Day 1 & 2- Exploring Gothenburg

A panorama of the city from a hiking trail

Day 1

Anna showed us around downtown after we dropped of our luggage to the dorm. We walked a lot that day! She showed us what the local pharmacy is called (Apotek like CVS), restaurants, shopping areas, churches, and tram stops. We went to a brunch place since it was only about 2 pm. One thing that is different here is that the Swedish are not big breakfast people. They prefer to eat brunch which lasts from about 11am-2pm. I ordered cheddar french fries because I am picky. There were a lot of fish options which would've been good if I liked seafood. Sweden is known for the fish and seafood since they are on the coastline. We went to a fish market called "Feskekorka" ("fish church") however it is not pronounced as it looks and it is not a church. There is a lot of shopping options around Domkjrkan (dom-shr-kin). Each store has souvenirs, clothes, decor, toys, etc. There was also a large cathedral at the tram stop too. We went inside and it was very bright white and beautiful. It looked Anglican, Episcopalian, or Catholic. There was also a large organ in the upper back area. Anna also took us to her education building on the University of Gothenburg campus where she works. It is all glass and modern looking. We somehow accidentally set of the alarm in the building by either standing too close to something or staying inside so long, so we left. There is a glass curved building where the dean is located, along with 2 other buildings on that part of campus. Another interesting thing that the Swedish do is they separate their recycling and trash receptacles. It isn't just 2 bins, one for each. They have a whole array of bins for metals, plastic, paper, food waste, glass, etc. They do follow them too! I know in America, a lot of people don't actually recycle as much as they should be. However, it is a big thing here.

We found out that the days are short in the winter time. The sun sets around 4:48 and sets 3 minutes later each day. It tends to be cloudy, which also makes it feel darker and colder than it should be. However, it was not as cold as I expected. It is about 30 degrees Fahrenheit. With my winter boots, big coat, scarf, hat, and gloves, I am warm.

For dinner, we found an Italian place called Taverna Averna. We all ordered our own pizzas since we didn't know how large they were. The waiters probably thought we were definitely American since we each ordered a pizza instead of buying 1 or 2 for the table. The pizza was amazing! We were able split the check which was convenient for us all. In other European countries, restaurants do not like splitting checks. Water is also free in a lot of the restaurants which is also not the case in other countries in the EU. As the waiter was picking up our plates, she spoke Swedish to us. We all looked at each other and at her for a second without saying anything. It took a minute for us to register if she was speaking English or Swedish because it does sound similar. We also should have spoke up that we didn't speak Swedish sooner before the long pause. Then the waiter realized we spoke English and corrected herself. We felt bad and had an American moment. Though, it is a compliment for someone to think you speak their language, it means that you blend in. As Americans, we tend to be loud so it's easy to spot us. We are all working on keeping our voices lower and slowing down. Europeans take their time when they eat. They do not rush to get your order or bring you the check.

Day 2

Today, we met with Elisabeth, Ismael, and Nils. They are prospective TCU international students. They are in the teacher program at the university. They are applying to study for a semester with the TCU's educational department. We met an exchange student from Finland last year, so they would be doing what she did. At first, we were nervous to meet them since we didn't know if they'd be shy, how much English they spoke, etc. They exceeded our expectations! They were very friendly towards us and extremely fluent. We walked around for a while and got brunch to eat. While walking, they took us up a very steep hill to look over the town. It was tough and I was out of breath, but it was definitely worth it. We could see the amusement park, the education school, churches, and forests. We got our picture with them and held up the "Go Frogs". We were teaching them TCU and Texas specific language and actions. We realized that we did not know what the hand sign was supposed to symbolize. I thought it was the frog's claws. Virginia thought it was the spikes. Madilyne thought it was his eyes. Who knows?

Left to right: Caroline, Madilyne, Virgina, Elisabeth, Ismael, Nils

We had to try a different places to eat until we found one that was not full. Brunch is so popular that restaurants capped and couldn't let people in until it cleared up. Once we found a place to eat, we ordered a breakfast buffet. People are generous to switch over to English when they realize we do not speak their language. This happened at the brunch restaurant and in any place we stopped into to buy something.

We talked to them for a while about how schooling systems are different in America versus Sweden. Here are some similarities and differences. This list will probably grow the more time I am in schools and talking to teachers and students.

Similarities

1. Standardized testing

2. Wealth/achievement gap

These both intrigued me since I thought their education was similar to Finland (which is the next country over). Finland has the best education system in the world and I thought it would've rubbed off onto Sweden. I thought standardized testing is an American thing. However, it doesn't count for as much in Sweden as it does in the US. They also have a gap between higher performing schools and lower performing schools, as do we. We talked about how people with more money receive better educations since they have the resources to help educate.

Differences

1. Schooling is free from primary through university.

2. They do college for 2 years before university. There is a difference between college and university and they do both.

3. They can attend any school they want, whether it is in their area or not.

4. Their school days go from 8:30-2:30/3:00 which is shorter than ours. They also have a break called "Fika" in the middle which is for teachers.

5. "Gymnasium" is a high school or secondary schooling, not a gym where you do physical education.

6. University students take 1 course at a time for 5 weeks. Their weeks look different depending on lectures, trainings, etc.

We also noticed that the children in Sweden are very well behaved. They do not scream or throw tantrums in public. Nor do they talk back or rely on screens in front of them. We have seen a lot of families walking around. The kids often have snow suits on and sleds with them. We will see more children this week when we start school! The dog population here is also large. People walk their dogs a lot since they do not have yards and since they walk a lot in general. In Amsterdam and Sweden, dogs are allowed on the trams, buses, and some stores and restaurants. The dogs are also well behaved and do not bark a lot or jump on people as they walk by. It takes a lot of strength for me to not pet them...

While talking, I asked them about certain pronunciations of letters. Swedish is hard for English speakers because we do not have some of their letters or letter sounds. For example, å makes the "aw" sound as in paw. The letter, ä, makes the short "a" as in "cat" and the ö makes the "ir" sound. Their consonant blends are also different. The "ky" makes the "sh" sound which is why "domkyrkan" is dom-shr-kan. The "g" is also pronunced with the "y" sound (sometimes), so they say "yir-te-bor-y" for Göteburg (I don't know where we got GoTHENburg from).

They were gracious enough to spend a couple hours with us. They said they didn't know the area too well since they only started school 2 years ago and they don't live by our dorms. It was also their first time giving a tour, so they were nervous too. We told them we can't wait for them to visit Texas so we can show them around. They seemed super excited about coming to America and experiencing American culture. Since Madilyne, Caroline, Virginia, and I are all staying 1 more year for our master's, we will be here when Elisabeth, Ismael, and Nils come in the fall! We would love to pick them up from the airport and return the favor of giving a tour of the area.

Later, we made our first trip to the grocery store for some food. We have a field trip to an ice skating rink on Wednesday, so we had to buy lunch food. We also want to cook in our kitchen, so we bought some dinner food to cook. I know a lot of places charge for bags, so I brought my travel tote. It is also interesting to see the currency conversion on items. 1 Swedish krone is equivalent to about $.11 (11 cents). Therefore, you divide by about 10, 2 decimals over. Then, the total will be a little over that estimate. For example, when something says 135 kr, it means about $13.50 (or closer to $14 with a converter). Our bill at the restaurant was 656.00 kr. and it looked very expensive until you convert it. Also, Sweden is one of the countries in the EU to use a different currency than the Euro.