Adjö Sweden!!!

Our last official day in Sweden started really early. "Tack" to Chloe for waking us all up :). After breakfast it was our usual dash for the bus, but we can proudly say that on this last day we were half an hour early!!!! We had a morning session with an anthropologist Anya who spoke to us about the unwritten rules of society and the reaction caused when any of these rules are broken. We had to introduce ourselves and share a similar experience, or exchange places with like minded people. At the end it got a bit confusing to know who was up next because of all the seat changing, nonetheless it was really fun. After that we had a history lesson with Mattias where he spoke about the history of the capital city, how it got its name, interesting events that took place there and soo much more. He told us that the Vikings, who most of us think of as scary people who just plunder and destroy, were actually farmers. Who would have thought right? Personally the most interesting part was when he told us about Gustav Adolf's crazy family. After that it was time for lunch. Everyone was a wee bit tensed because after lunch we had to show our presentations on the project assigned to us. It was all fine and everyone's presentations were a success. We had refection time after that where we discussed what we learned in Sweden, and how we had decreased our prejudices of other cultures. Before our farewell dinner at Sodra Latin, we had a bit of time to ourselves to do some last minute shopping. Dinner at Sodra Latin was really nice and towards the end everyone got emotional. Ma'am Kiran, ma'am Sobita, our resident pianist Vanessa and a few other students( sorry guys too many names) sang the song 'Ajeeb Dastan' and even the strongest hearts broke down and wept. With tears streaming down our face, giving each other final hugs and promises to see each other again we parted ways. And with a final view of the Old City, we made our way back to our ship to pack our bags, ending one of the most memorable trips of our lives. All the memories we all made there will always remain in our hearts, as will all our Swedish friends and everyone we have had the honour of meeting.
Ajöken! Vi ses senare! 

Time to say 'Alvida' to Sweden 7/05/13

Time waits for no man.And nothing is permanent.Every hello has a goodbye.That's the reason we have to make the most out of every minute of our life.The last day of our stay in Sweden had come.It began at 6:00 in the morning with the sounds that arose from Chloe's knocking on my bedroom door.Her early morning door knocks served the purpose of an alarm clock for some like Karen and Nishad(he fell off his bed once in attempt to open the door :-P)(please don't be crossed with me Nishad for having mentioned about your royal fall in the blog)We had to be ready by 7:00 to have breakfast and board the bus that took us to Central Station.In Sweden if you ain't on time,the bus doesn't wait.Like I said in the beginning,'TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN'.It wasn't easy for us 'susegad' goans to adapt to the Swedish lifestyle.But we did it.From Central Station,we took a subway and then a bus to reach Tullinge Gymnasium.We reached early that day.Felt so good about it.That morning we had a value education class that was taken by Anthropologist Anhia wherein we had to introduce ourselves and exchange our seats with like-minded people or share an experience about 'breaking a norm',about doing something unexpected that caused tongues to wag and eyebrows to raise.It was fun-filled interaction.We later had a lecture on Swedish history by Sir Matthias.He spoke about Vikings and their raids and not to forget Gustav Adolf's bizarre family.He also spoke about the countries that invaded Sweden and the way Christianity came into Sweden.Post lunch we had to present the projects we'd been working on.We did a comparitive study on Education System,Culture and Rehabilitation for Disabled which the Swedes liked.Then we tried answering two questions put forth by Ma'am Eva 1)How has our stay sweden decreased our enthnocentrism? 2)Which are the insights we received from the Athena project? We later left for home and headed for  dinner@Sodra Latin Gymnasium.Our last dinner with the swedes was an amazing one.At the end we got a lil emotional though.Vanessa played the piano and we sang the song 'Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh' which made almost everyone cry.Later we left for Chapman and started packing our bags.It was day full of activities!

second sunday in Sweden :)

today was a free day for us.. morning started at around 8.30 am followed by a breakfast and the discussions about our project topic.. later we had some time in the ship (our loving Chapman). some of the students and teachers went for a visit to a museum (vasa museum)  whereas some of us went out to shop !

roaming in this beautiful city is so awesome.. cool breeze everytime.. we had our lunch in pizza hut and off to shop.. ! we had a fun time shopping, checking out different clothes, malls and stuff.. wow..

later we went for mass at around 6 pm and now we are here back in our ship with dinner from Mc Donald and now have to start with our project presentation..

today was a fun day out of our busy schedule :)

VISIT TO AN ISLAND

Today we had a visit to an named Uto. After a long journey we reached the beautiful island. we had a walk through the island where we were showed some mining sites. Also we were told that one of the elements named lithium was discoverd on this island. We experienced some beautiful nature scenes and all tried to capture this scenic beauty in their cameras. We were walking through the green jungles of the island when we realized that we lost our way out. So finally it turned out to be a mini expedition to get through the jungle. All thanks to the modern technology like the GPS system on our mobiles, was it that we managed find our way out Once we discovered our way it was time for some finger licking swedish lunch. our swedish mates had organised some after lunch activities like football and cycling. The boys played football and the girls cycled. then we left for the stockholm city at around 5.00 clock. a unique thing we hapened to experience today wsa that on our way to island we travelled in a biodiesal bus. this was appreciate as a way to tackle pollution and other problems.

