Malmö on my mind.

The SCONES group headed south on a 4.5 hour train ride, arriving to our new destination: Malmö, Sweden. We've relocated, and as a result, we're saying goodbye to our sea legs, and hello to a hostel on steady land. Currently, we’re staying in an old home in the middle of an apartment complex area. The house has about 7 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms: but the 30 of us are doing fine. We’ve got a spacious backyard, a BBQ pit, and an adorable bull terrier dog living with us named Axle. So far, life is good.

Even already, Malmö is quite different from Stockholm. Geographically, it’s located a lot closer to Copenhagen (Denmark), and being a bit more south has been somewhat startling. Last night was the first night it got actually “dark”. Going to bed at 1 AM devoid of bright sunlight was a weird feeling having become used to Stockholm’s light patterns. The city is home to about 300,000 people, and while its roots lie in the shipping industry, Malmö has sort of redefined itself as a more educated city with a university and countless trade schools. It has also become really involved in the sustainable movement, and is working hard to establish itself as a keystone city.

So far, we’ve hit the streets walking, noting the plethora of parks and green spaces in the city. We stumbled upon a big park with over a hundred people with portable, mini BBQs at some informal gathering, eating and playing sports. These “street picnics” are not really a rare occurrence here—in fact, they’re everywhere. There’s something comforting in the simplicity of people coming together and enjoying good company and their natural surroundings. We’re taking a cue from the Swedes and having our own backyard BBQ tonight. The whole group is pitching in with tasks, from crafting the grocery list, to shopping, to cooking, to cleaning up. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

We rented bikes this morning and explored around on them. It felt great to get back on a bike, and to not feel threatened by cars. Davis, CA has been great at being bike friendly, but it’s small town feel isn’t realistic for most cities. Malmö is considerably larger and stands as a great example for a city being bike-able. The streets have few lanes, with the majority of the space being dedicated to wide sidewalks for bikers and pedestrians. We also went to the B001 development, which was an amazing area of sustainable and beautiful studio apartments that lined up against the beach. It was my favorite place so far. I’m thinking retirement in Sweden wouldn’t be so bad (except for maybe winters). Summer house, maybe?

After “class”, many of us went to the beach. It’s a lot hotter and more humid here, so jumping into the cold water was much needed. We got some fruit and cheese for a snack, and met a Swedish woman that helped us get home. She biked with us most of the way home, which was a really kind thing to do. As I was talking to her, she got a flat tire. She wasn’t upset at all, saying that sometimes you have days like this, but it’s nothing to get upset about: she was having a good day, and that the weather was great. Of course, I’m drawing too much symbolism from it, but it definitely made me think. Back in the states, we’re so focused on the future, that we try to just get through everything so we can get to whatever is just off reach and in the distance. We ‘re so narrow-minded, that when things don’t go according to plan, we get frustrated or upset, failing to see the good things around us. I don’t know: just some thoughts I’ve had. But I think it perfectly sums up my first impression of Malmö: a city that is not only sustainable in its building and design, but also sustainable in its mentality and perspective of the people.