate Balls, imagine that. Also, the cakes! äppelkaka (apple cake), kladkaka (chocolate cake), and daim (toffee and whipped cream cake) are all cakes that taste incredible and are not what their names might suggest them to be (thank you Adam).

Apple is äpple and orange is apelsin, which was confusing for a while.

My personal favorite- I went to a traditional Swedish meal the other week where we prepared and later ate pea soup (it was amazing, I'm a convert), beet pie, and kladkaka. The school chaplains were hosting the dinner in a church and while we were sitting there someone walked in late and asked if there was room for a couple more. One of the female chaplains smiled and said (quite loudly) "Well sure! If there's room in the heart there's room for the ass!" And promptly smacked hers. It gave me quite the giggle. I later learned that this is a very popular idiom and said often, in which I will be partaking.

Oh well, I hope this sort of catches you all (mom) up on my life across the pond!

Into the Depths

I went swimming today.

That's not an unusual activity for my Maine vacations, but maybe in November it would raise a few eyebrows.

Nonetheless, I went swimming.

I went on a walk around the back of the house into our woods. Casually taking pictures, I found a spot on the ground and I sat.

It was silent.

There was no one else around, the wind had come to a halt and I couldn't hear the scrambling of squirrels or birds anywhere. It was silent.

At that moment, I felt comfortable. And not just the kind of comfortable where nothing is in pain, but truly at peace with myself.

And I dove.

I dove into my thoughts and desires.

I felt unstoppable- plunging into all of the possibilities of what could be. What my future could hold. What places I could travel to. What kind of person I could be.

How do I decide who I want to be?

I feel like I'm drowning in choices. Immediate choices of what to say right now in this moment. Extensive choices that will determine where I will be in a year. Trivial choices that mean nothing in the long scheme of things, but still seem critical now.

I will be helpful. I will be kind to strangers. I will be present in my family. I will be loyal to my friends. I will be grateful for what has been given to me.

Come up to breathe. Let the water flow. Believe.

Coming Home

Because I haven't been updating this as regularly as I should've, this post is going to revolve around my favorite memories from the time that I've spent abroad. How crazy is it that I'm sitting in the airport on my way home writing this? It seems like yesterday that I was sitting in Applebee's with MaKenna and our moms, saying that this semester would fly by and we'd be back home before we knew it. Well I guess they were right.

My list of memories begins with my wonderful roommate. Madi has been such a great girl to room with this semester. I'm sad we won't be together next semester, but the time we have spent together has been so memorable and fun and I'm really really grateful for that. I think that roommates share a special bond from living together, because more than once Madi and I would finish each others sentences, crack up at jokes that only the two of us understood and give each other advice about our various problems. She helped me through my rough patch at the beginning of the semester, as did the rest of the people in this program.

This picture reminds me of that more than anything. Right before this, I had just broken down in a pool of tears. We were going to go out on the town, but I was feeling kind of down and decided not to go. I went to my flat and started crying and everyone came in and was so supportive and helpful- mind you, I'd known them for about four days at this point. It was funny because after they'd finally convinced me to go out they all kind of joined together to help me get ready. I just sat on my bed while someone prepped my face and my hair and picked out my jewelry and my outfit and it turned out to be one of my favorite memories here! We had a great time that night and I can not thank those ladies enough for helping me.









My next collection of memories is going to be drawn from my time running around London. Running was such a great way for me to get out of my head and go spend some time by myself. I haven't been running a *ton* but I've still been exercising when I can, which has brought My London Mile Count to over 100 miles! Granted this was achieved through various forms of activity including running on the treadmill, hiking and rowing at the gym. But I'm pretty proud of that number.

 These pictures were taken at the top of Primrose Hill near Regents Park where I ran a lot. There aren't a lot of places in London where you can get a view like this that isn't at the top of a building. I loved to come here and look out across the city. By the end of the semester, we could all identify all of the iconic buildings in the city. The views like this really made me appreciate where I was and how incredible this city really is.

This is my last morning in London when Freya and I went to Primrose Hill for sunrise.














Of course I cannot let my time in France go unmentioned. This was perhaps my favorite thing that I did abroad and I would go back there in a HEARTBEAT! It was so beautiful and I made such an incredible friend that I will never forget :) Nicole and I created some wonderful memories together that these pictures do not come close to capturing. Hiking in two different countries and one incredible mountain range is definitely an exceptional time in my life!

