Time to say Hej då

Well after weeks of saying goodbye to people it is mine turn to say farewell to the city of Jönköping.
I have had an amazing year out here. Looking back it has gone so fast, from my first night scared sh**less in the hostel in Huskvarna and then meeting Christian that night, to kick off week and then from then on. I will miss so much from Sweden, and weirdly I imagine a bit of a culture shock when I return home to the UK, for example, I am now used to cars driving on the right hand side of the road, for me it’s not look left, right, left again it’s the opposite, right, left and right again. It’s going to be weird seeing alcohol being sold in the supermarkets after a year of having to go to systembolaget. The culture shock will probably be at its worst in the winter when everyone starts complaining about the ‘snow’. Livingin Sweden you learn that there are different types of snow, none of which stop flights, roads, schools etc. I will miss the beautiful scenery in winter of the lake being frozen over with snow all over, it’s a beautiful winter wonderland. I even stayed in the gym longer because it has a view of the frozen lake whilst you are on the cross trainer or treadmill. Perferct. You would think the temperature would be something I would be happy to see the back off, well you would be wrong, I quite enjoyed walking to uni in the snow in -12C temperatures, it’s refreshing & so much better than sweating in the sun or getting wet in the rain. After a certain point your body doesn’t care how cold it is, it doesn’t recognise the variation in the temperatures, However I do have my Auntie to thank for leaning me (not borrowing me!!!!) her ski jacket from her days in the Alps. It was the best coat I have ever partially owned. (Not don’t assume winter coats will be cheap out here because it is Sweden, expect to pay around £150 for a basic winter coat, so get on ebay before you go). Another thing, I suppose you could say I have developed a coffee culture, thanks to the Swedish fika and the Italians. Before coming to Sweden I prob had one or 2 cups of coffee a day, that has probably trebled, however I will probably bring the number down when I get home, however coffee isn’t coffee unless it’s strong stuff. Of course I will miss all the friends I have had over this past year, no matter how long I knew you, the full year or a few months I thank you for making this experience absolutely incredible. I have developed a soft spot for a fair few of you (& I imagine you know who you are ;-) I hope to stay in touch with you in particular) I do look forward to visiting you all in your home nations, however It prob wont be for a while, sorry but I aint rich lol. If you haven’t already you should add me on Skype (Address on my facebook page) I have learnt so much from you all, and I shall cherish the moments we shared. Now this is starting to sound soppy.
Highlights of the year, start with kick off week, absolutely incredible , the students really did take over the city. A big heavy week, it is great that you are looked after by Swedish students, if this hadn’t happened I imagine it would have been harder to make so many Swedish friends. (Apparently Swedes will be friends for life )
Well I am now on the bus to Göteborg so my time in Sweden is not yet over, I have 2 nights here.

HBQT & National Swedish Day.

Let’s start with HBQT, this is a LGBT festival in Göteborg, it ran from the 1st June to the 5th. The city just becomes a gay paradise, If you have ever seen the U.S version of Queer eye for the straight guy, where Liberty Avenue is just covered in rainbow flags, Göteborg becomes like that. The majority of flag poles fly the rainbow flag, (even one at a church which I thought was quite impressive) shop displays are in rainbow colours, In the centre of the city is a stage where lectures & performances are given. If I was fluent in Swedish I may have been able to enjoy it more, however I went on the Saturday thinking it would be the busiest day, but I suppose on a 5 day festival it’s all spread out. The entertainment is a little thin, the pride march was on the Sunday so I didn’t get to walk/see. It was nice to be in a city that embraces it all over rather than a square or a street. As written in an earlier blog Sweden ( & the other Nordic countries) are incredibly gay friendly. So we spent about 6 hours in the city which was nice, there was a street in the city that was rammed packed with people, it seemed to be a street music festival. It was incredibly crowded and with people sat on the street drinking, dancing I was reminded of a scene from Mexico city (which was featured in Andrew Marr’s programme “Megacities”) It wasn’t my scene, when I feel claustrophobic in the open air, I have to get out of there. I imagine it would be Simon Cowel’s nightmare listening to the music on the street. A majority of it was awful.

