NOVEMBER 20,2016

The students from Tullinge Gymnasium and Bromma Gymnasium of Stockholm, Sweden arrived at Dabolim airport, Goa, at around 2:40 a.m. Some of our students, accompanied by Dr Sachin Moraes, a professor of Sociology at Parvatibai Chowgule College, were present at the arrival gate, awaiting eagerly. We were very nervous as we’d never met them before, just conversed via Skype and other forms of social media.

It was almost 3:30 a.m. when they walked out of the gate, 18 students, 10 from Tullinge and 8 from Bromma, accompanied by 6 staff members. Some students were taken home directly by their Goan hosts while some others had to ride the bus to college where the rest of the students were waiting for them. After accompanying their respective hosts to their homes, they rested, being exhausted and jet-lagged from the journey.

We were supposed to meet at college at 4 p.m., so we let them sleep in and then after breakfast, lunch and some chit-chat, we arrived at the campus in the afternoon. The Swedes explored the campus while we hurriedly put up the finishing touches for The Welcome Programme organised by us. We then met up at the canteen for a mixer, so that we’d get to know the other students too. Thereafter, we headed to the Quadrangle, where our students put up a small programme to entertain and welcome the Swedes. We then headed back to the canteen for dinner and returned home.

As far as beginnings go, it was a pretty good one.