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 Hej Hej!

Well we have a long to do list coming up this week. We tied our game this past Saturday, but I'm confident our team will come out with a win after this week!!

Our to do list is as follows:

1) Beat Gustafs on Wednesday-(Has to be number 1, I know we can do it!)

2) Swedish festivities begin:

     a) Midsummer this weekend (Swedish holiday) 

     b) Peace and Love Festival next week (One of the biggest music festivals in Sweden with        performers like Lily Allen, Jay-Z, the Hives, the Kooks, and Alice in Chains)

3)  Last game for the first half of the season in Stockholm July 4 against Vasalunds

4)  Greece for holiday July 8-20 with the roommates

We also have been following the World Cup that has been very entertaining despite all the ties and own goals. We are hoping the US pulls off the win and moves on into the next round. I also like Argentina and Spain. It would be nice to see an underdog such as Denmark or an African team make it through as well. I guess we will have to wait and see, that is the best part about the World Cup, you never know what is going to happen! 

Also Sarra gave me this amazing book to read "Mind Gym" by Gary Mack. It is about sports psychology and the mental side of the game. I think it is very helpful and I'm really enjoying reading it, with its great ideas and inspiring quotes. 

Until next time, Hejda!!

"Each of us have a fire in our hearts for something. It's our goal in life to find it, and keep it lit." 

 Many apologies for the delayed post!! We had a week off after our win, so Sarra and I did some exploring in Stockholm! It was a great time, and the city is amazing, nothing like I expected! I also had moose tacos, which were very good! 

Training continued through our week off, and last week. We played Sunday and tied 4-4 at Umea. It was a pretty intense game, well fought, just wish we would of came out on top. I saw 10 minutes, hopefully next game I will see more, its difficult to watch your team fight so hard from the sideline. So the hard work continues...

The biggest music festival in Sweden is in  Borlange and is coming up soon!! It is the Peace and Love festival featuring Jay-Z, Lily Allen, The Kooks, and The Hives. So looking forward to it!! 

The Our Game magazine just came out and I really enjoyed reading it, definitely can't wait to read the next issue! 

Looking forward to a hard week ahead into our home game on Saturday!

Hej da! 

P.S- 1 month until Greece! Can't wait! 

Hej!!

So this past weekend, our team won yet another game, moving us into 3rd place. Our team played great! Unfortunately I didn't get in, but it just makes me want to work harder to get minutes to help contribute. 

The weather continues to get nicer here in Borlange, which is very exciting, hopefully we get to see more of the area soon. 

This week we went to a local high school to talk about our American culture. It was very interesting to hear all the differences about our two countries, misconceptions about America, and some of their experiences they had while actually in America. I wish that when we were in high school we had the opportunity to visit Europe, that would of been such an eye opening time when I was 16-18 years old. It is also crazy how easy going it is in the high school that we visited. The dress code was so much more lax than at my high school, and it seemed like they treated the students like adults as well. We really enjoyed spending time with the students, and I think they enjoyed the chance of practicing their English. 

This week is our off week, we were thinking of venturing to Stockholm for a day if it doesn't rain and then maybe hanging out with the team on the weekend. A couple more days of training and then the weekend!!

"The ultimate measure of a (wo)man is not where (s)he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where (s)he stands at times of challenge and controversy." 
-Martin Luther King, Jr. 

 Hej Hej!

Well this past week we won our game, it was off a free kick outside the box that was nicely placed in the far post by one of our defenders Salle! Our defense continued to dominate the whole game (which both my roomies were a part of) it was  "mycket bra" (very good) play by them the entire 90 minutes. It definitely made for a great 4 hour bus ride home:) 

We have a few things planned for this upcoming week, we are going to talk to a high school here about life in America. They have prepared questions, since they are going to Minnesota and California for a trip!! I wish when I was in high school we went to Europe!! Really looking forward to passing along some of my experiences, and I'm sure the kids are pumped to have something different to make class go by a bit quicker. 

Funny that Sverige is actually becoming my home :) The weather is beginning to warm up which has been so great!!! 

Cannot wait for a full week of great training to take us into our home game on Saturday! 

Hej da!

"The ultimate measure of a (wo)man is not where (s)he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where (s)he stands at times of challenge and controversy." 
-Martin Luther King, Jr. 

 After a lot of traveling to Northern Sweden, we had a a hard loss 1-0 against Pitea. Even though we came out really strong from the beginning. 

Unfortunately within minutes of the beginning of the game, we were pressuring their defense and they had a miscommunication and I received the ball at my foot at the 18 in front of the goal. I panicked and shot it right away, which went wide right. When I should of dribbled it in thinking back. Pretty frustrated about that especially since we played sooo hard the whole game and deserved at least a tie, and we all wanted it so bad! Our midfield and defense remained extremely strong the whole game.

I suppose you learn everything from every game. My lesson was certainly mental and physical composure. Finishing training will continue this week, looking forward to the game this weekend. Not to mention I will be looking forward to the rematch later in the season with Pitea. 

Even though we left at 5:30 a.m. and returned at 12:30 p.m. the trip went very smoothly. Travel included-van-plane-bus-game and same on the way home, all very well planned out. 

Wish the weather would get warmer however...I'm hoping later this month it will so we can be outside a lot more, especially out by the lake! 

Keeping my head up, and working harder--

Hej da