My parents visited at the beginning of November and it was so much fun to have them there to see me! It was really great acting as the tour guide and being able to show them around!

 The first day they arrived we went to the Borough Market and trolled around and bought a lot of goodies. This particular market has really authentic good food from all around London. It was just nice to be with them and be able to tell them about everything that was happening. I really appreciated their advice with all of my problems. They're both such level headed people and seem to ALWAYS know what to do. If I could be half of the person that either of them are then I'd be happy. I would never have made it through this semester without either of them. They made me so much more confident in myself and have instilled excellent values in me my entire life. So I really need to give a huge shout out to them for being incredible people after whom I can model myself. I love you guys :)

Coming home is bittersweet. As I looked around my empty room this morning, I was sad to be leaving a place that I had grown to love so much, but also happy to be going home to a place that I love even more to see the people that I love. I don't know if I'm a different person than I used to be, but I definitely feel more confident in who I am. London helped me discover what is important in my life. Meeting these people and having these incredible experiences with them was a great way to spend my first semester of college and I do not regret anything. I don't know when I'll have the opportunity to live in a city like London again, if ever. If this was my one chance, I think I used it pretty well :) So here's to Madi, Quin, Freya, Annie, Molli, Emily and Kaden. Here's to Bedford Place and Gower Street. Here's to Big Ben and the London Eye. Here's to London.

Spending Time Above the Clouds

My trip has finally come to an end and I've returned home to London. It's a little strange calling this home, but it's also nice to feel like I belong somewhere. We have exactly two months left in London, so I'm going to live it up while I can! It's going by so fast! I know that the rest of it will just slip through my fingers if I'm not careful.

I'm so glad that I got to spend some time in Chamonix and in the mountains! It was so beautiful and reminded me of home so much. Nicole and I had such a good time getting to know each other and the other people on the trip. When better to learn about someone than while hiking? :) Each day we hiked about 7 miles or so and got AMAZING views. Because of all this hiking it boosted my mile count way up!! Now I'm at 85! I guess I can't really call it my "London" mile count anymore. Oh well :)

The best views were the second day at lunch when we were sitting on a balcony of a refuge. It felt like we were on the edge of the world and that I could just jump off and fly away. We also had a really good day on our break day when we took the gondola up to Aiguille du Midi, which is where a lot of hikers start to hike up to Mont Blanc or they'll hike down to Chamonix. Aiguille du Midi is at 12,600 feet, so we were basically at a point where there were no clouds above us at all. They were covering the valley completely as far as you could see. We felt like we were in an ocean, but also in space or Heaven. It was so crazy beautiful, the pictures don't do it justice at all. 

It was a really excellent vacation. EXACTLY what I needed. :) Chamonix remains as one of my favorite places in the world and I've already promised myself to go back someday. For now though, I'll spend some quality time in London. Only 20 days until my parents come!! I can't wait!

xoxo,

          Keckeley

  See what I mean? Sea of clouds.

Chamonix!

I am finally back to one of my favorite places I have ever been to!! CHAMONIX! It's so incredibly beautiful here and reminds me so much of home :) Several times on the hike I was brought back to Glacier National Park and felt very nostalgic.. Later tonight I proceeded to wear my Montana shirt. Just because.

The walk that we went on today was about 7.5 miles and we were at about 6000 ft elevation. The weather was cold if you weren't moving, but perfect for walking around. Also, it was cloudy, but because of that I didn't realize how tall the mountains around us were. At one point during the hike, they peaked out and you could see blue sky and part of the beautiful view! I got so excited and started jumping around and making excited girl noises. What can I say? I'm a sucker for some beautiful mountains. :) After we got back, Nicole (a junior at St. Lawrence and the girl who suggested this trip to me) and I got in the hot tub at the chalet we are staying at. And what do you know? Crazy gorgeous mountains popped out right in front of us! I love it here!

