Swedish Host Families

Being able to stay with host families and share a bit of their daily lives is one of the highlights of the exchange programme. Dana, Maite, Paula Duque and Paula González tell us about their experience.

First of all we want to say it was an unforgettable week and we would like to repeat it again. We have learned to live with a Swedish family, a new culture, improve our English level and the most important we’ve met new people.

All houses, schools and people are different around the world. In Sweden we have seen many differences that have shocked us all. Little things that surprise you. One of the differences is that you take off our shoes before entering to the house. Another of those differences is the time difference of the meals. We got up at 6:15 and we had lunch around 12:00 and then approximately at six o'clock we had dinner and at nine we went to bed.

The vast majority live in big houses with gardens far away from the city. So most of the students have to take the bus or bicycle to school. Some have stables for their horses and even some boats. Their houses are very rustic and decorated with candles, lamps, rugs, paintings, etc. They usually have multiple pets, as they have a lot of ground. Many families usually have three children. Both parents work and have several cars. They are very hospitable people and are more reserved.

Every morning we woke up with a great breakfast at the table, usually prepared by the mother. They love to eat bread, butter, jam, cheese and yogurt. We were surprised at the wide variety of breads and jams that they have. They don't normally eat olive oil. We surprised to see that at meals they always drink milk. At breakfast, they read the newspapers. They are very organized and detailed people and at they always speak Swedish at home.