What we've learned about Sweden and Swedes - final comments from Serbian students

 
Petar D., 16

Education system

Kids in Sweden start going to school at the age of 7, as we do too. But unlike us, they have nine years of Compulsory school. It is similar to going to primary and lower secondary school. Then after they finish Compulsory school, they go to the Upper secondary school after which they are able to apply for universities. Their curriculums are much less loaded, and they can choose some subject which they will attend and choose which ones they won’t attend. 

Leisure time and travelling

The majority of teenage Swedes spend their free time doing some sports, going out and spending time with friends. The most common sport is football, as in many countries, but apart from it basketball, ice hockey and skiing are quite popular too. The most iconic sport in Sweden is bandy, which is like hockey on ice but with a ball.  As all the people around the globe, Swedes also like to travel a lot. Their travel wishes are mainly placed in southeastern Asia, countries like Thailand. 

Music

Even though ABBA is one of the greatest bands in the history of, not only pop, but music generally speaking, teenage Swedes aren’t so enthusiastic about it as we initially thought. Nowadays they’d prefer to listen to some popular American music rather than listen to “the old but gold” ABBA.

Conclusion

Although Swedish teenagers belong to a different culture, and there are a lot of differences compared to Serbian teenagers, teenagers world-wide are quite similar in the matter of spending their leisure time, hobbies and everyday activities.

Aleksandar S., 18

Our video conference with Sweden was a success I have to say! We talked to 2 Swedish Girls who are 18 years old. We learnt that ABBA is not popular in Sweden these days. Only ‘old people’ still listen to them. They listen to American and British music the most. One of the most popular sports is ice hockey, which for me was a surprise because I haven’t even thought about Ice hockey in Sweden, although it makes perfect sense. They have some great food and Falafel is really popular. Also, they eat a lot of pasta. They have heard of Serbia before but they know basically nothing about it. They go to some kind of bilingual school and their English is amazing. I think their school system is better than ours.