Full of delicious cheese cake and slightly queasy from the cholera vaccine I just drank, I figure now is a good time to reflect upon my day.
I said goodbye to Uppsala today. I went there to take care of the last stuff with my apartment, and to meet my friend Saga, who’s recently come home from one semester abroad in Australia. When we last met, before she left, we thought it would be 1,5 years before we saw each other again, but she came home earlier than expected so we had a chance to say goodbye again before I depart for China.
I drove to Uppsala, and was halfway past my old neighbourhood Döbelnsgatan when I realized I wouldn’t see this town again for at least a year. When a thought like that crosses your mind, it’s like you’re suddenly hyper-sensitive. I noticed all the characteristics of Uppsala around me – the bicyclers, the grand old buildings, the smartly dressed students and the narrow streets. Before summer I was getting tired of the town, having lived here for three years and all. But after only a few months’ absence, I was once again struck by the beauty of Uppsala. Of course, it certainly helped that it was a lovely late summer day, sunny and slightly breezy. The castle was as pink as always, and the students sitting on the stairs of Carolina Rediviva somehow epitomized the spirit of Uppsala for me. I kept driving on cobblestone streets past the University building, turning and then heading for Ekonomikum and my apartment. I’ve bicycled countless times on each of the streets that I saw, but when I thought about not seeing those streets for a year, I suddenly wanted to do it all over again. (But then I’d probably get tired after a while and start complaining about Carolinabacken. As it should be.) So many memories!
I parked and strolled down Sysslomansgatan to the vaccination clinic, past the ICA grocery store I always shopped in (I’d never shop at Konsum!), past my local video rental store, and then, in all its parking house glory: V-Dala. The people are the best ever, but in my humble opinion, that is precisely why we’ve been blessed with such an atrocious building. If we’d had the Snerkes building, people wouldn’t want to join the other nations. (Yes, I’m a bit nationalistic on this issue. Heh. That was bad – but you laughed too. Well, you chuckled at least. Ok, you definitely smiled. The corners of your mouth turned up very distinctly.)
After the vaccination I strolled around in the town center, pausing on one of the bridges to admire the view of the river and the Cathedral. The river was filled with lily pads and the occasional traffic sign, but I didn’t see any bikes. Oh well, you can’t have it all.
The Cathedral is truly beautiful. I’m blessed to have been able to live and study in a town like this. I have of course thought this on numerous occasions, but really: I’m blessed. And not only is the town itself beautiful, with pretty old buildings, parks and cozy little streets, the student life is uniquely wonderful as well. What more could you ask for?
So for those of you returning to Uppsala: stop on one of the bridges some day and take an extra look at the Cathedral for me. I’m going to miss my town.
“… I Domkyrkans skugga, i staden som en gång var världens nav.” I read that line somewhere once, and that’s Uppsala for me. But I'll see it again - after all, that's what goodbye in Chinese literally means.