Rebecca Goes to Sweden: places to go, people to se, things to do!

Last week was a full packed week to say the least. Let's see...

Tuesday last week was the big day for beach handball! Helsingborg has a great tradition of organizing beach handball tournaments on the beach every day for two weeks. Every class in Helsingborg and surrounding areas can enroll one or more teams. My class had two teams for example. It was very well organized. There were 17 courts and referees and scorekeepers on every court and new games started on every count every 13 minutes. We had 5 group games in which we won 4 and tied 1. We moved on to the Sweet Sixteen. In that game we lost in overtime. Of course it was a bummer to get knocked out, but the day had been a lot more fun than I had thought.

Tuesday was also the day that my host sister came home from the US! She had been an exchange student in St. Louis, Missouri with YFU. It was so much fun to finally meet her.

The last week of school was a three day week and we didn't really have any actual lessons. It feels like summer vacation low key started last week. To kick off summer our class planned on having a little get together. The original plan was to grill outside by the water but the weather changed our plans. We went to a classmates apartment in town. We played cards, got food, and played SingStar. Singstar is karaoke. It was a night full of laughs and good times.

Thursday was the big graduation day! It was crazy. Gustav (my older brother who was graduating) met with his class at someones house and had a champagne breakfast before school. Then we all gathered in the LGI (aula) at school. The graduates were running around the school blowing their whistles and other noisemakers and much as they could. When we were all corralled in the same room the noise level was through the room. There were some performances and the principles said a little bit and scholarships were handed out. But it was not an official ceremony like in the US and there were only students there.

my empty locker

view outside the window at school

After this our class gathered in a classroom and the teachers came in to say a few words. My Swedish teacher was super sweet and got me 5 books by Swedish authors.

And with that, my career at Olympiakolan ended. We went out to eat some lunch and then at 2pm I was back at the school so see all the graduates run out of the school. That's like the official moment when they are graduated. So everyone's' family was there to see their kids. There was a whole gang who had come down to join us for the activities. Each class, one by one, came out of the school. It was wild! (I have lots of pictures on my camera that I'll but on Facebook later)

After they ran out of school everyone migrated to Kärnan. This is an old fort that lies in the very center of town. The tower is on top of a ridge so there are these massive stairs that come down from there. And it's Helsingborg tradition that the graduates go down these stairs and then around a statue, in the middle of the square at the bottom, 7 times. No one knows why.

So we stood in the massive crowd of people on our tip toes in hopes of maybe getting a glimpse of Gustav. And we did! The next step in the celebration was to ride around on flak. Each class rents some type of tractor or trailer and they all stand in the back as they parade around town. When I say parade you may think of it being an organized activity, it is not, it was madness! But it was a lot of fun to see each class roll by and read what they had written and draped on the sides of the truck.

The next step was to go home, get changed, and prepare for the graduation party. Everyone has their graduation party on the same day. It seems like the Swedish graduation parties are fancier than those in the US. The gifts are also different. In the US it's a lot of practical stuff and gift cards in preparation for college life. Well here no one goes to college directly, so a lot of the gifts reminded me of wedding gifts in the US. Beer glasses, knives, cookbooks, stuff like that.

me ready for a party!

some of the gifts that Gustav got

these are the super cool graduation hats that Swedish graduates wear.

Friday was the first day of summer vacation and also Sweden's National Day. Since we had a lot of close friends and family over we celebrated Yvonne's belated birthday. The rest of the day was spent in true summer vacation fashion, in front of the TV all day. There were 9 kids in the house including myself.

On Saturday the weather was better so some of us went on a walk in Sofiero and I even windsurfed in the afternoon.

On Sunday I went with Ellie to Malmö. We sat for 2 hours and made bracelets that they sell to raise money for Ung Cancer (Child Cancer fund). When we got home Ellie introduced me to a Helsingborg special called Bulle med Bulle. It's a chocolate ball smashed inside a fralla (a fralla is a heavenly Swedish bread, like a round baguette in individual servings) It was amazing.

Monday was my last full day in Helsingborg. I spent it with my fiends Elna and Malin. We went to a little island a bit south of Helsingborg right between Sweden and Denmark called Ven. You can see Ven from our house and I've heard great things about it. To get there we took a train to Landskrona and then a ferry. On the island the thing to do is bike. So we got one regular bike and one tandem bike between the three of us. The island is small enough to bike around in a couple of hours. We stopped a couple times along the way and ate lunch on the beach, it was amazing. We finished the afternoon off with some ice cream.

so many bikes!

When I got home from Ven I almost immediately met my godfather Bert. This year I've been able to see him twice which is crazy considering how many year had gone since we saw each other last. We enjoyed a dinner by the water and then came to Hittarp for dessert with the family.

So now I'm on the train away from Helsingborg and I don't know when I'll be back. It was terribly terribly sad to have to say goodbye to everyone, but I'm also feeling ready and excited to come home.