Uppsala Redux

How to put into words...

It has now been a few weeks since I landed back in the States- after a summer in Sweden. I was enrolled in the Uppsala International Summer Session, which is a language course designed for international students of all ages and levels. This year, there were over 200 students from 17-75 year’s old, representing 32 different nations. In the morning, we all went to our respective level of Swedish Language. I already have a good understanding of the conversational aspect of the language, but my grammar was lacking. Now after a summer of intense classes, my vocabulary and grammar have become much better.

Every morning we took a traditional coffee break called fika. This involved taking a break from class to drink coffee with cookies and an open-faced sandwich. Mmm. In the afternoon, we all reconvened for various afternoon classes- I took Conversation and Grammar. After classes ended for the day at 3:15, I had the rest of the afternoon to do as I pleased.

My friends and I would go out for coffee (again) to one of the many cafés or go exploring around the city. Everything was in walking distance and there was never a reason not to go on an adventure. Some evenings my friends and I would go to the University Botanical Gardens or to a student nation for dinner. Student Nations are these pubs sprinkled around the city for university students with ID to go eat and hang out for much cheaper than a regular restaurant.

Every Friday we had a "field trip" of sorts to some city or site. My favorite place we went was an old copper mine, which was once the third largest exporter of copper in the world. They had guided tours of down inside the mine which was by far one of my favorite Friday trips. It was cold, wet, and eerie. In one very large part of the mine, they blew out all the lights and we all stood in complete and utter darkness.

On the weekends, we were free so I typically took the 45 min train ride south into Stockholm. My grandparents and rest of my family live in Stockholm, so I would spend the weekends with them. The first week I was in Sweden, I spent it in southern Sweden with my aunt and two cousins in Malmö. Then I spent a week in Stockholm before I moved to on my own in Uppsala. I flew straight from Stockholm to Asheville two days before classes started. Once back I was having a hard time with being away from my grandparents and family, it is always hard to say goodbye.

I had a hard time leaving my family and my summer life in Sweden. Luckily, I have great friends to come back to- they have made all the difference. Let the countdown begin to my next trip to Sweden.

Inger