Hello there, guys!

I am relaunching my blog on the following link: http://anarm12.wixsite.com/sverigesvarld/
It looks as nice as this or even better! Hope you guys still like it and keep on reading my posts there!
This site will be kept open, anyway. Thank you for your support!

~Love, Ana~

As my favourite holiday of all times is right around the corner, (yes, Christmas is coming!), my sister thought of baking some cookies to get more into the Christmas spirit. This time we baked cholate chips cookies, as you could read beforehand (smirk):

You will need the following ingredients:

- 1 1/4 cup (180-200 g.) chocolate, 65% cocoa

- 2 1/4 cup (280 g.) flour

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 2 tsp cornstarch

- 1 tsp salt

- 3/4 cup (170 g.) unsalted butter

- 1/2 cup (100 g.) sugar

- 3/4 (135 g.) brown sugar

- 2 large eggs

- 2 tsp vanilla extract

You need to cut the chocolate into chunks of any size and put them aside. After that, we will take two bowls, one for the egg mixture and the other for the flour mixture. Pour the flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt into one bowl, whip it and let it cool. After that, melt the butter and allow it to cool completely, add both types of sugar, the eggs (one at a time) and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture to the other bowl, whip it and add the chocolate chunks to finish. You can either let it cool for over 2 hours or overnight. We were a bit impatient so we chose waited for a couple of hours to bake them. Once the mixture is ready, preheat the oven to 200º and bake them for 11-13 minutes in  165ºC until the edges are a bit golden. And there you go! Your cookies are ready. 

If you like to watch a video instead of reading all this, here's the link to the recipe that we followed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNiITqmayFg 

Hope you have this new post, although it has nothing to do with Sweden, haha. See you soon!

~Love, Ana~

Hello again, guys!

As you know, learning languages is not always easy. Sometimes we need to go back ten steps in order to go forward just one. This is exactly how I've been feeling lately. It's been a bit hard for me to learn Swedish and that's why I had a couple of weird situations, which, I'm not gonna lie, were quite uncomfortable. So, it's time that we have some fun here and look at the most embarrassing mistakes I've made in Swedish!

1. Declining adjectives wrong

This happened not long after I decided to learn Swedish. I wanted to ask a friend something, which I thought was stupid, so I referred to it as "idiotic". However, little did I know that I was actually calling my friend an idiot, hahaha. The thing is that I wanted to learn to decline adjectives on my own, without books so,  I just gave it a try and turned out wrong, haha. As you may know, English and Swedish are rather similar. So, I thought: "Oh, this must be like in English! Something is just 'idiot'." Oh. My. God. How wrong I was! Haha.

2. Translating the word "excited" wrong

One of the hardest words to find a translation for is probably "excited", and let's say that that was my case: I was not able to find the right translation. I wanted to say that I was looking forward to some event, and I ended up saying something totally different with sexual connotations. I think you guys get what I said, hahaha.

3. Schweiz and linguistic family trees

As it happens, Swedish comes from the Germanic family tree of languages, which means that it's very similar to German as well.  In Swedish schools, German is often offered as a second language. So, I thought that the connection was such that maybe Swedish had borrowed some German words into the language. You guys probably know the tastiest chocolate in Sweden and the whole world (wink, wink), Marabou. Well, the version with crushed nuts is called Schweizernöt and silly me thought, schweizernöt was a German word, hahaha. It actually means Swiss nuts. 

4. Partikelverb and their objects

There are some verbs in Swedish called partikelverb, which are the equivalent to the English phrasal verbs. However, they are a bit trickier than in English. I was trying to compliment a friend saying that he looked good in a picture, but I ended up saying that his vision was actually a bit poor, hahah. In Swedish the object that goes with the verb se ut goes between these two. Unfortunately, I placed it in the wrong side and it changed the whole meaning of what I actually wanted to say. 

That's it for this mini version of my mistakes in Swedish.  I hope you guys enjoyed it! Have you experienced something similar in any other language or in Swedish? Tell me! 

~ Love, Ana ~ 

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 ~

And the last day of this series came to an end! This means that you guys will have to wait a long while for another travel series in Sweden and that I will also have to wait to write about it. But exciting things await for this blog!

On our last day in Sweden, we had planned to visit the oldest town in Sweden Sigtuna. If you haven't visited it yet, you guys have no idea about how beautiful it is! And the best part? It's right beside a huge lake, so you get to walk along it, which is rather relaxing, or mysigt! When you look out to the lake it almost feels like the famous lake in Frankenstein, without the darker side and the giant hills, though, haha. Unfortunately, you guys cannot see that in this picture because I forgot to capture that part. 

