What's a Polkagrist?!

Cathy sleeps after a long flight (haha).

Hälsningar från Sverige! I'm currently writing from our hostel in Jonkoping, Sweden. For being awake for about 20 hours straight, I'd say I'm doing pretty well. I'm here with friends from my student-teaching program: Cathy, Tim, Michelle, and Nick! Our flight departed from JFK (of course we made a stop at the sports pub pre-flight) on Thursday night, and we arrived in Stockholm, Sweden around 9:30 this morning! I've been studying Swedish for the past two weeks, and it took about 15 minutes on the plane for me to ask a man on the plan, "Ursåkta, kan ni hjelpa mig?" (excuse me, can you help me). I needed help translating a word, and of course he said, "Sure, I can help!" It seems that everyone here already knows English. In fact, most of the people living in Sverige (Sweden) know at least four languages. Everyone starts on English at a very young age, and Norwegian is almost the same language. Since Denmark is so close to Sweden, many people also pick up the Danish language as well. It makes me feel like a slacker!

Sweden is a very strange and beautiful country. Not far from the arctic circle, its landscape is covered in ice and snow. While the country remains frozen and dark during the winter months, it has no dark during the peak of summer. This phenomena is known as the Midsummer Sun, so even at night in the summer in Sweden, the sun never sets. This time of year, the sun never reaches its peak. It makes a lazy arc on one side of the horizon, but never reaches the zenith.

After stepping into the van with our Penn State guide (a Secondary Social Studies professor), Scott, I noticed how pristine Stockholm is compared to other cities. The city is incredibly clean for being such a heavily populated area! The same is true in Jonkoping (where I am studying). The cities I am used to in the United States are filthy (a majority of them), but what I have seen of the cities here are incredibly. There are hardly any slums in Sweden. Everyone enjoys basically the same comfortable standard of living.

There are 7 Kroner (SEK) for every U.S. dollar (left).

Although the taxes are high in Sweden, the standard of living is wonderful; the country and its people are absolutely beautiful.

Our Swedish guide, Christer, a Communications professor at Jonkoping University, drove us the entire four hour drive from Stockholm to Jonkoping. We grabbed lunch at a gas station (they put shrimp on top of hot dogs here?!?!) Before reaching our final destination, Christer took us to Grenna, a lovely town next a large lake. The lake, by the way, is completely frozen over, having a somewhat dazzling effect of the sun reflecting blinding rays of light off of the ice. Grenna is the birth place of the polkagrist! What's a polkagrist? It's a candy cane! You can watch the polkagristers make candy canes through glass windows in the shops. They heat up the sugar and then work the sugar until it becomes the delicious treats we know.

Grenna is also home to the site of the fist Swedish king! There is a ferry in Grenna that will take you to an island that has the ruins of his castle.

Along the roadside to Jonkoping, there are several sites for ruins. Vikings used to inhabit Norway, so there are many sites for ruins and old castles in this country. Before taking us to our accomodations, Christer, of course let us go to the local college favorite store, the spirit shop. Jonkoping University students love to visit this shop, where the minimum age requirement is 20 (Yes, they have a drinking age in Europe)! Apparently, the big thing in Sweden for university students is to wear out jumpsuits. That's right. Jumpsuits. Each major has their own color of jumpsuit. If you are dating someone from another major, it is tradition to tear your jumpsuit in half and give half of it to your significant other. I'm not kidding! The students will also collect patches at every party to decorate their jumpsuits.

We arrived at the hostel, and I was pleasantly surprised! I've heard all sorts of horror stories (haha...basically I recently watched Taken and Hostel). Honestly, the hostel is nicer than some hotels. It's like a bed and breakfast (although we do have sweet bunk beds). After taking showers (it was the most amazing shower after being on a plane for 12 some hours), Christer took us to a fabulous dinner at "Twin City", a local bar/restaurant. He is such an interesting person! The Swedish view on life is very different from our own, and it is so interesting to hear him speak about their views on education and life in general. Swedes believe that children should spend their childhood playing, so children do not start school until age 7 here. After dinner, we took a taxi back to the hotel and hung out with Christer.

When Christer came back with us, Tim tried to teach him kings. However, Christer would have none of this. "Why do you Americans need games when you drink? Why can't you just drink to socialize?" It's funny, because the Swedes are fans of more genuine conversation (just in my personal conversation). They are more reserved with their personal lives, and their conversations involved genuine topics; conversations actually reveal their true emotions and opinions. I have not witnessed many silly conversations. It's interesting, because they don't really have the "binge drinking" problem we have in the states. It's just an accepted social activity here.

Sweden is also part of what Christer calls "The Vodka Belt." I've never heard of this term before, but apparently, it refers to the Scandinavian countries down through northwestern America (so...Norway, Sweden, Finland, Ukraine, Russia, etc.) Drinking is very much a part of their culture, but that does not mean that ALL Swedes drink. We finally turned in for the night. Amazing first day!