Välkommen!

I have a new best friend. Her name is Ariana, and she is married to Daniel, the percussion teacher at the Musikhögskolan. I literally don't know what I would do without either of them, or Anders. They are the nicest people I've met!

Yesterday morning started off great. I woke up early (too early), got organized and had breakfast at the hotel. My first taste of Swedish cuisine! There was a ton of food, buffet style (smörgäsbord). There were cold cuts, a few cheeses, and an assortment of hard bread. There was also a variety of soft bread for toast, hot meats, fruit and vegetables, dry cereals, and filmyölk (which is "sour milk", but very close to yogurt). The most intimidating part of the spread was the assortment of jams and condiments. I didn't know what to try, and couldn't even make a guess to the ingredients by look alone. To drink, they offered juices and water, and of course, coffee!

After breakfast, I asked the receptionist to point me in the direction of the Pitebo office, which is where I needed to get the keys to my apartment. It was around 9:30am. When I started walking around the center of town, I realized that people don't begin their days until about 10am here in Piteå...nothing was open! So, I took advantage of the time, and wondered around a little.

Here are two pics from the waterfront:

As soon as it was 10am, I went to get my keys and sign the lease. I was pretty nervous, especially after realizing that the woman who was in charge of student housing wasn't very good at speaking English. We got through it with a lot of describing and hand movements. She sent me on my way with a slightly sarcastic "good luck".

Anders picked me up and drove me to my apartment (once again, so thankful! I thought I was going to be taking a taxi, and doing all of this on my own!) My apartment is great! Here is a video of what it looked like before cleaning/organizing...I don't know why I narrated it, pretty lame, I know! Be sure to check out the bathroom, no division between the shower and rest of the room!

We spent the next few hours at the school. We met up with Daniel, and I was introduced to Ariana. They showed me around the school, and I got my key card. Some of the main doors and all of the doors to individual rooms require you to swipe a card and enter your personal access code. When I was getting my card one of the recording students, Sebastian, that Anders and Daniel know, was in the office as well. As we got to talking, he told me that they provide a start-up kit of apartment supplies for exchange students (which is the closest conventional title to what I'm doing here!). For 1000 SEK (which I will get back when I return the stuff at the end of the year), I received 3 bins of brand new IKEA kitchen supplies, pillows, bedding, and a rug for the bathroom. Jackpot!!!

Once I was familiar with the school, I came back to my apartment while Daniel and Anders rehearsed. The place was pretty dirty, so I sucked it up, and ventured off to the nearby grocery store to buy some cleaning supplies. I looked up some words for cleaning solution and soap before I left, but it was still a bit overwhelming. Finding the supplies was easy, but deciding which brand/type to buy was hard. I asked a worker, who was very helpful, but also told me that I needed to practice my Swedish. Thanks for the advice.

I met up with Anders, Daniel, and Ariana at 6:30pm to go to dinner...at a Thai restaurant. Ironic, I know! Food was great, company was amazing. Although, I was getting quite tired at this point! Anders left for Stockholm after dinner. We chatted about what I'll be doing the next week, and I'm going to go down to Stockholm between the 4th and 7th for some lessons. Me=pumped!
Daniel and Ariana invited me to their apartment for fika (to have coffee) after dinner. Coffee, coffee, coffee! Gotta love the Swedish culture! After fika, they walked me home. It is about a 20 minute walk from the center of town to my apartment. I'm glad they insisted on walking with me, because I would have most definitely gotten lost! The streets are lined with trees (and lamps, so it's not dark), and they all look the same. Although it was a long evening, I don't think the conversation stopped once!

When we got back to my place, Ariana started investigating, and Daniel helped me turn on my refrigerator (I couldn't figure it out). Ariana insisted on loaning me a few items, and Daniel let me borrow his webcam. Like I said, they are nicest people ever!
.............

Today I met up with Daniel and Ariana at 10am to go shopping for a hair dryer and jacket. I woke up to a rainy day, but did sleep nicely. I made the 20minute trek into town all by myself! woohoo!

We met near their apartment and went to Åthlens, a department store that's going out of business, so everything was 30% off! However, everything is still more expensive here :( I purchased a travel sized hair dryer (because it was the most practical, money and size wise), and a small broom and dust pan. We then started walking around all the shops. Daniel decided to go home, and let us have some girl time. We went into H&M (yay! a familiar store!), and I bought a nice medium weight jacket. I will need something thicker for the winter, but this one will work for the next couple of months. After this, Ariana showed me a second hand store, but it is only open on Monday and Friday (Måndag and Fredag). I also learned that the word for a kind of garage sale or second hand sale is "lossi". We saw a sign for one, but couldn't find it. We figured it was cancelled because of the rain. So, we headed back to her and Daniel's place for lunch.
For lunch we had some soup, and bread. The Swedish tradition is a hard bread with butter. We also had water with cucumber in it to drink! It was so really good. I'm going to have to start making some. And, after lunch, we of course has some....coffee :)

Daniel and Ariana sent me home with the curtains, new sheets, 2 towels for my kitchen and placemats. I came back excited to make the place look like home....and then took a very long nap!

Now, I'm just trying to catch up on emails and correspondences. I tried to go to the grocery store to buy some food, but it was closed. Thank goodness I brought some meal bars! Tomorrow will bring some more exploring, and hopefully some socializing! God Natt!