Sleepless in Sweden

I've had to re-write the first sentence in this posting about ten times, because I honestly don't know where to start and what to write about. So much stuff has happened for the past few weeks.  Here's what's been happening lately:

Easter dress-up, and perhaps Le Tigre?

The week before Easter holidays we had an Easter egg hunt + dinner with the corridor.  In Sweden, kids dress up as witches and go door-to-door, asking for chocolate/candy.  Sounds like another holiday that happens in October..so, Elvira (dressed full out as a witch) and I organized an Easter egg hunt for my buddies, which sent them running all over campus and alongside the river.  It was a good workout, followed by a chocolate binge.  

Feathery centrepieces + Sarka's lovely eggs

Then, my corridor invited all of our friends for a traditional dinner, which was disappointingly the exact same as Christmas julbord (though perhaps there were more boiled eggs than normal).  Sarka brought over lovely hand-crafted decorated eggs, which added decoration to our very Swedish centrepiece (bright feathers and twigs).  My friends got to try pickled herring for their first time - and most likely for their last time, judging by their reactions.

Eastern Europe - not too shabby

I had 10 days of Easter break, which led Christina, Kim and I on a Baltic tour - with hit up Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki, and St. Petersburg.  Riga and Tallinn were equally impressive; old cobblestone streets, damaged buildings from Soviet times, and views of Old Town from the top of fabulous churches.  Helsinki was probably the least exciting of these four places, aside from our visit to Suomenlinna Fortress, and island about 15 minutes from the city centre.   Throughout our time in the Baltics, we walked through streets that took us back to historical times, in ways that walking the streets of Vancouver will never do.  All I can say, after 10 days on this trip, is that Eastern Europe is really, really cool.

Deliciousness

And the food - oh, the food!  My tastebuds have been revived (without breaking the wallet) thanks to this tour.  I had fried dumplings, cheese ice cream, and rustic breads in Riga, a giant Estonian pancake in Tallinn, gravlax in Helsinki, and the most amazing cabbage pies (piroshky) in St. Petersburg - so good that we ate these pies everyday.  Other foods worth mentioning were pig knuckle and borscht.  Chili vodka in Russia was surprisingly good.  It was a bit depressing in a culinary sense, returning to the land of boiled potatoes and sausage and meatballs.

I've been trying to motivate myself to focus in my final period of studies here, with the Biology and Production of Agricultural Plants.  I didn't read the syllabus carefully enough to realize that this course focuses on genetic production of plants, not actual agricultural practices.  I suppose in a way this is a good way for me to discover where my true interests lie, and now I know it's definitely not plant genetics.  Also, a few weeks ago, I mailed in my application for special voting ballot, but haven't received anything back in the mail yet.  This upsets me a bit since I've been preaching to so many others about the importance of voicing one's opinion and voting, but now it looks like I won't be very active at the polls this time round.

Craziness and chaos at Ekonomikum

I finally caught up on my sleep last Thursday, but before I could have a real rest, it was time to gear up for Valborg!  

Valborg is a spring festival in Sweden, celebrated on the last day of April and probably the biggest party in Uppsala of the year. Think of UBC block party + a summer music festival, times 10.  I've been told that Uppsala hosts the biggest celebration is Sweden.  Friday marked Kvalborg - the day before Valborg.  We had a bbq at Gälbo, and somehow, rather spontaneously, our corridor ended up having our first korridor party of the year.  It was interesting for me and my friends, since we were the only non-Swedes at the party.  So it was my first Swedish corridor party.  I've learned over this year that intoxicated Swedes are friendly ones, and that these parties involve a lot of skol and singing Eurovision-type Swedish songs.  In the end, our party wasn't bad at all.

Champagne and strawberries to kick off Valborg day

Valborg day was a bit of a blur.  I woke up at 7:30 in the morning to bike over to Racka and meet Jan, Christina, Kim, and her cousin Danielle.  We followed Swedish Valborg tradition by having a champagnefrukost, a breakfast of champagne and strawberries.  You already get tipsy in the early morning.  

Cool boats

Then at 10 we watched the amazing boat race, which I guess you could consider to be the Storm the Wall event in Uppsala.  Teams of four are given a semi-sturdy "boat" (foamy plank that doesn't sink in water) and they build the rest of the boat and decorate it.  The teams race (or more show off their boats and fall/jump into the water) along the Fyris River in town.  In the afternoon, we headed to Ekonomikum Park, close to Racka.  Pretty much everyone goes here for a picnic or bbq lunch and drinks more.  At 3 pm, the Champagne Race happens.  Everyone gathers at Carolina Rediviva, which is Uppsala University's library.  Students or alumni wave their sailor-like hats that they receive when they graduate, and sing a song that they all seem to know.  The champagne race happens when students go down the hill to the student nations, where they pop open champagne bottles and spray each other - I didn't do this, though.

Visit with Jacq!

The rest of the day is more drinking, hanging out at Ekonomikum, then bbq at night, and parties in corridors or at the nations.  Jacq from U21 2010 came to Uppsala for the day so to took a Valborg break (and a break from the chilly wind) and catch up over a nice fika at Cafe Linne.  At night I ended up staying in Racka with Jan and Christina, and their corridor mates.  This morning I woke up to the sounds of a giant truck cleaning the broken glass-strewn streets. 

Today is May 1st.  May Day.  I have just over a month left here in Sweden, which kind of scares me.