Valborg in Uppsala

“Jingle bottles, Jingles bottles, Jingle all the way

Oh what fun it is to be in Uppsala today!”

One never knows how these little songs start, but someone makes a comment, another a joke and before you know it you are all walking along the streets of the medieval town of Uppsala singing this little refrain for all its worth.

But I get ahead of myself. Lets me first explain what is Valborg. It is a big feast day in Sweden held on the last day of April to celebrate the end of winter and the start of spring. It is a day of merriment marked by drinking champagne, eating strawberries, bonfires and of course loads of singing and dancing.  Uppsala, the oldest university town in Sweden(since 1477), is situated north of Stockholm and thousands of people (almost 40 000) descend on this little town to celebrate this joyous day.

My celebrations started the night before when I arranged a little bonfire at my place so that all my friends could celebrate together before we went our separate ways the next day. Some of my Swedish housemates were also moving out the next day and it gave us a chance for one last party. After a little bit of trouble starting the fire, the melting snow has made the wood very wet, we got a roaring fire going and had a fun evening chatting, roasting marshmallows and signing along with the guitar.

The next morning I was up ridiculously early to meet my fellow revellers, Jozefien and Marcus, at the station. We caught the train and promptly began our celebration at 6am with the traditional champagne and orange juice breakfast accompanied by croissants and Nuttella.

When we arrived in Stockholm all we had to do was follow the throngs of people carrying champagne bottles (I think this is when the song started taking shape) to find our way to the next train bound for Uppsala. After a sardine can of a train ride we arrived in Uppsala, set up camp (literally) and continued to follow the masses to the first event of the day, the river boat race.

A river runs straight through the centre of town and at one point one can find a very serious rapid. The aim of the game is to build a small floating raft for 3-4 people, decorate it, float it down the river and hope you don’t capsize on the rapid. Of course people line the banks of the river, with champagne and strawberries, to support the rafts. There is a lot of cheering and jeering as one by one about 100 rafts attempt to navigate the treacherous rapid.

After we had had our fill of watching people dressed as all sorts of farm animals getting soaked, we headed to the park where again thousands of people were sitting having picnics on the grass and listening to the music on stage. It is tradition to have herring and schnapps for lunch, so we did. By this time you can imagine that champagne for breakfast, tea and lunch as well as schnapps, the people were getting a little “lively” and we made lots of new “friends” sitting there on the grass. It was also here that we dubbed ourselves the 3 monkeys (inspired by a brand of wine) and assumed the identities of Anders, Göran and Ove (me).

Just before 3pm we headed to the university library where at exactly 3 the chancellor of the university, from atop a balcony, puts his white sailors-hat-high-school-graduation cap on as a signal that everybody else should do the same and that the party has officially started! Then with everybody wearing their graduation caps the dash for the student nations start and what follows is hours of partying and spraying each other with champagne!

At Uppsala all the students join a nation and they organise all the student activities. Each nation represents a part of the country and one usually joins the one from where you are from i.e. if you are from the north you join Norrlands Nation, Stockholm then Stockholm Nation etc. Although you are allowed to join any nation you like. Each nation has a dedicated building, some dating back to the sixteen hundreds, and it was here that many student parties where held. Unfortunately the nations are strictly members only and we were not on the list.

Not to let this slow us down we headed back to the park and met up with some fellow exchange students from Linköping and continued to party in our own unique way. Again we made lots of new friends and I soon found myself on a red couch chatting to people from Poland! As it started to get dark we decided it was time to find a bonfire and keep warm.

So off we went in search of warmth and after a little bit of a walk found ourselves in the student housing area next to a massive fire. It was here that we found out about a party on the roof of a 8 storey high student apartment and thought it would be a good idea to check it out. We were not sorry! We had an awesome view of the cathedral, castle and fireworks and spent some time just soaking up the atmosphere. This party came complete with DJ’s and we spent the rest of the night dancing on the roof. At about 2am we were back in our tents and I’ve never slept so well on the ground before in my life!

The next afternoon, we had a very late start, we decided to explore the historical sites of the town like the castle and cathedral. It is a beautiful old town and is seeping with history. I find I really appreciate Swedish historical monuments more now that I know what they stand for and I’m really glad I took the Swedish culture class.

 As it was May day, and the Swedish elections are coming up this year, there were a number of demonstrations in town and seeing as we were heading in the same direction, decided to join one. It was very relaxed and nothing compared to a good old South African toy-toy...there wasn’t even singing and dancing!

