Uppsala and Dalarna

In what looks like my last major journey in Sweden, other than Stockholm next week, I spent last weekend with my peer student, Martin, in his home county of Dalarna. On the way, I finally got to see Uppsala for a couple of hours. Like Linköping, it's another college town here in Sweden, with a large cathedral dominating the skyline.

Uppsala Castle was one of the major attractions. It was built by King Gustav Vasa in 1549, originally, but was destroyed by a fire that engulfed the city in the early 1700's. Much of the rubble was used to construct Stockholm Palace, and the castle was reconstructed in the French Renaissance style (I believe). There is an entire wing of the castle that was never constructed. The castle is home to a multitude of museums, but we were short on time and couldn't actually go in (bummer). Behind the castle was one of the most impressive botannical gardens I have ever seen.

Most impressive was Uppsala Cathedral, originally built in the late 13th century. Like the castle, it was reconstructed in the Renaissance style because of the fire in 1702. It is currently the largest church in Scandinavia and, while originally Roman Catholic, now belongs to the Lutheran Church. I guess it isn't too surprising that, on the inside, the church was strikingly resemblant of the Cathedral here in Linköping, though the outside was constructed of brick (most others are stone).

Like many of the churches here, there were many famous burials in the church. The most notable is probably King Gustav Vasa, who led the movement to liberate Sweden from Danish (Kalmar Union) control in the early 16th century. He is also famous for his reign during the Reformation, which brought Protestantism to Sweden, and constructing a ship that sank after 10 minutes of service and is now on display in the Vasa Museum in Stockholm.

After Uppsala, we went to Martin's home in Hedemora, a town of 6,000 people northwest of Uppsala. I was very excited to have my first glimpse at a typical Swedish home and typical Swedish family life. Small-town Sweden was entirely surprising to me; the rural towns seemed better-developed than many similar towns in the United States. Others have described rural areas of Europe to me as backwards, some even lacking internet and clean drinking water, but that's hardly what I saw (though Scandinavia has proven itself time and time again very different from the rest of the continent). Hedemora had a fairly extensive bus system, the entire town was serviced by city water, and I hardly felt like I was in a sparsely-populated, backwoods area. Even the small towns in Sweden are fairly concentrated, like the cities. For comparison, many rural towns in New England lack city water, public transportation is non-existent, and it's hard not to feel entirely alone at times.

While in Dalarna, I was able to witness first-hand the rich music culture of Sweden. Martin's brother is a talented singer, and I attended a performance with his family at the music-based community college in Dalarna that his brother attends. The performance gave me my first true taste of typical Swedish music. The show featured covers of songs by famous Swedish artists, including Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Coldplay, the Rolling Stones... OK, it was all American music. There were even some country and bluegrass numbers thrown in, genres that I had always thought were strictly American. The influence of American pop culture in Sweden is truly remarkable. Some of my friends back home have wondered why I haven't picked up on any Swedish artists, movies, etc... that's because they listen to the same music and watch many of the same TV shows and movies that we do in the United States. As more than one Swede has put it, "we're like a 'Little America.' " I thought I was nuts at first, when I thought that Sweden had so many similarities to the US, but Swedes that have visited the US have confirmed the cultural mixing between the two countries.

To reflect a bit, while the cultural mixing occurs, the lifestyle differences between Sweden and the US were well-highlighted in the small towns. In the US, while rural towns are marked by (sometimes) large, spaced-out homes on multi-acre properties, Swedish towns somewhat resembled miniature cities with, albeit small, "downtown" shopping areas, clumped, mid-size houses in residential areas, and frequent bus stops. While most Swedes drive to work, even with the public transportation, few people work more than a half hour from home. Martin's father's house is actually heated in the winter using geothermal energy, and a little bit of electricity to get it going, a trend that is apparently spreading in Scandinavia. In general, I get the impression that people live more economically in Sweden than in the US, but I have not quite figured out if it is the result of government regulations and energy taxes or just a difference in culture and upbringing. Likely, it's a combination of the two. Taxes on energy are indeed higher in Sweden than in the US, but Swedes and other Europeans have said that they just don't see the "need" to live extravagantly.

On another note, while the US is on its anti-carb craze, the typical Swedish diet is loaded with breads and potatoes, and Swedes are well-known for frequent coffee and cake breaks throughout the day. Just an interesting fact... and that pretty much sums up my weekend.

Valborg

Valborg is a public holiday in Sweden celebrated on the last of April, and I believe it is taken as a "Labor Day" of sorts. May 1, the next day, is a labor holiday pretty much everywhere in Europe and also a day for labor groups to demonstrate. The celebration traditions in Sweden vary by city, but just about every city has a large gathering on the evening of April 30 with a bonfire. I was originally a little disappointed that after weeks of talking to the others about attending the student festival in Uppsala, I ended up here in Linköping. But, I got to experience the holiday a little better without the party atmosphere and spend time with my corridor mates, so it worked out extremely well.