                                         scenic beauty

                                           all lost

cycling

29th April 2013, Monday

We started our day pretty early having to run to catch the 7:37am bus to Central station from there we took a train to Tullinge. Here we visited a school that... to students from 6-16yrs old. We had to put on blue plastic bags to our feet to keep the dirt from coming indoors. We were welcomed by a very friendly teacher named Monica. They had very unique ways of learning lessons that we find boring,,,We even saw boys at a sewing machine!!
Closer to lunch time we left for Tullinge Gymnasium for lunch. After lunch sir Mathias a history teacher gave us a lecture on Sweden, its political, geographical and cultural aspects. We also learnt that it was the King of Sweden's bday the following day. After some "fika" we enjoyed a fruitful interaction with the Swedish kids about the students influence in schools and the comparison between the Student councils in India and Sweden.

another day in sweden :) :) :)

As per our schedule we visited sodra latins gymnasium today. Sodra latin is one of the oldest institution of sweden. it was established in the year 1893. The structure is much different than that of tullinge gymnasium. We performed in the aula which is the one of the oldest historical structures which is not allowed to be renovated as per swedish laws. It has a seating capacity of 800 persons. We performed few of the selected items such as the lavani, bharatnatyam and kathak and the bollywood dances for the sodra students. We were accompanied by karl henriques for the tour of the college where we saw the library,the teachers lounge, the canteen and the classrooms. we had this amazing lunch in their canteen and then we had this relaxing time in the teachers room. The most fascinating thing that we saw in Sodra Latin was the picture of Then we were taken for a guided tour around old city. We were explained about the historical events which took place in stockholm. it was pretty much fun because of the fact thatthe en our sodra students accompanied us there. We were shown the royal palace, the cathedral and the streets of old city. We were also told about the stockholm bloodbath which was a major tragedy in the history of sweden. the tour made us realise about the depth of the history of sweden. the tour guide was entertaining and we had fun. On our way back to our home sweet home "chapman" we saw a huge crowd gathered outside the Grand Hotel waiting to catch a glimpse of Bruce Springsten.

Another sunny day in Sweden and after a nice breakfast we headed towards the places which were  scheduled for the day. Initially we visited a short lived home were mentally retarded and physically challenged children are kept by their parents for short intervals so they have some relief and utilize their times and activities which are otherwise not possible. the home has several facilities which try to make the child comfortable as possible by providing home like environment. next we visited a institute wherein disabled in the age range 23-65 years are employed so that they feel worthy of themselves. they are guided by the staff who work there. activities like glassware making, cards, locket, pendants making etc. are carried out. Swedish government and society put in utmost efforts to integrate the disabled in normal life, while working down the streets of Stockholm. then we left for Tullinge gymnasium for the most awaited India day. however, with nervous minds we managed to put up a fabulous show and fascinate the Swedes. We also served them the Goan sweets in the end of the program. Following the visit to the Tullinge gymnasium was a party which was organized by our Swedish mate. We had some delicious food and danced with them and finally returned back to Chapman exhausted.
In our entire stay in Sweden till now we noticed some unique facilities which we don't often notice in India. Every staircase has facility for wheel chair to move up and down on a lane for the wheels to glide on for children or elder people.

Grona Lund !!!

After waiting for 2 and half hour we finally entered Grona Lund. The day we waited for ever since we came to Sweden. I won't ever forgot this day, I think non of us in our group will forget today.

We started with Our first ride 'Insane' and one of the best experience of the day with lot of screams and singing songs.
We went then to the Biggest Roller Coaster 'Jetline' wich was scariest but lot of fun.

 
                                                               


Ans this is how our face looked wen we came down from the highest point..!!

Then it was time for 'Eclipse' the World's highest Star-flyer and we did had the Guts to do it.

Then Last but the Best the 'Fritt Fall'. The falling experience from so high was defiantly the Best one.

Then at the end Mam Britt-Marie Hornkvist gifted us with huge 2 kg chocolate for our good behavior wich we shared and enjoyed it very much and we went back to Chapman after finding super glue for Shane's broken glasses.

Our day started off with a visit to the youth center in Hallunda.It caters to youths ranging between 12 years to 23 years old and provides them support-psychological,social and even financial.The youth center has a staff which consists of a counselor-Thomas and 4 mid wife's.
After a very informative lecture by the counselor and the mid wife's, we went back to Tullinge Gymnasium for a much needed lecture on the Swedish language.We learnt some basic sentences in Swedish.Today was also the convocation day for the final year students which we got to witness.
Today also happens to be the King's birthday and also the first day of spring which is celebrated as Bonfire Day wherein people form a crowd and proceed to a chosen spot to light the bonfire and welcome the first day of spring.All in all it was a very interesting day!!

