During my time at
Fridaskolan I spoke a lot about the coast of Northern Ireland with Anna (the
grade five teacher). I asked if there was anywhere along the coast close to
Trollhättan that I could visit before I go home. Anna then decided that she
would take me on a road trip to the West coast of Sweden along with Megan and
Megan’s teacher, Barbro. I was really excited about this as she had been
telling me all about the coast and how beautiful it was as it had a lot of old fishermen’s’
cottages and small boat houses along the water front. On the day that we
planned to visit the West coast we were lucky enough to have the warmest
weather that I have experienced in Sweden so far which added to the fact that
it was a great day! 
Throughout the day we
travelled to many seaside towns and villages looking at the beautiful
landscapes and views and generally soaking up the rays and relaxing. We visited
towns known as Smögen, Bovallstrand, Hunnebostrand and Hamburgsund which are
all relatively close to each other. The views that I able to see were great and
often some places reminded me of home, such as the quietness of each town as it
was not peak season for the busy summer holiday makers – a little bit like
Portrush. The old houses and streets that we walked through were really nice
and well kept and it was interesting to see that each one was different from
the one before not like the way we build houses that are all the same.
To end the day we sat
down to have pizza at a restaurant beside the water where we relaxed and ate
our pizza whilst looking over the sea. It felt like I was on holiday as I was
beside the sea and touring around with good weather and good company. To top it
all off we decided to travel up a mountain walk which offered amazing views of
a harbour and fishing boats bringing in the catch of the day. It was definitely
an experience I won’t forget.
This week also involved
a visit to Liseberg, an amusement park in Gothenburg that is quite popular
among the Swedish and well-known in Scandinavia. The International Office at
University West organised the trip especially for Erasmus students therefore
transport and admission to the theme park was free which was a good thing as
the prices to go on the rides were expensive. Upon arrival most of us quickly
had a look around and soon decided what we would and would not go on. Once we
had decided we queued up to buy our tickets/tokens for one of the most popular wooden
roller coasters known as Balder, it had a huge climb that felt so slow at the
beginning and a sudden drop afterwards. But once this part was over it went so
fast but I think it was possibly the best ride that I went on even if I had a
sore head afterwards.
It
was good to hear a friendly voice and an accent from home this week as Gail
Eason came to visit us and talk about our experience in Sweden. It was a real shame
that she missed the good weather as it has recently started to rain a lot in
Trollhättan making me think that it is preparation for the next few months of
being at home. Gail was able to see us giving our presentations on our
experience at Fridaskolan which is part of our assessment for our ‘Education
and School Practice’ module at University West. Throughout the presentation I
spoke of the English lessons that I taught to the grade five class and some of
the similarities and differences between the school system and teaching.
It
is weird to think that this week I have handed in almost all of my work for my
last module and I will soon be going home.
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