I'm in fika heaven...

I've gotten a lot of questions about fika since I've been here, so here is my take on Swedish fika.  Fika (FEE-kuh) is the tradition here where you get together in the afternoon for coffee and a pastry for a couple of hours (at least).  If it's not a couple of hours, it's not a proper fika!  You can have a fika with anyone; however, fika is used by a lot of couples in Sweden as a "pre-date", similar to the American "coffee date" before having a dinner date.  Hence, I've heard many Swedish girls complain about not knowing whether their one-on-one fika with a male friend was a "fika date" or just a fika!

Fika is a huge part of the culture here.  In fact, the word fika is not only a noun but a verb, as well.  Example: I get text messages all the time saying "Would you like to fika with me at so and 

so?" The streets here are lined with cafes, and they all seem to be full between the hours of 2 and 5.  Also, a student here should not even try to get something done at a university office between 2 and 5 because it is likely that most of the office is out to fika!  

Now for the pastries.  Sweden is my pastry heaven, and I will be in dessert mourning when I get home to The States!  Almost everything here has almond paste (mmmmm) in it, and everything is freshly baked.  I will highlight some of my favorite Swedish pastries :-)

This is a kanelbulle, which is very similar to an American cinnamon roll, but I think it is better!  The bread part of the roll is lightly flavored with cardamom.  There is, of course, the normal cinnamon filling.  On the top, instead of icing, the Swedes put pearlized sugar, which gives a wonderful crunch!!

These yummy goodies are called punschbullar (punschbulle for singular).  On the inside is a chocolate cake type of filling.  The outside (the green part) is dyed marzipan.  The ends are dipped in chocolate!  Mmmm...

These buns are called semla, and they are my absolute favorite Swedish pastry!!  They are made to be eaten on the second Tuesday of February, but I have seen them (and eaten them :-) ) the whole time that I have been here.  These are cardamom flavored buns that have the tops cut off. 

 The inside is then filled with a little almond paste and then covered with whipped cream.  Then the top of the bun gets put back on.   I have already been on the hunt for good recipes for these 

because I will need a semla fix when I get back home!!

These are my favorite cookies here, and they are called chokladflarn (sometimes dubbla chokladflarn).  They are sold in absolutely every grocery store here in very large (and thus  dangerous) packs!  We use these a lot for "corridor fikas" when a few of us get together in our rooms for fika.  These are basically very thin, crispy, vanilla-flavored cookies that have the bottom covered in chocolate.  They are insanely addictive...

This is called princess cake- it's unfortunately a very bad picture of it!  The outside is marzipan, and the inside is layers of sponge cake, whipped cream, and blueberry (blabair) preserves.  This cake is supposedly at almost every Swedish birthday party.  If that's true, I will have to start making friends with more Swedish people instead of my other international friends :-)

This is kladkakka, which is in every cafe in Sweden.  It's basically a super rich, ooey gooey, chocolate cake.  Perfection!

Froggie cakes!!   (Groda, the label underneath, means frog in Swedish)  These are meant for children, but I have eaten one, of course!!  The green outside is marzipan, the tongue is made out of raspberry jam.  The eyes and the inside of the frog are some sort of creamy delight!

There are many other Swedish pastries, but these are my favorites!  Now that I have made you very hungry, I am off for a chokladflarn corridor fika :-)

February fun

Hey everyone,

I've been having a really fun time since I last wrote.  I've gotten to the point where I really feel like Uppsala is my home.  I have a routine here.  It is very different from my routine at home, that's for sure!  Here, I wake up at around 11 (unless I have class) and I get ready.  In the afternoon, I get together with friends to do something (walking, fika, sledding, etc).  Then I read books until dinner.  After dinner, I get together with friends and we either go out together or stay in and watch a movie or play Uno (the rules with all the international students are absolutely crazy!!), and we all stay up late together.

Even though most days have been the same silly parade, there have been some standouts.  Last week, a few of us got together for a pizza party.  We actually made the pizza's at our friend Wojtek's apartment.  It actually turned out to be a bad idea because we let Florian and Wojtek do the shopping for the pizza ingredients, and they came back with all very weird things.  We had ham, hot dog, feta cheese, salami, tuna and other things on the pizza!  Yikes!  Luckily, we ate very late, so the crazy pizza tasted good anyways!  The next day we had a welcoming party for the sister of one of the girls on our floor.

