First 48 hours in Sweden
Two words describe my first 48 hours in Sweden: busy and tiring. It was basically non-stop. My flight between London and Copenhagen landed around 6. Thankfully my luggage was not lost in it's long trek between Atlanta and Copenhagen. I quickly scurried to the train platform to board the train to Sweden.
I was amazed how close Sweden and Copenhagen is. As we started to descend for landing in Copenhagen I was looking out the window looking at what I thought was Copenhagen. Nope! All of the sudden the plane took a sharp turn to reveal Copenhagen and what I was gazing at was in fact the Sweden coast.
Connecting the two coasts is the Oresund Bridge. Part of the bridge is above the water and a small section is underneath the water. From the plane it seemed the bridge just sunk into the water and sank however in the train it was just another tunnel. So thankfully, my anxiety didn't shoot up because I would see sea critters from the train (even though that would be pretty cool!)
Even though I am living in Helsingborg, I had to spend the night in Lund in order to pick up my apartment key the next morning. I had booked an Airbnb for the evening so before leaving the train station, I use their wifi to search for directions. Google said that it would only take me 18 minutes to get there... it took me over an hour. My goodness there are so many small and winding streets. I got my exercise and saw a lot of Lund in that evening. Thankfully it stays light here until about 9 pm and no one seemed to be interested in pickpocketing me.
Once at the Airbnb, I just crashed.
The next morning I was awoken at 4 am by the sun. Not being able to go back to sleep, I checked out of my Airbnb and headed over to the apartment office. I arrived early so I found a sweet cafe to grab coffee and a cinnamon bun. I had read so many good things about these famous Swedish cinnamon buns and they did not disappoint!
I picked up my key with no problem and once again got on another train, this time to Helsingborg! Again, I got lost with the directions I was looking at from Google what should have been a 20 minute walk was 45. Again, I saw some gorgeous and old parts of Helsingborg. I found my apartment building and to my surprise I was amazed how nice it was! I live on the top floor with my own kitchenette. The housing office at Lund really went above and beyond to make this homey. I had all of the essential apartment things-- all I had to do was add me.
I showered in my new apartment and went back to the train station to get a transportation card for the month since I will be going back and forth a lot this first month. I then took a bus to IKEA. IKEA was extremely overwhelming. I knew what I needed and wanted but I was confused by my little Swedish and the measurements of everything. In the end, I just got the cheapest things with the mindset that if they didn't work then I wouldn't be out that much money. After my trip to IKEA, I headed back out to the grocery store (ICA). This again was overwhelming and tiring. This time however, I had downloaded an offline English-Swedish dictionary. I guess the biggest surprise to me was the packaging of foods. Everything is packaged to be its absolute greenest. For example, I was staring at jelly for a good 5 minutes because it was in this packaging that reminded me of a cookie dough roll... I realized that you are supposed to put it inside of a reusable jar to serve. Many things require storage in a glass or plastic reusable jar so I will have to get a small army of them when I return IKEA.
I was amazed how close Sweden and Copenhagen is. As we started to descend for landing in Copenhagen I was looking out the window looking at what I thought was Copenhagen. Nope! All of the sudden the plane took a sharp turn to reveal Copenhagen and what I was gazing at was in fact the Sweden coast.
Connecting the two coasts is the Oresund Bridge. Part of the bridge is above the water and a small section is underneath the water. From the plane it seemed the bridge just sunk into the water and sank however in the train it was just another tunnel. So thankfully, my anxiety didn't shoot up because I would see sea critters from the train (even though that would be pretty cool!)
Even though I am living in Helsingborg, I had to spend the night in Lund in order to pick up my apartment key the next morning. I had booked an Airbnb for the evening so before leaving the train station, I use their wifi to search for directions. Google said that it would only take me 18 minutes to get there... it took me over an hour. My goodness there are so many small and winding streets. I got my exercise and saw a lot of Lund in that evening. Thankfully it stays light here until about 9 pm and no one seemed to be interested in pickpocketing me.
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| Main university building in Lund |
Once at the Airbnb, I just crashed.
The next morning I was awoken at 4 am by the sun. Not being able to go back to sleep, I checked out of my Airbnb and headed over to the apartment office. I arrived early so I found a sweet cafe to grab coffee and a cinnamon bun. I had read so many good things about these famous Swedish cinnamon buns and they did not disappoint!
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| My first fika |
I picked up my key with no problem and once again got on another train, this time to Helsingborg! Again, I got lost with the directions I was looking at from Google what should have been a 20 minute walk was 45. Again, I saw some gorgeous and old parts of Helsingborg. I found my apartment building and to my surprise I was amazed how nice it was! I live on the top floor with my own kitchenette. The housing office at Lund really went above and beyond to make this homey. I had all of the essential apartment things-- all I had to do was add me.
I showered in my new apartment and went back to the train station to get a transportation card for the month since I will be going back and forth a lot this first month. I then took a bus to IKEA. IKEA was extremely overwhelming. I knew what I needed and wanted but I was confused by my little Swedish and the measurements of everything. In the end, I just got the cheapest things with the mindset that if they didn't work then I wouldn't be out that much money. After my trip to IKEA, I headed back out to the grocery store (ICA). This again was overwhelming and tiring. This time however, I had downloaded an offline English-Swedish dictionary. I guess the biggest surprise to me was the packaging of foods. Everything is packaged to be its absolute greenest. For example, I was staring at jelly for a good 5 minutes because it was in this packaging that reminded me of a cookie dough roll... I realized that you are supposed to put it inside of a reusable jar to serve. Many things require storage in a glass or plastic reusable jar so I will have to get a small army of them when I return IKEA.
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| Main Room |
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| Nice bathroom... yes that's my very own washer! |
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| Sweet little kitchen, I think I'll be making lots of yummy things here. |
Whew! What a couple of days I've had and I only know that my schedule will get worse before it gets better. Today I am traveling back to Lund to check in at Arrival Day which is like an orientation day of sorts. I am thankful that I am pretty settled and rested before jumping in that mess.
your little mouse
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