Land of the Midnight Sun!

So hopefully as most of you readers know.  I live in Sweden.  Granted I live in central Sweden, so it's not like I live up in the arctic circle.  But one of the things that comes with living in this part of the world is LONG summer days.  When I say long, I mean LONG!

I originally come from South Florida.  And there, the sun goes down between like 6 pm (18:00) and 7:30 pm (19:30).  I got quite used to that.  So 3 summers ago when I came to Sweden to visit for the first time, it was midsummer weekend.  Which is actually the long days of the year!  Here in Sweden, people like to party and get plastered to celebrate midsummer.  It's actually the biggest holiday of the year here.  But I digress.  So, my 2nd day here in Sweden (3 years ago), we went to a party.  I was kind of drunk from drinking snaps (Swedish booze with herbs, and quite strong) with dinner.  Another Swedish tradition.  So we go to a friend of my boyfriends to party some more.  Well people came and went throughout the night, but at one point I noticed only a handful of us were left.  Through blurred eyes I looked out the window and saw how light it was outside.  I freaked!  I thought during my drunken stupor I lost all sense of time, and it was like 5 in the morning or something.  So I freaked and told my boyfriend we had to go, and we had to go since it was so late.  Everyone just kind of laughed at the silly ole American.  Then I stuck my watch in my eyeball to try and focus to read the time.  Only to discover it was like 2:30.  That's right, I said 2:30!!!!

Well my this being my 3rd summer here, and next month being my 3rd midsummer here, I do believe I have finally gotten used to the wacky world of time and days and nights that go on here.  In fact, I found myself really enjoying the long bright and sunny day today.

Some of the random thoughts that the weather today triggered:

1. Wow, I really am the whitest Italian girl to walk the earth.  (I'm actually and Irish/Italian American mutt, but I have Italian skin).
2. Oooh, my plants and seedlings are probably really happy today!
3. Thank god the snow is gone!!

So needless to say I felt a picture was necessary. They do say it's worth a thousand words right?  Well I took this picture at exactly 8:59 pm (20:59).  I apologize for the blurriness and the dead balcony plants (we are moving so going to dump them when we move everything out).  Notice how bright the sky is.  This picture just doesn't do it justice.

So if your a vampire, and albino, allergic to the sun, or just hate long days...well Sweden is not for you!  At least for a few months of the year.  :)

So as I'm winding down and getting ready for bed, I can't help but think now....Thank god for blackout window shades!!!!  Hahahaha. 

Happy Blogging All!