Loading...
Start a new Travel Blog! Blogabond Home Maps People Photos My Stuff

sweden adventures

a travel blog by katieandboo

boo and I have moved to sweden for the next six months to play the sport we love as our job!
view all 21 photos for this trip

Show Oldest First
Show Newest First

first week

Karlstad, Sweden

When I landed in Stockholm I was greeted by my coach for our 3hr. drive to Karlstad. The next day I was overwhelmed when I met my new teammates for lunch. I just smiled as they spoke swedish with an occasional english sentence here and there. At about 8pm we had our practice which was fun got alot of shots, my legs were definitely jet legged but it felt good to play.
On monday morning we headed for Stockholm again for my first game, I was really nervous but played ok, I got scored on, It was a 1v1 I made the first save and there team was there to finish it. The level was decent they have alot of quick foot work and play the ball pretty quick, very aggressive. We ate three times that day it was great!! At our third meal I was seeming to bond the most with the youngest kids which isn't that big of a surprise im sure.
THe past couple days I have been kept busy with training and getting all the things I need for my apartment, everybody is really nice and very helpful here. My apartment is pretty small a kitchen, bathroom, and living room which is my bedroom also. Boo arrives on sunday so it will be like freshman year in the dorms again. ha We have our first league game on saturday so I will try to post after that.




permalink written by  katieandboo on April 16, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures
tagged First
Send a Compliment

joy and pain

Karlstad, Sweden

Ok so lets see where I left off...oh I know at one of our practices we had like two or three media people come. It was kinda cool cause they were taking pics and getting interviews but got kind of annoying because they kept pulling me out of drills and warm-ups to get pics and statements. But all in all a cool first time experience to encounter my teammate and I were in the paper the next I guess. The trainings went well (except that I jammed the shit outa my middle finger I can't even fully extend it and its pretty bruised) alot more chill than in the states not really fitness heavy and more relaxed on defense.
So we had our first league game on saturday which was really cool we get to games 2hours early. So we get off the bus just walking over to the locker room looking at the Field a little nastalgic.(sp?) Then we have our warm up go back to the locker room area until both teams walk out so totally like a playoff game but its just league. Things were going good we scored first were playing pretty well I was directing my backs ok then lil slip up on got through and sliced me far post. Then maybe 10min later a communication error with my center back sent me off the Field in a stretcher. haha (relax mom im ok) So what happened was I told my back away but she just kept shielding the forward so I came out for a 1v1 tackle I got the ball and the girl went cleat up into my knee, extremely painful. We ended up losing like 5-1 so not a good game after all but now we have two weeks to train and get ready for our next game.
Oh I almost forgot boo is coming in tomorrow morning Im super excited for her to get here and figure out how were gonna fit another bed in here haha. Thats all for now ciao

permalink written by  katieandboo on April 19, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures
tagged Game1
Send a Compliment

fitness fun

Karlstad, Sweden

Ok so I know im bad at keeping it updated and I will put some pics up soon, promise :)
Knee is doing good should be back in time for the next game. Boo has now arrived and we somehow managed to fit a bed into our room so its a very cozy place ha. We got to to go to this sports store and pick out new cleats and for me new gloves I guess I'll get like 4-5 pair this season super cool!! We also got some other training gear, like shirts and shorts.
We finally met our fitness coach his name is Jonas and he is a small guy but is gonna get us pretty fit. We train with him twice a week besides practice. On mondays we just stay after practice and he does running things with us and on wednesday we do a leg lifting and medicine ball routine and also some running. He said he is gonna give me and boo our player specific weight lifting program on friday. (Every player kinda has there own specific program due to there size age and position)
The trainings have picked up intensity wise now and we do a lot of shooting which I love except I keep reinjuring the finger. Oh boo and I made a lil net with a piece of wood and a lil stand so that we can play soccer tennis in the street! We try to dribble tennis balls around the house and she brought a mini soccer ball so we are really working on getting a better touch. Time for dinner, enjoy your days
adjo
katie

permalink written by  katieandboo on April 23, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures
tagged AptAndSoccerTennis
Send a Compliment

