Christian’s Journals

September 1, 2025

“Adventure is worthwhile.”

Hej hej! It's crazy that I've already been in Sweden for a month! I arrived on August 4th after a two hour flight from Frankfurt  and was greeted by my host mom, host sister, and host dad. After an hour's drive we arrived home and then they decided to show me around the town. In around an hour we saw most of  the town including the cathedral and the harbor. While we were at the harbor I tried Swedish ice cream which I thoroughly enjoyed. I tried the pear, licorice, and polka flavors. Licorice wasn't my favorite but I really like polka. It tastes like a candy cane but a bit sweeter and as an ice cream. 

On my first full day in Sweden, a summer exchange student reached out and invited me to hang out with him and his friends in the afternoon. We ended up biking to Max (6.2km away) which is a Swedish fast food chain. On the way to Max we stopped in a few stores and I was able to try Swedish candy for the first time. I ended up buying a pack of the blue and pink bubs which were very tasty. The next day those same friends invited me to go mini golfing near the harbor. I wasn't very good but we did end up playing all 18 holes. 

Soon after this my counselor invited me to a crayfish party! We drove to his house and I tried some new foods like västerbottenpaj (Swedish Cheese pie), jordgubbstårta (Swedish Strawberry cake), and Crayfish. Before we came to the crayfish party me and my host mom actually made the jordgubbstårta. It was one of the best things I've had in Sweden and is definitely now one of my favorite foods. 

As you all know I just moved from the other side of the world and since there are baggage restrictions it ended up where I didn't have too many clothes. Later that week I invited the same friend to go to eskilstuna to do some shopping. We went around the mall for a couple hours but I didn't end up buying any clothes. I think that once it gets a bit closer to winter I'll go shopping again that way I don't buy a bunch of summer clothes I'll never use again. 

After a few days of waiting we finally had an inbound camp! The majority of the exchange students were meeting up in Stockholm and taking a train together so I decided to do so as well. I went to Stockholm a few hours early so I could go do a bit of clothes shopping before my train left. I went to uniqlo but decided I didn't really want anything so I wandered around the city a bit. First I went to starbucks to get a mocha cookie crumble frappuccino. When I asked for it they said they didn't have it but would make me something similar. It ended up being a cookie and cream milkshake which i didnt even know was an option. After starbucks I wandered a bit more (keep in mind I'm dragging a broken suitcase behind me this whole time)  and ended up at some weird combination of an outdoor zumba class and a day rave (this is my official request for rotary to let us include videos in our journals). After that adventure I walked around and took some photos before I met up with the other exchange students on the platform. 

Inbound camp was an amazing experience and has definitely been one of the highlights of my exchange so far. It was great being able to meet other students from around the world who were so similar to me. When we arrived we dropped our luggage and went to have fika with the rest of the students. I believe there were 27 of us at the camp. Throughout the week we had lots of training but also lots of time socializing. Downstairs there was a movie room with a pool table where we spent many late nights hanging out and talking. Shoutout to Maria for attempting to teach me Portuguese. 

The day after inbound camp I had my first day of school. At school my classes are pretty basic. I am taking Math, Science, History, Social Studies, Swedish, English, and PE. Since the classes are pretty small I've already made a lot of friends and am feeling very welcome.

During the first week of school there are a bunch of challenges the year ones have to complete for points. Some of the challenges include things like shaving one of your eyebrows, running a marathon in under five hours, or riding a donkey to school. 

One of the big challenges we had to do was have the whole class jump in the lake fully clothed. On Wednesday after school almost everyone jumped off the dock into the lake. I don't remember what the water temperature was but it was very cold. Since I didn't know that it was happening that day I forgot to bring a change of clothes and a towel. That day I had biked to school which meant that I also had to bike home. The only issue with this is that since I didn't want to get my shoes wet I was barefoot and the pedals had these plastic bumps that hurt to stand on. Whenever I tried to ride up a hill it hurt too much so I walked up all the hills. It ended up taking only like 20 minutes but it's definitely something i wont do again haha. 

At the end of the week there was this big party that was thrown to end off the challenges and welcome the first years into gymnasium. The party wasn't anything too special but it was a lot of fun to get to know my classmates better. 

As of now I don't have too many plans but I definitely have some things that I'm looking forward to. I just got a gym membership so I am looking forward to going with some friends. I'm also hoping to participate in the lidingöloppet 15k with some other friends. Right now I'm just working out transportation before I sign up. I am also really looking forward to traveling! In the spring my school is taking a trip to Athens and I hope to go with them. Throughout the year Rotary also puts on a few trips that I hope to participate in. Some of these include a Christmas trip to Stockholm, a trip to Kiruna, and at the end of my Eurotour exchange. 

As a final commentary I wanted to mention some things I've noticed that are very different about Sweden and the USA. First off I've noticed that school in Sweden is very social. It seems more like socializing + school instead of school + socializing like in the US. Another thing that I've found interesting is that my host family uses a clothes line instead of a dryer and they don't usually lock their door. Some of my friends said that it's different for them which is an amazing example of why Rotary gives us multiple host families throughout the year. There are some other small but obvious things like how the caps don't come all the way off bottles and how they use a bottom sheet and duvet instead of a bottom + top  sheet and comforter. 

Overall these first few weeks have been an amazing experience and I can't wait to continue meeting new people and doing new things. Special thanks to Rotary and the Club of East Cobb - Marietta for making this happen. Until next time