In June 2010, I had the opportunity to travel to Sweden. I had been wanting to do this for awhile, as my cousin Dave and his Swedish wife, Asa, currently live there with their two little boys, Nils and Tim. The timing seemed right as I knew I was about to make a big transition in my life. So, I flew across the country and landed in Europe for my first time to spend 2 weeks exploring Sweden (and Finland, too!)
My timing couldn't have been more perfect, as I was in Sweden during the royal wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and her lover, Daniel on 6/19/2010. The citywas packed full of energy and had many events to celebrate the occasion. Dave and I went downtown to see the wedding. There werepeople everywhere, and EVERYONE had Swedish flags! We watched thewedding f
rom Gustav Adolfs Torg, where there was a large movie-screen sized TV showing the ceremony just inside the castle. After the ceremony, we tried to catch of the glimpse of the royal couple as their carriage rolled by on their ride around Stockholm to celebrate their marriage to the city. There were too many people to really see them, so after they passed we walked down to the harbor and saw them from a distance on their rowboat instead :) Everyone was cheering and had so much love for their country and their culture, it was really cool to see that!
Also going on was the World Cup, which was fun because Europe loves soccer way more than the U.S. We went out to the Hard Rock cafe to watch the U.S. play Slovenia. There were a lot of Americans in the bar, and even a guy from Seattle! The next U.S. game I watched was vs. Algeria. I was in the city and wondered through gamla stan (Old Town) in hopes of finding a quaint little bar to watch the game. Unfortunately, England's game happened to be on at the same time. And, when you're in Europe, the Englishmen have majority rule! So I went into bar, after bar, after bar, with Englishmen in red jerseys everywhere, and no one was playing the U.S. game! Finally, after 30 minutes of searching, I found a bar with a large sign outside "England upstairs, US dowstairs". I went inside, went downstairs and still the bar was filled with Englishmen and no U.S. game :( Finally, I asked a waitress if they were still playing the U.S. game. She escorted me to a tiny room in the back of the basement of the bar with one small TV (and no sound) playing the game. I quickly became friends with the 6 Americans who exclaimed: "you found us!" as if it was asecret little club. HaHa!
Okay, I also have to talk a little bit about Sweden and social progress. For example, In Stockholm, if you take a stroller on the bus, child AND adult ride for free. How cool is that? And, there is a separate door on the bus just for stroller entrance! In Seattle, if a mom tries to get on the bus with a stroller, she is shunned or yelled at to take the stroller apart and juggle her children through the ride. Everyone on the bus stares at her for holding everyone up. I wish we could take a clue from Sweden and give our parents this tool of access, too. And of course, I have to mention the paid maternity AND paternity leave at 80% or more of your salary. Daddies on playdates with their babies in the park... so awesome. And, you still get free day care 3 days/week for your older children you are not on "parenting leave" for!
Another thing I hesitantly admit I enjoyed about being in Sweden is how much I "fit in" with my looks. Albeit, being white always gives me the privilege of fitting in, but I think sometimes white folks don't know how to identify their culture, especially if their ancestors come from many different unique countries, such as me, I am a mix of Irish, Scottish, German, Polish, English, French, and do I really even have this right? Although have no known Swedish ancestors, I look just like a Swede and many people I met thought I was Swedish. I even had a woman stop me on the street and ask for directions in Swedish. I went into a tourist shop and a clerk began giving me advice about how to find information on my Swedish relatives. I just went a long with it; I didn't want to admit that I am not Swedish. Plus, when you have blonde hair, blue eyes, grow up in Minnesota, and attend a Lutheran church and college, who's not Swedish?
Stockholm was so beautiful. There is a lot of old architecture, which was something I had never seen before. There are no skyscrapers. There is water everywhere, and an archipelago of over 30,000 islands and many ferries to travel in between. H&M is on every corner, and Swedes are big on style and design. I'm glad that I got to enjoy Sweden from the life of locals, and not just as a tourist. I really enjoyed reconnecting with my family and getting to know Nils and Timmy. I ended my trip by drinking beer with my cousin on the porch in late-night daylight, discussing our alcoholic grandmother, living away from family, and reflecting on the journeys we've been on in our lives. It was a perfect trip!
