Picture Day and Sunsets in Sweden
This amazing Swedish sunset seriously rivals the ones in Tampa.
Tuesday was a little bit of a fun flashback to elementary school because it was Picture Day! In Swedish school, every grade has separate classes for each separate program the school has. Since my school only has two programs, we have one Natural Science class and one Economics class in my grade, 2nd year. On picture day, you take picture with your class as well as individual pictures.
These separate classes take a group photo like Americans do with their class in elementary school. We walked into the room and greeted the photographer and then she put us in our place for the photo depending on our heights, just like when we were little.
There were a ton of laughs and jokes made as everyone stood in their place. We will get these pictures back in a yearbook-type-thing later during the year and it will have all the classes from my school, as well as a few other schools in Södertälje. Hopefully they come before I leave!
Yesterday I had a pretty easy day at school. I started with a test at 8am which is really early for school here. I was able to write all my answers in English so that made everything much easier and I felt confident after. A two hour Spanish class was next and they have been getting better. I am understanding more when my teacher talks in both Spanish and Swedish.
We ended the day with math which is my favorite class because I learn the most since I can understand most things. When I got home, I ate a quick snack and then Mamma and I went for a walk because the weather was so nice and the air was so crisp that it was impossible to stay inside.
It was nice seeing parts of Södertälje that I hadn’t seen before and I think we will take many more walks in my time here. After we got home, we made dinner and then settled in for the night.
Today, not much happened at school but I witnessed the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen right outside my window. The time of sunsets in Sweden change rapidly when going from summer to winter or winter to summer. When I arrived in Sweden, the sun set at 10:30 pm and rose at 4:30 am. It was so strange to be outside at 9am and it be completely bright outside.
Now, however, the sun rises around 6:30 am and sets around 8:30 pm. In the winter, there is only a few hours of sunlight so a lot of people get depressed since they have to spend the time when there is sun at work or school. People say that by the time I leave I will be walking home from school in complete darkness, which is so crazy I can’t imagine!!
I’m excited though to see what it is like with so little sunlight and experience something different. Now I am exhausted and am off to bed.
From across the globe, Stacy
