THE UNNARRATED JOURNEY TO SWEDEN
It is being quite a long time since I updated my blog due to certain reasons and today i decided to come up with something special as it coincided with my one year anniversary since i came to Sweden. Sometimes when we are told time is fast we tend to deny especially when we are not in a good mood. When i think of the day I left the shores of the Gambia to date, I tend to agree time is fast like a falcon that is descending on its prey.
It is exactly one year since I left home and embarked on this journey of knowledge seeking. It was on a beautiful, quite dark night that I left the Gambia and boarded the flight to an unknown destination. That night was filled with mixed feelings, both of joy and sadness. Joy in the sense that I have achieved my long time dream of travelling to Europe for studies, but sadness in the sense that I am leaving my family back home and not knowing when, how and where will I see them again. I could vividly remember the day I left my village of Sareh Nyanga in a rainy morning when I ushered into my mother’s room and bid her farewell and saw her so much emotional as she was not feeling very well those days. I cried as i left for the unknown destination leaving her behind with my daughter whom I knew I will miss.
At around 0.00 am on the faithful day of Thursday I left with my brother Paul Bah, and friends – Ebrima Bah and Sulayman Waan who accompany me to the airport. After taking some pictures with them, I bid them farewell and we prayed for the best while I board the plane heading to Casablanca in Morocco.

At the Banjul International Airport with friends.
At around 1.30 am I was already in the plane waiting for kickoff at 2.00 am. Finally we took off and as it was during the night i slept a little during the journey while being awake by the noise of the plane at some points. The journey to Casablanca take was cool one and by 6.00 am we were already down at the airport. I was made to understand that the name ‘Casablanca’ means the land of the white man. As it was a transit flight, I boarded another flight at around 9.00 am to my final destination of Sweden.

At Casablanca Airport in Morocco
The journey from Casablanca was a bit different from Banjul to Casablanca, because this was during the morning so I decided not to sleep and observe the marvels of creation through the flight window. Looking at the clouds from up was so fascinating. We landed at the Stockholm International Airport at around 16.00 hrs.

In the flight heading to Stockholm

Upon arrival in Stockholm
After processing all my immigration stuff, it was disappointing to find out that my luggage was not delivered after a frantic search for it. I was left with no other option but to file a complain at the Air Marok representatives at the airport and find my way to Linkoping.
I took the Flix Bus from Stockholm to Linkoping at around 17.30 hrs. The journey took us almost 4hrs and we arrived at the Linkoping Central Station at around 21.00 hrs where I booked a taxi to my final destination for the night.

In the Bus heading to Linkoping from Stockholm
A brother from the Gambia hosted me for that night who became a very good brother to me in Linkoping by the name Sainey Ceesay.
The journey was not very easy and for the fact that my luggage was not delivered gave me another headache. While it was not easy studying here for master’s degree, but it is humbling to be able to sit down today and write about that journey. After a solid year in a foreign land, I am missing my family, friends and the entire country called The Gambia.
