This story began about an year ago. It was the day in June I received my S.S.C.E result. I was hunting for an institution which could provide me the subject combination I wanted, when I accidentally landed on the website of Chowgule college. It was the last and the only appropriate option. And when I had filled the whole online admission form, I came across the last question. “Would you like to be involved in the Sweden Exchange Programme which is organized by the college every year?”
I gave it a thought… and ended up with “Why not?”
I followed all the procedures required for enrolment in this exchange programme including an essay about ‘Why do I want to go to Sweden?’, and finally, got selected!
It was an immense pleasure having a Swedish student- Maloue at home for 15 days (November-December 2011). Roaming around the cities, the beaches, the other tourist destinations in Goa are memories cherished forever….
And the time came for our visit to Sweden….. Would you like to know what happened next? Read it yourself! J J J
On Friday 04-05-2012, at 4 am, we flew from Dabolim airport. After a journey of 4 hours, we reached Doha airport where we had to halt for an hour. From Doha, we accomplished a journey of 7 hours to Sweden. At the Arlanda airport, Maloue and her father were eagerly awaiting my arrival! That drive of an hour was a blink of an eye, but with my eyes wide open! When we reached at the pretty home in Norsborg I was going to reside in for the next 15 days, I felt like I had become a Princess in a manor! It was the best house I’ve ever stayed in!
We had a welcome dinner the night we arrived at Tumba Gymnasium; the school where Maloue studies. All my tour-mates, my teachers, the host students from Tumba, Tullinge and Sodra Latin Gymnasiums, their parents and their teachers met for this dinner at the cafeteria of Tumba. It was like a mini restaurant and a very pretty place. The weather was cold and everyone entered with their coats on! Believe me, everyone looked quite elegant in those Swedish coats! The menu was delicious, especially the dessert! It was a pie with lot of vanilla cream!!!! Yummy!!!!!!!
The next morning, we all gathered in the old town of Stockholm. This is the place where the era of Swedish revolution began! The old town is a wide stretch of land, with palaces, buildings with ancient constructions and a beautiful lake surrounding it. There are several statues and monuments of great historical importance as well! Each and every monument, building, statue had a story of its own… We enjoyed listening to the stories and indulging chocolates distributed by a very informative lady tourist guide! J
And then, after we had seen the whole ‘old town’, we headed towards ‘Skansen’ the zoo museum! But the plan was exciting! We went by boat! After we’d crossed the vast waters, and walked for about 10 minutes, we could see the Skansen area and a restaurant. We had lunch there and then began to roam around and see different species of plants animals, birds and reptiles, some known while some unknown to us. In Skansen itself, there are small wooden cottages in which different traditional occupations in Sweden are depicted. It was a fun-informative tour in Skansen overall! J
We were getting more and more excited about roaming around in Stockholm. Soon after we left Skansen, we planned of going to a place called Kungstragarten. Out of those zillions of happy photo-sessions, the one we had in Kungstragarten, the garden of Cherry-blossoms, was the most awesome one!!
The same night, Maloue’s father, Peter, had invited his girlfriend, Malin over for dinner! She’s an amazing woman! And this dog she has, Foppa, is the cutest dog I’ve ever touched! Maloue’s boyfriend, Micke, joined us too. After we had had dinner, we decided to go for a walk to the lake and a hill nearby, in Norsborg.. It was lovely! There’s a manor up on the hill. It is the same place where, in olden times, the dead Vikings were buried along with their wealth and riches! Since, in Sweden the sun sets at around 9 at night we could even see the beautiful sunset!
We spent our first weekend in Sweden with the families we stayed with. Monday was planned for Lectures in Tumba Gymnasium about ‘Swedish History’ and ‘Technology used in Swedish schools’. After lunch we played some fun-games on the playground at Tumba. Later in the evening, we attended the Welcome Function arranged for us by students of Sodra Latin Gymnasium. They performed for us, and their job definitely deserves a ‘Well Done!’
