A Frenchie in Sweden

Hej och välkomna! My name is Rebecca. This blog is focused on my new life as a Göteborg citizen. The adventure started back in March 2017, when I arrived in Sweden as a young Community Manager. ✿ Now in 2019, I am a self-employed AudioVisual Subtitler. Time sure flies!

[borealserendipity]

Catching up with you

Hi guys, I hope you are all safe and healthy. It has been one hell of a year so far. A lot happened but I would like to keep this blog focused on something light and happy. I haven’t posted since it all went to hell and thought it might be a good idea to do like a recap of the year’s happy and cosy moments so far to cheer us up!

February

When everything was still kind of fine and we went on a Valentine’s coffee date.

And installed a shelf for my books in our bedroom. Shelf that is now too full for all the books I bought since... (Not even sorry. 🤷‍♀️)

Then, my best friend came to visit us for his birthday and I made him discover one of my favorites places in town: Naturhistoriska Museum, of course.

March

The last time I went to town (well, until my birthday in May) for my sambo’s brother’s wedding.

Then, things got very real and worrying here and I decided to self-quarantine. So I was very happy when Animal Crossing New Horizons finally got released.

The sambo and I have been playing it together and I met all my friends online, it really helped with the whole self-quarantine situation for 2 months.

May

For my birthday, I went to town to buy myself some books and was very nervous about it. But everything went well and I headed back home as soon as I could. Reading in a cafe will wait until people become a bit more responsible, here. (By the way, I cannot recommend Ninth House enough. It was amazing.)

June

We started to go out a little bit again. We went to my sambo’s parents’ summer house and explored the wilderness around it. It felt good to be out in the nature again.

We kept to ourselves and were still very paranoid whenever we ran into people, but it all went well in the end.

July

We took daytrips around Göteborg with our best friends and got to enjoy the sunny and (very, very) warm weather for a bit.

August

The insufferable heat finally went away and we are now enjoying a few rainy and chilly days. In June, I discovered I could loan ebooks from my library and got into reading a lot more, since. So my mother gifted me an ereader and I am in love with it. (The app is called Overdrive, you just need a library card number to start loaning ebooks. Or if you own a Kobo ereader, Overdrive is already installed and you can loan books directly on it. It literally changed my life. And yes, since I read Ninth House, I got obsessed with Leigh Bardugo’s books.)

That’s about it. These past few months weren’t very eventful and I can’t believe August is already almost over. Although don’t get me wrong, I am SO ready for fall and sweater weather (and Halloween of course). All I have been doing lately is pretty much: work, work, read a lot, work, play some video games, work, read. Being a stay-at-home person and an introvert, I quite like it!

I hope you enjoyed this post, I had to type it from the app since the website seems to have trouble loading on my computer so if the layout looks a bit weird, that is why. I hope it will get fixed soon so I can write some more over here soon.

Take care of yourselves and vi ses!

[borealserendipity]

Time for a change.

Hej! I hope you guys have been doing great.

I worked really hard lately and have been feeling very tired. I think it is the long-lasting winter effect. It would have been different if we had some snow at some point, I guess. But nope. We had after effects of the two latest storms coming from the UK and I was really worried at some point. We had 2 weeks of heavy wind and rain non-stop.

So I really long for sunshine and flowers and some greenery, now.

I also have been thinking about something lately and decided it is time to change my name. I started as knäckebrödflickan (the crispy bread girl) when I created this blog but I feel like the naivety of this name (largely inspired by the Swedish culture) has now faded and is too... childish, I guess?

Anyway, my new account’s name will be borealserendipity both here and on my instagram. I hope this won’t confuse you too much. It is a name that fits the happy coincidence of meeting my Swedish boyfriend on a game online and how it totally changed my life ever since. So it feels like it is more fitting name for me, now.

But hey, the content of my publications won’t change, in any case!

[borealserendipity]

Gott nytt år! (Happy New Year)

Hej! I just realized I haven’t posted anything here in a long time... I guess I was waiting for the first snow to do a winter post, but I guess I can keep on waiting. It looks like we won’t get any snow until much later. The temperatures are still too high for that. (Well look at me, small talking about the weather like a proper Swede!)

Anyway, I hope you all had a great time during the holidays. It was a quite difficult time for me, as I expected my family to visit but they couldn’t. I still had an awesome time with my sambo’s family, though. Also, one of my best friends visited me right before Christmas and I have to say it really saved the holidays. ❤️

I took her to Liseberg’s julbord (Christmas table), of course. It was delicious, as usual. It was great to be able to show her my new life, here.

My sister also visited us 2 weeks ago and it felt so nice to be reunited after a year and a half! We could spend 163738 years apart and still, it will be as if we never stopped seeing each other when we meet again. It was nice to show her all of my favorite places in town and to share all the things I love about Göteborg.

