February 15, 2012
Well, I\'ve now moved to Cardiff, UK for studies so you\'ll get to follow all of my new experiences. Like living on my own for the first time. In a new country.
I saw the movie I Am Sam (2001) on Thursday night and I recommend it with all of my heart. Sean Penn, Dakota Fanning and Michelle Pheiffer play the main characters and all I can say is; See it (if you haven’t), it’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, Sean Penn is an extraordinary actor (one of the best I’d say) and love is all you need. I’m amazed of how a film crew can create something that draws people’s attention and something that’s so beautiful and realistic.
December the 13th means Lucia and this is a tradition that has been around in Sweden since 18th century. Even though the real Santa Lucia originated from Syracuse, Sicily (Italy), Swedes have really made this their own tradition. Even though the Italian Lucia was brown haired there has been some weird rule in Sweden that Lucia should have blonde hair. Both Lucia and Advent are Swedish/Nordic preparations for Christmas celebrations. Advent starts four weeks before Christmas and each Sunday another candle is lit. Most Swedes that celebrate Christmas are not often religious, it has become a part of Swedish culture. Lucia and Advent have, like Christmas Eve, a power to bring family and friends together.
Darkness is a part of December in Sweden and when the sun don’t come around so often I like to light as many candles as I can. The environment gets much warmer then. It’s the third of Advent today so here at home we have just recently lit our third candle. By the way, perhaps you know that Swedes like to decorate their homes with electric Christmas stars and candlesticks. Funnily enough, some Brits think these electric Christmas candlesticks look so nice that they have them in their homes all year round!
Anyway, if you have been outdoors in Stockholm today you have seen that there hasn’t really been that Christmasish. It has been a good day though; my boyfriend and I went with his parents to Millesgården (an art museum at Lidingö outside of Stockholm) to see the exhibition of Lee Miller’s photographs. I was really impressed by her work and how beautiful she was, really got an ‘aha-feeling’. If you are staying in Stockholm before the end of Febuary 2010 you should go see the exhibition, as it is shown until then.
Self portrait of Lee Miller.
Have you seen the film Milk, of which story that concerns the gay activist Harvey Milk? If you have, then you must agree with me that it’s a movie that everyone should see, either if you’re pro-homosexuals or homophobic (though I find it very hard to understand why someone dislike HBT-people), as you definitely learn a lot about people and how important human rights are. Today a long with my co-workers from Amnesty I got the opportunity to watch it the second time and we were so surprised over how narrow-minded people in our age are. The majority of us from Amnesty is 19 and in the salon there were students that were about 16-24 years old. People were interrupting by speaking to each other during the film, shouting when two men kissed and when applauding when the central figure was shot dead.
Milk is in my opinion one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen and I think that Sean Penn did an extraordinary achievement when he acted as Harvey Milk. I’ve gotten moved and touched by his effort and both times I’ve been speechless on how it’s possible that people even can have so much disgust for people that are slightly different than themselves. I’ve always thought that people are born equally and should deserve full human rights – no matter what. I was surprised to find out that people still, even in my age, are so prejudicial about HBT-people and that so many are insecure with that subject. Fear has given birth to many disasters like the Holocaust, gay movement, the Rwanda genocide and so many other events. Wouldn’t you agree with me that it’s time to treat people as people instead of putting labels and categorize people?
As diverse as Sweden is, there are a few societal norms that are distinctly Swedish. Understanding a handful of them will hopefully prepare you culturally before you relocate. When you're invited home to a Swede, you better be on time and take your shoes off, writes expat Lola Akinmade-Åkerström. Read more »
Sweden is a country where almost everyone can speak English. So why bother to learn Swedish? Edina Varnagy from Hungary managed with English for a whole year but then found that Swedish could open doors – to a job, a social life and greater understanding. Read more »
"The ice dripped in the winter sun. It was the first day when the light had been intense enough to cause dripping in the sunlight. To hear it was an extraordinary wakeup call. The cycle was happening again as it always does, always will (or so we think). I imagined that on my summer island, the bees..." READ »
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