[Vinkekatten]

I'll be honest, it's a little rough. Around late december, the darkest part of the year, I barely see sunlight for a month or two. I'm at work by 8:30, sun rises 10. I leave work at 16:00, sun sets 14:00.

It gets better though, so by february the worst bit is over. It's not really that awful - you really get a physical sense of the year progressing, and in a sense the darkness is cozy. Lots of light in the cities, starry skies in the countryside. Get some solarium tan going and spend a week or two of vacation time in warmer parts of the world and it's not at all bad.

[mstade]

For me as a Swede, January is the hardest month. November and December when it gets real dark aren't too bad, you have Christmas and all that to both literally (what with all the lights) and figuratively light everything up. But then January comes around, Christmas is over, the lights all or mostly come down in the first or second week, and you're a couple of months away from any kind of spring rearing its head, with nothing to keep you afloat in the meantime through all that darkness.

I'm not gonna lie, it's tough. January is my least favorite month in the nordic countries.

As soon as February comes around things start getting better though. There's optimism in the air that while it's still cold and snowy (possibly even colder than January) spring is just around the corner. There's also plenty of winter sports around February and early March, such as the Vasa race[1], which is always fun.

Come April and May, when spring is in full force, the optimism reaches a fever pitch, culminating with midsummer eve in June. This is a huge part of the build up to the nordic summer, which is the most amazing thing you'll experience – in great contrast to the deep darkness of winter, the light simply never ends! If you're way up north, this is literal since the sun never actually sets. It's quite a sight.

Still, I've lived in other parts of the world with different climates and I wouldn't trade the nordic climate for anything. Like you say, the physical sense of the year progressing is something special, and even to the point that I almost get depressed without it. Certainly, if I miss the nordic summer I'm gutted.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasaloppet

[talldan]

It's not too different in London, to be honest. In December the sun is only up at 8, during which time a lot of people are underground on the tube, and by 6 the sun has set again when we're doing the reverse journey.