We also went to see the latest Star Wars movie together with friends, in the IMAX 3D room. It was my first time trying it, the chairs were really comfortable and it was nice to have a table for the drinks and snacks. 

I thought the movie was awesome! I really liked it and thought it was a nice end to this trilogy.  Have you seen it yet? What did you think?

Well, that is all I have to share with you guys. See you soon!

[borealserendipity]

Höst (autumn)🍁

Hej! Autumn has finally fully arrived here and I couldn’t be happier.

It feels like this season is the occasion to shed my skin and to get some insight on which path to take next. These past three months have been quite difficult, mentally. But I feel like I am finally back on track.

It saddens me to notice how short the daylight can be, now. But I am also happy to see all these beautiful leaves colors and to be able to come home, cosy up in a fluffy blanket, drink tea and light some candles.

I barely had to edit these pictures’ saturation, the leaves are so bright outside that the clouds make them pop out so much naturally.

I hope you are all having a nice season transition, and for the lucky ones, I hope that you are enjoying your vacation!🍂

[borealserendipity]

End of the summer/Stockholm

Hej! Summer is already coming to an end. It has been rainy and a bit colder these past few weeks.

I enjoyed the heat and the sun even if it was for a short time. But I have to say I am ready to enter fall and cosy up in my sweaters, drinking tea and reading books under my blanket in the sofa.

I was in Stockholm for the second time in my life, last weekend. I went there to see Mamma Mia the Party, in Gröna Lund.

I was with my sambo’s mother, his grandmother and his brother’s fiancée. We had so much fun. I got to see Gamla Stan again, and was so happy!

We stayed in First Reisen Hotel, really close to this restaurant (where the food was delicious, by the way).

Mamma Mia the Party was amazing, I know I kept on talking about it on Instagram lately, but it was just so good, I’ve been thinking about it all week!

They recreated a Greek restaurant/tavern reminding the movie in a warehouse. They even had a fountain in there! The artists danced and sang around the tables as we were served Greek food. They then turned the area with the tables into a dance-floor and we danced to the best ABBA songs. I had so much fun!

It was honestly hard to go back to work on Monday. But I made it through this week! Tonight, I am going to see Timo Räisänen in Liseberg and I will be taking some pictures and filming a little bit. So expect to see some of that in my next post! Until next time! ⁽(◍˃̵͈̑ᴗ˂̵͈̑)⁽

[borealserendipity]

Marstrand

Hej! I haven’t been very active since June, but I took a nice long break from blogging and anything that had to do with my computer. It felt so nice!

Anyway! Last month, we went to Marstrand, a small island 30-40 minutes away from Göteborg. Here are the best pictures I took from this day-trip.

We visited the fortress on the island and it was so beautiful!

It took us around 2 hours and a half, 3 hours to see all of it.

We then continued walking around in town and ended this day-trip eating a really good pizza in a restaurant by the harbor.

Marstrand is a very pretty island and I loved every minute we spent there. I would definitely recommend you to check it out if you can!

We were supposed to visit Visby the next week, but we ended up cancelling because of health issues. Maybe next summer!✿

[borealserendipity]

A weekend in Copenhagen!

Last Saturday morning, we drove to Copenhagen to meet a friend we knew from a game online. She is traveling through Europe and had a 3-days stay in Copenhagen so we thought it’d be the perfect occasion to meet her and visit the city together.

A thunderstorm hit us just 40 minutes after we arrived. I had time to take just a few pictures of Kastellet and the Little Mermaid statue.

We had to take shelter in a restaurant to wait for the storm to calm down before heading back to the hotel for the night.

The next day was much better, the sun was back.

So we wandered in town, checking on the Rosenberg Castle before heading to Tivoli.

I absolutely loved these gardens, we could smell the roses in the slightly cold wind, refreshing us from the sun’s heat.

We then entered Tivoli.

I instantly fell in love with this place. They had a country theme for each corner. (I don’t have a picture of each of them since I now try to enjoy life a bit more through my own eyes than through my camera. But here are the few ones I got.)

I loved that theme park so much, all the different landscapes and the vintage vibe. It was also very green, there were many parks to walk through. We had lunch in the restaurant by the right side of the lake in this picture. I tasted a smørrebrød with avocado, tomatoes and shrimps (a Danish specialty, it is like an open sandwich) and it was delicious!

We finished the weekend by going to Nyhavn, the harbor. I saw these colorful facades everywhere on tourism websites and I knew I’d love them even more once I’d see them in front of me.

To me, Copenhagen was a very nice discovery and I wish the weather would have been better on the Saturday so I would have had more time to explore it. But I think we managed to cover most of the things we wanted to see on the Sunday.

We will come back for sure! ♡

[borealserendipity]

April, SFI & Påsk!

