Audrey Bay: Celebration Time

Two months in Stockholm and finally I'm experiencing some of that Swedish summer. Up until this past week, it has been pretty cold and unusually rainy for this time of year. All of my co-workers assured me that this is not normal. Considering that it has been 100+ degrees in Winter Park, I am not complaining too much. Since my last blog, both my birthday and the Midsummer holiday have passed.

In my now 27 years in existence, this year is the only birthday I have experienced without rain. It was the most beautiful weather that day within a pretty rainy week. For lunch, my co-workers took me to the harbor to check out the Volvo Ocean Race. They were expecting the boats to dock in Stockholm later that day, but we just went to check out all of the tents that were set up. For 'fika', I was treated to strawberries and ice cream (strawberries being a staple during the Midsummer holiday). After work, I went out to dinner with some co-workers to a beautiful restaurant on the water. All in all, it was a great day.

The following weekend was Midsummer, so we were treated to a three-day holiday. Luckily for me, I had made some friends who were invited to a party out in the country. I was worried that I would not find anything to do because apparently, the city is a ghost town during Midsummer; everyone heads to their country homes to celebrate. Midsummer traditionally marks the summer solstice and is celebrated (by the Swedes) by dancing around a maypole and eating potatoes, pickled herring, sour cream and strawberries. Drinking is also almost necessary at this celebration. Our party did have a maypole, but I must have missed the dancing and I didn't notice any pickled herring.  However, drinking was present. :-) We had such a great time and it was definitely a birthday week I will never forget.

At work, I have finalized my environmental project and am now helping with e-books. I have been given a list of books that will be turned into e-books and it is my job to locate the text files and organize them into folders. I have also been using InDesign to re-create the copyright pages as certain information changes once a book becomes electronic. I'm enjoying working on this project and it has been nice to get into InDesign. I enjoy the variety of projects that I have been given; I feel that I thrive on switching from one project to something completely different.

Soon everyone will be on holiday and it will be interesting to report on how this city changes during that time. Until then...