D-I-E Gothenburg

I've had many unpleasant moments in Sweden in the past but this tops everything. As I was going to swim for the first time in Gothenburgs biggest swimming hall, I noticed something  awfully strange. There was this big sign in the sauna forbidding anyone to talk or throw water in the stow. I was horrified and confused when the local people walked in to the sauna with their towels wrapped around them. After taking a few gasps of air into my lungs I saw even more incredible things happen: the sweeds were reading newspapers in the sauna while the temperature meter was showing only 50 celsius.

My explanation to this incident is coincidence, lack of knowledge and bad luck.
Somehow the swedish ancestors never really found out what a real sauna is like. Maybe thats why it's one of the few countries that call sauna "bastu" instead. I interviewed a few locals about this bastu culture in Sweden, and they told me that being naked in a boiling hot sauna feels wrong and to sexual for them.
I think it's just pure bad luck that there's not enough finnish people living in Sweden who can educate about the great possibilities of  a tradtitional finnish sauna where you throw a lot water in the stow and spank each other backs with some birch branches.

Probably for the first time in my life I felt a little bit ashamed because of the sauna and hopefully for the last. If I were a sweed and would encounter a finn in sauna, I would most likely bow and show somekinda respect. Afterall, it's one of the best relaxing inventions that has come from Finland.

Cheers,

Jon Selin

Letter home - Jon Selin

Hello, my name is Jon Selin, and im studying music in Centria University of Applied Sciences. I'm doing my internship in Gothenburg University in Sweden.

The course selection is broad and interesting here in Gothenburg University. There's a lot of projects you can participate as an violinist. I joined the schools symphonic orchestra for three big classical projects this fall. There was repertoar from Strauss, Bartok and even some opera. As a violinist, I also had to chance to participate in the world music program and take some classes in improvisation. It was also a priviledge to sing bass in the schools chamber choir that invited me to take part in their concert tour in Verona Italy this spring. In the pedagogical studies there's something called "fieldstudies" that has given me a lot of insight and knowledge of the swedish music education system. We were invited to visit different culture schools in Gothenburg and observe the teaching methods of the local music pedagogues. 

The study culture felt really intense, since everyone was required to fully participate in every class. Those who came late had to do extra assingments for the teachers. There was a lot of exchange students from Finland, so it felt really easy to "fit in" the school. We had a lot of cool gigs and parties in the school and formed this small finnish "party band". The city itself reminded me a lot of Helsinki. You can take ferrys to beautiful islands and go to big concert halls and museums with local trams. It was really hard to find a proper sauna in the city, but the best one was probably at the harbor frihamnen.

Challenging was to wake up early every morning to the drilling sounds of a nearby construction site. The highlight was definitely all the big concerts and performances I was able to participate in.