smell the wine and cheap perfume

"Prater du Engelska?"
"Yes."
"My sister and I are making a book, and we're asking people 'What is love.' What do you think love is?"

This was the exchange we had multiple times as we interviewed locals about the meaning of love. Ammadeus was wearing her 30's looking oval hat and cream colored coat. I wore her long, shiny black jacket with the buckle in the front; on my head sat a poofy green hat that Llama had knit – it made me feel artsy.

Ammadeus toted the pen and notebook while I manned the camera. As we headed out, I warned her that interviewing people can be a tricky process – some people do not want to talk, and many people refuse to be photographed. They would probably not want to give out personal information such as name and email, and they would most likely regard us suspiciously. I had conducted many spur of the moment interviews as a journalism major in California and Swedes are generally much more reserved than Americans.

Naturally, after my little pep talk, we ran into the friendliest, open, willing-to-be-photographed-and-give-email-and-name-and-where-they-were-from people imaginable.

And what do Swedes think love is? You'll have to read the book.

Just kidding. Here's some of what we came across.

Nature. A mid-thirties dark-haired Swedish woman, dressed casually and sitting on a dock, staring over the lake and sipping coffee. She says that love is in nature. It's being able to come outside after being sick for a few days and re-experience the scenery.

Physical. A middle-aged man, sitting on a bench with his iPhone, tells us that love is about a physical connection.

Togetherness. We serendipitously stumbled across a newlywed couple. They happily laughed when we asked our question, and the woman explained that love is about just being together.

These were a few of the answers we received. I really do want to follow through on the book.