Moving to Sweden: An Update

Hello Everyone! 

I hope you all had a great week and now it is time for the weekend yay!!

This past week I had a big german test, uploaded two new videos (which can be found under the videos tab), went to the dentist, and had my interview for the swedish embassy. 

Wednesday was a big day for me last week. I had my german test that day and my interview, so my anxiety level was pretty high. After I took my test, which I think I did pretty good on, I had to drive into Houston for my interview. It was about a 35 minute drive to the building where the swedish embassy's consultant is located. For anybody who lives around the Houston area or has drived through Houston you know it is hell. I hate driving through the city. There are to many people who think they can drive however they want and it spikes up my anxiety. Anyways, I arrived there 40 minutes early, the one time I am early to anything. To waist time I sat in my car for about 20 minute listing to music and then I decided to go in, thinking they might be able to see me earlier. I was wrong, so I sat in there waiting room for 20 minutes.

 The two ladies who interviewed me were very nice and welcoming, which eased my stress a bit. I was very surprised by how fast the interview went. They asked me only a few questions, things like "Tell me a little about your self" and "What are your hobbies?". It felt more like a job interview than a possible life changing interview. They didn't ask me any question about Daniel and I's relationship. I thought I would have to confess my love for him in front of these people, but nope. 

After they were done asking questions I had to show them all my government papers like my birth certificate, passport, drivers license, and my single statues paper. Yes that is right I had to go down to the courts and get a paper signed by a judge saying I was not married. I had all of those things except my birth certificate and they also wanted pictures of Daniel, me, and any of our family members together. Without those two things my interview could not be sent in, so I had to return the next day. 

 I then had to make another half hour drive down to Houston to drop of the rest of the paper work. Before I left the lady assured me she would send the papers to the embassy in D.C. before she left for the day, which she did. This morning (Friday) I got an email from the board saying they will now look at everything and next time they contact me they will give me there answer. 

I am so excited that we are now getting somewhere with this process. I applied last year in July and was hoping it wouldn't take longer than a year. While I might get my residents card in the next few months, if accepted, I would not move until at least August of this year. I still have to finish school. I only have one more class after this semester until I can get my Associates degree in journalism. 

I am so excited that I might soon get to call Stockholm, Sweden home. Of course it will be sad to leave the place I have called home for almost 19 years, but I will always come back. 

I am finally in the home stretch of my application and I just thought I would share the process with you! I will add a few pictures of when I was in Stockholm just because I feel like this post could use some pictures. 

I hope you guys have an awesome weekend! 

xoxo Makenna

Just A Thought Or Two

I'm getting a bit tired of people lately.
Let me explain, so far this past month I have been questioned many times about my life decisions. There are three main ones that have been the most popular topics amongst my family and friends; my tattoo, career path, and moving. I will only write briefly about my tattoo because I might extend on it in a later post if anybody is interested. A little over a month ago I got part of my favorite quote tattooed on the side of my foot, and I love it. The reason why I only got part of it (first 3 words to be exact) was because the quote was to long and the side of my foot was not. Anyways, the reason why its been such an interesting topic to others is not the fact that I have permanent ink in my foot, but what the tattoo means. Before I tell anyone I will tell them they will not understand the quote at all, but they insist so I tell them. I usually only get to the end of the quote before they nod there heads and say "ah ok" in the ok she is crazy voice. I don't even attempt to explain the personal meaning behind it because they get lost in the quote. I have even been asked why I got it in the first place if nobody can understand it. It doesn't irritate me when people ask what it means, but the way they react after I tell them comes of as rude. A tattoo is for nobody but yourself. It is yours, and it does not matter who understands it or who it has meaning to as long as it does for you. Also many people have told me I will regret it when I'm older, but I don't believe in regretting something that made me happy. The second topic has been what the hell am I going to do with my life. I recently changed my major from psychology to journalism, so frankly I have no idea. All I know is I like writing, but I don't want to be a journalist. Everyone I tell thinks I want to be a journalist, when I honestly think that would be the worst job for me and it would be the last one I would want to accept. It is to much of a high stress job for me, all I want is a degree in writing. Then the question becomes what do I want to write, well I couldn't tell you. I can tell you I would love to be a free lance writer and maybe even one day write a book, but who knows. The last topic of discussion has been where and when I am moving. One thing I haven't mentioned on here yet is that I have been in a long distance relationship for almost a year and half now. Well the first six months wasn't long distance, and when I say long distance I mean I live in the US and he lives in Sweden. It was the same old story of the girl falling in love with the foreign exchange student, but instead of it ending there it continues. We travel back and forth by flying on standby, which has pros and cons. We see each other every two to two and half months, and in fact I will be flying over there Tuesday but we will get into that at another time. As of now the main question has been who will be moving where and when. Everyone has been shocked to hear that it will be me moving there. As for me I am very excited to have a new home in a year. As you can imagine my family isn't to thrilled about this decision, but I know this is the right one for me. Its just one of those things I can feel deep in my bones that I belong there. This will be my fifth trip to Stockholm and I can honestly say it is my favorite place to be. Don't get me wrong I love my family and friends and hate to leave them, but I need to be somewhere where I am happy. Yes I love somethings about the US, but there are also somethings I don't agree with and as of now they out wight the positives. As they have always said the grass is greener on the other side. As much as my family loves me I wish they would stop trying to talk me out of my decision and just support them, be there for me when I do great things or fall flat on my face. Love and support is all I ask for. I will never forget them nor lose contact with them, and I will visit whenever I can, but I have to go. Life is supposed to be an adventure, and I am just choosing to start mine a bit early.