Sigtuna. Winter by Ana R.

This was a pretty short day-trip. I think we arrived sometime around noon at Märsta station and by six or seven we were back in Stockholm. After arriving in Märsta, a bus waited for us to go to Sigtuna, which is like a couple kilometers away. Once we got there, we wandered around the town for a bit. The houses and locals were so small and colorful. Suddenly the streets were wider and the houses smaller, compared to the big city. I missed the pastel colors of Stockholm, though. But it felt like a perfect run-away town for the summer holidays. 

Sigtuna. Winter. By Ana R.

We suddenly came across a rather famous fika place in Sigtuna: Tant Bruns Kaffestuga. Everything was so cute. The terrace was decorated with terrace dark wooden chairs and tables that matched with some white decorations that they also had. This place is famous because of their semla, so we decided to give it a try and taste the worldwide famous semla. It looked absolutely delicious, but, please don't kill me, I didn't like the taste of it. I keep loyal to my beloved dammsugare, haha. However, I took a picture so you guys could see how good it looked. 

Tant Bruns Kaffestuga, Sigtuna. Winter. By Ana R.

Full of energy and with a full stomach, we were ready for a little hike of the day and we climbed to a viewpoint and enjoy the views. I took advantage of this time to collect some pine cones because I am that weird. After chilling out for a while, we went down and walked along the lake to enjoy the sun and the view over the water. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, this is the trip in which we try everything but we fail. This time, on our way back. We suddenly just got off the bus at the wrong bus stop in the middle of Märsta and we did the rest of journey by foot. You can guess how much attention we were paying to the journey, haha. And I also forgot to mention in the last post that we tried to taste smörgåstårta aswell, and failed, too, haha. It just wasn't meant to be on this trip, guys. We'll just try the next time. No worries.  

Sigtuna. Winter. By Ana R.

This last picture is exactly the last thing I saw before taking the bus back to the station. I hope you guys enjoyed the post and let me know about your experiences in Sweden! I'm thinking of writing about my experience learning Swedish or something related to that. Tell me what you think about it or if you guys are interested! Vi ses snart! (See you later!)

~Love, Ana~

On the third day, we were all ready to get out of Stockholm and visit other Swedish cities. Uppsala, it's your time to shine! This time, when I say "we" I include Tommy as well. The triplets' adventures continue! *Woohoo!*

Uppsala. Winter. By Ana

We got up earlier than the last days and got ready to take the train and explore Uppsala. But, on the way to the station, we thought: "why now going thrift shopping first?"I mean, almost everything would be closed by the time we got back from Uppsala so, better be safe and check out a couple of shops before. Besides, there are more chances to find better things! Although I didn't find everything I was looking for, clothes related, I made sure that I was covered for the next year when it comes to books for learning Swedish. I bought a book about..., well, to be honest, I didn't understand what it was about. It just said something about butterflies and brains. But I bought one of the Muminmamma series! I was really looking forward to having books from this series, mainly because it's the cutest cartoon I've ever seen, haha. Here you can see them with some not second-hand dammsugare.

When we finally got into the train to Uppsala, my sister and I took advantage of Tommy being stuck with us in a train for about 30 minutes so that he would correct our Swedish while we read out loud. It was a nice day so we could enjoy the landscape and I alsolearned about SJ and SL and all those. This was something very important for me, as you guys can see, haha.

We followed a list of must-see that Martin had given me the previous day because sometimes he just knows what I'm looking for at certain times without me telling him (Creepy, haha). The first stop was a music shop (this was not on the list) and I don't know why but as soon as the man of the shop screamed Tja, tja! when he saw us, I had to turn my back so he wouldn't see me laughing cause it sounded so funny, haha. I know it was a greeting before I went there, but, seriously guys, it sounds so funny. After that, we climbed up to the castle and saw the views and the cafeteria, too, haha. We tried to go inside the castle but apparently, we took the wrong entrance and ended up in a museum about the history of women and feminism, I think. It was quite interesting! We also watched a very interesting interview for I don't know how long. But. I think we were about to fall asleep when it restarted. At least, my sister and me. Tommy threw a couple of disappointed looks at us from time to time, haha. As we didn't find anything yummy in the cafeteria and it was such a nice day, we decided to buy some icecreams. And guess what? As soon as we bought them, it was windy and it started drizzling. Lots of fun, huh?

Uppsalas slott, Uppsala. Winter. By Ana

We didn't do much after that. We visited a couple of churches and cathedrals. We watched a ceremony and a loppis of my favorite thing in the world: books! I tried to find something interesting but I didn't find anything so we decided to look for a place to eat instead. We went to a taco restaurant, and god, those tacos were too spicy! I don't even remember if I could finish them but they looked super good!

