Travel Q & A

Swedish immersion Q This July, my 11-year-old daughter and I will be attending a family reunion in Sweden. We'll be staying with relatives in Stockholm and attending the reunion in Venjan, Sweden. As we're not leaving for a few months (and struggling to learn a little conversational Swedish to boot!), I was wondering if you had any creative ideas of a good way to document this adventure. My daughter plans on making a diary and we'll bringing video and still cameras. But is there something more we could do? Also, are you aware of any immersion-type Swedish language classes offered in Minnesota?

A What an enriching trip you have in store. I have a few ideas that I hope will help.

First things first: Minnesota is a terrific place to learn Swedish. The American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis offers both adult and youth classes. Svenska Skolan (translation: Swedish school) is a language and cultural program for ages 4 through 12; the spring session starts March 19. Language classes for adults begin the week of March 21. For more information, go to www.american swedishinst.org and click on the education link.

For a true immersion experience, nothing beats Concordia Language Villages. It offers a variety of weeklong and weekend camps (and provides instruction in 15 languages, from Spanish to Korean). A Swedish "family fun weekend" is coming up April 28-May 1 at the language village in Bemidji, Minn., where architecture is in true Swedish style. For more information, go to www. concordialanguagevillages.org.

Since your daughter is keeping a diary, and you'll have both video and still photographs, you'll be armed with the tools you need to create a blog. That might make a nice way to document the trip as you go, especially if there are extended family members back home who can't make the trip. Go to www.blogspot.com to get started.

Once you're back home, why not make a book that showcases photos from your trip? Sites like www.kodakgallery.com and www.shutterfly.com have formats that make it easy: You can click and drag photos into an existing layout, or create your own design, page by page. Cover options include leather-bound hardcovers. Once you make the book, you can print as many you wish. They are really very nice. In fact, they'd make a heartfelt, after-the-fact thank-you gift for the Swedish relatives who will be putting you up during your stay.

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