Our first days in San Diego were really nice with time in Balboa Park, a potluck on the beach and free time to enjoy sunny California. The thing that has been most interesting for me is to be so close to the border and learn about the issues there. We visited the Tijuanna Estuary Visitor Center and Border Field State Park. There we met a man from the border patrol who talked with us about border issues and a women from the state park who talked about the environment in the area. It was very interesting to hear and see the big issues with people crossing the border and the tragedy that so many of them die in the desert. When we went out to the border wall, we could stand there and look over to Mexico. It was hard to believe that the situation only a few meters from us was so different.
We continued to talk about immigration during the day and the week and it opened my eyes to the big issues we have in the world and the hard question of who should be allowed to be where.
Tove and Gregor during a mini show at the San Diego Zoo.
On Wednesday we split up in different groups for community service and I was in the group who did a minishow at high school in San Diego. We spent the afternoon and evening on the beach with potluck and a bonfire with our hostfamilies. It was a great time to get to know the hostfamilies more and learn about them.
- by Tove Alsegård, Sweden
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