Heart warming "Brunch".

Informing us that we would have some kind of a gathering on the last,we were all very keen and enthusiastic ,looking forward to what this special occasion and what it had instore.  There were these mixed feelings at that point of time because we did not in any ways want to leave the Swedish, and on the flip side were very excited for this very, so called unexperienced "Brunch" , that was nothing but a meal after breakfast and before lunch.We all arrived at a student's place who as usual made us feel at home while this amazing meal was still being made...We chit-chat for a while,hop in and lend a helping hand and Walaa!!! before we knew it the table was all set ,with a rainbow of amazing coloures ,ofcourse with the temptation of the fragrance of freshly prepared pancakes,which according to their culture is a traditional dish to be served for such meals.We sit at the table and talk about the experiences of the latter days spend and how we'd like to stay a little while longer.The pancakes looked amazing and tasted ever better.That was one amazing memory to be jotted down as there was so much of love and friendship in the air even though we had to bid farewell on the very same day.It was indeed an experience  we never came across ever....The Bromma students were unhappy to say goodbye as much as we were.But with heavy hearts we had to say goodbye to the best..as there is a saying that all things come to an end but in this case the end was yet to come, because we were going to see them again soon.

Brunch in the making....

Amazing savouries 😍😍

 The rainbow coloured "Brunch".

11 September 2017

Sixth day in Sweden 

I woke up early as I was all nervous for the big day ,'The India Day'. I got ready as quickly as possible because I had to pack my bag with all the costumes I needed for the program. I wore a kurti to school that day because we all had to wear traditional Indian costumes on this day. I was all scared because I have stage fright and I had to perform infornt of the second year students of Tullinge gymnasium and few parents who could make it. I and Ida (my host ) had to walk for about 15 mins to school. In school we had some free time to be with our friends. Soon the history teacher, Malin Jung came to inform us that we had a small school tour at 9. After the school tour we had a lecture on flora, fauna and life in the Archipelago by Arild Lagerkvist. Then we had our lunch at 11. We also had a lecture on preservation biology by Joakim Loqvist. The nervousness was increasing during the lecture as the program was just in a few hours. After the lecture ended we had 2 hours to prepare for the program. It was not only me who was nervous for the program, but almost every student was. We practiced our dance and then the teachers told us to wear our costumes and get ready. After we were done changing, we put on our makeup, all ready and pretty for the program. We had a final program rehearsal. Five minutes before the program we all had to go backstage and wait for the students to take their place. The crowd was huge. And at 15:00 the program started with the welcome dance by Siya and Priya. We put up a beautiful performance consisting of different cultural and traditional dances such as the Punjabi, Gujarati, Goan, classical, etc. We put up a fashion show wearing all the traditional Indian costumes. We also had a Bollywood mashup at the end. The program ended with the Indian National Anthem. Goan sweets like bebinca, shev, doce were served to the Swedish students after the program. It all ended well. After this I and Ida went back home. I rested for some time and then I had dinner with Ida and her family. It was a tiring day yet an amazing one. 

Visit to health care facilities by Elrica Coutinho

The visit to the 2 health care facilities was amazing. We Began the day with a lecture on health care facilities in Sweden, in tullinge gymnasium. It was amazing to see how different it is as compared to India. The Swedish government tries as hard as possible to make the lives of disabled people, both physical and mental, as normal as possible.
The first facility we visited was more of a rehab centre for brain damaged individuals. It was amazing to see the various types of therapies used, such as music therapy, art therapy etc, to help the people cope with their daily lives. We even had a session on music therapy which was quite fun!
We even bought a few glass articles such as candle holders and necklaces, made by the clients themselves.
These below are a few pictures of the articles made by them.
We then visited another facility that was very unique as it housed each client and provided a very normal life, with supervision, to all the people there. The entire place was very well organised with colour coded charts and pictures everywhere to make it easier for them to. understand.
This day all in all was very good and fun.

By: Elrica Coutinho

Visit to Grunda Lund
This visit was an unexpected one, it wasn't even a planned one . But it turned out to be an unforgettable experience ...It all started by paying a quite an expensive pass..We all exchange students experienced an nervous as well as a scary feeling..we first experience 5 types of scary roller coaster rides and 5 other different types of crazy other expriences.. eventually some of us felt a bit uneasy.. but after having some refreshments in the middle ..we wer all fine..the spinning rollercoaster was the scariest of all.. this experience will be cherished for a lifetime..

Stockholm City Hall

14 September 2017

After our lunch at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology ,we headed towards the City Hall. It is the building of the  Municipal Council for the city of Stockholm in Sweden. Stockholm's municipal council meets in 'Radssalen' the council chamber , where anyone can walk in to attend the meeting.

The City Hall is a stately, regal structure made of eight million bricks. It is one of the Sweden's leading examples of National Romanticism in architecture. It was designed by Swedish architect Ragnar Östberg. The great Noble Banquet is held in the Blue Hall which ironically is not blue as Rognar fell in love with those huge red bricked walls and decided to not to paint them blue as it was planned before.

After the dinner in the Blue Hall, Noble Prize Laureates, Royalty, and guests dance in the Golden Hall with it's 18 million gold mosaic tiles. It received it's name when the walls were decorated by mosaics created by the artist Einar Firseth on a proposal by Rangar Östberg. The City Hall is beautiful in it's own way.

The City Hall Tower

The Blue Hall 

The Blue Hall 

Visit to Skansen

While Skansen is one of the top attractions in Stockholm, I always find it hard to describe it to visitors in just a few words. This is because Skansen is so many things in one... it is an open-air museum, park, zoo, and the official place for the celebration of the major holidays in Sweden. It was founded in 1891, making it the world's first open-air museum, and was created by Arthur Hazelius as a way to show what Sweden looked like pre Industrial Age. And a beautiful park setting, with views over Stockholm.

Animals at the zoo

Replica of ancient house

Boat trip in the Stockholm archipelago

There are 30,000 islands that make up the archipelago of Stockholm. These small islands dot the shore of Sweden. From Stockholm we took the 9:30 ferry on Cindrella 1. We sat in the ferry and got comfortable for the two hours ride to Sandhamn. Along the way we stopped at small towns, saw hundreds of rocky, forested islands and saw numerous cruise ships. We had good views along the way from our seats. After reaching the destination we first had lunch and then walked the lanes to the seashore. Red and Yellow painted wooden houses with peaked roofs stood out among greenery and windy pines. Sandhamn was charming, small yachts and sailboats filled the harbour. We spent some time at the shore and returned to the harbour, had some ice-cream and then boarded Cinderella 2 back to Stockholm.

A view of the sea

Boats, boats everywhere