We wanted to go to Gamla Uppsala to finish the trip but I think you can only get there by bus and we just had missed ours so we just walked around, bought our tickets back to Stockholm, but not without having a fika first! I confessed Tommy my inner wish of not to leave Sweden without tasting a dammsugare so he took out his inspector gadget side and found a place that sold dammsugare. Cause you guys know what Expresso House lacks? You're right, dammsugare.  Tommy went first so he would leave me on my own to order. But he copycatted me and ordered a dammsurage, haha. I ordered for my sister and me in Swedish, and the girl understood everything. It was perfect and there were no disappointments this time! God, how good it feels when you actually have a whole conversation in another language without screwing it up.  It was worth the dammsugare, haha. Look at this precious. 

Once we finished, we head back home and relaxed because we had another adventure on the next day!

Uppsala. Winter. By Ana

I hope you guys enjoyed the post. Let me know what you think and about your experiences in Sweden! Until the next post! Also, if you happen to have missed the previous entries, what are you waiting for? Just scroll down a bit and you'll find them in "Older posts"!

~ Love, Ana ~

Hello, guys! I bring you the second part of my last trip to Sweden or the second day. The truth is that I was really looking forward to writing about this day because something really exciting for me happened. So, this is why I took my headphones with the Mild Man's music as background and a piece of paper with a pen to write this post. It feels so good. I usually have this sort of ritual with the posts that I am more excited to write about. 

Stockholm, Riksdagshuset. Winter. By Martin Hviid

I started my morning routine to practice Swedish this day. Sometimes I would just randomly talk in Swedish with Frans, which happened to happen that day, but not every day. I would take Frans' newspaper and read some pieces of news out loud because Tommy would listen to me and correct me. At least, he pretended to do so sometimes, haha. I liked it a lot when one of those days Frans hadn't read the newspaper yet and we shared it, like in the movies haha. 

Stockholm, Södermalm. Winter. By Ana R.

After having breakfast and cooking our lunch (Tommy actually cooked it), which was super delicious, by the way! I still dream about it sometimes haha. We took the tunnelbanan to Östermalm, where Tommy showed us his university, Kungliga Musik Högskolan, KMH for friends, and we met a couple of friends of his. It was a very nice university and they had old pianos even! - Sorry if that's not the right word, but I don't know much about music. After that, we went to visit the Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, because we were meeting my friend Martin there for the first time and the KTH campus was in my architecture bucket list - because who doesn't have an architecture bucket list? Duh, everyone does haha ;). I really don't know what those reddish bricks have that makes the buildings so beautiful. It's like the city hall building. 

Stockholm, Kungligla Tekniskahögskola. Winter. By Ana R.

Anyway, we walked around to checked out the campus and then we sat on a bench and read for a bit. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the KTH. Dumb, isn't it? haha. We thought of staying there until Martin finished school, but it suddenly became very windy so we took the subway to Riddarholmen again to have lunch, because nice lunches deserve nice views, right? At 15:00 we were back at the KTH and we were stopped by a girl who worked for Amnestesia when we were running a bit late. I honestly thought Martin was gonna give me that look of "of course, Spaniards are always late", but he wasn't even there! We were less late than a Swede hahah. You guys must admit it, it's a bit funny, since swedes are known for their punctuality, among other things. Besides, I had a really interesting talk with the girl from Amnestesia for about five minutes. When I met Martin, I had my first cultural shock, or maybe linguistic shock because he asked me for directions (I was the GPS of the group, or rather my phone haha) and that is my weakness in every language hahah. When we found the way, we head to Stadsbiblioteket! This is something that I had planned because I wanted to visit it with someone who liked books as much as me. You guys can't see it here, but it's so beautiful and it has so many books, I wanna die! haha. We were there quite a while my sister looked for books about Irish English or Portuguese and Martin and I took a look at a book about Stockholm. 

Stockholm, Stadsbiblioteket. Winter. By Ana R.

I don't remember what happened next or how Martin decided to show us Sergels Torg and Hötorget, but it was a good decision. I'd never been there before and I've been meaning to because Veronica Maggio's song Sergels Torg is good and I like it, haha. Actually, on our way there, I had another funny linguistic shock in the underground, but that one happened because I'm a little bit special and it takes me double time to process things properly. Let's just say that, hahah. A little after that we went to fika, guess where? Yes, Expresso House, hahah. This was the second time I tried to order a hot chocolate in Swedish. The first time, which was the day before, was quite messy and the barista and I had a good laugh, especially when I tried to get in the card through the wrong slot. This time I thought I was ready, but the word marshmallows in Swedish took me by surprise. I liked when I failed, though, because it means that I had to practice more, which I love doing. I don't remember much about the fika only that I got to hear Martin speaking in Spanish. Boy, that guy is good! He has such a determination that he makes me feel jealous 99.9% of the time, hahah. After that, we just walked around in Gamla Stan, the city hall and the parliament, which I was looking forward to seeing! I usually watch my other friend Martin's videos, the Swedishlad, and he often goes to the parliament, but I never knew the location, to be honest,  until I saw it that day. It was so beautiful at night!

