about 10 days ago it was the anniversary of my graduation from high school. guess how many years it’s been? twenty!! yes, 2.0. 20!!! i cannot believe that i am old enough o be celebrating 20 hers since i graduation from high school. i was 17 and the whole world was in front of me. well, as an american what wanted to get a job, going to college/university was what was ahead for me. that’s the drill for most americans, those who have gotten scholarships or can afford to pay, that is. anyway, the fact is, if you want a job in the states that will give you health insurance and enough money to live (but not be rich, although that can happen too, i’ve heard), then you’d better get yourself directly to a university, some place of high education in order to get a degree. in something. anything.
let’s not even get into the discussion of all those teenagers who don’t do well in school, who can’t afford to go to a university but instead have to get a low-paying job anywhere that will hire them without skills or education, or who aren’t ready to choose (at the age of 18) what they want to do for the rest of their lives…
the typical path to follow is college. directly after high school graduation. ok. you get the summer off, but then. back to school. for 4 or more years. if you’re lucky.
today i watched lina’s amazingly talented & smart cousin’s “graduation” from “high school”. quotation marks are necessary because it’s not graduation like you might think it, american friends. nope. it’s way more of a celebration. and it’s not exactly high school, but it is. it’s the best way to describe it so you understand. in any case, it was a bunch of 18-ish year olds finishing their courses of study before moving on their next adventure in life… like a folk school. think community college, but how they should be. without the negative connotation. here they are seen as great educational places. just another option & a place to study some higher education, but for a shorter period of time usually & with the aim of learning some specific skills… from social work to restaurants to photography to child care. you name it. or a university. or a year to travel. or a chance to be an au pair/nanny. or a job (because some have studied something specific in high school that leads directly to a job – like medical technician or child care).
my point is, there are plenty of legitimate, well-respected options from which to choose.
my wife’s cousin is a musician and has been accepted into a really great music school, so that’s his direction so far. anyway. today we watched him run out with his class (and by class i do not mean 350 students who have all been in the same grade. i mean a class of about 25 who have studied together for 3 years), sang some songs, and looked for their families to collect hug after hug of congratulations.
i’ve got tons of pictures from today on my nikon, but i won’t have time to deal with them until monday sometime. so, you’ll see a lot more then. for now, here’s the picture of the day: yellow flowers (yellow is the word today) we bought to hang around the neck of lina’s cousin. it’s a crazy flower necklace kinda thing. in yellow & blue. sweden’s official colors. everybody gets them.
i’ve also got a few more fun peeks into the last day of school for everyone. but, more pics coming in a few days, i promise!
for now, i’m off to dreamland. hope you have a great friday night and a fabulous weekend. i’ll let you know what i’m up to this week shortly tomorrow morning before i am out of touch for 2 days…
goodnight. and peace.
It’s my 20th anniversary of high school graduation (though “high school” in Austria is a bit more like the Swedish system than American) this month as well! Hard to believe it’s been that long, isn’t it? When I got the email inviting me to the 20th anniversary celebration I had to collect myself for a moment (“HOW many years??”), haha.