Dané Eloff
A group of Swedish students had the chance of getting to know life as students in Stellenbosch know it.
Stellenbosch University (SU) and Linnaus University (LU), Sweden,have an exchange program that provides the opportunity to a few selected students to experience sport and university life of a completely different country.
Five women and four men from Sweden are currently nearing the end of their visit to Stellenbosch. They were exposed to various South African and unique Stellenbosch activities.
“We’ve been doing a lot of things, like hiking, somerkonsert, braai and visited some wine farms,” shared Emma Andersson, a student from LU, about their adventures.
The LU students also had the opportunity to learn about South African sport structures, history and education.
“The sport and activities in Stellenbosch is the best part and are very different from Sweden. We’ve learned how to play field hockey, or at least tried, watched the Maties rugby game and learned a lot about new sports we don’t play in Sweden,” reported Andersson.
Lecturers from the Sport Science Faculty and the Kinderkinetics honours students worked with the group to ensure maximum learning opportunity. Daily programs varied from typical tourist activities such as exploring Cape Town and shark diving and safari, to teaching and playing with children in Kayamandi.
The Sport Science group from South Africa, who visited Sweden earlier this year, was responsible for planning informal events and social events with the group.
“They have also showed us their homes which was very interesting, because it’s so different from how we live in Sweden,” Andersson said. “They presented us to many of their friends and we have met a lot of new people. It’s going to be so hard to leave them and I think that explains how much fun we’ve had together.”
To take part in this exchange, SU Sport Science students are selected by an application process. This year a group of 12 third year students were chosen. They visited Sweden in January for two and a half weeks, where they were introduced to the Swedish sport culture – both academically and physically.
Jeanne Botha, SU Sport Science student, who took part in the exchange, agreed that this is a once in a lifetime
experience.
“The group has been amazing! We all have gotten along very well, love one another’s company and will be very sad to say goodbye, not knowing when the next ‘hello’ will be again.”
Photo: Supplied
