Finding North

Ah, Midsummer. The second biggest holiday in Sweden ( after Christmas ) and the one I had been eagerly wanting to experience for the past six years. I know, quite the buildup right? And so far in life I've learnt that the bigger the expectation, the bigger the fall. So to ensure that disappointment didn't swallow me whole on this most gracious day, I tried to lower my anticipation and just tried to enjoy it as best as I could.  We opted for simplicity and decided to follow my boyfriend's family to Bonnstan ( the old Church Town ) to watch the celebrations. I wanted a real, authentic feel of what this day was really about and I have to say that it was as traditional as it gets, with the big pole in the center, a lot of singing and, of course, dancing.  Midsummer is all about greeting the arrival of summer, whilst celebrating life, light and fertility on the longest day of the year. Originally, nature was seen has having special powers that would ensure good heal

Swedes take their gardening very seriously. And the main attraction in any garden could only be - the flowers of course . Now that winter is behind us, there are bright and colorful flowers everywhere. Nature has been incredibly generous and everything has been in full bloom for a few weeks. Which means that no self-respecting swede wants to be left behind when it comes to their pride and joy, oh no. The sun, the Spring and the ( mild ) heat are like blessings that need to be treasured and preserved, since we all know they're not going to last very long. It is like a very fleeting, passing moment and before we know it, it's gone as fast as it appeared. I should tell you I don't know much about flowers, neither their names nor their specific properties, but I do know that I love to smell them and above everything else, how they look. Their aesthetic brings me so much joy, I could just stare at them for hours at a time. So when my boyfriend's dad invited me to join

Here I am, coming to you with a fresh update and some very exciting news ( I'll also add some pretty pictures taken over the last two weeks )! The last time I came here to rant about my situation with the good old Swedish bureaucracy, I had just received a negative answer about my personnummer and we had applied to legally make me my boyfriend's cohabiting partner through Migrationsverket...Well that was a big, fat bust since I later discovered on their website that their decision ( which might well be a no ) would take between ten to fourteen months...As you can imagine, despair followed this information - the best option for me would now be finding a job, something that was proving harder than expected because I only knew English. I handed in a dozen resumes and everyone was very polite, some even friendly, but nothing issued from there. Some people made me feel ridiculous ( wordlessly ) for trying to find a job here without knowing the language, which made my frustrati

You can't talk about the north of Sweden, and in particular Skellefteå, without mentioning classic cars. I'd go as far as to say it's like a religion up here, like something sacred they cherish in their daily lives. People are very passionate and fiercely invested in their vintage cars, holding a particular sense of pride in the ones they own. So much so, that there is a group called Norrlands Motorhistoriker that was started in 1967 and they are all about these veteran vehicles . Every few years they host a car show in town and lucky for me, the most recent event happened this past weekend - I was more than delighted to go. They worked very hard and put a lot of effort into the organization, but it was all worth it because the result was incredible. As soon as we walked in, it was like we were transported into the past ( if you don't count the modern people around ), with so many beautiful cars, mopeds and motorcycles. Now I have to warn you that I know very little

«Don't stop trying to find me here amidst the chaos» The week started and I...simply had no idea what to write about. Two weeks ago I had started composing a neat little text in my head about how Spring was in full bloom and how many relaxing outdoor activities I was getting to do. I hadn't known how living in the countryside could be so much hard work, but the fact is there are always things to do with the turn of the weather and I was thoroughly glad to get a realistic sense of what it was like to live here during these months. We brought out the hammock, the deck and the chairs to go on it, but it was necessary to oil it in preparation. So I did it and I fully enjoyed getting my hands dirty doing something so practical, under the sun. Someone had to rake all the gravel stones from the lawn, there due to all the shoveled snow we took from the driveway during the winter. I did that happily, slowly making it look better and better every day. The strawberry bushes needed to