Swedish Language and Culture - Day 10

 Hi family and friends (And of course Hal!)

Today was the tenth day of our New Nordic journey and our second day in Stockholm. We left just after 8:00 a.m., with a surprise in the breakfast area as the hotel was celebrating the launch of a company, Strawberry! After the company surprised Hal with his beautiful strawberry cake, we quickly boarded public transportation to get to today's lesson on Swedish language and culture with Maria. 

Located in KMH, the Royal College of Music is home to the Stockholm DIS where we had the privilege of listening to Maria share more about her culture and teach us some the language. First, we looked at the language. She taught us common phrases like hello (Hej!) and thank you (Tack!). She also showed a slide with basic "get to know me" information and had us guess what she had written based on context cues provided by the photos and nonverbal communication she was presenting. She then asked us to introduce ourselves, including our names, pronouns, and where we were from. What I mentioned in class today is as follows.

Jag heter Sadie. (My name is Sadie.)

Mitt pronomen ar hon/henne/hennes. (My pronouns are she/her/hers.)

Jag kommer från Mankato i Minnesota. (I come from Mankato in Minnesota.)

Maria not only taught us the language but she also shared about the culture. We used Venn diagrams to examine different aspects of our background knowledge of Sweden before gathering as a class and talking further in depth about some of the topics we'd already discussed, as well as some new items that hadn't been stated or that we hadn't learned. One of the many things that stuck with me had partly due to the language but also some of their cultural practices such as allemansrätten (the right to rome) and fika (to have a coffee break). Both of these are intriguing to me because they are not simply phrases, but actions that are widely practiced throughout the community at large.  As Maria mentioned, these are both normal practices, but as some of her students discovered when returning home, cultures differ, and the students did not have the same privileges with their custom practices as they had in their original place of origin.


A sign that highlights the importance of fika in Swedish culture!


Enjoying my fika moments before disaster struck🤠

That's all for today, and Happy Birthday Hal! Here's to many more celebrations for day 11!🎂

-Sadie B

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Foraging - Day 7

Image
 Hi family and friends! (and of course Hal!) Today was the seventh day of our New Nordic journey and our final full day in Copenhagen before continuing for Sweden in the morning tomorrow. The day began early with a bus drive an hour and a half away from the campsite Sanddobebernes Camping in Denmark's Western Zealand region, where we would meet our foraging guide, Jørgen Stoltz. During this guided tour, Jørgen identified a variety of plants that can be utilized as ingredients, as demonstrated by the lunch debriefing after our trip, which included some of the plants collected and taste tested on our adventure. The plants included a number of vegetables and herbs that are commonly used in American cuisine but are known by a different name. Below is a picture of all the herbs collected, along with their names.  Half of the plants J ør gen had collected and made us sample during our foraging trip! Some of the plants in the area that grow closer to bodies of water are inherently mo...
Read more

The Glass Market - Day 2

Image
 Hi friends and family! (And of course Hal!) Today was the second day in Copenhagen and the second day of the New Nordic Diet journey in general. The morning started well, with a good night's sleep and early sunrise watching with Karli. Breakfast quickly followed, with an array of standard favorites as well as some new savory additions to the breakfast customs, such as beans and toast or meats and cheeses to be served with the pastry items. The day began with acquiring metro cards for the entire week and learning about the many routes that we can take to navigate around the city. We next took one of our scheduled routes to New Harbor (Nyhavn), where we got a canal tour of the city. We were informed with the historical background behind the architecture within the structures and got the opportunity to observe The Little Mermaid statue through an audioguided tour. We were able to make a minor redirection in our anticipated plans for the day to visit The Glass Market (Torvehallerene)...
Read more

Emily Vikre Response

 Hi family and friends! (and Hal of course!) Today was our final pre-departure class before departing for the Scandinavian countries, and we had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Emily Vikre. Emily Vikre is one of the co-founders and co-owners of Vikre Distillery, which is based in her hometown of Duluth, Minnesota. She draws inspiration from Scandinavian cultural traditions, particularly their flavors and moral values. She began by discussing her educational history as well as her heritage with the class. Emily's grandparents are from Sweden, and she recalls visiting her grandmother there when she was younger. She stated she was inspired by culinary customs because she and her grandmother spent time together cooking meals. She also discussed the economic and sustainability elements of running a business. In contrast to traditional efficiency and money-oriented approaches in American culture, Vikre Distillery employs a triple bottom line approach. The triple bottom line approach em...
Read more