Swedish Language Blog

Think you have tried all soft drinks? If you haven’t tried the Swedish Julmust then you’ve missed out. In Sweden there are two types of Must, Julmust (Christmas Must) and Påskmust (Easter Must). Sure it is brown, sugary and carbonated but definitely not the same as Coca Cola.

The recipe for Must is a special recipe kept under lock and key. Actually, the only thing different between the two types of Must, Påsk-and Julmust is the label on the bottles. So if you’ve forgotten to buy some Julmust or run out during the Christmas festivities, and happen to have a spare bottle of Påskmust left over from Easter then there’s no shame in drinking that up instead. The same goes for Easter and drinking leftover Julmust.

But the shops can’t charge the same price for a Christmas labelled drink when Christmas is over, so the shops sell all the Julmust at dirt cheap prices. Lucky for the Julmust lovers People can buy 4 big bottles of Julmust for 25:- or something like on the after Christmas sales.

If you haven’t tried it, check your nearest IKEA shop or other Ethnic Food store, if you’re lucky they’ll stock it.

It is important to bring up the positive and special things about your own country. To start off with I want to mention some of my favorite things about Sweden:

The safety and honesty we are surrounded by.

So much nature to retreat to, so close to cities. The calmness found on a long walk, the knowledge that you have freedom to pick berries or mushrooms if you find any.  Just walking surrounded nature is completely relaxing.

Lastly, the acceptance of freedom of speech and opinion. In Sweden you can write, say and wear whatever you want. You are allowed to demonstrate for whatever cause you want as long as you apply for permission first, however weird or strange things you believe in. But people who think differently also have the right to express their views on the demonstration and can therefor also demonstrate. I believe it is very important to be this democratic, to let everybody say what they think, in order not to forbid any opinions et.c

These are things which are easy to forget in the busy bustle of our lives, but which mean so much to us. I could continue the list a great many more rows, but instead I would love to hear what things other people treasure of appreciate about Sweden.

One of the most unique things about Uppsala University (as well as, as it so happens, Lund University) is the student nation system. Traditionally, students from a given part of Sweden would join that region’s respective ‘nation’, as a way to split up the student body in order to promote various aspects of student life in a more organized manner. The idea comes originally from the medieval University of Paris. Nowadays, however, any student can join any nation and it is no longer a requirement to join any at all. All of the current 13 student nations in Uppsala have their roots in the early to mid 1600′s.

But what really is a student nation? Quoted directly from the Uppsala Student Union’s homepage: “A nation is a bit like a pub, a bit like a café, a bit like a student club, a bit like a college, even something like a fraternity or sorority… but not really!” Well, that’s a great way to sum it up – not even! It’s basically a place for students to meet, take a drink or coffee, party all night or even just sit and study. Some nations even have theatre groups and choirs. And if you’re a member of one nation, you have access to all of them – that one pink card is universal! Some features are, however, exclusive to the nation you’re registered with: for example, you can’t apply for a student room/apartment through any nation other than the one you are enrolled in. This is both a measure to make it easier for students of any particular nation to take advantage of his/her nation’s benefits as well as to distribute students among the many nations more equally.

Oh, I could write on forever, but there are no words to describe the actual feeling of pure student life in Uppsala. If you’re studying at an institution of higher education and are considering a semester abroad, I can recommend without hesitation Uppsala University!