The Last Weekend

Well, here it is. The few days which have been looming at the end of my calendar for almost a year now. I started a countdown 100 days ago, and here I am on the final digits of my journey!

This weekend being the last is also of course one of the most special weekends here in Helsingborg. This weekend was the mark of the end and a new beginning for many Swedish “seniors” as they graduated from their gymnasiums (high schools). Swedish graduation is MUCH different than the American high school graduation that I experienced.

Around two o’clock I met up with Alicia downtown so we could watch the graduates do their famous runs out of .. not necessarily a school but out of a nice building when they are announced. It was completely pouring down rain but this didn’t put a damper on the newly graduated student’s good moods at all. They had their cute sailor’s hats on and they came running out to meet up with their friends and families who were holding up signs with their names and baby pictures on them, and ready to give gifts of flower necklaces and champagne. Graduation is certainly not a sober thing for Swedes! Next the students are put on decorated trailers pulled by tractors and huge trucks and parade around downtown blowing whistles, dancing to music; it was great to experience a Swedish graduation… even in the pouring rain!

The next blog I write will be from my room back in good ol’ Illinios. I’ll take these next few days to think about all of the highlights from my year abroad and hopefully try to wrap up all of the emotions that are running through me at the end of this journey.

I leave from Copenhagen around 12pm and fly to Toronto, where I catch the next flight to Chicago and then from Chicago I fly into Springfield! It will indeed be a long day of travelling but I know when I arrive in the airport in Springfield I’ll be greeted by the most marvelous people on earth, and also greeted by the comforting feeling of home! 

"Nothing is so awesomely unfamiliar as the familiar that discloses itself at the end of a journey"

-Cynthia Ozick