Stockholm, Riksdagshuset. Winter. By Ana R.

I forgot to tell you that when we walked through Gamla Stan in search of a good and cozy photo of it, I had another awkward moment. I kind of screw it up a bit in this hang out. I blame Martin for taking my clumsy side out, haha. I had never seen a trash bin with a cover before, at least not in the part of Spain where I am from. As I was walking towards the bin, I was kind of doubting that it was a real bin and I looked at Martin, as he was watching me, for confirmation, cause he must have been thinking that I was such a dummy, hahaha. That never happened, and well, it was a real .in, hahah.

After the complete Stockholm tour with Martin, we just head to the station and hugged us goodbye. I really liked this day. It was calm and I got to meet Martin. I loved the places he showed us and I had a great time with him. I actually felt quite comfortable to be the first time that I met him. I felt so comfortable that I got a bit sad when he left, haha. I felt like a tiny little part of me just left me. He's really nice and I admire a lot of things about him. I liked a lot when we took pictures of the same things together, it's like we were sharing a hobby. I love when I have relationships this enriching. He teaches me so many things and I really appreciate that. 

I hope you guys enjoyed reading about this day as much as I enjoyed writing about it! Stay tuned for the next post and take care!

~ Love, Ana ~

After a long while, I'm back on business! It's been a bit hard to find inspiration to write something after writing a thesis, but here I am now and ready to tell you everything about a trip to Sweden that I did a couple of months ago.

Stockholm, Skeppsbrokajen. Winter. By Ana R.

I feel like this was the most enriching trip so far and I think it's the one I liked the most. Probably because I was able to understand more Swedish than in the other trips and I could actually utter some words. I read some time ago that when one learns a new language, they have a new identity with that language. I noticed how slightly different I was when I spoke in English than when I spoke in Spanish last year, but I was dying to see what would happen with Swedish. So far, I know that I am not as self-conscious and shy as in English, but I'm neither as ice-breaker and confident as in Spanish, obviously. At least, I'm happy to know that I'm not as self-aware when I speak Swedish as I am in English, and I just say it whether it's right or wrong. And that, from a linguistic perspective, makes me really happy.

As to the trip itself, it all started on a 22nd March driving to Málaga early. I actually drove to Málaga this time! It feels like things are changing. So, after checking in and passing the security point, etc, we found ourselves in Linköping by 16:00! After that, we took a flyggbussarna to City-terminalen and, at first, the plan for the first evening there was to wander around Gamla Stan for a bit and maybe meet a friend, but that didn't go as planned, since I got a bit sick and spent the whole evening practically in the bus station until it was time to go to our Swedish home for this trip. That's right. This time we went all Swedish about it and stayed in a Swedish apartment. No hostels at all. Although I must say that I missed the views from Gamla Stan this time.

Since barely anything happened on the first day, apart from us catching up with our friend, I'm jumping into the second one because it was more fun, you know. We started the day with the Swedish happy birthday song "Ja, må hon leva" because it was Katrina's birthday. This was actually fun to hear because I've always thought that it was a fun Swedish tradition. For those who are not familiar with it, they usually wake up the birthday person with a song and breakfast. We don't have the same birthday celebration in Spain, so I was very excited to experience it.

After having breakfast and more catching up (in Swedish even! *smirk, smirk*), we headed to Monteliusvägen and Skinnarviksberget to look at the views over Gamla Stan and Kungsholmen from Södermalm. To be honest, I like any view over Gamla Stan and the city hall, but if I had to choose a favorite, it would be the one from Monteliusvägen. God, is there a more beautiful building than the city hall? I think I will write a post only about the city hall building, hahaha. Kidding, I am not that crazy.

Stockholm, Monteliusvägen. Winter. By Ana R.

Stockholm, Skinnarviksberget. Winter. By Ana R.

Well, I am not pretty sure about what happened next, but I think Tommy went to work and we walked to Gamla Stan and sat somewhere in Skeppsbrokajen to have lunch and enjoy the sun. I haven't said anything, but we were actually very lucky and had very good weather during the whole trip. It was actually a bit warm! In the sun, of course...Here you have the proof of such a lovely weather! I should say that a Swedish woman saw us and got a bit jealous, so she joined us and sunbathed next to us for a bit, haha.

