My friends wearing their self-braided flower bands. Photo by me. My first summer in Sweden meant automatically also my first celebrations of Midsummer. A Swedish friend of mine had invited a small group of friends to join her to her family’s cabin in the beautiful country side of Värmland. It was the perfect place to… Continue reading Midsommar!
Category: Student life
Life without Darkness
Even though I’ve lived in Sweden now for almost two years, somehow I’ve always missed out on summer. My roommates were quite upset when I left last year early June, to come back end of August. “You survived all winter, but now you’re going to miss the best time of the year!”, Oskar would tell… Continue reading Life without Darkness
An Unfortunate Event
You might have noticed it’s been a bit quiet around here. I wish I could say I just had been so busy with my degree project, that there was absolutely no time left for writing the blog. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. About a month ago, while on my way home from Lövsta, I fell… Continue reading An Unfortunate Event
“Jävlabambi”
Like many animal science students, I am a horse girl. Obviously not everybody is into horses in our programme, but there is a large share of the girls that spend their free time at the stables. And I am one of them. Since the start of my masters programme here in Sweden I have been… Continue reading “Jävlabambi”
Kosläpp: Dance of the Dairy Cows
The well-being of Swedish farm animals is regulated through strict rules in the Swedish animal welfare law Djurskyddslagen. For example in Sweden the crating of lactating sows, or beak trimming of laying hens is not permitted, which are common practices in the rest of the European Union. Another notable rule is the obligatory access to… Continue reading Kosläpp: Dance of the Dairy Cows
Glad Påsk!
Growing up in the Netherlands, I imagined Easter to be pretty much the same all over Europe. Though Swedish Easter definitely has many aspects in common with the Dutch celebration, I was surprised by some very old traditions that I had never heard of before. When my room mates explained to me that children dress… Continue reading Glad Påsk!
Bike Life
“The many bike lanes that run through the whole city make biking a safe and efficient option.” As a student it’s probably the first thing you should buy once you’ve moved into Uppsala: A bike. Uppsala is known in Sweden as ‘The bike town’, and this nickname did not come out of the blue. The… Continue reading Bike Life
Vår i Uppsala
Do you know this feeling, when the sunlight touches your face and you realize how much you missed her? Sunshine, it’s like liquid happiness. Especially after these long, dark Scandinavian winters. Last week started with days of snowfall, yet soon it was replaced with bright, sunny days. The ice melted away, the gravel is being… Continue reading Vår i Uppsala
How Sweden made me a feminist.
Feminism. What was your first association to this word? To me for a long time when thinking about feminism those images of angry women popped up in my head. Those women with big bushes of hair under their armpits who’d put out bras on the streets to protest. I had seen pictures of them, in… Continue reading How Sweden made me a feminist.
Skiing trip
I’m really excited to tell you that I went on a skiing trip last weekend! Maybe it’s because I am from the Netherlands where mountains are practically non-existent and snow is a rarity, but I to me few things are more magical than the idea of winter-sports. Sadly I had missed the trip organized by… Continue reading Skiing trip