House-warming party

I just noticed that the previous post dates from the 1st of April! What a long time of silence! But hre comes a new post, loaded with pictures from our fun inflytningsfest as it called in Swedish. We move every year so by now having this type of party is a real tradition!
Thank you all who could come, it was lovely to have you here! And to those of you too far away to come to this party, I hope there will be some opportunity to celebrate together at some point in the future!

Splashes of color

I am not sure why, but I blame the grey and sad summer we had this year for my strong thirst for color. As the days remained darker, I dreamed only of sun, of happy colorful places, of blues with tropical intensity. The only refuge from the fog and rain came to me in the shape of flowers - I have managed to gather more than a 100 pictures of various species, mostly taken from that typical Swedish landscape marker, the kolonilott: a place for gardenless apartment inhabitants to grow their own (anything from flowers to apple trees to grape vines).
Here are some splashes of color that made summer standable.

Busy summer

If you are wondering why I don't seem to manage to write any personal messages, any accounts of adventures past and present, any impressions about the world of politics and literature, it is because I have a very busy summer.
I was course coordinator for this course targeted at students from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, which kept me busy during the last two weeks of July.
Now I am organizing and also teaching this other course, more directly reflecting the current interests of my research: the impact on the European Union of the new members and the new neighbors coming from what was known as Eastern Europe.
I hope this is enough justification for a silent month...

From music to the silence of the sea

Lund Culture Night

Last weekend Lund was suffused with great artisitic energy as the Culture Night (they should call it Culture Day instead, as events unroll from 10 am) took over the city. Martin, I and our friend (and current roommate) Monika went first to the movies (a very artsy thing, "India Song", after a novel by Marguerite Duras - cannot say I loved it) then had practically to run between events. We saw a magic show, lots of live gigs (from calm jazz to soul to African rythms on 10 marimbas!), and dance demonstrations. I really enjoyed the Zimba Marimba Band, it gave the whole auditorium a great energy. The members of the group were very young but traveled to Africa (Zimbabwe, Botswana) and clearly got rythm. It was funny though to see and hear this super blond guys and girls and imagine them on the Black Continent :)
Another thing that stuck to mind was an exhibition about female underwear from the 18th century to today - how scary those corsets were!!!! Torture instruments, no less! Fortunately there were also few contemporary interpretations of the corset theme, and they managed to look both comfortable and very feminine (unfortunately I have no pictures as we still have no camera...)

Sweden and Me

Yesterday it just dawned on me that I will never ever adapt or integrate or belong (call it what you want) in the Swedish society. It is simply so very different not just from my culture (because this can change over time) but also from my personality, from the way I am... I will never fit in, never understand or more importantly never like "their" ways. A cold polite arrogance - that is what I get as the main feature of Swedish social behavior (except when alcohol is involved). A distant political correctness that covers up feelings of superiority and a super-exclusivist attitude. Blah!

I wonder if there is a place on this Earth where I can imagine myself as "fitting". Certainly not Romania, where I feel almost as much an outsider as here... The US... Maybe, not as a whole, but in its special parallel universes. That is what I liked about the US, the fact that you could create your own special society, your "bubble", and that you could live all your life surrounded by people and things that you more or less chose. The US is big enough for everybody - a platitude, yes, but nevertheless an accurate description. But then you don't actually live in the reality, you have some form of extended "ivory tower" - and perhaps this is lacking authenticity.

Or maybe there is some other spot on this planet that I have not yet visited and that would immediately feel like home. In fact, I believe that for the most part home is in one's head (except for situations of extremely adverse social conditions).

And the very modern waterfront apartments, Helsingborg

The remains of the fortress of Helsingborg

And the most famous historical objective of the place, Lunds Domkyrkan

Typical view of Lund

Small garden with reflecting ball, Lund

Me, cold in Helsingborg

Tiziana and Martin, in the courtyard of Kulturen Museum, Lund

Tiziana in Helsingborg