Week Two- Cultural Experiences

I have now been in Vaxjo for two weeks and have attended sessions for all the modules I am enrolled on in Linnaeus University. I am living on campus in student accommodation and have started to become accustomed to the cultural differences between this and being a live at home student. Sharing a laundry room being a totally new concept to me as is leaving for classes five minutes before they start. Having much less inside space has also made me realise that when you have to you can cope with less material things; the kids are managing without a room full of toys and are spending more time making fun for themselves.

The area surrounding the university is much less built up than what we are used to in Belfast and it is normal for Swedes to walk, cycle and take the bus (when you buy a trip into town on the bus the ticket remains valid for free return for a two hour period) so traffic congestion is not as big a problem as at home. I am also in the ‘greenest’ city in Europe and as well as reduced traffic there is a strong emphasis on recycling; bins for every type of rubbish can be found both at home and in public areas and bottle return points where you can get Kroner when you recycle your plastic and glass are observed in every supermarket. I think if this was the case at home we would recycle more as accessibility to recycling points would increase. I have certainly become more aware of what can be recycled and try to follow the example of the Swedes and separate rubbish accordingly.

I have not yet sampled any traditional Swedish food but the children get provided with lunch in school and so far have tried a range of different foods including meatballs and ‘green soup with eggs in’ which apparently was delicious and was later discovered to be spinach. I am proud of them for being so receptive to their new surroundings and for attempting to embrace the Swedish way of life, I think they are doing better than me at the moment. I have also discovered that lunch is served very early in Sweden (11.30) and so the children are eating more often than they were at home. It is compulsory for the break I provide to be fruit, the school/daycare provides lunch for all children, they also get sandwiches in afterschool and then come home for dinner.

 Seeing how the school system operates has given me a lot to think about and to compare to home. The children start earlier in the morning and the teachers appear more laid back than at home. Being offered to stay for the day if I want to observe my children in school came as a shock to me and the preschool teacher informed me that they feel they have nothing to hide from parents and so an open door policy is normal. His advice to me was to do the unexpected and to show as much ‘lust’ for the activity as I want returned; advice I will remember and act on in the future. The children in preschool and school spend time outdoors everyday whatever the weather and it has been said that there is never unsuitable weather just unsuitable clothing. Today in afterschool the boys were skating and ‘skiing’ in the school grounds; an experience they would never have had at home not only because of the weather but because the leaders would be scared of the repercussions if an accident happened. I feel very lucky to be able to experience what is on offer here and hope to become more involved in Swedish way of life as my time here progresses.

Week One- Personal

Hej all, well one week has passed since arriving in Vaxjo and what a week it has been. On Friday we all said goodbye to our friends, it was the kids last day at school and ended up being more emotional for me than them. Recognising they were leaving all they know and where they are safe and happy so that I could come to Sweden created a sense of guilt but also pride in how they coped with it. I also had a last night out with my friends, one of them ready to have a baby, and realised that I am going to miss getting together with them both to offload frustrations and have a good old laugh. The hardest thing, however was saying goodbyes to elderly grandparents who, having never travelled outside the UK cannot understand why we would want to; knowing how the decision to come to Sweden has affected them has been the most emotive.

Sarah and I travelled by airplane to Copenhagen and on to Vaxjo by train, both of us excited about what awaited us (and me a little worried that finding the right train would prove beyond my capabilities as I couldn’t even find the toilet on the plane). Arriving at night meant we didn’t get to see very much although the very light coating of snow meant that I spent ages outside the hotel watching Sarah make barely visible footprints. We both went to bed tired but happy.

Since our arrival we have moved into our student accommodation, the boys have arrived and orientation weekend is over. I have also met my buddy, the lady who has helped arrange school for the boys and attended my first class. All these steps have helped me realise that I can be independent and although I am a shy person I have talked to lots of new people and even attempted the odd word in Swedish (without getting laughed at).

I cant say its all been easy, the first couple of days I did wonder what was in my head bringing us all to Sweden and could have easily got on a plane home again, especially when we moved into the apartment and it just didn’t feel homely. We have now added personal touches to the apartment and it gets more cosy as the days pass. Im also sure that next week when the boys start school and classes start properly we will get into a daily routine and it wont be long until we settle and get used to life in Sweden.

On a final note it was disappointing to arrive to only a little snow but we finally have enough snow to have a snowball fight. We had a fun family time rolling snowballs, making snow-angels and just laughing together. The mugs of hot chocolate when we came in warmed us all up and we sat talking and reflecting on our very busy week.

Until next week…