Reference to thesis about Sweden

After being an exchange student a few years ago Jelena came back to study her master’s degree at Linköping university. The connection with her friend family was an important part of her life the first year and the best way to know a typical Swedish family from inside. Jelena was glad to get the opportunity to little by little learn more Swedish through short conversations with Stuggan and Kerstin.

- We were always celebrating all the Swedish calendar events and my friend family helped me a lot to develop my knowledge about the Swedish society.

From short meetings to family reunion

Jelena starts telling about all the things she has done with her friend family and it feels like a book wouldn’t be enough to describe all of it.

- We visited each other quite often. Sometimes Stuggan and Kerstin invited me over and cooked very traditional food like the pea soup and pancakes, which are usually eaten on Thursdays. In one family gathering I’ve got to know not just the relatives but also a girl from Taiwan who was a guest student to Kerstins sister. Around Christmas last year we went on a museum trip: visiting art galleries, watching artist performances and meeting writers. The bird watching near water streams in Berga was also a new experience for me.

Sharing cultures was mutual and Jelena introduced some typical Lithuanian food as well.

- We were celebrating Uzgavenes*, the time before Lent, and I made pancakes in a traditional Lithuanian way. Once I brought a cake called Sakotis from Lithuania and we tasted it at the family meeting. Although there is a very similar cake in South of Sweden my friend family thought it was even better and asked me to bring more next time.

Midsummer

The most spectacular memory for Jelena was the time she spent with her friend family during the Midsummer.

- I was invited with my friends to spend two days in a summer house close to Linköping in a rural society. The summer house was very old and built in a Swedish style with a toilet outdoors. Kerstin told me that when she was a kid she used to go there with her sister because these old types of toilets had two seats inside. The place was very special and we had a wonderful time. We were eating traditional food and dancing very funny dances like the frogs around the midsummer maypole.

A reference from real experience

Jelena was always looking forward to meet her friend family and to know more about Sweden.

- It’s the only connection I have with Sweden. I’m mostly with international students, there are some Swedes in corridor but they are very closed and don’t explain anything about the traditions or the Swedish society. My friend family contributed a lot to my knowledge about Sweden from the quality perspective. I think about them as a kind of good reference. You can just say “Oh it’s my friend family who told me like that. I trust them and I’m sure that’s like that”.

For Jelena it was a great experience and she enjoyed her time with her friend family very much:

- It’s not about you watching a DVD about Sweden or listening to your friend’s stories but it’s about experiencing