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August 20, 2004
Day Two, Part Two
Whew—only 3 p.m. and I'm exhausted.
Immediately after finishing my morning journal entry, I walked down to Willy:s (weird spelling, I know) and found a much-better equipped grocery store—hurrah! It's only about a 1/3 the size of an American supermarket, but I could at least recognize main staple items I might use in the future. I didn't buy anything, but instead hopped on the bus to campus, buying a monthly pass along the way. (For the low, low price of 330 kr (about $37) I can ride the bus an unlimited number of times per month—otherwise its 14 kr per ride).
At campus, I met several of the people who helped me yesterday. They called about my package, which you may recall I mailed on August 6th. As it contains all my bedding, I am rather anxious to get it. Unfortunately, it hasn't arrived yet, or else its lost (I'm voting for the former). I guess I'll have to make due with the temporary IKEA blanket and pillow for now. I'm a little irritated, because the USPS promised it would arrive in 4-10 business days, which has clearly expired. But I just have to remind myself that this whole trip is a great adventure, for which flexibility and patience are pre-requisites to keeping my sanity.
I also found out that furniture won't be arriving until Wednesday (another test of my patience), but they will be providing a starter kit for the kitchen. So if I can hold out on finger food until then, I'll be in much better shape.
In addition, I found out that my bath tub does need a shower curtain, but I'm on my own for that. I'm hoping that the furniture people will at least be able to provide the hardware, since right now there is no way to hang a curtain from the ceiling.
I briefly checked email, but didn't really have a chance to write anything, since the Swedish keyboard is frustratingly different from American ones, and I couldn't upload anything I had written on this computer. Figuring that one out will be a project for next week.
I jumped back on the bus and headed to the town center (henceforth referred to as Centrum), where I was bowled over by how freakishly adorable it all is. Seriously, it is almost too charming. There are cobblestone streets flanked by tiny shoppes (to call them shops isn't doing them justice). One side of the town rests against the Baltic Sea, and quaint bridges have been built to access other parts of the archipelago. The houses are all painted bright cheery colors (yellow and oranges seem to be most popular) and there are flowers blooming everywhere. There is a central park with pebble walkways, ice cream stands, and a tiny amphitheatre. Along the walk are tall hedges with seating cut into them, providing shade for pedestrians who want to sit for a bit.
I walked around the Centrum for a couple hours, managing to find an H&M, a drug store (where I bought a bath puff, making up for the one I bought on Tuesday, but accidentally left behind), and an amazing grocery/clothing/music/drug store (where I bought a much-needed hairdryer). I noticed I was starving around one, but couldn't make up my mind where to go. After another 20 minutes, I was ready to faint (still dehydrated, I think) so I ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I had a slightly strange lunch buffet, but was so glad to sit down and drink some water that it was totally worthwhile. Afterwards, I made my way back to the bus station and caught the #7 back to Willy:s, where I picked up some additional groceries (yay for sandwiches!).
I walked the giant hill back to my apartment (seriously, it's like a mountain) after deciding not to wait for the bus. Once home, I started to put away the groceries—realizing that there IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO REFRIGERATORS!! The one I had set to really cold was, in fact, the refrigerator—and thus, the frozen pizza was frozen no more. The one I had set to kind of cold was the freezer—and my water, the tomato, and the orange were frozen solid. Have you ever knocked a frozen tomato and orange together? It's kind of amusing. I had to make myself stop after my fingers froze to the tomato and I had to run warm water over them.
I fixed the temperature settings and put away the groceries. Now I'm back in my empty, empty room, deciding whether to take a little nap or watch a movie. Maybe both? There's nothing really to do until tomorrow's BBQ. Between now and then, I have the town to myself.
