rimhigh-09

The USA trip!

Introduction

Me, and two of my classmates had the opportunity to travel with the school to California, USA this spring. No one of us had a clue of what was coming. I hadn't so big thoughts about America before I went there, most of my expectations came from movies and tv-series. But my expectations would soon be changed! I'll try to give you a gleam of my trip with this letter, but the experience is hard to describe.

Rim of the word high school

The school day started at 7.20 am after our long flight the day before. I was nearly awake when we entered the school building that morning, and at the same second as the door were opened, a whole new school journey begun.

The first thing that we saw were a fight in the corridor, two guys were fighting over a girl. Nice first impression, huh? When the fight was over did we continue our walk to the auto shop were the teachers was waiting.

The rest of the day was an interdiction, we were given id-cards and a walk thro the campus. The other days at Rim were spend with L.J or Ben in there classes. Everything from math to ceramics. My favorite was the foto class. There were many pretty girls and the class were in my interest area. The school system it self were different in many ways, things like our "fika-breaks" didn't exist, and they weren't aloud to leave class before the bell was ringing.

We had many discussions with both teachers and students about the big difference to Sweden, and all the discussions ended with a agreement that the Swedish system wouldn't work in US, and reverse.

My impression of the students was that they were more open, curious and talkative then the Swedish students. Everyone wanted to know how our school was and most of them waved to us in the corridors.

This part of the trip was the most interesting!

Davis auto and body shop

We also had the opportunity to have a week of internship at Joe Black's shop.

I did spend most of the time down with Steve in the painting booth. He was a real nice guy, he took life as it came, at least at work.

The equipment was in many cases, different. Some of theme was the same, but the most part of it was totally new for me. Things like wet sanding weren't used as frequently as we do, but one thing was the same, a nice result.

The atmosphere in the shop was also a bit different, the employers were more open to each other and had more "not work" conversations then we have.

I learned a lot of my week there, maybe more than on other internships that I have had back in Sweden.

Summary

This was a life changing experience!

My thoughts of America are totally changed, both in a school and normal life view. I learned that Sweden is a great country in so many ways, and that some differences are bigger than you can believe. Not that America is bad, but in some areas is Sweden way before them. But the trip did also give me new friends, and the knowledge that the people is almost the same! Everyone should have the opportunity to go, it would change peoples view about us, them and techniques. It still feels weird to leave them just like that, but I will absolutely go back there when I get the chance!    

Over & Out

Daniel