Allt om Sverige (Everything about Sweden)

Hej!

Today is the official one week mark until I fly to Sweden. I'm still mostly excited but I defintely have moments when I'm not quite sure what I got my self into. Right now I'm mostly trying to soak up as much Steamboat as I can; I know I'm going to miss everyone and everything here like crazy.

The other thing I've been doing is learning all kinds of random Swedish trivia. For instance, next to Stockholm is an archipelago of approximately 24,000 islands. Can anyone say canoe trip?! The opening paragraph of my guidebook also briefly mentioned Swedish stereotypes and mindsets. While not everyone is blonde, blue eyed, and reserved, most swedes do prescribe to two mindsets: lagom, which mean just right (think Goldilocks), and ordning och reda, everything in its proper place.

Other interesting things I've learned:
-swedes eat a lot of pickled herring. I'll let you know how I feel about that once I try it...
-midsummer (the Saturday between June 21-26) is the biggest festival in the country. It makes sense when you think about how much the daylight hours vary...I'll have just under six hours of daylight when I arrive in Uppsala, and just about 18 during midsummer!
-about a third of the country lies above the Arctic Circle, which means it has several days in the winter of no light at all, and several days in the summer when the sun doesn't ever set. This region is famous for their reindeer, the ice hotel, and the northernmost ski area in the world.
-Gamla Uppsala (old Uppsala), was the Viking cultural center of Sweden until Christianity came and created their own center in Uppsala.
-Uppsala University is the oldest university in Scandinavia. It's been home to famous names like Celcius, Ångstrom, and Linnaeus.

I'm sure I'll come up with more interesting factoids when I actually arrive, but these are my favorites for now. Now I'm just trying to make sure I remember to do everything that needs to get done before I leave! One other note; so far I've been posting on Wednesdays. I'll keep that up for now, so expect to hear from me agan on departure day!

Hej då!