Nordic Breeze | Iberian Seas

I made it to Stockholm! This week has been very busy and lots of fun. It took a while to get the Wi-Fi set up in my apartment so I haven’t been able to edit photos or post anything without using up data on my phone, which is pretty expensive.

Travel

I flew out of Boston on Friday evening. Both of my suitcases were about a pound over the weight limit but they let me through anyway and I am very thankful for that. I flew Iceland Air and connected through Reykjavik. I enjoyed one of Iceland’s famous hot dogs from Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur in the airport at 8:45 AM local time which felt like 4:45 AM to my body. Anything goes in an airport! On my flight to Stockholm I chose a window seat and I’m very glad I did. I got to see a lot of Iceland’s landscape, including the city of Reykjavik, miles of coastline, the main perimeter road, and glaciers. Flying into Sweden I saw lots of farmland, forests, lakes, and wind turbines. Everything was very beautiful and I was lucky that the weather was sunny and clear.

I arrived in Stockholm around 3 PM local time. Because I arrived on one of the university’s official arrival days, they had shuttle buses running from the airport to campus. While I was waiting for the bus I met fellow students from China, India, Italy, and Iceland. When we got to campus I put my luggage in a storage room, set up my IT account for email and building access, got the keys to my apartment, checked in for the welcome events run by the student union, received a bedding kit with a duvet and pillow (from IKEA of course), picked up my bags, and found my apartment.

Student housing is very limited and it is uncommon for students to live on campus. I got very lucky and was guaranteed university housing because I am an international student from outside of the European Union and I am here for one year. I was assigned a room in a 3-bedroom apartment right on campus, about a 10 minute walk from the main entrance. I will write a separate post about my apartment and my roommates but here’s a sneak peak. It’s really nice!

Logistics

I have been very busy this week with a lot of practical matters to get myself set up for the year. Here is a list of some of the things I have done this week:

• Set up school IT account (email, building access, etc.)
• Picked up the keys to my apartment
• Checked in for welcome events
• Connected to campus Wi-Fi
• Set up Wi-Fi in my apartment (I am in the only set of apartments where you have to arrange for your own Wi-Fi)
• Got a Swedish prepaid SIM card and data plan
• Got my photo and fingerprints taken for my residence card at the migration agency
• Got a public transportation card
• Got my student discount card
• Attended my program’s introductory meeting
• Registered for courses
• Set up my apartment with some basic household items and bedding
• Went grocery shopping
• Figured out the laundry room system and did my first load of laundry (this was a whole saga that probably deserves its own post)

Shopping

Setting up a new apartment is really expensive. My apartment was furnished with the basics (bed frame, mattress, small desk, chair, wardrobe, floor lamp, dining room set, kitchen appliances) but there was still much more to buy to make it comfortable and functional. So far I have been to IKEA twice and Costco once. Some of the essentials I have bought so far are: bedding (fitted sheet (no top sheet in Europe!), duvet cover, pillowcases, extra pillows, throw blanket), bathroom essentials (towels, toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, etc.), and kitchen supplies (electric kettle, French press, food storage containers, kitchen scale, thermometer, lots of small tools like a vegetable peeler). 2-3 days and at least $500 later, my apartment is pretty well set up! The best purchase of all was a shopping trolley for bringing things home from the store easily on public transit and by foot. I have definitely taken for granted how much easier everything is when you have a car. I love going grocery shopping on foot but for the heavy and bulky items for my apartment it was really difficult to get everything back home, especially on the bus or metro. There are some small furniture pieces I would like, such as a bookshelf and a set of drawers for my desk, but I’m still working on figuring out the best way to get them to my apartment.

Now that I have the basics, I am really excited to explore Stockholm’s many thrift stores and second hand shops to find some treasures and little extras to make my apartment feel even more like home. Sweden has a strong culture of buying secondhand items for both economic and sustainability reasons so I can’t wait to check it out!

I have really enjoyed my first week in Stockholm and I’m super excited for everything to come! I’ll make another post about all the fun events I attended this week because there were many. Thanks for reading and please leave any questions or comments below!