My class
The woman with the papers, Asa, is our teacher for the course that we're just finishing up. We have a big long exam on Tuesday (five hours! And we're allowed to bring food to eat, but it's not allowed to be noisy food.)





From left to right are Meri from Finland, Josie from the Philippines, Pierre from Cameroon, Kozo from Japan, Henrik from Sweden, Chisom from Nigeria, George from Ghana, Albert from Cameroon, Lawrence from Nigeria, Asa from Sweden, Juan from Spain, Shimon from Ghana and Andy from Nigeria.

It's a bit hard to tell but Lawrence is holding a large, furry hat in his right hand. This picture was taken about a week ago and we only had our first frost here a couple of days ago. But all the Africans (also the many people from places like Thailand who are doing other courses in the college) were already bundled up in big thick coats and gloves about a month ago. Something tells me winter might not be the easiest time for them.

I've never really got to know anyone from West Africa before. One thing I find quite endearing, though a little overwhelming at times, is that all the Africans shake hands with everyone whenever they meet them. For most of them it's their first time out of Africa. They miss their families and they miss having people "around" all the time. From travelling in other tropical countries I think I know what they mean by this - the fact that a lot of interactions with family and friends goes on outdoors so there's a constant buzz of activity on the streets, even residential streets that would be much quieter elsewhere.

But still a couple of the Nigerians have told me that they want to stay on in Sweden after doing this degree if they can - they're fed up with the corruption in Nigeria and think they have a better chance of making a living here.