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Welp I just returned from yet another visit to Stockholm, Sweden. This time with my Swedish culture class and extending my stay to visit relatives in the surrounding areas of Stockholm. I never knew upon coming to Sweden that this is where i would end up- visiting FAMILY who aren't that distant from me. When we were in Stockholm with my class we stayed on a ship hostel for two nights and completed our Religion, Politics, History, and Migration courses.
With my class we had the chance to visit a subarb of Stockholm called Rinkeby. It is sort of a bad part of the city with lots of crime and drugs and alcohol abuse, etc. The middle school has had changes since 1989 and now it is one of the safest places in the community offering the children a safe and drug free place to hang out and have fun. The school went from having vandalism and gangs to being one of the best schools in Sweden. It was nice to visit this place and for me especially since I am interested in education all across the borders.
After the Rinkeby we took the underground back into Stockholm and visited the local Mosque- the largest in Sweden. To really put the Muslim religion in perspective for us they had the ladies wear robes that covered their skin and hair and had all of us take our shoes off. We were able to have a Q and A session with two of the employees and even had the chance to watch prayer at 5:00 pm. It was a nice cultural experience and I was glad I visited the mosque since I really have no education of their religion and what the situation is like in Sweden especially.
That night we paid a visit to the Vasa Museum- it was my third time there. I was glad that all we had time for was a video and tour though- I've been in there before so I've seen it all. T
he next day in Stockholm we had to go on a self-guided tour of the Old Town with mini presentations given by us students. Paul and I gave our presentation on the Stockholm Bloodbath- which was part of our examination. We passed with flying colors! This day we also learned about local charity work from a church that gives free coffee and bread to the homeless in Stockholm. We visited the church nearby and talked with the priest. It is a church that accepts the homeless, prostitutes, drug addicts, or alcoholics and helps them find a safe place to sleep and clean up and get back on track, per se. Again I enjoyed this because it was cultural and different than what I've already seen of Stockholm. After the church we visited the Swedish Riksdag. We were supposed to see a much anticipated debate among the parliament but instead the answers to all the problems were all "yes's" so nothing was to be debated! (pardon my lack of political terms, please) We did get a chance to have another Q and A session with two members of the house which was nice and they answered all the questions we had saved from our Politics class. We were also given a tour of the building which was such a nice treat!
This night we ate at a very good Swedish Restaurant where I ordered Swedish meatballs! Sorry to say that they are way better than the Christmas ones we eat, these ones were authentic and home made!
I didn't mention but our hostel was located on a small ship on the water! It was very neat from the outside- wooden with a restaurant on the top deck and a smaller one inside. But it was rather disgusting. A cheap hostel I suppose is why we stayed there... I was glad to be spending the rest of the weekend in a real bed though, that's for sure!
On the last day of our trip we had free time and our Lit. teacher took us to the History Museum where we saw artifacts from the Viking Age and Medieval Ages... so cool! I love Swedish history most of all and visiting all these museums while I'm here is just so great... I love it here! Â
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