I grew up in in Uppsala, Sweden from 2008 to 2011.
These past couple of weeks were very special for me as it was my first time revisiting the country after eleven years!
Our old neighbours who still live in the same house picked me up from the station. I was so grateful, as it was also my first time being collected from a station since arriving in Spain back in January.
Our first stop was to retake the photo on the giant bench at the botanical garden as our picture from 2010.
I also visited the pink castle.
Aside from the usual touristy things, my plan was to reexperience a lot of childhood memories, such as orienteering through Stadsskogen (forrest), walking over the viking mounds in Gamla Uppsala, reading the runestones outside the iconic cathedral, swimming in the Fyrishov waterpark, eating carrot cake at Café Linné, getting takeaway pizza (with banana) from Svamptorget, and buying köttbullar ('meat balls') in IKEA (yes, many items on my To-Do List included food). I also sampled the delicious Swedish desserts: kanelbullar ('cinnamon buns') and princesstårta (a marzipan sponge cake).
It was really interesting that the longer I was there, the more memories I could elicit. I even created some new ones, such as seeing the Northern Lights!
Uppsala felt a lot smaller, although all the shops remained the same, including my favourite art supplies shop.
My first school Sweden was an international school, Kvarngärdetsskolan. It had been demolished, however, together with three other schoolmates, we checked out the site, then had dinner together. I was amazed to find how easy it was to slot back in place as we were nine the last time we last hung out! I also caught up with two girls from my second school, Uppsala Montessori. We had brunch together and took a look at the campus. They spoke Swedish to me and I responded in English.
I must admit that I was disappointed in my speaking abilities, but given that I hadn't used the language in eleven years, my understanding of Swedish is still pretty impressive.
It was amazing to see our old family friends and be able to stay on our old street. Thank you so much for having me, and hopefully, I'll see you all before another eleven years go by!
Notes:
- to photograph the Northern Lights, you'll need a phone with night mode
- I was able to get my fourth Covid shot using my Swedish Personal Number which will forever remain in the system
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