A Letter from Sweden

Here's a letter to me from my sis when she was vacationing in Sweden.

June 2005, Sweden

Hey!! Finally laid my hands on a computer... Well, I've been having fun so far in Firangland, sort of a rollercoaster ride as it is my first trip abroad and that too.. alone! So I'm basically exploring on my own.

It's been a week since I got here and it feels like just a day. Where do I start from..there are so many things..to begin with, when I was about to land at the Stockholm airport, I found it very odd that there were hardly any signs of people living there...there were a few clusters of homes I could see, and roads but very few vehicles. It was mostly forest and alot of lakes. Finally reached my destintion and what do I see?…no people! The airport was empty except for a few people working there and the passengers from my flight. Sweden is a country with a total population of 8 million people! That explains the scantily populated capital city.

To start with, what one really thinks as soon as one comes to the city is that it is simply beautiful.. the natural beauty..all simple things like trees, animals, flowers... the air i so clean... you can drink water stright from the tap...so many small things which make this city great. I am really in awe of the beauty around me.. Sweden is called the City on Water because there are so many lakes. People have their boats for sailing and in winter, the lakes freeze and are used for ice skating and other sports. What I really took time to adapt to was the daylight...yea, daylight. Its light till 9.30 in the evening! Its nice but I wonder if its time to sleep or not as I'm so used to the normal getting dark back in motherland..if it was the same in India, the phrase 'be back before dark' would be taken in a better sense..!!

In the town area, there are various big shops which are nice to see. There are also many museums and even more coffee shops...I really wonder how they all survive. There's literally one leaving 2-3 shops and in all streets. In the town you finally see more people (!). Street food here is French hotdog. Well its good but I do miss my dose of vada paö.. whereever Indians go, I guess they cannot live without the masala food. Talking of food, I really am liking it. Its very different and I thought I would get sick of it...but, so far so good.

The day before I went to the opera...I saw the real thing finally to curb my habit of imitating those opera singers. People say it is a very powerful experience and I certainly agree. I saw it in Italian.."Adina's Diner"...didn't understand a word of what they were singing...luckily I had a booklet which explained it all! The Swedish Royal Opera House is quite famous. The interior is extremely beautiful with royal furnishings, sculptures, paintings on the walls...one would feel out of place if not dressed appropriately. The crowd there...very few youngsters..mostly there were the real appreciating, old, elegantly dressed couples...and several similar single old women..it was a memorable visit.

In the past week I've been dining with relatives and friends, and time has just flown. Language is a major problem as most instructions, be it booklets, t.v, etc are all in Swedish. People don't speak in English unless spoken to. (This problem was huge for me in Paris, too, where I had a couple of hours for sight seeing...) . Am going for a party tomorrow, so will get a taste of the night life for the first time. Another thing I'm looking forward to seeing is the graduation party...its a huge celebration here when kids graduate from school. Everyone in the family participates, preparations are done on a large scale...