Glad midsummer alla! Recently it was Midsummer, the biggest holiday in Sweden during summer. I was lucky enough to be able to spend Midsummer with Doug’s family at his summer house in Fjällbacka, a beautiful little town on the west coast of Sweden. Niklas (the other Swede I met in Australia) came with us too, which made it all the more awesome.
Fjällbacka has a population of 1000 during most of the year, but over summer that number swells to over 5000 as people from around Sweden come for a holiday. Doug’s family is quite lucky in that his great-grandparents bought a large block of land back in 1920s, when land was cheap and available. Now any number of people would kill to get what they’ve had for generations.
The area around their land is very nice and peaceful, and there is a great running track that goes near the coast and has a few nice climbing spots. The family also
have a boat in a nearby harbour that’s within walking distance, and often use it to get to one of the nearby towns (such as Grebbestad, the closest town to party at on a Saturday night). It’s also quite nice to just go out and look around the archipelago, which we did one day. When it’s a little warmer you can make a day trip to an island and spend the day swimming, sunbaking, and then have a barbeque.
There are three houses and a football field on the family’s land; one house owned by Doug’s mother (Gussie), and one each owned by his aunts Cisse and Helene. Including all the children and partners and friends, there were over 30 people down to celebrate Midsummer. And I wasn’t the only non-national there – two of Doug’s cousins American husbands, and one of his cousins has a Spanish boyfriend, which makes things a little more interesting.
In Sweden Midsummer is celebrated the day before, on Midsummer Eve. The day’s festivities begin with a nice lunch of traditional Swedish food, the same as if found during Easter and Christmas. We ate sill, köttbullar, prinskorv, lax and snaps; by now all fond favourites of mine. We ate with Doug’s immediate family; his parents( Phillip and Gussie), his brothers (Michael and David), David’s girlfriend Maria, and their beautiful 1-year old son, Alex. And not forgetting Niklas, of course.
After lunch we went out to meet all the other family members to dance around the maypole. That’s right – a long-standing Swedish tradition is dancing around a giant pole which represents a giant penis. Songs were sung, fun was had, and I generally had no idea what was going on.
After dancing round the penis came the playing of brännboll, another Swedish tradition. I don’t fully get the rules, but think of baseball with a socialist-bent. There are two sides, one in and one out. The in-side hits a ball with a stick and runs around bases, and makes points for getting home. The out-side gets points for catching the ball, and for getting the ball home while a runner is between bases. The game is played on time, and once each side has played a round the game is over and a winner announced.
After the brännboll we played the traditional football game. I’ve never been good at sport, but currently have good condition from running a lot and I’ve been practicing my football skills with Doug. And so a big group of us played football under the hot Swedish sun (25 degrees, incredible!). I now feel more Swedish than ever.
After a couple of hours rest it was time for the Midsummer dinner. Phillip, as always, was the cook for the night, and so we all crammed into Gussie’s house to eat and drink. Doug, Niklas and I were clever enough to sit at a table with some of his cousins and their American husbands. It was clever because this particular branch of the family are Christian (a rarity in Sweden, of course) and don’t drink alcohol. Which means that the bottles of wine placed on the table were just for us. It was great.
I sat next to the Spanish boyfriend of one of Doug’s cousins, and we talked football. Spain was actually playing at the time, and won halfway through the dinner (and went on to win the entire Cup, as it turns out). On my other side was Douglas’ cousin Samuel, who has been studying theology for several years in America, and with whom I had a very in-depth discussion of religion.
But then the dinner and my stay in Fjällbacka were over, and much too soon in my opinion. I’ve since been once more, for Gussie’s birthday, and I hope to come again. It’s a beautiful, relaxing place, and as of now is my favourite place to be in Sweden.
My family is the same, which is kind of nice. I’ll be staying with my parents in Canberra until I’ve found a job and am back on my feet. My brother and sister have aged a year but are just as I remember, and the same can be said of my parents. I’ve met up with many of my friends the past week, but still have some to go. I don’t have a car, which in Canberra is a social life death sentence. 
I also grew as a person, which I suppose is bound to happen after leaving your home and spending a year in a foreign city. But honestly, I do feel like a different person compared to when I left. I’ve become passionate about things I didn’t care much for before, and have learnt a lot about myself and what I want to do with my life. Also, this taste of living abroad has made me want to do it again. I’ll return to Sweden one day, but I also feel like moving to and living in countries like Japan, Canada or Chile. 
Posted by Luke 
I love Sweden, I love Stockholm, and I love riding the tunnelbana.