We caught the train back late that afternoon and killed time gambling candy in Texas Holdem, I was hopeless and lost all of mine. When we eventually arrived back in Linköping all three of the monkeys were utterly exhausted. It was a fantastic festival and the atmosphere reminded me of the times I travelled to Bloemfontein for inter-varsity.

I love being a student!

Hej då

A week with Rotary

One of the best parts of being a Rotary Scholar is Rotary. Now I’m not just saying that to get into anybodies good books (although if it does it would not hurt), but rather because  with Rotary there is always something interesting and fun to do and this past week has been the perfect example.

It started with a weekend RYLA seminar. For those of you who are not versed in the very in depth ways of Rotary acronyms it stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. It was a weekend devoted to leadership training for students and young professionals between the ages of 20 and 30 from all over the district. There was even supposed to be a group from Latvia, but unfortunately they could not make it because of the volcano. This volcano has really caused a lot of trouble here, some say that Iceland has not caused this much trouble in Europe since the time of the Vikings. First they burn all of Europe’s money and now they scatter it with the ashes. (I don’t know if you’ve heard these jokes, but I thought they were kind of funny)

Even though the Latvians where not able to attend, the seminar was still held in English so that I could participate. It was a really great group of people and I had a marvellous time getting to know them and discuss Swedish life. They were all from neighbouring  towns and I know I will be visiting them all in the near future.

As I had been on a RYLA camp when I was in high school it was interesting to see the different way in which they approached it in Sweden. In SA we went out into the forest for a few days and learnt about leadership while trying to survive. In Sweden it was a seminar with activities, group work, presentations and panel discussions. I learnt a lot about leadership and enjoyed the opportunity to learn from experienced leaders. It also gave me a chance to reflect on my past leadership positions and learn from them.

One of the highlights of the seminar was that I was also asked to give a presentation about my own experience as a young leader. I was honoured to be considered for this task. I have never had the opportunity to talk about JOOL before and personally it was quiet a moving exercise to reflect on what has been a big part of my life for a number of years.

After the weekend seminar the rest of the week was pretty standard with classes, an exam and of course the odd social activity. I also gave another presentation on JOOL to the event management class at the Folkhögskola where I live.

On Friday I was invited to visit a Rotarian, in my host club, and his wife at their summer home and help him chop a little fire wood. Always keen to see new parts of Sweden I travelled to Kisa by train, met him and travelled to another little town on the banks of two beautiful lakes. His summer house turned out to be a 100 hectare farm which he mainly uses for grazing and forestry. We spent the rare sunny morning exploring the property and the nearby town. 

After a lovely lunch of freshly caught fish it was time to get to work so I promptly asked him where I could find the axe. He told me and then asked me why I was looking for an axe. A little confused I told him I thought we were going to chop wood. He said we were, but not with an axe. As it turns out even wood chopping is automated in Sweden. He took me to a special section of his farm where he had all the machines already set up. There was the spinning saw to cut the trees into logs, the hydraulic arm splitter to split the wood into smaller pieces and of course the conveyer belt to transport the logs to fill the cubic meter sacks. With him on the saw and me on the splitter we filled 2 sacks in less than 3 hours. Instead of swinging an axe and building some real muscles, the most difficult thing I did all day was equivalent to closing the lid of a Weber Braai!  

Again this simple chore showed me how different these two countries are. In South Africa we would hire a labourer for a day, give him a saw and an axe and ask him to chop wood. The more labourers you hire the more wood you can get chopped. Its considered job creation!

After my very ‘tiring’ day on the farm I returned home with a smile on my face and very yummy jar of homemade whiskey honey.

The next day I was again up early and accompanied some more of my host clubs Rotarians to the nearby town of Vimmerby for the district president elect training seminar (PETS). It was a meeting of all the future presidents in the district to discuss the coming Rotary year. I was given an opportunity to promote the Ambassadorial scholar programme and encourage the district to start sending scholars of their own. It was nice to see some familiar faces from the district conference as well as meet some new people and arrange many more club visits and speaking engagements.

As the afternoon was a business meeting I took the opportunity to explore Vimmerby. This quaint little town is actually quiet famous as it is the childhood home of the famous author, Astrid Lindgren. Who is best known for the Pippy Long-stockings  books. There is even an amusement park dedicated to her books, but unfortunately after a very long walk I found it only to discover it was closed. Luckily her childhood home/museum was open and I got the opportunity to look around and buy one of her books in Swedish.

