First Impressions of Sweden

I intended to post earlier, but perhaps it is best that I didn't. Now that two and a half weeks have passed (though it feels longer) I feel settled enough to form an opinion on everything I've been experiencing. 

I intend to write more detailed and specific entries about particular, for example about Swedish food, politics, etc. 

Firstly, I have to say that Ikea does offer a surprisingly realistic portrayal of Sweden. Ikeas in America are just the same as here, a strange example of Swedish cultural colonialism, exporting Swedish values with pressboard furniture. Ikea may be even cheaper here though, a meatball dinner costs the equivalent of two dollars. 

Of course Sweden is much more than Ikea. Uppsala is dominated by the Domkyrka, an old cathedral that is the largest in Scandinavia. The towers are incredibly tall, almost 400 feet (120 metres) and dominate and otherwise flat landscape. It took over two hundred years to build, beginning in the 1200s. It didn't receive the distinctive towers until just over a hundred years ago. But history is boring, and the city is beautiful regardless of the time in which it was built. 

Uppsala doesn't look as I expected it to. Rather than looking Gothic, most of the inner city is stucco and red tile roofs, lending it a rather Mediterranean feel. Although I was unsure of what to expect Sweden to look like, and in all honesty probably expected it to be woodsy and "Nordic". An unfair expectation that many visitors probably harbor towards Canada until they see it for the first time. 

A river runs through the middle of the city, and although it is filthy it lends the city a Venetian charm. (Although the canals of Venice are no doubt more disgusting.) 

Uppsala is appropriately beautiful and European, but what I like best about the city is the people. Swedes are notoriously friendly, and the city is actually incredibly cosmopolitan. I worried before I came here that Sweden would look like a recruiting poster for the Hitler Youth, but Uppsala has people from all over the world in it: Germany, Iran, Belgium, Hungary, France, etc. (Perhaps too many French even.) It has been great so far, meeting people from all over the world, and not too many Americans. (Although I love Americans, hope to be one eventually!) 

I hope to update very soon, perhaps on the Swedish election. (Which makes Washington look like a circus, which of course it is. It has affirmed my love of American politics as a spectator sport.) 

That's all for now,