This month, I passed my SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) test!! Hurray! I’ve been learning Swedish for a year and a half with a government association teaching Swedish to the people moving in Sweden.

I had two great teachers and I honestly don’t know where I’d be in my Swedish-learning progress without them. Anyway, it’s done! I’ve been working so hard to pass this official test and I’m really happy I could do it! Look at that cute party my sambo’s family organized for me!

And last weekend, we celebrated Påsk (Easter) in Gullholmen. It felt like summer was here already, it was amazing!

We got to see the Påskbrasa (Easter fire). Swedish people gather old furniture and things they don’t use anymore, pile them up during the month of March and on Easter, they light the fire and watch it burn. It’s an old tradition meant to scare the witches away (yep, Easter in Sweden is about witches flying on broomsticks in the sky).

It was a very cosy weekend. I can’t wait to return to Gullholmen in the summer and be able to enjoy the west coast to its fullest!

[borealserendipity]

Trysil!

Hej! I haven’t been able to blog in some time. It feels nice to come back around here!

So many things happened since February. I know it’s a bit late to post these pictures, now that spring is here. But I’ve been wanting to make a post about it for some time, so have it anyway!

In the end of March, we went to Trysil, in Norway, on a ski trip. It felt weird to see that much snow that close to spring. But it was nice!

I didn’t ski in 15 years so it was quite a challenge to pick that up again. But I had so much fun!

I have to say that I’m happy winter finally is over. I was longing for warmer and sunny days, thunder and warm rainy days too! There are so many things I love about spring (except for allergies...)!

Anyway, that’s all for the ski and snow pictures! I took many spring/summer pictures lately, can’t wait to share them with you soon!

[borealserendipity]

Quiet month.°˖✧

February was a long and quiet month. We didn’t do anything too exciting and sometimes it feels really good to just relax and spend time home.

We finally worked on our glassed balcony and made it cosy. It had bare concrete floor for 10 months and we’ve been really lazy about it. Here it is, now! Wooden floor, a table we can fold to gain some space, a basket to store the (very much needed right now) plaids and a gorgeous fotpall to rest our feet upon.

I spent a lot of time reading and working in there, once we finished decorating it. Now I really can’t wait for spring, so it’s warm enough to have plants in there.

Talking about plants, I bought this little one the other day. And no regrets, it’s doing great right here!

[borealserendipity]

(via https://open.spotify.com/track/31L9yLXSj6LpCFupyMV6CR?si=Ymt_3_DqSSmx8_CM2i0MdQ)

I felt like sharing something a bit more spontaneous today! I heard this song this morning while working and it hit me like it never did before, even though I’ve been listening to this album a thousand times.

I hope you all have a nice day! ❁-✲ﾟ*

[borealserendipity]

One year later.

Oh dear Gullholmen! (Almost) same time last year, I was there. One year later, I’m back. Everything looks the same, feels the same, and yet... Everything is different.

Last year, I was going through difficult times and I was dreaming about what would happen if I actually took some risks and dared changing everything.

That big difference didn’t occur to me until I sat there, this morning, holding my cup of coffee, watching the snow outside.

Last year, it was just a weekend getaway with friends, chilling, having some quality time together.

This year, it became like a statement. I’m finally there. I’m where I dreamt to be. I’m still at the beginning so of course, it’s not easy. But I’ll get to the easy part, quite fast, if I work hard for it.

In any case, I am grateful for this great opportunity and for the people that believed in me from the beginning and even encouraged me to go for it!

[borealserendipity]

Fresh start!

I don’t want to spoil it and say it too loud, but this new year has been really good for me. I’ve been working on a big new project for 6 months.

I dropped everything and went for it, taking many risks... and I can finally see the results (just as I was about to give up, so close).

So I guess what they say is true: never give up. It might sound cheesy, but it’s true. Find what you want to do in this life, something to keep you going, and fight for it, as much as you can. You will succeed!

I’m writing this post as I just sent in the first project of my new career. I can’t really talk about it because it’s part of the job to keep it secret, but I’m so happy I’m finally getting somewhere!

By the way, first time I got to take a picture of this corner of Göteborg without having anyone on it! ♡

[borealserendipity]

2018

⁽(◍˃̵͈̑ᴗ˂̵͈̑)⁽January

Right after New Year, we went up to Gullholmen in the archipelago and got to spend some nice and cosy days there.

February

We went back in February, when we heard it snowed there. It was the first time I saw snow on Gullholmen island and it was so pretty! We had a lot of fun, took walks out, played board games. I remember I wished it would never end.

Later in February, we went to Denmark with my sambo’s grandparents. We took the ferry. It was a short trip, but amazing! I would definitely go back.

March

We celebrated my first year in Sweden. Then, we watched Eurovision with friends. It was the first time I followed the whole competition from the beginning. (Eurovision is pretty big in Sweden, by the way.)

