IKEA is my smultronställe. Literally translated from Swedish, "smultronställe" means strawberry field (a place where wild strawberries grow), but that's not really what it means. A smultronställe is a favorite place--a place of refuge and calm, for some Swedes that means going to the countryside and enjoying nature. For others it means going to a favorite cafe. Basically it is an idyllic place removed from the daily grind. It's kind of hard to explain. If you can read Swedish, you can read the entry from Wikipedia: www.sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smultronställe . Or, you can google the word and find some English descriptions.
I have multiple smultronställena, but IKEA is one of my favorites in grad school. When I need a good break or to get away from Champaign and all the reminders of school that are here, I take trips up to IKEA in Chicago. It makes me feel like I'm in Europe and doing something less stressful and exciting than lots of homework. IKEA reminds me of all the great times I've had in Europe, the slower pace of life there and the bright, happy designs that are so Swedish.
I went to IKEA with Amanda today. It was just the break I needed. I think Amanda and I are the only ones who pull the books off of the shelves in the displays and try to read them. The books are all in Swedish and we think they get a bulk shipment from Sweden, because we see a lot of the titles repeated. Today we found a German picture dictionary among the many books (it was a German/Swedish dictionary). We thought about asking if we could buy the book, but resisted the urge. We knew the employees would think we were weird. Maybe we are weird--we do walk around every staged room display pronouncing and translating every item in the room. All of the merchandise has Swedish names--some are city names, some are people's names and some are just basic Swedish vocab.
So happy!
