Why Sweden is magical
Hello little world,
As you can see by the title, this blog post is supposed to revolve around my love for Sweden. Actually, this needs a little background story, so take a cup of tea and sit back, because this is gonna be a bit longer!
It all started with a relaxed evening when I was 14. My best friend's family and mine were having a game night, as we had been doing it for years. We first ate dinner together and then started playing games, cards or charade, what the average families do, ya know.
In the middle of the evening, we realized that this was the night where the finale of the Eurovision Song Contest took place. My friend's family liked the German participant that year, and so we thought we could tune in and leave it as a kind of background sound while playing. What happened was that Germany, after many years of being the loser, won the competition, and so we ended up screaming and shouting and cheering in front of the TV. I will never forget how we danced to "Satellite" (the winning song) in my room, screaming the lyrics and laughing as loud as we've never laughed before.
That night, a whole new world opened up to me: Different cultures and countries singing together, many in their mother tongue which just sounded so incredible, all of them talking English to understand each other. Especially Sweden left quite a deep impression on me, the handsome annunciator of the Swedish points not being the smallest reason to be honest ...
It was the night I realized four things:
One, I was a language nerd and wanted to make it my new life challenge to learn as many languages in my life as possible.
Two, the friendship to my best friend and her sister and whole family was precious and would never stop. Ever.
Three, I wanted to study English. I understood it was the language that has the ability to connect the world and make it possible for people from opposite sides of the world to communicate with each other. I thought that was fascinating, and I still do.
And four, I just had to to find out who that handsome annunciator was!
Number four was easily solved the morning afterwards. It was Eric Saade, a Swedish singer whose songs we - my best friend, her sister, her counsin and me - were listening to basically every minute of the day for the following years. May sound a bit obsessive, but it was like a magic glue that held us together. This time was, thinking back, a defining time for our friendship, and therefore there are very deep and familiar memories attached to the songs.
In this time I also found out that I was a little bit different than others. Other people wanted to go on vacation to Spain, Egypt, anywhere were it's hot and sunny. But I dreamed of Scandinavia and Iceland and the Northern lights, and I absorbed any information I could get about those areas. My absolute dream? To visit Stockholm.
The problem was, I was 14 years old and my parents were, and to this day unfortunately are not, billionaires, so that was not an option.
2018 should be the year to fulfill this dream. I'm not quite sure why exactly this year, but my best friend and I decided to finally do it, and so we booked the flight tickets. Needless to say, we went slightly crazy while doing so
...
"WE DID IT"
"I KNOW OH MY GOD, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT"
"DID WE ACTUALLY?! NO GOING BACK NOW!!"
"AAH!"
"AAAAH!"
Yep, that was the exact conversation.
But I was afraid. Not only because of the longest flight I would have ever been on, but because my expectations were insanely high. When you dream of something for several years, when you imagine a scenario in unhappy moments to cheer yourself up, you reach a point where the actual event can never live up to what it will actually be like when it happens.
So, while waiting at the airport, I was telling myself to "calm the F down, Leonie!" and not to expect too much. The probability that the weather would be - sorry - shit, is quite high in Stockholm when arriving in April. Also, maybe the city is not even as beautiful as one thinks ... ?
And, what can I say? The trip totally lived up to my expectations. No, it was even better.
As you can see by the title, this blog post is supposed to revolve around my love for Sweden. Actually, this needs a little background story, so take a cup of tea and sit back, because this is gonna be a bit longer!
It all started with a relaxed evening when I was 14. My best friend's family and mine were having a game night, as we had been doing it for years. We first ate dinner together and then started playing games, cards or charade, what the average families do, ya know.
In the middle of the evening, we realized that this was the night where the finale of the Eurovision Song Contest took place. My friend's family liked the German participant that year, and so we thought we could tune in and leave it as a kind of background sound while playing. What happened was that Germany, after many years of being the loser, won the competition, and so we ended up screaming and shouting and cheering in front of the TV. I will never forget how we danced to "Satellite" (the winning song) in my room, screaming the lyrics and laughing as loud as we've never laughed before.
That night, a whole new world opened up to me: Different cultures and countries singing together, many in their mother tongue which just sounded so incredible, all of them talking English to understand each other. Especially Sweden left quite a deep impression on me, the handsome annunciator of the Swedish points not being the smallest reason to be honest ...
It was the night I realized four things:
One, I was a language nerd and wanted to make it my new life challenge to learn as many languages in my life as possible.
Two, the friendship to my best friend and her sister and whole family was precious and would never stop. Ever.
Three, I wanted to study English. I understood it was the language that has the ability to connect the world and make it possible for people from opposite sides of the world to communicate with each other. I thought that was fascinating, and I still do.
And four, I just had to to find out who that handsome annunciator was!
Number four was easily solved the morning afterwards. It was Eric Saade, a Swedish singer whose songs we - my best friend, her sister, her counsin and me - were listening to basically every minute of the day for the following years. May sound a bit obsessive, but it was like a magic glue that held us together. This time was, thinking back, a defining time for our friendship, and therefore there are very deep and familiar memories attached to the songs.
In this time I also found out that I was a little bit different than others. Other people wanted to go on vacation to Spain, Egypt, anywhere were it's hot and sunny. But I dreamed of Scandinavia and Iceland and the Northern lights, and I absorbed any information I could get about those areas. My absolute dream? To visit Stockholm.
The problem was, I was 14 years old and my parents were, and to this day unfortunately are not, billionaires, so that was not an option.
2018 should be the year to fulfill this dream. I'm not quite sure why exactly this year, but my best friend and I decided to finally do it, and so we booked the flight tickets. Needless to say, we went slightly crazy while doing so
...
"WE DID IT"
"I KNOW OH MY GOD, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT"
"DID WE ACTUALLY?! NO GOING BACK NOW!!"
"AAH!"
"AAAAH!"
Yep, that was the exact conversation.
But I was afraid. Not only because of the longest flight I would have ever been on, but because my expectations were insanely high. When you dream of something for several years, when you imagine a scenario in unhappy moments to cheer yourself up, you reach a point where the actual event can never live up to what it will actually be like when it happens.
So, while waiting at the airport, I was telling myself to "calm the F down, Leonie!" and not to expect too much. The probability that the weather would be - sorry - shit, is quite high in Stockholm when arriving in April. Also, maybe the city is not even as beautiful as one thinks ... ?
And, what can I say? The trip totally lived up to my expectations. No, it was even better.
Sweden,
I don't know what kind of witchery you withhold in you, but the weather was perfect for 8 of 10 days, I took the best, most magical photos I've ever taken in my life and everything worked out perfectly. It was as if you were waiting for us and welcomed us as old friends. As if you wanted to say: "You have saved money and waited for so long, now you deserve the best trip ever".
Thank you. We will come back.
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