THIS is where I grew up in SWEDEN︱+ How my mom stays so fit!

We are in SWEDEN where I grew up! 🇸🇪 I am so excited to finally show you some of the beautiful Swedish West Coast and take you along on a day here. We also ask my mother questions about the differences between Sweden and Portugal, how she stays so fit, and more! I hope you enjoy this video and thank you so much for being here! I love y’all! ✨

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About Cecilia:
Cecilia Blomdahl is originally from Sweden and moved to Svalbard 8 years ago. She works as a photographer and videographer in Longyearbyen, and with her social media channels. Check her out on tiktok and instagram under her handle @sejsejlija! Here on youtube she posts videos about her daily life in her cabin with her boyfriend Christoffer and her dog Grim, living just outside of Longyearbyen. Subscribe for videos about her daily life as well as adventures on an island close to the North Pole. They have polar bears there!

0:00 Welcome to Sweden
01:03 Morning Routine
01:42 Gothenburg
03:12 How often do you visit Sweden?
04:03 How is it being so far away from your kids?
07:22 Breakfast
08:22 Why did I go to Sweden
09:21 Favourite Cecilia childhood memory?
10:36 Itinerary
13:02 House Tour
17:30 Cykling
18:00 Why did you leave Sweden?
20:28 Grocery Store
21:26 Swedish Westcoast
22:18 What is your favourite Swedish food?
23:00 Forest Walk
26:29 How do you stay so fit?
29:44 Bright Summer Nights
30:31 Patreon

good morning everyone we are not on spard we are in Sweden very spontaneous trip because my sister just had a baby so I flew down here first thing to meet the new baby and also hang out with my sister and my parents so today we’re going to do a little Day in Sweden this is just in the area of where I grew up so you’re going to see kind of what my life was when I was a youngling all the way up to a teenager and this is a very beautiful part of Sweden today is a little bit windy though but I think it’s going to calm down in a minute first we’re going to make coffee we’re going to talk to my mom we’re going to ask her some questions and we’re going to get the day started all right what a day do you want to see the view we got to also hang out the sheets of course ite fore speech I grew up outside of guthenberg which is Sweden’s second largest city located on the west coast of Sweden it has a population of around 580,000 people in the city center our house is located in this area just south of guthenberg with beautiful nature all around and Sweden we have something called alans rean which means the right of public access this gives everyone the freedom to roam and explore the beauty of Sweden you can sleep on mountaintops by a lake or in a quiet Forest as long as it’s not in someone’s private Garden it is yours to explore the west coast is absolutely idyllic especially in summer it’s known for its bare Cliffs wide archipelago and cute Villages along the coast the region of buusan which stretches from guthenberg all the way to the Norwegian border is also very popular In Summer with its thousands of small Islands it makes for a very popular place for boating during the summer months okay so I was just to visit you in Portugal um and we’ve never been with you guys to this house and I have actually never been here before no and so I asked the people on my patreon to ask you questions because they thought it was so interesting to talk to you in Portugal which it was you live in Portugal now with dad of course and you have for 10 years yeah so how often do you visit Sweden Sweden how often do you visit Sweden uh let’s say we come here maybe uh three four times a year y we grew up in this area but not in this house because they sold that because it was you know a little bit bigger and we’ve done our time there all that yeah when they moved to Portugal so when did you buy this uh could it be 3 years ago very nice house it’s it’s not especially big but big enough for for us and maybe a couple of visitors uh but it’s a very nice very nice place oh I’m assuming the reason why you bought it bought a house in Sweden again was to get closer to friends get closer to a little bit of Sweden again sometimes and definitely yeah family and Gunners brothers and uh well family okay okay okay okay so a question is how do you handle being so far away from your kids living in different countries so first maybe give an overview of where we live now and it’s kind of funny maybe we can quickly go through it’s going to be so difficult how many times we’ve all moved oh my God maybe I think okay so I’ll do really quick one so I mean you started already in uh High School yes oh yes so did Camille yeah yeah you knowels first I think the biggest first trip we ever did when we moved was Ireland that’s the biggest one and that kind of started it all 200 I think 2001 yeah so we lived in Sweden and then we moved to Ireland 2001 the whole family and after that we kind of just kept moving around so I went to Spain Camille went to Belgium Gabrielle went to Ireland again we did all go back to oh yeah we went back to yes and then you started yes so we went back to Sweden cuz we we’re still quite young yeah all of us so we finished school and then well I did go to Spain in the middle of school Swedish school yeah okay but anyway so we moved around which is incredible it’s I think the biggest