This was the best vacation I could ask for, and it's only been one day! I can not wait for the rest! The pictures don't even do the views close to justice, but they're still really pretty. Today we went to Aiguille de Bionnassay which has an incredible glacier that we couldn't see too clearly, but got glimpses of. The people here are great, the food is great, the housing is great.. It will be a week to remember :)

xoxo,

          Keckeley

This section of the hike in particular reminded me of Glacier soo much! I felt like I was just walking along Avalanche Creek and I thought about all of the time I've hiked that path and with so many great people. One time, my family and I hiked to Avalanche Lake in June and the second half of the trail was still entirely covered in snow. Of course we had no idea so we dressed in t shirts and shorts. Even if we did know there was snow, I'm sure we would have dressed the same. So many people were walking by and were amazed that we weren't cold! They kept asking us where they were from and said we were crazy! Two guys from Kentucky walked by and were wearing down jackets and cramp-ons! We laughed at ourselves and everyone we saw and how ridiculous the whole situation was. Then, like always, we'd drive through Hungry Horse and stop at the Huckleberry Patch and get some ice cream. We'd eat it on the way home, but Adam would always eat his the slowest. I'm pretty sure it was just so he could rub it in my face that he still had some and I didn't :) I love my family.

 

Moving Along

It's Wednesday! And you know what that means? That its the middle of the week which means that its close to the end of the week! Next week is our break and I don't think I've announced what I'm doing yet...

I'M GOING HIKING IN THE ALPS!

I'm so excited to get going on this trip! I know that it will be such a great stress reliever. I've gotten a lot of great supplies for it and I have to give a HUGE thank you to Freya and her parents who are bringing me some clothes when they come in a couple of days. You guys are the best!

This week is basically midterms, so there are a bunch of big projects due. It stresses me out so much when everything is due at the same time. But its just one week of my life and all I can say is "This too shall pass."

Other than that, things have been pretty relaxed around here, not a lot of exciting stuff going on. I'm still going to the gym when I have time and remember. My mile count is probably up to about 47 or so. We walk an average of 5 miles a day, but I haven't been counting any of those miles. Just the extra ones that I choose to go do.

Thanks for reading! I'll keep you updated on my Alps excursion as soon as I get there!

xoxo,
          Keckeley

P.S. A HUGE Happy Anniversary to my parents! 20 years... wow :) I love you both so much and am counting down the days until I get to see you!

Back to London

Hello everyone!

I've been so busy with school and traveling that I haven't been making enough time for the blog! Well, all I can do is my best :)

My time in Manchester came to an end, but I loved every minute I was there! Jeff, Jourine and Jay were all so great to spend time with and I can't wait to go back to visit again! Jourine is an excellent cook and it was so nice to have home cooked meals. (I never realized how much I took those for granted until I didn't have them anymore. Classic situation.) On Saturday Jourine took me to Chatsworth, which is this massive estate with a beautiful mansion. We toured around the mansion and it reminded me a great deal of the mansion in Versailles. Extraordinary artwork, architecture, furniture and so much more. It was a really great weekend :) Thank you to the Moores for a fabulous time!

This week has been a lot of the same routine. Wake up. Do homework. Go to class. Take notes. Go to the gym. Eat dinner. Sleep. Start over. Thats ok, but I'd really like to get on a schedule where I don't feel so behind. I'm not doing a lot this weekend and tomorrow I'm going to try to get caught up for a while. Meanwhile, all of the miles that I'm completing will now include those that I've done on a rowing machine and on the bike! 

My London Mile Count: 42

On Monday I got to see one of my old babysitters! She is here with her boyfriend and they are both attending the London School of Economics.. pretty intense. It was so great to see someone who loves and misses Montana as much as I do :) We talked for a long time about classes, adjusting to city life, study habits and our general well being. She had so much great advice to give me. We agreed that we would go out to dinner sometime so we could explore more of the city together. I can't wait!

A couple of hours ago I finished Skyping my cousins, Katy, Carly and Olivia! It was so great to see them! It's amazing how close I can feel to them when I'm thousands of miles away. Using FaceTime or Skype is really difficult because my wifi doesn't work very well. So we all had our fair share of frustrations, but we worked through it! I'm so glad I got to talk to them and also Quinn :) Good times with people I love!

Today I went to the Natural History Museum and spent three hours gawking at all of the exhibits! It was such a blast and I can't wait for all of the other places that I get to travel! Thanks for all of the support from everyone! Love you all!

xoxo,

          Keckeley

This is where the Gringott's Bank scene in Harry Potter was filmed! I was so excited!!