It turns out that writing a blog is a lot of work, and so is grad school. School picked up in November and life got very busy in December so I haven’t had the time or energy to put together a blog post recently. I have plenty to write about: school, choir, life in Stockholm, travel to other countries, fun times with new friends, etc, and I will write about all of those things eventually.
In this post I want to share some of the smaller things I did this semester and highlight the beauty of autumn in Sweden. October was particularly stunning and I very much enjoyed the crisp weather and beautiful foliage.
Ulriksdal garden center
In late September, I spent a sunny Saturday morning at Ulriksdal, a 17th-century royal palace with a beautiful garden center. You can pick your own apples here as well as a variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. I was sorely tempted but then realized I really did not need any of these things and didn’t want to have to carry them home. I decided to just enjoy walking around instead. The outdoor and indoor gardens are both lovely and there’s a café as well. Garden cafés are very popular in Stockholm, especially in the warmer months. I did end up splurging on a piece of art for my apartment and I am very happy with my purchase.
After enjoying the gardens, I made my way over to the palace to admire it from the outside.
Kanelbullensdag (Cinnamon Bun Day!)
On October 4th Sweden celebrates one of the best days of the year: Kanelbullensdag, or Cinnamon Bun Day! The humble kanelbulle is the classic Swedish pastry. It is quite different from an American cinnamon bun. First, there is no icing; instead, they are topped with crunchy pearl sugar. Swedish cinnamon buns are also flavored strongly with cardamom, which I love. You will find kanelbullar in every Swedish bakery, grocery store, and convenience store. They are absolutely wonderful and also quite fun to make at home! I of course had to celebrate properly on October 4th by trying a few different kanelbullar across the city.
A visit from Nora and Jon
In early October I was lucky enough to get to see my former coworker, Nora, and her partner, Jon. They had planned a trip to Sweden to see the northern lights and were also visiting Stockholm for a few days. Even though I hadn’t been away from home for too long at this point, it was really nice to get to see friends! We had a lovely brunch together at a café near my apartment and then we decided to go visit Skansen, the open air museum.
Skansen
Skansen is the oldest open air museum in Sweden. It opened in 1891 and was designed to show people what life was like throughout Sweden before the industrial revolution. Real buildings from around the country were shipped to Stockholm and rebuilt within the park. There is a full replica of a 19th-century town, as well as farmhouses, churches, Sami buildings, a zoo, an aquarium, and various other exhibits. We had a blast exploring everything. The weather was perfect and the foliage was especially beautiful. I ended up buying an annual pass so I’m excited to come back in different seasons. It’s a huge park and there’s plenty to see and do.
We enjoyed taking a public ferry from Skansen back in towards the city center. The public ferries are one of my favorite things about Stockholm. They are super convenient and fun! They are included on your regular transportation pass, just like a bus or a train would be. Because Stockholm is an archipelago, taking a ferry is often the most efficient method to get from A to B!
Fall Choir Concert
On October 26th, I had my first concert with the choir I joined in Stockholm – Kungliga Teknologkören (KTK). Singing in a choir is the best way to make new friends, tap into your creative side, and take a break from schoolwork. This group is incredibly musically talented and a lot of fun socially. I wrote a post earlier about our fall rehearsal weekend in Åland which was a blast.
We performed two long pieces for this concert: John Rutter’s Requiem and Jaako Mäntyjärvi’s Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae. They are both gorgeous pieces that reflect on life and death and finding light within the darkness.
Rutter’s Requiem has seven movements and is based on text from the Latin Requiem mass and two psalms. The whole piece is about 45 minutes long. If you’d like to take a listen, I would recommend this YouTube video with beautiful images of Earth or the Cambridge Singers’ full recording on Spotify or in parts here on YouTube. We performed this piece with a wonderful soprano soloist and a small orchestra including pipe organ, flute, oboe, cello, and timpani. It was absolutely wonderful to hear this piece come together with so many voices and instruments and in such a beautiful space.