National Swedish Day
Well there isn’t that much to write about this day. I thought it would be a big deal like in Norway, but no. It is observed on 6th June. It was created in 1983 replacing “Swedish Flag Day” which was created in 1916 to celebrate the election of King Gustav Vasa, as he was considered the founder of modern Sweden. Only in 2005 was Swedish Day made an official public holiday. So Swede’s don’t really know how to celebrate it so they just treat it as an extra day of the weekend. However We in Delta went to the beach for a BBQ which was very nice it has to be said.

You know you’ve lived in Sweden when…

 The first thing you do when walking into a bank/ post office/ chemist etc. is to look for the queue number machine
 When a stranger on the street smiles at you, you assume:
o He is drunk
o He is in
o He’s an American
 You have developed a big coffee culture within yourself, drinking 4+ cups a day
 The sound “Jah/Ah” has become part of your ever day vocabulary
 You find your native language has deteriorated somewhat and phrases like “Can you borrow me”, “Take a beer” etc.
 You are now always on time and being late is now deemed unacceptable
 You have given up on trying to find “fat free” food and so just pile on the butter & sugar
 Your front door now resembles a shoe shop with the amount of shoes on show
 You look at a Volvo and think “Hmmmm they don’t seem like a bad car”
 You grow accustom to the cheap coffee at University
 You know that a national or religious holiday is now an excuse to drink (In the Lords name obviously)
 An outside temperature of 5C is a mild day in winter
 When someone asks for three cheers you say “Hoorah,hurrah,hoorah,hoorah!”
 You have conversations outside with people even though it’s -10C
 Julmust starts to taste good to you
 You associate Fridays with “After work”
 You suddenly dash for the door at 1.30pm on a Saturday when you realise Systembolaget only has half an hour left until it closes
 A night out is 5 hours of a pre-party then 3 hours in a club
 You get extremely annoyed when the bus is two minutes late
 You are shocked when a train is delayed
 You assume that anyone who apologises after bumping into you is a tourist
 You hide the fact you have a Nokia
 Seeing a young woman with lit candles stuck to her head no longer worries you
 You love the fact that in winter you don’t need to put beers in the fridge just 2 minutes outside will chill that bottle
 When buying alcohol the first thing you look at on the bottle is the alcohol percentage
 You no longer snigger when the words “fart, bra, or slut” used in conversations
 Hearing and seeing swear words in the media is perfectly acceptable
 In winter a lie in means you will prob only have 2-3 hours of daylight
 You know that “Extrapris” means goods are cheaper, even though in English it means the opposite
 You ringed somebody instead of you rang them
 You don’t seem surprised when the GP not only can’t help you but has come up with the same diagnosis you had before you visited him
 Ikea isn’t just a place to buy furniture, it’s a dinner out for meatballs at under £2
 You save all plastic bottles and cans as this becomes money when you are poor
 You have gotten used to the idea of a kebab pizza and see it as normal
 Eating a kebab from a takeaway when sober appears normal to you
 McDonalds is too expensive but Time out is cheap and good
 “Pussi” to you means a popular brand of cat food and not the female sex parts
 You get used to the fact that you are a Swedish XL when back home you can fit into a M/L
 You are so desperate for Alfresco coffee that you will sit outside with a blanket wrapped around you
 You get used to the fact that they add tax onto some items in the supermarket at the till but not all, so you never really know how much your shopping will be
 “or” becomes a question rather than a joining word for two choices
 You are used to the idea of unisex toilets
 ICA is not I.C.A it’s eeka
 Ikea is not eyekea it’s i kea
 You know that fan is a swearword and not the word describing an admirer
 You think Swedish doesn’t have swear words because the use the English ones most of the time
 You think caviar being sold in a tube is normal
 You accept that Swedes are at their most friendly and most talkative when they are drunk
 J becomes Y in your English, i.e. John become Yon
 Seeing cars driving with their lights on in bright daylight seems normal
 You struggle to work out if a Swedish guy is gay or not, (Trust me such a tough challenge)