Over the last few days I have been unjustly woken up by that bright character that managed to scape Gothenburg for most of winter: you see, it happens that around here there is not such a thing as constant sunlight hours. Over winter it can be that the sun hasn’t risen by the time you go to school, and is already down by the time you come back home. Now that both of our feet are into spring, sunlight hours keep extending and extending; and these days sunrise is happening around 5 in the morning while the sun is still somewhere in the sky by 9 pm.

It was late when this was taken! Picture by P. Cegielski

When you have such a dark winter as here, it is almost mandatory that by the end of it you’ll be desperately craving some of that heavenly warmth. And as much as I did, it is still disorienting for me to go from total darkness to total brightness in such a short time. When it’s spring or summer I always end up going to bed very late because, in my country, the latest you would have sunset is around 7 pm. So independently of when it gets dark here in Sweden (be it 4 pm or 11 pm), my body will assume that it’s 8 pm. And then in the morning, being woken up by the sun in my face at such early hours is, well… let’s say unpleasant.

So in my second spring/almost-summer here, I continue to develop my little seasonal coping techniques. My windows have integrated blinds but it has become time to put up the curtains as well, since the closed blinds are no longer enough to mask that early sun. And in the evening, if I’m home I delude myself by closing the blinds by 8 pm. That way my body thinks it’s dark out there, and can achieve a semblance of orderly sleep. All of this daylight musings have led me to conclude that maybe one of the reasons that Sweden strives to be lagom is to have some moderation in something… because let me tell you, there is nothing moderate about the seasons here!

If you have ever crossed paths with me you might know that I’m into food: whether it comes to eating it, talking about it or (attempting) cooking it, you will have my full attention. So my fascination with trying dishes from different places is only a logical extension of such. Studying abroad has opened countless doors for this interest of mine, with discovering Swedish culture through food, eating new things in the countries I have visited while on vacation, and by the bond-strengthening method of making international friends cook for me.

So this time the turn was for Taiwanese food, which came in a format other than usual. I found out that NCTU Europe, a group of students with the mission of promoting exchange between Chalmers and the National Chiao Tung University, was organizing a snacks night. This meant that for only 30 crowns I would be taking my first delve into Taiwanese cuisine. So of course I couldn’t resist 🙂

During the evening we had presentations with recipes from all the 10 dishes that would be served, each one by the master chef who prepared it. Afterwards we proceeded to taste their creations. While I thought that the ingredients to most recipes where similar, I was surprised to taste the differences in them. Many of the dishes were meat based, but two that stuck out were rice balls filled with meat floating in a multi-ingredient soup, and what can be described as a yummy noodle omelet.

However, the absolute highlight was being reunited with my long lost love, the only item from Taiwan that I had actually tasted before: Boba tea. To make it short (and spare you of all my obsessive praise towards it), boba tea is tea with milk and chewy tapioca balls. It originated in Taiwan and has spread in popularity over the world. I used to have it often back in my island, but had never had one prepared by a citizen of its island of origin. And while delighting myself in its flavor, I discovered as a sample of Taiwanese humor that boba is actually slang for big breasts.

The most fun part of the night was sharing with students that were somehow related to Taiwan. There were people who were either born there, had been there to study or just took the jump to move there for no reason and being back to Sweden wanted to remember the good days. Listening to their stories was a great way to know more about the place. The whole thing ignited somewhat of a Taiwan craze in me: I have since been to an Asian supermarket to pick up some ingredients and have dedicated this week to perfecting homemade boba tea.  And I heard that NCTU Europe organizes monthly events, so you can also join them to learn a little bit more about Taiwan!  We will probably see each other there!

(All pictures credited to NCTU Europe)