Beautiful is the view of the Sun just above the horizon. There are two convenient options to watch it: either do it as early in the year as possible when the nights are still fairly long or wait until mid-summer and simply don't go to sleep. Here, we opted for none of the above. The sun rose around 6.20. However, it was covered by clouds. Exactly in the direction of the sun.

We had more luck with watching sunset! Thanks to the meteorological conditions of Umeå, evenings usually do not produce clouds in the direction of the sun.

The riverside of the Ume river is a perfect place to enjoy last evening rays. You may even find some flying ducks and swans!

There are multiple hiking trails in the vicinity of Umeå. Some of them are even accessible by bus. One such is Strömbäck-Kont nature reserve. This forest along the coast of the Baltic sea and some lakes and ponds will allow you to get in touch with nature. There are also designated BBQ spots.

Ok, all cool and good, but how do you get back home? Well, you take the same bus, right? But you will stumble upon a surprise: there is no designated bus stop for the opposite direction! At least not visibly designated. What to do?

You may find some locals nearby and ask them. They will be happy to help. But in case you cannot find them, here's the secret: just across the street of the bus stop, there's a T-junction. Wait at this junction and wave down the coming bus.

Erasmus exchange is also a cultural exchange. And how better represent your country than through cooking? Well, you can also cook food which is not traditional for your country. Doesn't matter. Just that it's good. We had a lot of fun preparing tiramisu, chocolate mousse, apple crumble, pancakes and more!

I know, I should have written about this in the first blog post. Because you need snow and winter for that. The ski slope closed surprisingly early despite the snow still being there.

Have you been skiing for your whole life and wanted to try snowboarding? (Or just the way around?) Now is your chance! Rent equipment at the Fritidsbanken, take the local city line to the Bräntberget, buy an evening ticket for just 5 €, and let the fun begin! Well, you will need some time to get used to the new sport. But in just around two visits, we were already doing it like pros! (Almost. For a couple of metres. If the snow was not frozen. 😂)

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. This ski-slope has two platter lifts and two slopes, perfect for learning. For more advanced rides, look for other locations up in the north.

And for ice-skating, you have many options during winter. Ask your buddies for exact locations :)

What's a better place to play frisbee golf than Umeå? You can find "baskets" all around the town, also at the most unexpected locations. Take a frisbee and some friends, and laugh during playing. By the way, there are different discs available. They differ by colour, speed, rotation properties, curving direction etc., but most importantly, by colour.

Another national sport is Brännboll, which will remind you of baseball. Looking closer, it's actually more like tee-ball. The main difference is that you both throw the ball and hit it, and that players can cluster at bases and you are allowed to overtake them.

It's been so long and I haven't even mentioned IKSU yet! What is this mysterious place? IKSU is one of the world's biggest sports facilities. You can find insanely many sports (gym, swimming, volleyball, climbing, squash, cycling, zumba, badminton, ping-pong ... I can't even count all of them). Either do them on your own or join a training session. Everything is included in the subscription.

What feels good after pursuing sports? Eating. For this, they have a mouth-watering tasty sushi restaurant. I mean, the sushi is tasty, not the restaurant itself. Not dry at all. Through the windows, you can watch people playing beach volleyball.

There are events and museums in the city centre (or around it). Concerts (both orchestral and choral) are held in many churches. Västerbotten Museum combines a skansen (an old village, and they celebrate mid-summer here!) with an inside museum about the history of Umeå, the great fire, a suspiciously-looking horse and their birch trees.

A suprising fact about the Umeå city centre is that the streets and squares have underground heating, keeping them snowless at all times! When they build a snow castle right in the middle, they can even turn off heating for just that little area!

On sunny summer days, expect to often see old-timers rumbling around the roads. I don't recall seeing that many beautiful old cars ever before!

As the semester approaches its end, students start leaving this beautiful place, one by one. Evening and over-night barbacues are a magnificent way to spend the last days and say farewell to your friends.

The days are now so long that you never actually experience night. In the evening, you can watch the sunset from the lake shore. The sun hides beneath the horizon, leaving only the evening dusk in the sky. However, this dusk never disappears; instead, it moves a bit towards the east, and during that, it automagically changes into the morning dawn. Then, the sun rises again.