Once again, I slept in a little too much than I should have. Instead of waking up around 7:30 or 8, I stayed in my bed, which was a mistake.
I rushed to the shower, got clean, and did my makeup in the bathroom in under 30 minutes, which left me no time to eat breakfast. So instead, I packed my Bevita crackers and took my water with me for the day.
On the agenda today was Volvo, so we headed out at 9:15 to make our trams. Today was a longer ride, but I enjoyed it a lot! We made a lot of jokes on the way there, almost got off at the wrong stop, and then Alex almost got run over by another pedestrian.
At “Volvo City,” we met Morgan and Silvia, our in at Volvo and tour guides for the day. Immediately once we got there, they took us to eat lunch. I tried the pork medallions with hash browns, and I even tried Swedish pizza slaw! I won’t lie, I was a big fan.
I sat with Silvia, and she’s the best. She taught me about some Swedish culture, and I learned two things; coffee is made different between the north and south, and every day here, four minutes of sunlight is added, while in the north, they get 10 extra minutes of sunlight per day. That means in six days, they get a whole extra hour.
After lunch, we were taken by three cars to the crash test site. First, we made some Volvo coffee with their fancy machines while we waited in the lobby area. Once we made our way upstairs to the viewing area, we got a quick overview, then witnessed the test. I’ve never seen a crash in real life, and I could feel the impact from where we were sitting. It really woke everyone up.
After this, we were taken to another building for our main tour, but first we changed into work shoes, jackets, and watched a safety video. On the car ride there, Morgan explained to us that 60 cars are made per hour, and there are 3 main buildings. All I remember is that Building B is the paint building.
The tour was amazing! Morgan and Silvia were great, and it felt like we were comfortable with them immediately. Watching the assembly was insane.
We saw so much, and the giant octopus-like robot was my favorite! Also, I wish I would have had time to play foosball in the break area.
Silvia tried her best to get us out of there before the shift workers got out and crowded the buses, but we didn’t exactly manage that.
We missed some buses, but eventually made it on to one that went in our direction. Jackson and I spent the whole ride taking sunset pictures and golden hour selfies.
Then, we had some down time, so a few of us headed to TinTin’s from the tram stop. I had a vanilla latte (wonderful as always), a pastry, and a pesto and mozzarella sandwich. Everyone took a look at it, and then three others went up to the counter to order their own. I must be a trendsetter.
We made our way back to the hostel, and then I had 10 minutes of downtime in the room, and we were on our way to our cooking class.
I was nervous and skeptical at first, because I can’t cook to save my life. But, it was incredible. Leslye, Nicole, Robby, Samantha and I were in charge of dessert.
We made sour cream ice cream, almond cake, a cloudberry sauce, and a chopped chocolate almond topping. It was beautiful, and I may be biased, but I think it was the best of the four courses.
We had a really nice moment after dinner where everyone went around and shared their favorite trip moments so far. It was really touching, and I’m so glad to be here with these people.
Gothenburg is beautiful, and I can’t bear the thought of leaving so soon.
Daily Reflections
- Car doors are way more interesting than I ever thought they would be.
- I actually can cook more than pasta, prior to previous beliefs.
- No matter where we are, I can find my way home.
Jenna Goes to Sweden 