m8888888's Blog

I was an exchange student in Lund, Sweden for a year and a half in college. I was only supposed to stay for a year, but I liked it so much that I stayed for one more semester. I had so much fun! The first month or two I was there, when it was summer and there weren't many Swedish students around, I hated it! I wondered what I was doing there, and why I had signed up for a whole year. Once school started, though, I had a blast!

I had to take Swedish classes in the beginning,...

Midsummer, the longest day of the year marking the middle of summer time (aka the Summer solstice) is a holiday in Sweden. A lot of people go to their summer houses, or to some nature-y place with their friends and families. There is often a big pole, decorated with flowers and leaves that people dance around and sing songs. The pole was originally a symbol of fertility. The most famous song is Små Grodorna, which is about small frogs. It's also an excuse to have a...

Labor Day is on May 1st in Sweden, and on that day, University choirs sing, and people join demonstrations, mostly for Socialism and against Capitalism. Labor Day was the first non-Christian public holiday in Sweden, and the only one until 2005, when Sweden's National Day also became an official holiday. 

On April 30th is another holiday- Valborg. It's a combination of Pagen Spring celebrations and Viking Fertility celebrations. Mostly, it just seems like a reason for...

I wrote about pizza in Korea, so I guess I might as well write about pizza in Sweden! There are gazillions of pizzerias in Sweden. A lot of Middle Eastern immigrants, especially, run pizzeria and kebab shops. I'm not sure why they are so well-represented among pizzeria owners! But that means there is are a lot of pizza choices, although most of the places serve exactly the same pizzas. And of course it means that pizza is pretty cheap, too! It's about 40-50 kroner for a pizza most...

If you're here for a short time and plan on doing lots of tourist activities, the Malmö card is great.

http://www.malmo.se/turist/inenglish/themalmocard.4.33aee30d103b8f15916800022035.html

It gives you free bus rides, discounts on the trains and entrances to some places, and free entrance to others. Definitely a must, because the bus is a bit expensive otherwise!

If you're staying longer, you can buy either a monthly pass for the busses and trains, or a...

Saluhalen, on the corner of Lilatorget in Malmö, about 5 minutes from the train station, is great for eating lunch. They have about 15 different small restaurants, so there's plenty of choice. My favorite place is the bagel shop, since it's hard to find real bagels in Sweden! I recommend the "Little Italy" bagel- delicious! There's also Thai, Pasta, Swedish food, fish, and almost anything else you could want. Most places have lunch specials that are reasonably...