High school students from Sweden get a taste of life in Tampa
TAMPA, Fla. — When Emil Jahrsten is out on the open ocean and just listens to the wind, he says he feels free. That is why he has loved sailing all his life.
“It’s so peaceful when you’re out there and it’s just the horizon around you,” Jahrsten said. “I think it’s lovely.”
Jahrsten attends a high school in Sweden, but his classroom is a ship. The sailing high school recently docked at the American Victory Ship in Tampa, where students experienced life in America for 10 days.
It was the ship’s first visit to Tampa since 2019, but it has regularly stopped there for more than 10 years.
“When they come dockside to us, I think it’s just a great cultural exchange,” said Bill Kuzmick, president of the American Victory Ship and Museum. “They get to see what’s going on in America, and especially in Tampa, and a lot of Tampas get to go and see what they’re all about, too, so it’s a pretty neat exchange.”
While docked in Tampa, the students from Sweden went to a Lightning game, met local high school students and visited a radio station.
“I like coming to the United States. It’s amazing to experience this country,” says Jahrsten. “I imagined when I first came here that it would be really similar to Sweden, but it’s actually very different. People are much more social.”
On an average day aboard the T/S Gunilla, students spend hours working on the ship and three hours in class, focusing on social studies. While the 44 students rotate assignments aboard the ship, they live below deck, sharing a small room with two to three people.
“It’s a little small but you fit, you get used to it,” Jahrsten said. “You get to know people very well. You learn to connect and deal with different types of people.”
The students also get to know the staff at Gunillan, including manager Martin Tommingas who is on board with his wife and 8-month-old son.
“One of the special things about living and working aboard a ship is that you’re actually off-grid and you’re actually maintaining your own community,” Tommingas said. “We do everything on board and I think it really boosts your confidence that we can make our whole world go round.”
Up on the bridge, Captain Johannes de Lind van Wijngaarden steers the ship.
“We will go to foreign, new places and they will see how people live in other countries,” he said.
The school takes five trips a year, each lasting about two months. Earlier this year, Gunilla traveled to Iceland, Ireland, France, the Netherlands and the Canary Islands. After Tampa, the ship is on its way to Cuba.
Captain Johannes also guides the students as they balance schoolwork and life on board the Gunilla.
“Kids leave their parents’ houses, go to the army, and the army will sort of complete the training that they do, and we do something similar, but I hope in a slightly more friendly way.”
It’s Jahrsten’s last year at high school. He said that while it is sometimes difficult to be so far away from his family, he wanted the opportunity to explore the world and be out on his own.
“We kind of become a family here,” Jahrsten said. “Obviously you miss them sometimes, but I think it’s a good way to grow and become your own person.”
When Jahrsten looks back on this time in his life years later, he said he will remember the people he shared it with and all the places around the world they saw together. But for now, he’ll just focus on enjoying wherever the wind takes him next.