thing that has shaped me is how many different experiences I got and what was so good with our school in Sweden I could go to Spain cuz I could move my Swedish school year to a different Swedish School in a different country so it’s not like I paid to go to a school or anything they just move you there pretty much and the Swedish money they put into Swedish schooling they move to that school yeah so it’s a whole thing you can actually do as an exchange which I thought was incredible and Camille did the same thing so it’s we have she went to not to Spain but to belgi we have such good opportunities with education in Sweden I’m pretty amazed Camille she now now lives in Massachusetts Y and Gabrielle lives in gburg how do you feel about us being all over the world I get this question all the time as well and but the thing is that we moved because we wanted to to have a change uh we lived in Sweden for such a long time and we said we want to have more quality when we retire but I think since we moved so much when we were younger you already got so used to us being out exploring the world that’s my think thinking anyway that cuz I think the same I am so used to us living in different countries that I don’t even think about you not having around like having you around the corner when we see each other it’s 24/7 yeah so it’s it’s a lot of quality time instead of you know Sunday dinners or yeah which could be lovely as well but we’re so for us it’s fine even though sometimes it’s you know it is what it is but it’s our all all of us have chosen to do this yeah and again we have possibility to travel to each other I think that’s what makes it very easy it would be so sad if we couldn’t you know but we very important yeah we can what are we going to have for breakfast I had a liver paste sandwich with some gir this is what we’re talking about here with the liver pate this oh You’ seen me eat this on small so much I absolutely love [Music] this here is one part of the breakfast and extremely tasty this bread my best friend mckella who I met she bought this for us with her she’s a sweethart we’re going to go to the grocery store later you’re coming I have to buy cheese and butter for Christopher Christopher had to stay home this one as well because Grim you know I booked this trip two days before cuz I didn’t know we didn’t know when the baby was going to come out I was actually supposed to come down here to help my mom with my sister’s older child while they were in the hospital but the baby came out just I think the day after due date which was not expected so when I got here the baby was like one day old but so I got to see the baby the first thing instead of you know we didn’t have to wait for it but so Christopher had to stay with grim of course and also you know I was just coming down to hang out with family so was easier if we weren’t too many people but we’re going to go down to the mainland together this summer as well so he’s getting a vacation and we’re going to be going to Sweden again so that’s good this is incredibly tasty incredibly tasty what is your favorite Cecilia memory from growing up in Sweden you just said something that I would like you to repeat what did you say you were absolutely you were so sweet you you you had so much energy and you were very very cute I do have a nice memory when Camille was newly born and uh I was you know this I was trying to feed her sitting in the sofa in the living room and suddenly you come with a dead little mouse in your hand like swinging it like oh m look at this look what I found and I was trying to stay calm because I really wanted to feed camil and it was just like oh my God no I I can’t handle this I got so we was just so I can’t it’s just so funny it was hilarious and you were there breastfeeding Camille yes just like and she was maybe a month like no it I think it’s just Wing just and that’s when I thought maybe I shouldn’t be bre breastfeeding so much I I have to have the time maybe I should skip this third child I got it from my mama so I came here Monday this week and I’m leaving on Monday so exactly a week which was perfect and I timed the weather so well on slard it is raining they had snow yesterday I was like what and then the weather here was just Sunshine beautiful weather every day and then we’ve had like a little bit of rain yesterday we might have a little bit of rain today later on um we might head to the forest to enjoy that rain cuz that’s the best place but so I Ed this so well I think spontaneous trips like this is so important to see family and I told myself that’s what I would do because I spent quite a lot of time not being spontaneous cuz I’ve had so much work and I’m like I need to prioritize family I need to you know not miss these moments that I’m never going to get again and to be able to see Teddy the new baby like in this when when he’s just brand new and to get to spend some time with family such a good decision and I mean I haven’t been to this part of Sweden in like I want to say like six years or something like that this is where I’m from you know well I’m very very happy that I’m here and that I get to see this house and that it’s beautiful now we’re going to make a bed and then we’re going to do a little house tour and then we’re going to head out guys look it’s my photos I’m honored I’m going to show you we also said me and