On Sunday, I went to Stockholm with Trent, another American.  We didn't really have any set plans of what we wanted to do, so we just ended up walking around for the whole day.  We went to Gamla Stan, the old section of Stockholm, and then we headed to the big shopping center.  It was absolutely crazy in the main Gallerian (where a lot of the famous shops are) because it is currently one of the big sale times in Sweden.  After that, we took a walk along the waterfront, and before you knew it, it was time to take the last bus home!

The Europeans have taken me in as their "sweets pet" because I am unfamiliar with so many European sweets.  So far they have shown me lots of different chocolates (including kindersurprise, which is a chocolate egg with a children's toy inside) and also many types of cookies.  I have been trying to think of things that are American that I can show them.  While I was having this idea of things to show people, the idea turned into an "American party".  Next Friday I will have people from the corridor over to have a couple of different American foods.  It was quite difficult to figure out what to make since I had such strange requests.  Frederike really wanted me to make something with marshmallow fluff and peanut butter!  I have been out to the grocery stores to look for ingredients, but it has been difficult to buy certain things.  For example, I cannot find powdered sugar (for Buckeyes!!) anywhere!

Over the next month, we have a lot of visitors coming to the corridor.  As I mentioned before, our friend Marie-Anne has had her sister here this week.  A lot of people have their boyfriends/girlfriends coming in the next couple of weeks, and there are also quite a few friends and siblings coming.  I am excited to meet these people because I think you can learn a lot about people by seeing the people who they love.

Another thing that has really surprised me here is how easy it has been to fall into friendships here.  I know I have mentioned several times that people here are very welcoming, but I've just been so surprised at how fast acquaintanceships have turned into close friendships!

Photos:

1. A view of beautiful Stockholm

2. Lily, me, and Frederike

3. Frederike and me

4. Florian, me, Wojtek, and Lily

Weekend Road Trip

Hej!

This Saturday and Sunday I went on a Swedish road trip with a few German friends and a friend from ISU!  We had a great time!  Since it was a Swedish road trip, we rented a Volvo, of course! Thankfully, the car also came with a GPS system, otherwise we would have been lost for most of the weekend!

On Saturday, we went to the cities of Falun and Mora in the Dalarna province, which is north of Uppsala.  The first thing I noticed when we got out of the car was how cold it was!  It's incredible how much colder it gets just 3-4 hours north of Uppsala!  In Falun, we went to the famous copper mine for a guided tour.  Unfortunately, the tour was only in Swedish.  However, the information 

center gave us guide sheets in English, so we were able to read up on the history before we went into the mine.  Once we were inside, it was too dark to see anything on the paper.  Luckily Frederike has taken two Swedish courses, so she was able to tell us some of the things that the guide was saying.  

Trent, Florian, Frederike (hiding) and Wojtek in our mine gear

After our mine tour and a walk around the rest of Falun, we drove another hour out to a place that is famous for making Dalarna horses ( that's what I am on in the picture).  We were so disappointed to find that the shop was closed, but we ended up getting lucky because the owner saw us outside and opened up the shop again!  Finally, we drove a little bit farther north to the town of Mora to grab something to eat.  Apparently everything in that city closes before 6, so we ended up walking around the whole town trying to find a restaurant!! After dinner, we had a long drive back to 

Uppsala, but we were amused listening to the Swedish radio stations which seem to play the same 5 songs over and over!

Me on a Dalarna horse!!

On Sunday, we went southwest of Uppsala to the towns of Västeras and Örebro (which I cannot pronounce correctly to save my life!).  Västeras was a little bit disappointing because it was a lot 

like Uppsala with the river running through the middle and a nice church at the center of the town.  That would be fine, except for the fact that the town is not nearly as nice as our Uppsala!  After a stop at a Swedish cafe in Västeras we continued onto Örebro, which I liked a lot.  Again, the city was very similar to Uppsala because of the river, castle, and cathedral.  However, they also have an old section of the town where there is good shopping.  We had a lot of fun in this city because we found a part of the river right outside of the castle that was completely frozen over.  We ended up spending quite a bit of time playing out on the ice!  Even though we had a lot of fun, we were a little bit disappointed with how the town compared to the description in the tour book.  The tour book had mentioned a giant mushroom (svampen in Swedish) where you can take an elevator 

