My First Guests and Swedish Celebrations

Vaxholm with Dad

Time has whizzed by in a blur since my last blog post and yet it feels like an age since I moved into my apartment last month!
Since my last post I've had two more national holidays, a quick visit from my old flatmate Liam and a full weekend in the archipelago with Mum and Dad, numerous sunny BBQs, a few chilly swims, a mosquito ridden hike, summer work celebrations and a spot of studying in between.

The lake next to Charlotta's place.

The majority of June remained super sunny, ideal for making use of all of Stockholm's parks and abundant water. When the weather turns very hot, a group of us from the department spend our lunch break swimming in the nearby lake where the water s surprisingly warm considering it was frozen just a couple of months ago.
On a particularly lovely weekend, Charlotta (another PhD in my group) invited Eva, her husband Nelson and I over to her place about an hour north of Stockholm to meet her two daughters and spend the afternoon swimming and enjoying homemade Fika (cinnamon buns, cookies and cake) followed by an incredible BBQ. Charlotta hunts so we had some very local moose and roe deer with a selection of salads; the roe deer was my favourite.

Anna's defence hat (diatom-brero)

Over the last couple of weeks things have wound down at university and the department is now very empty as it turns out everyone disappears for the summer in Stockholm, especially since Midsommar afton on Friday. This has meant that some people have come to the end of their PhDs. Here, when you finish your PhD you have a PhD defence where you present your work to family, colleagues and experts in your field then have cake as you find out if you've passed. That evening you have a big party in the department with lots of toasts (almost like a wedding!) and you get presented with a hat from the other PhDs in your group. To the left is the hat that Simon and I made for Anna who had been studying diatoms in peat bogs; this is our rather abstract diatom-brero complete with mosquitoes.

As well as defence parties the department had a summer lunch which involved a quiz and nature walk a couple of hours north to a lovely garden restaurant where we had an extensive vegetarian buffet.

The midsommarstång in Sigtuna

As I mentioned, the Swedes do love their holidays and over the past month I've had the pleasure of celebrating Swedish National Day (6th June) and Midsommar (23rd June this year).
For the national day a group of us lit up the BBQ an played a round of brannboll, this is a Swedish version of rounders where you throw the ball to yourself.
Midsommar was a wonderful occasion, it's a big event in Sweden where most people go to their family homes outside the city or in the archipelago. I was lucky enough to be invited to Charlotta's friend's celebration near Sigtuna.
I don't remember the last time I had so much food, it was like having two Christmas dinner's in one day.
We started off with a traditional Swedish lunch of various home-marinated herrings, salmon, boiled eggs with prawns and caviar, tarts, deli meats and smörgåstårta (a kind of sandwich cake with layers of flatbread, prawns, egg, mayonnaise and pickled herring).
We then made space for the following Fika of various cakes, biscuits and coffee with some traditional dances around the midsommarstång in Sigtuna (pictured). I had a great time hopping in circles like a small frog or buzzing mosquito! In keeping with Midsommar tradition, the day was the wettest since I arrived, so we didn't hang around long and quickly returned to Stefen's to play some games.

After Fika the food wasn't over yet, Stefen is a whizz on the grill, he'd spent days preparing various joints of meat and veggies to accompany home made focaccia, numerous salads and variety of fiery Schnapps. By the time it reached 11pm and he was firing up the BBQ again for some sausages, Eva, Nelson and I decided it was time to say our goodbyes, having had a brilliant, Swedish day with Stefen's family and friends.

Hiking group at Lida

On the few free weekends I've had I've made use of my 'MeetUp' app. I attended another hike to the south of Stockholm with a lovely bunch of people; great fun except for the abundance of mosquitos around the lake.
This weekend I joined an international group at the Fotografiska museum to browse some cool and some weird exhibits and enjoy a cardamom bun while looking back on Stockholm's skyline.

Mum and Dad enjoying the Baltic

Mid-June I had a rather wonderful visit from Mum and Dad. They popped over from Thursday to Sunday for a weekend in the Stockholm Archipelago.
We met at the most Swedish place possible, Ikea, where Mum and I finally tried the famous Ikea meatballs (they're alright) and I stocked up on a few more bits to finish off my apartment. Mum and Dad had kindly came laden with my luggage, including a large selection of kitchen utensils and various cushions so my place now feels like a home.

Our accommodation on Skarpö

We were staying in an AirBnB place on the island of Skarpö, just a 5 minute car ferry from the town of Vaxholm about half an hour from my place.
The place was perfect, very peaceful with a scandi/british interior and the added bonus of abundant wildlife. We spent the evenings watching badgers running around the house and deer with their fawn munching from the garden.

On the Friday we had a chilled day, exploring the quaint 'city' of Vaxholm, soaking up the sun and going for a bracing dip in the Baltic. Vaxholm is a little town on the water front with very Scandinavian coloured buildings housing cute boutique shops. Found some rather scrummy cardamom buns for our fika then lay out on a large rock by the water for a picnic lunch.
Our evening swim was about a 15 minute walk from the house where we could look across to the island of Rindö and watch the ginormous cruise ships pass by the end of the island (much excitement for Dad!).

Deer oh deer

On Saturday we made a trip to the outer archipelago with a visit to Sandön. This is a popular island with a pine forest surrounded by sandy beaches and rocky shorelines a couple of hours ferry ride from Vaxholm.
Once there we stopped off for a coffee in Sandhamn village then walked a lap of the island, admiring great scenery, quaint holiday homes, empty beaches and, for Dad, the chilly Baltic waters along the way.
Caught the evening boat back to Vaxholm and returned home in time for a spot more badger watching.

Badger in the garden

Sunday was Mum and Dad's final day in Sweden. We returned to my place and went for a walk along the lake front for a Father's day/early Mum's birthday lunch at the Gamla Orangeriet Café in the botanical gardens. Continued along the lake, past my lunchtime swim spot and back through the university to my place.
As Mum and Dad drove off to the airport, the storm clouds finally burst, giving us a much needed downpour.
Thanks Mum and Dad again for a wonderful weekend!

I'm now looking forward to my next visitor as Libby arrives tomorrow for some more Swedish adventures, I'm sure I'll be updating you on those some time soon!

P.S. Happy Birthday Mum!!