“Stockholm i mitt hjärta, låt mig besjunga dig nu!”
”Stockholm in my heart, let me serenade you now!"
Or so begins one of the most popular songs about Stockholm, the stunning capital of Sweden. Let me serenade you, indeed! Sweden in the summer is not a thing to be missed. I arrived here on June 9th, and my few weeks here have been incredible. Everything is either green or blue, the water is warm and the air is warmer (other than of course when it rains!), the Swedes young and old are full of joie de vivre – but Swedish, which means strawberries and cream.
I started by visiting Dalarna over the weekend, where I gazed upon the mighty Dala Horse in Avesta, which stands 13 meters (approximately 42 feet) high. I danced on a dumptruck with ecstatic Swedish high-school graduates as it took us all the way through town. I took long walks along the 'adventure trails' of calm Lidingö, and joined the hyperactive crowds for concerts and carousels at Gröna Lund. I sang along with Swedish tunes at Allsång på Skansen, and squealed like any Swede over Måns Zelmerlöw. During midsummer in Örebro I danced around the maypole with all the others, even when rain threatened our festivities.
In late June, I travelled with Lisa (my wonderful Swedish exchange-sister) and Max (my wonderful Swedish boyfriend) to Gotland, where we stayed four days (along with Lisa's sister, Elsa, and boyfriend, Trevor). We camped in a tent just a few hundred feet from the ocean, we walked along the famous wall of Visby, we ooh-ed and aww-ed at the ancient stone raukar – and we stopped at one or five yard sales (loppisar) while driving from coast to coast!
And in just six weeks the Swedes have taught me to swim...though I still can't eat fil, or sill, or shrimp-flavored cheese in a tube. What I can do is appreciate summer the Swedish way. I can say “Let's go swimming!” when it's only 55 degrees in the water. I can say “There's no way we're watching a movie, the sun is out!”
I've also made contact with a few Vasa members here in Sweden, in the Stockholm area. Their meetings don't start until September or October, but whenever they do, I'll be there, as our own Valhalla representative – a Viking from Vegas! As a Gilman Scholarship recipient, I must complete a follow-on project when I return to the US, and my project is to create a Utah lodge, perhaps also partnering with the new Swedish group "Young Vasa".
But in the meantime, I'll keep on living the Swedish summer life and keeping in touch so you all can, too! I'm sending my love from Sweden!
Med vänliga hälsningar,
Solveig in Stockholm
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