It’s really weird to think that most of us exchange students are leaving Sweden this month.
There’s no better way to explain how I’m feeling right now without using the word bittersweet. Everything feels so mixed, one moment you’re happy because you’re travelling with your friends and the next one you’re sad because you know that in no time, you’re leaving it all behind. At the same time, the idea of going back home is so exciting, seeing your friends, your family, your country, everything you’re used to, it’s a relief knowing you won’t be a foreigner in a few days. However, walking the streets of Jönköping knowing I’m walking them for the last time is very overwhelming. Even if I come back, things won’t be the same, the friends I made here will be gone, the good times will be just memories and the city will be changed (maybe they’ll finally finish fixing the roads).
I leave Sweden as an evolved person. I wouldn’t say I changed completely, that would be a lie, but I can say that every experience far away from home makes you grow up in ways you don’t realize until you really reflect on them. Six months can change a person even if it’s little time. I’m not the same person I was back in August and that makes me genuinely happy, I’ve learned to live with myself and only myself, I’ve experienced a type of independence I didn’t know before, I’ve known patience like a friend, I’ve received love and happiness with open arms, and most of all, I have learned so many things, about people, countries, cultures, traditions and a long list of things I can’t begin to name.
So I say thank you.
To Sweden, for being such an amazing country, for having me and not challenging me into believing I don’t belong here, for being so different and teaching me new things, for allowing me to feel happy in a place so far away from my normality.
I say thank you Jönköping University for accepting me, to all the people who made this place such an unforgettable experience, the people who smile at you when you walk by, the baristas who spoke english when they saw my confused face, the bus drivers who stopped when they saw me running, the professor who told me I did a great job, my classmates for sharing their live stories, EDIT who gave me a chance to voice my thoughts, the international students who shared the same heaviness and curiousness as me, and most of all, my friends who became my family these last months, those who made me smile when i didn’t want to, without them, Sweden would not be the same.
Solo me queda decir: Muchas gracias por esta oportunidad y esta experiencia, los llevaré siempre en mi corazón.
Writer: Sofia Espinosa Vera
Photographer: Maddie
