Hejsan! This weekend, Lund got its first snow of the year. Me and other international students (and even a couple Swedes who are in their first year) have been commenting that we don’t know if the Swedish students have been lying to us, as they kept telling us that “Lund doesn’t get snow.” However, it seems that even the Swedes were pleasantly surprised by the few cm of snow that stayed on the ground all weekend. I acted like I had never experienced winter before in how excited I was by the little bit of snow, but it hadn’t felt like winter until this weekend. While I enjoyed getting to go on a pretty walk Monday morning (I went south of the city and into some farmland), the only downside of the snow was having to bike in it. I realized that I haven’t biked in the snow within at least the past 10 years (if I ever have), so I was very unprepared for it. Thankfully, I took the perspective that biking in the snow is like driving in the snow but with less protection. My small secondhand bike has very thin tires, so I had to make sure to go slower and be conscious of the ice, slush, and water along the cobblestone paths. One of my friends who is really good at biking mentioned that he fell this weekend, and my law professor told us a ‘funny story’ about how business professors make bets over how many exchange students break their legs biking along a certain icy road by the business school every year. Because of this, I have made sure to start wearing my helmet consistently again (despite the teasing from certain friends). I can live with a broken leg, but a broken skull sounds less than ideal. All of my biking worries seem to be for naught now, as all of the snow has already melted off. It was quite fun for the weekend, and I have now accepted that it is winter in Sweden. I am excited to see if Lund gets more snow as winter progresses, as well as learn to navigate the cold, wind, rain, darkness, and ice that I know is coming. I’ve already mastered the Swedes’ way to handle winter (lots of fika), so I think it’ll be a fun season overall. Varma lyckönskningar!