Wednesday, May 30, 2012

On a happier note...

Stockholm is great. I am now living with yet another set of relatives on Södermalm, Stockholm's Southernmost island. These are the same relatives I stayed with for a month in 2009, so it's déjà-vu all over the place. It's strange; I've noticed more and more that Sweden has a very particular smell. I think everybody must use the same soap or something because every time I use a bathroom here it's like I'm transported back in time. So weird.


Around Södermalm

Anyways, it's been an eventful couple of days. Yesterday was basically filled with talking, catching up with my wonderful, hilarious family. Today, after a nice run around the island, I met with (drumroll please) Peter Erikson, former leader of Miljöpartiet, the Green Party in Sweden's Parliament. He happens to be an old childhood friend of my dad's, so we decided to grab lunch. Funny how life unfolds.

We met outside of Riksdagen (aka Parliament). Little did I know we would be eating lunch inside the Riksdag building. God Almighty. It was a beautiful, curved dining area just for those with special access. Knowing me, you can imagine how badly I wanted to take a few pictures (naturally, I restrained myself). I had to smile as I looked around at all of the important people seated around us, eating their potatoes like everybody else in Sweden.


Riksdagen

So lunch was pretty cool. He's a nice guy and we talked about a lot of things, from the American political system (messy) to what I'll be studying (undecided). I'm glad we made the connection.

After lunch I spent several hours walking around, peeking in the Dance Museum, shopping at H&M, grabbing a kanelbulle. It's so easy to get from island to island in Stockholm, even if it means sore feet after a while of trekking on the cobblestone streets. I felt very much at home, once again. And I think my Swedish is improving? I'm certainly treated like a local (although the blond hair doesn't hurt). I'm often asked for directions, to get something off the shelf for a woman in the supermarket, or just simply spoken to by strangers in Swedish. Hopefully I'm responding adequately.


Fika: greatest verb ever.




Sweden has definitely given me exactly what I needed: time to breathe. For your viewing pleasure I include a smattering of pictures involving the Swedish archipelago, taken by my aunt. Enjoy.


Out on the boat near Värmdö





No comments:

Post a Comment