being very British in Sweden - a royal wedding

I will leave all the clever words and the grand celebration of a truely beauitful and romantic British wedding to the thousands of people all over the world probably blogging or writing about it on the internet RIGHT NOW. 

What I have to say is a little simplier. 

Today makes me proud to be British and especially happy to celebrate a little bit of a fairytale love story.

I had made scones, most which have been gobbled up by Josh's work, had a good old cooked English Breakfast with only my favourite bits (bacon, hashbrowns and sausages.. this may have included scrambled eggs if I hadn't used them all up baking!) and was sipping on cider whilst about 3 different streams up royal wedding updates are flashing over my screen. This was partly because the Swedish coverage included a lot of Swedish words I did not understand and it was kinda ruining the mood.

Then, the Swedish cleaner who does her rounds of the flats I'm living in came in. At first I was gutted because I didn't want it to be awkward, then it turns out the cleaner was very excited about the wedding too. She didn't speak any English (apart from hello and goodbye) so we started hand gestures and watched the wedding together!!

She did clap alot especially after I clapped when they were officially married. And when I was drinking everytime I saw bizarre hats... I think she was confused, but it made me happy that two completely different people who didn't even speak the same language were both watching a peice of history.

horraaayy.

i want to ride my bicycle (day 2 cont)

still day 2

Bikes are apparently my new favourite thing.

And my basket made a fabby alcohol transporter. We got a litre of wine (so sweet) and 5 cans of cider and beer for about 5 pounds. WAHEEEY. Also we bought a beer called "bad craziness beer" and elephant carlsberg ha! 

Hi mum.

In Skagen there are lots of little trails you can follow to see all the best bits. We went to the old church, Grenen including the lighthouse and Old Skagen which is ADORABLE. In old Skagen there is a beach, a weird compass overlooking thing (which I'm sitting on in the above photo), a few houses with bright red roofs and that's kinda it! Also everything over in Skagen works on almost an honour system... to go up the lighthouse it is just assumed you will pay about £1.. which we did :)

Afterwards your bottoms hurt

And don't attempt to do your hair and cycle... I thought I could and I nearly ended up skidding into a tree.

In the evening was where things really picked up. After going to the Irish bar the night before me and josh decided to explore a few more locations. Then we stumbled across this little bar Havnekroen which had some deal being advertised... we popped inside to find the most bizarre pub I think I have ever been to. 

Firstly, people in Denmark can drink. There was a man strumming out songs on his guitar whilst everybody sang along drunkenly (me and josh had NO IDEA what these songs were) then Lady Ga Ga some on and some drunken women starts literally table dancing right before our eyes... at 8pm. There is some poor guy at the bar who is still ordering tuborg whilst his mate is just laughing and then the air is thick with smoke (I forgot some countries still allow smoking in public places). So in this situation... what do you recon makes it really exciting??

Lets give these drunks a hammer and some long nails.

I'm not kidding.

There is a game which consists of everyone getting a long nail and then taking it in turns to hammer it into a massive chunk of wood. The loser is the person who's nail is still standing. Then we had to have a go. A few tuborgs later we joined in with some Danish people who spoke perfect English and told us all about how this game is actually Austrian. I was absolutely USELESS. I even at one point had 5 guys on my team who each took it in turns to hammer in my nail... and I still LOST. One guy (no idea on names) told me he thought my nail was obviously stuck and therefore it wasn't my fault at all... bless. In fact I was just a weak little girl. The only time I did win was against Josh who got molested at the bar by a drunk and therefore I had sneaky goes behind his back...

Ok, I lied, the man next to me took sneaky goes for me. 

Basically... I am not going to be a builder anytime soon.

icecream stealer

Josh is a big icecream stealer.

And that is all I have to say on the matter.

one foot, two seas (day 2)

day 2

Day 2 started magically. It was so sunny that the sky was amazingly blue. We hired bikes which are only £10 for the whole day... and literally became my new favourite thing. I even had a basket which for some reason was a highlight. Then the countryside is like a giant playground. We cycled for miles and got very sunburnt. First stop Grenen. 
 

