A loud inhale means what??

by Victoria Falk (Germany)

Making a local connection Sweden

I grew up in the suburbs of the Swedish capital, Stockholm. Don’t get me wrong, it is a breathtaking city but I never quite felt at home. I have since then lived in multiple, much bigger cities but Stockholm always made me feel stressed and insignificant. My grandfather, on the other hand, grew up about 600 kilometers north west of Stockholm and I spent most of my school breaks there. In the winter we’d go skiing and eat dried rain deer meat in front of the fire and during the summer we’d fix up the old house that my ancestors built and go for long walks in the forest. I would always long to go there to explore the old crooked house and go on adventures, but after a few days I’d always feel uneasy and long back to the concrete where me and my friends would play. My parents, bless their hearts, always planned exciting day long hikes or a trip to the village at the bottom of the mountain but I always felt restless somehow. Now I’m in my mid 20’s, living abroad (Berlin, Germany), and all I can think about is the week I spent up there a few summers ago. I’d decided that the north was definitely for me and I was going to give it all of my being. I planned three day hikes, downhill bike rides and long trail runs. It might be the endorphins talking but it was like saw everything I grew up with in a new light. The water had never tasted as good from that mountain spring as it did that time, the mountain formations had never looked so majestic and I had never felt as happy. I thought to myself “Yup, this is my call in life, THIS is who I want to be.” Can you imagine how a crystal blue lake was hiding in the middle of nowhere of Sweden? The country that is known to be just lagom. All that beauty was hiding right under my nose the entire time and it changed my perspective on success forever. It doesn’t matter how much money you have or if you get in to Berghain or not. Life should be about finding that true, euphoric, happiness in the smallest of places and it doesn’t have to be on the other side of the earth. You don’t have to go to Bali to find yourself. I found myself just now, writing this story. Because I just realized where my garden of eden is, my paradise on earth. It’s located where the fresh mountain water rushes down the mountain, where the forest looks like something out of a John Bauer drawing and the people live in a slower pace. The epiphany I had up there in the mountains, wearing running shorts and trail shoes soaked in water, on a cold and cloudy summers day will stay with me forever. I might forget it from time to time because what kind of survival instinct would let me wallow in the past for this long? But everything is so different up there, in the best way possible. There’s something special about those places where you barely get any cell service, time seems different and somehow soothing my stressed city soul. I will forever be so grateful to my parents for forcing me out there for so many years just so I could experience a different life than the hectic tech era we live in today. Before I settle down in the rural north, I need to see other rural parts of the world. I can’t wait to co to the Rocky Mountains to test my endurance, I want to learn how to surf in tropical waters (preferably with an empty beach) and explore the darkest of forests. But rest assure, I will always find my way back to my grandfathers roots, more than my own. Oh, and did I tell you the most fascinating thing about the locals? A loud inhale, like an inverse whistle, means yes!