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#MySweden: 'The absence of sun may impact your mood in a funny way'

The Local Sweden
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#MySweden: 'The absence of sun may impact your mood in a funny way'
Yulya Solodovnik shares her best tips on how to spend a day in Stockholm. Photo: Private

Every week one of The Local's readers takes over our Instagram account. Today Yulya Solodovnik from the Ukraine shows us her part of Stockholm.

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How old are you and what do you normally spend your days doing?

I am 25 and usually I spend my days working. I also try to allocate some time to learn Swedish, do yoga and cook new recipes during the weekdays, while on the weekends I explore the city of Stockholm and meet up with friends.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hej-hej all :) I'm Yulya, from Ukraine, and I'm happy to be the Local's host for the final days of 2018! I've been living in Sweden for the last 1,5 years. I went to Karlskrona to study sustainability, and now I am doing an internship in Stockholm, in a Swedish company called Plantagon. They are developing and building sustainable urban farms and do cool things to save the nature's resources :) The things I will capture here in the upcoming week will be about places, food, plants, good books and people's stories. I enjoy exploring Stockholm and Swedish culture in my free time and I will try to share the most interesting spots & things I find with you. #mysweden #thelocal #sweden #peopleofstockholm #international #portraitphotography #winter

Ett inlägg delat av The Local Sweden (@thelocalsweden) 28 Dec 2018 kl. 6:20 PST

When and why did you move to your city?

I moved to Stockholm three months ago in order to complete my internship at a company called Plantagon. They are developing and operating sustainable urban farms in Sweden and worldwide. Currently I am helping them to attract investors and with work at Stockholm City Farm.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Today, I'm reflecting on the following questions: what is the coolest thing I've done this year? Whose life have I made better this year? What am I grateful for this year? This year I am grateful to be in the place I am, with the people I’ve met. I celebrate New Year for the first time in Stockholm and I must admit it is a magical city and a wonderful place to grow as a young professional. I have lived in New York as a part of Work&Travel program and it seemed to be the most international place ever to me. However, after having lived in Stockholm for 4 months I am amazed at how diverse and multicultural this place is! During my stay, I went to a Swedish A1 course at @folkuniversitetetstockholm and my group consisted of people of 10 different nationalities. I am grateful to have met so many different and interesting people this year (not only at my Swedish course?) This year I am also especially grateful to have gotten the Visby scholarship from the Swedish Institute @studyinsweden and having completed my studies in sustainability. My previous education in Ukraine was in economics and when I tell people that I shifted to work with sustainability, many don’t understand how are these fields connected. For me, these two are interconnected: our planet is polluted and we are in the phase of ecocide very much due to irresponsible business behavior driving over-consumption to increase profits. The core of sustainability is to balance economic, social and environmental outcomes and don’t sacrifice ones for others. Anyways, this is a very rambling post, but my point is to finish this year with the acknowledgment of what is truly important in your life and what will you commit to in the upcoming year :) Hope you have a magical 2019! #mysweden #visby #sustainability #summary #reflection #endofyear #2018 #2019 #stockholm #nature #winter #swedishwinter

Ett inlägg delat av The Local Sweden (@thelocalsweden) 31 Dec 2018 kl. 8:09 PST

What do you love the most about your city?

One thing about Stockholm that really stands out and fascinates me is the city's infrastructure. It is a city that prioritizes the comfort of the citizens and has a high quality of services. It's comfortable for anyone: for people with disabilities, for parents with children and for tourists who don't know Swedish – the municipality considers the needs of various stakeholders who could be potential users of the city, which shapes their urban planning strategies.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

#mysweden is about sustainable lifestyle. I want to share with you a fun quiz about climate change: https://goo.gl/RAfq8J It has only 5 questions but it visualises how our daily activities influence the planet. It's quite eye-opening, even for the sustainability geeks :) Another useful website I'd like to share is Mission Emission: https://goo.gl/m7419z It helps to understand the carbon footprint of your trips and shows the amount of trees needed to neutralize the environmental impact of your trip. New Year is a good time to rethink the old habits and start something new. I hope everyone of us becomes more eco-friendly this year? #streets #stockholm #streetsofstockholm #urban #city #gamla #gamlastan #buildings #bright #colorful #scandinavian #scandi #weekend #traveling #sustainability

Ett inlägg delat av The Local Sweden (@thelocalsweden) 1 Jan 2019 kl. 7:57 PST

What annoys you the most about your city?

Definitely the so called 'grey season', which mainly occurs in the autumn and winter. It means that there is no sunlight during the day and all you can see outside are the grey clouds. In winter in Sweden the daylight is short, usually the sunrise is at 8.30am and the sunset is before 3pm. With this timing, the absence of sun may impact your mood in a funny way – quite annoying.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I'm excited to be back at Stockholm City Farm. Did you know that if you go shopping to ICA Maxi Stormarknad Lindhagen it is possible to buy fresh herbs grown in a vertical farm in the basement of the Dagens Nyheter building? The city farm grows basil, thyme, mint and other herbs. The best part is that the technology used in this urban farming venture is based on smart resource management. The farm is integrated into the building, the excess heat from the LED lights goes straight to generate energy for the whole building. It also uses 99% less water than a regular farm to produce food. The 'food miles' and the amount of CO2 emissions is cut significantly since the food is produced where it is consumed and doesn't need to travel far to reach the consumer. Swedish clean-tech sector fascinates me so much! What a time to be alive :) Happy going back to work, everyone! #stockholm #food #farming #urbanfarm #verticalfarm #stockholmcityfarming #herbs #green #greens #plants #plantsofinstagram #energyefficient #cleantech #agritecture #futuristic #technology #architecture

Ett inlägg delat av The Local Sweden (@thelocalsweden) 2 Jan 2019 kl. 12:35 PST

How should I spend a day in your city?

You could start a day with fika at some cozy cafe in a hipster area of Södermalm aka Söder. Some of my recent favorites are Bröd & Salt (local Stockholm's bakery) at Gamla Stan and Fåtöljen next to Slussen subway station. If it's a sunny day, you could also go up to the Katarina Elevator next to the Gondolen restaurant. This place shows a spectacular view over Stockholm's city centre.

I would suggest to walk around the Old Town and later check out one of the 16 free museums in Stockholm. I especially enjoy the souvenir shop at Moderna Museet, even more than the museum itself. The other great places to stick around if you are a book/magazine lover are a Papercut shop and the Stockholm Public Library.

What's a fun fact not everyone knows about your city?

There is an interesting piece of art at Skeppsbron 44 in the old town of Stockholm, Gamla Stan. If you peek above the door, you'll see a stone face of a desperate crying man, and below his face you'll see a… vagina. The house was built in 20th century. According to the legend, the wife of the owner of the building cheated on him with one of his employees. In revenge, he made a sculpture of his face with tears over vagina of his wife. Moreover, on rainy days, the rain water drops as tears from his face, to show how much this act devastated him.


Photo: Yulya Solodovnik

Do you want to be The Local's next #MySweden Instagram takeover host? Click HERE to apply.

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