Skagen is most famous for Grenen which is the tip of the country. When you dip your toe in the water you can actually see the two seas meeting and crashing together (although the water is so so cold but even trying to be macho is thankfully stopped as swimming is forbidden because of the strong opposing currents). What surprised us was how empty the beach was. We saw all the cars and bus load of people arriving and were a little worried, we are the kind of couple that enjoy rural and non-touristy, but after the tractor that takes a load of people to the tip left... we were alone and felt miles away from the mainland.

one foot, two seas

 

There is so much to see on skagen so I'm afraid I may have to split this day into a few... in case I bombard you with lots of pictures and ramblings.

 Apparently some days you can see seals off the coastline if its pretty empty, apparently sunshine scares them away.

the trip with the whale ship (day 1)

 day 1

This Easter me and Josh had a little trip across the pond to Denmark

You can take the Stena Line Ferry which takes about 2/3 hours for about £12 each way!

So off we pop bright and early on Friday on a Ferry the size of a WHALE. On board we had a cheeky little breakfast of a muffin (seriously muffins in Sweden are GRIM... I have not had a single one out here that did not taste stale. what a let down) and beer, or in my case the most bright orange cider I have ever seen! It was chili and mandarin flavoured!? Surely that is not right?? I had one sip and it was sweet but not too shabby... but I probably won't ever be ordering it again

I think because alcohol in Sweden is so expensive, people use the ferry as a booze cruise. Not only were we met with loads of free testers of spirits (I tried this horrific whiskey... at 9am it was NOT the right thing to drink!) and also an older gentleman was passed out when we were leaving the ferry from drinking too much!

We then took a train to Skagen which is at the very tip of Denmark which happens to be the sweetest and quietest little place we have ever been. We had fish and chips (or in my case CHICKEN NUGGETS) with our feet hanging over the edge of the docks, the water was so still and it was so sunny. The entire 3 days we were there we never saw one cloud, even our hotel owner said that was rare!

We then wandered down to the beach, which was deserted, and skimmed rocks. I have never done this before as I just assumed I would be useless... but actually my first try was a success. This was followed by about 50 pictures trying to capture our skimming rocks and then after realising in fact I was useless at skimming rocks we gave in. The town here is full of markets and lots of people with dogs. I dislike small dogs, horrible yapping things. I found a poodle and duck costume you can wear around you (see pictures above) and nearly bought it, maybe it was a good thing Josh distracted me at this moment. We ended up in an Irish pub just because Josh wanted to try Green beer, which somehow turned into a live band performance. Ate some more pizza, back to the pub, back to the hotel room whilst singing my new drunken obsession of wuthering heights. I have no idea how this started other than I showed Josh the song to show him how mental Kate Bush looks then ever since it has been stuck in my head... including the RIDICULOUS dance moves! If you replace the words "its me oh kathy" with "its me oh hanny" you might understand how mental I looked! Poor Boyfriend.

And that was the end of day 1 :)

branching out

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♥

in the red frame

one of my favourite things about summer...

BBQs

When we were younger my parents used to forbid me saying the word BBQ because we had such bad luck with the English weather that if we ever mentioned the word it was guarenteed to rain. It used to be like a secret to the weather when we wacked out the BBQ and quickly enjoyed the sunshine in case the clouds noticed.

So on a bright Thursday I stole Josh away from work to enjoy a bit of a summer BBQ.

I even caught sunshine in a frame

AND this was the first time I had ketchup in a burger (Don't ask... I was a fussy kid) and it was quite nice. Sweden do these really cool sauces with Garlic and herbs... I'm trying to teach my brain it isn't just tomatoe and that I do like it.

Looking out over the whole of Gothenburg eating a burger and sipping on cider, I'm seriously a girl sold on views. 

still got that easter feeling

In Sweden Easter is a big deal

 Its mainly because Sweden is very traditional and therefore Easter becomes almost as sacred as Christmas is to people back in England. Easter is an entire week of celebrations and children all over Sweden dress up as witches (which looks a bit like a doll with freckles, paper hats and rosy cheeks) to deliver Easter letters and receive candy - kind of like Halloween. 

