Living Life Like a Swede

Today was my very first day living life as a Swede. The day started with an interesting choice of breakfast, a slice of toast, cheese, ham, eggs, bacon, and oranges all washed down with a glass of what they referred to as "Exotic Juice." After breakfast we promptly left the Zinkendamm Hostel to ride the train to Soderton University. Little did I know this commute would bring back memories from the past. When we reached the subway train station, to my surprise there was a number a Swedes fast pace walking, buying coffee from the coffee shops within the station, and even running to catch their train. This reminded me of being home in Chicago when I would have to take the bus and the train to get to high school every morning. It was very crowded so many people were smoking cigarettes on the platform and slightly intimidating.

When our train had arrived it was jammed packed to the doors with very few people getting off and many passengers getting on. I immediately began to think OH MY GOD, How am I going to fit in this space. My heart was racing and started to feel very anxious. We finally got on and to my disadvantage I was not tall enough to hold onto the railing as the train began to move so I had to hold onto a classmate while we were packed on the train like sardines in a can. I then began to feel very overwhelmed and even more anxious to get off of the train and to our destination. I have not been put into such a hustle and bustle environment in a little over 4 years now so I forgot how it was riding public transportation during those hours. Despite my sense of being overwhelmed I was able to keep my cool and remain as calm as possible by managing myself and my thoughts and thinking to myself that every situation is different and you have to quickly learn how to adapt to them. This all ties into the subject that we were learning in class today about cultural competence and diversity.