I am a terrible blogger.
Okay, okay, I know I said I would be posting regularly and I totally haven't. I think the last post I made was from the first or second week I was in Sweden and now, I'm almost a third of the way into this program! I have taken tons of pictures since I have been here, so I'll slowly start catching myself up.
So far, I'm really liking it in Sweden or more specifically, Stockholm. There's something about it that makes me feel comfortable enough not to feel like a tourist all the time. I've embraced little bits of the Swedish customs here and there like fika breaks, courtesy on public transit, spending weekends outdoors, etc. To be completely frank, the political system here really speaks to my personal political alignment a lot, which is a huge part of the reason why I feel at east here. It's an amalgamation of the little things that reveal how Swedes decide to lead their lives, such as:
making the parliamentary building feel pretty and cozy (I couldn't tell the difference between parliament hallways and a nice hotel)
paying attention to the smallest details when it comes to interior design
using preschool and kindergarten as a formative time to teach children how to live in a pluralistic society
etc, etc.
And all of these small details also share a common trait of Swedes being efficient problem-solvers, the way my Swedish politics professor sees it. I have to say I agree. (Take the preschool example and realize just how efficient of a task this is for the formation of society.) Yet, they do not sacrifice quality for efficiency.
I have started to do some travelling here and there. I went to Uppsala for a course-related trip, I visited a cousin in Hamburg, I went on a ferry to Tallinn with my host family, and now I am finishing up a trip in Kiruna. Each time I get back in Stockholm though, it's amazing how much it feels like home. It may not be the home of LA where I can rattle off the best boba places off the top of my head, but I feel at ease in Stockholm.
In 4 weeks, I head off to Copenhagen for the final 5-6 weeks of my study abroad, then I am off to travel around with a friend from Haverford. When I think about it that way, it feels like my study abroad experience is already nearing to an end. It's already March and I haven't done half the things I expected to. By now, I thought I would know Stockholm inside and out, but I definitely don't, but that's a case of creating realistic expectations.
Needless to say, I can't wait for the rest of this trip and I can say with certainty that the first half of 2017 will feel extremely surreal for a long time. Thank goodness I've picked up an interest in photography so I can record these moments.