up to the top and see the whole city.  However, this tower was exactly like every single water tower in America!!  Also, the tour book had mentioned that Örebro was famous for its "stylish candlesticks".  We thought that that was a funny thing for a city to be famous for, but we were intersted in how these candlesticks would look.  It turns out that no one in the city seemed to know what we were talking about- another strike out!  Oh well.  The city was lovely, and we had a wonderful time out on the ice and walking around the river and the town square.

Wojtek sliding on the river in Orebro

Wojtek and Florian on the cannon outside the castle

A view of Orebro from the castle

Overall, the trips gave me an even greater appreciation for Uppsala.  Uppsala is by far the nicest city I have been to in Sweden, and I think I will only find Stockholm to be nicer.  The trips have gotten me itching to do more traveling :-)

Gamla Uppsala

Hej!

Today I went on an excursion with my Swedish history class to Gamla Uppsala, which means Old Uppsala in Swedish.  Gamla Upps

ala is about a 15 minute bus ride from Uppsala.  The excursion was really neat!  Gamla Uppsala is where a lot of the Swedish Vikings resided, so it's full of history.  In the area there are hundreds of Viking burial mounds, which basically look like big hills.

First, we received a guided tour of the Gamla Uppsala museum by one of the local archaeologists. 

 Basically, we got to see a lot of the different artifacts that have been excavated from some of the mounds.  Then, the guide took us on the mounds, which was pretty special considering the fact that the public is not normally allowed onto the mounds due to preservation rules.  It's funny 

because the mounds do not look very high, but it was quite an adventure getting up the icy slopes!  I wish I had taken pictures of 

that!

Tomorrow I leave for my road trip of Sweden, and I will be sure to write and post pictures!

Picture summary:

1- Me on top of a Viking burial mound

2- A look back at Uppsala from a burial mound- that point is Domkyrka, the cathedral

3- Gamla Uppsala countryside

4- A view of a few of the burial mounds

Hej!

It's crazy to me that by tomorrow morning I will have been here for 2 weeks!  Time has just been moving so fast since I've gotten here.  I was so nervous before I left to come here, and I was mostly nervous about whether I would be able to have a good time away from all of the people I love.  However, multiple people who had studied 

abroad told me that I would love my time abroad and that I would be so sad to leave.  I already think those people are right- I am so pleasantly surprised!

Since Saturday, I've mostly been researching for my paper that I have to write for my Swedish History class.  In between researching, I take lots of walks around the town.  I'm trying to 

become well acquainted with the shops and sights in the neighborhood.  It's really fascinating to me how many ethnic restaurants there are in the town- I wonder if the university presence is a 

factor.  I've also been taking a lot of trips to the grocery stores.  I'm still not very good at reading 

the Swedish labels, so every shopping trip feels like a huge adventure!  For example, I still don't 

really know how to tell the difference between all the different kinds of milk!  Yogurt is also still a mystery to me.  However, people who make fun of my Trix yogurt obsession will be amused to 

note that I have found Safari yogurt here, which is a brand of children's yogurt that is very similar 

to Trix yogurt.  Besides my shopping adventures, I've been out with some of my friends 

from the floor and watched a movie with a bunch of people.  

I'm having a hard time focusing on what I'm doing during the week, though, because I'm already so excited for the weekend!  On Friday, I am going to Gamla Uppsala (old Uppsala) for an excursion with my Swedish History class.  Gamla Uppsala has a lot of the Viking history of Sweden, so I think that will be really neat!  Then, on Saturday and Sunday I am going on a roadtrip around Sweden with 3 German friends (Frederike, Florian, and Wojtek) and another friend from the U.S.(Trent).   We have rented a Volvo for the weekend, and we are planning on either heading to Dalarna,"the heartland of Sweden",  or going to a ski resort.

Well, I'm off to enjoy a slice of bread with Nutella, my new favorite food group!

