I finally made it! (Ankomst is a word I learned in the airport; it means arrival.) The journey was kind of nuts in an uneventful, going smoothly sort of way. Easy flight to Frankfurt, where I only got slightly lost in the airport, and then a much shorter jump to Arlanda, which is the Stockholm airport. I'm not quite sure why they call it the Stockholm airport, because it's actually about 30km north of Stockholm, but that's what goes on all of the arrival and departure boards. I landed in Sweden at 6:00 last night, wandered through bag check and customs, and then proceeded to crash in the hotel in Arlanda.
This was actually something worth mentioning. The whole idea of the hotel, which is called Rest and Fly, is to give a traveller what they really need, a dark room with a bed and a place to shower, at a minimum cost. At night you can book the rooms for ten hours and add hours at an extra charge from there, and during the day you can book by the hour if you have a really long layover or something like that. When you arrive, you're given your own linens.The rooms are pretty small; my duffle bag fit neatly between the wall and the bed. There is a common women's bathroom (Euro alert: one shower room with several shower heads!) with the most glorious showers you've ever felt after sitting on planes and in airports for over twelve hours. It's very simple, and utterly perfect for what I needed.
This morning I checked out and took the bus to Uppsala, where my buddy Amandus met me. He volunteered, as a UU student, to mentor an incoming exchange student, and he got me. He also by chance picked up Selias, who was on the bus from the airport with me and figured by all my luggage I must be another exchange student. Amandus helped us drag our stuff to Akademihotellet, where we picked up our room keys, and then to VG Nation, which is the international student union of sorts. There we got our welcome packet (with a LOT of information!) and temporary student IDs. VG Nation also provided a shuttle (in the form of a student driving around a van) to help us get to our rooms.
In the shuttle I met Henri, who is from Paris and studying physics, and Leah, who is from Germany and studying media and IT. The four of us made plans to meet up tomorrow. It's definitely interesting to see how when you're completely on your own you glom onto the first person or people you meet. Henri and I live in the same apartment complex, which is called Kantorsgatan, so we spent most of the rest of the day together as well. He's been here for a couple of days, so he showed me where the grocery store was and how to use the bus to get back to the city center, where we picked up our bedding. He's so very French sometimes it makes me laugh. He wanted very honestly to know what on earth peanut butter was for, and why we celebrated Thanksgiving, and he can't stand being cold. He likes to cook, and doesn't like to eat any "rushed" food like sandwiches. I'm thinking that this is a pretty good start on the international experience!
I still at some level can't even believe I'm here. The sun really does go down at 2:30, and it's dark by four. I knew this was going to happen, but it still kind of surprised me. Logic has little to do with your circadian clock. I haven't met any of my corridor mates yet, but then I haven't actually been in my room much. Hopefully I'll meet them sometime tonight when I go to check out the kitchen.
I plan on spending the rest of the evening unpacking and reading through some of the materials I gathered today. Up next: officially registering for my courses, setting up my own internet (I'm borrowing Henri's access code at the moment), and going out for a beer with Amandus and some guys. (I know, totally not my style. But I'm taking advantage of my opportunities!)
Until next time, hej då!
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