Sverige!!!

In case anyone is wondering how I've been spending my five month wait until I leave on my mission...

Facts about Sweden:

• Population 9.3 million
• # of LDS members: 10,000
• Political system: Parliamentary democracy 
• Area: 174,000 sq. mi. (About the size of CA)
• Hours of Daylight in Stockholm:
• January: 6
• July: 19
• In northern Sweden, the midnight sun is visable 24 hrs a day from June to the middle of July
• The largest shopping mall of Europe is ‘Nordstan’, in Gothenburg.
• The northern lights are viewable in northern Sweden. Every 11 years, the solar activity is higher and therefore they are visible farther south. Next year happens to be the eleventh year! (I'm crossing my fingers!)
• Stockholm is known as one of the most beautiful cities of the world and is composed of 14 islands
• The fertility rate is 1.94 children born/woman
• Sweden has a large amount of immigrants, particularly from surrounding countries and the Middle East. 
• On average, Swedish women have their first child at 30 years.
• A popular souvenir is the road sign for moose-crossing. Every year a huge number of these signs are stolen from Swedish roads.
• IKEA and H&M are both modern Swedish retail shops.
• Sweden has the highest number of McDonald restaurants, per capita, in Europe.
• The first ice hotel of the world was built near the village of Jukkasjärvi, in Kiruna district of Sweden.
• Midsummer is one of the biggest celebrations in Sweden. It is held on the weekend closest to June 24 and is the longest day of the year. It includes dancing to folk music, traditional costumes, wreathes of flowers, eating herring, dancing around the maypole, and of course alcohol :)
• Sweden is known for its progression in technology, fashion, design, and societal systems. 
• On Easter, the children dress up as witches and hobos and go trick or treating
• Taxes are about 50-70% of income, and the government fills out your tax forms
• 53% of the land is forest, with lots of berries to eat!
• The Nobel Prize Ceremonies are held in Sweden and Norway every year on December 10th.
• The official church of Sweden is the Evangelical Lutheran Church. 
• Sweden is known for their fresh, raw, canned, smoked, and pickled sea food (particularly herring, crayfish, salmon and eel, also elk and reindeer
• Swedes have one of the longest life expectancy in the world-79-men and 83-women
• Summers in Sweden rarely get warmer than 75 degrees
• Sweden is known to have one of the highest standards of living in the world
• The three most popular sports are football (soccer), ice hockey, and bandy (whatever that is...?)
• Famous things/people from Sweden(ones I recognized at least)

• Alfred Nobel (instituted the Nobel prize)
• ABBA
• Ace of Base
• Pacemakers
• Ingrid Bergman (starred in Casablanca)
• Volvo
• Zippers
• Pippi Longstocking
• A-Teens
• Invention of dynamite
• Play (Pop group)
• IKEA
• Niklas Zennström (founder of Skype)