Picture summary: (From left to right)

1. The inside of Domkyrka, the cathedral

2. Disco ball inside a nation- the only proof I have seen of Abba so far

3. Uppsala by night

4. Some buildings by the river

5. Another river shot

6. Town view and Domkyrka at night

  

A great week

Hi again,

Since I last blogged, I've had my first class!  I'm taking Swedish history, and I think it's going to be very interesting.  It's so different taking classes here because, at least for my class, there is so little time spent in lecture.  My class lasts until the middle of February, and I only have 5 lectures and 2 tours of historical places!  It seems very strange to be in class for so little time, but I've been enjoying exploring the town during my free time.

I've still been busy trying to meet lots of different people.  Mostly, I've met a lot of international students that live in the same housing as me.  I've been so (pleasantly) surprised at how friendly people are - it makes it very easy to enjoy my time here!  My new friends and I have been planning lots of different excursions over the next couple of months.   So far we want to go on cruises to Helsinki, Tallinn (capital of Estonia), and Riga.  I also am planning a trip to meet up with some other ISU study abroad students in Paris.

The people in my hall are very close knit with each other, and we all do a lot together.  We've already had a birthday party, and we're having a going away party tonight and ice skating and basketball tomorrow!  Last night our floor went together to one of the nation's parties.  The parties crack me up because they only play American music there.  It's funny to hear what American music the Swedes like - the most played songs so far are Jackson 5 songs and Johnny B. Goode!  That was definitely not what I expected!

Yesterday I joined Stockholms nation.  It is one of the 3 biggest of the 13 nations here, so they have a lot of activities planned.  They also have their restaurant and pub open almost every day, and they have fika a lot!  Fika is my absolute favorite Swedish tradition so far.  Fika is when people get together in the middle of the day for coffee and a pastry.  It helps that I have loved all the Swedish pastries that I've eaten so far!  My favorite is the kanebulle, which is like a cinnamon roll except that it is flavored with cardamom.

Oh, I also think it is important to let you know that I have mastered one Swedish phrase (besides hello, goodbye, thank you, etc) that I make a point to use in everyday conversation.  The phrase is "Jaha! Precis!", which means "Yes! Exactly!"

The pictures embedded in here are both views from my room.  The courtyard is part of a school, and I can see kids playing there a lot.  The other view is just to show what typical buildings look like here - I love all the color!

Well, I think I'm off to fika! :-)

My first few days here

Hey all,

I have safely been in Sweden for a frew days, and I'm already loving it here!  The city I live in,

 Uppsala, is very beautiful.  The buildings seem to all be yellow or pink, and it makes everything look picturesque and sweet.  The university buildings are just as pretty as all the town buildings, and it's sometimes hard to tell where a university building is if it is unmarked.  Just a few blocks away from my housing, there is a river (in the picture) than runs through the city.  The river looks so pretty at night because the buildings and trees around it are all lit up.

For the past couple of days I've just been settling in.  It hasn't been hard to get used t

o the weather because it's actually been a lot warmer here than it's been in Chicago!  As for the daylight, I really don't notice a significant difference between here and Chicago, either.  The biggest struggle so far has been food shopping.  I just have to follow all of the pictures to know what I'm buying!  When it comes to cooking the food following the directions, I have to go down the hall and ask some people if they have any idea!

The people in my housing are all very friendly.  I live in a dormitory/ apartment type setting with about 60 or so other international students.  So far I've befriended several French people and people from Morrocco, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, England, and Mexico.  It's great to talk to a lot of the other students because many of them have already been here a semester, so they know the "ins and outs" of a lot of things here.

Since my class has not started yet (it starts Wednesday), I've been doing a lot of the International Office orientation activities.  Most of the activities include looking at different nations.  Nations here are like clubs that contain a restaurant, pub, library, sports center, music equipment and stages, and more.  All students who go to this university are required to join a nation, so it's a very big deal to figure out which of the 13 nations is most fitting for a person.  So far I've been to several nations for a variety of things like table tennis, fika (the swedish midday snack/dessert), open mic night.  Tonight I'm going to a karaoke night, but I plan on watching only!!

I hope everyone has been well!!

Summary of my pictures:

1- The river that runs through Uppsala

2- One of the entrances to the university's botanical gardens

3- Part of the beautiful cathedral, Domkyrka, located in my town center