Groeten from Utrecht 2012: 20) Sverige, Sweden!

Two weekends ago I was in Linköping and Jonköping to visit my swedish friends who I met in Victoria! Had a very nice greeting from Johan when I arrived on thursday night into the smallest international airport I have ever seen- Linköping Airport. We took a bus and he explained to me that Linköping was known for having the Saab company offices and it was also known for making airplanes. Once we arrived into the city centre we took another quick bus to where he and Emma were living. They have had a very busy time since they returned from Canada. They announced their engagement, Emma was accepted into Medical school and started it, and they moved from Jonköping to Linköping. They have just signed the paperwork for an apartment in Linköping as it will take Emma 5 years for her schooling but are living in a one room small flat until the beginning of June. Once we arrived to where they are living Emma arrived from school and we made some dinner. Then after a quick visit they put me on a coach bus and told me to get off in Jonköping where Sabine, one of our other friends, would meet me. I think I slept the entire two hours because I do not remember anything of that coach ride but luckily Sabine was there ready to meet me. Spent the night at her apartment( which was 3 times the size of what Emma and Johan were currently living in) and the next morning after a typical swedish breakfast of cheese, bread and coffee we went into the city centre for a fika (a coffee-break with coffee and sweets) in a cafe. Sabine is doing her nursing practicum on the weekends in another city so she was catching a train that afternoon and I stayed in the cafe(since it suddenly was snowing) for awhile until Emma and Johan would arrive after their classes later in the afternoon. At this point I had had 3 cups of strong swedish coffee and was bouncing off the walls so decided to go discover the city by myself- I got as far as the main shopping street.

After doing some window shopping it was time to meet Johan and Emma and we went to a cafe and instead of having my fourth cup of coffee I stuck to tea and a chocolate ball. Okay, chocolate balls are the easiest thing to make and they taste so good! The only thing that bothers me about them is that they ( as recently as 3 years ago) were called "nigger balls"- Sweden of all countries?! took them a little while to catch on to what is deemed "racist" and "discriminatory" in their dessert naming.

After the teatime it was off to the grocery store. Now for some reason one of my favourite things to do when I am in a different country is go to the grocery store. There is so much neat stuff! I have some photos of some of my finds. After I got a little too excited in the swedish food store it was off to a candy store. I thought I had entered heaven for a minute, pick and mix heaven to be specific. Every possible candy you could want was there. Emma and Johan told me that it is "very swedish" to go to a pick and mix place. I loved going to 7-Eleven for 5₵ candies when I was younger but this was 100x better.

We had a nice dinner that night of a swedish cheese quiche and enjoyed our pick and mix.

Saturday was a busy day of seeing the older sites of Jonköping, the university, where the original swedish matchstick was invented, and Lake Vättern. We went to dinner at one of Emma and Johan's friends that night and Emma and I made some chocolate balls to take.

The Sunday was when I was leaving but we still managed to go for a nice walk and get a whole view of the city and I got a couple more fresh swedish cinnamon buns to go back with me to Utrecht.

I had a great weekend visiting Sweden but most importantly had a great weekend seeing my favourite swedes! ( no, I am not talking about my favourite swedish hockey players this time).

Hope to see Sabine, Emma and Johan one day soon :)

Enjoy the photos!