Valborg: A Chronological Timeline

It's the last day of April, also known as Valborg in Sweden, and an absolutely big thing in Uppsala. I don't think they celebrate this day as fervently elsewhere as the people in Uppsala do. Concerts, boat competitions, bonfires, and tonnes and tonnes of alcohol.

It started at 0400hrs for me when a few corridor mates and I got up to prepare a breakfast of sandwiches, porridge, apple cider, strawberries, grapes and the all important champagne. Almost the entire corridor woke up at 0600, and we left at 0700 to the river to sit by the banks and have our champagne breakfast.

Can you believe this? Champagne in the morning? Alcohol before 1200hrs?

The original plan was to go to the starting line, but somehow it changed to the finish line, then to the first waterfall that the boats have to pass. In the end, we ended up right outside the Catholic Church, possibly because I have a breakfast appointment with the student group at 1000hrs there.

Breakfast Number 1 was wonderful. It had to be. I was the one of the persons preparing it. Even then, there were hot dog carts all around. People selling drinks, balloon, T-shirts, and all sorts of trinkets. And an air show. Hmm... If you have an air show, it only means that this is important. Unimportant events will never have air shows, only super important events will have it. See, this is how important Valborg is to Uppsala. People from all over Sweden actually come down here to celebrate this day. This IS the first time I've ever seen such a crowd in Sweden.

At 1000, I left the corridor group and went to meet the church group. And that was Breakfast Number 2. Porridge, sandwiches, strawberries, grapes and champagne. Almost identical to Breakfast Number 1. With the exception that the porridge was Swedish style. I have to say I don't like that at all. It was as though the porridge was left out for too long and the water had been soaked into the rice making it lumpy and sticky. It was bland and tasteless. The only thing that made the porridge palatable was the apple sauce that came with it. It had to be eaten with plenty of the apple sauce. Plenty.

The strawberries today were excellent though. Both breakfasts. There was no need for cream to take away any acidity that some berries possess. They were perfect as they came. Excellent stuff. Neither sour, nor too ripe. Just perfect. Needless to say, I had plently.

The boat race took place when I had a vantage point - an unobstructed view of the river. I was on the second level of the church building so the view was nice. I miss seeing the King and Queen of Sweden when they were supposed to come to Angstrom a few months ago, but I had my change today. The 'King and Queen' came down the river in a raft.

*grin* And this time I didn't have to stalk them.

Coincidentally, it's the King's 60th birthday today, 30th April.

After the race, we took a slow walk to the town centre, then to a Nation. My goodness, it was only 1300hrs and there were already drunks. Yup. That was how much alcohol flowed today. The floor of the pub was wet with champagne and the place was packed with people. Now, I know for sure that this wasn't the only pub like that. Some other friends who went to other pubs said the exact same thing. Very disgusting.

We headed to the Jesuits' building at 1400 and had this cocktail of vodka, sprite, cucumber, etc. Puke-inducing. I guess I was a little drunk after that. The vodka cocktail was rather strong. The many glasses of champagne before that didn't exactly help at all.

At 1500hrs, we were outside the Carolina Rediviva Library where the Swedes, young and old, took out their white caps that they received during their graduation from senior high, and waved them. Rather odd actually. What was the whole purpose of the few seconds of hat waving that got everyone so excited that even an 80 year old grandmother couldn't miss? I'm bewildered. It seems that the cap signifies their ability to enter the university. Sort of like a coming of age ceremony. The bands on the caps represent different things. Just like the colours of our hoods on our graduation gowns. For them, the green ribbon means that they studied natural science, purple for something else, etc. Even the Universities have their own hats. Velvety looking, with colours representing your major. You can add badges at the top of that tassel and hang beads knotted from thread to represent your year of study. Seems fun really. Insignificant, but fun. I want that. Why don't we have this sort of thing back home?

Break time. Went back to the apartment, met some neighbours, had tea, took a nap and shower before leaving for Church at 1745hrs for Mass.

After Mass, it was a tortilla dinner with the Church group again. Rather good. Not excellent but good. The chocolate pudding was from a box, so... I'll leave that to your imagination. Then it was up to the castle where they had a choir singing traditional Swedish songs. Rather good. And of course, the choir members and some of the audience were wearing... the white caps lah. How could they leave that out?

After the concert, I left the Church group to go down to Gamla Uppsala to meet the people from the Bible group. They were at the largest bonfire in Uppsala. But my shitty camera had to run out of batteries or something. So I didn't manage to take any pictures at Gamala Uppsala. What a waste. The bonfire was excellent. Huge really. No wonder they needed to have that so far away from civilisation. Had a good time. We sang. Drank champagne. Ate. And drank even more champagne.

But by this time (by 1800hrs really), there were not only staggering drunks but all-out-flat-on-the-floor drunks, passed-out drunks, rowdy drunks, etc. No wonder they had such a huge police presence today. I wonder how many people they arrested today.

Funny. This morning when I walked down to the finish line, two policemen stopped two boys, one of whom was pushing the other who was sitting in a supermarket trolley. And guess what. The police asked the boy pushing the trolley for his driving license! Were they joking??? Driving license to push a trolley???

This is the one day I will remember Sweden. I've had my whole impression of Sweden smashed in a day. The place is freaking dirty. Trash everywhere. And I don't mean the drunks. I mean litter. Paper, bottles, cans, broken glass, etc. Absolutely dirty. Even Eleanor's mother joked that I should take a photo of the trash and put a poster in the Little Red Dot with the caption: "You can litter in Sweden without worrying about a fine." Actually I had already taken a photo of the trash filled grounds before that. Hey! It's still part of Valborg. Not pleasant, but still part of it.

And they tell me that ALL the trash will mysteriously be removed by 0800hrs the next day. Swedish efficiency at work?

I think I'm drunk. I've had too much alcohol today. Not to the point that I can't think or walk straight. But to the point of a throbbing headache. The worst part of being drunk. Personally I think you should either pass out drunk or not get drunk at all. The mid way point where I am now feels terrible.

It's 0300 in the morning. And except for a half hour nap that I had in the afternoon, I've been up for almost 24 hours. Amazingly I don't feel tired. But I do need to rest. A panadol for the headache and a good rest in bed.

Pictures later.