I’m from Sweden, a city called Skövde.

Whenever people ask me where I’m from, I say that I’m from the south-west of Sweden, because 1. it’s a small town and 2. no one here knows how to pronounce it.  “Stockholm?” people guess.

No, not Stockholm. Skövde is fairly easy to locate on a map though – right in the middle of the two lakes Vänern and Vättern.

There’s a big mountain there and also a University that focuses mainly on developing computer games.

I went there myself, however, I studied social psychology.

I don’t get to visit Skövde too often, unfortunately.

It’s a little bit difficult to get to, especially with a little one, and I suppose I don’t have the usual reasons for going there.

I don’t have much of a family and most people I grew up with have moved to places we can all pronounce the names of and can locate on a map. I have many friends in the nearby areas, though, so I always make sure to visit them all.

The city isn’t perfect, of course, but when you’re experiencing homesickness, you tend to only remember the good things.

The long bike rides around the lakes, blueberry picking by the mountain, the Midsummer celebration in the park and the yearly food festival.

Sadly, I won’t get to experience any of this anytime soon because of Covid-19.

For a long time, I have managed to either ignore or distract my feelings of homesickness, but I must say it’s getting difficult.

Normally I’d book a flight or at least have an idea of when I’m going, so I can turn the homesickness into excitement, but all the different kinds of flight pages I normally use are unable to tell me whether there will be any flights available or not.

Even when I try to look for flights in October.

I guess I can’t expect anyone to answer when this all will be over. It’s not like I can ask to speak to Covid-19’s manager and demand answers.

So I try my best to stay connected with my friends and reassure them I will come home soon. Make up for birthdays I couldn’t be there for but most of all just spend time with them all.

I call Sweden my home although I see England equally as my home. I guess I’ve come to refer to Sweden as my summer house.

It’s my number one destination and I love to stay there but I can’t see myself moving back there for the time being. But that doesn’t mean I’ve closed the door forever.