As the week is coming to an end, which means that Friday is right here, and the days are getting darker, tt's time to talk about fredagsmys! As you may know, or not, fredag means Friday and mys is the word for coziness in Swedish. Sweden, being such a mysig country, it would be weird to use cozy instead. Don't you think? After working the entire week, what everyone wants to do when Friday comes is coze up a bit and relax. So that is why Swedes have fredagmys! And there is even a "typical" way of celebrating it!

For many Swedes, it is all about tacos or godis (sweets), or even both! On one side, there is a kind of tradition where they just relax with their family or friends or even alone and watch TV with some popcorns or godis. On the other side, they have the hidden rule that Fridays are for tacos or as they call it taco-fredag. This one is kind of fun and cute, I think. They just prepare the ingredients for the tacos and put each of them into a tiny bowl, a plate with the tortillas and the frying pan with the meat and sauce, as in the photo. Or maybe you guys can do both. I've never done it like that, but why not? ;) 

Björbo. Winter. By Erik Halvarsson

I particularly like to mix both: I have taco-fredag while I watch some movie or series and have some candles on. It truly depends on the person, so other types of fredagsmys different to these two are always allowed. Which one are you gonna choose? 

Hope you guys enjoyed this post and show me if you did any of this! How are your fredagsmys? Are you planning on making this your new tradition? 

                                                                          ~ Love, Ana ~

Guys, I love reading. Really, like love reading in capital letters. I'm probably one of those people who gets happy with a rainy day because that means that it's the perfect weather for enjoying a book. Now, if you guys combine that with my passion for learning languages, you probably got it right! My shelves are full of books in more than one language.

Truth is I love learning languages by reading because there are so many ways with one can practice. But, long story short. This is my story with books and Swedish:

1. Lille prinsen by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

If you guys remember, I mentioned in another post that one of my Brazilian friends gave me this book in Swedish as a gift. We had talked about this book before, especially how he had read it many times and it was his favourite book and how I never read it before. I know, that's probably a crime since it is probably the world's most famous book.

I first started to read it when my friend gave it to me. I found it really hard at the beginning. I wouldn't be able to read more than a couple of pages in an hour. My Swedish was also really bad and I hadn't been studying regularly. But, once I created a routine and was really stubborn with keeping on reading, I started seeing results! And it felt so great. I think there's nothing better than the feel of improving or even having your first successful conversation in your target language for a language learner, right, guys?

However, the reality was that, although I got way better in Swedish, I still struggled with this book. Sometimes I couldn't even find the words in the dictionary. I think this was maybe because it wasn't an adapted version and it was like the real one. I heard that there is an adapted version for language learners. At least in Spanish. Although, maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, I loved the book so much that I'm planning on re-reading it! I think that somehow, Lille prinsen, being such a wonderful and inspiring book, makes you fall more in love with your target language and the book. This is one of those books that it doesn't matter in what language you read it. It will always be wonderful.

2. Bröderna Lejonhjärta by Astrid Lindgren

One thing that I had really clear was that once I started reading a book in Swedish, I would start my journey with children books and, especially, with books of Astrid Lindgren. This book also has a story: last year for Christmas, my friend Tommy came to Spain and he gave me this book as a Christmas gift! I'm actually enjoying this one, although not as much as Lille prinsen. But, I must say that this one is much easier. At least, when I first opened it, I read the first page at once and without looking for any words in the dictionary.

I'm still reading it and I have a lot ahead yet, but I think that the only things I'm struggling with are the hunting/fighting vocabulary, especially those words related to riding and the spelling since it is the old spelling, I think. I have it a bit confusing when I'm gonna write in Swedish after having read the book haha.

Tell me guys what you think and if you have read these books or what book you are reading. I'll keep updating this post once I finish with a book! See you soon.

 ~ Love, Ana ~