PUPIL'S DIARIES SWEDEN

SWEDEN’15

Our trip started on the 21^st of November 2015. We arrived to Copenhagen, and then we got a train to Lund’s station, where a Swedish teacher was waiting for us. She gave us our train cards, and then we met our families.

Alicia and I were the first to meet our hosts, Emelie and Louise. They are twins, so we both were at the same house. We were really nervous, but her mother, Marie, helped us to start.

At home, we met Stephan and Elias, who were the girl’s father and brother, and then we all had dinner. The food was different, of course, but the truth is that it was really nice. We ate some meat (I think from reindeer, but I don’t really know), chips and salad. And then they gave us a typical Swedish sweet, called Lussekatt, which had saffron, and ginger cookies. I really liked the dinner.

After that, Louise, Emelie, Alicia and I came to Emelie’s room and talked for two hours about our costumes, our holidays, etc. it was really funny and interesting to compare both countries and to know a bit more from a different culture.

On Sunday morning, we went to a brunch at Julia’s house (another girl from the program). There, we met almost all German guests and some other Swedish hosts. At first, we all were a bit shy, and we only talked in our languages, but then we started talking with almost everyone there. All of them were really kind, and we had a really nice time.

After having brunch, we all went to the Emporia, the biggest shopping centre in Sweden, situated in Malmoe. It was amazingly big, and inside there were all types of shops: for coffee, soap, clothes, hairdressers…

I think that the best moment there at the Emporia, was at the roof. We went there without any jackets of something although it was really cold and snowy, but it was worthwhile, because we saw all Malmoe. There was an amazing view.

At home, Emelie and Louse invited two of their friends: Josse and Rebecka. They told us some of their funniest experiences, and we talked about our likes; music, films… etc.

On Monday, we started school. Our hosts showed us the building, and then a man called Gabriel Olsson talked us about innovation and business.

After that, we started our expositions. Each country talked about its innovation processes, for example Sweden talked about Spotify, Bluetooth, Skype…

I think that our exposition about Parros was really nice

Then, in the afternoon, we went firstly to the Espresso House. We ate something and had some coffee. We met some other friends of the girls, who are learning Spanish at school, so they practiced a bit with us. It was really funny! After that,  we went to the bowling. I was so bad at playing, but we had a nice time together, and we also laugh a lot.

On Tuesday, we had a guided city tour on Lund. It’s so beautiful and big! Then we met the mayor at City Hall. He explained us some more about Lund, and its innovative processes.

In the afternoon, we visited the Ingvar Kamprad House. Then, we went to the botanic garden. It was amazing to see lots of plants and habitats, and I also liked so much the Biomicry. It was really interesting.

Then, we had free night. We came home and had dinner. After that, they all started showing us lots of photos. We stayed for almost two hours watching photos; from Lund, from its summer house… it was a really funny time. They all were really friendly and cozy.

On Wednesday, we had two lectures. One about the European Labour Market, from Dieter Zippert, and the other from a younger man called Fredrik Leifland, who talked us about Quixter. I think this was the most interesting lecture we had, because it’s a really interesting invent, and maybe it’s one of the most important future invents. Fredrick may have success someday!

At the afternoon, we visited the Water Hall Science Centre. It was so interesting, because there we saw lots of experiments and curiosities from the space, Medicine, Physics, Chemicals…

After that, the girls wanted to have some food at McDonald’s before going to school, and as we didn’t want a hamburger, we looked for a supermarket, bought some bread, and made a typical Spanish lunch with the ham pack that Alicia had in her bag. We brought a bit of Spain with us!

Then we went back to school to “eat” some pizza, and we watched a film called Pitch Perfect.

On Thursday, at 10:00 in the morning, we went to see Copenhagen. I can just say that I haven’t seen a more beautiful city ever. I liked so much the port with the little mermaid and the square, and the Christmas Market was so cozy. The only thing that I didn’t like was that the teacher was guiding us so fast across the city, so we couldn’t take many photos or see some things.

Other thing that I enjoyed so much from Copenhagen was the views from a building which we went up in. It was amazing.

At the end of the day, we had a farewell party at the school. We danced a lot, and listened to some music. It was a really nice time. I had a lot of fun.

Then, it came the harder part of the trip: the farewell. We said goodbye to everyone there, and took some photos with them.

The biggest surprise came when we arrived home. Alicia and I went upstairs to fix our bags and things, when Emelie arrived and asked us to go downstairs. She said: do you still have some more space in your bags? They gave us a bag with some Lussekatt, and another present. It was a bag with some Swedish chocolates, which we talked about the first day, a crystal ball with snow and a red horse, which is typical in Sweden, and the most beautiful one: The first day, while we were having breakfast, Stephan asked us to take some cheese. There, cheese is served like a triangle of around three centimeters of thickness, and they cut it down with like a paddle with a blade in slices. Well, they gave each one of us a paddle like that.

It was a really beautiful detail!

Then, Alicia and I were at our room, when Louise came with some Swedish candy (it was so nice), and then Emelie came too, so we all stayed there for hours talking about our life and so on. We had a funny time together. I think that was one of the best moments of the trip.

I really enjoyed every single moment of the trip. This has been the most beautiful experience I’ve lived in my life; my first flight, my first country to visit... I can just define it as awesome, and unforgettable, of course.

Noelia Aldaria Rincón.