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...

What is important to consider here is that the cold and the snow didn't win. They didn't manage to defeat me . I was strong enough to live through it, as I was managing so far ( to some extent ). I had embraced the winds, the snow and the cold. I had stopped being afraid of them, because they don't seem so powerful if you face them straight on. Those weren't the things that were going to stop me after all. If anything, my mind was what stood in my way. Life here in the north moves much slower, at a completely different pace from what I'm used to. I don't see anyone running around, feeling stressed. They just seem to have a very distinct way of living - taking things slow, not worrying about the things they can't change and enjoying a simple life. Which basically meant I had to adjust my entire way of thinking and operating. In short, my mindset would have to change completely ( and fast, for my sanity's sake ). I grew up believing that if I'm ...

Note: From this point on, I'm going to be referring to the place where I live (in the north) with the general term "Sweden" for the sake of simplicity. Please bear in mind that this is a big country and things vary a lot between the north and the south, so a lot of what I post might only apply or make sense in regards to the north. I'd also like to point out that I'll be sharing things I personally experience and the impressions I get from specific situations and people. I don't want to step on anyone's toes or make anyone upset by thinking that I'm generalizing in any way.   I arrived to my destination late at night on the 24th of January. I had planned to take the first week off to relax and enjoy some free time with my boyfriend and his family. But I couldn't do it...a mere three days in and I let my anxiety roam free - I became restless. Suddenly I had no time to lose and certainly shouldn't throw away those first few days away. The al...

Hello internet! My name is Joana and I'm from Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal. For those of you who might not know a lot about it, Portugal is a small and very sunny country in Western Europe. I lived in the same street, house and city for my entire life! So it's safe to say it is very overwhelming to find myself living...in the north of Sweden right now! But how did this happen? What brought me to this cold little corner of the world? Well, let me start from the beginning... To tell this tale, we have to go back to my high school years, when I started talking to a swedish guy on the internet, who was really funny, smart and sweet. We quickly became friends and had great talks about the movies we loved, but also shared things about our lives and what made us into who we were. Time passed and I entered a local university to study Psychology, which if you don't know ( because why would you? ), is a degree that requires you to take a bachelor (3 years) and a mas...