Tag: newbie story

A Farewell Note*

It was all started in one of those dark and gloomy days in November 2017. During a regular browse on the Internet, I came across this announcement in The Newbie Guide to Sweden website where they’re looking for a volunteer blogger. It was naturally interesting for me because writing was the thing I wanted to invest myself in ever since I moved to Sweden, so I thought that could be a good opportunity.

But I hesitated at first

“What should I write? What’s so special about my experiences? Why would people read my stories?”

Then I realised that the idea of the blog section in the Newbie Guide website is to share stories of living in Sweden. Any story. It doesn’t have to be inspirational; it’s enough with being informational or even just personal.

Besides, living abroad is not always easy. Just like living elsewhere, it has its ups and downs. So if we can read other people experiences, it may not give you an instant solution but at least, it makes you feel that you’re not alone. I think that’s quite important when you’re living far from home.

So I decided to join the blogger team.

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Hayu Hamemayu2 Comments

Autumn Best Spots in Lund*

Every season has its own charm but for me there’s something about autumn that enchanting like no other seasons.

The crisp breeze. The sweetness in the air. The amazing colours when every leaf is a flower as Albert Camus puts it.

Maybe that’s just because I’m a hopeless romantic by nature. But regardless of your personality type, autumn is definitely one of the most beautiful times in Lund. It is when the old buildings in the city are covered in red vines and every lane turns into a yellow carpet.

So, if you’re new in Lund and wondering where to get instagrammable autumn pictures, here are my suggestions:

Lund University Library

This building at Helgonabacken has been the main library for Lund University (LU) since 1907 and is one of the most iconic buildings in Lund. When the season changes, it changes its appearance too due to the vines that cover most part of it. The look of it becomes brown or sometimes white on winter, green on spring and summer, and red in autumn.

The famous university library building. Photo by Hayu Hamemayu

With such a beauty, the picture of this building is probably the most used picture in every LU student’s desktop wallpaper 

The area around the library also offers a beautiful view of autumn as shady trees surround the building; some of them even create canopies above the streets.

Oh that yellow carpet. Photo by Hayu Hamemayu
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Hayu Hamemayu4 Comments

Swedish Pastry Calendar*

As someone with many sweet teeth, one thing I love about Sweden is its “excuses” to always have something sweet between meals. Thanks to its most celebrated tradition, Fika. It seems to me that despite the lagom value, Swedes are quite into cake and pastry; they even have special days to celebrate almost all of them. Here is the timeline for those sweet days.

January

The period between Christmas and Easter is the time for semla. This wheat flour bun, flavoured with cardamom and filled with almond paste and whipped cream, was originally eaten only on Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday) as the last festive food before Lent. However, as the Swedes stopped observing a strict fasting for Lent, semlor are now available in shops and bakeries every day from shortly after Christmas until Easter.

Photo by Hayu Hamemayu

February

You can still easily find semla on February because Shrove Tuesday usually falls either on February or March, but this month also has another special day. February 3 is the day of carrot cake.

March

On March, you have at least two special threats: Punschrullens Dag (punch roll day) on 7th of March and Våffledagen (waffle day) on March 25. Punschrulle is also called dammsugare, which means vacuum cleaner due to its resembling shape of a vacuum cleaner that was common in the 1920s. This pastry is easy to find in any confectionery and is traditionally colored green with chocolate coating in both ends.

For the Waffle Day, it is believed that it comes from a mispronunciation of spring day that has religious roots. Instead of “spring day”, a linguistic mix took place and people began to say “waffle day”. Thus, the tradition of eating waffles with cream and jam arose on March 25.

April

Sadly, there is no cake related day on this month. Or do you know any?

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Little Asia in Lund*

*originally published for The Newbie Guide to Sweden on May 27, 2020

What do you miss the most when you’re living far from home? For me, it’s 3Fs: Families, Friends and Food!

Coming from a country known for its distinctive and rich-in-flavour foods, there are times when I crave for a little taste of home in Sweden. Lucky for me, there are some Asian speciality shops and restaurants in Lund where I can find remedy whenever homesickness strikes.

Of course it’s not apple to apple if we compare them with the shops and restaurants back home, in terms of stock and variety. But it’s still good to have them here. Especially now, when travelling overseas is not recommended and visiting your family back home is not a reasonable option.

These places can help you bring a bit of taste of Asia to your kitchen:

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Hayu Hamemayu3 Comments

What Covid-19 has taught me about Sweden*

Picture by Arsalan Khan. Retrieved from here

When you’re living in a foreign country, it feels like you’re living in two different worlds. As if you set your feet on two different places: your hometown and your current place. Consequently, you can’t stop wondering, comparing, and analysing, which one gives you the better fit. This makes you feel wobbly and restless sometimes, especially in the situation of a pandemic of Covid-19 like what we have lately.


The last couple of months have been a really hard time for everyone. We are forced to embrace the new normal and to redefine the concept of life as we know it. New vocabularies now become part of our daily life: COVID-19, social distancing, flatten the curve, flock immunity, lockdown, and so on. However, the situation had also brought a new revelation for me.

And this revelation revolves around one word: TRUST.

Can you trust the level of trust in Sweden?

I don’t have any trust issue, but when it comes to politics and government, I was raised and taught to be sceptical or at least questioning the system. But in Sweden, this has been constantly challenged.

In the context of COVID-19, Sweden has a different approach from my home country or any other country for that matter. Sweden employs quite loose regulations, even compared to neighbouring countries like Denmark and Norway.

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Hayu Hamemayu2 Comments
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