Advent fika

Today we went up to the small village of Herräng (see "A" on map), about an hour and a half north of Brottby (2hr 15 min north of stockholm), where Cajsa's mom lives, to have Advent fika and go to the Christmas market (Julbazar). It was pretty cold there and the snow was about up to our knees.

When we first got there we had glögg (mulled wine) and pepparkakor (gingerbread cookies). Then we had venison and potatoes for lunch before bundling up and walking to the chirstmas market. The sky there was SO beautiful, especially once the sun started to go down. After the market we went back to Cajsa's mom's for Advent fika with coffee, saffron buns, more pepparkakor and a cloudberry cake. It was jättegott!

For reference, I live in "Vallentuna"

pony rides at the market!

picking out ornaments

beautiful sunset (at 3pm) and lots of snow

Advent fika table

Thanksgiving i Sverige

Last night some of my friends and I put together a little thanksgiving feast at my friend Kat's host family's house. We each brought something and everything turned out SO WELL. Especially the turkey that kat made, which was so juicy and delicious it was hard to believe she had never made a turkey before. It was a beautiful table, filled with everything you need for thanksgiving: turkey, stuffing, gravy mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans (my contribution), salad, wine, and pumpkin pie!

Sunday is the first day of Advent (which is a bigger deal in Sweden than in the US), so we are going to Cajsa's moms house for the whole day, and going to a christmas market by her house. Jag är jätte excited.


A little update on what I've been up to since returning from vacation: 

We had a birthday dinner for my friend Janie at her host family's house. Her host mom made delicious food and we sang the Swedish birthday song when she brought in the äpplepaj for dessert.

My host family and I went to a D.I.F Hockey (the biggest Stockholm team) game, which the boys loved, especially since they got autographs from all the players after. Then we went out for gallets and crepes.

My friend Zoe and I made pepparkakor (gingerbread cookies), but since we didn't have cookie cutters we just made fun shapes, including viking ship, viking helmet, the swedish vowels (å, ä & ö), tre kronor (three crowns- a swedish symbol), rocket ship, saturn, our initials, and a bunch more. Our Swedish professor recommended eating them with blue cheese, which we did and it was delicious.

I had some of my friends over for a dinner at my house with my family. I made vegetable wellington and apple crisp for desert. It was a lot of fun.

School. Finals are coming up. Its starting to get a little stressful.

Winter Break: Rome and Barcelona

Last week I was on winter break so I went to Rome and Barcelona with some friends from the program.

We left Stockholm on Sunday and after a little "flight canceled" incident, we arrived in Rome via Copenhagen. While in Rome we saw the Trevi fountain (in the day and at night), the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and Vatican City. Everything was gorgeous and so detailed it blew my mind.

Trevi Fountain

St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican

 While in Rome we also ate lots of pizza, pasta and gelato (7 times in 3 days...). And drank lots of wine. It was raining pretty much the whole time we were there, but it was okay, it was still a beautiful city.

As much as I loved Rome, Barcelona was by far my favorite place I have been in Europe. We saw a lot of the Gaudi designs (Casa Batlló, Sagrada Familia, Park Güell), which i loved, and got to go to the beach! We also went to this fantastic market and bought cactus fruit (because how many people can say they've eaten cactus?), and then a GIANT mango, bread, cheese, and wine for lunch. It was delicious. We did some less cultural but equally fun things as well, like went to Espit, a shots bar where they had hundreds of different shots, including Harry Potty and Boy Scouts, both of which included fire. It was pretty cool.

The only bad thing about Barcelona was that a lot of people kept trying to rip us off (cab drivers, waiters, etc.). It lead to a pretty frustrating last night there, but I think in general it was still a spectacular city and trip.

My favorite part was probably the veiw from the top of Park Güell, because you could see the whole city and the ocean in the distance.

Hanna and I in Park Güell with the city behind us

Janie and I at the beach

The cactus fruit we bought at the market

Casa Batlló

Sagrada Familia

Now I am back in Stockholm with only 5 weeks to go, 7 hours (or less) of sunlight per day and hopefully a few more adventures to come.