The allusive pink blouse...

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's almost time for me to leave you all.. Just a bit more than a week until our departure and I can't tell you how much I appreciate hearing from many of you that you are following my blog -- it reminds me how fortunate I am to have such a GREAT group of friends!!!!!!

Well, I've finally resolve my most allusive item holding me back from completing my wardrobe for the upcoming trip. Those of you who know me well know that the word "blouse" was really not part of my wardrobe. I've been on a mission for just over a month to find a pink blouse for my trip.... well, I finally gave in and ordered from Lands End on-line.

So, I think I'm close to ready but I don't think I'll ever be ready to leave my primary support group - my friends - for five weeks!

Please know that I love you all and GREATLY appreciate your continued support!

Steph

Tickets are purchased - - it's "go" time!

Well, I finally received notification that our tickets were purchased yesterday so it's official! We depart Minnesota on Monday, March 2nd and return on Friday, April 3rd. With the two flights, it's just over 9 hours in the air flying from Minneapolis to Amsterdam and then into Goteburg.

Thanks for all of the emails of support!!!!

The response has been AWESOME!!! Lots of questions too so I guess I should go back to the beginning and give everyone an overview....

In August or September 2008, I happened to notice a small add in the local newspaper looking for business professionals between the ages of 29 - 40 interested in participating in a Rotary Group Study Exchange (GSE) and I thought - - "well, I turn 40 in January so this would be my only opportunity - - why not?"

I applied with the approval of RWSC and the Red Wing Rotary Club - - in early October, I participated in an interview process up in the cities with 10 other candidates vying for the 4 open spots. This was an eco-friendly focused trip and I thought I was way out of my league with all of these women working in related industries. Well, later that night, I was at Tyler's ELC Awards banquet when the call came in and I snuck out to take it.

I was selected as one of the four team members to join Jennifer, our team leader for this AWESOME adventure to Sweden. I was sooooo excited as I went back in to let Kevin know what I had found out.

Fast forward to the trip details..... we are scheduled to leave in early March for five weeks in a Rotary district near Goteberg (western side of Sweden). We will spend most of our nights staying with host families in the cities we are visiting and a few nights in hotels. They are estimating that we will have 7-8 host families each during our trip! During the daytime hours, we are expected to attend Rotary meetings & give a presentation on our district, where we live & work. We will also have opportunities to spend "vocational days" in businesses that are in similar industries to where we work - - I'm VERY excited about this part!!! I'm hoping that we'll find out more as we get closer to the departure dates as we really don't have many details yet.

That's all for now - - stay tuned for future updates and thanks again for your support!

Preparation continues.... 27 days to departure

Well, at least I think we have 27 days... after Swedish class last night, we met as a group hoping to find out that our airline tickets had been purchased but not yet.... We're also still trying to get someone to send us an example of their powerpoint presentation so we can finalize ours. (Those who know me well will realize that this late in the game, not having our presentation ready is STRESSING ME OUT!!)

Anyway, we plug on with our preparations... clothes are almost all purchased (still trying to find that allusive pink blouse that I need to complete my "team uniform"). We have ideas for our host family gifts (thanks RWSC for the 100th Anniversary photo books - - they will be AWESOME gifts! along with hopefully some RW Confectionary chocolates and some handmade

note cards).

The most recent challenge is the whole communication / electrical thing.... trying to figure out what kind of adapter / convertor I will need so I can run my laptop and update my blog / add pictures / etc during my trip.

Attended another Red Wing Rotary meeting today -- what an awesome group!! They are all genuinely excited for me and my upcoming adventure and I can't wait to share my experiences with them when I return.

Hej! (That's Swedish for "hey!")

Getting ready for class later today and the wonderful drive up to the Cities (Well, at least I get to spend some time on the phone with my mom, sister, Darcy or Glenda - - they all know that between 5-6 PM or 8:30-9:30 or so, I might be calling to ease the boredom!)

Did a bit more shopping over the weekend (THANKS DARCY!) to try to finalize my wardrobe for the trip. (Those that know me well realize that clothes shopping is not a concept that is frequently on my calendar!)

Gotta run .... time to get back to work! Oh, yeah - - only 28 more days til we depart on our adventure!