Hej!

Welp, I live in the ghetto of Eskilstuna. At first I could not pronounce the name of my apartment area, so I kept calling it Arby’s because it is spelled Årby, which is actually pronounced Orr-bee. When I finally got the pronunciation right and told some of the nursing students they were kind of shocked saying it wasn’t the greatest area. I guess there are a lot of international people and immigrants here. So then I decided to ask some of the other students in my hallway. One guy, Joe, said that he was walking to school at seven am about two weeks and some drunk or on drugs guy was yelling “Help me.” So he went over to see and the guy took off his jacket and there was a knife sticking out of his back. Someone had stabbed him. So Joe called the ambulance. This story definitely freaked me out so I will not be walking home alone in the dark hopefully. I feel safe in my apartment because I always lock my door, you need a key to get in the elevator for two of the floors (mine is one of them) and a key to get in the building. I also have the nicest apartment on my floor; I have seen some of the other rooms. Life goal number one achieved: Nicest apartment in the ghetto, woo hoo! (Sorry if this story worries you mom)
Wednesday 10/27
I was placed in a daycare center for the elderly people with dementia. I got there at 8am and we prepared breakfast for the guests. They call the patients guests at the center. There were three preceptors, Kristina, Annika, and Gabriella. They were all very nice but Kristina did most of the talking because she was the best at English. She talked to me about the patients saying they usually stay in the day center for 6 months to a year and a half, depending on how quickly their dementia progresses and how long they can live alone. The day centers are for those with dementia living independently. They have been 4 and 10 guests a day. Some of the guests know why they are there and others do not know why they are a part of the group. One of the ladies was a former nurse and thinks she works there. They are assigned seats that have their namecard at them. One of the nurses goes and picks up all the guests from their homes and brings them back in van. Then they all sit down to a big breakfast with the nurses included. They socialize and eat. This is good, because they may not be getting the necessary nutrition at home. It is a big Swedish breakfast with bread, meat, cheese, coffee, yogurt, filmjolk, eggs, and lots of other food. It was interesting to experience this. Since all of the guests are over 65 most of them do not know English. Two of them spoke English, the man who spoke it the best kept forgetting what he had already asked me and repeated the same questions. Where are you from? How long have you been in Eskilstuna? Do you like Sweden? On this day, the center had another group visit them. There are 7 day centers in Eskilstuna for people with dementia. The one that visited was the only one where the guests were under the age of 65. In this group everyone knew English. I spoke with one lady for a while, but halfway through the conversation she started asking me the same questions again. It was pretty sad, especially because the people are so young. Dementia is becoming more of a problem in Sweden because of their ever increasing gerian population. Then we took the guests for a walk and the other group left. Then we had lunch with the guests, a delivery service brings the food for lunch. Then we played games and did activities with the guests. By this time almost all of them had forgotten I was American and could only speak English and kept trying to talk to me in Swedish. Then Gabriella, one of the nurses told me about how she does massages and tactile stimulation to calm the guests when they get angry. Many patients with Dementia can get really worked up and upset. She offered to give me a hand massage and I said okay. It was really relaxing and I think this is a great tool for nurses to use in calming patients. It also has other benefits and she showed me the research on it. Two of the leading nurses in this theory are Gunilla Birkestad and Siu Ardeby, it is becoming popular in Sweden with many different types of patients. Then around 2pm, everyone has coffee and pastries. After that, almost all of the guests are yawning and getting tired. Between 245 and 3 all of the guests are driven home and the day is over. They showed me a book of Swedish healthcare initiatives in Eskilstuna, and a lot of it talked about providing transportation and equality of care and keeping people living independently in their homes for as long as possible. It was a really view of the Swedish healthcare system.
Thursday 10/28
