PBL Example: Marija Loves Exploring the World with PenPals!

One of our most popular projects this month has been World Explorer, with students participating from 23 different countries across North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania! (Yes - that’s every inhabitable continent!)

From Canada to Chile, Spain to Ukraine, and South Africa to South Korea, PenPals have been discovering the culture, daily life, and histories of countries around the world. Today we’re celebrating Marija from Sweden as a PenPal Star for her recent work in World Explorer! ​

Marija likes to play football and volleyball, and shared a lot about her life in Sweden during her project. We caught up with her to learn more about her experience learning with PenPals, and she told us that she liked “to write about myself and read about other students experiences around the world. [I learned] that my life does not differ so much from other students’ lives around the world. [The world] is not as big as we think.”

In World Explorer, Marija described her typical weekday in Sweden.

A typical weekday in my life is that I first wake up 06:30 a.m, but we actually have different times each day. I changing my pyjamas to my school clothes like jeans and a hoodie. After that I brush my hair and making a ponytail or a other hairstyle. When I’m done I open the fridge and taking all the things I need to make a sandwich, I always making two sandwiches because for me it’s really important to be full. If I have time I taking some yoghurt and berries like frozen strawberries and frozen mangos. When I’m full I taking my plate and my bowl and place it in the sink. When I've done that, I go to the bathroom and brush my teeth in three minutes and dunk my mouth after that. I go to my room, open my bag and putting my phone, bus card and check out the scheme on the material, just to be sure what I need to bring. After that I put on my jacket and walking outside to the bus station 07:20 am. The bus comes always 07:35 am but it depend on when the school starts, but anyway when I’m in front on the station, I walking to the school with my little sister. I open my locker taking my school books and preparing for the first lesson, always. When the school is over 14:10 pm, I go to the bus station and get home where the bus left me to my big apartment where I live with my parents and my two sisters. In Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays I have volleyball, and It's really fun and I love it very much. How is your typical weekday in your life?

Marija also described some of the most popular foods in her hometown.
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In Sweden, we often eat Swedish meat balls with some lingonberry jam and cooked potato, sausage with macaronis and food from the ocean like fish, oyster and mussels. In my family we usually eat meat stew with some vegetable, spring roll with rice soy and salmon, but when it's Friday we eat tacos, pizza or pancakes. Sometimes we go out and eat in restaurants like IKEA or bring the food home because it's very common in Sweden. My favorite food are meat balls, potato cakes, sushi, spaghetti bolognese and spicy food because I like the taste and it's so delicious to eat it. In Sweden we also eat blood pudding, and I know that it sounds really nasty but it's delicious. What is your favorite food?

We asked Marija what advice she has for future PenPals, and she recommends “to always write as truly as possible.” Thanks, Marija, for being a great PenPal! We can’t wait to see what else you create as you continue your project!

If you want to learn with Marija and the other PenPals enrolled in World Explorer, sign up today! ​

Sign Up for World Explorer