weekend fun

Karlstad, Sweden

ok so the past couple of days have been a blast...boo and I have been obsessed with the show the L word and are watching it from the beginning of season 1, kinda couch potatoes. She of course just kept procrastinating her paper to watch it, friday we stayed up till about 2am watching it. Oh got our work out plans and I love it its like all body weight stuff we only use two machines, were gonna get ripped living here. Saturday I met the team down town and we did a lil team bonding with bowling, it was kinda fun actually got hamburgers too. Then we went to the captains house and started the party, when we went out all the babies had to go home the club was cool though it had 4 different dance floors with different kinds of music. I actually saw my fitness coach there. Oh but really quick so we ordered pizza too and they put this like coleslaw/saurkraut on it and it is soo good. Anywho got home at like 4am pretty surprised I was able to find my way home cuz I had no clue where I was. All in all it was a great weekend, today was my recovery day just walked around and layed around haha. Oh so boo and I decided were gonna make a dream/inspiration wall and its going to have a list of our goals for what we want to work on and where we want to be by the end of the 6 months. Then surrounding that is gonna be a bunch of inspirational quotes or pics, anything that will help inspire us. Our main goal with this is the pro league in the states, so were gonna decorate our place with inspiration.

adjo

permalink written by  katieandboo on April 26, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures
tagged Party
Send a Compliment

catch up

Karlstad, Sweden


on our street

us and linnea
ok so to answer some questions...Yes I make all my own meals unless we are with the team then they supply all our food. Before games we eat this pasta salad thing and bread, pretty good. After we usually eat some meat and potatoes. I pretty much wake up whenever I wake unless I have to be somewhere, which is rare. If you can believe I have found a love here...hahaha just kidding, no, no boys yet but boo does have a boy back home. She is loving it here and we are quickly learning how to deal with eachother. She knows to ignore me in the morning and just not talk to me, and I know how to just tell her to be quiet if she is talking too much. Its a good match for 6 months pretty stoked. We are slowly learning new words boo can count to 10 I can't say 7 really hard for me. But most of the girls are speaking English to us, some are a lil more shy and don't talk to us that much because there not as confident with there English but they understand. I am pretty used to practices being all in swedish now, coach will talk and then I just kinda guess from what he said what we are supposed to do. (and I follow the girls)
It's starting to warm up, so boo and I are finding ourselves outside alot working on juggling or 'catch' (with our feet). Oh were starting to think of places we might go for our 2 weeks off in july, thinking about lebanon and possibly greece. Anywho here are some pics and I'll keep trying to take more.
adjo

permalink written by  katieandboo on April 27, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures
tagged Questions
Send a Compliment

game update

Karlstad, Sweden

Hej sorry for long time no entry...Lets review the game this weekend, well we lost. The first goal was pretty good side netting but I still think I could have gotten to it if I had been a lil further out. The second goal was all my fault, high ball got lost in the sun light only caught part of it and it continued back to the goal, very upsetting. So we lost 2-0 to one of the best teams in our league but honestly I think we could of had them. We had some good missed opportunities and held the same pace as them. I know what your thinking dad "well it wont matter in 5 years and they didn't score either soo" but I was still bummed. I didn't play horribly though I have finally got my full voice back so now im talking the whole 90min telling everybody who to mark and where they need to be. I made a couple of really good high ball saves where I had to come out in alot of traffic. One of em I got flipped around and smashed to the ground but I still had the ball! Oh and I think I was part of the tearing of an ACL on one of there forwards. It was a loose ball I was coming out for and she was challenging me for it but her leg went on the inside of mine, got stuck, and I just kept pushing forward with the ball. Then I hear a little pop and
her screaming and crying on the ground. I felt soo bad, it's crazy how quick your career can just be done.

Oh there was this cool coming of Spring celebration on thursday, with huge bon fires every where and fire works, it was super cool.
Im getting really good at making up good food concoctions. Alot of the concoctions involve pasta, like yesterday for my pregame meal I had left over pasta so I used that added some spices some chicken tomato onion and lettuce..very delicious. Any who it is now lunch time for me so I must go eat.


permalink written by  katieandboo on May 2, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures
tagged GameLoss
Send a Compliment

trainer

Karlstad, Sweden

So we met with our fitness coach went for 20min run in the woods. Then inside which was like gym/track area where we Split up into 2 groups. One group was doing hangclings, weighted squats, double leg high box jumps, and star jumps. Then the other group does plyos, which involved a bunch of hurdles, hoping over this rope double leg and single leg, then quick foot work for the hamstring and then a different one for the quads, and my favorite which was like different sizes boxes that you jump up higher and higher and jump onto a huge mat. Oh and we did bobsled races(pushing huge gymnastics mats) old vs young kids and of course the old guys won all 3 times!! All in all today was a great day at the office we are for sure gonna be tired tomorrow. Here are some pics from our recent game.

