Meet Sofia Vilhelmsson from Sweden

Welcome to “Walk in their shoes”, a column where we showcase our foreign exchange students and their homes throughout the year.

Sofia Vilhelmsson (‘24) is an MHS foreign exchange student from Sweden.

Vilhelmsson has enjoyed her stay in the U.S. so far, and is especially content with her decision to come to Colorado. “I’m happy I came to Colorado out of all places, it’s beautiful here.”

From meeting people and friends to experiencing new things, she’s had an amazing time. Vilhelmsson said, “I’ve had a really good experience. I feel that I got lucky — I found really good friends and a good host family.”

The experience of studying abroad has been something she’s always wanted to do, and Vihelmsson says living such a dream has been great.

Vilhelmsson has always gone to school with students older than her because she skipped a grade when she was younger. This fact has made this year abroad perfect for her — it’s guaranteed she’s not getting behind a grade in Sweden. Vilhelmsson said she would have graduated high school at 17. “You can’t really do much at that age in Sweden,” she said. The idea of foreign exchange fit perfectly.

Vilhelmsson learned English when she was five because of her older siblings. They always spoke to her in English, which helped her understand the language and, of course, has been a benefit her during this journey. The language was also taught in her schools in Sweden, and these classes helped her perfect it. 

Vilhelmsson shared that “school here has more structure, you can take any classes you want”. She was not able to do this back at home. Throughout the last year she’s realized school in the U.S. is a lot more academically strict than the education program she is used to. 

Vilhelmsson is part of Mead High School’s choir. She also enjoys being part of choir in her hometown.

Even though Vilhelmsson has had a lovely stay, she does miss a couple of things back home. She misses Swedish traditional food and the company of her dog. She said being away from her dog has been especially difficult.

Vilhelmsson advises students to do something new, like moving or being a foreign exchange student. She says to be open minded — people can benefit from scary experiences. She’s gotten more out of being in another country than she ever expected to.

She plans to work after graduation to save money for college. Once she’s saved and is able to continue her post secondary plans, she wants to firstly go into political science and go into a field related to political science.