The Best and Worst of Lund

Mo Kudeki is sad to leave after a great semester of fika, dancing, and grilling, but at least she gets to stop explaining why on earth she’s in Sweden.

Coming Home

After a teary-eyed goodbye to my friends Wednesday morning, I hopped on a train and my first two planes back home.

Upon my arrival, the Chicago area was full of tornadoes and generally bad weather.  My final flight home was canceled around 10 PM, meaning the last train and bus home had left HOURS earlier.

My parents had to drive two hours to come pick me up at the airport.

Welcome home to America: the land of no public transportation.  Sweden, I miss you already.

Don’t get me wrong – there’s plenty of things about Sweden I’m sick of, too.  Luckily, making lists helps me cope with the trauma of leaving, so here goes!

Top 10 Things I will miss about Lund and Sweden

(besides public transportation):

1. My friends – I’ve met the most amazing group of friends here and leaving them is definitely the hardest part.  The upside: I’ll have to come back to Lund sometime to visit them!

2. Swedish and Swenglish – my Swedish is just okay, but my Swenglish is practically FLUENT

3. Fika – the coffee and the concept!

4. Spotify – one of the biggest things the US is missing out on, period.

5. Everyone being beautiful – The rumors were true – Swedes are incredibly good-looking.  Way more attractive on average than any other country I’ve seen.  I’ll miss that, especially since I come from the land of the Big Mac – the contrast is ridiculous.

6. The Nations – Sydskånska jobbarfests, movie nights, and scones, Smålands (ALWAYS), Kalmars on Tuesday nights, and the occasional Blekingska, Lunds, or VGs night.  So much fun.

7. Grilling/picnics/outdoor hangouts – most commonly in the botanical gardens, Stadsparken, or Lundagård.

8. Dancing every night – I love dancing and love that everyone else here loves dancing too!  Plus, I’ve mastered Swedish circle-dancing, and am now disgusted by the idea of grinding.  Do not want.

9. Having my own bathroom – I have never before, in my entire life, had my own bathroom.  American university students often have to share a ROOM with someone else; having your own bathroom would be an unthinkable luxury.

10. Swedish music – I listen to a lot of Swedish/Scandinavian music (even before coming to Sweden).

I remember my delight in January the first time I heard a Slagsmålsklubben song play at a party and realized that I had not been the one to put it on.

It will be sad to go home to a country full of people who have never even heard of Robyn (yes, hate to break it to you Sweden, but pretty much no one in America listens to Robyn).

Top 10 Things I WON’T miss about Lund/Sweden:

1. QUEUEING!!!!

2. ICA prices

3. Cobblestones in downtown – heels, I’ve missed you.

4. Lack of Asian food – I like falafel as much as the next person, but I’ve been having daily Chinese/Korean/Japanese/Thai food cravings the entire semester.

5. Having to buy tickets in person, ahead of time – I hate having to show up to a nation in the middle of the day to get a sittning or party ticket.  In the US, if you’re buying a ticket ahead of time, you’re buying it online.

6. 3+ hour classes – I have never had a class longer than 2 hours before and it was better that way.

7. Stores never being open late or on weekends

8. Not being able to sleep because it’s too sunny – nor having 17 hours of darkness in January, that was worse.

9. Sidecuts – Swedish boys, you usually do so much right, hair-wise, but can you please rethink whether your sidecut is really necessary?

10. Answering the question “So why did you choose to study in SWEDEN (of all places)???” – this comes up daily and it gets really old.

I had no grand reasons.  I guess I liked Slagsmålsklubben and socialism and heard Lund was a big party… but people (especially Swedes) tend to demand explanation of why an American would come to somewhere as cold and obscure as Sweden.

After 4 months, I’ve become so fed up that I just say, “I came to Sweden because I FELT LIKE IT, OKAY??” One of the best things about being home is not having to defend why you’re here.