YFU Announcement:

High School Year

Youth For Understanding International Exchange
High School Year Program Exchange

The environment in Sweden is so clean and nature so expansive that you can take a swim from the steps of the City Hall in Stockholm, or pick wild flowers and berries almost anywhere. Sweden offers a beautiful and varied landscape of mountains, forests, lakes, fields, and archipelagos. In fact, most of the open space is public land to be shared and enjoyed by all. If you love nature, you'll love Sweden!

Take your pick: traditional Swedish folk music or pop music, theatre or opera. As a YFU student in Sweden, expect to take advantage of a wide range of cultural activities. 

But what Swedes really enjoy and what your host family will urge you to join in are outdoor activities. Why not? Your host family lives in one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and they'll be eager for you to get to know and appreciate their landscape. Swedes generally get five weeks of vacation each year and much of it is spent outdoors. They like sports, fishing, golf, tennis, sailing, and swimming. Major team sports are hockey and soccer. Northern and central mountains offer chances to ski and hike. One of their national celebrations, Midsummer, which takes place in June, is marked by decorating homes and churches with garlands of flowers and branches and dancing around a Maypole until late into the night. Another old Midsummer Swedish custom is to gather many varieties of flowers and place them under your pillow so you dream of your future bride or bridegroom.

A large part of the Swedish society still revolves around close family ties and loyalties. While you'll find yourself welcomed warmly by your host family (Swedes love to host exchange students) don't expect to find a large family. The average family in Sweden has 2.6 members. Many couples only have one child and many others have no children at all. Both host parents will usually work, so if you happen to have very young host siblings, they will probably attend a day care centre.

The family is likely to share only one meal together, dinner, though your day with your host family is likely to begin with knäckebröd (crisp bread) and fil (a kind of yogurt). Few Swedish teenagers work after school but most are involved in sports, clubs or other social activities during the week nights and curfews are not common in Sweden.

If you are a YFU student in Sweden for a year, you will attend gymnasium and choose a group of subjects that interest you from areas such as languages, social sciences, and artistic activities; caring professions, social services, and consumer education; economics, commerce, and office work; industrial trades and crafts; technology and natural sciences; or agriculture, forestry, and horticulture. Schools provide books and lunches and students are involved in sports practice with their clubs or teams after school. Unlike school in Australia, you are likely to have all your classes with the same 25 - 30 students who have chosen the same group of courses. Classes begin between 8:00 and 9:00 am with an hour lunch break and last class finishes between 2:30 and 3:30.