First few days!

Hello all!
Umea is a beautiful little town! It's really quite cold here too! Everyone has been really nice though! Today is Easter so I went to church, the church that my travel mates and I went to happened to have an English translation which was really great, and the congregation invited us for cake and coffee afterwards which was really truly wonderful considering we didn't have anywhere else to go for Easter. It has just been a wonderful time here, and I really appreciate everything that everyone has done for us thus far! If anyone ever gets the opportunity to travel abroad please do so you meet so many wonderful people! Keep reading picture will be up soon!
Bye for now!
Theresa

UMEA here we are...

Hello everyone!
It is official I am now closer to the Arctic circle then all of you back in Wisconsin! I have made it to Umea safe and sound. Now if only I could figure out where everything is! Traveling through the four cities at the begining was great, and beautiful! However I am glad to finally have a little bit of down time now. So for now I nap, but keep watching for postings of photos from earlier in the week!
Goodbye for now!
Theresa

Last stop Brussels

Hello from Brussels!!
Lasts top on my little trips till Sweden! This city is very relaxed and chill. The food an people here are super nice, makes me think of home a little bit! The chocolate is amazing and so is the food!! I am so glad it is my last day here traveling I am ready to settle down for a bit and relax. The architecture here is unbelievable I am just in awe of it! The museums here have so many interesting things, we went to a museum of the arts which had Matisse paintings in it! So beautiful!! All I can say is I would like to visit again! :) time for some relaxing! See you in Sweden!
Theresa

Paris!

Ok there is so much I could say about this city! It is beautiful!! I never want to leave! Our first day we arrived a bit late, so everything was closing. We then looked around and found a night boat tour! At the time it was a good idea...until we realized how cold it was!! Brrrrrr.....yes everyone it is as cold in Paris as it is in Wisconsin.... The boat tour was great because we got to see all of the main points in Paris, it was great!! After that we headed back to our hostel and prepared for the next day. Today oh my goodness was so much fun!! Probably the most fun that I have had this entire trip!! Our day started off with a baguette with Nutella and juice, we then headed to the subway to catch the 9 train to the Eiffel Tower, we went all the way to the top!! It was so tall and you could see all of Paris!! It was crazy!! And yes I did get photos for you Anthony so when I come back you can have one!! :) the next stop was Notre Dame the church, we walked n and it was otherworldly we walked in and it felt like the mood changed it was so erie...I loved the beauty of the church and how the gothic architecture worked with the plaza around it. Our next stop after some shopping was the love lock bridge and the Louve! I loved the Louve, I was able to see the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milos, Cupid and psyche, and some artwork by Van Eyek. I will defiantly stop back in Paris someday the live was so big so I wasn't able to see everything. Finally we made it to the Arch de' Triumph it was really cool to see because there was a military band playing in front of it. So I end my day with some French fries and a coke, and move on to the next city!!
Airevou!
There's

Barcelona

Late post sorry everyone! But Barcelona was a beautiful city! We arrived on Palm Sunday where everyone was going to church with palms, and the presentation was just amazing with so many people celebrating this wonderful Christian holiday. The rest of the day was very chill my travel mates and I decided to nap for a while in the hostel that we were staying in, and during our nap we experienced out very first thunderstorm of the year....(thanks to Wisconsin and the snow)we haven't seen one yet! But it rained in Barcelona, so the next day we did a TON of sightseeing, due to the fact that we couldn't the day before we traveled to the Sagrada family church, it was a huge church that had so many different styles all pressed into one building styles from gothic to art nouveau, to modern. Our next stop was at the gothic district, where the architecture was all in the gothic style, the streets were truly beautiful they were all little side streets that were only used for walking. There was also remnants of a roman fortress, it was huge! And very much so in the gothic style. Finally to end our day in Barcelona we took a bus to the Guell Park. This is a park that covers two hills that overlook Barcelona it was truly a sight! I have not seen anything like it before! I felt like I was standing on top of a mountain. I also noticed during my trip to Barcelona the main style of art was mosaic, they were all so intranet and different, it was gorgeous. I hope that one day I can travel back!
Adios for now!
Theresa

First stop Rome!

