Home, sweet home
I am once again back home in my room in Västerås, and have had some time to settle down and come to terms with the fact that I’ve actually been in Australia, on the other side of the world! It has been such an experience, and I am so happy I got the opportunity to do it! Since I came back home, I’ve also had the time to sit down and read through the blog posts of Emma, Erica and Evelina who also has been travelling all around the world. I find it to be amazing that we’ve all experienced so many things that differ from our own culture, and that we’ve all managed to prove that the prejudices we might have about certain countries most of the time aren’t true at all!
To me, it sounds like Erica and Emma were the ones who got to experience the most differences from Sweden out of the four of us, seeing as they went to countries having a completely different culture from ours. Even if Evelina went to Ireland, and I to Australia, these countries are still quite influenced by Europe, whilst Jamaica and South Africa are very different. In Jamaica, for instance, the people seem very liberated in the way they behave and look at life. This differs a lot from Sweden, since we tend to be very controlled, composed people that are afraid of strangers and of doing things the wrong way. Another thing that struck me about Jamaica and Ireland in particular was the way they celebrate their holidays. It all seems so festive, like they REALLY are celebrating the reason for it being a holiday. Here in Sweden we never celebrate anything alike St. Patrick’s Day or Independence Day, the closest thing we get is winning the World Cup in soccer or hockey, which really is a shame I suppose, because we could celebrate things for real if we made an effort to do so! Something I also noticed was that South Africa and Australia are quite alike when it comes to having a big diversity of inhabitants, coming from all different religions and backgrounds. This has caused both countries to have a lot of influences from all over the world, and many different dishes to eat, as well as many different ways of celebrating holidays! It was also very interesting to read Emmas blog post about the traditions in South Africa, because I had no idea that as many as 80% of the people living there were Christians and celebrated Christmas and Easter! I have no idea what I’ve thought before, but it was definitely something new to me. It was also very interesting to get to know that the Irish people doesn’t share the same view of time as the Swedes do, and that they think it’s fine to come several minutes late to a meeting! This would be very frowned upon here in Sweden, since people would find it rude to be that late for an appointment. It also goes to show that maybe we need to learn one thing or another from other cultures, and not to be so tightened up all the time. Who knows, maybe that stranger on the bus isn’t trying to eat you, maybe he or she is just being friendly!
Signing off for the last time!
//Alicia
