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Thoughts about climate

- why Swedish people talk about the wheather all the time.

rain 14 °C

Seriously, this summer is wierd.

Usually, the Swedish summer doesn't get started until early August - Midsummer is always freezing, despite great expectations every year.

(For those who don't know: Midsummer is Sweden's most celebrated holiday, end of June, lots of schnaps, herring and strawberries, and heathen rites such as dancing around a wooden pole covered with leaves and flowers in order to honour the Earth's fertility, etc. etc.)

Usually, the best we can hope for is a couple of warm days in August, to spend on the beach before school starts again. Sometimes, May is pretty warm too, but those years makes us even more dissapointed when Midsummer comes and it's almost snowing...

THOUGH...! This year, the warm wheather did a rush start in early June. Midsummer was the hottest ever, and we spent the whole day on the beach. It looked really promising actually, and everone was planning for long, relaxing days along the Swedish coast...

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Cooling off in the lake by my sister's house

I spent a weekend in Stockholm, visiting my family. The heat was almost unbearable, we couldn't do much but lying around in the shade. The same situation the week before, on Roskilde Rock Festival in Denmark... We were constanly drinking water, sweating like cows (???), inhaling dust. (Though we saw some really awesome concerts down there, so the heat didn't bother us that much. Also, the wheather was far better than last year, when the whole Roskilde Festival area turned into a mud field thanks to uninterrupted raining...)

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My friend Martin at Roskilde Festival

And now. Suddenly. It's freezing cold again, constantly raining!!!Pretty much like a usual Swedish summer. Strangely enough, it's even more depressing to work now!

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An ordinary Swedish summer...

Am I being excessively negative? Yes, probably. But that's me, I'm Swedish - we talk about the weather all the time!!! And you know what? We were complaining about the heat in June as well... And we really shouldn't, because the Swedish summer is BEAUUUTIFUL!!! Just take a look at the picture below.

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This is what the Swedish summer looks like!!!

Also, I have South America to look forward to. Pretty soon, I will be stationed on a white beach in Venezuela, doing absolutely nothing (which is - to be honest - entertaining for a day or so... But there's plenty of more adventurous stuff to do as well!).

Only four weeks left at work!!! Speaking of which, maybe I should work for a bit now...
Cheers // Susanna

Posted by snatterand 9:28 AM Archived in Armchair Travel | Sweden

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Comments

I just got back to USA after 10 days in Stockholm and it was wonderful! Yes, it rained a bit each day, but it was cool, though humid. I look forward to returning again sometime in the near future.
We took a side trip to Aland, Finland. What a wonderful place, too.

03.08.2005 by Malmen

I'm glad you liked Stockholm!!! Yeah, maybe you're right, the wheather is alright. It's just that I like it HOT. But on the other hand, I couldn't live without the long, light Scandinavian summernights...

04.08.2005 by snatterand

Nice writing and photos! You make me feel like I'm seeing more about what it's like to be in Sweden.

05.08.2005 by zags

hi! Where are you in Sweden? I will be in Uppsala starting Aug24. I dont know any Swedish yet...but I hope I can learn some!

10.08.2005 by lafalott

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