This is the second part to my holiday with Sophia M in Sweden (week 31).

On Wednesday morning Sophia’s boyfriend (Luke) and his father (Rick) came to stay with us for our remaining time in Sweden. Sophia did an exchange in NZ and when she was there she met Luke, he now lives with her in Germany. We all stayed in one house (left to Sophia and her siblings by their stepfather) while her parents stayed in another one. I think they were happy for that as we talked way into the night.

On their first night there we lit up the sauna which over looked the sea. I hated it at first- I felt so gross, sticky and hot, but after jumping off the jetty into the water it became a lot more bearable. We would have competitions who could stay in the sauna the longest before jumping into the ice cold water! One night a fox came right next to the rocks by the sauna and mozied around for a bit, completely oblivious to us gaping at it 2 meters away. It was wicked.

The next day continued like the others, we swam, relaxed, and played a bit of tennis. At sunset we drove the boat out of the house (you know, as you do), and set up 4 fishing nets along the coast. It was my first time using fishing nets so it was a pretty interesting experience. Each time Sophia M put out a net I had the job of spitting on the floating boy 3 times. It’s supposed to be good luck – and boy did it deliver! The next morning we left bright and early (the sun rises at 3:30 over there!) and checked the nets, the result was brilliant. We got 2 huge Salmon which was apparently very lucky as the season hadn’t yet started, 4 Sek – a Swedish freshwater fish (the sea had next to no salt in it) and whole lot of herring.

We cooked up the Salmon using the weirdest recipe ever (good quality mayonnaise and a lot of lemon pepper), but it tasted amazing. I’m drooling just remembering it – it was perfect. It was Ake’s birthday and Luke, Rick, Sophia and I worked quickly to clean the nets before the surprise guests arrived. Ake’s father and siblings came over and we had a huge feast followed by half a million cakes. Afterwards I felt like I’d have to buy another ticket for the plane just so I’d have 2 seats!

The following day was Ricks Birthday, we had a sausage sizzle, played kub and went to a church (Enangers Gamla Kyrka) built in the early 1200’s. The church’s architecture was so different from anything I’d seen in France and the reason it was so special was because all the original paintings were still there in perfect condition due the lack of heaters in the church.

Rick really wanted to try Surstromming for his birthday – the traditional Swedish dish of fermented Herring. “During production of surströmming, just enough salt is used to prevent the raw herring from rotting. A fermentation process of at least six months gives the fish a characteristic strong smell and somewhat acidic taste. According to a Japanese study, a newly opened can of surströmming has one of the most putrid food smells in the world” -Wikipedia. I can say hands down that it was the worst thing that I have ever smelt and ever will, eating it wasn’t any better either. It tasted of pure salt mixed with rotten egg multiplied by 1 million, it’s safe to say I only had a small morsel! Never again! For the following 2 days I had to breathe with a hand over my mouth because of the awful smell, and the taste was constantly there no matter the number of times I brushed my teeth.

We went on a little expedition around the region the following day. The area looked very New Zealandish, which was sort of unsettling because I thought that I was back at home. We stopped by at a nice town called Delsbo and looked around the museum there, most of it were musically based things as the town was known for a music festival. I had the best burger ever at a restaurant on top of a hill overlooking a massive lake, and for desert I tried a very Swedish desert called Ostkaka which tasted like unsalted halumi cheese with a berry compote. I loved it. We went over to Ake’s father’s house which was totally in the widerness, I took out a rowing boat (not the sport ones) and pottered around in the nearby lake, it was a great time.

After a few more days of swimming, saunering, and mooching around the forest, it was time to go. It sucked to say to goodbye as I had such a great time there and it was too beautiful! At 9am I left Soderhamn on the same stylish train I came with. When I arrived at my stop, I got up to leave when I saw the same man I sat next to on the way there 10 days earlier only 2 seats away from me! We chatted for a bit as he got off at the same place, the whole time I was shocked – quelle chance!

I had 4 hours between my train and first flight ( I had a connecting flight in Norway), so I cruised around sky city for ages, got some suviners and myself very familiar with the food shops:). It felt so cool being individual and travelling alone! At Norway I got a hot chocolate and recieved Norwegian money back, there were holes in the middle of the coins, it was pretty snazzy. After my final flight I returned back to Bordeaux at 9 o’clock where Nicolas and Elizabeth picked me up. The second I jumped in the car I was out like light.

I want to thank Sophia, Ake and Ulrike for giving me the chance to go to Sweden and stay in their summer house. I got a real taste (literally) of Swedish culture, and had a spectacular time.

Differences in Sweden:

1. It is compulsory to have headlights on at all times while driving.
2. Abba songs played on the radio way too many times, and every where you looked there were pippy longstockings references.
3. The houses were different, all where a dark red colour with white scalloped window panes – they fit in so well with the countryside.
4. The fences were really different and so practical (I’ll put in a picture).
5. The money is different. For example, I bought a hot chocolate for 350 Krono’s which is actually only 3,50 EUR.
6. There are hundreds of road signs that say look out for Bear’s and Moose. Unfortunately I never saw one. The day I arrived the Bear hunting season started, each region can only hunt 50 bears and each one must be reported to keep count.