Oh Scandinavia!

As previously mentioned I happen to have quite a love affair with all things Scandinavian.
This affair began almost three years ago when I met a group of fabulous people from Denmark. I learned so much from these people and my fascination with the region of Scandinavia began. Following is one of my famous lists of five of the things I love that happen to be Scandinavian.

Dear Scandinavia, you make my heart flutter:
1) Alexander Skarsgard- tall, blonde and blue-eyed. those traits alone make me somewhat weak in the knees, but throw in a talented actor who has starred in some of my favorite television shows and we've got a full blown crush. As Eric Northman, a bad ass vampire, on the HBO Original series True Blood and Lt. Brad Colbert in HBO's Generation Kill, Alex has managed to steal my heart and sanity away.

2) IKEA - yes that is very stereotypical but their furniture is amazing. It's just my style.

3) Hans Christian Andersen - Andersen's crazy fairytales (made less so by the influence of Disney) expose a part of humanity that we often try to hide from. While his work is not something I would recommend for young children, I still say that the influence and unique style of his writings are an important part of our world today, or at least my world.

4) Allan Hyde - this Danish actor completely stole the show during his brief appearance as Godric in HBOs True Blood. Cast as Eric's maker, Hyde played the part of a sympathetic and ultimately suicidal vampire with skill and made us all want him to stay for a little while longer.

5) Language- the languages of the Global North are truly beautiful and have left me with a desire to learn them all. However, as stated in a previous entry I have decided to start with Swedish. Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Icelandic, and even Faroese, sound wonderful to me and I just want to somehow be able to speak with the beauty that native speakers have to offer. Icelandic may be one language that I will never conquer. It is considered one of the hardest languages to learn in the world. And I don't even know where to find someone to teach me Faroese. But Swedish is a start.