Unstable Swedish sun

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!