I started my wonderful experience in Sweden on the 12^th December 2010. I went to Malpensa airport to take a direct flight to Stockholm. I shared this adventurous experience with my schoolmates Arianna, Alice, Dalila, Paola and Stefano and two teachers, Mr. Gusmano and Mr. Dametti. As soon as we arrived in the icy northern land, each of us was entrusted to the care of a Swedish host family. Nike Lublin was my host; she was 13 years old, tall, thin, with long blonde hair and light blue eyes. I immediately felt at ease among the many members of my Swedish family. Everybody could speak English, both the children and the adults.

The rhythm of Swedish life is different from ours. The main cause is the light, since there aren’t many hours of light during the day. As a matter of fact, the cities are lit with lots of lights. Every morning we got up at half past six. We gathered to have breakfast together in the kitchen and ate sandwiches with salami or cheese, always accompanied by hot cups of tea. Then we caught a train, which took us to school.

The Swedish school has three floors: on the first floor there is a library, where students can do their homework or study the topics covered in class in depth, and some classrooms. Every classroom has at least a computer with a video projector for the teachers’ explanations. There also rooms for ‘home economics’, with ovens and worktops, where students learn how to cook and use all the kitchen tools. One day I went there and I cooked “gingerbread biscuits”, which are typical Christmas cakes, with my Swedish mates. On the top floor there is the canteen. That’s the place where we saw the “Lucia Parade” on Saint Lucy’s Day, which Swedish students celebrate every year. The school’s gym hosted all the performances organized for Christmas: songs and dances around the Christmas tree.

On Wednesday 15^th December we visited Skansen, an open-air museum which covers an area of over 300,000 m². There is also a zoo, with Nordic flora and Swedish animals. At  Skansen there are craft shops and typical products. After that we went to visit the Vasa museum, which displays a 17^th-century warship that sailed for the first time on 10th August 1628, but sank after only one kilometre. This wonderful ship remained under water for over 333 years. 

The following day we went skating in the school’s ice rink. We enjoyed skating with all the guys. We worked with paper and scissors to do origami and decorative handcraft. I had a great time.

The week went by quickly. The last day was the longest and most annoying of all: we were unable to come back home because all the airports of northern Italy were closed due to the SNOW! So we stayed at the airport overnight, waiting for the next flight to Italy. We “slept” (only 2 hours!) on conveyor belts. The next day we took the 4 a.m. flight and we arrived in Brussels. From there we took another plane to Verona (the only airport which was open).

On Saturday evening the brave “Comenius guys” eventually embraced their parents and they went to sleep in their warm, comfortable bed. We were back home at last.