The second piece we performed was Jaako Mäntyjärvi’s Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae. Jaako Mäntyjärvi is a Finnish composer born in 1963. This piece commemorates one of the worst maritime disasters in history: the sinking of the ship Estonia on September 28th, 1994. The Estonia was a cruise ferry that operated between Stockholm, Sweden and Tallinn, Estonia. In the middle of a cold stormy September night in the Baltic Sea, the Estonia sunk due to mechanical failures in the bow visor which led to water flowing into the ship. Of the 989 people on board, 852 people died of drowning or hypothermia. Only 137 people survived. Many changes to maritime safety practices were made in response to this tragedy. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the disaster. Mäntyjärvi’s Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae is a haunting and prayerful piece dedicated to the memory of those who lost their lives in the shipwreck. It features text from a contemporary Latin News broadcast on Finnish Radio that covered the facts of the disaster as well as Psalm 107: 23-30. I highly recommend you take 11 minutes out of your day to listen to this beautiful piece. Here is a video of another group (not my choir) performing the piece very well.
Our fall concert was held at a church in Stockholm called Uppenbarelsekyrkan. It is a very beautiful building and unlike any church I’ve ever seen. The acoustics were wonderful and the pipe organ was especially lovely.
Unfortunately, our director, Hanna, got sick the week before the concert and was unable to direct us. Thankfully, we had another director, Per, step in and direct. He was able to join us at our last regular Thursday rehearsal before the concert and we also rehearsed for three hours on the day of the concert. It was enough time to prepare but it was definitely an additional challenge to adjust to a new director so soon before the concert.
The concert went really well! I think we sounded really good and it was nice to see all of the things we worked on the last two months come together in this performance. It is such a joy to sing together and I really enjoyed our repertoire this semester. After the fall concert we started to prepare for Lucia Day and our Christmas Concert. More about that to come in a future post 🙂
All Saints’ Day
The first Saturday in November is All Saint’s Day in Sweden. On All Saint’s Day, people visit cemeteries and light candles and lay flowers on graves to remember loved ones. It is a quiet ritual and a beautiful one. I didn’t really intend to visit a cemetery but I happened to walk by one at night so I strolled through and appreciated the beauty and reverence of all the candles. So many of Sweden’s traditions involve creating light in the darkness and as the days grow longer and darker it’s easy to see why.
Thanksgiving
As the only American in my program, I decided it was important to share the best American holiday – Thanksgiving – with my new friends. I spent two full days shopping, cooking, and preparing. I managed to find a ~14 pound (6 kg) frozen turkey at a local grocery store. I made all of my favorite dishes: turkey, gravy, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and apple pie. I also made a delicious cranberry orange pie with a gingerbread cookie crust that was maybe more of a Christmas dish but it was incredible. I asked some friends to bring a few dishes as well (mashed potatoes, butternut squash, and dinner rolls) and I bought pumpkin pies from Costco. One of my Chinese classmates brought a lamb dish and my Jamaican classmate brought jerk chicken, plantains, and rice and peas. It was a perfect feast!
We had over 20 people from 12 countries: USA, Mexico, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, China, Taiwan, India, Nigeria, and Azerbaijan. For most of the people there, the majority of this food was completely new to them. Multiple people told me that they were really excited to try mac and cheese for the first time as this is a very American dish that most people have heard of before but never tried.
I’m still impressed that we managed to fit 20 people in my friend’s small apartment. Two people who lived in the same building brought their kitchen tables and chairs down to this apartment so we all had somewhere to sit. I did most of the cooking in my kitchen but we put the turkey in the oven in this apartment which ended up working out well. It did mean I had to carry a 14 pound raw turkey and a lot of cooked food across campus, but that’s what friends are for!
While we ate, I had everyone go around the table and say one thing they are thankful for. Recurring themes were good food, new friends, education, and the opportunity to be here in Sweden together. I put on the Macy’s parade for a bit just for tradition. After we ate, we went on a very necessary walk around campus to fend off the food coma before diving into dessert. The cranberry orange pie didn’t set well but it tasted delicious. I have to say that my apple pie was phenomenal – probably the best one I’ve ever made. I’m glad I bought the pumpkin pie for tradition’s sake but pretty much nobody liked it.
I am so glad that I decided to follow through with this crazy idea of hosting Thanksgiving for 20 people. It took many days of shopping, prepping, cooking, and cleaning but it was super worth it. Almost everyone in my program was able to come and it was really fun to get us all in a room together. We all started to brainstorm how many different holidays we can celebrate together from our different cultures. Next on the lineup are Dutch Sinterklaas on December 5th and Chinese New Year in January.
Conclusion
This semester has been a lot of fun and it gets busier by the day. I wish I had posted all of this earlier but it was a nice exercise to look back through the year and tally up all the fun things I’ve gotten to do. I am having a fantastic time and really enjoying everything about living in Sweden.
Nordic Breeze | Iberian Seas 
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