Euphoria, forever, ’till the end of time

...  The title of this blog post, "Eurphoria, forever, 'till the end of time", are lyrics to the most popular song in Sweden right now called "Euphoria" by Loreen. The Swedish singer won the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest and the Swedes absolutely love this song and play it any chance they get.  I must say it is a very catchy tune... I am sure it will become popular in the states soon, if it isn't already.  I recommend that you listen to it on youtube!! 

It is hard to believe I have been in Stockholm for about a month and a half, which means I now have that same amount of time left.  Time sure does fly…  so I "absolut" have to take advantage of my last weeks in “Scandanavia’s Capital”.   I have decided that my three favorite Swedish words are "absolut"=absolutely, "precis"=precise and "perfekt"=perfect, which are all said many times in conversation and all sound very similar to the English words, but with a much cooler accent. 

I love this picture! Selling beautiful, colorful flowers in Gamla Stan 

All of the Stockholm guidebooks regard Skansen park as a “must-see”tourist attraction, so we figured we had to check it out.  A group of the Americans on various fotboll clubs in Stockholm took a day to discover what Skansen has to offer.  It is an open-air museum of traditional Sweden and a zoo with Nordic animals like bears, moose, and reindeer.  There are folk dance and song performances and people dressed in traditional clothing playing various roles inside different old-fashioned houses. (Kind of similar idea to Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts). And of course the restaurant at Skansen serves the famous Swedish dish of Swedish meatballs, lindenberry sauce (yummy sweet berry), potatoes and gravy so I had to indulge, and consequently felt like a Swedish meatball the rest of the day. 

Young children performing classic Swedish dances

The highlight of my week was traveling about 45 minutes north of Stockholm by train to see Uppsala, a smaller city with impressive sights.  There is a large university there, so it gives the city a college-town feel with myriad young students wandering around... made me miss college!! There are cute little shops and cafes that run along the Fyris river in town, which has several unique overpassing bridges.  The first thing you see when you get to Uppsala is Scandanavia’s tallest church (about 400 ft high), which you can view from almost all parts of the city.  The inside of the church was beautiful and while exploring, I found myself joining a prayer group (all done in Swedish) by accident while my friends were getting ready to leave, but I’m glad I mistakenly agreed to take part! The city of Uppsala also is home to Uppsala Castle, which was originally constructed in 1549 by King Gustav Vasa.  A beautiful botanical garden sits in front of the castle with more than 9000 different types of plants from all over the world.  We lucked out with a beautiful day to explore the college-town and it’s history and I think we all fell in love with this Swedish gem. 

Looking up at Uppsala Church

This weekend I am taking advantage of a bye weekend for fotboll and venturing down to Copenhagen, Denmark.  It is about 5 hours by train and I am excited to travel to a city I do not know much about.  We got a 24-hour pass to get into museums/attractions for free, so we will definitely be getting our money’s worth and learning and seeing as much as possible!   

Sittin' on the dock of the bay, wastin' time.