First days in Stockholm

After 3 crazy weeks in Stockholm I finally found some time to start my blog. I will try to finish the story about my first 3 weeks until friday, when I will go on my first "expedition" to Riga :)
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I arrived in Stockholm the 29. Juli with Mänu who is going to stay in Linköpping for his exchange year. We took the flight from Zürich to Stockholm via Wien and we decided to stay the first couple of days in a youth hostel in Stockholm, since the official arrival day for exchange students was the 1. August. This was also the date when we would get the keys for our rooms.

KTH Valhallavägen

The first problem we encountered was, that I was not allowed to take my bicycle with me in the subway... So I had a first involuntary walk through Stockholm. When I arrived at the youth hostel Mänu was already checking in. The youth hostel is situated at Valhallavägen, which is a 10 minutes walk away from "central" Stockholm. The youth hostel is actually a school, but during school holidays it's converted into a hostel.
During our stay in the youth hostel we met many people, including Alain and Rolf, two Walliser who are also in Stockholm for exchange studies. Since it was sunny and hot we took advantage of it and spent the days at the beach and went sightseeing in the evening.

Finally the 1. August arrived: Swiss national holiday and Keyday at KTH. Mänu took the train to Linköpping and I had to drive my bicycle to Kista, since I was not allowed to transport it with the subway. This was a nice 15km ride throug h the city, passing by a huge graveyard, a golf court, a big forest and lake. Then I had to go all the way back with the subway to the KTH where I had to wait about 3 hours to get my key and a SIM card. During these 3 hours I met a lot of other exchange students and saw my future university for the first time. After that I could finally move in to my new room. Then I had to buy a blanket, a pillow and other stuff to endure the first night. Luckily I'm living near one of the biggest malls of Stockholm which made this task easy.


Some first important facts about Sweden:

1: Sweden is expensive
In Sweden almost everything is more expensive than in Switzerland.

2: Systembolaget
The state-run alcohol store. It's the only place you can buy "real" alcohol. A good example for fact 1....

3: You have to be at least 21 years old
To enter bars, clubs or pubs you have to be at least 21. There are even some places with an age limit of 25....

4: Swedes are friendly and helpful!
I wanted to buy a lock for my bike and went to a sports shop. The shop was not selling locks but the shop assistant printed a map and explained how I could get to a shop with locks! Nice!

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