A new day a new hope.Our 4th day in Sweden.Sunday a holiday and so none of us  left our beds till it was 9am.All of us just preferred to be indoors.The windy breeze freezed us all at the deck.Since we were free we began our India day practices.Everything went on so well and it was lots of fun.some capturing pictures and the others posing around.                                                                                                              
On our way we came across a musical concert that was going on the street and so a few of us joined them and started dancing.Tapping our feet according to the tune we enjoyed a lot and laughed our hearts out.
Shopping is so much fun and how could we even get back from it?Zara ,NK,Gallerian were some of our interests.Everything we came across was really attractive and worth going crazy on.
The weather was really getting cold so we decided to have our dinner and return back to our hostel.
Wow!What an awesome day was it.Looking forward for much more fun ahead.:)
Lights off!!

VANESSA GONSALVES

A Sunday in Sweden

A well awaited Sunday finally arrived!!! We had a long morning in, had a dance on the deck and off we were to the city of Stockholm!!! We wandered into a festival and had the time of our lives dancing with the Swedish people. hope we have such great times everyday ......

Well, the day started at around 9 with breakfast... And then we were off to Skansen farm and zoo which was just a hop, skip and a boat ride away. We took the ferry across to the island and were soon at Skansen. At Skansen we explored the old village life and institutions in Sweden. And this is all we saw...

Visit To Tullinge :)

The day started off very cold. We visited Tullinge gymnasium. Got a very warm welcome from the teachers and our friends here in Sweden.

In Tullinge we had a lecture on the Swedish culture and religion by maam Eva which was very interesting and found that most of our goan cultures are the same compared to theirs.

We had break in between the lecture called the "fika" which means coffee in Sweden. And after the lecture we had some free time where we played alot of games such as basketball, hockey, badminton and etc..

We were welcomed again for dinner by Tullinge and Sodra too.. 

And the dinner ended with a Hearty Gift.

Time for sweden. :)

It seemed almost unreal as I entered the dabolim airport.. The day we've been waiting for almost a year had finally come. We were leaving for sweden. We all assembled at d airport at 1 am.. It was one of my most memorable flights..There was a one stop at doha.. After which it took us 6 hours to reach sweden.. We al were heavily jetlagged.. But it dint stopuus us frm goin

 for a perfect swedish dinner in Stockholm.. 

SWEDEN!!!!!!!!!!

Finnaly the long wait is over!! Reached sweden today at 5pm.The entire journey was tiring but was funn!!! The weather here is really cold,that is around 10`C. Had a hearty meal,had a lrage pizza nd our stomachs are full.Got to get up very early tomorrow at 6.30 am.Tomorrow is going to be funn!!!!

Jag är glad

Jus 3 hours to go and I'll be at the airport:) Today's day was a lil tiring...wasn't at all excited until this moment.I can literally feel the excitement running down my spinal cord in the form of 'something'..:-D....Can't think of a word right now.The only word I can think of is 'SWEEEEEDENNNNNN'....:-*

SWEDEN......

all excited..some hours to go and we will be in sweden..yayy....!!!!!!!!

YAAYYYYY.......we are ol goin to swedennnn..so excited

The most awaited day has arrived...!! :)

In a few hours...just a few more hours.. We'll be... ON OUR FLIGHT TO SWEDEN!!!!
Just cant explain the excitement that is building up in the 22 of us!!
SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDEN!!!!!!!!

Sweden!!!!

Finally the day is here. After a long wait, and many practices, we are finally going to Sweden, which is like a promised land to us. Sweden, here we come!!!!!!

Sweden...!!!

Here I come Sweden..!!

After almost a year of waiting, its finally here! Going to Sweden in one day!!! Yaaay! Super Excited!!!!! SWEDEN :-D

We'll be at Dabolim Airport in 37hours!!! SWEDEN here we come!!!!

yyyyyyaaaaaaayyyyy! we are going to Sweden!!!<3

yaayyy!!!!!!!!!!!1

swedennnnn!!<3

going to be in sweden in 2 day....
hope we get 2 see snow :)

On cloud 9 :)

So excited..:)

Away we go..!!

Just One day left.. and I'll be In Sweden..!!!

Excited!!!!!

One day to go!!Sweden,here I come!

Sweden Fever!!

Only 1 more day to go and we are off to Sweden!!!!!! I'm so excited to be boarding a plane after sooooo long. Can't wait to get to Sweden!!

best memories wid my swidish mate 

wiam  ...

sun set beach on 11-12-12

one eveaning wid my cousins and wiam

wonderful sunset

 

 pic together

 jst fun ...

 at my place while enjoying diner on last day