Its been a long time...too long.

Its funny how that when I was 16 and this website got its start, how it was just mere hobby. I was living in the small town that I had been born and raised in, and it was my first time SEEING the internet and I was so eager to try out HTML. So, I learned it all, by hand, with the aid of no program, and had a little page for a hobby.

This webpage page served a bigger purpose, however, when I decided and was chosen to spend my senior year of high school abroad in Sweden. I had many demands for photos and reports of what I was doing abroad--and not enough money to fund sending copies of photos to everyone. So, I found facilities at my Swedish high school, and had new photos on my site every week without fail, along with an editor's letter that detailed my adventures. I had tons of hits in those days, tons of entries in my guestbook, and I really felt that I was able to share the God-given opportunity I had to spend a continuous uninterrupted year of my life abroad. It was an opportunity that too few of us get.

But then, things changed (as they inevitably do) and I entered a new phase in my life. I wasn't home a month in the United States, and suddenly I was shipped off to college. College, as you know, tends to keep a person rather busy. The endless papers, exams, reading...holding a job down...and all of the adventures that go into the college experience, kept me with a serious lack of time for this webpage. It stood as a monument for probably 2 years, unchanged, until I finally shut it down with the silent promise to myself that I would update it..."someday."

Well, that someday...is today. I don't know what exactly has motivated me now. Perhaps the fact that as I write this, I am presently back in my old stomping ground, Sweden, studying this time at a university. Also, probably because I realize that three-fourths of my college experience has gone by with little to no documentation. Senior years are often legendary for being the "best." I hope this is the case, and I plan to document it.

So, here comes my page...I hope you like it. You can catch an update here.

Best,

Alyssa Bittner

Stockholm, Sweden

May 5th, 2002