I woke up early, got dressed and went down to have breakfast. After breakfast, Gwyneth, her mother and I left for Tullinge Gymnasium. Even though I was wearing 2 jackets, a scarf, a beanie and gloves, I felt very cold. The temperature ranged from 2-9 degree Celsius and it was drizzling sporadically, interspersed with snow sometimes (called slush since it’s like a slushie), which according to Gwyneth is the worst kind of rain. We drove to the train station and arrived Tullinge station from were we walked for a half hour to the gymnasium. Once we arrived, Gwyneth showed me around the gymnasium. There were 5 buildings or houses; different streams had their classes in different houses. All of us met in one of the houses and then, there was a short introduction about the programme planned for us, given by Arild Lagerkvist. In the lecture, he stressed on how punctuality is very important in Sweden, and how, if we are even a minute or even seconds late, we could miss out on the programme planned for us. The lecture was followed by another lecture on Swedish society by Malin Jung. In it, she talked about collectivism and individualism, religion, and the controversial topic of migration. We found out that all education is free for the students since it’s funded by the government, and how society was becoming more individualistic and less collective. The controversy of migration and asylum in Sweden was also discussed. After that, we had another lecture on the Swedish healthcare system by Eva Lederberg. She spoke of how the disabled are helped by the state to lead as normal a life as possible. We then proceeded to the lunch room to eat. The food was quite tasty, and we were surprised since everyone has told us it’d be quite bland. After lunch, we went to 2 institutions that took care of the disabled. The first place was kind of like a home for the disabled. There were caretakers who took different shifts. Everything was colour- coordinated to make it easier for its residents. We were shown different rooms where the residents lived, a common area, bathrooms, the kitchen and dining area, the pantry and even a backyard which had a pool and a bike. The house was split into two parts: one part consisted of rooms for people who had limited motor skills and the other was for people with normal motor skills. The former had various features, like a special machine that could move a person around the room, since it’s important for them to move and not be confined to a wheelchair. Sasha tried it out, and she also tried out a blanket which was stuffed with plastic balls, and according to her, it felt like you were getting a gigantic hug. We then went out into the backyard, and some of us took turns in riding the bike. We ended the tour by eating the cookies and drinking the coffee laid out for us. Next, we headed for the other institution in Tumba, which was funded by the government. It had seven workers or caretakers with various backgrounds in medicine, nursing and others. The people staying or visiting here were more of those who had brain trauma or neurodegenerative disorders like Alzhimer’s. They showed us the various handicrafts made by these people, which included paintings, crafts and glasswork, which looked very cool. We met Iver, who made really amazing glasswork. We ended this tour by a demonstration of musical therapy, in which we all participated. It was pretty fun. We then headed back to the bus which dropped us off at Tullinge by 4 p.m. and proceeded to drop the rest of the students at Bromma. It was raining slush, and was incredibly cold. Gwyneth found me and we headed to the bus stop, caught a bus which took us to the station where we boarded the train which took us home. Gwyneth had a flute lesson in Salem at 6:30 p.m. and came back by 7. We had dinner by 7:30 p.m. and then played some Swedish board games, which were quite fun. At around 9:15, I went to bed exhausted, and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