Stockholm, Stortorget. Winter. By Ana R.

Around 15:00 we head to Slussen again because I was meeting up with Maria for the first time. This trip was actually full of "first times": the first time I hold a conversation in Swedish face-to-face, the first time I went thrift shopping, etc.  But certainly not the first time I went to Expresso House! Seriously, can we dedicate some space to how much Swedes love Expresso House? It's crazy! (In the good sense). When you ask a Swede to meet up, you'll usually get an answer "Expresso House", followed, of course, by its location, because there are dozens! Anyway, I met Maria. We had a lovely time together. It was a bit of a messy exchange of me because I keep on mixing Spanish, English, and Swedish. But no worries, I'm still working on that guys, hahaha. As my friend Martin says, that's the con of knowing multiple languages!

Stockholm, Götgatan. Winter. By Ana R.

After meeting Maria, we took a long walk towards Riddarholmen, which is one of my favourite parts of Stockholm now, and the city hall to see the sunset and go back to the aparment again. If you got the chance, please visit Riddarholmen. I haven't seen such beautiful buildings in my entire life! As you may notice, I have a thing for architecture, but who doesn't?

Stockholm, Riddarholmen. Winter. By Ana R.

Stockholm, Munkbrohamnen. Winter. By Ana R.

Take care and stay tuned for the next posts!

~ Love, Ana ~

As one of my friends say: "People is the thing."

As I was looking at my Swedish corner in my room, I found the inspiration to write this post. And, the truth is that my corner is not an ordinary one: there, I have photos of the cities I've visited in Sweden, a small flag of those from Ikea, photos of the Swedish nature that so much gets me crazy, stamps and, to me, the most important thing: photos of those people who help and have helped me with Swedish and gets me the motivation and inspiration to go on everyday. However, there are much more than just these.

Stockholm. Winter. By Ana Ramírez

The first person who started helping me was Martin, who you may know as The Swedish Lad, if you follow him on Youtube. When I first thought of learning Swedish, I went to Youtube and found his vocabulary and culture videos there. I've known him for three years or so and earlier this year was the first time that I got to meet him. Martin is one of the persons who inspires me the most everyday with all his positive energy and his projects ideas.

The second person is my super friend Tommy. Not only did he help me with my first linguistic project on Swedish, and that's how I met him, by the way, but he has helped me practicing speaking in Swedish, he has shown me hundreds of cultural things, he brought me Swedish folk music closer and cooked the most delicious Swedish meals ever! But this relationship is very very enriching. We have grown together the time that we have spent together. 

In the third place I've got my Brasilian engineering friend, Bianor, whom my sister and I are secretly training in linguistics. I told him I never read "The Little Prince" before, so he had the awesome idea of giving it to me as a gift and in Swedish! But what I appreciate the most is the note that he wrote to me. Whenever I feel doubtful of what I am doing, I read it and get the energy and determination to go on  with it.

Then I have Maria and Martin. Maria is a very sweet girl with whom I write e-mails with in Swedish and she does it in Spanish. And that I like a lot because I really enjoy writing e-mails and she has helped me to improve my writing skills and also my speaking ones.

Martin is a guy that I've gotten to meet through a very good language app at the beginning of the summer, approximately. In him I've found myself, in the sense that we have a lot of things in common that I've never had with anyone before. Also, not only he helps me with my Swedish, I help him with his Spanish, as well. I found it very enriching, to be honest. He is the first swede I meet who wants to learn Spanish. So, sometimes I get the terrible feeling of wanting to meet him just to listen to him speaking Spanish with his melodic Swedish accent. Because, who doesn't want to listen to an adorable Swedish double-accent? Moreover, I've got the feeling that we are gonna be very good friends and  I admire him because he has been learning Spanish for very few months and is so good at it!

Malmö. Winter. By Ana Ramírez

But this is no the whole list of all the people who have helped me. There are much more with whom I've just shared small talks or e-mails or anything. And most probably, it is that I've been nothing without them! Tack så mycket. 

~ Love, Ana ~

After our trip to Stockholm, we took a train to Malmö to continue the adventure! We arrived at around 15:00 to Malmö Central station, where a friend, that I was meeting for the very first time, was waiting for us. We took a bus to our hostel and then we headed to Expresso House to have a proper Swedish fika. There, we hang out for more than two hours having fun and recording videos. After that, we went for a walk around the city enjoying the snow and the quietness of the city.

Malmö. Winter. By Ana R.

