There is something about being a northerner. Swedes and other people of the North carry the changes of the air they breathe inside. Yes, we do. Because, right now, we have what my dictionary translates to thaw weather. Which basically means the snow is melting away. And what do we see on the streets? People looking hysterical, smiling like they were not absolutely sane and jumping of joy and excitement. I promise you, in one month we will, if the snow has melted away, witness the dazzling scene of tanning Swedes in cold April weather. We will discover the pale legs of boys and girls in high school, happily wearing shorts although they probably will catch a cold just in time for their final exams. Trust me, happens every year. Summer collections will boom in the stores and we will look like holiday on the French Riviera even before the summer has started. And every one will go on and convince themselves that 10 degrees Celsius is hot weather.   

We will forget how cold the winter was, how grey we looked and how much we preferred to watch a film alone instead of socialize. We will convince our gold-fish-weather-memory that winter never happens and summer will last forever. We will adapt the sunny mood which we so often connect with people in southern countries.

This is for me typically Swedish, Scandinavian and we could even have this short-time memory loss in common with other northerners. But we are the changes of the weather. And I believe it shows more clearly on us, who live in constant transformation, from one extreme to another.

So Spring, dear readers, is the height of the Swedish common mood. If you ever plan on visiting our corner of the world, do it just when the coltsfoot blossom, when the birds return and the Swedes are the most optimistic people in the world!

Truly, Elina

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 5:23 pm in Uncategorized. Follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.