Anna Returns Home

There seem to be children all over the place here at the airport in Washington. I'm traveling with Danish Maria Brunckhorst Smidt, who brought her whole little family on the GROW program; the wonderfully cute twins Alfred and Anne-Mai seem to be all over the place right now.

Time during the GROW period has passed devastatingly fast all the way from the beginning to the end, ever since I left a frozen Stockholm for the unknown down in the tropical warmth. If it hadn't been for the economy, there would have been more to do; there haven't been all that many orders for promotion-videos for boats etc. But the boss, Mike Staley, did his best to find stimulating things for me to do and some periods were very busy, like doing the projects in Palm Beach and Amelia Island.  In my spare time, I've had a full schedule for the most part... I have certainly tried my best to use the time as much as I could, and the rental car has been running warm in the evenings and weekends to take me to see different things and to see friends, many of whom live outside of Orlando. And when it was time to go, some of them arranged a small party, a potluck supper of sorts. In a short time, they have left a deep impression that will last for a long time.

Earlier in the blog, I promised more pictures of amazing birds and here are some! I have very much enjoyed all nature experiences in the different climate. The Americans seem to be good at Nature Park Reserves; we visited a swamp area recently and in spite of the drought, we managed to spot a small group of alligators close to one of the few puddles that were left... (But my friend Diane was terrified over the drought, which was much worse than she had ever seen!)

The whole trip through it seems that I've had bad luck concerning luggage... I actually thought I had a pretty good sense of the weight when going homewards, but the suitcases turned out too heavy (all three of them!) and there wasn't much time to do anything about it except for paying the number of hundreds of dollars that were demanded...

On my way to Florida, one of my suitcases disappeared and was all smashed when it turned up again (I have never seen anything like it!), and on my way back to Stockholm another one was a slightly damaged (in comparison!). The result of this is that I now have 2 brand new suitcases at home, ready to go off on new adventures. And the trip has of course also left other traces in my home... My childish fascination for pirates finally got to manifest itself and I have also come to develop a new taste for pompous picture frames...

Back in Sweden, I was met by my curious colleagues at TV4 - and at first I actually had some problems with finding the right buttons when sent out to the 'assault of the Saudi Arabian embassy' that was one of my first assignments, having worked with a different camera. I was also met by my sisters newly born baby.  He was born only four days before I came. His older sister immediately named her baby brother "Maja Hallon" ("Maja Raspberry") and they still call him this (although they say that it's only temporarily)! I don't know if maybe she really wanted a sister... It's been great to come home to all this and to the amazing Swedish spring - even though I wouldn't have minded to stay another while in the tropical heat! These three months have passed much too quickly.

I'm indeed very grateful over everything that I got to experience during my GROW period. It's an absolutely amazing idea and I would certainly recommend it to anyone that is able to apply. (I hope to see my American colleagues in Stockholm!) Below are links to some of the productions that I was involved in during the program... The first one is edited out of old material and the other two I have produced by my own.

FishStock - A clip to attract sponsors to a fishing competition.

Palm Beach Boat Show - A review of the Boat Show in Palm Beach. My camera collegue Matt is lending his voice...

Amelia Island - A promotion for Amelia Island (produced for the magazine "Travel and Life")