On the second and last day, - cause we only stayed for a weekend - we walked to the public library and Kungsparken until Malmöslottshus. That park was really beautiful to see since it was really full of snow. There were a lot of people walking and enjoying the sun rays and a lot of kids playing in the snow.

Malmö. Winter. By Ana R.

From there, we walked to Scaniabadet to see and enjoy the calmness of the sea and Öresundsbron. Then we walked to the centre to see Carolina church and Ebba's house to finish the day.

See you soon,

~ Love, Ana ~

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 ☁Después de nuestro viaje a Estocolmo, ¡cogimos un tren a Malmö para seguir con nuestra aventura! Llegamos sobre las 15:00 a la estación central de Malmö, donde un amigo, que iba a conocer por primera vez, nos estaba esperando. Allí cogimos un autobús hasta nuestro hostal y después nos fuimos a Expresso House a disfrutar de un buen fika sueco. Allí, estuvimos más de dos horas pasando un buen rato y grabando videos. Después de eso, nos fuimos a dar una vuelta por la ciudad para disfrutar de la nieve y la tranquilidad de la ciudad.

 ☁ En el segundo y último día, - por solo nos quedamos un fin de semana - fuimos andando a la biblioteca pública y a Kungsparken hasta Malmöslottshus. Era un parque precioso para visitar, ya que estaba todo cubierto de nieve. Había muchísima gente caminando y disfrutando los rayos de sol, y muchos niños jugando con la nieve.

 ☁Desde allí, caminamos hasta Scaniabadet para ver y disfrutar de la tranquilidad del mar y Öresundsbron. Después fuimos andando hasta el centro para ver la iglesia de Carolina y la casa de Ebba para acabar el día.

Nos vemos pronto, 

                                                                  ~ Con amor, Ana ~

I've been to Stockholm, I've been to Stockholm, I've been to Stockholm!

I am back in Ireland now and I can't still believe that I've been to the Swedish capital (or how they say it "huvudstad")! It's been more than a week and I miss it terribly. It's so beautiful: colorful Gamla Stan, all the islands, the snow, etc.

Day 1

My sister and I took an early flight from Málaga Airport to Arlanda Airport which took about four hours and a half. For a Sweden lover, it feels like forever! When we arrived at the airport, we bought the bus tickets to City terminalen, which is a bus station, and from there we walked to the T-Centralen subway station, which is connected with the bus one. We went to our hostel, which was located in Gamla Stan and wandered around with our friend. He recommended us a cosy coffee place to go, which is the one located in the yellow building of the photo. We didn't have time to visit it, but if he recommended it, it must be good!

Stockholm. Winter. By Ana R.

Day 2

We woke up to -15 degrees this day! It was freezing, but Stockholm was absolutely stunning! Our hostel was close to Skeppsholmsbron, so we decided to walk there and see the famous crown located on this bridge! We ended up walking to Skeppsholmen and we saw the National Museum building, which is currently at restoration. From there, we walked to Södermalm to see the beautiful views from Katarinahissen and Södra teatern. We walked back Slussen and we bought our travel cards for the subway. We went back to Gamla Stan to visit the Nobel Museum, which is at Stortoget.

By 15:00 we were on our way to Kungsträdgården, where we saw the Opera House, the Great Synagogue, China teatern, and these beautiful reindeers, which are part of the Christmas decoration.

Stockholm. Winter. By Ana R.

Day 3

We started the day by taking the subway to Rådhuset to see the city hall. It was absolutely beautiful what we saw there: the sun was rising and its rays going through the doors of the city hall, all covered in snow. The water flowing with a lot of fog, accompanied by two beautiful statutes by the city hall. From there you can also see Norrmalm. We went back to the subway: direction Slussen!. This time, we were going to the port area to take a ferry to Djurgården, the island where most of the museums are. There, we saw the famous amusing park Grona Lund, and from there we walked to the ABBA museum. If you haven't been there yet, you MUST! You will learn a lot about ABBA and have fun! My sister and me did some quizzes, made our own music video with the Dancing queen melody and recorded our own versions of Mamma mia and Waterloo.

After this museum, we walked to Vasamuseet (the Vasa museum), which is a museum about the Vasa ship, which drowned back in the 1691 when Sweden and Poland were dealing with the question of who rules over the Baltic Sea. The history and the massive size of the Vasa will absolutely freak you out. Now, if you love Sweden and its history and traditions, you should go and visit the Nordiska museum, which it's full of thousands of stories about Sweden, its traditions, such as Midsommar, and much more!

Stockholm. Winter. By Ana R.