Tuesday was ‘Swedish cuisine day’. We learnt how to cook Swedish food…And as always, I loved the dessert! The session was conducted by the cook of the cafeteria in Tumba Gymnasium. He was a very enthusiastic, jolly man!
In the evening, we went to a place where couples in their 70’s are striving hard to keep the Swedish culture and folklore alive. I should say, it was the best experience of all! Those couples taught us their traditional Swedish dances! They were so graceful at the steps! Though they’re considered old by the society, they seem so young and spirited as they dance!
We spent our Wednesday in Sodra Latin Gymnasium in Stockholm. Mr. Shrinivasan, an NRI in Sweden, told us about his experiences in Sweden. He also spoke about cultural and social differences and similarities between India and Sweden. We also visited Glashus, or the Glass House situated on an island near Stockholm, where we were informed about the sustainable management of water, sewage, garbage etc. all over the country. It was great to know that Sweden is the country with the purest water in the world and is heading towards being the least polluted country as well! Isn’t that great? J
On Thursday, we went on a Forest Trail at a place called Lida. Lida is a very beautiful hill covered with forest. There’s a very beautiful lake situated just where the forest ends…
Friday the 11th, was probably the most Important day for us, the Indian Visitors. We had a great responsibility of representation, the ‘India Day’! Proud to say, our PPT’s, dances and songs were successful enough in attracting a great crowd of Swedes! They loved our classical music and dances, the Kashmiri folk, the Goan folk- Mando and Kunbi dance, the Punjabi, the Bollywood dances and also the national anthem! We realized how much we love India when we held our dear Tiranga in hand..
The last weekend we spent in Sweden was the fun weekend. On Friday night, we went bowling! We spent the whole Saturday in Cosmonova, the Science Museum. We watched a 3D film named ‘The Flying Monsters’. This museum is a huge one and I took around 4 hours just to see 7 rooms! There are preserved skeletons of extinct animals like dinosaurs and mammoths! Geological, zoological and botanical information and experiments are also conveyed in an interesting manner! On Sunday, we spend 8 hours in the Grona-Lund amusement park! Craziest roller-coasters, funniest rides, loveliest food and jolliest atmosphere! Love you Grona-Lund !
We visited a Royal Castle on Monday. The Drottingholm Palace. Its one of the most beautiful palaces I’ve ever seen. Ancient coding and carvings on the walls and the tomb-shaped roof, vivid colourful paintings, and beautifully sculpted idols everywhere give the palace a very rich look. A garden and a pool just outside the castle facilitated a great photography session! The garden included a large variety of flowers; especially orchids! That continuous cool breeze added to this enriching visit a totally different flavour!
The last day in Sweden, we decided to spend in the Wasa museum. Wasa is an army ship that sank 350 years ago. As the king then had ordered, it was made with a high capacity of holding arms and ammunition, but it was built wrong scientifically. Thus it couldn’t balance in the water for more than half an hour and sank after a few kilometers of travel. In this sad story of Wasa, many people lost their lives. In the late 19th Century, it was found under-water, with no much harm done to it by time. It was then re-constructed to be called the Wasa Museum today. This museum provides the whole history behind Wasa-The sunken ship, information about the people who lost their lives and even their skeletons carefully preserved.
And then it was the farewell dinner organized by Sodra Latin Gymnasium…. The days had passed so quickly and silently…
On 16th May 2012, we met at the Stockholm Centrum and said a sad Goodbye to all our dear Swedish friends. It was a very difficult moment for all of us. It was so much of care they’d taken of us, that we couldn’t even speak out some words of appreciation. We were all speechless. (Maloue’s father was almost in tears…and so was I).. From Centrum, we got a train which went to Arlanda. We left Arlanda in 3 hours and with a halt of an hour at Doha, we were back on our home-land in 12 hours…. It was the early morning of 17th May 2012 in Goa. Our parents, who we’d nearly forgotten for the last fifteen days, were already there at the airport, eagerly awaiting our arrival and a bunch of new experiences from Sweden. J
-Antara <3
-Antara <3
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