The Sweden inside my head - Part I

                   I want to make sure that this is about a country called 'SWEDEN', not Switzerland. I see a lot of people getting confused when I say Sweden. It's located in the north of Europe above Germany and Poland. Three things that immediately come to mind when I think about Sweden are its freezing winters, hot women and nature(no suitable adjective to describe it). Having said that, the land is actually filled with much more interesting things. When I first landed into the foreign land I was very pleased to receive such a polite welcome from both nature and people.   Politeness is something that could be found with Swedes (that's how Swedish people are called) at all times. Humor and sarcasicm are in their blood. They do not have great belief in religion but have ample morality and humanity. One important character that could be noticed very easily is their 'shyness'. It's really hard to make them speak. I was quite lucky since a few of my classmates spoke well. People often advice me to drink with them, cause that's when they loosen up and start talking. It was true in a way cause they would speak for hours when they're drunk (what happens the next day would be mind blowing). But there's another way as well. The magical word that would make every Swede speak is "FIKA". Swedes are so health conscious that even at -5 degrees, I see people jogging around. While its easy to hang out with them and go for parties, you should be lucky enough to be invited home as they expect a lot of privacy. Since they love to be alone at home, most of them have wonderful hobbies especially music. Every person who lived in my corridor played musical instruments.

                     Time is an important factor and everything goes as per plan for them. Most conversations among people begin with climate. Sweden does have four seasons as we read in school. But for me, there's only two. It's either snowing or raining. It's freezing cold during winter at north with temperatures dropping below -25 degrees at times.   The others seasons are usually filled with rain. The Sun shines pretty well but only for a few weeks. That's the time one is fascinated by the sheer beauty of nature. Lakes, rivers, trees  and flowers shine bright at the arrival of summer. it feels great to  be outdoors having a swim at the lake. Hot pants and bikinis are at their best. I wish it lasted the whole year. There are lot more things to speak about sweden. Will write them in upcoming weeks.