A COUNTRY I'D LIKE TO VISIT

Earlier this year I started wanting to learn a new language, and randomly enough, I chose Swedish.

Why? Who knows. I guess that the fact that it was so out there, so complicated, so foreign to me and so musical sounding made me go for it... and I stuck with it. Months passed and I still had interest and was getting good at it, so, naturally, I started thinking about going to Sweden someday and checking out all its "otherness".

I don't really know that much about the swedish culture and customs, but I'll take a chance and assume that most latinamericans know next to nothing about them -or they do, but aren't aware of it-, so maybe anything I tell you might be informative. 

Sweden is a scandinavian country located in northern Europe and has Stockholm as its capital city.

Its considered a first world country, as it has the world's eighth highest per capita income and is renowned for ranking highly in quality of life, health, education, civil liberties, equality and pretty much everything else. Knowing all that, I think most of us would like to go live there, but... I guess it's not for everyone. Climate-wise, the country may not be everybody's cup of tea. The highest temperature ever recorded was 38 °C in 1947, and the lowest was -52.6 °C in 1966. That may scare you, lead you to question "how on earth do swedes manage to stay alive?!", but actually, those are exceptions. The central and southern parts of the country have milder winters that many areas of Russia, Canada and northern USA (Alaska, for example).

And hey, I think I'd be glad to handle a little cold and few hours of daylight over the winter, 'cause... It's gorgeous! Maybe I should've started with that...

As you can see, the architecture is something else. Many people travel to Stockholm just to see these giant buildings and cathedrals, and I'd love to do that also. But I think that I'd like to have a little house just outside the city, to have a quiet place to relax, you know? I can easily imagine a life for me out there. 

I said before that most latinamericans think they know nearly nothing about this country, but let me correct you. Do you remember "Dancing Queen", "Mamma Mia" or "Chiquitita"? Well, the band ABBA (and A*Teens, a later swedish tribute band) came from Sweden and expanded globaly. At least I was very surprised when I read that, I don't know about you. 

I'd like to close this first post with a fun fact. Most swedes think that what identifies them the most as a country is something called "fika". It took me quite some time to understand what that was, but I'll try my best to explain it correctly. Fika is a kind of ritual that consists of taking time out one's day to go to a cafe and consume hot beverages with some kind of pastry. You may do this with family, friends, coworkers and even your boss. Many swedes have several "fikas" during one day. Personally, I think that's just ideal. Maybe we should start having fikas in Chile, don't you think?

Tack så mycket för att du läste det här, ta hand om dig. Hejdå!

(Thank you for reading this, take care. Bye!)