growing up in sweden

Sunday has arrived and it's time for my second post on this blog! With 15 days left until I move to Greece for exchange studies, I thought it would be a good idea to give you a brief summary of me, and my life here in Sweden. 

I was born in 1997 and grew up in a small society outside Umeå in the house that you see in the picture above, in a safe residential area with my friends as neighbors just around the block. My Mom and Dad came to Umeå from Gothenburg and Stockholm as students to Umeå University in 1985, and then stayed here and had me and my sister who is 8 years older than me. We were a typical outdoor family who spent almost all our free time in the nature. We hiked, skied, picked berries and mushrooms, fished and so on.

Even though we didn't have that much money, we lived cheaply and traveled as often as we could. Greece is without a doubt the country we visited the most, and over the years we have visited Santorini, Crete, Tilos, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros and Koufonissi. We have also traveled to Australia (in 2004) to visit friends who live there, visited Barcelona (in 2006) to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday, visited Norway to hike in the mountains and in recent years I have traveled with my mother to to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands / Spain, Cape Verde, Tuscany in Italy. However, I have never traveled without my family. 

By the time I turned 18 I bought an apartment outside of Umeå with my saved money and moved in with the boyfriend I had back then. We were together for a few years and after high school I worked at a grocery store while I applied for university. When I turned 20, I ended the relationship and moved to a small basement apartment in Umeå. Despite several attempts, I still had not gotten a place at the university, I had few friends, rented the apartment, I had saved money that would well be enough to travel, and I had a temporary job. Every bone in my body had a strong longing and a desire to escape, move to another country and see something new and these were the perfect conditions. 

But I did not dare, and I constantly found obstacles and reasons to stay. So instead, I fought for a full-time job that I got at a grocery store and for a year I worked almost every day and weekend to save money to buy an apartment in Umeå with the help of my mother.

Pictures taken in Umeå in the area where I live

In 2019 when I was 22 years old, I finally got a place at the degree of Master of Science in Business and Economics at Umeå university, and I immediately saw my chance for studies abroad. Otherwise, I thought that these four years of study would feel like an eternity, and my plan was to work as much as possible in the meantime. 

Little did I know that this would be the best time of my life, unlike anything else I have ever experienced, surrounded by like-minded people. A new lifestyle, new friends, basically whole new life and some extra years of youth. 

And as I initiated this post, today there are only 15 days left until I move. I need this in my life. I must have experienced this, challenged myself, created my own memories and experiences. All my beloved friends and family will still be there when I return, at the same time as I will have a much-needed break from everything and everyone else, and break old habits and patterns.

Next sunday i will write a little about my plans in Greece, how I will live, what information I've received and more. I will also write a bit about my expectations, thoughts and feelings.

With love, Elsa ♡