Johanna Bundsen has experienced both heaven and hell in the two years since she left Sweden and Sävehof.
It started with one season and one league title in Ludwigsburg, Germany, before the top club went bankrupt last summer. The Bundesliga side suddenly had to find a new club. It ended up in Metz, France - and a resounding success when the club won the Champions League.
"It has been an eventful season," says Bundsen, who has had her partner Niklas and now six-year-old daughter Leah living in Sweden during this time.
We were thinking of moving them to Germany after the first season, but we were glad we didn't have time to do that when we got the bankruptcy notice. It feels strange to say it, but we've been a bit used to this distance. But it hasn't been optimal.
"Gives a lot of energy"
Now the situation is different. The 35-year-old, named Europe's best goalkeeper, has signed a two-year contract with Odense and the family is finally living under the same roof on Funen.
My daughter has started school and we have a daily routine together. It is clear that it gives me a lot of energy to have my family there every day, says Johanna Bundsen.
The fact that everyday life continues is not a disadvantage for the continued national team career. At the end of the year, another European Championship awaits and then Bundsen will be away from home for about a month at best - if Sweden goes far.
"Still very fun"
While loyalists like Jamina Roberts and Nathalie Hagman retired from Blågult this spring, the Bohuslän goalkeeper sees no end to her national team career so far.
"I still think handball is a lot of fun and I'm driven by continuing to develop. And it's a great honor and incredibly cool to play with the national team," says Bundsen, just over 17 years after her national team debut.
This week, Bundsen is back in France, where she will play the 182nd international match of her career in Lyon on Saturday.
It is the first of five matches that Blågult will play before the European Championship group stage begins in Bratislava, Slovakia, on December 4.
The national team plays its first match of the season against France in Lyon at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
On October 22 and 24, Sweden will face Brazil in Alingsås and Jönköping.
The European Championship form will then be sharpened in two matches against Iceland, on November 26 in Malmö and two days later in Halmstad.
Sweden will play its opening European Championship group-stage match in Bratislava on December 4-8. Germany, host nation Slovakia and Serbia await there.
