Sweden
Filed under Sweden
Creative title, I know.
So I’ve been here since Friday afternoon, and since then I have actually gotten used to some of the things that shocked me in the very beginning. But first things first.
I left Germany at 6.30am on Friday. My dad took me to the airport, and everything worked out fine. My suitcase was 3 kilos too heavy but the Lufthansa lady just waved me through. It’s important to have a feeling of success as early as possible on a trip like this! Heh.
The sun was just coming up when the plane left Hannover Airport. I hadn’t flown anyplace since my trip to Kentucky in 2007 so I was stoked about seeing the planet from above. (By the way: my parents simply decided not to drive me up here after all because they had trouble finding a hotel up here and my mom actually hates driving – so they canceled our 12-hour road trip and had me fly up here instead.) The flight to Copenhagen only took one hour, and approaching the Danish coast at 7.30 on a sunny August morning has to be among the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
Also: Copenhagen airport. So pretty. So worthy of a 4-hour layover. So much glass and wooden floors and fancy stores like Prada and Burberry and hip cafés and, most importantly, Starbucks. I bought a mocca frappuccino in exchange for half the content of my wallet (their prices are criminal, honestly) and sat on the second floor, with a great view of a busy air field. I sat there for about an hour, and I swear that at least sixty planes must have taken off during that time.
My flight from Copenhagen to my final destination took another hour, the plane was tiny but only half full. Sweden from above is all forests and lakes and tiny red houses, and approaching the coast was just as pretty as Denmark earlier on.
There were about fifteen international students on the plane, and so while we were waiting for the university’s pick-up service, I talked to two people from Vancouver – which is where I originally wanted to go, if you recall, so that was pretty awesome. There were also two students from Southern Germany and one from Spain. — The airport was very scenic as well, just a small wooden building next to a single landing strip surrounded by forests. — We then crowded into the pick-up van and drove through what I can only describe as a very “Nordic” landscape: so much forest, so many lakes, hills, narrow roads carved through dark gray rock, the typical elk crossing signs. We exchanged names, home country, stories; right there I was so glad not to have my parents with me. I would’ve missed out on that first connection to others in my same position.
We arrived at the university where a ton of other students from all over the world who had arrived earlier that day were already waiting for the keys to be handed out. I think there were easily two hundred people there, probably much more. We waited forever and ever and more people kept arriving – until we finally made it to the top of the line. I think this was around 5pm or something. I found out that I was to stay in a shared room 15km outside of the city – which is basically the opposite of what I’m used to and the opposite of what I stated I wanted for accommodation when I applied. I WAS THRILLED, as you can imagine. OR NOT. — Another van drove about eight of us out to the tiny town we were going to stay. Luckily, one of the German girls I had met – Sarah – had gotten the same placing so I had someone to share my bewilderment with. Shared room? 15km away? I’M SORRY WHAT NOW?
We finally arrived at our new home for the next few months, and it actually looked really charming and beautiful. Sadly, I soon learned my first lesson of this whole experience: one should not judge a house by its exterior. Just trust me on this. The house looks so cute and idyllic and perfect when you stand outside it; there are tall trees and cats in the surrounding yards, old windows and greens crawling up the facade. But the facilities inside are just… horrific, ancient, dirty, terrible, disgusting. And small. On the plus side, all of us students quickly bonded over this. After all, a problem shared is a problem halved, right?
CUT TO TODAY, SUNDAY. I feel better about a lot of things that bothered me at first. Right now, the distance to uni and the city and the showers are my biggest issue that I don’t know how to deal with yet. I absolutely love the people I live with. I don’t necessarily think any of us have the same interests and certainly not the same backgrounds – but everyone is so friendly and open-minded. Since I’ve been here, I’ve talked to students from Canada, the US, Ghana, Tanzania, Australia, India, Russia, China, South Korea, Morocco, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, and France. Where else could you possibly share a kitchen table with that many different people? And there are more people arriving today and uni hasn’t even started yet! My floor is all girls and there’s a group of us that were the first to arrive here so we’ve grown pretty close already because of that.
A whole group of us went to Ikea yesterday which took all day because it’s so difficult to figure out public transport around here – we spent a good two hours just trying to figure out how to get out of here. I didn’t eat all day, I forgot my Swedish money in my room, and my feet were killing me – but it was so. much. fun. to walk around Ikea for hours with people I had only known for a couple hours in some cases, and feel so… in the right place. Everyone is so different because of the different backgrounds and so no matter who you are, it’s easy to be yourself and be accepted for it. Most people I have met so far are studying at the international business school; I’m not. So I think I will meet even more interesting people during the introduction week and once school starts.
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My room mate – a girl from Morocco who’s doing her master’s degree in international logistics here – and I are currently waiting for the next train to drive through this tiny hamlet so we can get more stuff at Ikea. The two of us are not really on the same wavelength, I don’t think, not in the same way I have connected with others – but we get along.
I have trouble adjusting to the idea of a shared room. I know it’s a perfectly normal thing but I just don’t like never ever having any privacy. I dread showering tonight because the showers barely work and I don’t know where to change – all of that will take a lot of getting used to. The shared kitchen and the laundry facilities are also an outrage – but I can already feel myself accept that.
It will be interesting to see what happens once school starts because everyone will be much more stressed out and show their true colors. Heh.
Aug22