 Things on Friday are a little different and are taken very seriously. Good Friday is seen as an almost sobering experience and is appropriately named in Swedish 'Långfredag' which means 'Long Friday' as nothing is really allowed to happen on this day. No pubs, cinemas or anything fun! (Me and Josh managed to escape to Denmark for this part)

 BUT it is not all doom and gloom. The moment Saturday begins there is a sense of cheer. Leading up to Easter everyone in the city center has baskets of treats, decorating the eggs is a big family event and I even saw a man dressed as a chicken roaming the streets handing out Easter Eggs (I'm not sure if they were free!) People come round celebrating the end of a long winter. A women even gave me an chocolate Easter Bunny to spread the cheer - to be fair, she knows the way to a girl's heart. 

And this is all topped off by Walpurgis Night at the end of April. Bonfires are lit all over the cities to mark the end of winter. Some people use it as a method to clean all the dead branches and any wood from their gardens to start the spring cleaning, whilst for others it symbolises the end of winter and the sunshine!

On Walpurgis Night people start singing and dancing (and after the bonfire dies out) drinking! As May day follows then apparently people will be up all night and if not they get up early to celebrate the May Day demonstrations that parade through the streets of their town or village... safe to say I am looking forward to this little tradition. There is also a tradition of drinking nettle soup as sometimes the Swedish nights can still be bitterly cold. However, so far, we have had sunshine most days... *fingers crossed* it remains.

p.s. Don't read this if you don't like history 

 

Walpurgis Eve

by Agneta Lilja, Södertörn University College


In the Middle Ages, the administrative year ended on 30 April. Accordingly, this was a day of festivity among the merchants and craftsmen of the town, with trick-or-treat, dancing and singing in preparation for the forthcoming celebration of spring. Among farmers and peasants, it was an important day in the calendar as the annual village meeting was held, with eggs and schnapps as refreshments. The meeting also chose a new alderman. At Walpurgis (Valborg), farm animals were let out to graze, and ever since the early 18th century bonfires (majbrasor, kasar) have been lit to scare away predators. People also fired guns, shook cowbells or yelled and screamed to keep the predators at bay. In some parts of the country, young people went round singing May songs in return for gifts of food on Walpurgis Eve. Those who gave them nothing were treated to a ‘nasty’ ditty. Elsewhere, people visited spas to drink the health-giving water and to amuse themselves.

There we go... a little learning for everyone :)

things that make me ever so happy

I love happy thoughts

(in no order of how much I like them and added to every time I turn a year older)

1. playing drinking jenga with my friends
2. waking up next to him and knowing I have the whole day to do nothing but be with him
3. the brilliant thing of sunshine all day long
4. getting excited and spotting animals like bunnies and giraffes
5. my feel good songs that are so terrible... but its the only songs I know the words too
6. finishing a drawing and liking it
7. taking photographs
8. my freckles appearing
9. travelling
10. getting odd little texts and messages from people
11. eating slices of beef straight out of the packet
12. lie-ins
13. dancing until the sun comes up
14. being somewhere so incredibly beautiful
15. when people say nice things and I end up blushing because of it
16. the moment you finish reading something that has changed your opinion completely
17. Vodka jelly, cakes and drinking punch out of a paddling pool
18. *this relates to number 17... Birthdays
19. my new camera
20. my pet fish that I can talk about for hours, especially my shrimpyyy
21. all my happiest memories

Göteborg vs Kalmar (lad times)

match highlights

IFK Göteborg vs Kalmar FF 

2-0

HOOOORRAAAAYYY 

Lad times

 Josh said it was the sunniest football match he had been to in ages. 

 I felt like a LAD. 

We were quite a bit late but we saw all the goals -huzzaah - and felt very bad for the goalkeeper on the Kalmar side who let in the last goal... he was a tad useless. We also attempted to chant along although we were singing what sounded like "ENNN-GGAAA-LAAANND" at one point, if anyone knows what it actually was, I would like to know!! Opposite us the crowd were so so rowdy that at one point they all linked arms and started jumping and waving flags. Apparently there is this move where everyone grabs one end of their scarf and would swing it around their head like a spinning flag. We enjoyed some beer in a plastic cup with a lid - this is a good idea as no spillage! Then after our 2-0 victory the players did a victory lap of the pitch. 

Excuse my blinking!

Me and Josh are currently very very burnt.

I even found I had sun-tanned feet this morning. Unfortunately with my limited shoe collection in Sweden, I have 3 pairs of boots and one pair of trainers which means I am not equipped for summer feet. I think I may adapt my friends philosophy of 'dirty feet, happy soul.'

