As of late, or actually for about a year now, I’ve had this fascination with anything having to do with Scandinavia. I suppose it started when I saw the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy and fell in love with the scenes of Sweden, the Swedish language, and the overall feeling of the films (setting aside the plot). For the record, I fall in love with a lot of things, least of all people. My interest in Sweden continued when I saw a Swedish band perform at an international music festival this past fall in Bloomington, IN called Movits! Once again, I loved the Swedish language, and their energy and style was amazing. Later in the fall I attended a lecture by a Swedish woman who spoke about women’s suffrage in Sweden. The content of the lecture was interesting, but most of all her personality was fun, which leads me to believe that perhaps the Swedish people as a whole possess good characters. I hope anyway, so as not to be disappointed when I visit one day!

I became further intrigued by Scandinavia when my family and I were talking about taking a trip to Belgium, Denmark, and Holland this summer. I’m not sure whether it will really materialize, but the thought of it certainly evoked excitement in my interest of Scandinavia.

I can only imagine how beautiful the landscape and wilderness is in Scandinavia – I picture forests and hills, and beautiful snowy plains, accompanied of course with animals that remind us how to be graceful in their promenade. What I’ve seen in pictures and movies of the architecture is stunning and certainly unique to the area. How nice it would be to live on a canal…

Perhaps the final thing, for now at least, that inspires my interest in all things Scandinavian is the style, that of interior spaces and furniture. My grandparents have a house full of Scandinavian furniture, which I adore! It’s such a nice quality of wood and the simple, modern, and elegant style is nice to look at, comfortable, and inviting. I’ve also been to a Scandinavian furniture store in Bloomington, IN, once again, and I wish I could buy the whole store! Or at least live in the store…I can’t forget IKEA, while cheap, mass produced furniture, elegant and most importantly, Scandinavian! I also love Scandinavian textiles, the patterns…! Well, I could go on, but I’ll refrain.

Can’t wait to visit all of Scandinavia someday…adventures! Also, I want to see the Northern Lights…what a spectacular show that must be.