One of the benefits about being active at the nation is that you get to meet students from other Universities that are connected to your nation through ‘friendships’. Every nation in Uppsala has ties with a select set of ‘friendship-nations’ around the world and travel there for specific celebrations or festivals.

It’s easy to forget there are other Universities in Sweden when you spend all your time in Uppsala, but a 7-hour train ride or 1-hour flight brings you to the edge of Sweden, near Denmark, where Lund University lies.

During the Spring Ball and Lucia, students from our friendship Nation in Lund are invited here, but during their biggest festivals – Snapphanefesten (or ‘snappis’) and Carnival – we are invited there. This is my experience attending Snappis this year.

We arrived on Friday at Kristianstad Nation and unpacked our belongings. Unlike Uppsala, students in Lund live in their nation houses, in corridors that run right the way through all 8 floors with the pub on the bottom floor and a sauna in the basement.

The Sexa on the Friday night was a welcome introduction, we shared food and drink with the active members of Kristianstad and members from their friendship nation in Finland and Denmark – sharing gifts, good company and songs.

Saturday was the day of the ceremony and ball, we had a tour around the city of Lund followed by pre-drinks with the curators of the nation. Entering the man hall, we were seated for a 2-hour ceremony where all those present who chose to, were awarded medals. The active members of Kristianstad Nation had songs written about them that were performed with great joy and flare.

One thing to know about the nations in Lund is that they love performing… Singing, acting and dancing are all very popular. Lund Carnival is a huge annual festival that attracts huge numbers, just like Valborg here. So throughout the dinner, mini-sketches were displayed on the big screen as well as songs, speeches and all the other traditional gasque activities. One unique tradition is that everyone brings a gift for their table partner (hence the moustaches).

The very last day we had a brunch altogether to recollect ourselves, our memories from the night before and enjoy the outdoor hot tub.

Overall it was a great experience and I’m looking forward to visiting Lund later this year for the Carnival!

/Rhianna