Axel's summer exchange in Pune, India

Summer exchanges differ from year-long exchanges in that the person you swap families with is in your country with you, and you in his or her country.

In early summer an Indian guy came to Sweden and spent a month with me. We went to school together for the two weeks before the summer holiday, and since early summer in Sweden is usually very eventful, he got to experience both the typically Swedish graduation celebrations and Midsummer.

I wasn’t particularly nervous during the flight to Mumbai. When I arrived at the airport I was lost, but my host dad was there and quickly found me in the crowd. After a four-hour car journey we finally arrived in Salunkhe Vihar in Pune, where the rest of the family was waiting for me.

The first week was very unfamiliar and I was homesick, but once I got into the routines of the home everything started to feel better. The family was very protective and watchful, so for a 16-year-old Swedish guy it was a little uncomfortable – but in hindsight it was valuable to understand how different things can be in other cultures.

I started school together with the guy who had been in Sweden. He was two years older and studied film studies, so I got to attend school with him throughout my exchange. School was probably where I had the most fun and felt the best. Thanks to his studies I saw several big Indian films and gained an insight into how unimaginably huge the Indian film industry is.

The family took me on many outings to interesting places, lots of old forts and ruins. They had planned a trip to Mumbai for me, but unluckily the city was flooded. On the last two days I also got to go with the parents to their jobs and see what they did during the day, which was fun.

Even though I was only in India for a month, I learned an incredible amount. For me, the cultural insight was what affected me the most and made me understand how much actually lies hidden behind the image you have of another culture.