Stockholm was my second home in the months between September 2008 and June 2009.

My boyfriend was studying in the Swedish capital, so the only thing I had to do was pay for flights. When asked if I was venturing anywhere for the summer, I was often faced with an amusing reaction when I’d reply ‘Sweden’. Stockholm is apparently hardly the kind of destination that on first impression screams ‘holiday’, but it was there that I found myself – and it didn’t fail to impress.

Stockholm manages to balance the laid-back attitude of its citizens with the hustle and bustle of the modern day cosmopolitan metropolis. Describing Stockholm to someone who has never been there is arguably relatively easy: Stockholm is somewhere between Paris and London. My other half often says that Stockholm isn’t like Paris, where a select few will look down upon you because you don’t speak French…