Cold and other things

I remember some quote on a teenage girl’s facebook or myspace (Taylor I think it was you-) that was the quintessential teenage girl quote: I don’t remember it exactly but it was something along the lines of “Pictures help you keep memories, but on the truly unforgettable nights you are too busy having fun to remember to take any.” I feel pretty silly about starting my blog with this quote but this is how I feel when I sit down to write it. It has been an unforgivably long time since I last wrote down the things I want to remember, but it is because I have been so busy doing things I will never forget. Since my last post I have been to Copenhagen, Prague, Kiruna (northern sweden- in the arctic circle!), Paris, back to Copenhagen, and Stockholm a few times. I have taken exams and been to gasques, slept next to strangers on the floor of another stranger’s apartment but also in a hotel room overlooking snowcovered Stockholm, felt incredibly sick as well as unbelievably alive, and many more things than this sentence can hold. My blog isn’t the only thing I have been neglecting: I feel as though I haven’t checked in with many loved ones as much as they deserve, I miss doing my math (I know, I know, just shh), I haven’t been sleeping or eating as regularly as I should, but all of these are minor grievances. The thing I most regret not spending more time and effort on is the city of Uppsala itself, which is so unbelievably beautiful and which has provided me with such an incredible time. I wouldn’t cancel any of the trips I took if I had the chance to go back, but I feel like I haven’t spent nearly enough time cherishing my home here. This blog is starting to look suspiciously like a wistful goodbye one, and I refuse to write that one until I leave in a month or so. This week I have caught myself starting to get sad about how quickly my remaining time is dwindling (I only have about 17 days left in Uppsala) and I want to enjoy my final weeks here as much as I can rather than moping as they fly by. So without further ado, I will shift to talking about some things I have been up to! I will skip the cities outside of Sweden- maybe I will write a blog about them another time but for now I think I should fill you in on my home base!
When I first arrived, my program director told us that if we could get through November, we would be good to go. He also said, “If you have any friends coming to visit you, don’t let them come in November unless you want them to no longer be your friend.” I was therefore pretty apprehensive about the month, which was supposedly so unpleasant because it is cold and rainy and dark, but not cold enough to have snow which brightens the night quite a bit. The first snow fell at the very end of October, but didn’t stick. Sure enough, there was no snow until the last few days of November, but it was a surprisingly pleasant month nonetheless. The early darkness has not affected me nearly as strongly as I thought it would, and I have actually never found myself wishing it was daylight (I have found myself wishing that I woke up in time to catch more than an hour or two of it many more times than I would like to admit). I say all this because snow is an unavoidable subject at the moment. It started snowing about a week ago, and has not risen above freezing since. I have never seen scenes like it: serene, crisp, and of course beautiful. One good thing about leaving when I do is that I don’t think I’ll have time to get tired of the snow, and it will remain a purely positive memory. It is different snow than South Carolina snow, of course. It isn’t much deeper than the deepest I have seen back home, but the coldness means that it never gets sticky. I walked through about 6 inch deep snow last night on the coldest night since I have been here (-18C, 0F!) and the snow was more like sawdust or something. It didn’t stick to my shoes or pants, just blew off me. I hope you find all this at least slightly interesting. One fun fact that I have found: bundling up properly means that really cold and really really really cold don’t feel so different from each other, except in your nostrils. I kept getting the sensation that I had a stopped up nose last night, before pinching it and realizing that it was just the water in my breath freezing inside my nostrils. I left my window open all day yesterday by accident and came back to find a frozen bottle of olive oil and a computer that wouldn’t respond to my fingers on the trackpad. Not doing that again! I also find that you get colder than you realize- I think it makes your brain numb! Seriously though- the air is invigorating at first but after a little while my forehead gets a sensation very similar to brain freeze from a popsicle. But enough about the weather. You already know Sweden is damn cold- let me try to tell you some other things about it.
All the things I want to write down about it seem like I’m lying when I put them in words. I knew before I came here that it was one of the best countries in the world in terms of quality of life, but it is different to see it for myself. The most startling to me is the lack of crime. Bikes get stolen occasionally, but I have left mine unlocked many times to find it waiting for me the next morning. This may be due to the fact that my bike sucks, but it is still impressive. Besides bike theft, I haven’t encountered anything resembling crime. Some of my friends were assaulted by youths in a McDonald’s, but the weapons used were coca cola and french fries thrown through the air and they escaped unscathed. I leave my laptop and ipod in my gym locker all the time and the thought of someone opening the unlocked door never crosses my mind. The Swedes are somewhat reserved, but it is a spectrum just like in every country. I don’t think I meet the ones who are most shy because they hide in their rooms just like the shy folks back home, but out and about there are always Swedes ready and eager to meet you and talk. This is most pronounced at the nations, as I think alcohol is a social aid the world over. At first I found the lack of small talk awkward- I would rather talk about something inane than have a heavy silence. But now I find it refreshing- the number of people I have met only once and had the exact same conversation with each one means that I relish the fact that talk among the Swedes I am familiar with only happens when there is something worth discussing. Well I am tired of typing for now but I will write a bit about the language after this! I had the written half of my Swedish exam yesterday and the listening half tomorrow, so I am in the throes of Svenska at the moment. Much love to whoever checks in on these, thank you for being my audience! More soon.