Swedish Homestay
20sep07
Have you ever dreamt about playing beach volleyball with forty Swedish girls? I know what you might be saying, "No, the weather in Sweden is not warm enough". And what about a home stay at their place? Everybody would agree that it sounds great! So would the students of Class Afloat who have done it for real.
On Friday the twenty second of September, the thirty eight students of the Concordia visited a marine school in Stockholm. How could the day possibly start better than with a guided boat tour of the wonderful archipelago surrounding the city? This specific archipelago is formed by over thirty thousand islands. The boat took us to the waterfront school facilities where we were presented to the institution program and the Swedish school system. From there, the student showed us their modern school and their brand new classrooms. The school has offered us our lunch at the cafeteria in front of the harbor where we enjoyed a traditional Swedish meatball meal. This is where the fun began! After lunch we played volleyball with them and we were presented a student play that was really funny. However, unfortunately for us, it was mostly in Swedish and most of us don't speak it very well. They still made a special part for us, the unusual guests, with a sketch in English. After the play we were taken to a classroom and presented to our homestay hosts. The afternoon was off and we could enjoy a tour of the city with the locals and a coffee in downtown Stockholm. From that point of the afternoon, nothing was scheduled so we could do whatever we and our hosts were interested in. We went to their place for dinner, evening and the night.
The day after, we brought them all at the Concordia. We showed them our ship and met back all together for a visit of the famous Vasa Naval Museum. There were authentic ships from the 16th century that looked like real pirate ships.
To end this very special home stay, we greeted our hosts with presents from our home town or country, like maple syrup in my case. This is how our Class Afloat experience was once again socially and culturally enhanced.
Stockholm
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Geoffroy
On Friday the twenty second of September, the thirty eight students of the Concordia visited a marine school in Stockholm. How could the day possibly start better than with a guided boat tour of the wonderful archipelago surrounding the city? This specific archipelago is formed by over thirty thousand islands. The boat took us to the waterfront school facilities where we were presented to the institution program and the Swedish school system. From there, the student showed us their modern school and their brand new classrooms. The school has offered us our lunch at the cafeteria in front of the harbor where we enjoyed a traditional Swedish meatball meal. This is where the fun began! After lunch we played volleyball with them and we were presented a student play that was really funny. However, unfortunately for us, it was mostly in Swedish and most of us don't speak it very well. They still made a special part for us, the unusual guests, with a sketch in English. After the play we were taken to a classroom and presented to our homestay hosts. The afternoon was off and we could enjoy a tour of the city with the locals and a coffee in downtown Stockholm. From that point of the afternoon, nothing was scheduled so we could do whatever we and our hosts were interested in. We went to their place for dinner, evening and the night.
The day after, we brought them all at the Concordia. We showed them our ship and met back all together for a visit of the famous Vasa Naval Museum. There were authentic ships from the 16th century that looked like real pirate ships.
To end this very special home stay, we greeted our hosts with presents from our home town or country, like maple syrup in my case. This is how our Class Afloat experience was once again socially and culturally enhanced.