April

April was a quiet month. We hanged out with friends, had a World of Warcraft LAN party at our place. My first LAN. It was so much fun!

May

I visited my parents and celebrated my 25th birthday with my family. It felt good to be around them again, I hadn’t seen them in 8 months.

June

We finally did some canoe in Delsjön with friends, we’ve been wanting to do that for some time. We celebrated Midsommar in Gullholmen and took a daytrip to Lysekil with the family boat.

July

We saw Ed Sheeran live in Göteborg and a few days later, we had our first trip together in Greece.

August

Liseberg on a rainy summer day, long walks out at night and family dinner in one of the best restaurants in town with an amazing view.

September

Long walk in Desjön’s forest, kräftskiva and friends wedding.

October

Halloween in Liseberg (the theme this year was creepy clowns) and a trip to France, to visit my family.

November

Nights out, staring at Christmas lights and Julbord in Liseberg.

December

A few days of snow, Swedish Christmas traditions and celebrating Christmas with my family.

Coming back home, fun nights with friends and fireworks to close up 2018.

That was a small recap of last year with all the pictures I could find on my phone. I decided I would be better at capturing moments in 2019 and start filming more. Who knows, maybe next year’s recap will be a short film?!

I hope this post wasn’t too long and that you enjoyed it. ⁽(◍˃̵͈̑ᴗ˂̵͈̑)⁽

[borealserendipity]

Happy New Year!*・ﾟ✧☆ﾟ

I hope all of you had a nice Christmas and spent some quality time with your loved ones. I sure did!

I’m preparing a little “recap” post of 2018 and while I was picking the pictures for it, I realized this year hasn’t been that bad. It’s been really hard on some levels, but I wasn’t alone. I was always surrounded by people I love, and who love me back. That’s what matters.

I’m grateful for 2018. It wasn’t all great, but I still can’t wait to see what 2019 has to teach me!

[borealserendipity]

Longing for snow.❄

Compared to last year’s winter, we’ve been having warm weather lately. We got some frosty days there and there, but no real snow so far. It snowed one day, two weeks ago, but it didn’t last long.

I remember last year, I got so tired of snow. We had it from the beginning of November until April. And now that it won’t come back, I miss it. That’s how life is. You always miss things when you can’t have it.へ‿(ツ)‿ㄏ

But it really feels like something is missing, with all the Christmas feelings. Especially when we celebrated 1st and 2nd advent already.

For 1st advent, we were all together in Gullholmen with my sambo’s family.

I mean, it’s a breathtaking view, every time. But not very Christmas-y. Eller? (a very Göteborgare expression meaning “Or what?”/”Am I right?”)

We still did all the Christmas-y stuff inside the very cosy family holiday house.

We had glöggmums, a mulled wine-snacks-dinner. Everybody cooked something to put on the table: gingerbread, fudge, a plate of different cheeses, a brie pie with nuts on top of it, dates wrapped in bacon + vegetarian version > dates sliced in two with blue cheese and walnut in the middle and a Christmas tree-shaped pizza.

Like I said in the previous post, kale and brussel sprouts are a very important part of Swedish holiday meals. So it’s not surprising to see them on this pizza. Cherry tomatoes, chèvre, flower sprouts, kale, brussel sprouts. It was actually delicious.

It is now 3rd advent and tomorrow I’m leaving Sweden to spend the holiday at my parents’ in France. I will prepare and decorate the house and the Christmas tree for the first time in 2 years already (dang, has it been that long!). I’m so excited! ❀

{EDIT} IT SNOWED! Literally 5mn after my post went online!

[borealserendipity]

Julbord in Liseberg!

It’s a tradition. This year, like every year, we went to Liseberg, Göteborg’s funpark. I’m amazed to see how magical they can make it look, every time.

Julbord means Christmas table. I don’t think I ever showed it to you here, so this year I took some pictures.

Julbord is like a gigantic buffet with tons of options for food. You first start with different types of sill: marinated herrings. My favorite is senapssill: mustard marinated herring.

Then, you can find salmon cooked in many different ways: smoked, steamed... with different spices. I tasted a new one this year (and it was delicious): chili and coconut spiced salmon. (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و So good.

There are tons of other holiday special meals: Janssons frestelse (potatoes, cream, onions and anchovies gratin), meatballs sausages, different types of pâtés, kale and brussel sprouts dishes (they taste 10 times better than they sound).

After dinner, we got to see Swan Lake on ice, right outside the restaurant. It was beautiful! ♡

After that, we walked around to check the Christmas market while drinking glögg (mulled wine).

Every tree in the park had lights on! 

Liseberg was so cosy with the Christmas lights and bonfires to warm up around.

Another amazing night spent there! *:・ﾟ✧