jag älskar svensk människor

i love sweden. i love swedish. i love most things that country has to offer.

back in 1998 i was lucky enough to spend a semester at stockholms universitet. it was fantastic! i lived in a swank flat in södermalm with a wonderful swedish family. i learned swedish and discovered the distinct flavor of moose -- smoked is my favorite.

sadly, my swedish proficiency has declined in the past 8 years.

over the last few months i have been practicing more and more. i can often be seen in the subway or at the gym repeating words and phrases under my breath. sometimes i forget what i’m doing and speak a little too loudly and someone will look at me with a furrowed brow. i smile and lower my voice.

if you’ve never heard proper swedish, i highly recommend listening to it for a bit. it’s such a fun sing-songy language. i sometimes pop on my headphones at work and listen to swedish talk/news radio online. now, i have absolutely no idea what they are saying in every sentence. but i do get enough of the words to figure out the context. which, for right now, is pretty good for me.

and lastly i would like to send out a big gratulerar to the swedish national hockey team. yesterday morning i turned on the tv to them winning the olympic gold metal.