Only in Lund...

As per my Saturday morning routine, I got on my bike, headed to the farmers market and loaded up on all the local fruits and veggies that my backpack and pannier could hold.

Today, being World Action Day, meant that my Environmental Sustainability friends were planning an event to raise public awareness.

So at 10 am in the drizzling rain, I rolled into Stortorget to show my support. Of course none of my friends were there yet, but a bunch of people were wandering around looking fairly disorganized with a giant tee-pee in the middle of them.

Added to this, some invisible person was playing the theme music to Harry Potter on a tuba and it was echoing off all the buildings.

Disorganized hippies, a tee-pee and Harry Potter? Clearly I'm in the right city...

The niche market in Sweden: travel mugs

This afternoon, having already visited the local farmers market and grocery store to stock up on all the goodies for a Canadian Thanksgiving in Sweden, I decided to treat myself to a weekend latte. At $4-5 a hit, lattes are certainly a "treat" in grad student life. Given that it was already 1:30, and I hadn't yet cracked my books, I thought I'd bring my caffeine fix to the library with me. In my favourite little Italian coffee shop while waiting in line, the gentleman in front of me looked at my travel mug with shock and awe. "Are you going to get your coffee in that?" "Uh-huh" (why waste a disposable cup when my Starbucks mug is totally spill-proof?). "Have you ever done that before here?" "Well no, not here, but I'm sure they can handle it..."

The guy couldn't stop grinning, he thought this was fascinating! I should have shown him my helmet and Nalgene (BPA-free) water bottle, he probably would have lost his mind. For all of it's forward thinking and great environmental policies, the culture in Sweden is green, but not too green (Lagom?). I don't think I've seen a travel mug for sale since I've been here and outside of my Canadian/enviro-friends, I don't think I've seen any in use. To add insult to injury, because travel mugs have yet to become the new skinny jeans (can those please go out of style already? PLEASE?!), sometimes your coffee is actually more expensive if you bring your own mug.

Come on Sweden, you charge enough in tax, I'd like my 10 cent discount for not killing the planet....