Fika och fest

Today was another busy day of exploration and socialising, beginning with registration for the Swedish language courses I'll be studying whilst here. We got to meet our teachers and our fellow students, of which there appear to be around fifty.

After the formalities were done and dusted, Lidia and I ventured downtown to try a coffee shop we'd spotted the day before. The Swedes are mad keen on fika, which translates roughly to "an informal coffee with friends," and so there's a café culture here which doesn't really fit the climate. Today's haunt was snappily called Hugo's Kaffe According to Charles - Charles being a straight-talking American who for some reason ended up running his friend Hugo's coffee shop in Uppland. The décor was a kitsch mix of vintage editions of Life magazine coupled with fairy lights and gingham tablecloths, and we were plied with chicken salad and free refills of coffee by Charles, who appeared to be discussing his severely ill mother on Skype in between serving customers. All in all, a very odd experience, but Chucky was a gregarious chap and we'll definitely be back.

The evening was devoted to clubbing - I don't waste much time, right? A little bit of background: student life in Uppsala is based around "Nations," mini student unions which vie for the membership (i.e. money) of students. Each has its own history and traditions, and the oldest date to the 17th century. Upon your arrival here, you decide which one suits you best and then join it. Membership gives you free access to events and facilities at that Nation, and you usually have to pay a (small) fee to access the others.

Each Nation has its own building, a kind of non-residential frat house which houses dining rooms, libraries and a pub/club. The buildings range from grand old riverside properties to brutalist concrete blocks. Tonight's chosen festivities were at Södermanlands-Nerikes Nation (usually shortened to "Snerikes"), which occupies a well-appointed castle-esque building at the foot of the cathedral. It's named for the two regions of Sweden which it traditionally represents, a swathe of lakeland south of Stockholm. Tonight, its wood-panelled halls became packed dancefloors, and the old portraits of scholars past watched us from the walls as we danced the night away to pounding house music. It was atmospheric, rowdy and wonderful. Maybe I'll join and go every week?

Today's photo is of Svartbäcksgatan, home to Hugo's and a variety of other fika spots, and a nice example of the architecture round here.