Day 2

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So day 2 gets a bit better 😊 I had a plan and had reached out to other exchange studnets on facebook. As suspected the other exchange students were feeling like me! So several others were interested in joining Hannah and myself to do some shopping and finding out where things were.

At this point I have met two roommates - Valentine and Adraline both from France. Adraline shared my concern for finding our way onto the university as it is a 30 min walk with quite a few turns. So we decided to try this walk together....better to get lost with company 😊. So we did miss one turn but not to bad for a first go! We met Hannah and 9 other studnets on campus for a bit of a tutorial. First things first we got bus passes and then climbed into the LURC van and Hannah drove us to Storheden.

So I am going to take a minute and explain Lulea - pronounced LU-lu. Lulea is very big size wise, population about 60,000 which for the Laplands (meaning northern sweden) is the second largest city. Sweden is divided into three areas Northern, middle, and sourthern. Not many choose to live up north in the laplands as it is very chilly! Apparently we are one of the farthest north settlements in the world! Even further north than Siberia is inhabited. This is because the Gulf stream delievers livable conditions. Because of all the waterways there are many little clusters of things...like mini towns. So I talk about 4 main places....

1) Campus - Porso Centrum

2) Apartment - Vaderleden 9

3) City Center - Smedjegatan

4) Shopping - Storheden

Everything is pretty spread out to walking to campus is 30 min. To get to City Center or Shopping you have to take a few different busses, and from there Shopping in Storheden is a few more busses!

So Hannah drove us to Storheden and let me tell you that was an expierence! First and foremost shopping here is way different. There is no all-in-one store! Everything has a specific place. There is a shop for bedding, a shop for the kitchen, a shop for bathroom, a shop for electronics, a shop for jeans, and a shop for clothing. ALL SEPERATE!

First store i went to was electronics. I got an Ipad/Iphone etc charger, a hairdryer, and a straightener....these items i had brought from the US but with the use of a converter they are now "fried". So i purchased ones that can be used in the regular outlets here.

Next stop was bedding. BAH beds here are way different too. First off the beds are TINY...like my bed is smaller than a standard twin size in the US. You basically have a boxframe that is springy with a 2inch "mattress" pad. It is bad on the back and neck let me tell you! So buying sheets is very different. There are no fitted sheets, you buy a flat sheet for the mattress pad and tuck it under. To make this work i simply watched youtube videos on how the military make their beds! You do not have any other sheets for the bed, just a comforter after you wrap the flat sheet around the mattress. The comforters are smaller than the beds! But they are big cushy down comfroters that are super duper warm! Then you buy a comforter cover....this is like a giant pillow case for the comforter. Then you buy a pillow cover and this is like a shell that zips all the way around the pillow. I should also mention that pillows here are way different. They are about the size of two airplane pillows....seriously. So very small again. So all this is very new! haha.

After this i got some bathroom supplies. The bathroom is compact and there is no stall for the shower. This is also true in most of Europe so this didnt throw me as much. But I have this gross out factor when I am taking a shower and all the water is running over th toilet as well....this just distrubs me. So i bought some bath mats...(4 to be exact lol) and made a little path so that i wouldnt have to stand on the real bathroom floor. I KNOW I KNOW this is crazy but seriously this was my biggest point of contention! I also got a shower curtain and a shower caddy, and a few towls.

After this we went to MAX Hamburgre -- very much like a steak'n'shake. Admitidly the "special" sauce they use on the burgers is quite odd, kinda like thousand island dressing but more bland.

We all piled in the van again and headed to city center. Here we walked around a bit and explored a wide variety of shops. This place is amazing! Its very much like a fancy outdoor mall...better than Clay Terrace in Carmel, Indiana. There are some very very nice places here. I guess it is also home to the first or oldest indoor shopping mall?

So here is another interesting tid bit....you cannot buy alcohol anywhere but at the City Center in one very specific store. There is no alcohol sold anywhere else! This is apparently due to some very old laws. Prices are very high too! Like a fifth of Jack Daniels is about 30 us dollars.

From there we got dropped back off at Vaderleden. I spent the evening unpacking and getting me new apartment in order. I popped over to the COOP and bought some laundry detergent and cleaners. I then scrubbed the shit outa that bathroom! Ahhhh much better! After washing the old comforter and pillow and my new bedding materials i was happy with a clean bed!

I saved the best for last 😊 during this shopping trip I met multiple people but the ones that will continue to appear in this blog are Isabell and Santi. They are from Spain, 22 and very nice. We obviously became facebook friends and shared many of our fears, excitements, and goals.

A day well ended!

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