Kalas (Swedish) = Party (English)

Summer is generally considered to be the most pleasant season in Sweden and The weather is just right for many outdoor activities. Since Göteborg is located at rather high latitude of 58°N, therefore during the winter time, the daylight time is short and the temperature hovers around freezing. Therefore the Swedish love sun very much. You can see many people sunbath lay on the grass when the sun appears. Some read books, some talk with their family, some play with their dogs, and some just enjoy the sun. There are green lawns everywhere in Göteborg. The whole city is just like a big park. When we asked people we met in the park that “how often do you come to the park?”. The answer is always the same, “If it is a sunny day, then we’ll come”. I think the Swedish never miss a sunny day, and Göteborgskalaset is a kind of party to let people have more activities to join and have fun together in this wonderful time. The other goal of Göteborgskalaset might be to attract visitors. The investigate shows that 57 % of visitors come from Göteborg, and 4 % are international visitors. We are among those lucky 4 % to have chance to join this party.

They say Göteborgskalaset is Sweden’s largest annual city festival. During this time, many different kinds of performing art are provided. During 2004, there are 700 program slots and 170 musical performances. During Göteborgskalaset, many attractions such as museums and theme parks are free to enter. For international students with limited budget, this is one of the most welcome features of the Göteborgskalaset. This means we have chance to enter to the biggest theme park in the northern Europe, Liseberg, without entrance fee. However, We found every ride costs extra fee to play with. Consequently, we could only afford to buy an ice cream and watch other people playing. Nevertheless, it is a good pleasure for us only to be around and to enjoy the pleasant atmosphere there. We also found the people here love to play a kind of gambling game. It is a game to guess the number on the turning wheel, and the prizes for the winner are something like huge chocolate, as tall as one person, or large stuffed animal toy. One of us had borrowed the big chocolate from the winner to take pictures with it. There were many shows that night. We chose to listene to jazz music. I feel relax in such a wonderful night of summer in the northern Europe listening jazz show in the crowded theme park.

Göteborg has an opera house and the ticket for watching the opera is very expensive for us. In Göteborgskalaset, an opera called “Nabucco” was performed in an open space Götaplatsen. Since it was free and was performed at the art museum in Göteborg, we grasped the chance to visit art museum and watched the opera.

Göteborgskalaset usually hold at the beginning of August. This year it ran for nine days, from Friday August 5 till Saturday August 13, 2005. In addition to the abundant performances, many food stands emerged at Kungstorgetsin the center of Göteborg. You can taste many varieties of food from around the globe. In the middle of the square, there were a stage with some tables and chairs in front of it. Hence people can buy some delicious meals they like, sit down and enjoy the shows. The program always presented in Swedish. Although we were studying Swedish during that time, we still could not pick up anything. A beautiful middle age woman surprised us by starting to explain the content of the show in Chinese! We have heard that in Sweden many people take a great interest in learning Chinese, and will take some Chinese course. Therefore you should not be surprised to find somebody on the road to talk with you in Chinese. Nevertheless, we were surprised, and thought it is amazing.

You should not think these activities are made especially for young people. Actually, the survey tells us that the average age of the attendee is 31. I think the senior citizens here are very energetic. In the same place that holds the opera, Götaplatsen, we listened to a concert of “DIGGILOO”. The singer sang some song in sixties and seventies, and most of the listeners are senior citizen. It seemed like the host of the show always talked something amusing, because everybody laughed heartily and some laughed out really loud. We tried to figure out what was the amusing story he said but we could not. All we could do was to try to laugh together sillily. Except this kind of show for senior citizens, there also have some activities for young kids in a park, and it provided some outdoor game for kids about age 6~12.

The mass transportation is very convenient in Göteborg. Trolley and Bus stops can be seen everywhere in the city. But at the end of the Göteborgskalaset, all the traffic system seemed like a mess. Later we found that they hold a running contest that runner should run through the city, so the trolley and bus must be rerouted. If we know this event in advance, we would like to join race! However, at that time, our hands were loaded with many items and bags without Food Stands in Kungstorgets any bus to take us back to our dormitory.

It is impossible for you to miss the Göteborgskalaset if you happen to be around. Although Göteborg is the second largest city in Sweden, still it has a population of only 850,000. Thus, you rarely have a chance to see so many people crowded on the road. In addition, the flags of Göteborgskalaset were hung beside the street everywhere. The street artist and performer packed along the sidewalk with varieties of entertainments such as playing fire ball, selling pictures, and playing music. The streets were filled with joyful and happy people. Next year’s festival will be arranged to coincide with the European Championships in Athletics 2006. If you want to travel in Sweden, do not miss the Göteborgskalaset.