I am in one of those moods where I am so excited about travelling around the place. We just got back from Denmark which was beautiful and I go back to England in a weeks time and then Croatia (fingers crossed for nice weather) and I want to go somewhere this bank holiday weekend.... EEEPPPP :)

BIRTHDAY SOON <3

Atmos-fear

Sorry its so small.... but this is the ride that I will have to go on before I leave. 

It just drops you.

To put it in perspective... this was taken a long way away on top of a very high hill and the blobs below our houses and the ride itself is meant to be the tallest in Europe. jeepers creepers.

upsy downsy

We had a pepperoni pizza picnic perched on piles of prominent pebbles (i.e. pizza overlooking Gothenburg)

After work me and Josh meet for a little pizza times on our favourite little spot on the top of the world. nom nom nom. 

And then the cycle of bullying begins when Josh hits me over the head:

  I would love to tell you that was all posed. It was not. In fact, this is kind of a re-occuring thing in our relationship. HA.

Can you spot whats wrong with this picture? its like playing 'where's wally?'

This is my favourite season just because of moments like this. Eating pizza, overlooking Gothenburg, with birds tweeting, many people getting scared to death on a ride in the background (I will come back to this point**) and all whilst the sun sets.... hello perfect. 

**The famous Swedish themepark Liseberg has opened up for the summery months just literally a few streets from where I'm staying. There is the most terrifyingly high ride that drops people called atmos-fear that you can see from the main street and this hill. It literally makes me jump everytime I think its all quiet and suddenly you hear loads of people screaming as they are dropped.

the nicest house - my future home

Sorry it has been a week since I posted

BUT it has been an

ADVENTURE WEEK

So I thought I would leave  you this pretty house which is down my street. It has so many blue flowers ike a carpet and blossom trees and daffodils. 

Its going to be my sunshine house.

And I shall stay here everytime the flowers start blooming. 

Quack

Kwak Kwak

Kwak is a popular beer in Swedish that sounds like "Quack". Its named like this because when you drink it, due to the glass' shape, it literally makes a quacking noise at the middle, smallest part of the glass. You even get a little stand for it. Hooraaaaay what a great drink. Ducks and Drink. My favourites. 

Well recommended AND look at the joy on our faces.

Happy sunshine vitamins

We had one sunshine-summery weekend
I can feel the happy sunshine vitamins

In Gothenburg you can jump on these ferry boats that work like the bus system, which means we decided to take a boat to the other side of the big river dividing the two pieces of the city on our bus pass. The other side of the river is full of the most beautiful apartments with balconies that look over the sea... I want one. I would be like a posh sailor's wife. Which is also when me and Josh decided we wanted a boat to go on long trips at the weekend with wine and barbecues. Summer is that care free, cider sipping, flowing skirts, good smelling food kinda season. We then climbed up a hill firstly finding what looked like a portaloo (with slits like castles and mud on the floor... at least we hope its mud!) a bit more exploring we discovered nobody else was there. It was like our own little patch of land. We made very messy cheese sandwiches out of slices of gouda and floury bread rolls and watched a massive ferry trying to turn around. The sky is super super blue but it was still pretty windy. Which all changed today. 

Today the sun is shining and everyone seems to be enjoying it. I have never been in a more relaxed place ever, people crowd the benches and the parks are just full of people walking their dogs and sunbathers. A spot out of the wind is often hard to find but today after about an hour I felt my face turning red... it was SUPER HOT. I just seem to go to a park and with one black marker and a lot of time I'm just enjoying doodling and feeling like the laziest person ever. Cold cider, daffodils are blooming and wapple juice <3

The one thing I would change are the damn magpies. They sound like a car alarm and are nasty nasty birds. They can all go away. I swear the ravens here are also big enough to eat me... they are SCARYYYY.

The freckles and rosy cheeks are out:

AND i'm booking many many trips away at the moment. I want to travel sooo badly. I have booked a flight to Croatia for £30 return, thats like robbing an airline and next I'm booking tickets to Malaysia, Thailand and Laos, and Denmark for easter :) 

I'M SUCH A HAPPY BUNNY.

