Here comes the Sun (again)!

For the last few months, The Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun hasn’t just been a song to me, but a manifestation!

It has been almost 6 months since my last blog post (if you haven’t read it yet: It’s called Kanelbullar and Co., go read it now!), 8 months since I started my volunteer experience here in Sweden and most importantly, circa two months since I survived what might have been the most intense winter I’ve ever experienced!

Today, we are already at the beginning of May. I’m sitting in the office, feeling the warmth of the sun heating me up through the big window. On my way to work this morning, I even heard some birds singing their sweet tunes and caught myself considering taking off my jacket and embracing the spring vibes.
As you can probably tell by my excitement about the weather circumstances, the Swedish winter has been an “interesting” experience…

My beloved snow has slowly gotten a bit annoying, every little walk on the frozen streets a near-death experience (no worries, I’m just exaggerating for dramatic effect) and the sun has become a stranger I started missing immensely.
But to be fair, on the other hand: all those cons created the perfect winter and Christmas atmosphere. Little winter walks in the snow through the nicely decorated city while blasting Christmas music through my headphones or baking Christmas cookies and watching The Polar Express with our volunteer group, made all the other aspects of the Swedish winter absolutely worth it. I even got a little sad when I realized that I left behind my perfect chances for a fairytale-like white Christmas when I left for Germany to celebrate together with my family.

Which smoothly guides me to my next point: visiting my family, friends and home country for the first time after 4 months of living abroad.
It was emotional, it was fun and it was temporary. After exactly 20 days back home, the goodbyes, of course, weren’t easy—but not as hard as I thought, since I was excited about coming back to what I now already consider my second home, with the friends I gained and the places I’ve gotten to know and love.

Now, as I already mentioned, Sweden seems to have started to shift. The days are getting longer, the nature greener and the realization that more than half of my time in Växjö is over is starting to settle in.
The realization that my time in Sweden will eventually come to an end settled in even more now that another highlight, the Mid-term in Stockholm, has already ended and conversations about what to do after the year with the European Solidarity Corps are starting to increase.

Still, there is still some time left and so many more experiences to gain. Let it be the famous Midsummer festival, which I’m already more than excited to experience, or the DiscoverEU MeetUp in August, which Globala Kronoberg is hosting.

Well, for now, this is all I have to say, so I hope you enjoyed my short update and I’m sure we will read each other again soon (we will see if, by then, I’m already crying those bye-bye tears).

Best, Maria! 🙂