Nordic Breeze | Iberian Seas

One of the best welcome events I attended was an overnight trip to a cabin in the Stockholm archipelago. The cabin, called Osqvik, is owned by THS, the student union at KTH. Different student groups can rent the cabin for a night or two to gather with friends and enjoy the beautiful Swedish nature. When I signed up for the event back in early August, I knew very little about it other than that it was an overnight trip to an island that would involve a dinner party (called a gasque), swimming, a sauna, and a bonfire. I was particularly intrigued by the disclaimer “please note that there are no beds.”

We left Stockholm around 4 PM on a Monday, which was actually the first day of classes. We took a commuter ferry to Koviksudde and I enjoyed the views of Stockholm and many different islands in the archipelago. The commuter ferries are part of the metro system so you don’t pay any additional fee to take them if you already have a metro pass.

We got off the ferry at a small stop called Koviksudde. It was about a 30 minute walk to the cabin. Along the way the THS members organizing the trip had hidden secret messages written in runes that we had to decode in order to find the prize at the end. It was a fun way to really look at the world around us as we walked. I also enjoyed just being in nature and looking at the architecture of the houses. I wanted to take pictures of many cute houses but I also wanted to respect the privacy of the owners so I didn’t.

We made it to the cabin, received a patch for the event, and spent a while exploring the property and playing a game called kubb (see my post about other Welcome Events for a description of the game) while we waited for dinner to be ready. We also got a chance to go swimming and go in the sauna around the time the sun was setting. The water was very cold and the sauna was very hot. We had limited time before dinner so we didn’t get to go back and forth a lot but I at least got to enjoy a swim and a few minutes in the sauna. We also saw lots of cruise ships passing by. It’s wild to see these massive cruise ships navigating such narrow channels. Sometimes the cruise ships are bigger than the islands!

The THS members organizing the event put on a wonderful gasque for all of us. Gasques are a very fun student tradition consisting of a three course dinner with entertainment, challenges, and singing throughout. The theme was “Nordic Noir.” I didn’t take too many pictures but it was a lot of fun.

There are a few traditions essential to a gasque. One is that it is led by two Toastmasters who are the MCs for the night. They lead the entertainment and control the pacing of the night. However, if any point you are bored and want the Toastmasters to move things along, you can start a drum roll on the table and everyone will join in. Once everyone joins in and the Toastmasters acknowledge it, you all yell “tempo!” and the Toastmasters will start a song, challenge, or activity, or they will invite someone from the crowd up to do something fun. It seems like the exact rules behind this vary between organizations but the concept remains the same. You can see in the photo below that one of the challenges we were given was to build a tower at least 10 cans high. At least one of the tables was successful.

Another important gasque tradition is a round of punsch after dinner and the song that accompanies it. Punsch is a type of sweet liquor consumed (in my understanding) pretty much only at student gasques. According to Wikipedia, punsch is “made by the mixing of spirits (arrack, brandy or rum) with arrak tea (lemon and spices), sugar, and water, and was first brought to Sweden from Java in 1733. Punsch usually has 25% alcohol by volume (ABV) and 30% sugar.” I’m not sure anyone actually enjoys it but it’s an essential tradition. In order to receive your punsch, you must sing the Punsch song. It involves a bit of dancing (swaying might be a better term) and you cannot stop dancing until you receive your punsch. On the first verse you go left and right, for the second verse you go forward and back, and for the third verse you go up and down. If you’re curious what this sounds and looks like, this is the best video I could find on YouTube: Punschen Kommer. At the end of the gasque, there’s another essential song you sing to thank each of the staff members who put on the gasque. While Swedes are typically quite reserved, they do love singing together when there’s drinking involved! While drinking is definitely a big part of the culture (both in Sweden and among students) I have been really impressed by how available and normal alcohol-free options are.

After the gasque we all went outside while the room was cleaned up and rearranged to be suitable for a party. They put on some music and set up a few tables for beer pong and the party continued throughout the night. There were, in fact, no beds available. Some people tried to nap in the loud party room or outside on the rocks. The better option was clearly just to stay awake all night. This was only the second time in my life I had ever pulled a full all-nighter.

I spent most of my night outside where we had an excellent bonfire. We roasted some marshmallows but they were a Swedish marshmallow candy that was definitely not designed to be roasted and really did not have the same effect. We kept the fire going all the way through the morning and put it out right before we left. While I have enjoyed many campfires in my life, this was the first time I had ever experienced one all night. It felt very primal to be relying on this fire for light and warmth and to depend on it to see us through to daybreak. The number of people around the fire slowly dwindled and it was a really nice opportunity to meet new people and have some deep conversations throughout the night.

My favorite part of this trip was going swimming and to the sauna again at 3 AM. The path down to the water was lit but still quite dark. The stars were beautiful. The water was very very cold, so cold that your breath stops when you get in but you do adjust within a few minutes. I would have loved to stay in the water for much longer but I was worried about getting too cold and not realizing it. I don’t particularly enjoy the sauna itself, but it is an amazing experience to go back and forth between the sauna and the water. Each one is slightly uncomfortable, but afterwards your body feels incredible. It was a really special experience, especially because it was the middle of the night.

One of my favorite things about staying up all night was experiencing the sunset, the beautiful clear night full of stars and a bright moon, and watching dawn approach slowly and the world get brighter and brighter until the sun rose above the horizon. I’ve seen each component of that process before but never all together. I was amazed at how long it took between the first hint of color on the horizon around 3:30 AM to the sun actually rising at 6 AM. The dawn and sunrise were absolutely gorgeous. By this point I was pretty exhausted but I enjoyed just sitting on the ground and watching the sky with absolutely nothing else I could or should be doing.

After the sun came up we had a light breakfast and then around 7:30 in the morning we walked back out to the main road and a bus took us back to campus. That was the quietest bus ride I’ve ever been on because almost everyone fell asleep. When I got home I had about an hour to shower and unpack my bag and then I went to a 10 AM lecture. I was able to sneak in a nice nap in the afternoon but I was certainly exhausted!

This was an incredibly fun trip and I really enjoyed getting a chance to slow down, experience Swedish culture, connect with nature, and get to know some new people.