ACCEPTED

I'M GOING TO SWEDEN!!!!! 

Okay, now let me back up and start from the beginning. So, after getting rejected from Iceland and cooling down a little from the inevitable pain of rejection, I began to see it as a blessing in disguise. I was sitting in my AP language class and we were talking about the Great Gatsby and how the character Gatsby had spent so many years dreaming about Daisy that he turned her into this perfect person in his mind so when he finally met her again and she didn't live up to his image in his mind, he was disappointed. And I think that is exactly what would have happened to me had I gone to Iceland, because I had built it up so high that nothing could live up to my expectations. However, with Sweden I don't have that problem and I think that it's better to go into an exchange with as few expectations as possible. 

So, the night I found out I was excepted I came home from a 17 hour school day, so I was extremely tired. So, I walk into the house at around 11:30 and there is my whole family sitting in the kitchen all just staring at me and not saying a word. I look around and there are candles everywhere, blue and yellow balloons and streamers, a cake, and a HUGE sign hung up that read "Välkommen Till Sverige!" And all I said was, "Someone say something," and my dad comes up to me and told me the good news and my fist reaction was I just started screaming and jumped on my dad and just started crying I was so happy! So my whole family stayed up with me and we ate cake and sparkling grape juice and celebrated. I swear I have the best family! And not only my family but ALL of my friends were all really supportive and excited for me (although they all tell me how much they`re going to miss me). And I am also really thankful to AFS because if the volunteers did´t catch on to the fact that Iceland was going to reject me so early on I might have been in the same situation I was last year. So, really I just want to thank everyone who has helped me get to where I will be going to in August! 

Sweden here I come! 

            Bryana