Trucks filled with partying students are a common sight in the center of Stockholm this time of year.
Everywhere I went this week at lunchtime, I heard whistles, car horns and loud thumping music. Which basically only means one thing: it’s graduation time in Stockholm.
More revelry.
There are all sorts of traditions associated with high school graduation here. Students dress in white and wear skipper-like caps with their names and schools embroidered on them. After receiving their final grades, they leave school and sing in front of their families and friends who greet them with flowers and signs with their childhood photos plastered on them. It’s also common to present the students with Swedish flags and ribbons with decorative items to tie around their neck. Then the students hit the streets to celebrate, eventually making their way to Sergelstorg in the center of town. Many you will see in flatbed trucks dancing and drinking champagne with music blaring, whistles blowing and horns honking. Students with more sensible or protective parents – depending on what way you look at it – are driven around instead in convertibles or classic cars. (To me, these students always look a bit sad that they are not in a big truck.) The trucks and cars are decorated with birch branches and banners. Everything is quite a spectacle and lots of fun. It even makes me wish I had been a student here!
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