Excited for Valborg

Its Spring in Uppsala and soon it will be Valborg. The time when everyone is outdoors rejoicing the long sunny hours to come till Fall. But, will the weather clear from gloomy to dry and sunny?

These days the weather has been funny compared to the same last year. Its been awfully damp and cloudy. The snow hasnt cleared yet, and, people are worried about what it will be like in two weeks. Many in the student community are booking tickets at their favourite of the "nations". As tradition goes, they start with a champagne breakfast and stay outdoors all day.

Its quite an important day in Uppsala. Lund has similar celebrations held every four years. In preparation for Valborg, the student housing agency has already started circulating information leaflets on how to prepare for Valborg, and more importantly, how to steer clear of indulging in vandalism as it happened last year- students had made a bonfire from kindling that quickly escalated to buring bicycles lying around and mattresses. In other housing establishments there were acts of burglary.

Other than weather being the biggest of concerns, people have planned to go on  boat cruises that enables them to get their hands on duty free shopping. And by shopping, I mean alcohol.

My friends and I are planning to host a Valborg themed breakfast ourselves. We are keeping an eye out for deals on pickled herring and other ideas that make it fit for a viking. We are also thinking of having honey mead along with it. If not available, we are thinking of using this recipe to make our own!  For those who have a tingling taste buds-
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Mead-Honey-Wine/

This event should give me plenty more to write about in the near future. Bye for now. 

Northern lights in Uppsala

A few weeks ago, as Spring was fighting its way into Uppsala despite occasional snowing, was a monday when there ware strong sightings of the Aurora borealis from the rooftops of student buildings in Flogsta, Uppsala.

Thanks to a network of forums that are connected to almost all students living in Flogsta buildings, people were informed of the northern lights as they were seen by those on rooftops. I was cooking my dinner that time when it happened. My corridor mate just came out of her room exclaiming, " we can see the lights from here, guys!!". So, I went to the balcony to see a bunch on the rooftop of the adjacent building, gaping at the northern skies. There it was again, the dark green plankton like fog over the horizon. The fifth floor gave us a great vantage point to the lights. As our roof top was blocked due to an act of vandalism few months ago, I can only think of pictures that were posted on the facebook forum.

 This vibrance can only be seen using slower shutter speeds during exposure.

 The view from a roof top of a Flogsta building.

 One of the stronger formations that everyone wanted to take a picture with.

This is closer to the real time view, probably shot with faster shutter speed.










People have seen the lights from Upplands Vasby area as well, which is north of Stockholm, but, from people who had narrated it to me, this was the longest formation seen in Uppsala for a long time. One could say it was a special night- the air was still and the sky as clear as it could be with sub zero temperature.