My week (or more like 10 days) of Rotary came to an end on Tuesday morning when I went to my host club’s meeting to support Alex, the youth exchange student from New Zealand, because she was giving her first presentation. It was very interesting to listen to her describe her home country and I found out that NZ has a lot more to offer  than just rugby.

As you can see Rotary really is a big part of my life here in Sweden, or rather it is my life here. Although these activities might be part of my duties as a scholar, they never seem like work and I treasure every moment.

Hej då

Day in the Life - Video Blog

I got the idea from a youth exchange friend of mine, I hope she doesn't mind. It's a little bit random, but I think you'll get the basic idea.

Enjoy!

Hej då

Påsk

For those of you are don't speak Swedish the title of this blog is Easter. Easter time in Sweden has been really interesting because it seemed to me like a combination of Halloween, Christmas and Easter all thrown into one.

Halloween because on Thursday the children dress up. The girls as witches, complete with broomstick, and the boys as gentlemen, they paint beards on their faces and wear old fashioned clothes and hats. Then they carry a kettle on the end of a stick and go knock on peoples doors asking for sweets in exchange for handmade cards, painted eggs, for singing a song or reciting a poem. It is very cute because its funny to watch lots of little people walk around dressed up as old people.

I did not see the kids trick or treating, but I did see them walking around at the Easter market I went to on palm Sunday in Gamla Linköping. This was a smaller version of the Christmas market, but they still had tons of stalls selling sweets and food. There was also live entertainment including a local square dancing team complete with record player and cowboy outfits that had everybody tapping their toes. Now I don't know if it was just at the market or if its a tradition, but there were also elderly couples all dressed up in clothes from way back when? Even though it was a little cold, it was still a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Nothing really special happened during the week except a sushi night with some friends as well as a good old night out to celebrate Easter, student style! Saturday morning I caught the train to Stockholm to meet up with Donna, a Rotary scholar from Scotland who is studying in Lund, and Daun, a friend of hers from South Korea.

As I arrived early in Stockholm I took advantage of the beautiful weather, it was 12'C, to sit in the park and enjoy a fika while tilting my head skywards to soak up as much sun as possible. This is a really Swedish thing to do whenever the sun is out. No matter where you go there are people just sitting facing the sun with their heads raised. I felt like a local! It was a fantastic little solo fika and it made me look even more forward to the coming summer.

After a little shopping, I mean I was in Stockholm after all, I met up with the girls and we spent the afternoon exploring the old town as well as the southern suburbs. It was great fun just chatting, shopping and enjoying fika. It was nice to be able to share stories of Swedish life with a fellow scholar.

While exploring the southern suburbs we came across another interesting Swedish Easter tradition. While walking past the graveyard of an old church we noticed that it was very colorful so we went in to have a closer look. All the graves had been decorated with colorful feathers, flowers, pictures, teddy bears, etc. I'd never seen anything like it and it was quiet moving.

This is also when I realized the similarity to Christmas because they have, what I have dubbed, an Easter tree. They decorate the leafless trees or small dry sticks with brightly colored feathers and display them outside shops and in their gardens, there is even a large one in the middle of the town square. It is easy to see why because now that the snow is gone, but its still cold, everything is a little brown and boring. The colored feathers really bring life to what would otherwise be a rather dull time of year.

After our day of walking the city we treated ourselves to an excellent Asian buffet. It was an amazing selection of sushi, Chinese starters and Mongolian stir-fry...very very yummy! After supper we went to a corridor party at Stockholm University to visit friends of Daun. Its a pity it was dark when we arrived because I would have liked to have seen some of the campus, but I had a good time at the party discussing soccer with an Italian and cricket with a Pakistani. All to soon we had to leave and we made our way to our accommodation. A couch surfer by the name of Chris put us up for the evening and I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

After sleeping late and eating a late breakfast, Daun went off to visit her friends again and Donna and I spent the day exploring the rest of the city, especially the beautiful Djurgården. A park island in the middle of the city. It was another beautifully sunny day and we even had the opportunity to sit on the docks, with our faces skywards of course, eat ice cream (the Swedes love ice cream and the only requirement is that it must be above 0'C) and feed the swans.

I was really sorry to have to say good bye to my new friends, but luckily I know I will see them again in May when I go to Lund for a student festival. So ended my Easter weekend and now I'm back home and once again working on exam assignments and all sorts of other little things. I trust you all had a good Easter break? To all my South African readers I hope things don't get too "cold" now that winter is around the corner and too my Swedish followers I hope you are enjoying the "heat" as much as I am!

Hej då