An American in Piteå: Valborg

I spent the last week of April in Uppsala staying at Arvid’s apartment and getting to know his friends. We had a lot of laughs, and think I received the “friend approval”. I had them at the first Family Guy quote and ‘that’s what she said’ joke. :-)

The last day of my visit was on Valborg, which is a huge Swedish festival day (and Uppsala is most famous for its celebration). It’s always held on the last day of April, and celebrates the beginning of Spring (it is also the King’s birthday, but that’s just a coincidence) The partying that occurs during Valborg is epic. I was given a lot of advice on how to survive the day, but I left most of the drinking and craziness to others, and simply enjoyed the show!

Artical in "The Local" (Swedish news in English) about Valborg

The day began bright and early at 8am with champagne, strawberries, and pancakes (the really flat kind, not the American kind!) This tradition I did take part in, and met a lot of new people that came over to Alex and Arvid’s apartment.

They are serious about this holiday...up at 8am! crazy!

After a few glasses of champagne...

After consuming a few glasses of bubbly, the crew headed out to Ekonomik Park, where everyone on campus/in town had gathered. During the walk I experienced two major episodes of culture shock:

1. You can drink anywhere. Everyone was walking around with open beers, and bags of alcohol. There were even people drinking on the bus that we took home later in the day!

2. You can PEE anywhere. I’m not even kidding. Guys were going everywhere you turned...some not even looking for shrubbery to hide themselves! There were even girls squatting next to the sidewalk! EWWW!

haha...I took a picture of Per and Martin...

We hung out at the park for a bit, but when the others set off for the ‘Champagne Gallop’ (an event where people spray champagne on each other…I passed on that tradition!), Arvid and I walked around town for the rest of the afternoon. I felt bad taking him away from his friends on such a big party day, but he didn’t seem to mind!