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Autumn is here! Bringing with it vibrant leaves, misty mornings, ever shorter days and the perfect excuse to gorge on kanelbullar (cinnamon buns).
Since my last post I've started evening Swedish classes at uni, discovered a new found love for watching ice hockey and spent more time exploring Stockholm and its surroundings, helped by a visit from my brother, Tom.
Swedish (svenska) classes are 3 hours a week in a group of about 20 of us, all PhDs (doktarand) or researchers (forskare) from Stockholms Universitet. We have a lovely, slightly eccentric, teacher called Göran who gets us talking about what we are doing in Sweden, our families and hobbies and useful phrases like 'Jag dammsuger' (I am vacuuming).







Yan Ma and Sonia at Woodland Cemetery


Bright skies over the last few weeks have given plenty of opportunities to take walks in and around Stockholm. Yan Ma, Sonia, Felicity (all PhDs in my department) and I


often meet up to explore a new area or try out one of Stockholm's many cafes, including an obligatory post work cinnamon bun at Café Pascal to celebrate 'kanelbullar dag'. One of our weekend trips took us to Skogskyrkogården, the woodland cemetery; sounds a bit of an odd place to visit but it's a beautiful spot to take a stroll around with graves nestled between mature trees and carefully designed buildings dotted throughout. A proper autumnal feel made for some great photo opportunities but chilly hands so we warmed up with coffee and cake in the wooden visitor centre before heading back into the city for a wander around Södermalm's second hand shops. The following day I set out into the city by myself to take the opportunity to climb up the 106 m City Hall Tower before it closed for the winter. This involved 365 steps, a strain on my legs after attempting some of the uni's free gym classes through the week, but was well worth it for the view from the top (photo at the top of this post). 







Myself and Yan Ma at Woodland Cemetery

On a slightly greyer Saturday I decided to put my little kitchen to the test and have Sonia, Yan Ma and Felicity over for dinner. Cooking for multiple people here is complicated by the fact that if I turn my teeny oven on neither of the hob plates will heat up so it's quite the juggling act. I managed to get around this by baking raspberry brownies in the morning and going with a one pot dish of jambalaya for mains. 







Felicity and I celebrating kanelbullar dag

Along with coloured trees and kanelbullar dag, autumn has brought with it the start of the ice hockey season. Simon, a PhD in my group and hard core Djurgården (Stockholm's team) fan, ensured Eva, Felicity and I got tickets to help him cheer on Djurgården at mine and Felicity's first game. As spectator sports go, this one has something for everyone. The players arrive onto the ice through a flaming entranceway then play for three 20-minute periods with much barging, flying stocks and the occasional fist fight along the way. We got to know the Djurgården chants and celebratory songs as the final score was 4-1 to Djurgården, a great start to my ice hockey experience.


Soon after this, Tom was coming over for a long weekend and it happened that Djurgården were playing their next game on his birthday, that was his present sorted! Another exciting match for Tom's first experience with a grand score of 7-4 to Djurgården meaning plenty of cheering and chanting. 

I had a great time showing Tom some of Stockholm's delights and exploring some new areas with him over his unseasonably warm visit (18-20 C most days). He arrived around midday on the Friday and after a quick lunch at mine we set off for a walk into the city along Brunnvsiken lake with a cinnamon/ cardamom bun stop along the way. Wandered around the narrow streets of Gamla Stan, took a hazy view of the city from the Katrina Elevator and then headed back to mine for dinner. The next day was Tom's birthday so I prepared a Swedish spread for breakfast then we went for a stroll around Djurgården before going to see their names sake play. That evening we continued to tick some Swedish foods off the list with a trip to 'Meatballs For The People' for some venison meatballs with the classic accompaniments (mashed potato, pickled cucumber, lingonberries and  creamy sauce). 





Due to it being October, our attempt to find somewhere to hire some bikes was fruitless so we made 


our way down to Hellasgården, south of the city, for a walk around a lake in the Nacka nature reserve. On the way back to mine we stopped off at the Natural History Museum for a quick browse then flopped for a while to gather our energy before heading back out for dinner. Dinner was at a traditional Swedish restaurant called Pelikan. We started with an array of pickled herring (the mustard was my favourite) along with scrummy fennel bread and some Västerbottenost (a great Swedish cheese). As Tom appreciated the jus with his duck and Jerusalem artichoke for mains he managed to dip his head onto the candle, resulting in a wisp of smoke and strong smell of burning hair! The meal was delicious and generous so we ended up rolling our way home and collapsing into bed. 

Hellasgarden walk

On Tom's final day here there was a talk in my department on the recent IPCC paper by some of the authors of this climate report, so I signed myself and Tom up. The speakers were mixed but the facts were interesting and the message was clear, we need to act quickly in reducing our emissions to keep global warming under 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels and minimise the risks to humans and various ecosystems across the planet. Soon after this talk (and accompanying fika of cardamom buns and coffee) Tom had to make his way to the airport and head home, it was sad to see him go after a great, action packed weekend together.


Djurgarden with Tom

Birthday Breakfast














This weekend marks 6 months in Sweden for me and I'm still loving it. I went for another walk with Sonia, Yan Ma and Felicity yesterday, followed by a very delayed house warming at my supervisor Benny and his girlfriend, Josefin's place. Now to test out my new electric whisk and made a cake for Eva's (my office mate) birthday.

Herring at Pelikan


Meatballs for the People


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