Riksdagshuset (The Parliament House)

27 February 2018

The first time I went inside Sweden's Parliament House, I was on a tourist visit in 2015 and I was surprised that visitors are allowed to go in. I went inside the debate hall and left after 30 minutes because I could not understand a word of Swedish.

Today, I went again, with a full guided tour of the public areas in the Parliament. It was a school excursion trip - and by school, it was a job employment program and we have occasional one-day excursion. 

The Swedish Parliament has 5 functions - set legislation, approve budget, control government, determine Sweden's position in international political situation and participate in EU matters. The guide mentioned these functions frequently which somehow stuck inside my head. Haha!

Skiing - My first time

22 February 2018

I thought I would never get the chance to ski because there don't seem to be any free trials around. There were for ice-skating which I did a couple of times but still not confident enough yet. You could imagine how happy I was when I saw there was a free 1.5 hour skiing trial at Spånga Sports Center one winter evening. Another winter sport to try and check off the list!

I wondered how does ski shoes looked like and how is it attached to the skis. The shoes have a little metal that clicks on to the skis and they are fastened together. My ski shoes size is 39 and they are really hard.

Liljevachs Art Museum

19 February 2018

A trip to Liljevachs Art Museum. I did not know of this place until I went with my classmates for a day excursion organised by the job employment program that I am in. It was free entry when we went and it was a Monday. All the art works are for sale, well if not all, it will be a majority of them.

Ice Fishing at Lake Måsnaren

11 February 2018

This is an activity that was never in my bucket list - ice fishing! I have never fished before. Not even those common fishing activities. So, I thought this was similar. With their worms and fishing rods. But no, it is different! The Swedish word for ice fishing is 'pimpla'. Gosh, it reminded me of 'pimp'. Haha!

This event is organised by Södertälje Amateur Fishing Club and Södertälje Municipal. For free too within 3 hours. How awesome is that! I found out about it from a Meetup activity.

On a separate note, I did a hike on Måsnarenleden in July 2018 (this is a backdated post) and it was so hot that the 14km walk felt like forever. I did not realise that I will be hiking the same place as I did ice fishing.

Chinese New Year 2018

10 February 2018

Chinese New Year came to Stockholm courtesy of China Embassy and Far Eastern Museum (Östasiatiska museet). I just find it the oddest to celebrate Chinese New Year in the cold white snow, where it is common for me to have sunny warm days back in Malaysia. I am still happy that I got to see some Chinese New Year celebration! 

It was a parade from Kungsan (short form for Kungsträdgården) to Far Eastern Museum and the performances (lion dance, dragon dance, and dance from Shandong Group) were held in front of the museum.

Uppsala University and Domkyrka (Cathedral)

31 January 2018

A school excursion trip to Uppsala University, the first university in Sweden that was built in 1477. Uppsala is an hour's drive from Stockholm. Totally recommend anyone to visit the first building of the university. The first building built in 1477 has now become a museum. Uppsala is beautiful during the winter.

Ta-da, the gorgeous university! I heard that this university is more authentic than Stockholm University.