Day 12

I can't believe it's my last day. Where did the time go? On the other hand, I've seen and done so much in the last 12 days that in some ways it seems like longer. I know I'll be busy trying to catch up with work and such when I get home, but for today I just enjoyed being here a little while longer.

I knew today was going to be busy, so I packed a bit last night and a little more this morning. Pär drove us to school for my last round of interviews starting at 8am. Have I mentioned I really like these kids? They look you in the eye, they have quick smiles, they have great senses of humor, and really great attitudes. I think maybe I'll just have them all come stay with me :)

Pär and Lena Carlsson and I met for a bit to discuss how my time had gone. Great!!! I had asked for more time with the students, and they really delivered. I even feel like I got to know the 1st and 2nd year students a little. Very nice. I had my meetings with Maria (actually a whole morning that included that great tour of the textile mill and a nice lunch!), Gunnar, Jonas, Pär, and Lena. I got to go home with Lena and spend the weekend in Göteborg, including a wonderful day by the sea. I got to hang out with Åsa, her husband, dog, cats, and alpacas. I got to see an Opera in the beautiful Göteborg Opera House. I did a little shopping and wandering in town. And I got to see the grand unveiling of the new Borås water tower, accompanied by Peter Johansen. Amazing!

We had lunch together at the cute French cafe in town, talking about our plans for next year over delicious food. We were having such a nice time we nearly missed our last meeting with the students! They were waiting for Lena and me. I went over some final thoughts about their trip, then they went one by one to record a short video for their potential host families. I'll be posting them to the Swedish Project Website as soon as I catch my breath. With a few minutes left, I decided to give them the most important lessons of all...how to order a drink at Starbucks and a hamburger at In-N-Out! I think this was the only time I saw them taking notes ;-)

My plan had been to take Pär and his wife, Lena, out for dinner tonight, but Lena is still a little under the weather so we opted for take-out Chinese. A big soccer match was on TV - Borås against Göteborg - mortal enemies. So we ate and watched TV and I got to hear the sounds of Swedish soccer-watching. You know how people here make certain sounds when watching football? They have a whole different set of them. Too fun.

Time to pack, and catch up on my email and message board posts from my students at home since I will be pretty incommunicado tomorrow. At 2am I finally turned out the light. Hopefully I'll sleep on the plane...