The below itinerary provides one projection of the daily schedule. Changes may be made to improve the program quality, based on the logistical and educational needs of enrolled students.

Students depart from Atlanta to board their overnight flight to Stockholm.

We arrive early after an overnight flight and get settled into our hotel before lunch. After getting washed up we have a health, safety, and security briefing. Then we set our intentions for the program before heading out for a bite to eat. In the afternoon we visit City Hall where the Nobel Prize Ceremony occurs each year and then continue on to the world-famous Vasa Museum (Vasamuseet) on the island of Djurgården. We get a sense of the historical timeline by seeing the Swedish warship Vasa, one of most heavily armed and ornamented of its time which sank on its maiden voyage in 1628. In the evening, we have an early dinner and prepare for a packed first full day in country.

We wake up and have breakfast before boarding a train from Stockholm to Gothenberg for our next few nights. Our time on the train provides us with the chance to see the Swedish countryside in a unique way, all the while giving us time to continue our reading as we roll across the countryside. Upon arrival at Gothenburg, we check in to our hotel and have lunch. In the afternoon, students explore Gothenburg in small groups in order to complete a series of experiential and communicate challenges in the “Gothenburg amazing race.” They interview locals, explore monuments and survey the town to find out what is important to the everyday people who make Gothenburg their home. After dinner, we see a live music performance given that Gothenburg is Sweden’s hub of musical creativity.

We leave early to head out along the seacoast for a day in nature. We hike for several hours to a seaside location where we have some time to continue reading and connecting with representations of Sweden in literature. We have a picnic lunch and then continue on enjoying the natural area and doing some forest bathing before heading back to Gothenburg to get cleaned up before dinner.

Our first full day in Lund starts with a cross-cultural exchange with students from a local high school. We get to know them through a series of ice-breakers and activities designed to connect authentically. We then work on a shared project that looks into the values and ideals that are important in both of our cultures, comparing and contrasting while also building friendships. The differences between Lund and Stockholm will become apparent as we get to know local students in both places.

In the afternoon, we visit the Lund Cathedral, held as Sweden’s greatest piece of Romanesque architecture which has not been altered in 900 years. Afterward, we visit the Kulturen open-air museum where there are around 30 exhibition rooms, allowing us to immerse ourselves in daily and working life on the Lund Peninsula in bygone times.

Students have breakfast before beginning their last full day in country. We meet with university students in the morning for a tour of the university scene, finding similarities with life in universities in the United States, but also important differences. We have lunch with our guides before heading to the location of our closing ceremony where we crystallize the learning we have done during the program. We express gratitude for each other and the work we have put into creating a group culture on the program. Finally, we commit to bringing out experience back home and paying forward the privilege of a travel exprience like this one. We spend our last night in Lund with some time to walk around this wonderful Scandinavian city.