This past weekend I have spent in the city of Göteborg. I was here because myself and the other New Zealand and Australian exchange students were invited to attend a special service at the Commonwealth Gravesite for ANZAC Day. On Friday I caught the train with Kate (NZ) to Göteborg. We arrived just after 8pm and met up with some exchange students in the city. It was a lovely welcome and so great to see everyone and meet some more of the students. We spent the evening just relaxing at both McDonalds and a park in the city listening to music. It is so nice to be around other exchange students, the vibe is extremely relaxed and they are all such lovely people.
The people who we were with friday night were: Mikaela (NZ), Lachy (Aus), Jack (Aus), Kate (NZ), Amelia (USA) Alia (USA), Suzu (Japan), Lachlan (AUS), Matheus (Brazil), Kiely (USA), Alanna (USA), Monil (India), Simon (Austria) and Shin (Japan). I met Simon, Shin, Kiely and Monil for the first time tonight.
On Saturday was ANZAC Day. We all met at Starbucks at the Centralisation and took a tram to the Gravesite. The service was t 11am so it was not a dawn parade. It was a nice service with speeches from different people such as the Turkish embassy. After the service we got many photos, some for us and some for other guests to have with us. We met many people and chatted with them. We also found out they were looking for us Rotary students to hold our flags for the service but could not find us so that was quite unfortunate. After the service we went to a reception with many members of different consulates and embassies. NZ, Australia, Canada, Turkey and others that I’m not quite sure of. Again we chatted and socialised with the people there. It was a nice environment Live music from the Swedish armed forces band. We were also treated to some ‘Kiwi’ and Australian food. Sausage rolls which got us students extremely excited and we ate a lot of these. We also had ANZAC biscuits which were quite nice.
The students attending the ANZAC Day service was: Mikaela, Kate and I (NZ), Lachy, Jack, Alcica, Georgia, Jayden and Lachlan (AUS).
Afterwards we said goodbye to some of the exchange students who were heading home by train today. Some I won’t see again till Euro Tour which is a sad thought but others I will.
On Sunday we met at Starbucks again but this time just 4 of us. We waited with Jayden to catch his bus home and then Kate Georgia and I did a little bit of exploring before meeting up with Amelia and saying farewell to Georgia and Kate. I had Fika with Amelia and then caught my train home.
Until Next time
Sarah
Sarah In Sweden 