Day 1 in Stockholm - Brendan Y.

After a good night of sleep, we all met up at our partner school, Viktor Rydberg Vasastan, on Friday morning. We began our day painting Dala horses. A Dala horse is a traditional carved, painted wooden statue of a horse originating in the Swedish province of Dalarna. In the old days the Dala horse was mostly used as a toy for children; in modern times it has become a symbol of Dalarna, as well as of Sweden in general.

Mid-morning School Snack

The white house in the background is the home of Sweden's Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven,

The flag raised at the Royal Palace means the King, Karl Gustav XVI, is in residence.

On Dec 10 every year, the Nobel Prizes are awarded by the Swedish Academy. Alfred Nobel was famous for the invention of dynamite, but is best known for leaving an endowment for achievements in recognition of academic, cultural, or scientific advances.

We enjoyed a traditional Swedish lunch of köttbullar, potatis and iingon in Cafe Sten Sture's dungeon from the 13th century.

Rylie and Allena warmed up with some varm choklad.

The first place I walked to was VRS school and met up with the other Punahou students. We then took a train to Old Town where we ate lunch at Cafe Sten Sture, which was very good. From there we held our scavenger hunt around Old Town with some of the VRS students who joined us and learned a lot about Swedish history. We then traveled along the roads to Pelican St. and around to the river to our next destination. After Old town, we went on a bus through the city back to school. From this excursion, I learned that Stockholm is smaller than I thought and that it it is a very old and historical place. - Stanley P.

This Was All a Special Day - Brendan W.

Today was the first real day of our trip. This was all a special day for us because we would get to go to our host school and walk around Sweden. Waking up early in the morning on spring break was the hardest part of the day. Eventually getting dragged out of bed, my host and I took the subway to school. It was a cool experience to take the subway to the school. 

When getting to the school I was surprised about where the school was. It was surrounded by other buildings and wasn’t as big as I thought. Finally everyone arrived and we were introduced by the principal and vice principal of the school. They talked about the school and the activity we were going to do. The activity was painting a horse. This special kind of horse was a symbol of Sweden. After painting the horse it was time to go walking around in Old Town. 

When we arrived I was surprised to see all the buildings and their structure, some were very unique. We walked and looked around until we got to the restaurant where we eating lunch. For lunch we were having a traditional Sweden meal, mash potatoes and meatballs. The restaurant was very interesting because it was underground and was built in the 13th century. We all had a good time and it was a very delicious lunch. 

After we got to go on a scavenger hunt around Old Town in groups with some of the hosts. Although my group didn’t get that many points it was very fascinating to see Old Town. After our scavenger hunt we got to go back to the school to meet up with our host and go back home. Today was fun day and I really liked those meatballs and I will never forget that scavenger hunt.