STS Pre Departure Oriantation Meeting
Guys!!
Just got home from a very long (11 am-5 pm) meeting with STS at Hvitfeldtska gymnasium in Gothenburg!
The agenda consisted of a presantation, where many important subject was mentioned, such as insurance, communication, rules, social media, sexual abuse, the life in an American family.. things like that. During the presentation many parents asked questions, making us almost an hour late for lunch! We also got to know why STS has been bad at communication lately. We signed some papers, one that stated that we have been present during the meeting (I found out that you are not allowed to go on an exchange if you were not) and one that allowed STS to use the pictures we post on social media as a refrence. A man was representing the American organization PAX, so the meeting was a mix between Swedish and English. There were 4 returnees talking about their experiences. One who went to Great Britain, one who went to Alaska, one who went to Michigan (she lived like 40 minutes from New Haven!) and one who went to Texas. It gave a nice perspective to hear about their experiences. We also had two breaks for lunch and "fika" - snacks. One thing that made me feel very lucky is that only 5 of the students present at the meeting had their placement. How fortunate am I!
I would also like to add how proud I am of myself for actually talking to the other future exchange students who sat next to me! I must have appeared as a really outgoing person. The connection to other exchange students is really important to me. It feels so nice to know that someone is going through the same experience as me!
We got a T-Shirt, a backpack and a folder with information! The other stuff are from previous trips with the organization.
