These past two days has been a wonderful time getting to know the people here.
Yesterday, I went out with Eunice she is from Belgium and she is half Chinese!
We went to the Match stick museum, this place use to be a factory where matchsticks were made.
Each stick had to be dipped into phosphorus and each box had to be folded and glued by hand.
Technology to do all thatwork!
After the museum, we walked around and we went into any place that interest us. We wanted to fika so we walked around the city looking for Bernards since I heard from some friends that it was one of the better cafes here. I don't know if I explained what fika is, but it is the Swedish word to describe the time of chatting with friends over coffee and something sweet. It took a long time, but we eventually found it (good thing she could follow a map!). The place was a cute bakery with salads, sandwiches, and pastries. This is what I ate!
I have seen this sandwich everywhere and it typically comes with small shrimp (this seems to be a Swedish favorite, because there is an abundance of it) along with vegetables and tons of mayonnaise.
This is Semla ,which is the famous Swedish cream-filled bun.
http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Lifestyle/Traditions/Reading/Swedish-semla-more-than-just-a-bun/
The link is there just in case you want to read more about the history of Semla and the tradition of fika!
Our lunch/fika was really nice and we spent a couple hours just chatting. We talked about many things from our interests, views on life, and other issues. It was a good time and I love fika-ing!
Today, Lorelie and I went with Robin (he is a Swedish student that came to UCF last semester) to Fjällstugan church. Everything was in Swedish, but Robin gave a gist of what the pastor was preaching and worship was great since I could sing along sometimes.
This is one of the songs that was sung, Jag vill ge dig o herre min lovsång (I want to give you all my praise).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwDlpO7TTwI
From church I learned these words:
ära=glory
frukt=fruit
träd=tree
rot/rötter=root/s
helig=holy
nära dig=near you (Jag vill vara nära dig=I want to be near you)
So maybe I will be able to sing a praise song all in Swedish one day!!!
Anyway, after the service we had fika with some young adults from the church. One of the girls is actually in the
same major as us thus hopefully we can see her around campus and hang out since I would like to know a Swedish
girl! After that Robin took us to some places we girls wanted to visit, but didn't know where or how to get there.
I wanted to go to the library so we hopped onto a bus and we went. Lorelei and I got a library card! I feel like an
official resident now. And of course, I checked out some books about traveling in Sweden! I can't wait to see more
of this country! Lorelei wanted to Maxi (it is like Costco) so we hopped onto another bus. The store had wonderful
food and relatively good prices. The best part was that fruit and vegetables were actually cheap so I will have to go
back. And there was so much candy! hehe I have to try everything right?!Since Robin was really hungry and he
wanted to make us a Swedish meal, we went to his apartment for dinner. He made is a traditional Swedish sandwich
called smörgåstår which is translates to sandwich cake and the first part of the word is related to our word smorgasbord
(I ate this yesterday, but I had no idea what I was eating). Thus whatever you like to eat can be put on the sandwich.
We ate two varieties, one was with shrimp and mayonnaise and the other one with smoked salmon, boiled egg, and
caviar. Both were really good and I am super happy since I did something Swedish! This is what the shrimp looks
like and in Sweden your condiments comes in tubes!
Robin and Lorelei! I will post pictures of the sandwiches after I get them from Lorelei.
The evening was really nice since we learned more about the country and we listen to some Swedish music.
This weekend we are planning on going to Gothenborg! The city is about two hours away and it is a bigger city than
Jonkoping so it would be tons of fun if some of my other friends came!
