We cannot believe today was only our second day and how many different things we were able to experience! We woke up this morning feeling pretty great despite our jet lag (thankfully) and had breakfast as a group before going to Gothenburg University. While ta the university, we had lectures from faculty from the University and students from their undergraduate and masters programs.
We were shocked (and jealous!) to learn that Swedish, European Union, and other international students study for free in Sweden, and often receive government grants for their housing expenses. It was really great getting to learn about how elders are treated, more about their ‘Swedish Model’, and co-workership. Co-workership was a new term for us, but we learned that it was the concept of how employees handle their relationships with their employers, co-workers and their work. This concept is something that is very important to Nordic cultures, but can easily be applied to any country.
Talking to the students was our favorite part of the Gotheburg University trip, and we liked comparing our schooling. Aside from their college being essentially free, they don’t have GPAs or any letter grading. They are evaluated as ‘fail’, ‘pass’, or ‘high pass’ in their courses. We were also extremely impressed that all masters courses are taught in English, regardless of the students’ nationality. The ability of all Swedes to speak at least two languages is incredible, and we feel that our culture is really behind the majority of the world in this respect. The students were from all over the world, and many had experience in multiple countries.
We were lucky to have been able to spend the afternoon with the students at lunch and then they took us on a tour of the city. They brought us to a popular fish market, an indoor market, and the zoo. There we saw animals that were different than we would expect to see in American zoos. There was a moose and there were ponies, mountain goats, penguins and seals, and our entry into the zoo was free! We also got coffee at a very popular Swedish chain that rivals Starbucks in the US.
Afterwards, we got dinner at a local restaurant where we had really great burgers and got to see more little shops and restaurants. We had such a great day and it’s amazing to be finally doing the things we’ve been talking about and planning for months! We have an early morning tomorrow, but lots of fun things planned. This trip is already going by too quickly!
-Holly and Kallie