Hej Hej

That is Swedish for "hello hello" and also represents about the extent of my Swedish knowledge. However, I have just added 'thank you', 'your welcome', and 'I do not understand Swedish' to my vocabulary. All very important phrases.

Sweden thus far has been absolutely breathtaking. I really enjoyed my time in Stockholm, which already seems like an eternity ago. I spent the majority of my time simply wandering around Gamla Stan and looking at the buildings. They are beautiful, and not at all what I expected from Sweden. The wonderful pinks and oranges and yellows that they are all painted make the city feel almost Mediterranean. I have to keep reminding myself that this is July and the weather in January is not so enchanting to convince myself that I do not actually want to move here. Unfortunately I am on such a tight budget and everything in Sweden is so freaking expensive (i.e. my dinner of spaghetti bolognese and a beer in a 'cheap' restaurant cost about $25) I didn't go into very many of the main tourist attractions like all of the museums and the Royal Palace, but I did get into the Stockholm Cathedral. Princess Victoria (the crown princess) had just been married there, so everything was beautifully restored for the occasion, including a huge ebony and silver altarpiece.

To be honest, with only three days and medical school applications to do, not being able to afford many things was a blessing in disguise, because I was able to really just enjoy the atmosphere in Stockholm more than trying to hit all of the tourist spots. It also meant that I jumped at an opportunity to see the first annual Stockholm Street festival, which I might not normally have done. This was a wonderful show that took place in Kungstradgården which is a beautiful garden in Stockholm City. They brought in all sorts of street performers from all over the world and had them perform their acts to a backdrop of the sunsetting on the buildings. It was truly a magical experience, especially because it stays light here for so long and the sunsets routinely last over two hours.

Gamla Stan at night

View from the bridge outside the parliament building. This picture was taken at 11 PM.

Kastlehommen

A door in Gamla Stan that I especially liked

The band which performs at the changing of the gaurd

A street in Gamla Stan, I really liked the mail box on the handle bars of the bike

The view of Gamla Stan from Af Chapman

(Because I am not very good at formatting with this program, there are more pictures of Bossgarden to come in a later post) Bossgården has also been amazing so far. Jonas and Sanna own the farm and have a truly adorable 14 month old son named Alvin, who is as stereotypical a Swedish baby as you could ask for with straw blond hair and blue eyes. I have been doing all sorts of interesting things from tending chickens, to tending vegetables, selling vegetables in a village market (for which I made the local paper), to blacksmithing. A typical day begins with breakfast at 8 am which is usually homemade bread, butter, filmjolk (imagine something the consistency of really thick milk that tastes like yogurt), and meusli. We start work around 9 and work until 11 when we stop for fika, which is a coffee break, and then back to work until lunch which is sometime between 1 and 2. Work stops at 4, and we have been going to a beautiful lake most afternoons for swimming. It's about 80 over here, but I am told that that is extraordinarily hot. The thing that has been most incredible about this experience is cooking with all of the incredibly fresh ingredients. There is a HUGE difference between store bought eggs, and eggs that you collect yourself. Similarly, going outside to pick the ingredients that you will be using for dinner is incredibly satisfying and makes for really wonderful dishes. A German guy named Timo and I made lasgana with homemade pasta and garden fresh vegetable for lunch one day, and the experience was life changing.

This place is just so idyllic and peaceful, it's hard to properly describe it. Everything is beautiful rolling hills of barley which has turned a gorgeous yellow and sets off the red houses. Hopefully some pictures will help, however, it will be a little bit until I can get those up. Well because of the way their schedule works, this is a Friday night for me, so I'm going to go to bed to prepare for what I hope will be an exciting 'Saturday'.