Jul 2005

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...

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...)

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!

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.

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

The rain is literally POURING down outside my window at work... Just a couple of hours ago, we had one of those really nice, sunny summer days, and I even went out to buy an icecream on my lunch break (I didn't though - I was too thirsty when I'd finally made it to McDonald's and wanted a coke instead). Then, suddenly, it got all windy, and just now we have this really exciting thunderstorm! I sort of like it, remains me of the daily situation in New Zealand actually... Though I didn't bring a jacket to work today so I might get really wet on my way home.

Anyway, yesterday I had all my vaccinations for the trip. Yellow fever and polio, so it wasn't all that bad. And I was really good to, didn't faint or anything!

Later today, I will take the train to Stockholm to visit my sister and her newborn baby girl Alissa! So exciting, she's 12 days old today and apparently she looks like my grandmother

Unfortunately, this visit will also be a sad goodbye since it's probably my last chance to see my sister and her kids before I leave for South America... We live so far apart, pretty weird actually since Sweden isn't all that big! But I work fulltime and she has an newborn baby, and... well, there is simply not enough time.

Cheers, take care
//Susanna

Hi there everyone,
I'm just trying out this English language based travel journal before I leave for South America. Need to know whether it's worth the effort to write in English in order to make it possible for my non-Swedish speaking friends to stay in touch while I'm travelling.

Swedish summer

Right now I'm still at work in Sweden, watching the awesome Swedish summer passing by outside my window... But at least I had four great days at the Roskilde festival in Denmark. Lots of sunshine and all my favourite bands were playing... wicked!

//Susanna