The International Gasque!

It's about 10:00pm on Wednesday night here in Uppsala and you're probably wondering what amazing trip I'm going to tell you about this time. Well surprisingly, I stayed in good ol' Uppsala for the weekend! As much as I'm loving the whole traveling thing, it's been nice to stay put for more than a couple days haha. Life in Uppsala has definitely picked up. I've been a little busier with school (weird right?!) and enjoying the warmer weather we've had this past week...finally got above zero degrees celsius! For those of you that are used to F (like me haha) that means that we finally got some weather above freezing temperatures!! It couldn't have come at a better time either because this weekend was the International Gasque (spelled just the way it sounds)!
Before I left for Sweden, they told us about these things called 'gasques' at my orientation. After now experiencing one for myself, I'd describe it as an upscaled Swedish version of prom. The night essentially consists of everyone getting dressed up (girls in formal dresses and guys in suits/tuxes), eating dinner, and then dancing the night away at the after party. Sounds pretty familiar right?? Well if I had to choose between the American Prom and a Swedish Gasque, I'd pick the gasque! The entire event is an elegant display of Swedish culture and tradition!
I started the night off by getting ready with a few other girls, you know the usual dress, hair, and make-up stuff!

The gasque was hosted by the V-Dala Nation, which is one of the larger nations in Uppsala. We got there at 5:30pm, but didn't actually sit down for dinner until around 6:30pm. They had free champagne for everyone to sip on while we waited to go upstairs for dinner. The room quickly filled up and by dinner time it was packed! Apparently there was about 400 of us international students at this gasque!

Everyone downstairs, drinking free champagne, waiting for dinner...

Finally around 6:30pm, the guy in charge of the gasque came downstairs, blew a horn (what would later be known as the drinking horn) and announced that dinner was ready! We headed upstairs to a giant ballroom, lined with about 15 long tables, all beautifully set for the night's meal...

After sitting down and getting settled, a bunch of waiters lined the room and gave every person a shot of Swedish Schnapps. Here began a long night of drinking! We were not allowed to take the shot in one gulp, but had to pace ourselves so that we took it in three different sips. This was because we sang Swedish songs in between, which all end by saying 'Skol!' (or 'Cheers!'). Basically the night consisted of singing, then drinking, then singing, then drinking, then singing, then drinking, and finally food...but only the appetizer. We were served reindeer and salad to begin with, which was surprisingly very tasty!

After the appetizer, we were given another shot of Schnapps and proceeded with more singing and drinking. For dinner they gave us moose meat with mashed potatoes and for desert we got this custard-like substance with raspberry sauce...all delicious!! By the end of the meal (which lasted until 10:30pm I might add) I'd consumed 2 shots of Schnapps, a beer, 2 glasses of wine, and 2 shots of baileys with dessert. Needless to say, everyone was drunk! In between the singing, drinking, and eating, we were also entertained by an orchestra, an all-boys acapella group, and a group of drummers. Here's the best group of the night!...A bunch of Swedish Boy-Scout look-alikes singing Backstreet Boys...

Once dinner was all said and done, they cleared the tables out of the ballroom and started the after party, which included a live band, open bar, and karaoke! We danced the night away, or at least a good chunk of it and I got home around 3am. Overall, the night was filled with good food (intertwined with lots of alcohol), good people, and a ton of Swedish culture and tradition. It was an experience completely unique to Uppsala and a night I'll never forget!