Today, I arrived at the care center at 8am again, but this time I was going with the nurse to pick up all the patients and load them in the van. It can be quite a challenge especially with those in walkers or wheelchairs. Many elderly people in Sweden have rolling walkers because we went back to the center and had breakfast. Then since there were only 4 people and less nurses, we took the group to an activities arena and art museum. In the arena they could do mini golf, bocce ball, or ping pong. The guests mostly chose to watch though. The museum and arena were in old factory buildings were one of the guest’s dad had actually worked. It was a popular tractor building factory, Munkhell, a long time ago. They all really liked the art museum and most of the pieces were from local artists. The patients made me sign the guest book and I was the first American to this year! After that we drove around Eskilstuna and to the nearby town Torshalla. The guests loved being able to share with me that this is where they went to school as child or I got married in that church. Most of them have lived in Eskilstuna their whole lives. They are on the higher functioning side of Dementia, but you can tell they often have trouble finding a word or remembering what they were saying. Then we went back for lunch, did activities and had coffee. The Swedish healthcare system really treats the elderly well and does a good job taking care of them, especially with providing transportation. Then, we drove them all home.
Yay I finally have friends!
Tuesday night I had tea with the Finnish girls, Cath and Anna. They are really nice. They live on a small island between Finland and Sweden. It is called Årland, their nursing class is only 18 people! They speak Swedish and English, read some Finnish. I am their first friend here too, they only arrived a few days before me and live two doors down the hall from me. They are exchange students in the same program I am.
Wednesday night I had after work drinks with Cath and two Swedish girls who go to Malardalen Hogskolas, the school I am an exchange student at. Bella and Hanna are super cool. Bella is really good at English because she was an au pair in Florida for a year. A lot of people here take between 1 and 3 years off after high school before going to college. Hanna and Cath are good at English as well. We all had a really great time together and laughed about everything. They say I have to go the toilet, I say ew that’s gross in America we say bathroom or restroom. They are all so nice and funny! Bella and Hanna are going to Bangkok in the spring to study nursing for 3 months, I think that is so cool. People there don’t even speak Swedish or English so I can’t imagine how crazy that would be. They are going to be doing some crazy stuff and told m about how they plan to go to a ping pong show just to witness it. (if you don’t know what that is, look it up…. Or don’t ;) hehe) We also decided to go on a cruise in a few weeks and I am super excited about that. It is kind like a party cruise just for a night or two and the drinks are pretty cheap. They are really fun and popular here. Today, we met for coffee and looked up cruise stuff, I can’t wait. We will probably go to Årland, it is going to be really fun! I am also going out with them here in Eskilstuna on Saturday night.
Random Thoughts:
1. A lot of people here understand English better than they speak it. They watch a lot of American television with Swedish subtitles. Many of them are shy to speak it.
2. My Swedish is getting so much better, it is crazy how much I am learning and picking up. But hearing and thinking and trying to focus is really difficult with two languages and the whole language thing makes my brain hurt. It makes you so tired!
3. Everything here is so little. I have barely seen a single house as big as mine in America.
4. A lot of people live in apartments, it is not abnormal to raise a family in an apartment here.
5. Everything is closer together and many people walk and ride bikes, there are a lot less obese people. Also, you can’t ride your bike at night without a light or you get a ticket.
6. They love their bread, meat, cheese, and milk products. Also, chicken is more expensive and less popular. People drink so much coffee here, its like the British and their tea.
7. Mass transit is huge here, trains, buses, and subways.
8. People here in Eskilstuna have a lot of pride for their town.
9. All the buildings are colorful and cute. They are yellow, pink, red, blue, green, etc. Everything is really clean here too.
10. I never thought I would say this but thank god for the 10 degree weather today, it was pretty nice out! (That’s just under 50 degrees farenheit)
I am going to included Rachel’s instructions for how to comment, just in case you would like to comment (hint,hint).

1. you have to choose a "kommentara som" in the dropdown like i chose google

2. then press "forhandsgranska"

3. then review your comment,

4. type the word that's in the box

5. press sticka commentar

I love and miss you all. Things here are definitely getting better here, although I might be coming down with a bit of a cold, fingers crossed its only allergies. Happy birthday to my father, I have been thinking about you all day. I love you very much Daddy!
Hej do!
Holly