After this intensive day of museums, we walked along Strandvägen and took the subway back to beautiful Södermalm, because that evening we were tasting some typical Swedish food from our friend: stuvade makaroner och falukorv, which was delicious! We also tried Janssons frestelse, which is a creamy potato and fish gratin meal.

I will definitely come back to Stockholm and Sweden soon. I can't wait for it.

~ Love, Ana ~

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¡He ido a Estocolmo, he ido a Estocolmo, he ido a Estocolmo!

 ☁Ya estoy de vuelta en Irlanda y ¡aún no me puedo creer que haya estado en la capital sueca ( o como ellos dicen "huvudstad")! Ha pasado más de una semana y la echo de menos muchísimo. Es tan bonita: la colorida Gamla Stan, todas las islas, la nieve, etc.

Día 1

 ☁ Mi hermana y yo cogimos un vuelo por la mañana temprano desde el aeropuerto de Málaga hasta el aeropuerto de Arlanda, que duró como cuatro horas y media. Para un amante de Suecia, ¡eso es eterno! Cuando llegamos al aeropuerto, compramos los billetes de autobús hasta City terminalen, que es una estación de autobuses, y desde ahí fuimos hasta la estación de metro T-Centralen, que estaba conectada con la de autobuses. Fuimos a nuestro hostal, que estaba situado en Gamla Stan, y dimos una vuelta con nuestro amigo. Él nos recomendó un café muy acogedor para visitar, que es el que está en el edificio amarillo de la foto. No llegamos a ir, pero si él lo recomendó, ¡tiene que ser bueno!

Día 2

 ☁¡Este día nos despertamos con -15 grados! Hacía muchísimo frío, pero ¡Estocolmo estaba increíblemente precioso! Nuestro hostal estaba cerca de Skeppsholmsbron, así que decidimos ir andando hasta allí y ver la famosa corona que hay en el puente. Acabamos caminando hasta Skeppsholmen y vimos el edificio del museo nacional, que ahora lo están restaurando. Desde allí, fuimos andando hasta Södermalm para ver las preciosas vistas desde Katarinahissen y también vimos Södra teatern. Luego volvimos andando a Slussen y compramos nuestras tarjetas de metro de 72 horas. Volvimos a Gamla Stan para visitar el museo Nobel, que está en Stortoget.

 ☁ A las 15:00 estábamos de camino a Kungsträdgården, donde vimos la Opera, la Gran Sinagoga, China teatern, y estos preciosos renos, que son parte de la decoración de Navidad.


Día 3

 ☁ Empezamos el día cogiendo el metro hasta Rådhuset para ver el ayuntamiento. Era súper bonito lo que vimos allí: el sol saliendo y los rayos atravesando las puertas del ayuntamiento, todo cubierto de nieve. El agua pasaba con un montón de niebla, acompañada de dos preciosas estatuas a los pies del ayuntamiento. Desde allí se puede ver Norrmalm. Volvimos al metro: ¡dirección Slussen! Esta vez íbamos a la zona del puerto para coger un ferry hasta Djurgården, la isla donde están la mayoría de los museos. Allí, vimos el famoso parque de atracciones Grona Lund, y desde allí fuimos andando hasta el museo de ABBA. Si no has estado allí, ¡TIENES que ir! ¡Aprenderás un montón sobre ABBA y te divertirás muchísimo! Mi hermana y yo hicimos algunas juegos de preguntas, hicimos nuestro propio videoclip con la melodía de Dancing queen y grabamos nuestras propias versiones de Mamma mia y Waterloo, que son nuestras canciones favoritas de ABBA.

 ☁ Después de este museo, fuimos andando hasta Vasamuseet (el museo del Vasa), que es un museo sobre el barco Vasa, que se hundió allá en el 1691 cuando Suecia y Polonia estaban discutiendo sobre quien se quedaría con el Mar Báltico. La historia y el enorme tamaño del Vasa te dejarán alucinando. Si te gusta Suecia y su historia y tradiciones, deberías visitar el museo Nordiska, que está lleno de miles de historias sobre Suecia, sus tradiciones, como Midsommar, y ¡mucho más!

 ☁ Después de este día intenso de museos, fuimos andando por Strandvägen y cogimos el metro de vuelta al precioso Södermalm, porque esa tarde íbamos a probar comida típica sueca de nuestro amigo: stuvade makaroner ocho falukorv, ¡que estaba delicioso! También probamos Janssons frestelse, que es una comida con patatas, que tiene una textura un tanto cremosa, y pescado gratinados.

Definitivamente volveré a Estocolmo y a Suecia pronto. Tengo muchísimas ganas.

                                                                 ~ Con amor, Ana ~

Hello people!