CLICK ME Bunny Bun Bun

tobacco flavoured gum?? and other products

 Goteborgs Rape - what a name!!!

Smokeless tobacco is known in Sweden as Snus.

"Snus (pronounced 'snuz') is a sweet-sized pouch like a teabag that a user places under the lip. It delivers the nicotine hit in roughly a minute - around nine times slower than a cigarette. In Sweden, snus outsells cigarette"

Tastes like tobacco flavoured gum... BLERG. And you place it under your lip which kinda reminds me of having a fat lip. BUT in Sweden this stuff is popular. Maybe people don't want to venture out in the snow to smoke?

Cid "Smile" Wildberries

This isn't that weird and wonderful. Its just cider but tastes so much like juice. Its like drinking berry cola... and its meant to be cider?

 Rekorderlig

Now this is the BEST CIDER EVER (you can buy this in Asda too!)

Its yummy scrummy.

 

 Swedish Waffles

Known in Sweden as Svenska våfflor. Delicious with cream and jam nom nom nom. And in Sweden they have a whole day to eat them. March 25th is known as 'Lady Day' which is exactly nine months before Christmas. In Sweden, this day is called Våffeldagen and also marks the beginning of Spring... 

because of a 

Great big mistake....

The waffle tradition apparently started due to a mispronunciation of the name for Annunciation Day. The day was originally known as or “Vårfrudagen” (or lady day) and was easily confused with Våffeldagen (waffle day)! So basically delicious waffles were eaten due to somebody mistaking the true tradition of lady day!

  I'm not complaining

 

Swedish cake

A Swiss roll in Sweden is called a rulltårta (roll-cake). It is commonly served with coffee... which by the way is HUGE here. They loveeeee coffee! At Josh's work they have coffee breaks every couple of hours and this stuff is strong!

DONE AND DUSTED

travelling by tram

A little snapshot

 

After watching a weird documentary about Charlie Sheen - WINNING (I had to get this song in somehow.. possibly my motivation song right now!) - you can take a tram to anywhere in the city. I spoke to a woman who said that Sweden had just got through a tough winter and because of it there suddenly seems like hundreds of people have emerged from their houses triumphantly. The cafes have popped open lots of outdoor eating space and people are bathed in sunlight, still wearing jackets and scarfs. Also they spell bus like BUSS that second 's' should you get out of there.

One tram ride later we found my little place of heaven. A place with h&m, mcdonalds (I barely eat there but when I'm drunk its all I want), lots of people watching and a sign for a zoo that leads to a shopping center. That's false advertising. 

But why I really wanted to rant was because I think the trams here are ace and a bit of a catch up on my Swedish life. 

Today we have the funny moment where the rent on the apartment wasn't finalised and so the keys (that are like a swipe system) doesn't let us back in the building that means I have to stay in all day to let Josh back in after work! Therefore I have been a little bit like a caged animal. 

We live in this very student-y area yet everything is so sophisticated! You can book time slots for doing your washing so there isn't that awkward 'waiting at the machine reading' or even the moment you get back to empty your machine you see somebody has already done it for you and put all your clothes and UNDERWEAR all over the floor. pleasant. In my halls in university people used to put the bras of any under-suspecting late arriver hanging from the windows of the laundry room. Then there is a reception to rival a hotels and each student area is complete with clean and non-burnt pans. FYI: burning is inevitable when you cook pasta for an hour.

But Sweden has amazing hash browns and actually a lot of British TV. If you like American programmes like the OC (what is that even about?) or Project Runway... it seems that's the Swedish preference too. I watched the Bachelor for the first time the other day, whilst sipping on wine, its terrible. A hunky tanned man serial dating about 20 beautiful women. I have no idea why nobody has been seriously injured on this programme?? Surely this is a recipe for an absolute cat fight? And that man gets away with dating loads of women without calling them back.. and dating another women right in front of them?? WOW.

But the best bit about Sweden is their lifestyle... I think. I like the fact everyone is so laid back... they all seem to be in cafes until the sun sets and then its on the trams past grand statues and buildings to go dine on fresh fish with side salads. How grown up does that sound?? 

I think its not necessarily the lifestyle for me (I'm way to addicted to the student lifestyle and glasses of wine) but I marvel at leggy blondes