School's Out!

The tradition with secondary school students riding around on flatbed trucks on graduation day dates back a few decades. There used to be a very wild affair, and it can still be, but it is more regulated today. The rule is, no drinking. Which of course means that some of the students are already drunk when they get going. And that some don't follow that rule. They then ride around the neighborhood shouting screaming whistling, anything to get noticed, really. People shout back. Motorists honk their horns. All in good fun. My photos are from a few different places. I snapped the top photo in Handen. The second one is a little different. Some students born in other countries often bring a flag from their native country with them, and that made for a silly discussion in social media this year, as some people say that you should only ever use the Swedish flag. I took the third photo near the Royal Palace, where a group of secondary school students were celebrating in style on an old ferry. Oh, and two of these photos were taken from the bike, while waiting at a stop light. The last one at Medborgarplatsen.

Flocking

Two flocks of students. Spotted while out street shooting in central Stockholm. First group at Drottninggatan, the number one pedestrian street in the nation's Capitol. Second group with Kulturhuset at Sergels torg as a backdrop.

School's Out Forever

Anyone who has ever visited Sweden in early June will probably be familiar with scenes like this one. A flatbed truck party. Secondary school students celebrating that after three long years it is finally over. School is out forever. Or at least for the Summer if you are going to Uni come the Autumn. All Spring, they have been partying like mad. Their poor parents, probably broke because they have been paying for it all. Celebrations like this are legal, at least if you follow the basic rules, and that didn't happen here, so the police moved in and had a chat with one or two of the drivers. One rule says that you shouldn't drink while on the flatbed, but all the students tried their best to break that rule here, and it worked until it didn't. All this happened on the flashiest street in Stockholm, Strandvägen, last week. The girl in the bikini top tried her best to hear my response to where she could see the photos, but her friend's shouting made that impossible. Behind me stood a large group of tourists with open mouths shooting the same scene with their smartphones.

School's out forever

Swedish word of the day. Studentexamen. The Fredrika Bremer secondary school students in Handen were in celebratory mood yesterday afternoon. If you wanted to ride on a truck you had to pay 800 SEK. One kid fell off a little later in the day. Police were called and one woman had heart problems. There were too many kids on one truck, and one woman passed out, lots of rumours on social media but I hope everyone is okay.

The World is Ours for the Taking

That time of the year again when I get the old Alice Cooper song in my head. School's Out Forever.T he Fredrika Bremer Secondary School in Handen closed for the Summer yesterday, and a few hundred graduation students celebrated in style. Sort of. They have been partying since mid-Spring and there poor parents are probably broke by now but who cares about that on a day like this!

Hours away from a massive hangover

The secondary schools in Haninge closed for the Summer break on Friday. As the tradition goes the students graduating have been partying hard for weeks, and when I spotted four trucks filled with intoxicated teenagers from the Fredrika Bremer school in Handen I had to stop and take a few photos. They tried their best to spray me with beer and Champagne but I stood at a safe distance! And boy were they lucky with the weather. 27C on Friday and a very blue sky. party on!

KTH Hazing

Treat your overall as a dirty dog. Soon it will smell like a dirty dog. Don't clean the overall. What your overall needs: Lots of pockets for beer. A hidden pocket for a hip flask. Maps. Flash-light. Bottle opener. Cocktail book. Barf bag. First year students from The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH Haninge), during hazing.

Hazing

Met this happy bunch of KTH students near the mall in Handen. They walked around like this for hours. Either from the School of Architecture, the Built Environment, ABE, or the School of Technology and Health, STH, all based in Handen.

Schools out

They have been studying for three years now. Yesterday it was time for graduation at the secondary schools in Handen. The streets around the Fredrika Bremer school were jammed with trucks, filled with not very sober, but very happy kids screaming, drinking and singing. Boy will they have a massive hangover tomorrow...

The Fashionistas

Summer is here and everywhere you look there's another pretty girl. This is Johanna, from Nynäshamn, and Malin who lives in Handen. They will graduate from secondary school in little over a week. They have studied nursing, but after the second year (of three), they realised that that was not what they wanted to work with in the future! The girls are mad about fashion and spends a lot of time styling their friends. They are big fans of Elin Kling, who you can learn more about here. In the near future Malin and Johanna are planning to get a job in the fashion industry, probably starting out in a boutique somewhere. But next up for the girls are a trip to the Mediterranean. They were thinking about Greece, and I suggested my favorite Greek Isles Ios.

Walpurgis Celebrations

Students all around Sweden put on their student caps on Friday. It is an old tradition and these days it means that all exams are over, and over the next 4 to 6 weeks before graduation the students will be busy partying like crazy. It is very expensive for their poor parents who will have to pay for everything! Just the cap will set them back 1200 SEK.The photos in this set are from Poseidon's Square in Handen, where students from one of the local secondary schools Fria Gymnasieskolan gathered to listen to (and sing with), the all male choir Birger that performed traditional student songs. The weather was amazing, like a normal Swedish summer day. I talked to a very proud grandmother whose grandchild Mikaela can be seen here somewhere. I also spotted the very cute Karin whom I met and photographed a few months ago. Later today celebrations will continue with more singing around the bonfires.

Posing with Leibovitz and Ohlson Wallin

This is Marie, a horse crazy girl that lives in Tungelsta, and her friend Jennifer, who is from Nynäshamn. I noticed them at the cultural centre in Handen yesterday. They were taking photos of each other and holding up a couple of books, near the Viking Era Runestone. Both girls are photography students at the Fredrika Bremer school. They told me that they were working on a school project, and had just been to the library to pick up the books about Annie Leibovitz and Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin, the two photographers that they will make a movie about. As I told them that I would like to take a portrait, Marie informed me that I had met and photographed her two years ago. That time she was out riding on Nisse, the one eyed horse. It is the sixth time something like that has happened.

Crazy Headwear Day

The rule says that I must take a photo of these types of things (deeley boppers). So that's what I did when I spotted Kristoffer (from Stockholm), and Benjamin (from Gotland), in Handen last week. This is apparently how you look when you are a first year student at The Royal Institute of Technology . Three years from now these guys will graduate from the Haninge campus as high school engineers.

The Accordion Virtuosi

This is Natalie Heselaars-Karlsson and Andreas Nilsson. They performed during the Haninge Day celebrations at Lake Rudan in Handen on Saturday. I don't know much about accordions, so when Natalie's father "Kifas" told me how much he paid for her accordion I didn't believe him at first. It costed him 110.000 kronor. That's around 15000 US Dollars. And that was a bargain apparently. Andreas accordion only costed him 30 000 kronor. Natalie Karlsson is only fourteen years old. Her friend Andreas Nilsson is three years older. Nathalie is a student at the Lilla Akademien in Stockholm. Andreas is also a music student. He is attending Nordiska Musikgymnasiet.

School's Out Forever!

Or at least for the summer. I saw (and heard), these happy graduate students at Trollbäcken in Tyresö yesterday. They are secondary school students and are now leaving school after twelve long years. Some of them will continue to a higher education come the fall. Others will take a year off and travel the world, and others will start working. Good luck to them all. Chances are that they will not remember much of what happened on this day as they probably have been partying all week...