Stockholm in the summer is absolutely amazing. Walking around in town you see people dressed in summery dresses, colourful shorts and trendy t-shirts, with sunglasses on and sometimes an ice cream or a coffee in their hands. I love this place. A lot of the sun reaches the streets and everything is bathing in sunlight, people are happy and optimistic. The harbours are always busy with everyone looking for a light sea breeze. I’m meeting a friend for lunch and another group of friends for dinner. I’m really enjoying this, it just seems to go my way. I try to take the opportunity to avoid stress. I’ve planned much less than I usually do, and I’m loving it. Before lunch I’m going to enjoy the weather, try to capture the atmosphere with my camera and sit down somewhere and read a book. Oh lovely life.

Today my friend and I sat in silence on a bench for half an hour. We were admiring the view, the soft sound of the rain and the serenity. There were some ducks in the water which I studied for a while as they occasionally dived into the water and reappeared a while later. Every now and then a runner passed by, but apart from that we only listened to the weather and the nature around us. It was amazing.

It’s not unusual to hear people saying “You don’t know what you’ll miss until you actually leave it”, and this was something that became clear to me last term. I knew I would miss stuff from Sweden, but it was hard to tell what. I never expected it to be lingonsylt (raw stirred lingonberries, usually served with e.g. meatballs), crisp bread and lussebullar. I haven’t been missing food in the same way this term, but I had a surprise now when I returned instead. There’s one thing that has reminded me of my absence more than anything else: the return/rediscovery of smells. The smell of the pizzas ordered from the same place as always. The smell (stench for those who aren’t used to it) of sweat in the fencing hall. The even more specific smell in the small workshop in the fencing hall, a mixture of sweat and metal. My mom’s food. Few things have made me smile as much as these smells. This is how I know I’m home.

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On a completely different subject. It was around this time last year that I started reading the Imperial Student Blogs. I started following Chris and I remember thinking many times that he updated way to infrequently. Well, now it’s revision time for me. I apologise in advance for too few updates if it happens. Remind me if it gets  too quiet!