Mom that we might do some we might print some new ones for some of the frames my favorite one is the one behind you I’m going to show you in a minute okay mother before we head out on our bikes yeah can you take us for a little house tour okay a house tour this is the kitchen you told me that everything came like this yes um how random is that I know I know it was just like this is so Sim similar to what we had in our house uh when it comes to uh the counter the top uh kitchen top or or whatever you call it and uh everything the layout is very nice the only thing we did was to um sand the floors right exactly we had a fantastic old man I think he was 75 or 78 or something and uh we he was recommended and he did a great job so the floor is really nice I love otherwise everything is just as it was do you sit here much in the winter yes and this is a working uh stuff fir yeah fir very nice very very nice do you know what’s funny the people who lived here they moved to Portugal I think that was lovely they had teenage Sons no not even teenage I think they were N 9 11 and 12 or something okay 9 11 and 12 boys and they wanted to move to a different country exactly like we did when we moved to Ireland same age span of the K of the kids and we met them uh about a year after they moved down there and they love it kids love school I love that that they moved there they wanted them to experience something else yeah these are from our old house yes I think gunar bought them they’re felt Birds they’re not real bird heads okay no no these are not real I love details like this this makes reminds me of my feet that I bought after visiting Olivia there’s a bedroom in there wardrobes in there yes this is super super smart I would actually have this in my house my grandpa painted this of his summer house where we used to spend so much time I did 2007 so that’s my summer house when I was little when you were little beautiful beautiful beautiful bathroom this is so smart yeah this is definitely your very good size puzzle y that Ella did very recently and I’m going to show you where it is and this is the result so this is the puzzle framed Ella did a great job I would never have you know it would have taken me half year it looks really good it is nice and this is where the little kids the grandchildren can spend time when they come here uh double bed it is it’s so nice and this is you Cecilia oh and your sister my mother here behind me she has painted this cuz she’s an artist look at that that’s me and that’s my older sister these also are Handmade by my Grandpa and we played with these and he also did this yeah this whole thing and I I’m guessing it’s also his specific design and everything like he made these and we spent our entire years growing up playing with these my sets on from New York from 8s from the 80s really yes that was when I went to New York so we went to the ston one of the ston shops in New York and bought this one but it’s going to look ridiculous when you don’t have you know you so good in it howdy ma’am I just want to have where’s my horse should we go cycling yes around the neighborhood and we need to go buy butter and cheese foree foreign spee have a this what made you leave Sweden and I’m thinking first answer why you left the first time which is when you went to Ireland gunar and I had always a plan to move abroad uh at some point uh could be after retirement or during uh work and he got an opportunity to move to Ireland and one day he called and he said that we have we have the chance to move to Ireland what do you say I say yes and then I asked that uh your you three and I said what do you think about moving to Ireland and you said yeah I don’t know if you even knew what you were answering to but uh we were all very happy with that or you wanted something different just a change uh change I was kind of you know you get bored after a while you go to work you go back and you have three kids and you see that there are different you know you do different things in life and when you went to Portugal uh that was definitely a retirement plan so I think Gunner left his job in late December and we were thinking of moving in March we left end of January oh my God we just packed the car and we said bye to you and just like we’re going because we had already bought the house a year before Oh so we did have a plan and Portugal was the first choice to move to so is there anything you missed from Sweden and is there anything you missed from Portugal now that you in Sweden so what in each country when you’re here no well you know since we’re not here for such a long time I think it’s it’s fine to be here and it’s good to be in Portugal when I’m there so but my my main choice my life is in uh Portugal nowadays I think that’s a really similar answer to what I usually say when somebody says what do you miss from Sweden don’t you miss this but I appreciate the things that I have in each place I really don’t spend time in SW missing things I don’t have it’s a waste of time so when I’m here I love going to the forest but when I’m when I’m on smallart I love doing what I do on swart you know so like it’s it’s more appreciating what you have where you are versus kind of always thinking about what you don’t have ex I feel like it’s a waste of time so when I’m here yeah and I think it’s a good way to think also we generally don’t