Student blogs

Autumn has officially set in for good with its chilly breeze, red leaves and dark nights. What better time to reminiscence on the strikingly sunny summer than now. In this blog, I’ll share some of my first summer experiences here in Sweden and hope that leaves something for you to look forward to as well.

Swimming

Before this summer, if you had asked me “Do you want to swim in the lake?” I would say “No.”

It’s not common to swim in a lake in Jamaica (I do miss the beautiful blue sea) so I was very wary of this giant mass of seemingly bottomless cold water. Yet, when the temperatures hit 25 degrees Celsius and the clouds finally took their summer vacation, I couldn’t help but be swept up in the energy that enveloped Stockholm. What are you doing after your internship? Swimming. What are you doing this weekend? Swimming.

I loved the ease of going for a swim here. A simple towel and your bathing suit are really all you need. Going to the beach at home was always an affair. It was further than you’d think and it was a planned trip with food, music and someone’s car. The energy was great but never this relaxed and nonchalant.

Kräftskiva or crayfish party

August comes around and you start seeing the themed decorations in the supermarkets. Plates, hats, cups, napkins and even bibs! I had the honour of attending a crayfish party this year to have my own taste of the Swedish crayfish and its festivities.

Where can I buy some crayfish for myself? Everyone told me the best is Svenska signalkräfta, a Swedish fresh water crayfish. Of course, you can find your way to the food/market halls but luckily for a student, I could easily find the crayfish in our everyday supermarkets. Often they are already cooked and soaked in brine, ready to eat of the bag. Other affordable options can also include frozen crayfish and while not every brand may carry necessarily Swedish crayfish, I’m sure you can still indulge in the festivities either way. If you’d like to read more about the Kräftskiva, check out the Visit Sweden post.

Camping

My final summer activity to share with everyone is camping. This was actually my very first time going camping and it took my friends some time to convince me. Many things worried me: where to acquire camping equipment, ticks, starting a fire, and going to the bathroom in the wild outdoors.

To tackle the first item on the list, we were able to rent camping equipment from the KTH outdoor club. This is open to anyone, not just the outdoor club members and offered a simple way to get equipment like tents, sleeping mats and bags, and others. As for the ticks, I grabbed tick repellent, took a pair of tweezers and studied many tick pictures to mentally prepare myself for what I was about to encounter. In the past year I was recommended to take the TBE (Tick borne encephalitis) vaccine, and I encourage you to read more about the vaccine and come to your own conclusion.

Despite some of my apprehensions, I came out of this with a renewed awe of nature. I loved seeing all the plants, mushrooms, insects and wild blueberry bushes! Perhaps next time, I will just take a good long hike instead.

Final thoughts

You might be wondering “What about Midsommar?” Unfortunately, I missed one of the most famous Swedish summer festivities. I had decided to visit family members in June before I start my SciLifeLab internship in July. However, this only means that I have even more to look forward to in Sweden for the next summer.

Do check out Camila’s recent blog for her thoughts and pictures on Midsommar. Alternatively, if you have any experiences you’d like to share, please do so in the comments for others to read about!