In Linköping, the bonfire takes place at the waterlocks, along the river just south of the central station. I didn't even know that there were waterlocks in Linköping prior to Thursday night, and I'll be sure to go back at some point because it was probably the most beautiful part of the city. The bonfire was actually lit on a barge in the river, but it was small and there were so many people around we couldn't really get very close. Hence, I have no close-up picture of it, and when I tried from a distance there wasn't enough light outside for a good picture. There were some fireworks afterward to top off the evening, and downtown was hopping for the rest of the night. I should probably note that the days are getting eerily long... the fireworks were around 9:30 PM and it was still dusk; it was odd to see them against a day-ish sky. You could actually still see the light from the sun on the horizon.

Other than Valborg, the rest of the weekend has been a time for me to relax... and reflect a bit. My three and a half months or so here have been so fast-paced and hectic that I tend to forget what I'm actually here for. I originally had a vision of meeting other American students and roaming the continent. Neither happened, and this has been a better experience because of that. Just because I haven't visited ten countries doesn't mean I've done nothing... I mean, where else but Sweden could I have dogsledded in the Arctic? I guess what's most important is that I've learned more about myself and the rest of the world and matured as an individual.

As a newcomer, Ryd was an ideal place for me to live. If there is one thing, however, that could have made this experience better, it would be to have lived among students in the city (an option not necessarily available). Ryd is a bit offset and is kind of a students' "bubble." While this has been great from a social and logistical point of view, I could certainly have a better sense of Swedish/European life than I do at the moment. This has, however, opened my eyes to how the United States has influenced Europe so greatly. Student cultures in Europe and the USA are not terribly different with the internationalization of the current generation. While older Europeans and Americans are holding onto their cultural roots, I get a sense of homogenization when I look at the European students versus, say, UCONN students, and this is probably because of the influence of American pop culture in Europe. Celebrities in the US are celebrities here, and American music, movies, games, etc. abound. In the US, we rarely get any of these from Europe... save for, maybe, Abba. As a matter of fact, I have met some Swedish students from the Social Democratic Party of Sweden that traveled to the United States to help Barack Obama campaign and recruit members for the Social Democratic Party in the US.

I suppose that's all for now. I guess it's time I do some homework... and work a little more on my medical school essay?

Visby

OK, so it took two weeks, but this post will be about my weekend trip with Luca to Visby. Visby is on the western coast of the island of Gotland (Sweden) and is considered to be one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe. Indeed, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The island was once valued by surrounding nations; it was taken over by Denmark in 1361 but was then conquered by Sweden in 1645. Russia even ruled the island for a couple of months in the early 1800's, but Sweden peacefully regained control. As a side note, if you're ever going to be in Sweden for more than a couple of days, this place is a must-see. It was like something out of a fairy tale.

Visby is most famous for its medieval ring wall, which was first constructed in the 12th century and then reconstructed in the 13th to its current height; over the next 200 years or so, towers were added.

Interesting to me were the saddle towers. Of the 22 originals, 9 remained, and after observing the pattern of damage to the wall, it looked as if many of the places where the wall had collapsed once had a saddle tower. Just by looking at a saddle tower, one can see that it can make the local area of the wall top-heavy. Some were being supported by steel beams, a preservation method that is actually controversial to the locals because no steel was used in the wall's original construction.

Of course, Visby wouldn't be what it is without a sleu of church ruins. At first, I thought that the damge to the old churches was natural. In reality, when the Lubecks invaded Visby in 1525, they burned down all of the churches except for St. Mary's Cathedral. Incredibly, the ruins were left largely untouched.

St. Per and St. Hans:

St. Nicholas:

St. Mary's Cathedral is the only one of Visby's original churches still intact today. It was originally built in the 12th century and gained its current appearance, with the three towers, for lack of a better word, in the 13th century. Luca commented that it was the most beautiful church he had ever seen... and he's from Italy.

While in Visby, Luca and I visited Gotlands Museum (the Museum of Gotland), which chronicled the history of the island. Gotland has been inhabited since the Stone Age, but obviously most of the recorded history is much more recent. The museum contained the world's largest hoard of Viking silver (Spillingsskatten) with silver coins and jewelry on display. Viking weapons and tools were also shown. There were a couple of rooms dedicated to church artifacts, and there were wooden carvings and sculptures from some of Gotland's earliest churches. Christianity first came to Sweden in the 12th century, ending the Viking Era and beginning the Middle Ages.

The battle of July 1361 is famous; King Valdemar of Denmark crushed the inhabitants of Gotland to gain control of the island. The museum had an exhibition of weapons and armor from the battle, and even some skeletons to show the types of injuries that typical warriors would endure. Cryptic? A little. Interesting? Totally.

Another interesting exhibit was the basement. The museum was in a very old building and likely had a typical Middle Ages foundation. The basement was laid out as a simulation of a typical Medieval basement. Really interesting was the relative modernity of their waste disposal system, which was pretty much an underground network to carry waste outside of the city walls. Most people got their water from wells, which were also often located in the basement.

There were also some interesting structures outside of the city walls:

St. George's Church:

Don't really know:

At the time we didn't know it, and there were no signs around for information, but this structure was actually the only remaining Medieval gallows in Northern Europe:

And now for some scenery: