Gränna and Visingsö!

Gränna is located within the municipality of Jönköping and is known for its red and white polkagris or stick candy. There is actually a bus in Jönköping, the bus 101, that takes you to Gränna and you can catch it from the central station, it costs 50 sek one way. It is definitely worth visiting Gränna because it is also a connection point for the ferry service to the island of Visingsö. The island is 14 km long and 3 km wide and it is an amazing place if you want to see the Swedish countryside, there are lots of forests and farmlands as well. Bikes can be rented for 50 sek 3 hours or 80 sek the entire day, we went biking all the way to the north of the Island (9km away) so we biked for 18km on a really sunny and hot day! I got a sunburn for the first time in Sweden :) It was an awesome afternoon and a nice break from studying for finals.

"Valborgsmässoafton"

So there are definitely many things that are new to me in this country. There are many international students in Jonkoping (over 200! One doesn’t get to know them all!) But mostly are from other European countries so the culture and holidays are somewhat similar. However, for me everything is new! So of course I was not aware of “Valborgsmässoafton" or “Walpurgis Night” which is a traditional spring festival on 30 April and is a celebration associated with dancing and with bonfire. 

Bonfire in  Råslätt

Since 30^th of April was a Monday, I go to class like normal and I noticed that the campus is empty and there’s no one in the engineering building (which is really weird). Later I found out that classes were cancelled because of this holiday and there is also no class on May 1^st because everyone gathers to officially welcome the Spring with lots of bbq, dancing, and drinking on the park :)

With Sofia