permalink written by  katieandboo on May 3, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures
tagged Fitness
Send a Compliment

boo graduates

Karlstad, Sweden

So Boo finally finished all her papers and officially became a college graduate. And of course that means we need to celebrate so we invited 2 of our friends over played some soccer tennis and then made a really really good dinner. Dala and Malin brought chicken salad stuff bread and Dessert, I made pasta with a fresh tomato sauce. Dinner was bomb but dessert was even better! They made brownies with warm raspberries and fresh whip cream!! Needless to say it was amazing and as you can tell we have chosen the right friends who like to eat too! Oh ya the girls decorated our house with balloons and a banner they made for boo that said congrats graduate...it was really cute. That was a very fun night Dala stayed till like 11pm and we were just watching soccer games.

Earlier in the week we met up with some of our friends downtown to watch the Barca vs Real game in a pub. That was fun too the game was incredibly good with very good goals.

Oh the weather has taken a turn to washington weather the past couple days have either been really windy, rainy, cold or all three! Which has made practice interesting (at times fun at times frustrating) We are leaving today to go to an away game, we are having our first spend the night I'm excited because the girls say this hotel has the best breakfast!
well wish me luck and I'll write soon

permalink written by  katieandboo on May 8, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures
tagged Boograd
Send a Compliment

road trip win

Karlstad, Sweden

We had our first spend the night road trip and we got to stay at this really nice hotel and the breakfast was bomb!!! There were crepes, eggs, sausage, meatballs, bread, fruit, yogurt, sandwich making things, and of course cereal and juices. I stuffed myself so much I was full until the game at 3pm.
We drove down friday then some of us went for a walk before we went to bed. I shared a room with the other keeper and we got the best room, on the corner of the hotel with double windows. Saturday we had breakfast went for a walk then drove 2 hrs more to our game. The weather was decent sunny but very very windy, but we came out and within the first 10min scored a goal. Maybe 10 min later they got a pk (which I almost had dove the right way and was close but my foot kinda slipped on the dirt trying to dive) and that was the only goal they scored. We continued to capitalize on our opportunities making it 4-1 at the end. I made one key save in the last 5min, out stretched one handed tip around the goal. It was a pretty good game the play was going both ways we just took control. We drove back after the game so I am glad we won, it made the ride alot better!

We have today off and then tomorrow we train and then meet with our fitness coach to do some running yeaaaaa! Oh I forgot to say boo got hurt think she pulled her hip flexor she can barely walk or lift her leg. So that sucks but Im hoping maybe a week or two then she is back at it!

permalink written by  katieandboo on May 10, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures
tagged AwayWin
Send a Compliment

work permit

Karlstad, Sweden

The past couple of days have been fun pracitices were a really high level so it was good training. On monday me and a couple of teammates went to the gym after practice. Oh boo and I had a lil ice cream date with our new swedish friends before practice the other day.
Boo found out that she pulled her psoas muscle and rectus femoris...which is the quad and part of the hip flexor. The doc said he's 95% sure I broke my finger but is waiting till next week to get an x-ray. Other than that we are both doing well our inspiration wall is really coming along, for the back drop I made and american flag and then on that I drew the FC Gold Pride emblem. So I think we will start adding other things to it soon, I'll be sure to put up a pic.
We have a big game on saturday...pulling for the win again of course. Oh and apparently for home games the club posts live web feed. Although I think our games are mostly at 3pm which is about 6am west coast time.
Oh so today we officially got our work permits stamped into our passports. It took us about 3 hours today to go to 2 differnt places and get the work permit and fake swedish person social security number. That way we can get paid the big bucks haha.
well gotta go run later

permalink written by  katieandboo on May 13, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures
tagged WorkPermit
Send a Compliment
Viewing 1 - 10 of 30 Entries
first | previous | next | last

View as Map View as Satellite Imagery View as Map with Satellite Imagery Show/Hide Info Labels Zoom Out Zoom In Zoom Out Zoom In
find city:
trip feed
 author feed
 trip kml
 author kml

   

Blogabond v2.40.58.80 © 2024 Expat Software Consulting Services about : press : rss : privacy