Since my first visit to my future in-laws in Sweden in 2018, they’ve been talking about taking me out to “the mountains.”
They live in Umeå, but my mother-in-law’s family all come from the Jämtland fjäll, near Sweden’s border with Norway. Even though she herself was born in Umeå, she tells me always feels at home when she goes to vandra – hike, but the Swedish word is cognate with the English word “wander,” which I think has much more atmosphere to it – i fjällen (in the mountains).
But for one reason or another, we didn’t make it out to fjällen until this summer – this week, in fact, where I am writing to you from Saxnäs, near Marsfjället. It was a big family event: in addition to my husband, daughter and in-laws, my husband’s brother and his wife’s family came up from Gothenburg and we all shouldered our backpacks (and our small children) for day trips onto the lower slopes.
After the years of hype (in an understated Swedish fashion, in which “hype” consists of repeated positive mention of something), I was more than a bit worried that I wouldn’t have the sort of reaction they expected – that, especially coming from Canada’s vast and varied landscapes, I wouldn’t find the Swedish mountains to be anything special.
I needn't have worried. Although the first day, when we hiked through a hilly forest of gnarled birch trees and waterfalls, was nice but not unusually remarkable, the second day, when we went up above the tree line, was magical.
It’s strange that an essentially barren landscape can be so beautiful. And of course it’s not really barren – scrubby grass and moss grow on compacted dirt along the rocks, frogs dart in small bogs, and flies find plenty to buzz about. But such rolling expanses of open space and steep slopes rising all around without a tree in sight gives a stark effect of loveliness.
There were funny aspects too: from our hostel a 40-minute drive away, to the nearby town where we did our shopping, to the mountain treks themselves, nearly everyone I saw (including my Swedish family), was wearing a version of the exact same Fjällräven-brand pants. It was peak Swedish herd culture.
But in the end what I’ll remember was fording the rushing mountain river, so clear and fresh that we drank from it, and hiking up over a high ridge to what was perhaps the most perfect silence I’ve ever known.
Immigration news
The Migration Agency put out its monthly statistics for June and they showed that citizenship awards have fallen month-on-month by more than half, presumably at least partly due to the new stricter rules which came into force on June 6th.
Twenty six of those who have receive rejection letters since June 6th – almost all because they no longer meet the residency requirement – wrote of their frustration and disappointment in their responses to our survey of applicants. At least five said they were considering leaving Sweden as a result.
Several of those who have not yet been rejected they had been invited to take the civics test for citizenship on August 15th.
We spoke to Andreas Sandberg, project leader for the test at the Swedish Council of Higher Education (UHR), about his preparations for the test, using it to put together a guide to everything people considering taking the exam need to know.
What have we been writing about this week?
The civics test made our regular article on what's coming up in the month ahead. August will also see the election campaign hit full flow, MPs called back to parliament to pass the last remaining bills in the government's programme, a bunch of new laws coming into force (including phone-free schools), and everyone getting back to work and studies.
It was the 10th anniversary of the UK's vote to leave the European Union last month, and on Wednesday we published what British people in Sweden said in our survey about how Brexit has affected them. For most, the bureaucratic difficulties have been far less significant as the emotional effect and the impact on their identities.
Our contributor Emma Pouncey also asked why the British government seems so determined to make travelling to the UK difficult and expensive for dual nationals.
In politics, there was a bad poll for Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, with opposition leader Magdalena Andersson increasing her lead on him in the public's confidence, which maybe why Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari held press conferences launching a new mining strategy and pledging to ban the PFAS 'forever chemicals.
The far-right Sweden Democrats, meanwhile, launched an election tour up the Göta canal in a boat.
We hope you've been having a wonderful summer. Why don't you tell us about it by filling in our survey on your favourite summer spot in Sweden?
That's all for now. Have a great weekend.
Inside Sweden is our weekly newsletter for members which gives you news, analysis and, sometimes, takes you behind the scenes at The Local. It's published each Saturday and with Membership+ you can also receive it directly to your inbox.