The second day of the program, today, friday, we had to wake up at 7 am Sweden time, 8 am Jordanian time to have breakfast before leaving to the Swedish Institute (SI) an hour later. Normally, in Amman, I would wake up around 10 and have some little chat over a cup of coffe with my parents in their bed before our breakfast (miss you dad and mom). I didn’t change my time so that I fool myself that I wake at 8 instead of 7! But eventhough, when I woke up, it was still dark! The sun wasn’t over yet and I was like what the hell!! How can I wake up like this?!

We had our breakfast and left to the SI where we had a brief introduction about the program and were everyone presented himself. The head of the SI gave a small speech about how Sweden is connected to the world, and how little they are connected to the middle east, and how much they like to share Sweden with the world. They start this program this year in an attempt to build stronger relationships with the countries presented. He pointed out the freedom of speech has been established in Sweden since 1766! Yes, 1766! and they never had a censorship case since then! (We are so behind in this deparment, arent we?), but he also said that democracy came late to them as they started to vote on 1948! (not so late to us? hehehe)

We then had 5 minutes each to present ourselves. We had 7 questions about ourselves as guidlines. I was impressed with the achievements and passion of the participants, all in his field of media and social development, all young and are looking for a brighter future for them and their communities. I got nervous while giving mine for I still don’t feel comfortable in public speeches!

At 7 pm we had to go to the Noble Museum for a dinner and opening ceremony. It was a wonderful evening. The museum from his nambe is to honor people who won the Noble prize. We had a special presentation about Alfred Noble himself. It was interesting to know how he created the dynamite and how he established many factories all over the world and then specified that he wants his fortune to be dedicated to honor people who achieve something for humanity.

I am trying to upload photos and videos but it is not working :S. I will try later!