Work was quite busy today as I did one interview and wrote two portraits. I'm having a very good time though and I'm feeling more confident now than on my first day. Tomorrow will be my last introduction day - on Friday they've asked me to work as a news reporter. Monday I'll be on my own - with a bit of help still available of course - and probably on my way to Tierp with a camera. I'm definitely up for taking pictures if needed.

My cardigan is going well and I'm 1/3 done already with the right front piece. I've realized that knitting where others can see you is quite an icebreaker. From my previous experience I've also learned that crocheting on the subway will always, with some exceptions, lead to that strangers will start a conversation with you - yes, even in Sweden.

Today I got my first comments on this blog, yay!

At work today I did an interview with someone who lives in Älvkarleby. It seems to be a very nice little town with beaches, beautiful nature and a fish restaurant. So I'm considering to take a bikeride there some weekend, when I have enough time to be out in the sun all day.

I really need to catch up on sleep, it seems...

I've arrived safely in Gävle where I now work for the local newspaper Arbetarbladet. I will be editing the family pages for the next seven weeks. The first day went well, despite being a bit nervous to begin with - now I feel fine although I'm quite tired. I do need to make a checklist of all the little things I will have to remember each day - there are a lot of smaller tasks in this job that are still important to keep track of.

For this time I am staying with a co-worker, Sivan, and her husband Hasse. They will be on vacation for some of the weeks I'm working - therefore they need someone to take care of this sweet little creature named Trisse.


In the evening I went for a bikeride and ended up taking some photos by Tolvfors bruk. Some of my ancestors were smiths back in the 1600's, even if not at this particular place. Still I'm fascinated by the environment in which these people spent most of their lives.




Yesterday I had a goodbye fika together with Nadine, since we're both not going to be in Sundsvall for quite some time. It was nice to see everyone for what was hopefully not the last time. These months have passed by so fast and I hope that also goes for the time until we meet again.

Holland didn't manage to get revenge on Russia for us last night. The dessert was good, though. It was some kind of pudding with blueberries - yum!

Midsommarafton was spent at Norra Berget in daytime. We've watched the Maypole rise, danced around it and picked flowers for binding a ring - as in a typical, Swedish midsummer. I wanted to show these traditions to the exchange students who stayed in Sundsvall for the holidays.

Since I've never made a ring of flowers for my hair before - other than a few improvisations as a child - me and Whitney went to get some help from Medelpads Hemslöjd, who offered to teach visitors to bind rings. At times there were even 30 people sitting around the tables, filled with different kinds of flowers, birch and binding thread. I'm satisfied with the result of my first attempt and I know how to make an even nicer one for next year.

While searching for flowers, I managed to catch a butterfly.


Dinner started at 6 pm, with the traditional sill & potatis (pickled herring and potatoes) - or meatballs, for those who don't like fish. Unsurprisingly, the typical Matjessill is often too much of an acquired taste at the first bite. Knäckebröd seems appreciated, though.

The strawberry cream cakes for dessert was gone rather instantly - even though I had made three of them. I noticed that some people were taking pictures of the cakes, though, so they will live on for a while longer.

About 30 people came to the party, most of them are exchange students but there was also some Swedish people. I definitely enjoyed sitting in the garden for hours, just talking to people and have a snack every now and then.

During all evening there was at least someone playing kubb - some people seemed to be in every game. The daylight faded around midnight but it was never dark. People stayed until around 2 am and I'm very happy that so many people came. I hope everyone enjoyed what was for many of them, their first Midsummer party.

I've been walking barefoot in the sun today. Actually I've walked quite far - with shoes on - as me and Tom went to City Gross to buy groceries for the midsummer party. 28 people are coming to eat, some are also joining in later - the more the merrier, I'll say.

The evening was spent in the kitchen of Tornvillan with Tom and Andres. I made three strawberry cakes and we all helped out with peeling 7 kilos of färskpotatis (the tiny ones that appear in June).

Another part of preparing for tomorrow was to introduce Tom to the Gotlandic game of kubb. A while after midnight when the sun was rising again, we played a national championship where Holland had a bit of beginner's luck.

The Italian coffee place Delicerano got two visits from me today. In the afternoon I met up with Andres, who is helping me plan the Midsummer party for the exchange students who are still in town.

Later on I joined the girls of Mittmaskan for an evening of knitting. I've happily realized there is so much more left for me to learn about knitting than I had imagined. One of the girls even told me about a course that will take place in autumn (?), where you get to color yarn with the help of mushrooms. Somehow I think you can never know everything about handicraft. What I do know now, is that it's indeed much nicer to knit in the company of other knitters.


Now I'm going to watch the Sweden-Russia soccer game and keep knitting on my sleeve. Since I'm already on my 7th skein of yarn I'm beginning to believe my 3oo sek budget will break. On the other hand, if you knit a cardigan yourself, you will still keep the yarn even if you don't like the knit item any longer. (Sorry about the blurry image, but that's what you get when going to a coffee place twice in a row.)

We met up for another goodbye at Biteline last night. Most of us had the tacobuffé while I tried a Cobbsallad, which was actually quite good. I did steal some guacamole from Tom which was delicious so I'm going for that the next time.

The rest of the evening was spent in Nacksta, watching the soccer games. We actually had two TV:s standing next to each other, one with France-Italy and one with Holland-Romania.

Since France lost I felt a bit sorry for JB, so I let him be the first to try the Swedish nyponsoppa. I brought it with me from ICA since it's the last chance for some of the exchange students to try it. Most people liked their sample of what is now also referred to as "nipple soup".

I'm also preparing for midsummer and therefore I bought some pickled herring that was cheap at ICA. We tried making Stefan eat it, since it's his last night in Sweden, but it didn't work. Even if he likes tomatoes... It will be interesting to see how much of it is actually eaten on Friday.

There's a certain feeling to walking by a graveyard at the break of dawn, when the birds are singing loudly.

Tonight was filled with saying goodbye, mixed with "see you at the reunion" and "see you in Amsterdam". Danique had her last fika with 10+ people at Tant Anci och Fröken Sara where we stayed for two and a half hour. Pictures can be found at Kitty's.

The rest of the evening was spent at Tornvillan, where I packed up some things that would otherwise have been thrown away by people who are leaving.

I've also bought my last unhealthy snack - a TipTop icecream cone, which btw costs 8 crowns more now than when it was my favorite - before saving up for my driver's license. There, I said it and now I will have to follow through. Coffee doesn't count.