Hello everyone!
This post comes to you directly from Rome! It is a beautiful place here there is so much to see and do that I don't think I can cram it all into two days! The first day my travel mates and I took a bus around the city to look at all of the different things that were in the city. We got off the bus and stopped by the trevi fountain it is so beautiful and so hard to find! I ended up tossing a coin in (just like the 400 other people that were there). Our next stop was to the Spanish steps, that place is huge and it was probably the longest climb ever! We then decided to look for the pantheon by that time I was already falling asleep walking, so my map reading skills were not the greatest...we got lost...:(... After about 30 minutes of aimlessly wandering around we found it it was huge! But also very pretty with all of the restaurants around. Today we decided to wake up early and head down to the colosseum, and I was in awe of that place it was so beautiful and grand! I have never seen anything like this in my life! Shortly after we started our trek to Vatican City where we went and saw St. Peter's Basilica, and toured the Vatican museum where we went to see the Sistine Chapel....I nearly passed out entering into there it was so beautiful and insane to think that I was walking where Michelangelo once walked blew my mind. All of the art here in Rome is nothing compared to that back in the states, everything here is a piece of history and is amazing. I hope that one day I can stop back :)
ciao bella!
Theresa

Today is the day....

Well today starts the adventure of a lifetime! I am so excited to be heading to Europe! So I will start my trip off in Rome,Italy the head on over to Barcelona, and then to Paris (which I am super excited for!) Also for those of my friends who are enjoying the beautiful Wisconsin "spring" at the moment, I will be heading into some chilly 61 degree weather in Italy, don't worry I packed my hat and mittens! ;) so to start off here are some things to look forward to on my blog!

A virtual tour (movie) of the art in Rome, Barcelona, Paris, Brussels, and finally Sweden.

A evaluation of the visual culture in Sweden compared to the United States.

A project exchange between my placement here in the United States, and my placement in Sweden.

An interview of a teacher, or student teacher from another country.

Plus pictures, daily posts, and much more!

In the words of Bilbo Baggins form the Hobbit..."I'm going on an Adventure!!"
http://youtu.be/4mRZKi3pFSM

See you soon!
Theresa

Let the countdown begin!!

Here is how much time I have left here in the United States!

Two Weeks/ Blog introduction!

Hello Everyone!
And so the count down begins! In about two weeks I will be on a plane to EUROPE! I am so very excited, however I am even more excited to be teaching in another country, and learning new things! I have decided that I will be writing a travel/educational blog about my experiences in Sweden. I should probably start this off where it all started...

This last summer be fore my final year of college at UW-Whitewater, I had been thinking of ways that I could set myself apart from other student teachers, and how I can make my student teaching experience meaningful to me. I remembered that one of my friends did her student teaching in Sweden, so I decided to look into international student teaching and where I would best fit in with my Art education degree. Out of all of the programs offered I decided to apply for the Sweden international Student teaching program. It started with a lot of paperwork, and saving A LOT of money, and then a lot of waiting. It wasn't until probably October when I found out that it would be possible to find an Art placement! I was overjoyed I couldn't believe that it was actually going to happen! I continued to focus on my last semester of on-campus classes, and be as patient as I could waiting for my United States placement. It wasn't until January when I got my student teaching placement, about two weeks before I would start. Now with a normal art education placement you would get two one that covers elementary art, and the other that covers secondary art, I was really worried about this because I would be leaving for a huge chunk of one of those placements, and I most likely would not connect with the students in that placement as well as my other one. HOWEVER turns out that the placement I received was a full semester K-12 Art teacher position! I felt super luck to receive it, because now I have more opportunities to connect my classroom here in Wisconsin with the one that I will have in Sweden. Finally around February I booked my flights...

and thats the short of it, and now I am two short weeks away from one of the biggest adventures of my life! I hope to use what I learn over in Sweden in my future teaching experiences. I also hope that this blog will help my classmates, students, and family learn more about the education system in Sweden, and how important Art is not only in the United States but all over the world!

That's all for now
Stay tuned for more!
Theresa