Is it spring yet?

Tjo-tjo!

The month of April started out with a quick city break in Gothenburg with some lovely friends. Between the cancelled trains and the dodgy budget hostel, the beautiful weather and the good company made for a lovely golden afternoon spent in Haga and other parts of Gothenburg’s city center. We got Korean-style street food for dinner and tried to go bar hopping, but eventually sat in the park with some snacks before finally heading back to our hostel. We woke the next morning to catch the ferry with our breakfast to go to the archipelago of Gothenburg. It was cool but sunny, and some of us had gathered up the courage to wear our bathing suits to take a cold dip at the beach. While the cold swim was very much refreshing, for me it didn’t end so well. After jumping in the deep end for an icy dip, my friend had to help pull me out of the water. Freezing, I stood up with a big grin on my face and… with legs covered in dozens of bloody barnacle scratches. The situation was managed with whatever items he had at the time before we all composed ourselves to continue on exploring the rest of the island and to grab some nice seafood. After a late lunch in the sun we headed back to mainland Gothenburg to get the train back home to Lund. Ultimately, it was loads of fun to visit the city and the islands!

The weekend after, my brother, sister-in-law and baby niece came to visit Lund, and we galavanted around sunny Lund and Malmö. I showed them the highlights in Lund town–the cathedral, Lundagård, the university buildings, the famous university library, Skissernas Museum (which is a GREAT museum that exhibits sketches and prototypes of famous artworks and is free for students), the botanical gardens and of course: Kalmar Nation <3. Speaking of Kalmar Nation, the Spex theater rehearsals are going great, but I think I have somewhat of a love-hate relationship with it since showbiz is taking over so much of my life right now. On the other hand, it’s lots of fun to participate in this Swedish tradition and I never thought I’d enjoy acting in theater this much.
The rest of April was spent going back to the same falafel guy three times a week (Side note: The last time I ordered, my falafel guy said to me ‘as usual?’. This was a huge personal victory for me). I also found an incredible weekly underground jazz event, and had a couple weekends where I promised myself I would take a rest and somehow still found myself getting pizza at some random location at 3am or putting together a makeshift costume for yet another themed party. Easter was spent at Midnight Mass in the iconic Domkyrka and later with a picnic on my kitchen floor, enjoying the blossoms and a Life of Brian watchparty.

As the month is coming to a close, my family are on their way to come visit me for a few days and I am mentally preparing for Valborg immediately after. Valborg (or ‘Walpurgis’ in English) is a Swedish Holiday with pagan roots that takes place that celebrates the coming of spring (bloody finally!). The last day of April is spent, especially in student cities, getting absolutely sloshed in the park by 9am and keeping that up all through the night. The town holds a big bonfire after sunset and Nation clubs open up to eager-to-dance students. Some Nations also throw events in the days leading up to Valborg and the days after, virtually making this a five-day event. Safe to say I’ll be out of office, I’ll tell you more about how it all went in the next blog entry 😛

For now, vi ses!