buy any food with us up to sard but lately Christopher and I have been obsessing a little bit over Swedish cheese and Swedish butter so per Christopher’s request I am buying some of those with me back to sard this time he also requested vanilla bean pods as well as rose hip soup powder a lot of nostalgia with that but I forgot about that today so I will have to go back for that before I leave this is the butter that is so good especially the one with sea salt us sweets are also dying over the latest hype online which is Swedish candy or Swedish sweets as I would say the world has discovered our pick and mix when I was young we would get Saturday sweets which B going to the store to make a little pick and mix bag but it is incredibly tasty mom and I jumped back on board our bikes to head to a nearby cafe to grab a coffee we both AB absolutely love Road biking and this part of Sweden is so perfect for it we’ve spent most of this week out and about cycling around our neighborhood but also taking our bikes to visit my sister which is a 50-minute ride from our house but it takes you along the most beautiful way along the coastline this week’s weather has also been perfect we’ve even had 30° c one day which is a little bit crazy but I mean it it kind of isn’t always the case that it’s this beautiful the Swedish summer can be absolutely idyllic but it is also a little bit unpredictable before I came they had had many days of rain so I was very lucky this week with this weather okay m uh cooked TS little horse radish um pepper potato [Music] [Applause] we are out in the woods and my favorite section of this Woods cuz it’s the most magical little spot here and listen to The Birds it’s raining a little bit it wasn’t raining when we started and then just little quick rain spell but we brought some jackets for it so it’s completely fine it’s not cold or anything and you know who doesn’t mind a little bit of rain when it’s this beautiful I used to spend a few times every week running here because this is like a running or walking or kind of hiking uh Trail so it’s either a short one which is like 2 and a half kilometers or this one which is 7 and a half and you can combine the two so that’s what I us usually did and I just love being in the forest listen to the birds it’s so magical now we have to run to catch up with my parents you [Applause] ready this feels like always like a little bit of a magical forest doesn’t it look at that little Trail kind of magical mag everywhere very it’s beautiful it [Laughter] is we’re just checking out the outdoor gym Dad is working on his balance looking so cool how long have we got now we are 41 minutes 3 kilm and 25 minutes guys we’ve done it in 41 minutes we’re breaking records here I have a question for you okay how how have you stayed so active like how are you so fit well I don’t know if I’m really that fit but thank you thank you uh I well I’m in general I’m active all the time and I think I’ve been active ever since you know after I turned 20 I used to be doing a lot of gymnastics when I was young really young and uh then it’s it’s kind of it’s been a bit of my lifestyle my father was very active he was a gymnast and I thought that was very inspiring and uh then after I got my three daughters including Cecilia I uh I kept on training kept on jogging kept on training a little bit more hard than I do nowadays but I think an active lifestyle is very much you know the key yeah it’s the key for my life and both uh physically and mentally yeah definitely so I think it’s a good combination to do to be active and to be more happy one thing I definitely enjoy when I get to the mainland is this you know just going straight out into the forest it doesn’t matter if it’s raining and just following a hike Trail it’s so simple here you don’t have to worry about so polar bears and well I don’t necessarily kind of miss anything on spard I just enjoy this when I’m here you know it’s it’s a perk of the Mainland it’s very very beautiful we don’t have much left a few kilometers look at [Applause] this listen to The Birds there’s one over there that seems to have a lot to say today seems to have beef with someone chatty Kathy over there the rain has stopped and we are very close to our car great timing the sun is even coming out whoop whoop Mommy after our very sporty day outside and the beautiful nature we headed back home to the house to chill for the rest of the day since Sweden is so far north it has very bright Summers and in Northern Sweden they also actually experence experience Midnight Sun for a few weeks in summer here on the West Coast we thankfully get somewhat dark nights but only when the clock has ticked towards midnight at 10:30 p.m. the sky is still bright with beautiful pink sunset clouds slowly fading to leave space for the night sky this is the first time I have ever shown you the part of Sweden that I’m from so I really hope you enjoyed this video next week we will be back on spard with Christopher and Grimm so make sure to subscribe to get notifications on when I post which is every Sunday also check out my patreon to see more videos from us as well as other content like downloadable wallpaper and Q&A and stuff like that thank you so much for watching this video I will see you next week bye I have a question for you guys hello what parts of Sweden do you miss p [Laughter] what parts