I am back! Hopefully, for a longer while this time. Last year I was deciding whether to study in Sweden with the Erasmus scholarship or not. I decided to go to Limerick (Ireland) instead since I planned a little something for Sweden for the future. Anyway, four months ago I moved to Ireland to study and I absolutely love it there. Although I know I would love it much more in Sweden. 

In Ireland I met a couple of Scandinavian people. One of them was a boy from South Sweden who has helped me a lot with Swedish and taught me many things about Sweden and the Swedish culture. Specially, he has been as an inspiration to me, that constantly reminded me of my dream and helped me reach it. 

When it comes to Sweden, I have big news! I am traveling with my sister to Stockholm in three days! We will also visit Malmö and Copenhagen. I am so excited to go back to Sweden, specially now that there is snow and every city will be covered in white.

Stockholm. Autumn. By Marta Vargas

P.S.: This trip means that I will have more photos to show about Sweden so there will be more entries here!

~ Love, Ana ~

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      ¡Hola a todos!

☁ ¡He vuelto! Espero que por una temporada algo más larga. El año pasado tuve que decidir si ir a estudiar a Suecia con la beca Erasmus o no. Sin embargo, decidí ir a Limerick (Irlanda), ya que tengo una pequeña cosa preparada en Suecia para el futuro. De todos modos, hace cuatro meses me mudé a Irlanda para estudiar y me encanta todo allí. Aunque sé que me encantaría mucho más en Suecia.

☁ En Irlanda, conocí a un par de personas de Escandinavia. Uno de ellos era un chico del sur de Suecia que me ha ayudado mucho con el sueco y me ha enseñado muchas cosas sobre Suecia y la cultura sueca. Más que nada, él me ha servido de inspiración, que constantemente me recordaba mi sueño y me ayudaba a alcanzarlo. 

☁ Hablando de Suecia, ¡tengo un súper notición! ¡Dentro de  tres días viajo con mi hermana a Estocolmo! También visitaremos Malmö y Copenhague. Tengo tantas ganas de volver a Suecia, especialmente ahora que hay nieve y están todas las ciudades cubiertas de blanco. 

P.D.: Este viaje significa que tendré más fotos para enseñar de Suecia, ¡por lo que habrán más entradas en el blog!

  ~ Con amor, Ana ~

A sunrise or a sunset is something that to most people goes unnoticed. In my case, I have the opportunity to enjoy it almost every day and I can tell you that it does not go unnoticed to me. Whether it is a sunrise or a sunset does not matter to me, though I rather see sunrises. They are something worth to see. I cannot start the day without seeing it. A sunrise is something that makes me really happy. I feel I have the opportunity to do something new, to start over and make the best of the day, to do the things that I really like. On my way to university, I have the chance to see a sunrise almost every single day, and it has a really beautiful scenery accompanying it. This is a sunrise in Spain.

Spain. Winter. By me

In Sweden, you do not have the chance to see a sunrise every day. But when you do, God...it is so beautiful! The colours are brighter and the fact that you are surrounded by forest and cute colourful houses makes it even more beautiful. I wish I had the chance to wake up every day in Sweden and see the sunrise there because it is totally different from a sunrise in Spain. Of course, every sunrise is different, but this one is absolutely stunning!

Kungsbacka. Spring. By Simon A.

~ Love, Ana ~

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☁ Un amanecer o un atardecer es algo que para la mayoría de personas pasa desapercibido. Yo tengo la oportunidad de disfrutarlo casi cada día y os puedo decir que para mí no es algo que pase desapercibido. Ya sea un amanecer o un atardecer no me importa mucho, aunque prefiero ver amaneceres. Son algo que merece la pena ver. No puedo empezar el día sin verlo. Un amanecer es algo que me hace realmente feliz cuando lo veo. Siento que tengo la oportunidad de empezar algo nuevo, de empezar de nuevo y aprovechar el día la máximo, de hacer las cosas que realmente me gustan. De camino a la universidad tengo la oportunidad de ver amaneceres casi cada día, y tiene un gran paisaje acompañándolo. Este es un amanecer en España.

☁ En Suecia no tienes la oportunidad de ver un amanecer todos los días. Pero cuando lo ves, ¡Dios...es precioso! Los colores son más claros y el hecho de estar rodeado de bosque y casas coloridas y bonitas lo hace más precioso aún.  Ojalá tuviera la oportunidad de despertarme todos los días en Suecia y ver el amanecer allí, porque es algo totalmente diferente de un amanecer de España. Por supuesto todos los amaneceres son distintos, pero este es verdaderamente impresionante.

 ~ Con amor, Ana ~